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My hours for the next few weeks were spent outside the White Palace, trying to figure out a way to get in. Though the more time I spent trampling snow outside its walls, the more convinced I became that there was no way to get in. The place was better guarded than the Black Palace, with double the Sentries in every parapet and turret.
It was excessive. Acedrex’s citizens would never dare jump into the white monster’s cage, Sentries or no Sentries. It was clear Lovina feared something far more dangerous than her subjects.
More than once, as I noted the Sentries schedules, I remembered Bishop Dragoslav’s words...
He toys with you. You aren’t the first and will not be the last.
He’ll tire of you. Especially after you fail his task.
King Maximus had sent others after the Queen’s scepter, and they had failed. There was no doubt, Lovina knew what he wanted, and she took measures to keep her possessions safe.
No matter how I turned things around in my head, I came up empty every time. Scaling the wall was out of the question. I was fast and strong, not invisible. There were too many attentive eyes keeping watch. I had to find another way.
Bribe someone? Pose as a White Queen subject and go in with a special petition? Wait for the Spring Bowl when both palaces would throw their doors open for everyone? The latter would certainly be the easiest option, but the thought of waiting, of knowing there was a possibility of freedom hanging in the balance, made me angry and desperate.
Back at the Black Palace, I took my frustration out on the Pawns. I trained them ruthlessly, running, sparring, riding alongside them, urging them to do more when it was clear they had given it their all and were exhausted.
“Power suits you,” Datcu said one day as I walked into our dormitory, my shirt soaked in sweat despite the cold outside. “You’re becoming quite the despot.” He threw his head back and laughed.
My eye twitched as I ignored him and headed for the washroom.
Every day it was an effort to ignore him and not rip his head off with my bare hands. He was partly to blame for what I’d become. If he hadn’t stabbed Rook Sanda, I would still be fully human. But I had to control myself. If I killed Datcu, I would force the same fate onto another Pawn—Marin, maybe, the only decent one of the bunch—and I couldn’t do that. If I did, I would be no better than Datcu.
“Did you hear the news?” Datcu asked, following me through the door that led to the hot springs.
I didn’t answer him, sure that he would tell me this news whether or not I wanted him to.
After discarding my sweaty clothes into a basket reserved for that purpose, I stepped into the hot spring. My skin rippled with a chill at the change in temperature. I relaxed, letting my body float as steam billowed around me.
Datcu reclined his thick, tall figure against the wall, watching me intently, waiting for an answer. He crossed his arms, stuffing his meaty hands under his sweat-stained pits.
I sighed. “No, Datcu, I didn’t hear the news.”
“It interests both of us,” he said. “We may have to face the King and his wrath.”
Maybe I did want to hear this news. I set my feet down at the bottom of the pool and sat on a ledge, keeping my body half submerged.
“I see I have your attention,” Datcu said with a twinkle in his red-tinted eyes—eyes that reminded me too much of what I saw in the mirror every morning.
“Well, speak,” I said, growing impatient.
“It’s about Lovina’s new Rook,” he paused, letting the words linger. “That pretty little thing that’s moving up the ranks as fast as you are.”
I clenched my teeth, trying to keep my face unreadable. But, by the small smile that stretched his thin lips, I knew I had failed.
“Do you know her?” he asked with malice.
“I’ve had the pleasure,” I said, deciding that a bit of the truth might help explain my reaction. “She’s quite something. She killed Rook Neculai. I saw his mangled remains moments after it happened.”
“Did you?” His brows went up with disdain. He shrugged, losing interest in this tangent. Rook Neculai’s death was old news, after all. Datcu was after something new.
I sank deeper into the water, acting as if I’d lost interest.
Datcu pushed away from the wall and lumbered to the edge of the pool. He watched me with hooded eyes, and it took some effort to keep my nonchalant attitude and hide the fact that I felt threatened by his approach.
“Turns out the little Rook found a Trove for her Bitch Queen,” Datcu said.
“She did?!”
Relief washed over me, but I tried to pass it off as surprise. I’d been worried about Bianca and Lovina’s threat to throw her in the pit. If Bianca had found a Trove, she was safe from that now.
“Indeed,” Datcu said. “And, apparently, it’s a good one. Tasty.” He licked his lips. “In case you haven’t grasped the significance of this event, it means Maximus will be mad at us for not finding the Trove first.”
He squatted, his eyes drilling into mine as he prepared to make a point, his leather boot creaking. I sat straighter, this time making sure he saw I was alert and I didn’t like his closeness.
“When he questions us, which he will inevitably do,” he said. “This is what you’ll tell him...” he paused for emphasis, then continued, “The Trove was found in her home in a white square. D7 to be precise. The woman was an invalid, bed-ridden.”
Black Rooks weren’t allowed to search homes in white squares, just like White Rooks weren’t allowed to search homes in black squares. If the woman had been bed-ridden, it meant she never went out. Therefore, there was no way Datcu or I could have found her, which exonerated us from any negligence the King might suspect from our part.
I gave Datcu one nod to indicate I fully caught his meaning.
“Good,” he said, stretching to his full height. He turned to leave and as he walked away he grumbled in displeasure. “Now, we’ll have to put up with the Bitch Queen prancing around the city again. She’s even throwing a ball tomorrow night to celebrate her lucky break.”