Chapter Seven
Outside the storm was still raging and seemed to be getting worse. Prince Mikos was heading straight toward me to intercept me, his face set in grim lines.
“I’ve told the guards at the doors to allow no one in or out without express permission from one of us,” he said, when he arrived beside me.
“We need to interview everyone here—what they saw or heard…” He glanced around the room until finally his gaze landed back on me.
“Was my brother…was Prince Larz badly injured?”
“I don’t think so, Your Royal Highness. I understand there was no concussion, but Prince Vannos arranged for scans to be done by his physicians as a precaution.”
“And his adopted son?”
“Taran was more seriously wounded. He’s lost a lot of blood, but Lt. Worron took care of him. I think there’s little doubt he saved his life.”
He nodded again. “I hope he’s improving. Tell me, Kirstos, have you come to the same conclusion I have?”
“That the perpetrator had to have been one of the Laltanan guards? Yes, Your Highness. At this point, it could only have been a member of the family or one of the guards. There was no one else in the room, except for some of Vannos’s servants, and they were all at the far end of the room near the fireplace. ”
“Agreed, though they can’t be ruled out either.
I’ll send someone to get them rounded up so we can speak to them.
Since all of the Imperials were on this side of the room and standing behind us, except for the Imperials guarding the two sets of doors, that narrows down the field considerably.
I need to speak to my brother and convince him of that, however, and the problem with that is that he doesn’t listen to much of what I say. ”
“Would you like me to speak with him, sir?”
Mikos sighed and then nodded. “It’s worth a try.
I’m going to speak to my father about all this too, once he calms down a bit more.
See what he has to say. Hold off on any serious discussion until I let you know.
” He nodded a little distractedly and set off back to his family, while I made my way over to the set of double doors at the entrance of the large meeting hall.
There still seemed to be a crowd around Taran, so I decided not to get in the way.
There was, after all, no reason for me to keep checking on him.
I was barely acquainted with him, and I’d certainly done my duty.
This fluttering feeling in my chest must be some residual nerves left over from the attack itself.
I thought back to what we had done together the night before—surely there was no way we had bonded at all.
I’d been careful not to have penetrative sex with him, and it was only in rare cases that kissing, no matter how intimate or intense, could result in a bond forming.
Though I’d heard about Prince Rakkur, the youngest son, and his husband, Colonel Tariq forming a bond or saying they did in a similar way when the prince was really young.
Injured by would-be assassins, Tariq had tried to resuscitate the prince and there had been an exchange of bodily fluids.
Surely that had only been a cautionary tale.
I’d been married to my first husband Marek for a few months before he’d died so tragically, and we still didn’t form a strong bond.
It was ludicrous to think that one night with Taran could result in such a thing.
I decided to put it out of my mind as an impossibility.
“I’m going to find the infirmary,” I told the guards. “I assume that’s where Prince Larz was taken.”
“Yes, sir,” one of the guards replied and then gestured behind me. “Looks like his son is being taken there now.”
I turned back to look again and saw the medics loading Taran onto a stretcher.
He still seemed to be unconscious, and he was lying on his back.
His normally golden skin was alarmingly white and pale, and again I was struck by how small and vulnerable he looked lying on that stretcher as it came toward us.
I pushed down the urge to go to him and waited for them to come to the door.
Larz’s consort, Janos, was trailing along behind his son, accompanied by the Laltanan guard called Luc Dimitri, who had been so rude to me earlier.
He struck me as being one of the loud, brash kind of humans I most disliked.
Full of arrogance and misplaced confidence, they strutted around like they owned every space they occupied.
They were often full of opinions and felt as if they needed to share them with everyone.
I’d encountered plenty more like him in my time.
One of the Imperial guards at the door stepped in front of Dimitri and the consort as they approached.
“I’m sorry, but we have orders that all the guests are to stay here in this room until we’ve had a chance to talk with them about what happened.
The boy can be taken to the infirmary, but neither of you can leave. ”
Janos looked up in surprise, his eyes widening. “I need to be with my son and my husband, and if anyone wants to speak with me, I’ll make myself available. But please get out of my way.”
The guard drew himself up to his full height, which was considerably taller than the consort, and I saw that his face was turning red with anger. Janos was not a popular figure on Tygeria. I put a warning hand on the guard’s arm, just as Luc Dimitri puffed out his chest and shouted up in his face.
“Get out of the fucking way and let us pass, damn you! You don’t make the rules here on Moravia.”
I couldn’t see anything good coming from this, so I quickly intervened.
“Stand down, Sergeant,” I told my Imperial. “I’ll take the Consort Janos to see Prince Larz. As for you, sir,” I said, turning toward the human soldier. “Your presence is not required. Please go back to your men and wait to be interviewed.”
Immediately, he bucked up to me, staring up at me belligerently. “What part of ‘I don’t take orders from you’ don’t you understand?”
Several responses ran through my mind, but before I could reply, Janos put a hand on the man’s arm and shook his head.
“Don’t be silly, General Dimitri. Of course, we want to cooperate with these soldiers in any way we can.
Just…please go back to your men, and I’ll go with General Vargarra. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
Janos stepped up beside me and after one quick glance down at the arm I offered him, he took it with a slight nod of his head.
It was a regal gesture that I don’t think he was even aware of, and I knew it took courage on his part to take my arm.
From what I’d heard, the main reason Prince Larz had refused to come home to Tygeria was because of his mate’s fear of all Tygerians—except for his husband, of course.
I could understand why, considering what must have happened to him at Beatik.
As he stepped up beside me, I was again struck by how small he was, much smaller than his adopted son and how handsome his features were up close this way.
His skin was like fine porcelain, and the only marks of his age were the few silver strands in the hair framing his face.
I deliberately turned my back on Dimitri, who was seething behind us and led the little former king of Laltana from the room.
I had studied the layout of the castle before we arrived, so I knew the infirmary was on the lower level. In fact, we saw the men carrying the stretcher with Taran on it just disappearing down into the stairwell as we came out into the huge main hall.
By the time we reached the clinic, the stretcher bearers had already gone inside.
As we followed them in, we saw the two royal princes right away, Larz and his older brother Vannos, were standing aside to let the stretcher bearers carry Taran to one of the beds inside the infirmary.
Prince Larz glanced over and spotted us at the door, and he came over quickly to greet his consort and take his hand off my arm.
The look he shot me reminded me so much of the resentful, suspicious one his brother Mikos had sent me when I held his consort’s hand on the ship that I had to struggle to keep a smile off my face.
By this time, he had a much smaller, neater bandage on the back of his head, though he still looked pale and drained. He’d taken quite a blow to his head, and he’d been lucky there was no sign of concussion. Janos began to softly exclaim over him as Larz enfolded him in his arms.
“I’m fine, darling,” he said, using one of the human words I’d heard the Consort Blake use so often. It was a term of endearment my own omak had used occasionally with me and my brothers.
“There’s nothing seriously wrong, the doctors said, and I just needed a few stitches.
” He glanced over at me. “They think the assailant must have used something like a cudgel or perhaps the hilt of the knife to hit me with before turning it back around to attack Taran. Thank the gods the medics managed to get the bleeding stopped. If they hadn’t, or if the knife had struck his lungs or his heart… ”
Janos shuddered and gave a soft cry. The prince was right—the boy could very easily have been killed in the vicious attack.
If they’d aimed a bit higher… Surprisingly, something twisted in my own chest and in the pit of my stomach.
I thought it must be because of the duty I owed to all of the royal family.
The attack was a reminder of my failure in that regard.
Even though Prince Larz seemed not to want the Imperials to protect his small family, I should have insisted and sent some guards anyway.
“Were you able to see your assailant?” I asked. “Did he say anything to you before the attack?”
“No. I was caught completely off guard.”
“What about you, Your Highness?” I asked, turning to Janos. “Did you see or hear anything?”
“I saw a dark shadow come rushing up from behind us. And I heard his footsteps. I knew the Royal Guard was behind us, so at the time I thought one of the guards was coming over to guard Larz. Someone brushed right past me, and Larz cried out. But before I could react, Taran pushed me down in my chair and crossed over in front of me. Then there was only Taran, on the other side of me until he began to stagger and I was able to push past him to get to my husband. I didn’t know he’d been hurt as well. ”
“You were seated, between Prince Larz and your son?”
“That’s right.”
“Taran’s going to be fine,” Prince Larz said softly against Janos’s hair. “The doctors say he should wake up pretty soon. We’ll stay here with him until he does.”
“I’m going to send some guards down here to stay with you. I’m not sure the danger has passed, though the storm is still pretty bad outside.”
Janos nodded. “Thank you. Prince Vannos told me earlier that these storms can last for days at a time.”
“Which means the power can go out again at any time, and another attack could be attempted. I’d rather have your family isolated and guarded here inside this infirmary while we figure this thing out. There seems to be only one door in or out here.”
“You can just send some of our Royal Guards down then to stay with us.”
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible, Your Highness.”
“Why not?” he asked, his tone sharp as he frowned at me.
“Because they, along with everyone else in that room are all suspects at this point. In addition, they were closest to you when the lights went out, and all of them were armed.”
“No, that’s ridiculous. None of them would hurt us.”
“Nevertheless, they must be interrogated. I’m sorry. I can’t take any chances until they’ve all been spoken to and definitively ruled out.”
He scowled at me. “But you do trust that the Imperials weren’t involved? How convenient.”
“Your guards were standing behind you, sir. The Imperials were all the way across the room. It’s the most logical conclusion.”
“Except for the fact that my men would have no motive.”
“They had the means and more importantly, the opportunity. Opportunity is the only element that can provide an absolute alibi—if a suspect had no opportunity, they couldn’t be the perpetrator.
Like my Imperial guards…” I let my voice trail off and focused instead on how frantically Janos had begun suddenly pulling on the prince’s hand, trying to get his attention.
“Larz, I believe Taran is waking up.”
The prince and I both turned to see Taran struggling to sit up. He had his eyes open, but they were unfocused, and he looked frightened and disoriented. I felt a ridiculous urge to push them both aside and go to him, take him in my arms and reassure him that he was safe.
Thankfully, Larz reached him before I could make myself move, slipping an arm underneath him to help him sit up.
Both Prince Larz and his consort were hovering over him at that point, so I decided now would be a good time to slip out of the room.
Taran was still far too groggy from the pain medicine to be able to answer any of my questions at the moment anyway.
I told myself I could come back later, and I slipped out the door to head back to the room where the attack had taken place.
As soon as I got back upstairs, I’d send some guards down to make sure no one came in or out.
Right now, however, I needed to see what the king and Prince Mikos had to say about this mess.
Despite the storm being obviously out of my control, I still felt a sense of personal failure at what had happened to Prince Larz and his son.
Perhaps I had respected Prince Larz’s boundaries too much—or maybe I resented them.
I should have insisted on my own men guarding him and his family, despite what he’d said he wanted.
His guards been a completely unknown quantity to me, and the situation had backfired badly.
I wondered what King Davos would have to say about that, and I headed back upstairs to hear for myself.