The Girl of Fire and Thorns Complete Collection (24 page)

My stomach clenches. “Raúl is dead?”

“I’ve seen his body.”

He was only thirteen, an eager boy and an excellent horseman. I helped to train him. “A squire bearing his king’s colors should be safe on the road.”

“Precisely,” Alejandro says. “He was murdered in his sleep. It was made to look like the work of a bandit, but the wounds were too clean. Too perfect. Nothing was taken. I have to assume foul play. You’re the only one I can turn to. You are my army of one.”

He has called me that since I came to Brisadulce to be a royal page, for I was the first person he was given charge of who was not merely a servant. “My first command,” he used to joke.

“I’m yours to command, now and always.” Isn’t that what being a Royal Guard is all about anyway? “What do you need me to do?”

He slumps in relief, but he gets straight to the point. “You may remember a certain ring, a ruby as large and red as a cherry, set in a bed of tiny pearls.”

“I remember it,” I say carefully.

I glance at the queen, who gazes out the window with Miria and carefully pretends not to hear us, and I wonder if we ought to be discussing this in private, for the ruby ring was a gift from Alejandro to the beautiful Isadora de Flurendi, one of his paramours—the lady many assumed would be queen, right up until the moment Alejandro announced his betrothal to Rosaura, her older cousin.

The Flurendi family controls several ports, and Alejandro needed an alliance with one branch or the other to solidify his position. Many times as squire, I helped bring Isadora and Alejandro together, the last time only a few nights before his wedding. Honestly, I had not expected their relationship to end, not even after the marriage to Rosaura. But when the royal couple returned from their honeymoon, they walked around the palace in a state of baffled happiness, genuinely in love with each other. I did not observe what happened between them during the early weeks of their marriage, for I spent that time with my brother Felix, aboard his merchant ship. But I know that the only one more surprised and pleased than me was Alejandro.

The king looks over at his wife, and his gaze softens. “We would very much like to have the one who bears that ring with us at court again. Our many letters have gone unanswered. Rosaura misses her and worries about her deeply.”

This doesn’t explain the lengths to which he is going to contact the girl. “May I ask why she is wanted?”

Alejandro’s face flushes red, and he looks ashamed, an expression I never thought possible for him until he married Rosaura. “I cannot tell you, not in advance, in case anything should happen. Go and tell her
personally
that the queen and I both request the presence of our beloved cousin at court. Collect your answer from her
personally
.”

“And if I encounter obstacles?”

“Then use your judgment,” Alejandro says. “You’ve always had excellent judgment. I want you to leave without fanfare. And do
not
wear my colors. Just in case . . .” Just in case the squire’s murder was no coincidence.

An idea hits me. Maybe there’s still a way to preserve my chance at making the Guard. “You must let me take someone along to stand watch while I sleep. Two would be better than one.”

“Not possible,” Alejandro says. Again, that look of shame.

“If I’m murdered like Raúl, your message will never find its recipient.”

Alejandro considers. “You cannot take them with you into her father’s fortress, not to deliver our message or to receive her reply. You may tell them nothing.”

“Agreed,” I say. “I’d like to take two of the other recruits. Their names are Tomás and Marlo—they’re experienced soldiers. You will need to authorize their absences. All our absences.”

“I’ll send two of my Guards with you instead,” he says.

“That would draw more attention to your mission,” I say. “And Guards would never follow my lead. Better if we are all recruits.”

Also, three absent recruits—two of them Enrico’s favorites—will make it harder for the commander to single me out for punishment. He’ll be hard-pressed not to take me back.

Alejandro considers. His gaze switches back and forth between Rosaura and me. Finally, he says, “I don’t think I could bear to lose you too, Hector.” He sounds more tired than I feel, which is saying something.

He’ll lose me someday, if I’m to be a Royal Guard. It’s what we sign up for. But I hold my tongue on that count.

“I’ll draft the order, and you can leave immediately,” he says. “Come with me.”

“Let him stay and keep us company in your absence, love,” the queen says from across the room. She has, of course, been listening the whole time, which doesn’t seem to bother Alejandro one bit. Perhaps being truly in love means not having secrets from each other.

Alejandro nods, worry etched on his features. To me, he says, “I’ll return in a moment.”

I go to the queen.

6

“P
REGNANCY suits you, Your Majesty,” I say to her, and then wince at yet another awkward compliment.

It’s a stretch. She was beautiful when she first became pregnant, glowing like the dawn, as happy as the song of a lark. But as the months have passed, it has worn her down. She still smiles with unrelenting cheer, but there is a heaviness to her, as though she has borne a painful wound for a long time.

“Thank you,” she says. “But you are a terrible liar, and I think you always will be.”

I start to protest, but she rests her hand on my wrist, and I feel how clammy her skin is. I say lightly, “My incapacity for dishonesty troubles you?”

I mean it as a joke, but she nods. “If you want to serve your king well, then you must learn not to speak at all. It may be the only thing that will prevent you from revealing your secrets.”

“I can keep—”

She interrupts my protest with a deep frown.

One does not ignore one’s queen’s admonition. I pause, and then, finally—wisely, I hope—nod wordlessly.

“Quickly, now, before you go, I must tell you a secret,” the queen says. “I must know first if you have the will to stay silent about it, because it could mean your life—or Alejandro’s—if you do not.”

“I’ll not say a word,” I promise earnestly.

She removes her hand from my arm and places it on her belly. “My pregnancy does not go well. The child inside me is weak. Doctor Enzo says my own life is in danger.”

With those words, something inside me shrivels. Everything suddenly makes sense: Dr. Enzo’s false cheer, Alejandro’s worry, the queen’s pallor. I glance up at Miria, hoping for a denial, but I see my own anguish mirrored in her face.

“Can’t Doctor Enzo do something?”

“He is doing everything he can, and it may yet turn out well. Many difficult pregnancies do. But I wish to have my beloved cousin Isadora at my side in this time of distress.”

Of the two monarchs, Rosaura is the better strategist—we all know it. She is older than Alejandro, wiser. She understands politics and power and secret deals better than Alejandro ever will. And I am not fool enough to believe they’re going to all this trouble to bring in a new lady-in-waiting.

“Brisadulce faces many dangers,” she continues. “Invierne is asking for port privileges, maybe to build a navy. They will attack again in force; if not this year, then soon. But Alejandro also faces danger from within. Many who were loyal to his father do not respect him yet.”

“They’ll learn—”

“Remember what I told you about being a bad liar?”

In this moment, if I could resolve never to speak again, I would. Because I know she is right.

“We don’t know who killed Raúl. I’d be surprised if anyone knew
why
my husband is sending messages to Lord Solvaño at the Fortress of Wind. Perhaps disrupting the king, exposing his weaknesses, is motivation enough.”

Isadora.
The last detail clicks. Alejandro and Rosaura want Isadora at court, because if Rosaura dies, Alejandro can marry her immediately and keep strong ties to the Flurendi family.

Rosaura nods as if she can read my thoughts. “I know Isadora and Alejandro were . . . fond of each other. It would be a good match.”

I don’t know what to say. The pity on my face must be apparent, because finally her serene composure dies, and her face turns hard, her mouth set with frown lines. “The king must have a wife who can provide an heir. If Alejandro dies without one, I count at least four powerful condes who would claim distant ties to the throne. An ambitious man could even convince himself it was the right thing to do, that fighting for the throne would make the kingdom stronger. There would be civil war. And Invierne stands ready to sweep in and clean up the pieces.”

“You think someone has an eye on the throne,” I whisper. “Who?”

She smiles and shrugs. “Does it matter? Alejandro will be just as dead.”

She suspects someone; I can see it in her face.

“Alejandro has asked you to find her, yes?” she says.

You may remember a certain ring, with a ruby as large and red as a cherry.
“Yes.”

“When you speak to her, let her know that she is dear to me and that I want her happiness and position assured even before my own.”

“I will,” I promise. What must it be like, I wonder, to orchestrate a potential marriage for her own husband?

“You may find it harder to deliver your message than Alejandro indicates. My uncle, Isadora’s father, is very devout and cloistered, and he rules his keep with iron control. Isadora has not been seen at public functions since she returned home after the royal wedding. There are concerns that her father, having intercepted our letters to her, is keeping her in isolation.”

“But why?”

“Perhaps he has convinced himself it is the right thing to do. No one sets out to do evil, you know. We just do our best and let history judge.”

History. As if her decisions are already in the past and she is already gone. The lump in my throat vies with the knot in my chest. This situation requires delicacy. It should be attended to by a diplomat, someone wiser in the ways of court and experienced in intrigue.

Rosaura’s expression turns sympathetic. “I’m sending Miria with you. She’ll be able to go places in the fortress that you can’t go.”

“Into the women’s quarters,” I suggest.

“There and elsewhere,” says Miria. Her face is firm with resolve, and I find myself warming to her.

Rosaura says, “She’ll meet you outside the city gate after you leave. Agreed?”

“It’s not safe,” I say. “Squire Raúl—”

“I trust you to protect her,” the queen says.

“On my word,” I promise again. “But she can’t tell anyone, not even her husband, where she’s going.”

Miria glowers. “My husband would never—”

Rosaura puts up a hand. “He’s not accusing anyone of anything, Miria. He’s doing his best to keep all of you safe—not from friends, but from the enemies we don’t know. Can you obey?”

She hesitates a moment. “I can.”

The door adjoining the royal suites opens, and Alejandro strides through, bearing a folded piece of parchment sealed with red wax.

“This should get you what you nee—” His gaze shifts between Rosaura and me. “Everything all right?”

“Of course,” the queen says, her usual serenity back in place. “Hector was concerned for our health, but I have assured him that everything is well and going as expected.”

She sounds utterly convincing, as bright and genuine as one of her smiles. She’s right: I’ll never be able to lie so well.

I take the order from Alejandro’s outstretched hand. The wax is still warm. “The sooner I leave,” I say, “the sooner I can return.”

“I’ll pray for you, my friend,” Alejandro says, and I can only nod in response.

At least no one suggests that I might not return.

7

I
N the training yard, Mandrano is putting the other recruits through basic exercises, seeing how they handle a sword, their fists, an opponent. Their wild swinging and unsteady legs speak to their exhaustion. I suppose I should feel lucky to miss it all, but the clack of wooden weapons, the grunt that follows a hard blow, the smells of sweat and dust call out to me. It’s everything I had hoped to be doing.