AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Perhaps she should have left Centoi to its fate and remained in Llyalia, at least for a little longer. Guilt turned her stomach, but anger made her grit her teeth.But why? What have I ever done to deserve such a terrible choice? A kingdom’s suffering or my own child’s pain?Neither would have been a problem if not for her father’s wicked nature—and not only his. Too many nobles were complicit in the same.
Tes squeezed her eyes closed. She was doing the right thing. Shewas, even if it hurt. She needed to discover how to stop her father. Even so, she refused to remain here indefinitely, delivering tea to Selesta in the hopes of eventual information. Tes had accepted that she would have to be separated from her baby, but she wouldn’t tolerate it for more than a couple of weeks without a good reason.
And a slow drip of information was not that reason.
“Where are you injured?”Ber sent abruptly.
“What? Ah.”He must have felt her pain.“Only my heart.”
Fear flowed through with a muttered curse.
“Not my actual heart,”Tes rushed to add.“I was missing Speran.”
He fell silent, but she could sense his approach now. As always, he was coming for her. Even without a link, he’d always had the uncanny ability to be there when she was hurting the most, and the skill had apparently only improved. She sat up to greet him at the same moment he rushed through the door.
Ber scooped her out of her seat and against his chest. “I thought you’d been caught.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist and let him hold her. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He brushed a kiss across her forehead. “I’m sorry I couldn’t stop your father while you were in Llyalia. If I had, our family would be together.”
“There’s no use speculating on that,” she said, nestling closer. “And I didn’t intend to disturb you. It’s only…there’s no way to know how Speran is doing. I try to keep the worry shoved aside, but it doesn’t always work.”
Her husband rubbed slow circles across her back, but he didn’t respond. Not for a long moment. She leaned back to study his expression at the same moment he broke into laughter.Laughter?She narrowed her eyes on his face.
“It seems that Speran is staring down the Llyalian court from atop Toren’s knee,” Ber said before she could pinch him. “As goes the father, so goes the son, I suppose. Minus sitting on Toren’s knee, of course.”
She blinked in surprise. He’d been communicating with Toren? “I thought you hated contacting your brother if you didn’t have to.”
“Not as much now that he knows my secret,” Ber said softly. He threaded his fingers through her hair. “And not at all if it will bring you ease. Toren said our son has been a little restless and sad, but so long as they keep him occupied, he’s fine. Speran did…seem so. From the glimpse I caught through Toren’s eyes.”
That statement dropped like a spy between them, stealthy and hoping to go unremarked. But it couldn’t go unremarked.Shelonged for the baby she’d met and loved, butBerlonged for the child he’d never had the chance to see. His first glimpse of his own child had been through his brother’s eyes. How terrible must that be for him?
Yet he came to comfort her pain.
This time, she was the one to pull him close. “I’m sorry. I should have been here. You deserve to know him.”
“If you had, you’d be dead.” His hands cupped her face, and his intense gaze bore into hers. “You don’t realize how resolved your father was about that. Any other pain can be solved. That? Nothing in this world would be right if you were gone.”
Sudden, helpless fury surged through her. “We have to stop this.”
“We will.” Ber pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “I have two promising meetings today. You have a possible informant in Selesta. We’ll see if any of those give us the opportunity to strike.”
It wasn’t nearly enough, but she nodded anyway. And when he left after another, more lingering kiss, she didn’t try to stop him. There was too much that could go wrong for her to feel confidence in a positive outcome.
Thankfully, where confidence failed, she had plenty of resolve.
After the timeit had taken to rush through the tunnels, it was more than a few minutes past the hour when Ber slipped into the hallway where Halueth waited. The guard didn’t inquire about the delay, and Ber didn’t offer an explanation. Instead, the man fell into step behind Ber as he strode down the corridor at a steady pace. Though he’d donned simpler clothes, it did little to help in the palace. His passage didn’t go unremarked.
Ber ignored the bows and curtsies that followed him all the way out into the thoroughfare. His presence along the fine streets leading from the palace to the outer gates caused something of a stir, the nobles he passed whispering and staring even as they genuflected. But as he circled around to the western gate, the crowd shifted to servants, who simply moved out ofthe way with respectful bows. Even that had faded to nods by the time he reached the tradespeople’s shops. The people in this area were less likely to recognize him.
Some nobles did come here in person to see the wares, but for the most part, highly ranked servants wandered the street as they procured items for their households. And guards—there were an uncommon amount of soldiers stationed at regular intervals, their gazes scanning all who passed. They recognized Ber, of course. Their spines snapped straight and their scrutiny sharpened as though he’d come here to give them an evaluation.
Ber tried not to think about the increasing stranglehold the king kept on his subjects.
Without a word to the warrior-spies he passed, Ber strode into the globemaker’s shop. He’d thought to simply question Cairi, but with so many eyes on him this day, it might be best to purchase something, too. So he halted just inside the entrance and scanned the area. Display shelves with various types of globes lined the near walls, and a counter stretched across from him.
The shopkeeper behind it jerked to her feet, her mouth dropping open for only a moment. “Your Highness! Welcome. Please, do come in. I’ll fetch Cairi.”
