by CJ Archer
"I am not impersonating a doctor," I said hotly, "I am doing my duty as a midwife. I have reason to believe your fainting spell was a symptom of your delicate condition."
"My what?" It was blurted out with such fervor that the word delicate couldn't be applied.
Her brother's jaw dropped. He turned huge eyes onto his sister. "Lucia?" he whispered.
She withdrew her hand and crossed her arms. "I am not with child. Leave, Freddie, so this woman can go about her business and prove it."
"Sir," Hammer prompted when Lord Frederick continued to stare at his sister.
I set my pack on the dressing table and removed the jar of Baby's Breath salts. By the time I pocketed it, the men had left. "Lift your nightdress, my lady," I said.
She clicked her tongue but did as directed. "This is a waste of time. I'm still having my monthly courses."
I checked her abdomen and asked for a urine sample that she grudgingly obliged to give me. She retreated behind a privacy screen and I studied the room while I waited. It was elegantly furnished with thick curtains and rug. The view over the gardens was similar to the one afforded Lady Miranda. I looked out then returned to the opposite side of the bed. Something poking out from beneath the valance caught my eye. I knelt down and lifted the blue silk brocade to get a better look. A pair of men's shoes had been neatly placed under the bed alongside a folded shirt and pants.
"What are you doing?" Lady Lucia snapped.
Chapter 11
"You prying little wretch," Lady Lucia snapped. "How dare you spy on me!'
"I'm not spying," I said, surreptitiously removing the jar of Baby's Breath salts from my pocket as I stood. "I dropped this on the floor. It rolled under the bed."
Her nostrils flared and her eyes narrowed, turning her from beautiful to deadly in a moment. I eyed the chamber pot in her hands in case she decided to throw it at me.
She marched past me and set the pot on the dressing table beside my pack. "You're all the same here," she said with a sniff. "Impertinent and opinionated with no respect for your betters. You're not normal."
"I am not palace staff."
I added a pinch of Baby's Breath salts to the urine in the pot as she settled back on the bed with all the grace of a woman used to reclining all day. The salts did not change color.
"You're not with child," I said.
"I know that but you wouldn't listen. Freddie!" she called. "You can come back in."
The words were hardly out of her mouth when her brother barged through the door. "Well?"
She shook her head.
He sat heavily on the bed. "Thank the goddess."
My gaze connected with Hammer's, but he showed no signs of interest in the conversation.
"There is still the mystery of your fainting spell," I said to Lady Lucia. "Can you describe how you felt—"
"I am not speaking to you about it," she said. "The doctor has already seen me."
"She was hot, that's all," Lord Frederick said, rising once more. He really was quite handsome, but in an elegant, fine-boned way. He was all golden hair and coltish limbs with eyes that matched his sister's for quickness. "She's fine now."
"I'll inform the king," Hammer said.
"The doctor already has."
"Wait, Captain." Lady Lucia sank back against the pillows and arranged her hair around her shoulders. "Tell the king I am still feeling poorly. His company would cheer me enormously, and my health will benefit from his presence. Please suggest that he join me in here instead of taking a turn about the gardens."
Her brother squeezed her hand but she either didn't notice or pretended not to.
Hammer bowed then asked if I was ready to leave. Without being able to ask more questions, there was no point in staying. I had all the answers I needed anyway.
"Don't say a thing yet," Hammer said before I could speak in the corridor outside Lady Lucia's room. "We'll talk in Balthazar's office."
The master of the palace's office was situated in the northern wing, close to the garrison. Or possibly a little away from it. Perhaps. It was certainly on the ground level, that much I knew. Like the garrison, it was a room with a function other than decorative. The desk was covered with paperwork, ledgers and books, and there were more on a set of shelves. A colored map of the palace and its grounds covered an entire wall. The detail was very fine with each of the outbuildings and gardens labeled in neat script. The only other noticeable feature was a portrait of the king behind the desk dressed in somber gray and black, holding a quill pen in one hand and a document in the other.
Hammer closed the door. We were alone. He indicated I should sit then took up a position by the sideboard. "She's not with child?"
"No."
"So what caused her to faint?"
"Her need for attention. Specifically, her need for attention from the king."
He tilted his head to the side. "It was all an act?"
"I believe so, but without examining her at the time, I can't be certain. It's not hot out, so I doubt she fainted from the heat. The doctor didn't mention her bodice being laced too tightly?"
He shook his head.
"Her ankles weren't swollen, she's alert, and her skin has a healthy glow. As far as I can see, there's nothing wrong with her now. There's no reason for her to stay in bed."
"Except to have the king worry about her."
"And spend time with her alone instead of with her rivals."
He poured a glass of wine from the jug on the sideboard and handed it to me then poured another for himself. It seemed like a natural thing for him to do, despite being in another man's office.
"Did you notice their exchange when Lord Frederick returned to the room?" I asked. "While she was certain about the outcome, he wasn't. That means he knows she's been with someone. The question is, is that someone the king?"
"It's not the king."
"How do you know?"
He hesitated then said, "Between Theodore and myself, we know every move the king makes. He hasn't been alone with Lady Lucia."
How strange to have intimate knowledge of someone, yet not be considered their friend. "I saw clothing under the bed," I said. "Men's clothing, neatly folded beside a pair of shoes."
"She's entertaining someone?"
"More than entertaining. I'd say he's moved in with her."
"If I were a betting man, which I may be, I'd put my money on Frederick. If the rumors are true, he probably assumed he was the baby's father, if she was with child."
I couldn't meet his gaze. I couldn't be as detached as him in the face of such a scandal. "Lord Frederick was more attentive than any brother to his sister that I've known," was all I said. I may not have first hand experience of sibling relationships, but I'd seen the way Meg's brother treated her and it wasn't with the affection and kindness Lord Frederick showed to Lady Lucia. "Will you inform the king?"
"Not yet. If she becomes his favorite then I will to save him from embarrassment, but the badge of favoritism still belongs to Lady Miranda."
I wasn't surprised. The difference between the two women was as clear as night and day, and I knew both of them only a little. "Is Miranda happy to be his favorite? She didn't seem too sure of him when I last saw her."
"It's difficult to tell. When I see her, she's reserved, quiet. She keeps her thoughts to herself and when the king does insist on her opinion, it's measured. I can't tell if she's giving her own opinion or the one she thinks he wants to hear."
He didn't describe the woman I'd met. Miranda had seemed forthright enough to me. "Does the king agree with your assessment of her?"
"He seems to adore her. He's frustrated that she won't…give more of herself."
"You're not referring to her opinions, are you?"
The door opened and an elderly man limped in followed by Theodore. Theodore paused upon seeing us but the old man simply made his way to the desk, his walking stick thudding on the floorboards in a laborious rhythm.
"Make yourself a
t home, Hammer," he said.
The captain set down his cup and filled another with wine. "Balthazar, this is Miss Cully."
"I know." Balthazar finally reached the chair on the other side of the desk and sat with a deep exhale. The lines on his face—of which there were many—drew together in a wince of pain before spreading again. He was much older than my father, with a set of black eyes that fixed on me with an intensity that could strip paint.
"So this is she," he said, accepting the cup of wine from Hammer. "The woman who can't be a doctor and knows all our secrets."
"Not all," I said.
"Of course not. Not even we know all our secrets." He gave a dry bark of a laugh. "What do you think of that, Miss Cully?"
"Call me Josie. It doesn't seem right that I refer to you by your first names while you call me miss."
He placed the cup on the desk. His hands were as wrinkled as his face but the fingers were long and agile as he picked up a pen. "Is there a reason for your presence in my office, Hammer, or are you simply availing yourself of my wine?"
"Your wine is excellent," Hammer said, lifting his cup in salute. "Better than we have in the garrison. But Josie and I came here to talk in private. We've just come from Lady Lucia's room. She's not ill."
"Is she with child? Is that why the midwife has come?"
Theodore shook his head. "She can't be. The king hasn't…" He glanced at me and blushed.
"The king hasn't," Balthazar repeated, "but if Hammer's source is right, the brother has."
"He has," Hammer said. "He still is." He nodded thanks to me for that piece of information. "But she's not with child."
"Then why did she faint?" Theodore asked, taking a seat. Hammer remained standing by the sideboard, holding the cup loosely by his fingertips.
"I don't think she did," I said.
"She's acting ill for the king's attentions," Hammer told them. "So we believe."
"She's that desperate?" Theodore shook his head. "Desperate enough to poison her rival too?"
"She may have abandoned that plan now that Lady Miranda is being closely guarded. The king's taster is also sampling her food."
The scratching of Balthazar's pen filled the silence. He appeared to be lost in concentration. Hammer and Theodore exchanged glances and the silence stretched thin, finally breaking when Balthazar spoke without looking up.
"I have work to do. The festivities are only two days away and there's still much to be done. These things don't organize themselves. I'm sure you both have work to do that doesn't involve gossiping in my office."
"We're not gossiping," Theodore said. "We're trying to find the poisoner."
Balthazar finally looked up from his ledger. "I am not sure of many things, gentlemen, but I am sure of one. You won't find the poisoner in here. Josie, it was nice to meet you. You seem quiet. I like that, but I want you to leave, and take these oafs with you. I can't get anything done with their constant jabbering."
I expected one or both of them to retort but they did not, not even in jest.
I stood as Balthazar turned to the map on the wall. He squinted so hard his eyes almost disappeared into the wrinkles. "You should have some spectacles made," I said.
He grunted and continued to study the map.
I summoned some courage and forged ahead. "That map is beautiful. The detail is very fine. Did you draw it?"
"It was already here," he said absently.
"I wonder who made it. A very skilled cartographer, I expect. Certainly no one from Mull could do it. There are no records of its commission among all this paperwork?"
He picked up the pen and dipped it into the inkwell. "I take it back. You're not at all quiet."
"I'm simply curious. Your predicament is a strange one and the palace and all the things in it are a mystery. In my profession, mysteries need to be solved if patients are to survive."
"Your profession as a midwife, you mean?" he asked as he wrote. "I would have thought there was very little mystery in how and why babies come into the world."
Beside me, Theodore shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He gave his head a slight shake. Hammer didn't move. He watched Balthazar very closely.
"Hammer, see that Josie is escorted from the palace," Balthazar said. "We wouldn't want her getting lost again."
"Again?" I prompted.
"When you went looking for the garrison the night you were supposed to remain in Lady Miranda's rooms, you got hopelessly lost."
"How do you know about that?"
He finally looked up from the ledger and fixed me with that unnerving stare again. "I know everything that happens here. Now if you don't mind, I have work to do."
Theodore took my arm and tugged me toward the door. I followed him out, Hammer at my heels.
"What are you doing, Josie?" Theodore hissed when Hammer closed the door. "Don't anger him."
"I wasn't trying to anger him," I said. "I thought he might have answers about the palace."
"He doesn't."
"Have you considered that he might be lying to you?" I asked. "Or perhaps the king is? Or both?"
"Balthazar is above suspicion," Theodore said. "There's no evidence he's lying, and I have every reason to believe he has also lost his memory. He's merely a recalcitrant old man with a fierce temper and a lot of work to do. He doesn't suffer fools. Trust me, it's best to stay on his good side. When he loses his temper, the entire palace quakes."
"He makes the Rift seem like a mere tremble." Hammer indicated I should follow Theodore.
"He's not the only one," Theodore muttered.
I let the matter drop. Neither man was going to engage in speculation with me. Their loyalty was a credit to them, but I hoped it didn't blind them. To be fair, there was nothing to indicate Balthazar knew more than the rest of the staff. The king, on the other hand, seemed to be lying. He knew about women not being allowed into the Logios colleges, for one thing.
Or was I allowing my imagination to run away? It was entirely possible. Hammer was right when he said it would be a cruel person who withheld information from them, and he was in the best position to know the king, along with Theodore.
Yet I couldn't shake my doubts as I followed two of the king's most trusted staff through the underbelly of complex passages. Theodore paid me from a purse tucked into his pocket and veered off down one corridor, while Hammer and I took a different route that led outside. We emerged from the palace to find dusk had settled. Two footmen lit the torches between the palace and kitchen commons to light the way for the staff. Smells of roasted meats filled the air. My stomach rumbled, reminding me I hadn't eaten a proper meal in days. Grief was only partly to blame. I needed to economize now that the patients no longer came. Until I found my father's savings, I would not be enjoying a feast the likes of the one I smelled.
"Max," Hammer said, greeting his sergeant as he trotted up to us. "What's wrong?"
Max joined us, a little out of breath, and nodded a greeting to me. "I've been looking everywhere for you, Captain. The king wants to go for a walk."
"Damn it," Hammer muttered. It was the first time I'd seen him annoyed by an order from the king. "I'm taking Josie home."
"I'll do it."
Hammer tapped a finger on the hilt of his sword. "Let me speak with him."
"He's in the forecourt by the fountain."
Hammer marched off and Max followed. I trailed behind, not entirely sure what I was supposed to do. We rounded the long pavilion that acted as a division between the staff commons and the forecourt. Even though the torches had been lit behind us, it was like stepping from dusk into daylight. Dozens upon dozens of torches blazed around the forecourt perimeter and on every balcony, their flames picking out the gold on the balustrades. Looking at the palace, bathed in a golden glow, it was easy to believe why rumors of magic hadn't abated. It was a breathtaking spectacle, the likes of which I'd never imagined.
The cluster of ladies and gentleman near the fountain acted as a beac
on to the king's location. Some were in conversation with him, others simply seemed to be hovering in the hopes he'd notice them. As we drew closer, I recognized two of the ladies in his sphere—Miranda and Lady Violette Morgrave.
Hammer strode up to them and bowed to the king. "Sire."
"There you are, Captain," His Majesty said. "I've been waiting for you." He held out a hand to Miranda. "Shall we?"
"One moment, sire," Hammer said. "A word, please."
A flicker of panic passed over the king's face. They moved away from the nobles toward us, close enough for me to hear the worry in the king's voice when he asked Hammer if something had happened.
"Miss Cully came to the palace to check on Lady Lucia," Hammer told him.
The king looked at me. "Is she all right, Miss Cully?"
"There appears to be nothing wrong with her now," I said as I curtseyed. "Whatever caused her to faint has passed, but Doctor Clegg advised her to rest."
"Then rest she shall have. Is that all, Hammer?"
"I was about to escort Miss Cully home. It's growing dark and she should not go alone."
"That hardly requires your personal attention. One of your men can do it. Max!"
Max bowed. "Yes, sire."
"Take Miss Cully to wherever she wishes to go. I can't spare the captain." He cast a glance over his shoulder at the two ladies. They curtseyed in unison, like puppets on a string. Miranda lowered her gaze but Lady Morgrave did not. She gave the king a coy smile.
"Miss Cully has just suffered the recent loss of her father," Hammer went on. His voice sounded strained to me, but the king gave no indication he heard it. "She shouldn't enter the house alone at night, and—"
"Max can do it, Hammer. He's built like an ox. No one will dare cross him" He clasped the captain's arm and leaned closer. "I understand, but my need of your protection is greater."
"Allowing me to go with her would show how much you appreciated her for saving Lady Miranda's life."
"She didn't save it, her father did." The king softened his words with a smile for me. "You were an excellent assistant, Miss Cully, and I ordinarily would allow the captain to take you home, but not today. It's a fine evening and Lady Miranda would like to take a turn around the gardens. You understand, I'm sure."