I bit my tongue and waited for the fit to pass. 'Neatbay did not fall because Regal stayed here to protect us.' I wanted to make certain that Cook was connecting those two events, not merely mentioning them both in the same lecture.
She nodded as she kept rubbing the meat. Pounded sage, my nose told me. And rosemary. 'It's what's been needed all along. Soldiers sent right away. Skilling is fine, but what's the good of knowing what's happening if no one does anything about it?'
'Verity always sent out the warships.'
'And they always seemed to get there too late.' She turned to me, wiping her hands down the front of her apron. 'Oh, I know you worshiped him, lad. Our Prince Verity was a goodhearted man, who wore himself to death trying to protect us. I'm not speaking against the dead. I'm only saying that Skilling and chasing down Elderlings are not the way to fight these Red-Ships. What Prince Regal done, sending the soldiers and ships out the minute he heard, that's what was needed all along. Maybe with Prince Regal in charge, we'll survive here.'
'What about King Shrewd?' I asked softly.
She misunderstood my question. In doing so, she showed me what she really thought. 'Oh, he's as good as can be expected. He'll even be down to the feast tonight, at least for a bit. Poor man. He's suffering so much. Poor, poor man.'
Dead man. She as much as said it. King no longer, Shrewd was just a poor, poor man to her. Regal had it. 'Do you think our queen will be at the feast?' I asked. 'After all, she has just heard of the death of her husband and king.'
'Oh, I think she'll be there.' Sara nodded to herself. She turned the leg over with a thud, to begin pricking the other side full of herbs. 'I've heard it said she's saying she's with child now.' The cook sounded skeptical. 'She'll want to announce it tonight.'
'Do you doubt she's with child?' I asked bluntly. Cook was not offended by it.
'Oh, I don't doubt she's pregnant, if she says she is. It just seems a bit odd, is all, her telling it after word of Verity's death came in instead of before.'
'How's that?'
'Well, some of us are bound to wonder.'
'Wonder what?' I asked coldly.
Cook darted a glance at me and I cursed my impatience. Shutting her up was not what I wanted to do. I needed to hear the rumors, all of them.
'Well…' She hesitated, but could not deny my listening ears. 'What's always wondered, when a woman doesn't conceive, and then when her husband's away, suddenly she announces she's pregnant by him.' She glanced about to see who else might be listening. All seemed busy at their work, but I didn't doubt a few ears were tilted our way. 'Why now? All of a sudden. And if she knew she was pregnant, what was she thinking of, racing off in the middle of the night, right into battle? That's strange behavior for a Queen carrying the throne's heir.'
'Well' — I tried to make my voice mild — 'I suppose when the child is born will show when it was conceived. Those who want to count moons on their fingers may do so then. Besides' — and I leaned in conspiratorially — 'I heard that some of her ladies knew of it before she left. Lady Patience, for instance, and her maid Lacey.' I would have to make sure that Patience bragged of her early knowledge, and that Lacey noised it about among the servants.
'Oh. That one.' Cook Sara's dismissal quashed my hopes of an easy victory. 'Well, not to offend, Fitz, but she can be a bit daft on occasion. Lacey, though, Lacey is solid. But she don't say much, and don't want to listen to what others have to say either.'
'Well' — I smiled and tipped her a wink — 'that was where I heard it from. And I heard it well before we left for Neatbay.' I leaned in closer. 'Ask about. I bet you'll find Queen Kettricken's been drinking raspberry-leaf tea for her morning sickness. You check, and see if I'm right. I'll wager a silver bit I am.'
'A silver bit? Ohe. As if I've such to spare. But I'll ask, Fitz, that I will. And shame on you for not sharing such a rich bit of gossip with me before. And all I tell you!'
'Well, here's something for you, then. Queen Kettricken's not the only one with child!'
'Oh? Who else?'
I smiled. 'Can't tell you just yet. But you'll be among the first to know, from what I've heard.' I had no idea who might be pregnant, but it was safe to say that someone in the Keep was, or would be, in time to substantiate my rumor. I needed to keep Cook pleased with me if I were to count on her for court talk. She nodded sagely at me, and I winked.
She finished her venison leg. 'Here, Dod, come take this and put it on the meat hooks over the big fire. Highest hooks, I want it cooked, not scorched. Go on with you, now. Kettle? Where's that milk I asked you to fetch?'
I snagged bread and apples before I left for my room. Plain fare, but welcome to one as hungry as I. I went straight to my room, washed up, ate, and lay down to rest. I might have small chance at the King tonight, but I still wanted to be as alert as possible during the feast. I thought of going to Kettricken to ask her not to mourn Verity just yet. But I knew I would never get past her ladies for a quiet word with her. And what if I were wrong? No. When I could prove Verity was still alive would be soon enough to tell her.
I awoke later to a tap on my door. I lay still for a moment, not sure if I had heard anything, then rose to undo my latches and open the door a crack. The Fool stood outside my door. I do not know if I was more surprised that he had knocked instead of slipping the latches, or at the way he was attired. I stood gaping at him. He bowed genteelly, then pushed his way into my room, closing the door behind him. He fastened a couple of latches, then stepped to the center of the room and extended his arms. He turned in a slow circle for me to admire him. 'Well?'
'You don't look like you,' I said bluntly.
'I am not intended to.' He tugged his overjerkin straight, then plucked at his sleeves to display better not only the embroidery on them, but the slashes that showed off the rich fabric of the sleeves beneath them. He fluffed his plumed hat, set it once more atop his colorless hair. From deepest indigo to palest azure went the colors, and the Fool's white face, like a peeled egg, peeping out of them. 'Fools are no longer in fashion.'
I sat down slowly on my bed. 'Regal has dressed you like this,' I said faintly.
'Hardly. He supplied the clothing, of course, but I dressed myself. If Fools are no longer in fashion, consider how lowly would be the valet of a Fool.'
'How about King Shrewd? Is he no longer in fashion?' I asked acidly.
'It is no longer in fashion to be overly concerned with King Shrewd,' he replied. He cut a caper, then stopped, drew himself up with dignity as befitted his new clothes, and took a turn about the room. 'I am to sit at the Prince's table tonight, and be full of merriment and wit. Do you think I shall do well at it?'
'Better far than I,' I said sourly. 'Care you not at all that Verity is dead?'
'Care you not at all that the flowers are blooming beneath the summer sun?'
'Fool, it is winter outside.'
'The one is as true as the other. Believe me.' The Fool stood suddenly still. 'I have come to ask a favor of you, if you can believe that.'
'The second as easily as the first. What is it?'
'Do not slay my king with your ambitions for your own.'
I looked at him in horror. 'I would never slay my king! How dare you say it!'
'Oh, I dare much, these days.' He put his hands behind him and paced about the room. With his elegant clothes and unaccustomed postures, he frightened me. It was as if another being inhabited his body, one I knew not at all.
'Not even if the King had killed your mother?'
A terrible sick feeling rose in me. 'What are you trying to tell me?' I whispered.
The Fool whirled at the pain in my voice. 'No. No! You mistake me entirely!' There was sincerity in his voice, and for an instant I could see my friend again. 'But,' he continued in a softer, almost sly tone, 'if you believed the King had killed your mother, your much-cherished, loving, indulgent mother, had killed her and snatched her forever away from you. Do you think you might then kill him?'
I had been blind for so long that it took me a moment to understand him. I knew Regal believed his mother
