by Raven Oak
The woman in rubies pressed a thin finger to her companion’s lips. “I miss her, Angelina. I don’t understand why the Boahim Senate won’t do something.”
“How could they? Would you want to go up against something—someone like that? That much money and power, he could buy the entire senate.”
Millicent sighed, and when she glanced down, her gaze fell on Adelei. At first, Adelei held her breath and didn’t move, but Millicent’s eyes widened. Her hand flew to her chest as she let out a slight squeal, and she backed up a few paces. “Angelina, there’s someone there.” She pointed at the space where Adelei’s head had been. Her fingers gripped the bookcase’s corner as Adelei leaned back on her heels out of sight.
“Where?” asked Angelina.
“She’s gone. But there was someone there, peeking through the bookcases at us.” While Millicent explained what she’d seen to her companion, Adelei tiptoed away from the stacks and toward a rear door that would take her near the state rooms. At this hour, all state guests would be at supper, and the hallway was blissfully empty.
As she turned the corner, a voice called out, “Please wait. Why are you here?”
Adelei took the corner with much faster steps than the girl of her disguise would do, and she rushed toward the stairwell. For a woman of her age, Millicent moved with remarkable speed. She called out to Adelei from the base of the stairwell. “Are you here to stop the wedding?”
Her hand stilled on the banister, and Adelei faced the woman. She kept her voice light and airy as she spoke. “I-I don’t know what you mean, my lady. Is there a reason the wedding should be stopped? Being new to this land, I am unaware of local customs.” The disguise wavered as the lady’s strong perfume tickled Adelei’s nose, roses and the hint of something sweet. Her nose twitched unbearably at the scent.
“Oh. My apologies, my dear. Something about your face, I mistook you for…” The woman’s eyes rested on the scar along Adelei’s jaw. As her companion in green caught up, the younger woman’s breath came in haggard gasps as she leaned against the archway for support. The woman in rubies gestured toward her friend and said, “This is Lady Angelina de Gant of Hersh, and I am Lady Millicent Sebald of Loughrie. Who might you be, dear?”
Fairly prominent houses. “I’m afraid I don’t recall my name, as odd as it sounds,” said Adelei as she fell back on the ruse Ida had used as they traveled.
“What were you doing in the library, child? And why were you spying on our conversation?” Angelina said, and she pursed her plump lips. “I don’t believe for a second you don’t know your name. Sounds more like a servant who doesn’t wish a sound lashing for being where she ought not to be.”
She could ask them the same thing—why weren’t they at supper with the rest of the court? Instead of the retort on her lips, Adelei shrank in on herself like a terrified child. “I-I was only looking at the books. There are so many, and–and I thought they might help me remember. Captain Warhammer found me wandering the forest and thinks I must’ve hit my head or been accosted by highwaymen.” The women gasped appropriately, and Adelei continued to lay the trail. “I have no memories before she found me, naught but a fuzzy memory of this man.” Adelei shuddered, blinking her eyes rapidly as if she were fighting back tears.
“Oh, you poor thing. That must be ghastly.” Lady Millicent patted her shoulder.
“I’m sorry I startled your ladyships,” Adelei whispered. “Did you recognize me? Maybe you know who I am?”
“Your face. It’s similar to someone I saw earlier in the day. I mistook you for another, but unfortunately, I have little knowledge of your house or name. Whose colors are those?”
“Captain Warhammer brought this dress from the launderer. No lord’s colors, I suppose.”
“You speak well enough. And despite your… dress, your manners are good, and your looks noble. You must be of a house of some repute. Though you move more like my master huntsman than a lady. Do you recall any training you may have had?”
Damn, I’m more out of practice with this than I thought. “I-I do not, my lady. As embarrassing as it is to say, I was found with naught a stitch on. Only wearing scratches all over—and I know not where I got them.” Adelei rubbed her arms and pulled up part of her sleeve. Light scratches healed beneath the fabric. Luckily for her the rush through the forest lent her tree scratches enough.
Both ladies glanced around the stairwell as if expecting more ears to be listening in. “Have a care, dear, who you say such things to.” Lady Millicent’s voice shook as she hooked her arm through Adelei’s elbow. “No need to mention that again. I’m sure the captain did the best she could for you. You say you remember a man? Do you recall his looks?”
Time to find the kernel.
Adelei closed her eyes and pretended to visualize the scene. “He bore black hair like ashes. And his eyes… brown again, b-but terrible. They held such cruelty, but I know not why. And the scratch under his eye—a jagged thing, all puffy and white.”
The two ladies traded looks, and Lady Millicent asked, “Are you sure?”
“Yes, my lady. It stuck out so from the dark brown of his skin.”
“Do… do you remember anything else about this rogue’s appearance?”
Adelei allowed her shoulders to slump. “His frame was large and strong. It made me want to trust him, but then he changed. Those eyes. His clothes were nice. No offense to your ladyships, but much nicer than yours. His long tunic was soft and bore a tiger on it. I think it was a tiger—I mean, I’ve never seen one, but my father used to tell me stories of them, animals of living flame from the south—”
“So you recall your father?” Angelina asked, and Adelei shook her head.
“No, my lady. I only remember this now because I thought of the tiger.” Adelei wrung her fingers and swayed on her feet. “Oh Gods, the images my brain paints for me, surely I must be trapped within a nightmare.”
“Here now, it’s all right. You are among friends,” said Lady Angelina, who wrapped a thick arm around Adelei’s shoulders. Adelei twisted away from the woman’s grasp. “I c-can’t bear it—his eyes on me.”
“Come.” Lady Millicent ushered Adelei down the stairs and through the short hallway into the lady’s guest chambers. The room was warmed by a private fireplace, lavish where Adelei’s room was not, and Adelei kept her expression neutral. If these were Lady Millicent’s rooms, she carried higher status than Adelei had originally thought.
Adelei took a hesitant seat on the edge of a chair that cost more than Adelei’s battle steed and shuddered as if holding back great sobs. “I know the man of which you speak, though he is no man, but a monster. A horrible creature that spreads fear and death wherever he walks,” said Lady Millicent.
“Then… then these things I see, they’re true?”
“They may be, child. I’ve heard of other girls such as you, found wandering with their minds and bodies broken after meeting The Monster.”
Ah-ha. So they did know something. Adelei stuck her bottom lip out and blinked rapidly.
“If you saw this man again, do you think you would recognize him?” asked Lady Angelina.
“I’m not sure, my lady. So much in my brain is fuzzy, so confusing. I just want to go home to my father, but I don’t know where home is.” This time a few of the tears that fled down Adelei’s face were genuine. She used this momentary weakness to her advantage. “Can you help me, my lady? I hate to ask it of such an important person. I’m sure you’re busy, but I don’t know who else to ask.”
This time, when Lady Millicent glanced at Lady Angelina, Adelei watched from underneath wet lashes. She wants to use me to go after Prince Gamun, but she’s not sure if I’m genuine. She’s still thinking of who she thinks I am. Damn. Does she think me the Princess or Amaskan? I’m not sure which is worse.
“Please, my lady, help me. Help me find who did this to me.” Adelei cried, and she raised more sleeve to expose healing lashes left by tree branches. Several days old, they co
uld pass for whip welts. When her hands moved to raise the hem of her dress, Lady Millicent’s hands covered hers. “I believe you child—you don’t need to expose your injuries.”
“Maybe you should fetch your husband,” Lady Angelina suggested, and Adelei cringed.
Her reaction cemented something in Lady Millicent’s mind. “My husband’s brother serves on the Boahim Senate. My lord won’t harm you, but should he agree with me on your story, this may be the evidence needed to stop the Monster from harming anyone else.”
By the Thirteen, the Boahim Senate. She was highly connected. Adelei clenched her fists in an effort to remain calm. She needed information, not the Senate. Not yet anyway. I must tread carefully. The last thing she needed was for them to discover her identity and bring her up on perjury charges, much less murder. Only unjust and unholy beings defile their tongues with untruths against those that protect them.
This time, Adelei’s shiver was real. She couldn’t let Lady Millicent summon the Senate. Most of Sadai ignored the Order’s use of murder to seek out justice, but that was because the Order took great pains to hide themselves from the long sight of the Senate. A few faces popped into Adelei’s mind. She couldn’t think of the number—wouldn’t. Didn’t matter how many she’d killed as long as justice was served.
Lady Millicent stepped outside her rooms. Alone with Lady Angelina, the woman stared at Adelei as if she could see straight through the makeup that disguised her face: full cheekbones embellished by rouge, shadows across the eyelids to narrow them, and a powder to give the appearance of being younger than her twenty years. All of it subtle, and yet not enough.
The wig itched, and Adelei tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as they waited. Her hands returned to her lap as the door opened a few minutes later, and a man in a thick overcoat squeezed through the doorway, gut first. Sweat lined his face and upper lip.
He might fall over and roll across the room rather than walk the distance. She bit her tongue on the laughter and changed it into a slight hiccup as she feigned more tears. Adelei retreated as far back into her chair as possible, wrapping her arms around her thin legs as she stared at the floor.
“Is this the girl?” He moved across the room with more finesse than she thought possible for one as grotesquely large as he was, and when his stubby fingers touched her chin to tilt it up, she screamed.
“I’m sorry, good sir. I’m sorry—I don’t know why I did that.”
“You say you don’t recall who you are?”
When Adelei shook her head, the lord turned to his wife. “What would you have me do? For all I know, she’s an escaped servant or a runaway.”
“But she described Prince—”
“You don’t know that. There are many men out of Shad who fit that description,” he interrupted. “Besides, you said yourself that her memory’s fuzzy. I can’t go to my brother with something as weak as that.” The fat on his arms jiggled when he shook his fist in the air, and he returned his narrowed gaze to Adelei.
Every curve of her shape, every scratch and scar noted, and she squirmed in her chair, an action only half-feigned. “If you saw this man, would you know him?” he asked.
She took her time answering, brows furrowed in concentration. “Maybe, my Lord.”
This is getting me nowhere. Certainly not information.
“As you said,” Adelei whispered, “There are many men of that description.”
“See? Even the girl seems unsure.” She couldn’t keep her eyes from his jiggling arm, which escaped his sleeves with several rolls. “I’m needed elsewhere.”
Whatever this prince may or may not be guilty of, it may not be related at all to the assassination attempts. With hope Lady Millicent can piece some of this together.
“I’m sorry for his curtness, child,” Lady Millicent said as the door shut behind her husband. She seated herself in the chair beside Adelei, and patted Adelei’s hands. “The Boahim Senate has to be very sure before they seek justice for a crime against the Thirteen. Is there anything else you can remember about this man? Anything that can help?”
Adelei faked a yawn. “Not at the moment, my lady. Maybe I will remember more on the ’morrow.”
“Of course. Forgive me, my child. My manners have escaped me in all of this. Have you somewhere to rest?”
Adelei nodded. “The Captain made arrangements with someone in the castle to give me a room in the servants’ quarters.”
Lady Millicent sniffed. “I guess a room amongst the staff is better than no room at all. Still, someone with a good name should be housed somewhere more appropriate.”
“I think the rooms are full with the wedding,” said Lady Angelina. “Have you seen the healers yet?”
“I’m to see them tomorrow as well.”
“Good. Maybe you will recall what has happened to you. And by whom,” said Lady Millicent.
With another jaw-cracking yawn, Adelei stood and bowed. “By your leave, I will retreat, my ladies.”
“We shall talk again, child. Come see me after you’ve seen the healers.”
As Adelei turned to the leave, Lady Millicent called out, “Wait. We must have something, some name by which to call you.”
“I remember not my name.”
“Let’s call you Alethea.” Adelei flinched, but the woman continued without noticing. “It means truth, my dear, for surely we will find the truth in all of this.”
I know what it means. The room suddenly felt cold. I hope my truth isn’t found. That could get everyone killed. At the woman’s dismissal, Adelei retreated to the hall where she sought the shadows. The fourth floor map would have to wait. For now she would avoid the people returning from supper as she sought the stairs.
The number of guards on the third and fourth floors was astounding. She was asked to identify herself ten times on the way to her own room. Tomorrow she could get started on the job. Right now, she wanted to fall into bed and away from all the thoughts chasing themselves around her heart and brain. Focus on the job before her, and how she was going to track down the killer in their midst.
Just before she passed through the door to the Princess’s suite, the glint of gold caught her attention as it reflected the light in the hall. Adelei followed it down to a head of thinning grey hair and ducked into the sitting room before her father could speak with her.
She didn’t have time for that. She had a job to do.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The chair was normally comfortable, but this evening, the plush reminded Leon of the age of his body as his joints ached in rhythm to his heart. The drawing room was empty for the time being, but King Leon waited for the betrayer. I don’t know whether to be proud or aggrieved by what has become of my daughter. Ah, Iliana, where did you go?
When the door opened, he didn’t need to look up to recognize her light steps. “You took your time getting here,” he said to the former captain.
Ida Warhammer knelt before him, and he waved an idle hand in her general direction. She said nothing for a time, leaving him to gather his thoughts before speaking. I used to appreciate that trait. At least before she— In the back of his mind, a small voice asked, did what? Told the truth? Would you rather she had lied and remained hidden? Leon shifted his attention to her and away from his own double-crossing mind.
The grey in her hair had multiplied in recent months, and her shoulders slumped. It was a look of defeat, something he’d never seen in her, and for a moment, he ached to hold her.
The tiled floor stretched out for several horse lengths, the stone gilded with hints of silver and gold, and yet the empty room was too crowded. Leon whispered, “Did I make the right decision fifteen years ago?”
“Goefrin brought a very appealin’ choice before ya and your advisors. Said it was the only way to keep Alexander from ruin. What else could ya do?”
Her words made sense. They were thoughts he’d worked out himself many times, but they didn’t keep the doubt from eating at him. Leon shut his eyes.
“Despite my wishes for her, Iliana has returned, but she’s not who I thought she would be. I thought that surely she would remember me, remember Alexander. That maybe, despite being a killer, I could save her somehow.”
When Ida said nothing, he continued, “How did this happen? All I wanted was my daughter back, safe and sound. Instead they send me this… this assassin. I’m afraid of my own child.”
“You fear her ’cause she returned Amaskan.”
“Yes.”
A sea of blue met his earthy gaze as she sat beside him. It was Catherine’s chair, now Margaret’s, but he didn’t mind Ida being there. Her eyes reminded him more of the ice of the Cretian Mountains than the Harren Sea, and he shivered. How does she do that? How can she make me feel like a child with just a look? And then her words reminded him.
“Are ya afraid of me? I was Amaskan, and yet I recall times when there was more between us than fear and loathin’.”
He flushed to remember and then cursed her under his breath. It was a reminder his loins enjoyed more than his heart these days. “Only an assassin could speak of love and death in the same sentence with little distinction. And no, I’d not forgotten your betrayal.”
Ida flinched and removed her hand from his arm. “Have ya decided whether or not to kill me?”
“As much as I’d like to, I can’t. I never could,” he whispered and patted her hand. “But I can’t trust you.”
“I brought her home.”
“Yes, you brought Adelei of Amaska to Alexander. I fear that my child, my Iliana is dead. Gone these past fifteen years.”
“Leon,” she said, and her image swam in his tears. “I’m sorry. I can’t ever undo what I’ve done.”
“I know.”
“What would ya have me do?”
King Leon sighed. “I’m removing you as sepier. You will retain your former captain status, but I need someone I can trust in that position.”