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For four days, Rohesia had contemplated how she could uncover the person who had nearly plunged her dear son into the clutches of the Gramirens. She had listened to every word of palace gossip, and yet, she had learned nothing positively. The fact was, no matter how clever she might be about a great many things, she was no investigator or spy. She required professional help, if only to eliminate suspects. She needed Robert Tynsdale.
There was an old bench with a hollow arm at the end of the beach of the Prince’s Palace where the city street ended. She sometimes left messages there for Robert, but since the night of Edwin’s visit she had not been permitted outside, even on the beach or courtyard. Without that bench, however, she knew not how to contact Robert.
The question clearly became how much she trusted Joanna.
Since that wonderful and terrible night, she and Joanna had talked quite a bit. The young woman insisted that she could be trusted, and even explained why she had been wearing shoes when Rohesia had found her—she had wanted to be ready should Rohesia decide to flee and wanted her to come along and help with the children. In spite of Joanna’s apparent sincerity, Rohesia wasn’t sure she believed her entirely. Joanna always seemed rather indifferent to Alice and Helena.
Honest or not, though, Rohesia could ask no one else to deliver the letter to the bench. Fortunately, she still had some of Faustinus’s special paper.
As a wedding present, her friend, the Immani hillichmagnar, had given her a special journal. He had spelled it so that no one would be able to read what was written inside. And if she tore a sheet out and wrote someone’s name at the top, only that person would be able to read anything else she wrote. Since her captivity here in Rawdon, he had sent another of these journals through the embassy. (He
used the same spell on the letters that he, Vita, and Presley sent her so that they might be as frank as possible.)
She looked around the tapestry room, still able to see in her mind Edwin standing there, so grown up and handsome. In reality, she watched Joanna chatting with Alice and Helena on the thick Sahasran carpet in front of the fire. Rohesia lifted the lid on her portable writing set sitting atop the small folding table Rachel allowed her. As casually as she might, she delicately tore a page out of the journal, and arranged her inkpot.
Sir Robert Tynsdale
I have been in a state of extreme agitation since Edwin’s visit, of which I am certain you are aware. I must know who at the palace betrayed him. Everyone seems a possible suspect to me, until some other factor is considered, and I think them innocent. Aldrick and Rachel hate me enough to do almost anything, but even Aldrick acknowledges the danger to himself of admitting he received Edwin here.
I still do not fully trust Joanna, but I also have no proof against her, and she swears her innocence. She did know of Edwin’s presence, however, because Sir Russell informed her, so members of Aldrick’s guard are indiscrete, if not treacherous.
Rohesia paused to look out the window at the beach. It was another cold day, but no snow was falling. Sir Oliver was out there, walking with his hands behind his back. He leaned closer to his companion several times to listen to what he said. Both men nodded and when they turned to start back toward her, she saw that the other man was Sir Franklin Porcher. This was not the first stroll she had seen the men take in the past few days. She had recovered from the shock of that first time when Joanna had told her the man’s identity, but she still went cold at the sight.
Although they remain imprisoned in the dungeon here, I also have grave concerns about Sir Alan and particularly Sir Franklin Porcher. Sir Franklin often walks the beach with Sir Oliver George, who is not merely the captain of the Gramiren forces, but the man leading the investigation. I need your help solving this horrible mystery, Robert, but I am confined to the palace and must trust Joanna to deliver this letter. I do not know how we might communicate in future, but I had to try to find a way.
Even though I have not been able to speak to you, I know you are doing all that you might in aid of my son. Please remember that I am eternally grateful for all that you do.
With hope,
Rohesia Sigor
She looked the letter over to make certain she had nothing else that must be added. She could spend hours detailing all her suspicions, but she feared that every second counted. And, she reminded herself, Robert was the expert at this sort of thing. Perhaps he already knew more than she did. It would not surprise her in the least.
“Joanna,” she said as she folded and sealed the letter. “I need you to do something for me. It is of the utmost importance and secrecy. Can I rely upon you to see it done?”
Alice had moved to the window on the other side of the room to read, and Joanna jumped up from where she played with Helena and a set of old wooden blocks that Rachel’s children no longer cared for. “Of course, your majesty. I meant it when I said I want to help you.”
Rohesia hoped that was so. If she took this letter to either Aldrick or Sir Oliver, neither of them would be able to read it, thank Earstien. But Joanna would be able to reveal the secret of the bench and that Rohesia was in contact with someone in the city. She could see no other option, though.
So, Rohesia told Joanna how to open the arm on the bench at the end of the palace grounds. And then she prayed.
***
ROHESIA WOKE TO A HAND pressed firmly over her mouth. After a few heartbeats of panic, her eyes adjusted to the dim moonlight and she recognized Robert. What time in the middle of the night this must be, she could only guess. Never before had Robert dared to sneak into her room, so she had to assume he had found her letter and come to help. Thank Earstien!
“Your majesty, please forgive the liberty, but I thought it important to come in person,” Robert whispered. “And I have brought an ally. Allow me to get your robe, and we will await you on the other side of the room.” He finally removed his hand and passed her the robe hanging on a hook just to the side of her bed.
Coming awake more quickly than she ever had before, she had her robe wrapped around her and joined the men in less than a minute. Of course, if she had not been fully awake already, the shock of the identity of the other man would have finished the job. It was none other than Baron William Aitken, the usurper’s former chief henchman.
Rohesia reminded herself that the man with fading red hair and a pinched, rat like face had nominally been an ally for some years. Before she, Edwin, and Elwyn had fled Formacaster as Broderick was making his move to seize the throne, Broderick had ordered Baron William to murder Edwin in his bed. The man had not been able to carry out the command. From that moment forward, thanks to the help of the spies sent by Vita and Faustinus from the Empire, William had been a double agent supporting the Sigor cause. When Broderick discovered this during the Siege of Leornian, he had ordered William to kill himself. From what she had heard, he had been on the verge of doing so when Intira Stylianos helped him escape. She and her contacts in the Empire had been keeping him safe ever since. As far as Rohesia knew, he had given up spycraft and meddling in Myrcian politics. But Baron William and Robert had a long, complicated history, so if William chose to become active once more, it did not surprise her that he should be with Robert.
“Baron William,” she whispered once she had her wits about her. “What an unexpected surprise.”
He bowed slightly, and in a gravelly whisper, he answered, “For me as well, your majesty. But Sir Robert said you and I ought to discuss what happened a few nights ago during the king’s visit.”
It did not surprise her that he knew of Edwin’s visit. Men like the baron and Robert always seemed to know things that they should not. “Very well. Any light you can shed on who betrayed my son will be most welcome.”
“Sir Robert tells me that you suspect the Porchers. You should not. I brought news to Duke Aldrick when his majesty was near, and then I went to the cottage the Porcher brothers rented. Once I told them to ready the sleigh, they were never out of my company until Lord Caedmon and King Edwin arrived. Then I rode ahead to give his grace a final notice of the king’s arrival. I then waited on the beach. Once the sleigh arrived, neither Sir Alan nor Sir Franklin left until the Gramiren soldiers took them away. I was fortunate to stay deep in the shadows and not be seen.”
Rohesia let out a long breath and slumped into a chair. “You do not know what a relief that is. My husband was extremely fond of the Porcher family. The thought that one of their number had betrayed my late husband’s son was heartbreaking to me.”
“I am glad I could put your majesty’s mind at ease,” William said. “But just because they did not betray King Edwin that night, doesn’t mean they still couldn’t, as long as they remain in the dungeon. For now, it sounds like Sir Oliver is hoping that offering a carrot to a man with ties to the Gramiren and Ostensen families will get him answers. But I have to assume he’s using the stick on Sir Alan.”
Rohesia had not thought of the situation in that light, but William would certainly knew better than she would. “Can we do anything to help them?” she asked.
Robert and William exchanged a look that made her shiver like the sun disappearing behind a cloud on an already frigid day. “Perhaps not,” Robert answered. “We should focus on finding out who did betray the king.”
“The men who met the sleigh seem most likely to me,” William said. “Once they escorted the king and Lord Aldred inside, I can’t account for them.”
“What about Lady Joanna?” Rohesia asked. She hated to suspect the woman who played with her niece and taught her daughter, but she could not get beyond one very important fact. “Clearly, she delivered the message that brought you here. But I cannot forget that she was appointed by Muriel Gramiren. Why would she appoint anyone to be close to me who was not her spy?”
“If I may.” William nodded to Rohesia and Robert. “I have spent more time with Lady Muriel than
either of you, and I could guess several other reasons. She might assume that anyone related to Duchess Flora would be loyal to her if not an active spy, at least until the duchess changed sides. Also, Lady Joanna is the daughter of Lady Rhian Spurling, Duchess Flora’s sister, correct?”
Rohesia nodded, but could not help adding, “I am not certain how that might make a difference.”
“It might not, your majesty, but Lady Muriel has a cruel sense of humor. I do not know the full story, but there is a long and complicated history between her and Lady Rhian. I would go so far as to say Lady Muriel hates her. I could see it amusing her to place her enemy’s child in exile with you.”
“Could it really be so simple, and yet so awful?” she asked, never able to comprehend the mind of Muriel Gramiren.
“Possibly,” Robert shrugged. “But you might be able to get a better idea soon. William, tell her majesty what you told me on the way over.”
William grimaced in what might have passed for an attempted grin. “Lady Muriel is coming to Rawdon.”
“What? When?” Rohesia quickly clamped a hand over her mouth, worried she might have been louder than she should. Earstien forbid Joanna find these two in her bedroom at this hour.
“In a month’s time,” William answered. “Official word is that the queen simply wishes to pay a visit to an important duke. Unofficially, she wants to know the truth about the king’s visit.”
Rohesia was about to object that Muriel Gramiren, living in stolen splendor at Wealdan Castle two hundred miles away, could not possibly know about Edwin’s visit already. But then she recalled the days of the Loshadnarodski War, when Edgar had kept post rider stations up and down the Trahern Valley, with couriers passing messages from hand to hand all day and night. In good weather, with good roads, news from the Loshadnarodski front could travel a hundred and fifty miles or more in a single day. The Gramirens could easily have a similar arrangement between Rawdon and Formacaster.
Just because Muriel might have heard the news, however, didn’t mean she actually had. And it certainly didn’t mean she would come all the way to Rawdon personally.
“Are you really sure she’s coming here?” Rohesia asked the two men. “How can you know?”
William and Robert exchanged knowing glances again. “I trust his source,” Robert answered.
“Then I do as well,” she added. “It is very good to have you on our side once again, Baron William.”
“Thank you, your majesty, but please let me clarify the conditions of my service.”
“This is unnecessary,” Robert said. “You’ve already made it clear to me. No need to trouble her majesty when we have already been here too long.”
“I hate to contradict you,” Rohesia said. “But I am quite eager to hear what Baron William would have
me know.”
William smirked briefly at Robert before bowing to her. “I believe you met Vittoria, your majesty.”
“Indeed, I did. Did you meet her on her way through Rawdon as well?”
“I saw her when she was in the north, yes, but I actually met her years before in the Empire. That’s neither here nor there, though, your majesty. She brought me a letter from Intira Stylianos. Robert tells me that you know that I owe her my life.”
“I do. She is a remarkable woman.”
“She is that.” William cleared his throat. “And she asked me to help Vittoria and you in what was supposed to be an escape mission.” He sighed and shook his head. “As happens in this business, plans change, as you know, your majesty. But since I was already in Rawdon, I agreed to help Robert, with a few conditions.”
“Which are?”
“I’m not an assassin. At least not anymore. I’ll kill if my life is threatened, but under no other circumstance. Also, I’m only doing small things that have little chance of attracting Broderick’s attention. I have no doubt he would do just about anything to see me dead. I have a wife and son I’d like to get back to.”
“Eminently reasonable,” Rohesia said, “I am more than happy to accept what help you are willing to provide on those terms.”
“Thank you, your majesty.” William bowed. “Sir Robert is right, though; we should go.”
Rohesia rose and took William by the hand. “Go with the blessings of Earstien.” She turned and took Robert’s hand. He fell to his knees and bowed his head. “And with my blessing as well.”