“They found him with the duke’s body, covered in blood and a least a score of dead men around him. He won’t say a word or tell us what happened,” Hilliard told me.
This event will change him as it has changed us all. Nothing will be the same for any of us, I expect.
Prince Adair had been taken back to the palace by a hundred of Duke Magdale’s men. I stood in the doorway of Layton’s room, watching him sleep. His chest rose and fell in a deep slumber. He is safe but for how long? Idella still holds my life in her hands. I could not kill her, and because of that I will be forever beholden to her.
I would have stayed there by my son’s side forever, but duty called. A soldier came for me. He was one of Duke Magdale’s men, I knew, from the black bird upon the maroon field on his surcoat.
“The queen would speak to you, your grace,” he said. His tone was formal, but it left no room for argument.
I went with him, ready to face the reprimand and the threats Idella was sure to deal out to me. I found her in my chambers that I had surrendered to her upon arriving at White Crest. She was wearing a nightgown and being examined by Duke Magdale’s magiker. When I entered, Idella wrapped herself in a robe and dismissed the magiker. He bowed to me on his way out and left me alone with the queen.
“You summoned me?” I asked.
She was facing the fireplace with her arms wrapped around herself. “I did.”
There was something altered about her, though I could not place it. Her golden hair was turned orange by the firelight, and she looked small and fragile in her nightgown. Her arms were thin and her body slight. She is a woman just as you are. Do not let her see your fear.
“I would be grateful for your haste, Your Majesty. There is much to tend to, dead to prepare for burial, and a house to set to rights.”
She turned to face me then, and tears were fresh fallen on her cheeks. I was struck by her show of vulnerability. She had shown me no other face but one of a cold hard ruler, one who meant to use me for her own ends and the woman who had ordered her brother’s death. This fragile crying woman was a stranger to me.
She brushed away her tears, and her expression returned to that old cold and hard ruler I knew. “I’ve received news from Duke Magdale. It seems the Order of the Oak had a hand in the attack here.” She picked up a piece of parchment from a writing desk nearby and handed it to me.
I took it from her and read the correspondence over. “Tomas informed His Majesty of an attack upon the royal family at White Crest, orchestrated by Prince Garrison and the Order of the Oak,” I read aloud. “This cannot be true!” Tomas and the Order sent me here to kill the queen. Why send Neaux as well?
Idella nodded. “It is as we suspected. Tomas came forward with the information and accused several minor lords of conspiring to overthrow the throne.” Idella balled her hands into fists. “They planned the attack with Neaux both here and south of Keisan. Duke Magdale captured a Neaux commander who corroborated the story. I’ve spoken with Hilliard, and he says much of the same.”
She let her words hang in the air. He knew. Tomas planned this. He knew I would not be able to kill the queen. That was his plan from the start, to distract me and then kill me along with the royal family. I felt weak. I fell into a nearby chair.
“What will happen to the prince and the Order?” I asked. I hope they all burn for what they have done.
“Tomas will give us the names of the members, and they will be tried for their crimes.”
“And me? Where does this leave me?” I glanced up at her. She was not looking at me but had returned to staring at the fire.
Idella ignored my question for a moment and poured herself a cup of wine from a decanter on the table. She took a long draught before setting the empty cup back on the table. She filled it again but did not drink any more.
“You will need to return to Keisan and possibly stand trial. You were one of them. We cannot expose your place before then.”
I stared at the cup. It was pewter with the stylized flower of House Florett upon it. I am not free of their web, not yet.
My next question came unbidden. “Is that why you killed Artor? Because he was a member of the Order?”
Idella’s shock was real. She threw out her hand in surprise and knocked both decanter and glass onto the ground. The wine pooled there like dark blood in the moonlight.
“How dare you! I loved my brother… I cannot say as much for you. You threw yourself at the first man who paid any attention to you.”
I wanted to choke the life out of her. I threw my head back and inhaled and exhaled. Look and see the truth. Idella was flushed with anger. She stood over the puddle of spilled wine. I had never seen her undone before, but now I did. She did not have anything to do with his murder. Everything Tomas told me was a lie, I realized. I have been a fool. They tricked me from the beginning.
I bowed my head. “I apologize, Your Majesty. I spoke out of turn.”
She was flushed as she glowered at me. “Yes, you were. Leave me now before I send you back to Keisan in chains.”
I let myself out of the chamber. I walked without purpose; I needed distance both from Idella and from my own folly. Tomas had played me as easily as Hilliard played his chess pieces. I thought I was doing what my husband had wanted, and what I had done was aid the very people who threatened to destroy our kingdom.
I found myself in the entryway. Men were working to carry away bodies by torchlight and clearing away the debris. The doors that led into the manor were nothing but splinters, and the ram was lying discarded over the threshold of the front door. They had rammed down the entryway in order to get into the main hall. Hilliard was working with the other men. He had removed his shirt, and his chest glistened with sweat. His chest was marred by white scars. I wondered for a moment how many battles he had won. He had saved us all with his valor. If he had not risked himself to bring the prince to safety, we may yet have perished. I refused to give Tomas any credit. This was his plot from the beginning.
“May I speak with you, sir?” I called out to Hilliard.
He hefted a plank of wood onto his shoulder. He then wiped his brow with his free hand. He gave me a tired smile. “Of course, your grace.” He gave a few instructions to the men who were working with him.
We left the entryway, and he followed me into a nearby room. At one time it had been a parlor, but the furniture was torn and broken. All that remained was the unlit fireplace.
I cast about for a place to sit, but there was nowhere. Instead I looked up at Hilliard. His face was grimy and smeared with blood and soot.
“I would have you answer me truthfully. Do not try to dissemble; I will know if for a lie.” I was hoping his exhaustion would disguise the fact that I had no way of knowing for sure if he lied to me, but I thought him a truthful man either way.
“As you wish.” He nodded his head.
“You know about the Order of the Oak.”
I meant it as more a statement than a question, but he answered nonetheless. He nodded in response. “That I do.”
“Were you a member?”
“No. I was recruited and went to a meeting but decided it was not something for me.”
“Was my husband the one who recruited you, then?”
“No. It was Tomas Deane who did the recruiting.”
Tomas. I thought of his face, his body pressed against mine. The smile he shared with me and the way he called me your grace, as if it were his own pet name just for me.
“How did you know my husband? Why are you sworn to protect me?” Tomas had said the same, and he had tried to kill me. What makes Hilliard any different? My words were coming out rushed and jumbled. My emotions were welling up inside me, and I feared I would lose control.
“I was at the battle of Redfield, that much you know. I suspect that is why you sought me out in the first place.” He smiled at me, revealing his gap tooth. It was endearing in its own way.
He is a good honest man. Why did I not
see it before?
“Artor was in command at Redfield, and I was there as his second. We were set upon in the night by Neaux attackers, or that’s the official report. What really happened was half of our force turned on us and slaughtered all our men. We were fighting them off the best we could. I somehow managed to get astride a horse when the battle began, but halfway through, my horse was killed, and he fell on top of me, crushing my leg.
“Artor came and found me. He moved the beast off me and got me to my feet. We were trying to flee when the traitors found us and tried to fill us full of arrows.” He paused. “I’m not sure if you want to hear the rest…”
“No. Please, I need to hear this.”
“Well, they got Artor in the gut. He pushed me into the saddle of his horse and told me to run. I refused at first; I wanted to fight. He made me swear I would protect you and your son in exchange for my life. I swore an oath on my sword, and I fled. I was found by Duke Wodell’s infantry days later, burning up with a fever and babbling nonsense. I went to a dark place after that. I was a coward. I should have fought with my men not taken an oath to spare my goddess-forsaken life… that’s how I felt until I met you. I knew I needed to full fill my oath or my life wasn’t worth living at all. I took assignment as the prince’s guard so I could get stronger and serve you in truth.”
Hot, angry tears rolled down my cheeks. Artor was killed by our own men! Hilliard reached out for me and held me in his arms. I wanted to fight him off; men had been the source of all my troubles, Artor, Tomas, even Hilliard. I had kissed Hilliard in a moment of relief, but I did not want him to think it meant any more than that. I would be better off staying alone forever, but in that moment it felt good to be held, to lean on another man’s strength for a moment. I collected myself and pulled away as was proper.
“I must tell you that kiss meant nothing. I was just repaying my debt.”
He smiled. “I know, your grace.”
I laughed. “You said when you took the prince that there was an assassin you were trying to save him from. Who was it?”
“Does it matter? He’s safe now.”
“I need to know.”
He sighed. “It was one of your maids; she had been bribed by Tomas to murder the prince.”
I shook my head. My lady’s maid had been among those who had run out with Princess Florian. Unlike the princess, she had not made it out with her life. She was counted among the bodies of the slain. “I have one more thing that I would ask of you,” I said.
“Ask it.” He was searching my face with an almost longing expression.
“Fulfill your oath and stay with me; remain as my guard. You saved my life and many others. I would have you run my household guard.”
“What household guard?” He laughed.
I laughed too. “I would have you make my guard. We will hire men, lots of men, and I will have you train them. White Crest will never fall under attack again as long as I breathe; this will be a safe place.” From the ruin, we will rebuild.
He bowed down onto one knee. He pulled his sword from his belt and laid it at my feet.
“Damara Florett, Dowager Duchess of Florett, I swear my life and my sword to your service until I draw my last breath.”
“Rise. I am no queen, just a merchant’s daughter who rose too high and fell very hard.”
He stood back up. “You are not a queen but a better woman than most. You may have made mistakes, but we all do.”
I laughed again. “I suppose you’re right.” And I will correct them the best I know how, starting with Tomas.
Chapter Fourteen
We returned to Keisan a near moon’s turn later. This time Layton came with me. Princess Florian was in no shape to care for him. The return trip was an arduous one. Princess Florian was sick, and the magiker had to keep her sedated much of the time. A carriage was found, and she travelled within it. We stopped quite often when a wheel would get stuck in the mud, or once, when a horse threw a shoe, the carriage tipped over and broke a wheel. It took two days to make the repairs, and we stayed at a roadside inn while we waited. Florian screamed every night. At first it was unsettling, but after hearing it night after night, I covered my head and drowned it out beneath my pillow. The magiker thought she might never recover. When she was awake, she cried.
Our party was a somber one upon our return, even the children were subdued. Princess Sarelle did not often stray from her mother’s side, and Layton never went far from the caravan. Johai had spoken little since we left. He had been a quiet withdrawn child before, and he seemed to have retreated even more so into himself since the attack at White Crest. I found my own thoughts often wandering, wondering what awaited me at Keisan. The Order tried to kill me along with the royal family. I was blind before, but I will not let this go unpunished. My son could have lost his life, and that I cannot ever forgive. Hilliard stayed by my side. He would laugh and sing songs off-key as we rode, in an attempt to coax me to smile. Sometimes it worked, but more often than not, I was too absorbed in my own thoughts to pay him much mind.
Our return to Keisan found it little changed. Many a familiar face was missing. Tomas wasted no time in implicating those who were part of the Order, it seemed. We were told upon arrival that the prince had been tried while we travelled and been found guilty. He was locked in the tower, as befit his status as royalty. He had been stripped of land and title, and everything was left to his young son. Johai was now the Duke of House Slatone. A thirteen-year-old child was to rule one of the oldest houses in Danhad. Other members had been found, tried and executed. King Dallen had lessened his brother’s sentence to imprisonment. Of the Order members I knew, two had escaped trial and imprisonment: myself and Tomas.
I was furious when Idella told me. “He must be punished for his crimes! He is the reason Artor is dead!” I yelled at her.
“He informed us of the attack on White Crest. If he had not, we would all be dead,” Idella replied, her tone calm and collected. She barely raised her gaze to me as she sat serenely on the couch in her receiving room.
“It was his plot. Can you not see!” I insisted. “He was trying to silence me as he did my husband.”
“I understand why you are angry. Artor was my brother, and I want vengeance as much as you, but the king has pardoned Tomas for his assistance. He prevented Prince Garrison’s coup and sent men to save us at White Crest. We cannot accuse him for possible past crimes that are unfounded. Tomas has sworn it was Prince Garrison’s plot that killed Artor, and I believe him.”
“Then you are a fool!” I snarled and stormed out.
I refused to let it go. I knew Tomas was the man who had given the order to butcher my husband. Prince Garrison was nothing but a figurehead, someone Tomas would put upon the throne so he could control him. I knew Tomas. I knew what he was capable of. He had used me to his own ends, and I suspected he had used Artor the same way before he killed him out of hand. He would have killed me and my son in our beds if Hilliard had not seen the ships. Florian was raped and my household was slain because he wanted to silence me, I know it. I needed proof, something that I could use to implicate him. There was none to be found, however. Tomas was too smart to leave a trail. Everyone he had named and who had been tried for treason were the only ones who had known about his plots, and now they were dead. All that remained was the man himself and me.
I went to his chambers late that night. The king had granted him lands and a lordship for his part in saving the kingdom. As such, he was given a place in the palace. I knocked on his door, the secret knock we used when meeting for a late night rendezvous. No one was up at this hour, and the hall was empty and dark. I stood shivering in my nightgown, with a housecoat wrapped around me. I brushed my hand against the hidden pocket within my cloak; the bulge within gave me comfort and strengthened my resolve. I had come to him like this dozens of times, slipping into his bed in the dead of night, letting his body warm me. He answered the door looking disheveled and dressed only in a night
shirt.
“My lord,” I whispered.
“Your grace.” He gave me his crooked grin. He stepped aside to let me in.
Once inside, he embraced me, capturing me with a kiss. I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my hands in his hair. We pulled apart, panting. “I’m sorry for the lateness of the hour. I’ve only just gotten a moment away.”
“There’s no need to apologize. I am glad you came.” He kissed me again, a lingering kiss that under different circumstances would have led to more. Even now I felt my body betray me by responding to his touch. I broke our kiss and pressed a finger to his lips.
“I have to speak with you.”
He smiled. “We can talk afterwards.” He leaned in to kiss me again, but I dodged him. I thrust my hand into my pocket and took a grip upon the handle of the dagger concealed within.
“I need you to alleviate my fears. Order members have been killed. Prince Garrison is imprisoned. What’s happened while I was away?” My hand was slick with sweat as it grasped the dagger. I concealed my grip by crossing my arms over my chest and pulling my overcoat closer to my body.
He shook his head as he reached for me. He took my free hand and pulled me down onto a couch nearby. He sighed. “It is a terrible business. Someone betrayed us and made horrid accusations. Many of the Order members were pulled from their beds in the middle of the night and locked in the tower, including the prince.”
“How did you manage to escape capture, and the king has made you a lord? I hear people say awful things about you. They are saying you lied about our friends for your title.”
“Those are lies. I would never betray those I am close to,” he murmured. He dipped his head down to nip at my neck.
I squirmed away. Lies like the ones you’ve fed me for months?
“Your grace, what is the matter?” He was a good actor. For a moment I almost believed he cared about me, but that was the biggest lie of them all. I had been nothing but a tool for him.
“I’m afraid. What if they accuse me of treason? What will happen to my son?”
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