CHAPTER 38 ONE-ON-ONE
Lady Annika Ashowan left the solar after her meal with the former queen of Troivack, accompanied by Lady Nathalie Faucher.
The two women proceeded down the halls while making idle, polite conversation.
However, once they reached the duchess’s chamber, she regarded Lady Nathalie with a demure tilt of her head. “Would you care to join me for a moment? I’d like to hear more about my daughter’s time in your keep.”
Nathalie felt her stomach flip but lowered her head in assent.
They entered the chamber quietly and closed the door before making their way over to the two armchairs that sat before the fire.
But while Annika sat, Lady Nathalie remained standing, adjusting her posture.
Annika stared at the woman stonily. “Why did you not contact me when you realized my daughter was in your care?”
“I tried, Dragon. My husband had our keep under tight surveillance, and when I did reach out to our point of contact, I heard you were already traveling to Troivack.”
Annika raised an eyebrow, her reaction to the recounting unclear. “I hear my daughter has made both a great and terrible reputation for herself here.”
“Yes. She is infamous for her mischief but also has earned respect for her skill with the sword.”
“What is your opinion of Broghan Miller? I hear he is now indentured to serve her.”
“It was your daughter’s decision that, rather than forfeit his life to death’s carriage, he forfeit it to her. I believe it was a fair decision. Broghan Miller seems to be repenting and changing, though still arrogant in many ways. It also has brought great loyalty from Lord Milo Miller.”
“And how is Lord Milo doing? He has been quiet as of late. I can’t even remember his last report.”
“He, too, has been under great scrutiny—particularly from Duke Icarus. The duke kept trying to pressure Lord Milo to send his adopted son, Sir Cleophus, to handle the rebels. However, given Cleophus’s prowess and the state of things here in the castle, he was able to refuse—though it was not easy, as the former Captain Orion aligned himself with Duke Icarus ages ago.”
“So I’ve heard.” Annika’s finger slowly tapped the armrest of her chair.
“What is happening with the trial of Sir Seth Herra?”
“Currently His Majesty suspects that Sir Seth Herra is under the influence of Witch’s Brew. His behavior is different from the norm of the drug’s users, which is why your husband, His Grace, has been investigating the powdered form of the drug. This is especially important given that it was what Sir Herra tried to dose Lady Katarina with.”
Annika nodded in understanding. “I see. Is Lady Rebecca Devark suspected to have her hand in any of this?”
“There are suspicions,” Lady Nathalie confirmed, albeit carefully. “However, no one is certain.”
“Where was Lady Rebecca Devark staying during her brief time away from court?”
“In her old family estate, a quarter day’s ride due west from Vessa.”
“Isn’t your keep southwest of Vessa?”
“Yes.”
Annika raised a thoughtful eyebrow. “Curious.”
The duchess thought about these details in silence.
“Have you been keeping an eye on Mr. Levin’s wife, Caroline?”
“I was, until Rebecca Devark was removed from court. It must have concerned Mr. Levin, as he has his wife moving around various residences with their daughter regularly.”
“Jocelyn Piereva still lives?”
“As far as I know, though she has been quiet for many years.”
Annika frowned. “Caroline is behaving as though she has something to hide, or as though Mr. Levin is hiding her from something. I want someone monitoring her at all times, or … better yet …”
Annika rose from her chair and let out a long breath as she eyed the window. “Perhaps I should officially meet my niece. Please see that an invitation is sent out to Mrs. Caroline Levin. I believe it’s high time I faced the past.”
“Dragon, there is one thing I would like to say, if I have your permission to speak freely?”
Annika’s brown eyes drifted back to the woman, her expression at last gentling. “You may.”
“I’ve missed you. I was so worried when your brother sold you off to the viscount … I’m relieved that you’ve done so well. And, if I may … your daughter is just like you, only—”
“Better at getting herself into trouble than out?” Annika asked with a wry smile.
Lady Nathalie shook her head, a rare upward curving of the mouth gracing her own elegant face. “While true, that is not what I was going to say. What I was going to say was that she is how I imagined you would have been had you grown up in a different household … perhaps in Daxaria.”
Emotion filled Annika’s eyes. “Thank you. That is … That has been a goal of mine since the moment I became a mother. That she … be free of some of the hardships I endured. Though it was difficult at times curbing her more wild expeditions.”
Lady Nathalie laughed quietly. “Yes … my sons told me the details of the story about the donkey.”
Annika’s foray into an improved mood dissipated instantly. “I don’t want to talk about Harold right now.”
Unable to contain herself, Lady Nathalie let out a snort that caught both Annika and her off guard.
But when the duchess met her former friend’s wide eyes, sighed. “Alright, I grant you, it’s a little funnier now that it’s been a few years.”
That was all the permission Lady Nathalie needed to allow herself a brief bout of hysterical laughter while the duchess rolled her eyes and succumbed to a smile of her own, though after a moment it was touched with sadness.
The exchange was reminding her of Ainsley Reyes, the former queen of Daxaria, her best friend, who had passed years ago … And it made her miss her horribly in that moment, especially when she recalled how their two children were, in fact, married.
Annika’s throat tightened, and she turned away from Lady Nathalie to not spoil her moment of fun.
Gods … Ainsley would’ve …loved having Kat as her daughter-in-law. I wish … I wish I could tell her all that has happened.
“You realize because you are wishing for your status as a Zinferan prince to remain a secret that you are also forgoing more comfortable accommodations, yes?” Brendan asked Eli, the Zinferan prince Eric Reyes had discovered, enslaved, at Duke Icarus’s home.
The lad, who still had not confirmed his age, though looked no older than sixteen, nodded, his chin almost touching his chest as he did so while seated in shackles before the Troivackian king.
Brendan had gone to visit Eli in the cells of Lord Miller’s home, where it had been decided the boy would be safest for the time being while Duke Icarus and Sir Herra were dealt with.
“Your information has proved helpful, particularly your detailed report of the duke’s expenditures and his safe combinations. I’m surprised he trusted you with such information.”
The tips of Eli’s ears turned red. “He wasn’t always aware that I was watching him.”
“And you were watching him to find a means of escaping?”
“I was hoping the opportunity would present itself.”
Brendan nodded carefully while taking his time in asking his next question, his black eyes remaining fixed on the reedy young man before him.
“What is it you want, aside from being free?”
“I-I want to go to Daxaria and work, Your Majesty. To … To make a life for myself where I am in charge of my own fate and I have nothing to fear.”
“Oh? What kind of work do you think you are suited for? Or is it that you simply wish to join the Coven of Wittica?”
“My hope is to … to perhaps become a magistrate, and … as I said to His Highness … I don’t wish to use my magic. I would much rather live as though I am a complete human than a witch.”
Brendan felt his eyes narrow.
There was something about the boy that made him think of Tamlin Ashowan’s attitude toward magic, and so he ventured a guess.
“Do you happen to know of the Ashowan family?”
Eli risked a glance at the king, his features still. “O-Of course, Your Majesty. Lord Finlay Ashowan came on several diplomatic visits to the Zinferan court during my childhood.”
“He is now a duke. His title is now His Grace.”
“My a-apologies, Your Majesty.”
“There was no way you could’ve known otherwise,” Brendan dismissed calmly. “What is your opinion of the duke?”
“His Grace has always been kind and respectful, i-if a little obsessed with food.”
Brendan nodded along.
A fair assessment overall, but still … the way the boy had tensed at the mentioning of the duke’s name was curious.
“His Grace is currently here in Troivack at my court. Would you like to speak to him given that you are a witch trying to make your way into his kingdom? You would be expected to register with the Coven of Wittica regardless of whether you wish to use your magic.”
“No, thank you.”
The swiftness and surprising firmness that came from the boy only deepened Brendan’s reservations.
“Given he is the diplomat to all countries and their covens, you will have to speak with him at some point.”
Eli remained quiet.
After the long day of interrogating the witches cloistered beneath Vessa, Brendan found he had little patience for this final appointment—particularly with so much secrecy everywhere he looked.
“If you are not cooperative and forthcoming, I see no need to expedite your request to leave Troivack.” Brendan stood and turned toward the cell door where two guards waited at the ready.
“The Ashowans … I … I have no issues with, but … but I’m worried if I get entangled with them, then the people who wanted me dead might discover my whereabouts and renew their efforts to find me. There are a great many people who take exception to the duke.”
Brendan stared down at the lad coolly. “What is it that makes you so valuable? You should at least confide this to me. Besides, having a meeting or two with the duke hardly indentures you to him.”
“I’ve heard of many people falling in with the Ashowan family for one reason or another, and I don’t want to risk it.”
Brendan was feeling more irritable as the daylight from the cell’s small narrow window began to fade and the dining hour neared.
“If you wish for help, then a measure of trust must be given. I’m told His Highness advised you to be cooperative with me, and if you trust him, then you should trust his judgment. I know this decision is being made out of desperation, but that is your fate at present. Will you choose to be stuck in Troivack for the foreseeable future, or will you do as His Highness suggested so that others may help you?”
Brendan eyed the boy’s bony hands as they fidgeted and flexed.
“My ability is mutated, and while it seems simple at first, I can assure you it is not. If I … If I show Your Majesty, do I have your word that you will never ask me to show it again, and you will keep it a secret?”
The king wanted to reiterate his earlier point that the Zinferan was not in a position to be making demands, but the way Eli was reacting was sparking his interest, and perhaps if he knew the boy’s magic, he could better understand him.
“Very well. You have my word that, unless it is information that needs to be communicated for the sake of the greater good, I will not share it.”
Eli was quiet, and Brendan briefly wondered what he was waiting for …
“Please ask the guards to look away.”
Brendan considered refusing the request, however, his instincts told him things would be alright … So he obliged.
Then, he waited.
What burst from Eli then had him leaping back, slamming himself against the bars in shock as the clang of the boy’s shackles rang out loudly.
“Your Majesty?!” The guard on the king’s right moved to turn around, but just as the man caught the king in his peripheral vision, Brendan held up his hand to stop him, though the king’s gaze never left the sight before him.
“I’m fine. Do not look.”
The guard visibly bit back arguing against the order, but he did as commanded.
Brendan continued staring at Eli, his face pale, utterly bereft of words, until Eli stopped using his magic, and he once again sat with his head hung before the king as he had moments before.
Letting out a subtle, calming breath, Brendan made his way back over to his chair and sat down in front of the boy.
“I think I’m starting to understand how you came to be where you are. I will think on what you’ve shown me today, and I will let you know what I believe should become of your fate.”
Eli remained silent, his hands trembling.
Brendan didn’t comment on this, as he silently came to an important realization.
Eli was interesting but traumatized, and it was easy to see how he could be. He was also na?ve of just how powerful the Ashowan family was, and how, should he choose to reveal his state to the Ashowans, he would become one of the best-protected witches in the world—even from the emperor of Zinfera himself and his bloodthirsty harem.
Despite Eli’s reasonable misgivings about the duke’s family, something in Brendan told him that the boy’s complicated story and abilities didn’t belong anywhere else but within the safety and chaos of the damnable care of the newest dukedom in Daxaria. Though it would potentially take some time to make it possible to place him there …