CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE ISI
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
ISI
“Ididn’t see her face. She…” Mae grimaced. “By the time I reached the top of the landing, Marlane was lying on the foyer floor, and the red-haired woman was nowhere to be seen.”
I met Trew’s gaze. This sounded like someone veil-traveling.
“There was nowhere for her to go.”
“But it wasn’t Eva?” I asked.
Mae shook her head. “It was the red-haired woman, though I only saw her from behind before she disappeared. Eva raced down the stairs but it was too late.” She looked up at Trew, then at me, while Kerralyn and Lexie watched, silent.
“After it happened, I tried to keep you and Addie safe any way I could. I made sure your food was tested. Watched who came and went from your chambers. But then Addie was sent away, Leo was sent to the reformatory, and you left.” She covered her face with her hands. “I couldn’t protect anyone any longer.”
She’s scared but good, Pherin sent to me.
“You protected us the only way you could,” I said.
“I wish I could do more.”
“The best thing you can do is forget what you heard today.” I gripped her hands. “If anyone asks why you were in here so long, you were helping me recover from last night’s trauma. Understood?”
She nodded. “Of course.”
I had to tell her. I couldn’t withhold this information any longer. But I met Trew’s gaze and blocked my mouth from the others, whispering, “Children.”
Understanding, he nodded.
My throat closed, but I shoved out a breath with my words. “Mae, about Leo.”
She braced herself as if I was about to deliver bad news. “What about my son, my little boy?”
“I can’t tell you much, but I know that he’s safe. I’ve seen him, and he’s being well cared for.”
Mae staggered, and I tugged her into my arms, holding her while she cried, sobs shaking her entire body.
“Thank you for telling me,” she gasped. “I thought he was dead or that someone was hurting him.”
I stroked her hair the way she’d soothed me through the nightmares after my mother was gone. “He’s safe. I promise.” Telling her risked everything, but her loyalty could save us.
Lexie placed a hand on Mae’s shoulder. Kerralyn offered her a handkerchief.
Trew’s gaze remained on the door and windows, always vigilant.
Finally, Mae stepped back, wiping her eyes. She gave me a watery smile. “My boy is alive. He’s safe. No one is hurting him. You don’t know what it means to me to hear this news.” She sniffed and tucked the handkerchief into her pocket, stiffening her spine. “I want to help if I can.”
I frowned. “In what way?”
“What if I listened to the king during meals? I could stand beyond the door, cracking it open.”
“I don’t want you risking yourself.”
“We risk ourselves every day we remain in this court. Please. I want to do something.”
“She could spy—subtly—on the king,” Kerralyn said. “Note who he meets with and what he discusses when he thinks no one’s listening.”
“There are too many guards near his office,” Lexie said. “Don’t even try to get near that location.”
“If you do anything, you need to be careful,” I said. “Don’t take risks that will draw his attention. There are guards everywhere.”
“I can do it,” Mae said, her voice stronger now. She glanced between me, Kerralyn, and Lexie. “I’ve been invisible in this castle for years. No one notices the servants.”
“If you see or hear anything suspicious,” Trew said, “find a way to get word to one of us immediately.”
Kerralyn sheathed her blade and tapped Mae’s arm.
“I’m in the kitchens almost all the time.
Come and ask for a tray for Isi even if she hasn’t requested one.
Give me this signal.” She demonstrated a hand gesture.
“I’ll find a way to follow you from the kitchen.
We can duck into an empty room, and you can relay your message. ”
“I’m here a lot already, other than when they give me a different assignment,” Lexie said. “No one will be suspicious to find two of Isi’s ladies talking together.”
Mae smoothed her skirts and stiffened her spine. When she glanced between Trew and me, understanding flickered across her features. Her gaze lingered on him, taking in the way he stood close to me, the protective set of his shoulders. “I’ll do anything to help Isi.”
“Thank you.” I squeezed her hands. “Just…be careful.”
“I will.”
“Would you please fetch the rest of my ladies? I need to dress for lunch with Lord Alfred.”
An entire meal with a loathsome suitor. I hated that I had to spend any time with him.
She curtsied and slipped from the room, closing the door behind her.
“I need to return to the kitchens,” Kerralyn said. “I’ll collect the plates in the adjacent room.” She hurried into the sitting area.
“I’ll go prepare your bath, my lady,” Lexie said with a wan smile, striding into the bathing chamber.
The moment she was gone, Trew checked his ward, verifying it still worked. Then the careful distance he and I had maintained shattered. He pressed against the wall with his hands braced on either side of my head, his body pinning me in place.
“Do you have any idea how frightened I was when I heard you needed me right away?” he said, his voice low and dangerous.
“I keep picturing Crestin’s knife, too close to your chest. How everyone’s watching you, waiting for you to slip and reveal something vital.
Then seeing you comfort her while knowing I can’t touch you the way I ache to do? ”
My pulse jumped. “Tell me more about how you want to touch me,” I croaked, leaning closer.
His eyes darkened. “I want to map every scar and every curve. I need to kiss every place you’ve been hurt until all you feel is my mouth and my hands.
I think about it constantly. When I’m supposed to be standing guard, I’m imagining what sounds you’ll make when I get you alone.
When you bite your lip, I’m thinking about biting it myself. ”
Heat roared through me.
“We can’t,” I gasped out. “My ladies will arrive. They’ll come looking for you soon.”
His forehead dropped to mine, and I felt his restraint like a living thing between us. “Tell me I’m not the only one going mad with this.”
“You’re not. When you stand nearby during meals, all I can think about is kissing you. When you adjust your sword belt, I watch your hands and imagine them on my skin.”
He held me longer than he should, and I made no effort to back away. But the world was determined to intrude on us.
“Someone pushed my mother,” I whispered against his tunic. “All these years, I thought it was an accident, but someone murdered my mother for some horrible reason.”
His arms tightened around me. “We’ll find out who did it and why. I promise you that.”
Lexie strode into the room and cleared her throat. “Not to interrupt, but we need a strategy for Lord Alfred.”
I pulled away from Trew’s embrace. His gaze burned into mine, a silent promise.
“We should come up with our plan before the rest of your ladies arrive,” Lexie said.
Kerralyn appeared in the open door to the sitting room, the tray in her hands. She kicked the door shut and leaned back against it. “He’s already suspicious after last night.”
“Crestin was a zealot,” Trew said, his voice still husky but tightening with each word.
“Alfred comes across as foppish, but I sense he’s always watching.
I’d bet anything he’s as calculating as Crestin.
If I was him, I’d test you throughout the meal, looking for ways to either win your hand or expose you in one way or another.
If he can get you to slip and reveal something, he could use it to manipulate you into marrying him. ”
My pulse quickened, and I reached out a hand to Trew, holding it. “I’ll give him nothing.”
“Not nothing,” Lexie said. “That would be suspicious. You give him carefully crafted pieces of truth. Enough to seem genuine but not enough to reveal anything that would endanger you.”
“Play the grieving sister when he mentions Addie,” Kerralyn said. “Let him think you’re exactly what you appear to be, a sheltered princess struggling to navigate dangerous times.”
“But don’t be too perfect,” Trew warned, squeezing my hand. “Let small emotions through. A flash of anger. A moment of grief. He’ll expect those.”
I nodded, my mind already racing through potential scenarios.
“And watch his reactions,” Lexie added. “If he tests you, you can test him right back, though in a delicate way. He might reveal something if he thinks he’s in control of the conversation.”
“Be careful with him, Isi,” Trew said, his voice soft but intense.
“I will.” I looked around at my friends. “Anything else?”
They paused before shaking their heads.
Lexie moved toward the door, gripping the handle. “Kerralyn needs to get back to the kitchens with the tray, and I’ve been assigned gown duty for the afternoon. We ladies take turns. I’m sure I have silk to press or whatever other task the head of household has come up with for me today.”
Kerralyn grimaced. “At least you get silk. I get grease and soap scum. I envy you.” She sighed. “My hands smell like the strong soap they use there no matter how much I scrub them after. And they’re all wrinkly.”
“Let’s hope this part of our lives is over soon,” Lexie said, her tone warm with affection. She opened the door to the sitting room and stepped through.
Kerralyn followed but paused at the threshold. “Be brilliant, Isi. You always are.”
Then they were gone, and the room felt emptier without them.