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Well, this certainly explained some things. "So the king of Bellspear had Lady Rose assassinated," I said slowly. "But he failed to replace her with one of his people. I don’t understand. If that's related to what's going on now, then…where were they the last five years?" Things had been blissfully peaceful in Larkwood since I became steward.
She sipped her tea and smoothed a hand over her puffy silk skirt before carrying on with her storyteller act. "The old king didn't realize that the steward he had murdered already had a royally approved heir chosen to take her place. There were no nominations to be gathered or candidates to consider. So he didn't get the chance to install his own puppets. The girl was young, but quite capable, and loved by her fellow citizens. And she was not one of his sympathizers. He would have to get rid of her too, before she could name an heir for herself.” She shook her head. “It would have raised some suspicions to have two stewards die of strange accidents in such quick succession, though,” she continued. “And the royal inquisitor in Elfhaven was already poking around, looking for clues as to the cause of the first steward's death. The old king probably would have come up with something, eventually. But unfortunately, he came down with a grave human illness and died."
"Of course, in the way of bitter people with guilty consciences," King Bane took up the story with a darkness in his deep voice, "the humans who knew what the old king had been up to assumed that the wasting sickness that befell him was a fae curse. They convinced all the royal advisors and nobles who supported his goals that the fae had killed the old king in retaliation for the death of the steward of Larkwood."
I held up a hand to stop him, darting a glance between him and his queen. "And were they correct?" I asked evenly. "Did the human king just happen to die at such a convenient time, or did you have him killed for causing Lady Rose's death?" Honestly, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they had cast some magic to make him sicken and die. He had murdered one of their people, someone they considered a dear friend. The imbecile had practically asked to be killed. Had he no understanding of how fae justice worked?
My mates shifted uncomfortably in their seats around me, probably shocked by my direct question and the audacity of my familiarity with the powerful ancient rulers before me. But Queen Iris just gave me an impish smile. "We did not kill him. He was simply old and human. He died before we could figure out who was responsible and take action." She shrugged innocently. Which probably meant that they absolutely would have killed the king, if nature hadn’t taken care of that fore them.
King Bane arched a brow at me. "As for your question about how this connects to the events of the past few months…it all comes down to the old king's son. His heir." He waved a hand as if the new human king were standing there before us. "The boy is young and rash. He learned of his father's plotting, and rather than realizing that the old man got what he deserved, the boy took up his mantle in the name of revenge. It took him some time to resume his father's efforts because he first had to navigate the process of becoming a ruler. But after a few years of investigation, he realized something his father had somehow overlooked."
Queen Iris gave me a smile that was all teeth. "He learned that the royals of Bellspear had familial connections with a lowborn family in Larkwood. A family who had done their best to hide their human heritage and claimed to be full-blooded lowborn fae."
"Gambol," I breathed, recalling the round human ears that were revealed once his glamor was removed. "Gambol and Jig are related to the Bellspear royal family?" They had never breathed a word of it. Maybe they didn't even know, at first. But it made sense now.
And that explained why Gambol had been so afraid to tell me what was going on with his family. He was probably afraid of repercussions from all sides.
Queen Iris nodded sadly, her playful glee at the whole situation giving way to compassion. She knew Gambol was one of my closest friends, second only to Amaryllis. "The human king's agents renewed their efforts. They began whispering poisonous words in the ears of a certain brother and sister who were distant cousins to the king, hoping to recruit some help in taking over Larkwood." She gave me a wry look. "Apparently, your Gambol held out, refusing to be disloyal to his people. But he harbored feelings for you, which the human twisted and used to sow seeds of doubt."
Waving that off, she shook her head. "Luck smiled upon the human king when the young steward of Larkwood rode off to the capital to join the tournament of hearts. He saw his chance to install a group of puppets as co-stewards." She shrugged. "Having control of your co-stewards would grant the king power that would allow him to begin making stronger alliances. He planned to start by making deals with the trolls across the border, riling them up so they would be amenable to re-starting hostilities with the fae. But alas he wasn’t so lucky, and his chosen team was accused of sabotage and removed from the tournament.”
She paused to sip her tea before continuing, as if this was just any other informal afternoon gossip session over refreshments. “Then the human king got word of the discoveries in the mines. At first, we thought that when Gambol realized you had gone off and gotten yourself a group of powerful new mates, he finally caved and shared what he knew of the discoveries in the mines. But it has since come to light that the information didn’t come from Gambol. It came from the dwarves.”
“Because of the miner who was stealing mage dust and selling it across the border,” I guessed. Rumor traveled fast, and if Bellspear had planned to cozy up to the trolls and turn them against us, then they probably had spies in Dwarfhall as well.
King Bane arched a brow. “No, actually. The miner was innocent. Poor man was very confused and anxious after being accused of such a grave offense. We sent him back home this morning. As we speak, a contingent of soldiers is arresting the true thief.”
I blinked at him. “Who?”
“Your mine supervisor,” he said flatly. “The Queen’s Hand have been doing more than protect you, Katrina. They have also been our eyes and ears. The woman supervising the mines was caught with a stockpile of star crystals and mage dust hidden away in her home. She had been holding off on moving them, since you found out that someone was smuggling. But holding onto her stolen goods made it easy for our people to catch her red-handed.”
I closed my eyes in a long blink as a deep exhale escaped me. “Ruby. Damn it.”
I had genuinely liked the woman. And she had lied right to my face, pretended shock and indignation while she pinned her crime on some poor laborer. Was anyone actually who they said they were?
“How is she related to Bellspear?” I asked tiredly. Was the whole of my territory related to the grasping human rulers?
“She isn’t related to any of it,” Queen Iris said, surprising me. I opened my eyes to see her shrug. “At least not directly. It confused things for a bit there, but her smuggling was purely related to her own greed, as far as we can tell.”
“However,” King Bane explained, “Once the king of Bellspear heard about the mage dust and star crystals Dwarfhall had obtained from someone in Larkwood, he was probably became even more eager to move forward with his plans. If he succeeded in getting someone into a position of power in the territory, he could funnel Larkwood's new riches into further alliances with our old enemies and speed up the whole process of his silent takeover."
"It’s puzzling, though," Adder spoke up, his deep voice unapologetic as he interrupted the queen's story. "Pardon me, your majesty. But going back to the tournament…how did the human king know that Katrina was the Prize? I was told your secrecy spell nearly destroyed my mind when I figured out her identity. How would a human or someone of mixed blood manage to escape even worse effects?"
Queen Iris scowled, but I knew she wasn't mad at Adder for interrupting her. She was angry that her spell had been foiled. Her long, red-lacquered nails tapped against the arm of her chair one by one, like a death march. "How indeed. I thought I was quite clever, casting that particular bit of magic. My spell was impeccable. But even my magic has limits. And it never occurred to me that anyone outside our borders would care about the tournament."
She sneered. "The humans stumbled upon a loophole. They must have had spies positioned in Larkwood or in the capital who figured out Lady Katrina’s identity before the spell was cast. As long as they stayed outside the borders of Elfhaven, the ones in charge were unaffected by my spell. The king and his flunkies could direct things from outside the borders. They stationed a ship offshore with the excuse of transporting their emissaries and ambassadors. Their people inside Elfhaven wouldn't be able to recall details—they wouldn't know who Lady Katrina was, or that the tournament had to do with Larkwood. But they could still receive orders and carry them out without knowing why they were doing what they were doing."
She sighed. "It was quite clever, really. For a bunch of humans. The mercenaries they hired to sabotage the tournament were only told that Lion team must win. They didn't know why. They didn't even know who was actually employing them. And Lion team didn't know who they'd end up bonded to if they won. They only knew they would end up in a position of power that someone was willing to bribe them to access. We couldn’t get any information from the people here in the capital who were involved, because they literally knew nothing of their employer or the true scope of the whole scheme."
“And the hydra and the other little inconveniences along our route back home from the tournament…” I said, only now recalling that strangeness. “They were still trying to get rid of my new mates or drive them off.” It was ridiculous. And yet, it could have worked, if my mates were a different sort of men.”
"And when that all failed," Fife said softly, his light green eyes on the queen. "They turned their attention to getting rid of Kat, instead of simply installing puppet co-stewards. They decided to install their own relative as steward instead."
I glanced at him in surprise. "You think they were trying to make Gambol or Jig steward?" Neither one of them really had any leadership potential. And until yesterday, I would have said Gambol didn't have the ambition to stage a political maneuver like that.
Fife nodded, and his gaze met mine. "I could tell that something was off with your friend from the moment I laid eyes on him. His aura was…confused. There was glamor there. But a good many fae use glamor for various reasons, most of them harmless enough. However, the second time I saw him, when he came to the manor, I got a better read on him. He had duplicity in his aura. And bitterness. Anger. When I touched him, I could sense that he was hiding something…covetous." He shrugged. "Reading auras is tricky, and I don't do it often because it is imprecise magic. But something felt off with him, so I poked about. He wanted…something. There was so much desperation and entitlement…" he waved a graceful hand. "I assumed it was just you he wanted, at first. But…now it all makes more sense. He did want you," he said with a raised eyebrow. "I wasn't wrong about that, by the way. But there was something he wanted more by that time. He wanted your position. Your power. Maybe not for himself. But for someone in his family. If not him, then his sister, maybe his parents."
I shook my head at him. "Why didn't you tell me what you suspected?" I demanded.
