Chapter 27
I keep my eyes shut, surrounded by fear, and I know what to do. You taught me that time, and I know what you’d say if you were here by my side: ‘Five seconds, Quintana, just as I taught you’ … but it’s the man with the noose and I forget to be brave … he’s here in the cave, Froi, and I’m scared for our lives … Keep shouting your words … ‘
The corpse in their cave had lain uncovered for most of the day.
No one had spoken yet. No one could find it within themselves to get close enough to cover the mangled flesh of the intruder. Instead, fussing wordlessly over Florenza gave them all something to do. The intruder had used his fists on her because Florenza had been outside the cave when he snuck up on them. She had fought like a demon trying to stop him from entering and her pretty face was all bruised, her nose broken.
Jorja rocked her daughter in her arms the whole day and finally Phaedra heard a sob escape her. It was the first show of emotion since the screaming and crying that had taken place when the man first entered. Ginny began to blubber then and even Cora’s ragged breathing joined in with the rest. While Jorja cried and clutched her daughter, Quintana raised her head. She had spent the day curled up in a ball, her hands tight around her belly.
‘You can call her your princess, Jorja,’ Quintana said quietly. ‘I’ll let you.’
It only made Jorja cry even more. But her tears had awakened their cold, strange princess, who crawled on all fours to be beside Jorja and Florenza.
‘You tell Florenza that she’ll be rewarded one day for trying to save the little King.’
Phaedra trembled to see the sorrow in Jorja’s eyes.
‘And what of your life, Princess? What is the reward for saving the life of the little King’s mother?’
Quintana was confused by the question, almost scornful.
‘You’d barely get a piece of silver for that, Jorja,’ she said. ‘It’s better to ask for more in this life.’
Phaedra watched Quintana struggle to her feet, her belly so round and ripe.
‘Where are you going?’ Cora asked. ‘Lie down, you silly girl.’ There was a gentleness in her voice that Phaedra hadn’t heard before.
‘To find Tesadora,’ the Princess said. ‘She’ll know what to do.’ Quintana held out a hand to Phaedra. ‘Come Phaedra, we can’t stare at a corpse all night. It’s dark now and no one will see us. We’ll take the weapons.’
The idea of holding a weapon made Phaedra sick to her stomach. She shook her head, refusing to move.
‘Don’t go out there, Your Majesty,’ Jorja said. ‘Another could be watching.’
‘Why would you think that?’ Ginny asked with a cry. She had been the most hysterical of them all.
‘You stay,’ Cora said quietly to Quintana. ‘Ginny, come with me.’
And then they were gone and Phaedra dared to look at what lay in the centre of the room and her eyes found Quintana’s and there it was. The savage satisfaction in her eyes, a glimpse of pleased little teeth showing through her lips.
Much later they heard a sound and Florenza whimpered. Jorja was on her feet in an instant, the spear in her hands. She looked like one of those crazed women who lived by the swamp in Phaedra’s province. They all did. They were all filthy and wild and Phaedra hardly recognised what they had become.
Cora and Ginny entered first and then Tesadora, Japhra, Rafuel. And Lucian.
Tesadora walked to the corpse and Phaedra saw her flinch at the state of the body. It had taken strike after strike to stop the intruder coming towards Quintana. Fifteen strikes, Phaedra had counted. Quintana had told her just the other day that counting kept Froi focused, so Phaedra had counted the blows.
The man had known exactly who he was looking for. He had grabbed Quintana by the hair and pulled her to her feet. The viciousness of his movements had awakened something in all of them.
‘What will we do with it?’ Cora asked.
Lucian stepped forward to study the corpse.
‘Bury him,’ he said.
The women gasped.
‘It’s not the Charynite way,’ Phaedra said quietly.
‘When you’re hiding a corpse, it’s the only way.’
With Rafuel’s help, Lucian lifted the body and carried it away and when Phaedra saw the blood on the stone she took the bucket and travelled down to the stream in the dark once, twice, three times. More. She wanted the blood gone. She wanted to scrub it from existence.
The men returned and Phaedra couldn’t bear to look at them. She knew Lucian was watching her. She felt it. If she had imagined herself to be in love with him during those last days on the mountain before Quintana’s arrival, now it made her ache. Once, she believed misery was a half-dead kingdom, or living among hostile people. Now she knew it also included loving a man who she’d never have.
She felt Quintana’s hand on her shoulder, but Phaedra shrugged it free.
‘Just go rest, Your Majesty,’ she said, unable to look her in the eye. ‘All this can’t be good for the babe.’
When Phaedra was a child she had watched her father and his men drag home the carcass of a boar. They hadn’t killed it for sport, but because it had raced towards them and attacked a young cousin. Upon seeing the lad’s mangled body, her father and his men had leapt off their horses and clubbed it in fury. ‘So it will never do harm again,’ her father had said. But later she heard him speak to her mother, his voice soft. Telling her that killing the boar required no thought, no logic, just instinct. ‘In the end, we’re just animals ourselves,’ he said.
Kneeling on the cold, blood-soaked stone, Phaedra had never understood her father’s words so much.
Lucian studied the women carefully. He was still unsure of what he had walked into. A last-minute trip down the mountain to see that all was well with his two cousins and Tesadora’s girls had led to this. He watched Rafuel crouch before Quintana of Charyn and hold out a hand to her. She gripped his fingers and drew him close.
‘Did they tell you what I did?’ Quintana said. ‘I couldn’t move.’
Rafuel nodded. ‘Everything will be fine, Your Majesty. As long as you’re not hurt, everything will turn out fine. You know what they’re whispering about? Armies. Not just one, but many. For you and the little King.’
Lucian studied her face. He had never looked at her closely. She was strangely fascinating, all cold suspicion with a quick flash of fear thrown in once in a while. Suddenly her attention was on Lucian.
‘I froze,’ she said again. ‘Don’t tell Froi I did. He’ll be disappointed. I promised I’d stay alive, that I’d protect the little King. But it was the hangman from the Citavita. He had put a noose over my head and when I saw his face, I froze.’
Lucian glanced at Rafuel, confused.
‘They tried to hang her in the Citavita. Galvin was the hangman.’
Lucian remembered the story from Phaedra’s excited whispers that time on the mountain. Hearing adventurous stories about Froi saving princesses was one thing, but this was different. There was nothing exhilarating about a girl with a noose around her neck.
‘Then if he was the one who put the noose over your head, it’s only right that he lies in the ground,’ Lucian said. He stole a look at Phaedra, who was scrubbing the ground and refusing to look at him.
‘Tell her to stop,’ he said to Tesadora softly.
Tesadora was pale. Saddened.
‘There’s no more blood left, Phaedra,’ Tesadora said, firmly but gently. ‘He’s gone.’
‘Do you think he recognised Her Majesty from the time she arrived in the valley?’ Cora asked Rafuel.
‘It doesn’t make sense,’ Jorja said. ‘Why wait all this time to act?’
‘Could he have followed you, Rafuel?’ Cora suggested.
Rafuel nodded. ‘Perhaps. Galvin wanted to prove his worth to Donashe. Let’s pray he kept all this to himself with the hope of dragging Her Majesty back to the valley tonight and declaring himself the mightier of us both. Let’s hope he didn’t tell Gies. All we need is for the fool to come sniffing around searching for his friend.’
‘Gies!’ Ginny cried out. ‘Does he know I’m here? Why hasn’t he come for me?’
