30
“ Y ou brought Lady Narcissa with you?” King Maximus’s voice flooded the confines of his room with barely concealed rage.
“Deepest apologies, Your Majesty,” Flannery squeaked. Maddox hung his head, his face growing pale as the king glowered at all three of us.
I shifted uncomfortably, though it was more from Bennett’s frown than King Maximus’s shouting.
“Your orders were to infiltrate the meeting without drawing attention to yourselves, not take the future crown princess into a pit full of rioters who want her dead!”
“Your Majesty, I was the one who insisted,” I said.
King Maximus scowled mightily. “Why? Do you have an incurable impulse to throw yourself into unnecessary danger?”
My cheeks grew hot as I stared at the damask rug. “The important thing is that we escaped unnoticed. Maddox and Flannery have information. ”
He grunted irritably. “Well, get on with it.”
Maddox recounted everything we found, including the magic tunnel, the rioters’ opinions, and the mysterious mistress. Flannery chimed in to explain the involvement of Dominic Turner and his father.
“The general,” King Maximus said, face darkening. “You were right about him from the start, Bennett.”
Bennett dipped his head. “I took the necessary precautions in Coriva when his son appeared,” he said quietly. His gaze slid to me. “Though extra guards didn’t seem to be enough.”
The king exhaled. “I will discuss next steps with Lord Frederick and Captain Greenwood. You two are dismissed.”
Maddox and Flannery shuffled out, both looking thoroughly ashamed. I felt a pang of guilt as I trailed behind them.
King Maximus stood from his seat.
“Father, you look pale,” Bennett said, brows furrowed.
“I just discovered my general is in cahoots with rebels. I need some air.” His Majesty frowned. “Don’t leave, Lady Narcissa. Since you insist on involving yourself in these matters, I will return shortly to speak to both you and Bennett.”
He walked briskly past me, the door slamming shut.
Silence pervaded the room. I tugged on my sleeve, unable to speak as Bennett rounded the table. “Cissa. You do not have to prove that you’re some kind of hero. Not to me. Not even to Father.”
I turned my face away. “I didn’t go down there for heroism.” It wasn’t completely a lie. I did it to avoid him.
Bennett pressed his lips together, his expression identical to the king’s. “You cannot run off and douse fires and infiltrate enemy grounds like you’re immune to danger. Why do you have to do this? ”
“It’s my duty as crown princess,” I said quietly.
“It is not .”
Something in me cracked. My eyes snapped to his. “Well, it is for me!”
“Cissa.”
“If I didn’t prove myself a hero, no one in Olderea would trust me. In fact, you didn’t trust me,” I accused. “Before all of this I was a...a spoiled society girl. And a traitor. Everyone feared me because I was cruel.”
He stared. “I know that. I was there.”
Heat rose in my cheeks. I didn’t think he was going to agree.
“But you’re not those things anymore,” Bennett said. “You’re different now.”
“Bennett, I carved into a girl’s hand with a needle and made her my servant. That’s not something that just...goes away!”
His expression did not change. “Did you enjoy it?”
“What?”
Bennett tilted his head. He looked almost as he did at our first tête-à-tête. I hardly knew how he could ask those things with such composure.
I took a breath. My hands were shaking. “No. I did not enjoy it. But I wasn’t so opposed to it as you may think.”
“But it sickens you now, doesn’t it?” His voice was so level. “Cissa, you are capable of change. You have changed. Why isn’t that enough for you?”
I clenched my fists. “You only know that because I ran off and doused a fire.”
Bennett shook his head.
Frustration clawed at my throat. He wasn’t making any sense.
I spent my life appeasing whomever had power over me. I always knew what Mother wanted—ruthlessness and obedience. King Maximus and Olderea wanted a good crown princess. But Bennett? I never figured out what he expected from me.
“What do you want from me, Bennett? My obedience?” I stepped forward. “A silent figurehead? A good queen to help you rule?” Every word brought me closer. Close enough to see the stubble along his usually smooth skin. “Or do you want something else?”
My proximity seemed to break his calm. Bennett’s throat bobbed. His cravat was missing, exposing the inside of his collar. I recognized the lopsided stitches as my own. There was the faintest red stain along his jaw where I had kissed him last night, and the unmistakable emerald green of my hair ribbon poked out from his waistcoat pocket.
I stared, wondering when he started looking like he was mine.
“I want you to be safe. With me,” Bennett said, touching my cheek. The touch, though brief, sent a jolt through my skin. “You don’t know how scared I was in Vandil. When I thought I was going to lose you.”
I searched his eyes. “What are you saying?”
He swallowed, leaning closer and settling a hand on my waist. “Cissa, I think I’m—”
The door opened. Bennett withdrew at the king’s entrance, though not quickly enough.
King Maximus frowned mightily. I thought my face would burst into flames.
“Sit down, Narcissa. Bennett,” His Majesty said.
We sat. This time, Bennett took his seat next to mine. I tried to compose myself, though my heart was beating wildly from his unspoken words .
“I have spoken with Lord Frederick,” the king said. “Other than the word of those two guards, we have no solid evidence that the general is joining the rebels. We will have to surround the next meeting and detain Dominic Turner and the others.”
I blinked, his words washing over me like a bucket of icy water. Since when had our focus been on the general? Ambushing the rebel meeting didn’t seem wise when there was still so much we didn’t know. Who was this witch mistress and what was her secret plan? What was her purpose in supporting a cause that wanted nothing to do with her kind?
I swallowed. “Your Majesty, if I may interject?”
His stormy expression hadn’t disappeared, but King Maximus inclined his head. “Go on.”
“The person who held me hostage during the fire...she was a flax farmer who no longer had weavers source from her fields. I told her about the new regulations and the other rioters say she’s no longer attending the meetings.” I recalled the young man who balked at the mention of crime against the throne. “Many of them are too afraid to rebel. The sooner we reform these laws, the sooner the uprising will quell.”
King Maximus grunted. “Naturally. I will draft them as soon as General Turner is punished for treason. His son will confess his father’s crimes once we arrest him.”
Bennett sat forward. “Is that the best course of action? If we surround the next meeting we risk further agitating the rioters. How will it look if we use force on our people?”
“Leaving General Turner to his own devices is a greater risk,” King Maximus said. “He commands the troops. Those rioters could already be loyal to him. He could plan an uprising all his own and take the crown for himself if he so wished.” He pressed his fingers to his temples. “All this time I thought he was trustworthy.”
“But the general has shown no signs of planning a rebellion,” Bennett said. “He’s counting on the rioters to do it for him. We need to find out what they’re planning and thwart them in private. Then pass the laws, as Narcissa suggests.”
King Maximus turned to him, face creased with a scowl. “Are you claiming fault in my course of action?”
Bennett sucked in his cheeks. “No, Father. I believe you have muddled your priorities.”
“Is stopping a military uprising not a priority to you?” His Majesty demanded.
I suddenly felt uncomfortable. “I believe Bennett makes a good point, Your Majesty.”
King Maximus glared at me. “Being the crown princess does not involve inserting yourself into royal decisions.”
I flinched.
Bennett frowned. “Maybe it should, Father.”
The king’s weathered face grew red. “The two of you seem well prepared to run the kingdom yourselves.”
“I didn’t mean it that way.” Bennett said. “I was only—”
“Giving me your opinion,” King Maximus finished. “So you always say. Though whether it is wholly yours is questionable.”
The look he gave me was hard to miss.
His Majesty pushed his chair back. “You have always been the voice of reason, Bennett, but tonight you do not seem to have your wits about you. Therefore, I will do what I believe is right. I am still king.”
“Father—”
“Tomorrow night Frederick and his men will surround the meeting and take care of those traitors accordingly,” King Maximus said, eyes flashing. “You may assist me or you may stand aside, but under no circumstances may you defy me. Is that understood?”
Bennett lowered his head, clenching the fabric of his trousers. “Yes, Father.”
I watched the exchange, my gut churning at how familiar it felt.
“Good. You are dismissed.”