She could almost wish for an attack, just for the distraction. She bit the inside of her cheek and sighed. No use temping the Gods. Forgive my impatience.
If the Gods forgave her, they showed no sign. The sun continued to tempt her, her feet continued to ache, and her heart continued to pound with each approaching footstep across the soft, blue rug that ran the audience hall’s length.
After a long litany of highborns, the presentations moved on to the members of the King’s own council. Adelei’s feet were falling asleep in shoes a pinch too small for her, and she shifted her weight back and forth.
When that didn’t distract her, she gazed at the mural painted across the audience chamber’s back wall. King Boahim himself stood in a field of green where he planted the blue flag in the ground, its silver star held aloft by deer’s antlers as it looked to the heavens. It was difficult to believe the Little Dozen Kingdoms were once one land under one man. Adelei paused in her thoughts to acknowledge King Leon’s Grand Advisor as he touched her dirk and welcomed her.
Beside King Boahim stood thirteen mystics: advisors and healers for his castle in the new city of Alesta. The entire history of this land began right here. I wonder if these are the original stones from long ago, or if war and rebuilding has changed them, too. As she studied the nobility as they came and went, she frowned. Any one of them could be behind the Tribor. And yet, her gut told her she already had her culprit.
He had all but admitted it in the stables.
When the last of the ennobled presented themselves, sweat decorated her brow. An irritating trickle ran between the inch-long hairs on her scalp. Her fingers twitched, but she resisted the urge to scratch her own head.
Everyone knelt as King Leon left the audience chamber. Adelei followed behind Princess Margaret and Prince Gamun, the latter of which slowed his steps every so often to turn around. “Beautiful tapestry,” he mumbled, but he never once looked at it, nor the statue in the hall or the painting hanging in the stairwell.
His eyes were always on her. Or so it felt.
As hard as she tried to ignore him, her skin crawled as they walked. The royal family retired to private chambers for a brief break. The King had his meeting with the council after noon. Adelei had another “practice session” with Her Highness around the same time. She yawned as they climbed the stairs to the fourth floor. Once her sister was secured in her own rooms, Adelei strode straight into her bathing chamber.
Hot water. And lots of soap. Water flowed from the wall into the small tub, and she dropped a bar of soap into the water.
It wasn’t the sweat that bothered her as she stripped of the sepier outfit. Not at all. For the second time that day, Adelei scrubbed her skin pink in the stone bathtub.
“Another report has come in from the Shadian border, Sire.” Leon’s Grand Marshal handed him the parchment. His eyes skimmed over the numbers, and he resisted the urge to crumple it up and toss it across the room.
More small villages and farmers begging for his protection. More landowners pleading with him to annex them into his kingdom. Every time he opened his court to hear the complaints and concerns of his people, there was always someone else who pushed the boundaries. Or wanted him to push them in a literal sense.
“What reasons do they give this time?” Leon asked as he rubbed his temples.
“More of the same, mostly,” said Grand Marshal Levon Doublis. The man pointed a finger at one in particular. “This one here—it’s a Baron Akash near the Meridi Pass—he claims his cousins, the royal family of Shad, are employing evil men. He’s got quite a list of reasons he needs protection from us.”
“Hmmm, that one may be worth investigating.”
The Grand Marshal nodded. “Captain Warhammer passed our herald on the road. Said she was heading that way anyway and would look into it.’”
Something about this news set Leon on edge, and he ground his teeth. “What else?”
Lady Mara Britus cleared her throat, and Leon repressed a sigh. I must replace her. The old bat couldn’t give decent advice if someone gave it to her first. She still wore the necklace her husband had given her last year, just weeks before he died. Died and left her sitting on his council. Leon sighed as she cleared her throat again. The slightly chipped ruby hung on a dirty chain. Bits of yesterday’s dinner still stuck to its links.
Gods, none of us are getting younger.
The lady rubbed the thick ruby that hung between her breasts before she spoke. “There’s something else, Your Majesty, something none of them—” she said and gestured at the rest of the council, “—wished to tell you. Not before the wedding.”
“What is it?”
“A body has been found.”
Leon stiffened in his chair. Five members of his advisory council sat around the old table, but two were missing. Princess Margaret held a reserved seat upon the council, though she rarely used it. But the last seat belonged to his sepier. Adelei now served as the royal family’s sepier, but when Leon glanced at the empty chair, he kept waiting for Ida to claim it.
Ida. The woman he’d sent to the border. Please don’t let the body be hers.
When he opened eyes, his physician studied him. Leon waved a hand in the man’s direction and asked, “Whose body?”
“We’re not sure,” said Mara. “It was a child’s body.”
“There’s a problem, Your Majesty,” the Grand Marshall added. “The child arrived with His Highness of Shad.”
His fingers gripped the table’s edge, and the five faces before Leon swam. He released one hand long enough to ring a bell. “Go find Master Adelei.
