Chapter Forty-Eight
FORTY-EIGHT
ASPETH
The guards lead me down the hall to a room with a large, rounded door. A guard stands outside, and when I go in, there are two more of the king’s honor guard there, crowded in behind a heavy, ornate wood desk. On one wall, there’s a shelf full of artifacts, and on another, rows of old books. Behind the desk is a large painted portrait of Rooster in all his guild regalia, and I suspect this is his office. I don’t know if it’s ironic or amusing that he’s got a huge portrait of himself in his office, but it fits what I know of him.
“Shut the door behind us,” the king tells his guards, walking a few steps ahead of me. He pauses behind the desk, pulling off his gloves, and then thumps into the seat. I carefully stand across from him until he waves in my direction, indicating I should sit, too.
Once I’ve perched on a chair, he eyes me.
“Explain to me the reasoning as to why a sheltered holder’s daughter would go to Vastwarren by herself and join the Royal Artifactual Guild. I’m trying to piece it together in my head and it seems a ridiculous choice.” He indicates I should speak. “So make me understand.”
“My father has gambled away our ancestral artifacts,” I say, uneasy. I hate telling that to someone in power like the king, but I’m also aware he could try to confiscate my father’s holding at any time regardless. “We’re exposed and helpless without any sort of magic to aid us in protection of our people. Our hold is also penniless. There are no funds to replace anything. So I thought I would join the guild and get replacement artifacts for my father.”
“By stealing them?”
“No, I was going to do it the right way, the honorable way. Have it taken out of my guild tithe, no matter how many years it takes. Repair our defenses quietly. But Lord Barnabus arrived and started paying for guild teams to hunt artifacts so he could go to war, and I knew where he was planning to attack. I had to do something.”
He nods thoughtfully, leaning back. “It seems to me that you could have prevented all of this by marrying someone, Lady Aspeth. Like, say, Lord Barnabus. I’m told there was a broken engagement?”
I nod. “He said unpleasant things about me to someone and I overheard it. He was marrying me for my position.”
“Then it seems to me that the best revenge would have been to marry him.” The king gives me a polite smile. “Let him pay for artifacts for his new home.”
“I didn’t trust him to do so,” I say bluntly. Fury builds inside me, but how can I expect the king to understand? He’s a man, born to privilege. Of course he’d suggest that I marry Barnabus. “I expected to find myself having an ‘accident’ once he determined there were no artifacts in the Honori treasury. Then he would have both the hold and a rich new bride, and my father and I would be dead.”
“An extreme scenario. You think he would plan such a thing?”
“I believe it to be true.”
The king taps his fingertips together. “As much as I hate to admit it, Lady Aspeth, your suspicions match mine. I’ve been watching the Chatworth family for some time and nothing he’s done this day surprises me. He’s a holder’s son, though, so you understand why I cannot punish him more harshly than I have…just as I cannot punish you properly. You both deserve to go to prison and yet here I am with my hands tied.”
I say nothing, my hands clasped politely in my lap. Something about the king’s choice of words and his too-affable expression tell me that he’s very angry about the entire scenario.
“I’m tempted to just marry you to Barnabus as was the original plan and send you home, but I would also hate to be responsible for your untimely death, should it happen.”
“And I am already married,” I say lightly, trying to smile.
“Yes, to a Taurian. Tell me, was that willingly?”
I nod. “It was my suggestion. I’m quite happy in the union.”
“And do you expect this guild Taurian to run your father’s hold as his heir?” When I shake my head mutely, he arches a brow. “But marrying him is considered a disgrace, and now, as far as you know, your father has no suitable heir. What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking that I would like to stay alive, Your Majesty. I took the problems one at a time. I still haven’t solved that one yet.”
He huffs a laugh. “Nor have I. I am going to have to think on it for some time today.” The king sets his hand on the table and drums it, his many rings winking. I recognize at least two of them as Prellian. “Which brings me to the current issue of the artifact you stole. The two joined rings. The mist-wall artifacts. You recall them?”
I hold my breath, trying to remain neutral. “Yes, your Majesty.”
“As stolen Greater Artifacts, they have been returned to the guild and thus sold to a holder.”
“I…see.”
I should have expected it. I did expect it.
Even so, hearing such a thing breaks something inside me. All of that work for nothing. All of the danger, the betrayals, the cave-in, the ratlings, the crypt…it was all for nothing. Tears slide down my face, even though I do my best to keep my composure. I clench my hands tightly in my lap to keep from outright sobbing in the king’s face, but the silent tears escape no matter how hard I try.
“You understand you left me no choice. I couldn’t very well just hand them over to you after you stole them.” The look he gives me is admonishing.
“Of course not.” Defeat crushes me. There’s no hope left.
Honori Hold is lost.
“The guild wished to press charges, but I’ve managed to soothe them. I’ve handled the artifacts in question and I have removed your name from their rolls. You have been removed from the guild, with no option to re-enroll.”
Removed from the guild.
Permanently.
Is it considered a knife to the heart if your heart is already stomped into the floor? “I understand, Your Majesty.”
“I don’t know that you do,” he snaps. “You cannot imagine the sheer number of meetings I’ve had to soothe ruffled feathers over this and prevent war. You had better appreciate what I’ve done for you.”
“I do,” I say dully. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”
No guild. Ever. A small part of me thinks I was never cut out for it. That I’d rather sit by a cozy fire with a book and read about Old Prell than cave dive into the ruins. But now I can’t help my father acquire more artifacts. I can’t help Honori Hold, and once word gets out that our home is defenseless, other families will come sniffing around, trying to accomplish what Barnabus did not.
There’s a knock at the door.
“Good,” the king says, a hint of a smile on his face. “The lord holder is here to pick up the artifact rings I’ve sold to him.”
Is this part of my punishment? I wonder as the guard goes to the door. That I have to watch the handoff of all my hopes and dreams?
The door opens and a bearded nobleman steps in, dressed in fur-trimmed robes and wearing a feathered cap.
My…father?