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I bowed. “I live to please my Prince of Hearts.”
His smile cut off. He blinked, remembering his act, and slammed the shutters down over his expression. “Hurry along now, I have business to discuss with my father.”
After leaving the royal table, I continued the same dance around the ballroom. A glance back, however, revealed his vacant seat at the table. He wasn’t among the dancers either.
Someone tugged on my arm. “Lark, won’t you spin us a tale?”
He’d left. And the feasting hall, with all its flowery decorations and bright colors, was all the duller for his absence.
“Lark…?”
It took more effort than it should to pin a smile to my lips. “Of course.”
* * *
The next night,when Arin attended dinner, any attempt to catch his eye failed, and when I tried to tempt him with a trick, he dismissed me with a flick of his hand. The next night was the same, and the next… He watched, presumably gathering information on his imposter. But I’d overstayed. My return home was overdue. Whoever Arin believed worked against him—this assailant who had killed the queen—they could get to me. And it wouldn’t be a beating.
I’d lose another finger, or worse.
I’d been safe while I’d danced to the Court of Pain’s tune, but that was no longer the case. If the killer was brazen enough to kill a queen, then he or she wouldn’t hesitate in killing me.
After another evening’s entertainment, I sought Arin in his chambers. A knock at the door yielded silence. The prince had a knack for disappearing. He didn’t go into town, I knew that much. Then, he was likely at his secret cove.
It was the only place he could go where nobody knew to follow. Except me.
I retraced our steps from that night, using the servants’ corridors to arrive at the library, and hurried down the book aisles.
Muttered cursing and the rhythmic clanging of bouncing balls sounded from the back of the room. I might have ignored it, had I not recognized the prince’s voice. I snuck behind a bookcase aisle, parted the books on the shelf, and peered through at a prince attempting to juggle.
He threw the balls, managing to cycle them in the air for several seconds, but just when it seemed he’d gotten the flow, a ball skipped from his fingers, and the rest went tumbling, springing off nearby bookcases. From his messy hair and disheveled attire, he’d been here a while. Probably since leaving the dining hall.
He picked up the balls, muttered some rallying words, and tried again. His skin glistened, damp from perspiration. He had muscle enough to swing a sword with gusto, but apparently, he’d met his match in three balls.
The balls escaped him again. One rolled under my bookcase and came to a halt next to the toe of my boot.
“Who’s there?”
I picked up the ball and ventured around the end of the bookcase.
He flicked his damp hair back and straightened. “How long have you been watching?”
I tossed him the ball, and he snatched it out of the air. “Long enough to know my position as court jester is not in jeopardy. At least not from a juggling prince.”
“You could help,” he sneered, “instead of gloating.” He swept a sleeve across his cheek, dislodging the hair stuck to his skin.
He’d continue to fight those balls all night if I let him. And he would master them. He wasn’t the sort to easily give up.
“I’ll help, if you tell me what you know of your suspected imposter.”
“I can’t do that.” He tossed a ball, then the next, but by the time he’d launched the third, he was already playing catch-up with the first. Two escaped his grasp. He snatched one back but the other bounced free. He swore and flung his head back with an exasperated sigh. “How did you do it?”
I picked up the two escaped balls and sauntered over. “I’ll show you.”
“Not this, the trick with the King of Hearts? How did you know which card was mine? And how did you get it in your boot?”
“Well, I left a King of Hearts in your room, so it seems likely you’d pick the same from the deck.”
“No.” He grinned, but the smile was a skin over frustration. “I didn’t see the deck before I chose that card. I couldn’t know what card I’d pick. So how did you do it?”
