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“I’ll send Donnel and Amos in as soon as I can find them,” I said, turning and marching away.
The garden was small enough that Genny, Peter, and Neil had heard the entire plan, and as soon as I reached Genny, he turned to walk with me.
We remained silent as we walked through the palace, searching for Donell or Amos, or for any of the palace servants I knew from when the place was my home. Genny was back to not speaking, I could tell. He had that look in his eyes that said he wouldn’t feel up to fully engaging in with the world for a while. Part of me hated that look and those moods, but a different part of me actually liked them. Those were the times when I was the only one Genny let in.
It took what felt like forever to find Amos. I had to stop one of the younger maids, since we didn’t come across any of the servants I knew, and ask her where Donnel and Amos were. She directed us to the far side of the palace, where at least half of the staff of the place was busy setting up lunch. I had to be the one to break the news to Victor that it wasn’t very likely anyone would show up to lunch because the wolves were upset about the attack on their pups and Sai wasn’t feeling well.
Victor cursed and glared at me, then walked away muttering, but not before pointing out Amos at the other end of the room.
“Amos,” I caught the man’s attention as quietly as I could and as far away from the other servants—who were just as frustrated about the grand lunch being canceled as Victor was—as possible. “Sai needs you,” I told him. “And Donnel. In the library garden. And you can’t tell a soul that you’re going or what you see when you get there.”
Amos blinked at me, understandably baffled, but pulled himself together and bowed in no time. “Yes, my lord,” he said, instantly hurrying off, like a good servant.
“You see?” I joked with Genny, trying to smile. “That’s how to react when given a command. Obey immediately. You could learn a lesson from Amos sometimes, especially when you’re feeling feisty.”
Genny smiled weakly, leaning against my arm for a moment. He definitely wasn’t feeling feisty now.
“What do you mean, lunch has been canceled?” I heard my mother’s voice shout at the other side of the large dining room.
I sucked in a breath, then let it out on a wary growl, closing my eyes and praying for patience as I did. Mother was the last thing I needed right now.
“Sorry,” I apologized to Genny in advance once I opened my eyes and started across the room to her.
Genny gave me an uneasy look, as if bracing himself for the encounter.
“Jace, what is the meaning of this?” my mother demanded as soon as she saw the two of us walking toward her. “Is this your doing?”
I hated it. It wasn’t fair. I hadn’t done anything wrong. I hadn’t seen my mother for three years. I had spent every one of the days of those years worrying about her and my sisters and praying for their safety. I had longed for the moment when we would all be reunited, and here it had all turned to shit. She glared at me as though I were no better than Gomez, and she refused to acknowledge Genny at all, even though I held his hand.
“There’s been some trouble with the wolves, Mother,” I told her. “Someone attacked two of the pups, Sebald’s Avenel and Jorgen’s Kliment. It’s upset us all, and instead of attending lunch and more meetings at the palace, we need to be at the cottages to take care of things.”
It was a pretty good explanation, I thought. But my mother huffed and shook her head.
“We have gone through a great deal of trouble to be hospitable toward you wolves,” she said, crossing her arms impatiently. “Food is still in short supply. Every single man, woman, and child in this palace has better things to do than to cater to the whims of forest-dwellers. The very least those savages could do is behave like civilized people by attending a meal instead of engaging in some sort of….”
I waited for her to come up with a word to describe what she thought was going on at the cottages. Knowing the way my mother had been raised to think about things, she was probably picturing some sort of ritual slaughter or an orgy, or both.
“How would you feel if someone attacked the girls?” I asked her, trying desperately not to come off as disdainful. “Would you be ready to go straight to a formal dinner and to then pretend to be nice to a bunch of people who don’t like you all that much?”
My mother pursed her lips and stared flatly at me. “It isn’t the same thing,” she said.
“It is exactly the same thing,” I said with an exhausted sigh. I rubbed my forehead with my free hand. “Truly, Mother, unless you stop thinking of wolves as your enemy and beneath you and start seeing us as allies and equals, nothing is ever going to get done.” I let my hand drop and added, “Sai is the weak link in the negotiations that have been taking place since yesterday. No,” I corrected myself immediately, “not Sai. Sai is doing everything he can to save this upstart kingdom from ruin. The rest of you are the ones dragging him back, and you’re all going to suffer for it.”
“Jace! Watch your tongue,” my mother scolded. “I did not raise you to be disrespectful of your elders and betters.”
“Who is better than who, Mother?” I demanded, losing more of my patience every second. “The old cities aren’t going to last if you all don’t start living by new rules. You can’t go around believing—”
“Mama?”
I was astoundingly grateful for Vera’s interruption just then. She and Taisiya had approached the three of us at some point. I had been too busy arguing to see them, or to see how much of the argument they’d overheard. They’d heard enough to put anxious looks on both of their faces as they glanced between me and our mother.
“Has lunch truly been canceled?” Vera asked when neither our mother nor I answered.
Mother was still glaring at me and looking like she wondered what happened to the good, sweet, obedient boy she’d once known—which I’d never been. She dragged her eyes away from mine at last and looked impatiently at Vera.
“Yes. Lunch had been canceled. It would seem the wolves cannot be bothered to appreciate the lengths we’ve all gone to for them,” she said.
I stiffened and told Vera, “There’s been an emergency at the cottages where many of the delegates from the Wolf River Kingdom and Good Port are staying. Jorgen and Hati left their pups there with Genny and Avenel this morning, and they were attacked.”
