“Remember that and I’ll get you more assignments near him.”
Deciding that the conversation in the corridor had gone on long enough Ciardis said, “I think you’d better take me to those chambers now.”
The man curled up his mouth in a snooty look but didn’t reprimand her.
“Come with me.” He held an old-fashioned candelabra in his hands. The kind used to light dark passageways without the aid of magic. As they wound their way through the servant’s corridors with the occasional rat squeaking past Ciardis was glad to have the light. A mage orb would be better but beggars couldn’t be choosers. He stopped in front of an elaborate doorway with glossy hardwood, the Algardis crest embossed in the middle and an actual door knob.
Staring in disbelief Ciardis couldn’t keep quiet.
“Isn’t this conspicuous? To have the Prince Heir’s chambers marked so openly? ” she said.
He turned towards her, the candelabra in his left hand as he said, “The servants should always know which door they approach and whom they should expect on the other side. Protocol demands it.”
“I understand that,” she retorted, “But any one can tell this door is different from the surrounding corridor. That someone
The butler’s mouth had stiffened into a thin line, “That would be the point.”
“You’re asking for trouble. Assasins, thieves and the like.”
He let out a suffering sigh, “The Prince Heir has the top guardians in the Empire at his side. Now perhaps it would be best for you to go inside...and keep your mouth shut unless the Prince Heir requests otherwise.”
Ciardis sniffed and swept past him as he opened the corridor door into the Prince Heir’s well-lit sitting room.
As the door closed behind her she sat for a minute. When ten minutes had past and Sebastian still hadn’t come in she wandered around the room picking up objects and studying paintings. After another ten minutes had passed, the door to the formal sitting area opened and in walked a tired prince heir. Giving Ciardis a tired smile, he uncapped a decanter sitting on a side table near the door. Pouring himself a drink, he smiled and said, “Isn’t this familiar?”
“Aren’t you a little young to be drinking?”
“I’m sixteen,” he said defensively, “and it’s just an iced herbal tea.”
She raised an eyebrow, not believing him. She’d heard that before. Not from a prince, though. Usually the village boys thought they were being smart by hiding their moonshine in water pouches. Stupid was a better description. After they put the alcohol in their water pouches they couldn’t use them during the hunt. Too many animals, mage and mundane alike, knew the scent of alcohol in the North.
And they remembered what it meant. Those creatures would do anything to kill the person who carried the scent because it meant an evil which hadn’t been seen in centuries was nearby. Focusing on Sebastian, Ciardis walked up into his personal space and took a direct and impolite sniff of his glass.
She didn’t care that it was rude. She couldn’t abide drunks, and she certainly wouldn’t serve one. Not directly, anyway.
Fortunately for him, it was clean.
“If you’re finished inspecting my nightly herbal mix,” Sebastian said with dry amusement, “we have much to discuss.”
She looked at him curiously and sat down on the couch, crossing her legs.
“You’re not upset?”
“About?”
“Me inspecting your drink for starters?”
He looked at her with seriousness on his face. “Even when I was an Imperial outcast, there were very few people who cared to cross me at court. They all wanted me dead. But—at least in this realm—they were as polite as could be when they saw me.”
He poured a second drink and motioned to an empty cup. She nodded.
“You, on the other hand,” said Prince Sebastian, handing her the second cup and sitting back, “say what you think, don’t guard your feelings, and are even...disdainful toward me.”
Ciardis snorted. Polite semantics.
“I can’t say I always enjoy any of those three things,” he said wistfully, “but for the most part I appreciate it.”
“Anything else you’re not upset about?”
He snorted. “Nope, the rest of the night’s going to be righteous indignation about your continual need to disrupt life in the Imperial courts and not observing the protocols before your betters.”
Ciardis looked at him pointedly. He looked back at her over his cup, eyes laughing. And then they burst into gales of laughter. Neither could help it. It was the exact speech given to them by the new grand vizier after another incident.
Face twitching as she fought to get her response under control, she said, “I suppose I semi-deserved that.”
“Right. So I hear you nearly killed a duchess? That’s a step up from implicating a duke in a torrid affair.”
Ciardis paused. “You do know the duke wasn’t trying to kill me just because of that affair nonsense, right?”
“Yeah, but it certainly didn’t help your case when you added a power struggle for my attention on top of it.”
Ciardis put her glass down, kicked off her shoes, and tucked her feet under her comfortably. It was going to be a long night.
“I didn’t almost kill her. She almost killed me,” she confided. “And then the dragon almost killed her.”
At that, Prince Sebastian sat up.
“Wait—dragon? The ambassador tried to kill the Duchess of Carne?”
Ciardis nodded. “Something about me being her
There was incredulity plastered on Sebastian’s face.
“Don’t ask me how she knew where I was,” said Ciardis truthfully, “because I have no idea. And then that minstrel said the same thing happened to my mother.”
A flicker of coldness flitted over Sebastian’s face before he smoothed his expression over and shook his head in confusion. “Why don’t you start over? From the beginning.”
She did and she told him everything she’d learned up to meeting the minstrel at the inn. Explaining the duchess’s attack on her in the garden was more difficult – not only because it was so brutal that her body was still recovering.
Prince Sebastian bit his lip. He immediately released his bottom lip from the hold with a frustrated look, “I knew about the duchess and the locket from the reports I received this morning from the Magistrate’s Court. But the dragon—that I didn’t know.”
Ciardis shrugged. “The enforcers didn’t seem inclined to question her. I guess they didn’t include much in their reports about it.”
“Besides aren’t you supposed to have spies to tell you all of these things?” she continued with a wicked smile.
“Spies,” he said laughing. “I just got back into my father’s good graces and it’s only been two months since I was almost disinherited. Let’s take it slowly here.”
“All I’m saying is you might know more about the going-ons at court if you had people listening in.”
“Or knew where to put my ears to the ground,” he pointed out.
This time it was her turn to sit back in contemplation.
“Those other two that you mentioned—Stephanie and Christian,” he said. “Who are they to you?”
“Friends,” said Ciardis while hesitating. She’d already told Sebastian about everything they’d done for her, minus the dead body. But she wasn’t sure yet if she should tell him about the Shadow Council. She didn’t even know what it was. Or who was behind it.
“Do you think they’d be good listeners?”
