CHAPTER 42
Maggie!”
Someone was shaking my shoulder, and I was absolutely sure it wasn’t Mom. Because I didn’t live at home anymore. I had moved out to my own apartment ages ago.
“Maggie!”
My eyes snapped open. Clover leaned over me. My head pounded like someone was beating my skull with a hammer.
“What time is it?”
“The bells have struck eight.”
I’d gone to bed drunk just after midnight.
“My lady, Lord Arvel is here.”
“What do you mean here? Here here?”
“Here, downstairs, by our front door. He is waiting in the street.”
I sat up and winced. My poor head.
“Your hair is a mess,” Clover said.
I hadn’t bothered unbraiding it last night. I’d just taken all the metal out.
“How many people does he have with him?”
“Just one knight.”
“Please let them into the courtyard and put them at the table by the wine tree. Do we have any snacks?”
“I already have tea brewing. Let me help you with your hair.”
Clover held up one of my house gowns.
Twenty minutes later, I was in the courtyard, sitting across the table from Arvel and his guard. The Golden Knight wore a plain hooded cloak and his face looked like he was about to lead an army into battle.
Gort and the brothers formed a triangle behind Arvel, maintaining a respectable distance. If he decided to make himself into a problem, there wouldn’t be much they could do to stop him. His magic made him invulnerable, so I had to win this fight on my own.
I wouldn’t be running from that confrontation. No, I welcomed it. That was one good thing about having your heart broken—you stopped giving a crap, and he’d just presented me with a target for all of my frustration.
“What an unexpected visit, my lord. The last time I visited the Citadel, you served such wonderful tea. I’m afraid mine can’t compare. But our pastries are second to none.”
“They are indeed superb.”
“To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?”
“I know you’re not a Demarr.”
Straight to the point.
I sighed. “Lute, bring the painting from my office.”
“The large or the small one, my lady?”
“Both.”
“Yes, my lady.”
I turned back to Arvel. “I’m exactly who I say I am. But I fail to see why it matters to you, my lord.”
He leaned back in his chair. “I would like to know everything there is to know about you, my lady. And I will. Right now, I want to know why you are lying.”
I sighed. “I see you intend to make your interest in me into my problem.”
Lute returned, placed the small painting on the table, and held the larger one up.
I looked at the small painting. On it Griele Demarr hugged a ten-year-old girl who resembled me. Griele’s smile was soft and warm. She didn’t look anything like my mother. My eyes grew hot.
Arvel watched me like a hawk.
Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry. “This is my mother and I.”
He looked at the painting. It was a beautiful work of art. I had no idea where Solentine had found the artist on such short notice.
I nodded at the bigger painting. “These are my parents and my brother.”
Arvel stared at the painting. In it Brune and Griele Demarr sat in chairs, while Rumian and I, both adults, stood behind them in our family colors.
“This proves nothing.”
“Would you like to see the official papers? Perhaps my Demarr family crest?”
“Papers can be forged, and I doubt the Demarrs have a shortage of crests.”
“This is bordering on rude, my lord. I had a long and eventful night. I’m tired. You show up first thing in the morning and demand the proof of my lineage without any justification for it.”
“I’ve never heard of Brune and Griele Demarr having a daughter.”
“I can’t help that you are poorly informed.”
He leaned forward. “You don’t look like your parents.”
Clover gasped behind me.
He glanced at her.
“It’s all right, Clover. He didn’t hurt my feelings.” I glanced at Arvel. “I was adopted at the age of nine.”
Arvel drew back slightly. Yes, you were inexcusably rude.
“Do you have any other pointed insights to offer, my lord, or can we conclude this meeting?”
“I don’t know what Solentine has on you, but I will find out and I will free you of it.”
“Solentine is the best cousin I could ever wish for. He is caring and protective, and he respects my freedom and independence.”
“He is slippery, conniving, and dangerous. He appears to be a cad, and he cultivates his unsavory reputation . . .”
“Are you worried that my cousin’s reputation will somehow stain yours? Please have no fear. I do not intend to pursue you, my lord. I’d promise you that I have no desire to end your chastity, but as you’ve assured me, that dursan flew long ago.”
He blinked again. This conversation wasn’t going the way he had expected.
Leave. Go away.
Arvel leaned forward and fixed me with his gaze. Wow.
“You told Berengur that your father was touched by the horrors of war. I’ve met Brune Demarr. He’s a simple man who likes war because he is good at it. He has the depth and insight of a wooden spoon. In his wildest dreams, Brune could never raise a daughter like you.”
I had always wanted to say this. “How dare you?”
I stood up.
Arvel jumped to his feet. The pressure in his stare faltered. He’d realized he’d gone too far.
“Do you think, Lord Arvel, that only men like you have the monopoly on being scarred by the violence you unleash? Has it ever crossed your deep and insightful mind that I might have seen a side of my father he had not shown others? Or that I saw something in him even he himself didn’t acknowledge?”
I took a step toward him. Arvel took a step back.
“I have sat here and listened to you smear my cousin and question my parentage, but I will not tolerate an insult to my father. Get out. I may not be a Demarr by blood, but I had their training, and by the Aspects, I will draw blood. Leave my house.”
A golden glow flared in his eyes. For a moment they blazed with lethal radiance, and I felt a stirring of a power. It was like a distant hurricane waking up.
The glow died. He smiled and bowed. It was a graceful, deep bow, the kind a man of his position would offer to a woman he appreciated.
“Apologies, my lady.”
“You can apologize by leaving. Your welcome is withdrawn.”
He spun around and marched to the front door. Kaiden chased after to close it behind him.
Clover slapped her hand over her mouth and snickered into it.
Will leaned forward. His voice had a touch of awe. “You chased Doran Arvel out of the house.”
“He’ll be back.”
The look Arvel had given me wasn’t the look of a man who had given up. It was the kind of look you saw in the movies, when a skilled martial artist was trying to cool things down, and someone decided to sucker punch him in the mouth. It said Good punch. Brace yourself.
I had to figure out some way to redirect him away from me and fast. I had too much to do and no time to waste.
I took an envelope out of my sleeve and handed it to Kaiden.
“Three Moons?” he asked.
I nodded.
There was a single piece of paper inside with a short note in the Shears’ cypher on it. It said, I have the contracts. Get me an audience with the Sun Margrave.
The last of the Shears background on the contracted people had been delivered yesterday, just before I left for that infernal dance. I would use today to finish organizing it.
With or without Everard, I would change the future of this kingdom.
The carriage rocked slightly, rolling through the streets soaked in afternoon light. Solentine sat on the bench across from me, wrapped in a nondescript cloak.
“I didn’t tell you that Ramond survived because I didn’t think about it,” he said. “I should have realized how worried you would be, but it didn’t occur to me.”
“It’s for the best,” I told him. “Now he and I both know where we stand.”
“I doubt that.” Solentine frowned. “I should’ve taken your feelings into consideration.”
“We’ve only been relatives for less than a month.”
“And we were doing so well, but now there is a coldness between us.”
I gave him a look.
“Maggie, I would rather have honesty than politeness.”
“Of course there is a coldness, you ass. You have a hundred people at your disposal, and you couldn’t send one to notify me. If only I had repeatedly asked your agents if there was any news about Everard—oh wait, I did.”
He blinked. “I’ll make it up to you.”
“No need. I no longer care. Besides, you arranged this audience on very short notice. That’s enough. I’m surprised you pulled it off.”
The frown got deeper. “I’m equally surprised. I don’t have influence over the Sun Margrave. Even my father would have to wait at least a few days for a meeting.”
“Maybe the stars aligned.”
I looked down at the floor of the carriage, where a large chest waited, filled with scrolls and papers. I didn’t care how we’d gotten the audience, as long as we got it.
The carriage stopped. Lute knocked on the front wall. We’d reached our destination.
Solentine picked up the wooden chest with all of our papers and stepped out. I climbed out after him without waiting for Will to help me out of the carriage. I didn’t have time for all the proprieties.
A large square building rose in front of us, a small fortress in the middle of the city, complete with two knights protecting the door. A woman stood between them, dressed in the black and purple colors of the Justice Chamber.
We approached the guards.
“Lord Dagarra and Lady Demarr,” Solentine said.
“You are expected. The lady only.”
“That’s fine.”
I took the chest from Solentine before he could open his mouth.
“Follow me,” the woman said.
We walked through a long, well-lit hallway into a large, three-story tower.
Shelves ringed the walls, filled to the brim with books, odd objects, and scrolls and interrupted by arched windows letting in the afternoon light.
A wide balcony with a blocky wooden rail traced the walls about fifteen feet up, offering access to the higher shelves.