24. First Order of Business
Chapter 24
First Order of Business
S tellon
Within a matter of hours, everyone in the palace had been questioned, including the jailer, who, for now, was holding his peace about Raewyn.
Two soldiers who’d been assigned to the gate last night said they’d witnessed a fine carriage and team of horses parked outside metamorphosize into a hay wagon and a pair of tired plow horses, just as the clock struck midnight.
The men said they’d been reluctant to mention it right away, worried they’d be suspected of drinking Nymphian water on the job, which they had, in fact, been doing.
They’d both seen the phenomenon though, and at this point, I was willing to keep an open mind. It was the only clue so far that hadn’t been run into the ground.
If it had not been a shared drunken delusion, it meant that magic was afoot. And where there was magic, there were Earthwives.
For the most part, we left the old crones alone. They warded the human villages against us, but we had little interest in spending time in them anyway.
If we really wanted to get in—around tithe time for instance—there were ways of circumventing the warding spells.
But this was a different story. Earthwives had knowledge of herbs and all manner of plant life. They used it to heal the humans of their various ailments.
But plants could also be poison.
It seemed too coincidental that vials of poison, of the sort that was particularly toxic to Fae folk, had been found on the grounds at around the same time this carriage had magically transformed.
There was also an old woman in the dungeon who’d been captured inside the palace last night.
She was my first order of business.
She didn’t look like an assassin on first sight. Small and stooped, she hardly seemed capable of killing a cockroach. As I approached her cell, she shuffled forward.
“Your Highness,” she said, dropping into a curtsy.
“You may rise. What is your name?”
“I am Wilda, a washwoman and loyal subject.”
“Loyal, eh? How’d you wind up in here last night?”
“I’m very sorry, Your Highness,” she said with her head still bowed. “I snuck in during the commotion. I thought the ball might provide enough distraction for me to take some spare food from the kitchens without being noticed.”
Her hands wrung each other in anxiety.
“My grandchildren are starving. I knew it was wrong, but I didn’t know what else to do. There’s such bounty here. I thought perhaps no one would notice if I took just a little.”
A frisson of guilt shivered through me.
I thought of something Raewyn had said the day we’d met, something about the unfair tithe causing poverty and hunger in the human villages. My heart went out to the old woman.
If my father were standing here right now, he’d order both of her hands chopped off as a deterrent to other would-be thieves. I was more inclined to just release her.
“Look at me,” I said. “Please.”
The woman finally turned her eyes up. The look in them surprised me—it wasn’t shame and deference I saw there.
In fact, she appeared a bit… defiant? Her stooped posture had changed, replaced by a straight backbone.
That intrigued me.
“What village are you from?”
“Castleton,” she said, naming the human settlement closest to the castle walls.
I’d met the village mother from Castleton before. This was definitely not her. But still…
Looking her over, I noticed she was well-fed. And her clothes were made of a better grade of fabric than most of the peasants I’d seen. She was getting money from somewhere , and if her “grandchildren” were truly starving, then why wasn’t she?
“Are you an Earthwife?” I asked straight out.
Her eyes went wide. “No, Your Highness. I am just a mother and grandmother desperate to feed her family. Why would you ask that?”
Instead of answering her question, I asked another.
“Did you see an Elven woman in a blue gown in the palace last night?”
“I saw lots of ladies in blue gowns last night, Your Highness,” she said.
“This one was exceptionally beautiful. Her name was Lady Wyn. Do you know her?”
The defiance flared before disappearing entirely. “I don’t know any fine Elven ladies, Your Highness.”
My shoulders sank in disappointment.
“Although…”
Tension returned to my body, my hands gripping the bars of the prisoner’s cell. “Although what?”
“There was a lovely young human woman here last night.” She pointed to the next cell over. “Right over there.”
Her tone turned sly. “In fact, you were here as well. I believe the two of you were acquainted.”
Alarm stabbed at my midsection. I’d been so worried about freeing Raewyn from her cell I hadn’t bothered to look into the others near hers. My mind strove to recall the conversation that had passed between us.
How much had the old woman overheard? How much did she know about Raewyn? Enough to get her killed?
“You are mistaken,” I said. “I did remove a peasant girl for questioning. She is no longer in the palace.”
“Are you sure?” The woman leaned forward and inhaled, a knowing glint in her eyes. “I smell her scent on your skin, My Prince. She is sweet, is she not?”
Shocked, I stumbled back from the cell bars. “You are an Earthwife. Tell me what you know, witch.”
She chuckled. “About your friend… Raewyn ?”
A shudder passed through me at the sound of the innocent girl’s name on her lips.
The crone continued. “Raewyn, whom you ran down the steps to see, who was so relieved to see you she cried happy tears? Whose welfare you cared so much about, you handed the jailer a bag of coin heavy enough to strain his arm to keep her a secret.”
“What is your game, woman? Blackmail?” I asked. “What do you want?”
“Only to be released to go back… to my grandchildren. I will tell no one what I saw—and heard.”
My mind spun, considering possible outcomes.
If I released this woman, there would be nothing to keep her from breaking her word and identifying Raewyn, nothing to stop her from spreading this tale—which could reach the wrong ears as fast as lightning reached the ground from the heavens.
“I don’t think so,” I said. “I think you’ll be staying right here until the assassin is caught. Unless you’d like to confess? Perhaps you didn’t come here for kitchen scraps but to kill me and my family.”
“No,” she hissed. “It wasn’t I. Send a truthsayer to use lie-detecting glamour on me if you don’t believe me.”
She sounded so confident. Maybe it was because she knew I couldn’t do that—not if I wanted to keep Raewyn’s presence in the palace a secret.
I didn’t want this woman talking to my father’s truthfinder. I didn’t want her talking to anyone .
Because I wasn’t my father, I wouldn’t have her killed just to silence her. But there were other ways to ensure this “Wilda” person wouldn’t be sharing her story with anyone else.
“That won’t be necessary,” I said to her as I turned to walk away. “Time will tell.”
“You can’t leave me here,” she shrieked.
“Watch me,” I said over my shoulder.
Approaching the jailer’s table, I dropped another, even larger bag onto it. It landed with a clank that made his eyes bulge.
“Move the old woman to solitary confinement—and let no one in to see her but me,” I instructed.
“In fact, I want even you to forget who’s in that solitary chamber. As far as you’re concerned, if anyone comes asking for her, she doesn’t exist. Understand?”
“Yes, Your Highness,” the man said. “She doesn’t exist.”
Over the next few days, evidence continued to trickle in.
Pharis joined me in the breakfast room on the third day after the ball.
“Good morning. Has the Swift bird returned from Altum yet?” I asked him.
“Yes, just a little while ago, but it wasn’t carrying anything helpful,” he said. “Lord Elardis denies any knowledge of ‘Lady Wyn’ or anyone matching her description.”
“He would, of course,” I said.
“Of course,” Pharis agreed. “But it doesn’t necessarily convict him of treason—or exonerate him. Don’t forget she admitted to her lack of noble blood. Do you think Lord Elardis knows the name or even the face of every lowborn woman living in his territory—if she was even from there? He said in his message that he’d look into it. I doubt it’ll be his top priority.”
“I’m beginning to think it should be ours,” I said. “We should send a rider. What of searches along the other roads?”
“Nothing. It’s like she’s vanished off the face of the earth. Of course she could have someone hiding her.”
He rubbed his eyes with one hand, looking tired.
“It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. What about you?” he asked. “What of the women in the dungeon?”
My heart kicked an extra beat, and I picked up a bread roll, tearing off a chunk with my teeth and chewing slowly to give myself time to think.
“I spoke to them,” I told him. “The older one was senile, wandered into the kitchens looking for food. Both of them were harmless. I let them go.”
“Let them go?” Pharis’ dark brows rose nearly to his hairline. “What was the younger one in for?”
“Trying to get into the ball,” I said casually. “She was just a villager who wanted a glimpse of the glitz and glamour. Harmless.”
His expression soured. “That’s what I thought about Wyn. Where was this woman from? What village?”
The gleam in his eyes told me Pharis thought the young captive was worth investigating further. I was actually relieved I had no idea what village Raewyn was from.
If it was discovered that she was the young woman captured on the palace lawn that night and that she’d somehow disappeared from the dungeon, she’d be suspected of kidnapping, witchcraft, or worse—attempted regicide.
“I don’t know. I didn’t ask,” I said honestly.
“So it could be anywhere.” Pharis huffed an irritated breath. “I should have gone with you to the dungeons. You’re too trusting of women.”
“And you’re not?”
“Never. I knew something was up with Lady Wyn. I’m kicking myself for not borrowing some lie-detecting glamour and interrogating her further that night.”
“Don’t fault yourself,” I told him. “I wasn’t quite myself that night either.”
His gaze sharpened. “What do you mean?”
“I’m not sure if you’re right when you say I’m too trusting of women, but even I am not usually so easily won. I trusted her immediately. I was…”
My voice drifted as I searched for a way to explain how mesmerized I’d been by the lovely stranger. Now that several days had passed, I was struggling to even recall the feeling.
Maybe the possibility that she’d come here to kill us all had dampened my ardor a bit, but it was starting to seem unreal that I’d actually proposed marriage only hours after meeting someone.
Pharis raised a sardonic brow as he supplied a finish to my abandoned sentence. “Love sick? Transfixed? Enchanted ?”
“All of those and more. Did you not experience anything like that with her?”
“I must have,” he said. “Otherwise she’d be sitting in the dungeon right now, and I’d be spending my search efforts locating a young lady to hand-feed me my bacon and roasted potatoes.”
He picked up a crispy potato cube and tossed it into his mouth.
I laughed. “No doubt there’d be a long line of them eager to do exactly that.”
Pharis took another bite from the fragrant, steaming plate that had been delivered to the table in front of him. After chewing, he looked over at me again.
“What about you? Will you start again soon on selecting the lucky future queen of the Sixlands? Time is ticking, you know.”
“You sound like Father,” I groaned. “No, I don’t have the heart for it right now. Besides…”
“Besides what?” His tone was a mixture of suspicion and dread. “Don’t tell me you’re still pining for Wyn.”
“No, it’s not that. I just… well, what if she actually was a victim and not the perpetrator in all of this?” I asked. “It might be unlikely, but it’s possible. What if she was kidnapped and is out there somewhere, hoping for rescue while I sit here and do nothing to save her? That would make me the worst fiancé of all time.”
“You just admitted to being enchanted by some sort of spell that night,” Pharis said.
“No, I didn’t. I admitted to being enchanted by Wyn. It doesn’t necessarily take magic to turn my head.”
Raewyn had done it that day at the Rough Market just by being herself.
“Well, we won’t know until we find her,” Pharis said. “Which we will do. If she’s been kidnapped, we’ll rescue her, and I’ll apologize profusely to your intended bride for my lack of faith in true love .”
Scraping the last bite into his mouth, he pushed back from the table.
“Meanwhile, you’re going to have a very irritated king on your hands if you don’t make at least some time for courting. Father’s even been on me about it, asking which noble ladies I’ve been spending time with.”
“Shaded stars, he’ll have us both in arranged marriages by the time the Assemblage ends,” I said.
“Bite your tongue,” Pharis said in an amused tone. “One of the few privileges of being the second son is the unencumbered free will to pick my own bride. I won’t marry at all if I’m not smitten beyond all self-control.”
I laughed. “I look forward to meeting the woman who could smite you . Who knows? She might be under our roof at this very moment.”
Pointing at the clock, I added, “Tick tock. Better get to courting, little brother. As for me…”
I pushed back from the table as well and lifted my plate, which I’d piled high with extra food from the buffet. Raewyn would be awake by now and was probably famished.
“I think I’ll finish this in the privacy of my rooms.”
Pharis gave me an odd glance. “You’re spending a lot of time there, holed away, alone.”
Though I wasn’t in the habit of lying to my brother and best friend, I had no choice this time.
“Can you blame me?” I asked. “I found the perfect woman and fell head over heels, she disappeared without a word of explanation—and she might well have had her mind set on killing me and everyone I love. There’s also a chance she was kidnapped while I slept right next door. It’s all left me feeling a bit melancholy.”
Making my way to the breakfast room door, I assured my brother, “I just need some rest and time to recover. I can’t work on the investigation every moment of every day anyway.”
“I can,” Pharis growled. “No one threatens my family and gets away with it… no matter how enchanting she might be.”