Janus put his hands on his knees and crouched so his face was at eye level with the boy. “Davin, is it? Tell me exactly what you saw,” he said in a low, even tone, and Leo would have sworn the man was completely calm, if he hadn’t seen the tremor in his hands where they were clutching at the fabric of his trousers.
Still, it had the desired effect. Davin drew himself up straight. “Well, I’d taken Maisie out for a ride, and we’d stopped for a bit at that nice stand of trees, and while we were, um, resting, some horses passed us, and when I looked, I saw a man in a black hood and cape, and he had—he had—” His breath caught.
“Deep breath, son.” Janus put a hand on his shoulder and gave an encouraging squeeze, and all Leo could think was that the man must have nerves of steel and the patience of a saint.
It did the trick, though, because Davin drew in a breath and continued. “I saw Felix. He was slung over the back of the man’s horse, all tied up and hanging there like a sack of spuds, and they went riding off toward Blackmount Ridge!”
“Someone tookFelix?” Janus sounded equal parts horrified and incredulous, and that, Leo thought, pretty much summed up his own feelings.
“Uh-huh. And…and…” Davin looked down and scuffed his boot in the dirt.
“Out with it, lad,” Mother growled.
As an information gathering technique, it worked just as well as Janus’s more measured approach. Davin didn’t waste any time saying, “Only, I think I recognised the horse from when the visitors were here last. It was…” He bit his lip, ducked his head, and blurted out, “It was Prince Stephan’s horse.”
What?
Leo’s mouth dropped open.
“Are yousure?” Janus demanded.
Davin nodded vigorously. “I remembered because it has a big mark up one side like lightning, and Ollie and I laughed about how daft it was that the prince had called it Thunder instead of Lightning. It was definitely his horse.”
There was a moment’s silence while they digested that information before Janus patted Davin’s shoulder again and said quietly, “Thank you, Davin. Can I ask that you and Maisie don’t tell anyone else what you saw?”
Maisie gave a solemn nod. Davin mimed twisting a key against his lips, paused, and unlocked them again before saying, “I’m not in trouble for skiving, then?”
“Not this time,” Leo said. “Off you go.”
Davin’s eyes widened at being addressed by the king and he and Maisie scurried away, presumably before Leo changed his mind.
Janus set his shoulders back, his spine ramrod straight and his expression murderous. “That bastard. He has my son, and I’m going after him.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“Absolutely not,” Janus said, and it didn’t escape Leo’s notice that he didn’t bother with niceties. “You’ll only slow me down.”
Leo glared but Janus remained impassive, and Leo knew that they didn’t have time to waste, so in the end he threw his hands in the air. “Fine! But you’ll take Mattias and six of your best guards.”
Janus cocked an eyebrow. “Allof my guards are my best guards.” He turned on his heel and started jogging towards the castle. Leo followed him.
“Mattias is in the gardens with the princess,” he directed, and Janus gave a terse nod and turned up the pathway that led into the ornate arrangement of flower beds. As they reached a solid wooden gate covered with vines, Leo put a hand on Janus’s as he went to lift the latch. “Do you think the princess can be trusted?” he said in an undertone.
Janus tilted his head back and looked at the sky, either considering or praying for strength, Leo wasn’t sure which. Soon enough, though, Janus gave a decisive nod. “I’ve spent enough time guarding the princess to know she has no time for her idiot brother and his ideas, so I can’t see why she’d have anything to do with this. Whatever scheme Stephan’s cooked up, she isn’t part of it.”
Well, that was something, at least. “But why have they taken Felix?” Leo said, more to himself than anyone as Janus opened the gate.
“Who’s taken Felix?” Sophia demanded.
She was seated on a bench, perched next to Mattias under the shade of a tree, but she stood and hurried over.
Mattias followed. “Someone took Flick?” His mouth thinned to a hard line. “Do we know who?”
“One of the boys saw him being carried away unconscious towards Blackmount Ridge. And”—Leo winced internally—“I’m sorry, but he said the horse belonged to Stephan.”
He braced himself for Sophia’s denial, but she just folded her arms, rolled her eyes in resignation, and said, “Of course my brother’s too stupid to use someone else’s horse. But the good news is that he lacks imagination as well as stealth, so I knowexactlywhere he’s taken Felix. There’s a hunting lodge that we use there.”
She placed a hand on Leo’s cheek in reassurance, and there was just enough comfort in the touch to help Leo keep himself together, but not so much that it would shake him apart.
