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“Some,” he responded. He had spent three weeks in this wretched kingdom, and he had nothing to show for it. Nothing save for a near-death experience and a few secret meetings in a dark theater. “Mostly speculation. I just hope I have enough time to find proof that they exist, otherwise this will all be for nothing.”
Drystan clasped his shoulder comfortingly, then climbed inside, Auberon following close behind. The driver snapped his reins, and they started back toward the castle. A heavy silence settled over them. Valerian and Eamon were sharing the opposite bench, and each seemed to be doing everything in his power to pretend the other didn’t exist.
When they arrived at the castle, Valerian climbed out of the carriage first and excused himself to retire to his rooms. Auberon made to follow Drystan through the portcullis, but Eamon stepped in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. In the moonlight, the prince’s eyes were twin pools of darkness, cold and empty. “Your Highness, I was hoping we could finish last night’s conversation on somewhat morecivilizedterms.”
“That’s an interesting suggestion. I didn’t think you were even capable of such a thing.”
A barbed smile cut across the prince’s face. “You see, I realized that I don’t have to say a word about your improper desires to the king and court if I wish to hurt you. I suspect it will be torturous enough for you to stand silent and watch Lady Riona be promised to one of us.” He leaned in, lowering his voice. “Tell me the truth: have you fallen for the girl your brother wishes to marry? Do you lie awake at night, wishing you could steal her away for yourself?”
Auberon laughed. Over Eamon’s shoulder, he saw Drystan turn around and start toward them, and he held up a hand to stop him. “No, I would never do that to Drystan. He is the sort of man Lady Riona deserves, not I.” His voice turned icy as he drawled, “You have no reason to feel threatened by me, Eamon. You will lose Riona, and it will be no one’s fault but your own.”
He brushed past the prince and walked through the portcullis. Drystan fell into step beside him. “Need we be concerned about him?”
“Not at all.”
Drystan didn’t look convinced, but he nodded, and they continued through the castle buildings in silence. When they neared Valerian’s guest house, Auberon said, “I must have a word with the duke. When you get back to the house, send some guards over here, but tell them they are not to come inside unless I give the command. Just have them stay within earshot.”
“Is this something I should be concerned about?”
“Just a precaution.”
“Then I will. Be careful.”
Auberon grinned. “I always am.”
He bade Drystan goodnight and approached the house in which Valerian was staying. The duke’s guards were already waiting outside, which meant that they would be able to speak in total privacy. He knocked on the door, the sound jarring in the nighttime quiet. After a few seconds, the duke opened the door, a grim expression on his face. “Come inside, and I’ll explain everything.”
ChapterThirty-Nine
The Lady
She had six days left to secure her freedom. Riona could think of nothing else as she walked into her bedroom and lit the candelabra on the vanity table, counting down yet another day that had yielded no answers in the search for Cathal’s killer. There, propped against the polished metal mirror, sat an envelope with her name written in elegant cursive. Riona picked it up and flipped it over, her heart skipping a beat when she saw the Beltharan royal sigil imprinted in the wax seal. She broke it open and pulled out the heavy parchment, leaning close to the candelabra to read the lines of script across the paper. When she reached the end, she folded the letter, tucked it back into the envelope, and closed her eyes.
Tamriel and Mercy were glad to hear from her and sympathetic to Valerian’s desire to win his country’s independence, but their military was in no shape to provide aid. The wars that had plagued their kingdom over the past year had devastated the countryside and their people, and their focus was on rebuilding.
Riona dropped the envelope and rubbed her temples, fighting the wave of hopelessness swelling within her. In the last two months, she had been held hostage and sentenced to execution. She had defied a tyrant and given up the man she loved. She had vowed to find Cathal’s killer and proved herself to be as useless as the council members had always believed.
She was a fool.
Somethingplinkedagainst the window. Riona crossed the room and parted the curtains, her heart stuttering at the sight of the cloaked figure standing in the front garden.Auberon?
The figure pulled down his hood, and the moonlight struck his pointed ears. Aeron. As worried as she’d been for him, she couldn’t deny the unwelcome stab of disappointment that struck her as she shut the curtains and moved to her wardrobe. Quickly, she changed from her gown to a black tunic and trousers, leather boots, and a cloak. Then she grabbed Auberon’s dagger from under her pillow and strapped the sheath to her thigh.
She crept down the hall, hoping her father and Amaris were asleep. The house was still, blanketed in a heavy, fragile silence that would shatter with the slightest scuff of a shoe.
Her fingers had just closed around the front door’s handle when a light swelled behind her, illuminating the foyer in its weak glow. She whirled around. Amaris stood halfway up the staircase, a low-burning lantern dangling from one hand. “I suspected you’d been sneaking out for a while,” she whispered, closing the distance between them. “So I stopped drinking the tea you made us. Every day for the last week, you’ve left in the middle of the night and returned just shy of dawn.”
Riona gripped Amaris’s free hand. “You haven’t said anything to my father?”
“Of course not. You don’t have much time left here, and I won’t take what little freedom you still have. Whatever you’ve been doing all these nights is your business.” Amaris paused, searching Riona’s face. “I just hope that you’ve thought this through. In less than a week, you’ll board a ship bound for your new home. Make sure you do not leave your heart in Innislee.”
“My heart?”
Understanding struck her a heartbeat later. Amaris had assumed that she’d been sneaking out to meet a secret lover. That her desperation to stay in her kingdom and earn a place on the council was born of love for a man, rather than love for Rivosa. It was a misunderstanding Riona would not correct, no matter how much she hated lying to Amaris. It was better to let her believe that than to admit to hunting down a murderer with an Erdurian prince.
Riona stepped closer. “Please, tell no one about this. I will stop seeing him when I am betrothed, but until then…I can’t. I can’t bear it.”
At the tremble in her voice, Amaris set down the lantern and pulled her into a tight embrace. “Savor the freedom you have left,” she whispered, her breath tickling Riona’s ear, “but don’t make your leaving any harder than it must be.”
