Chapter Ten
It was late afternoon before I got the word that Prince Larz had gone to meet with His Majesty, King Davos.
I went immediately to find the Consort Janos, along with four of the Imperial guards.
The consort wasn’t in his room, so I headed down to the infirmary and found him there, sitting with Taran.
They were playing some kind of game with dice that they were scattering across the foot of his bed.
Both of them looked up, still smiling over their game as I entered the room, but I concentrated only on Janos. I didn’t relish seeing the look that would soon be blossoming on Taran’s face.
“Your Highness,” I said, bowing slightly to the consort.
“We have reason to believe that the real target of yesterday’s attack may have been you.
A decision has been made by King Davos to take you into protective custody and transfer you immediately to a shuttle that will take you up to the king’s ship. ”
He gasped and stood up so abruptly, his chair fell over backward, his face draining of color.
“What? You’re taking me away?”
Taran made a sound full of outrage and grabbed for his hand.
“What the fuck are you talking about? You can’t arrest the consort!
” Taran shouted, his face red as he scrambled to get to his feet.
As usual for him, he was damn near naked.
He was wearing the same scrap of cloth he wore the first time I saw him, only this time without the big, ugly coat to cover him up.
My men were looking at him appreciatively, though when I made eye contact with them, they quickly raised their eyes to the ceiling.
I turned back to Janos. “No one is being arrested. This is protective custody only, so you need to calm down.”
“The hell I will!” he said, trying to throw his body in front of the consort.
I held out a hand to stop the forward charge of my Imperials, who would have tackled him to the floor.
I didn’t want him hurt, nor did I like the idea of their hands on him, if I were honest. I stepped up to him instead and pushed him firmly down on the bed and held a hand on his chest to hold him there.
I kept standing over him as he struggled, so he couldn’t get back up.
“Stop, before you reopen your wound. If you want to accompany him, then I’ll allow it. But you need to be quiet and stop yelling. We believe the consort is in danger if he stays here in the palace.”
He glared at me belligerently, his beautiful eyes filling with angry tears. “In danger from what?”
“From the would-be assassin who stabbed you and attacked Prince Larz. We believe he was really trying to kill your father, Janos, though he obviously didn’t mind collateral damage either.
He probably only stabbed you because you were in the way.
Or maybe he mistook you in the dark. Either way, that leaves the consort still in danger. ”
I must have finally gotten through to him, at least a little, because he suddenly seemed to deflate and subside back onto the bed. He was still weaker than I’d thought. Janos reached for his hand, so I stepped back and allowed him to stand up.
“What does Prince Larz think about all this?” Taran asked me.
“I haven’t seen him. He should be in a meeting with his father and Prince Mikos right about now.
” Janos was getting upset again and I tried once more to defuse the situation as best I could.
“Look, we can take you upstairs to pack, if you like. Your husband is still meeting with his father, but once he finds out, he may want to join you on the ship.”
“But-but I have to tell Larz where I’m going,” he said, looking upset and a little frantic. “I can’t just leave without letting him know. Please allow me to talk to him, sir.” He grabbed my arm, his grip surprisingly strong.
“He’ll be told where you are, I promise you. And given the chance to join you. Whether or not he accepts and follows you will be up to him.”
He looked up at me, searching my face intently, as if looking for the truth.
I took his hand from my arm and squeezed it.
“I promise you that he’ll be informed, Your Highness.
And you won’t be harmed. I swear it. This is for your own protection until we find out who may have tried to harm you and did harm your family. ”
He searched my face a moment longer and then finally nodded and pulled his hand away.
“All right, then. Take me upstairs, Taran. I need to pack for Larz too…” He turned to look at me. “Because he will follow me, General. I can assure you of that.”
“Yes, I understand, sir.”
I followed them upstairs, after insisting that Taran wrap a blanket around himself.
I still anticipated trouble from Prince Larz.
As I waited for them to pack up their belongings, I thought that the meeting with Larz might soon be over, and he could appear in the hallway at any moment.
One of my lieutenants then informed me that there had been a luncheon first and only afterward had the king and Prince Larz gone to a private conference room to talk.
King Stefan hadn’t attended, because he was busy with matters concerning repairs and clean-up after the storm, but Prince Vannos had been there, along with the Royal Consort.
Prince Mikos and his consort had been there too.
As we were coming out of Taran’s room, after having packed a bag for both Janos and Prince Larz, a voice called out behind us. It seemed my relief at making our exit without more delays was destined to be short-lived.
“Taran! Wait up a minute.”
All of us turned to watch one of Prince Vannos’s sons hurrying toward us. I was pretty sure it was his eldest son, Bryos.
“Taran,” he said. “I heard about what happened to you at that meeting yesterday. I’m so glad to see you up and around.”
“Yes, I’m feeling much better, Bryos. Thanks for being worried about me.”
“Yes, of course,” the boy said, putting a hand on Taran’s arm. “My father said you’d been stabbed—I was terribly worried about you.”
His hand tightened on Taran as he leaned in. “I wanted to come see you, but those guards at your door wouldn’t allow it.” I had a strong urge to pull his pampered hand off Taran’s arm. It was a hand that had never done any real work in its life.
“We need to go, Your Highness,” I said and then turned to Prince Vannos’s son. “You’ll have to excuse us, sir.”
“Oh, okay,” Bryos said, using that human word I disliked again.
It seemed the whole damned royal family used it.
I suppose it was the equivalent of the word “hai,” a much better Tygerian alternative that meant “yes.” It was an unequivocal word, plain and simple.
Not to mention elegant. There was no need for all these stupid human words.
Nor was there any need for this boy to keep touching Taran so familiarly.
They were cousins after all. Not by blood, but that shouldn’t have made a difference.
“But I promised you lessons on riding an arriz,” he went on. And on… And on…
“Be sure to let me know when you feel well enough for that.”
I got a message from the shuttle pilot, saying he had a window to take off within the hour before any more inclement weather moved back in.
Taran was smiling back at Bryos and probably would have stood there even longer, wasting my time, so I took his hand in mine and gave it a little tug. “We need to be on our way.”
I pulled him behind me and told Janos to get a move on things, because we had a small window to make the shuttle.
“Is someone going to tell Prince Larz where we are?” he asked, his face creased with worry.
“Of course.” But to be on the safe side, I pulled one of my men aside and spoke rapidly to him in Tygerian, which I knew neither Janos nor Taran really understood.
I told them to get a message to the king for me that I had Janos in custody.
And to tell him what the shuttle pilot had said.
And I asked him to check on whether or not Prince Larz would be coming.
I needed to know if Janos would give me trouble if Prince Larz didn’t show up.
I grabbed my own bag from my room, as did Taran and the guards with theirs, and as we were leaving to go to the shuttle, I received an urgent message from Consort Blake.
He was telling me not to allow the pilots to take off until His Majesty, the consort and Prince Larz all joined us onboard.
I sent an affirmative answer and then sighed.
It seemed as if this would be a bumpy ride to the ship after all. Prince Larz was sure to be furious about these arrangements and about him and Janos being forced to go back to Tygeria.
When I came out of my room, I saw Bryos still in the hallway, as if hoping for another word with Taran.
I told him politely that it was dangerous for him to be in the corridors unguarded until we caught whoever had attacked Prince Larz and Taran, and he that he should get back to his own quarters right away.
Then I stood and watched him as he went back down the long hall.
I had to admit I was very glad to see him go, though I didn’t want to examine the feeling too closely.
****
When we arrived outside, we stood on the same broad front steps where I’d first seen Prince Larz and Taran on my scans of the palace, such a short time ago.
It seemed like much longer. We were awaiting the shuttle, which was supposed to land very soon to take us up to the king’s ship.
We’d have to walk across the bridge to get to it, because the area in front of the palace was too small.
We were taking a cart drawn by two arrizes to accommodate all the luggage.
I motioned for the Consort Janos to ride across the bridge on the cart. He shook his head.
“N-no…” he said, drawing back. “I-I have a bad feeling about this. I’ll wait for Prince Larz.”