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HALFREDA HAS TO CHANGE all of Will’s dressings, despite the stitches, the blood has started to seep through. She cleans him up, adds fresh herbs and dresses his wounds again. His heart is beating clearly and his breathing is strong, but he has yet to open his eyes.
Everleigh has drunk all her tonic and is pacing the room. “How’s he doing?”
Halfreda shakes her head. “It’s too early to say. He’s breathing and his heart is beating. That’s good. He’s not conscious. That’s not good. Time will tell.”
There’s a quiet knock at the door. They all jump up; Archer has his sword out.
“Halfreda, it’s me,” Ginata calls out.
Halfreda goes to the door and opens it. Ginata looks upset. “Is it true?”
Halfreda nods as she moves out of the way to let Ginata in the room. She pauses when she sees Everleigh and Archer.
She curtseys.
Everleigh waves a hand at her. “You don’t need to do that.”
Ginata nods and then her eyes fall on Will. “What’s happened?” She knows who Will is, though she doesn’t know him personally.
Halfreda explains the night’s events, from the King’s death to the attempted murder of Everleigh and how Will took her place, sacrificed himself for his friend.
Ginata sits next to him, on the floor. “You’ve done well, Halfreda. He’ll live.”
“Really?” Old age and upset are clouding Halfreda’s vision even more than usual and she can’t see what will happen in the next five minutes, let alone in the long run.
Everleigh touches Ginata’s shoulder. “Really? He will live?”
She nods. “Yes. I see him.”
Everleigh closes her eyes in relief.
“Everleigh, I have to tell you something.” Ginata’s voice is quiet. “I am the one who gave your brother the death draught.”
“What!” Archer shoots up from his chair. “What a stupid bloody thing to do.”
Ginata shrinks back from his fury, but Everleigh puts her hand out to Archer.
“Archer. My brother killed his own father. Do you believe he would have hesitated to kill Ginata?”
Archer sits down, refusing to answer, but scowling over at Ginata.
“It was stupid; I am so sorry.”
“It wasn’t stupid, Ginata, it was necessary. And if you hadn’t given him that he would have found another way to kill my father. He would have just put a sword through him. Why didn’t he just put a sword through him? Why did he want the draught?”
Halfreda moves in front of Everleigh and takes her hands. “We believe he wanted the draught for Saturday. We think he was going to use it in the cup of blood to kill Millard and become King. We knew that he would test it, but assumed it would be on a cat or a dog. We never imagined he would kill your father. When he found out from Lanorie that you would live, we think that’s when he decided to get rid of you. That might have been when he decided to kill your father too. We don’t know.”
Everleigh shakes her head. This thirst for power has been brewing in Macsen for longer than she thought. And of course, him being willing to kill Millard was no big surprise now but she would never have guessed at it.
“So now what?” Ginata looks at them all, even Archer, who still looks furious with her.
“We are going to go along with his plan. I will say that I have found Everleigh dead from such awful stab wounds that I have wrapped her ready to be laid on the island. We’re going to fetch Everleigh’s maid Lanorie to back up the lie.”
“Even though she’s the one who told Everleigh’s secret. She’s the reason Macsen tried to kill her,” Archer pipes up from his chair, still looking disgruntled, cross with everyone.
Ginata is nodding as she listens to their plans. “Good idea. Then what?”
“We think he’ll want to be crowned on Saturday.”
“But won’t you have to do that for him, Halfreda?”
Halfreda nods. As the wise woman of the castle, she performs all ceremonies. Macsen will need her to crown him.
“With the King dead and Everleigh dead, it will fall on Macsen to become King as the first-born son. It’s not happened in the Realm for over five hundred years; the last time a Kingmaker died before her death day she took ill of the plague two years before she would have been sacrificed, and so we had no blood to crown or kill. The eldest son can do it, but it wasn’t a successful reign. Many would argue that the wrong King was crowned, without the magic of the Kingmaker’s blood.”
“Well I already know that Macsen will be a terrible King.” Everleigh is veering between feeling broken hearted that her brother has betrayed the family and furious that he would dare try to usurp her before the crown is even on her head.
“So Halfreda, you’ll have to pretend everything is alright?”
Halfreda nods. This will be difficult to achieve. The sorrow in her heart is overwhelming. How could the boy she knew turn into a man like this?
Feeling better that they have a plan, Everleigh turns to Ginata. “Will you stay with Halfreda while we fetch Lanorie?”
“What if someone sees you, princess? You’re meant to be dead.”
Ginata takes off her cloak and passes it to Everleigh, who quickly puts it on.
“Thank you. We’ll be careful. I have to face her, though.”
“Be safe.”
“You too.”