Chapter 20
I kept a close eye out the next day for signs that my father had been on a rampage to oust fictitious spies from our kingdom, but there were no burning pyres, no haunted-eyed stragglers wandering around after they returned home to find their families slaughtered and their village burnt to the ground.
Small mercies, and not necessarily a sign of his lucidity. Hell, I wasn’t sure I even wanted him lucid. He wasn’t any less cruel on his good days, just better at evading Mairi’s manipulations and getting his own way. I just needed to convince him that his way was my way.
My captive was more withdrawn with each mile toward the estate, pale and somehow smaller looking by the time we got to the barn. Pavel, our youngest stablehand, came to take my mount while I assisted the princess off of hers. She had managed the day before, but if my men had been paying more attention, they would have gotten quite the show.
Usually when I reached up to plop her down from her horse, she stiffened and cast me a disdainful glance, like she was doing me a favor by allowing my assistance. She was always weightier than I expected her to be, more solid than her sleight frame allowed. I tried not to think about where she kept that extra weight and how much more familiar I was with it than I ever expected to be, focusing instead on the way she hardly reacted at all to my presence today.
That wouldn’t do. I didn’t need her garnering sympathy or looking like a target, either one.
I looked at the stableboy, remembering her history with them and the way she had come so close to outright laughing last night during our short truce in the room.
“Now, it’s my turn to tell you to keep your hands to yourself,” I muttered, setting her on the ground.
She looked up at me with a furrowed brow, and I explained my pretend warning.
“I just know how you feel about stableboys,” I told her. “And Pavel here is much too young for you.”
Some of the color returned to her cheeks, and she straightened, distracted enough by my insult to regain what little composure she had.
“I’ll try to restrain myself,” she deadpanned.
Yuriy, my youngest cousin, approached before I could needle her anymore. His shoulders were tight, his voice even moreso when he spoke. He would need to work on being less transparent before he moved up my ranks. There was an innocence to him that couldn’t quite be stamped out, even by the life he had led as a soldier in my father’s army.
“Lady Mairi…eagerly anticipates your arrival,”he said.
That, at least, was subtle. There went any hope that my stepmother was having one of her long bouts of refusing to leave her rooms. She was already on the warpath, but to what end?
Mairi waited for us just past the foyer of Bear Estate, like a spider in the darkest corner of the room.
It was hard to imagine what the estate might have looked like with my mother’s influence, as little time as she had spent here before she died. There was certainly nothing soft about it now. It was all imposing black walls and sleek white chandeliers.
The princess looked even smaller somehow, dwarfed by the massive doorway she lingered in.
“Stepmother,” I greeted, keeping myself between her and Rowan.
Not that she would attack when there was someone here to witness. That wasn’t her way.
“What happened with the Summit? Your father has been concerned.”
There was the smallest tremor when she mentioned my father, enough to let me know he actually had been concerned, probably giving her hell on his lucid days, forcing her to explain why I had gone in his stead.
She didn’t usually bother to intercede when he was ready to set his own people on fire, but storms forbid he was upset with her .
“I had planned to have my pet brought upstairs and then was going to report to Father.” My tone was firm enough to remind her that I did not answer to her. Clan wives may have been above the law, but they were certainly not privileged to sit in on meetings between the duke and his heir. An antiquated law, but not one I planned to contest on behalf of my dear stepmother.
“I am certain he will fill you in,” I added with a bare smirk, since we both knew he was unlikely to do any such thing.
Her beady, dark green eyes flared with irritation.
“And how did you manage to acquire a Lochlannian pet?” She tried a more direct approach.
The servants were listening, along with a few of the soldiers, so I raised my voice just enough for them to hear as well. May as well stave off the gossip mill now.
“I collected on a blood debt against the Lochlann ruling family,” I announced, eliciting a few nods, equal parts prideful and vengeful.
But Mairi only narrowed her gaze.
“Your father’s blood debt, you mean?” she corrected.
So that was the angle she was taking. If I didn’t get ahead of this, could she manipulate him into taking Rowan for himself? Would he confuse her with his Lochlannian bride?
Or only want her to pay for the sins of her people?
Either way, all roads led to war. I took a subtle breath, stifling the beat of panic that swelled up in me. I had anticipated this. Planned for it. I knew how to handle my father, and his evil witch of a wife.
“Of course,” I answered smoothly.
She nodded, having won this particular game with the slight delay in my response. I returned the gesture like I wasn’t picturing all the ways she might die one day.
“I’ll let him know you’re coming.” Her tone was as smug as her strut as she walked away to put herself between me and my father, a space she had occupied for as long as I could remember.
I needed to get there before she could do much damage, so I walked the princess back to the main foyer where my cousins already awaited my return.
“Taras, please escort the princess upstairs.” I looked at the girl in question. She was still too quiet, her eyes too wide, but this time I didn’t bother intervening. She would be away from prying eyes soon, anyway, and her fear might do her some good.
I didn’t have to think hard about where she should stay, especially in the wake of Mairi’s scrutiny.
“Put her in the room next to mine.”
“In mother’s old rooms?” Yuriy asked, glancing sideways at Rowan.
That was fair. Well, not his questioning of a superior’s orders, but his surprise, at least. Even royal prisoners wouldn’t normally be kept in the family wing, but I wasn’t about to risk something happening to her.
Taras, who was both older and more world wise than his brother, shook his head.
“Come, Princess,” he ordered, looking at Rowan as though she was a particularly yappy puppy he had been forced to care for.
But he was loyal and, more importantly, he was no one’s fool. Whether he liked her or not, he would keep her safe, which was all that mattered for now.