Adrienne (32 page)

So far as Chandra was concerned, he could keep failing. Despite her earlier misgivings, Adele turned out to be the perfect companion. She also filled the role of nurse for Devon quite nicely.

Adele made faces at the baby to get him to smile. It worked. He laughed and flailed his arms with each new face. The baby’s laugh turned to a grunt and his smiling face to a frown. Then he started to whimper.

Adele stood quickly. She cooed, “Oh, I know that face, young man. No crying, now, I’m moving as fast as I can.”

Chandra watched Adele in the mirror with disgusted disinterest. She was glad Adele was there or she would have had to listen to the boy cry until the nurse or a maid came to change him.

She couldn’t understand how Adele could be so nonchalant about the entire affair. Adele never made faces or complained. She changed the diaper and that was the end of it. Even Chandra’s maid would make a comment about the smell.

She rolled her eyes and went back to preening herself. “I swear all he does is eat, sleep and crap…excuse my language, Mistress Adele.”

Adele laughed at that as she pinned the new diaper in place. She looked up from the baby to Chandra and said, “Your tone reminded me of my mother. She said the same thing about my brothers and me.”

Chandra turned from the vanity to face Adele fully. She asked with wonder, “You have brothers?”

“Yes, two,” Adele answered. She picked up the baby to deposit him in his crib. It was his bedtime. “Their names are Castor and Pollux.”

“Strange names.”

Adele didn’t take offense. She laid Devon down and tucked the blanket around him. He kicked it off. She tucked it in around him again. He kicked it off and laughed. He thought this was a game. To Chandra, she said, “You can blame my mother. She loves Greek mythology and named them after the twins in the Gemini story.”

“The what?” Chandra asked in complete confusion. “What is a Greek?”

Adele laughed again. “Oh, they…” her words trailed off as she fell into a faint.

Chandra jumped up and rushed to her side. “Adele? Adele,” she yelled, tapping the woman’s cheek. Adele gave a loud moan of pain, her face twisting in agony. Chandra went and pulled her personal alarm.

Something was very wrong with Adele.

“Ah, there she is,” Caradoc said in a thankful voice.

Adele blinked open her eyes and stared at the people surrounding her: Caradoc, Chandra, Tacita, three physicians and Hollace.

“What’s going on?” she whispered.

Hollace snapped, “That’s what we’d like to know.” He glared at Tacita when she placed a hand on his arm. She smiled at him in response.

Chandra came forward hesitantly. “You fainted, Mistress Adele. When I tried to wake you, you looked to be in immense pain. Do you remember?”

Adele shook her head in complete confusion. She didn’t remember fainting. Though she doubted people would remember fainting; it was probably like trying to remember falling asleep. “I remember changing the baby and then waking up here.”

“Yes. I made…a comment that you said reminded you of your mother,” Chandra supplied in an urging tone.

“I said something about my mother?”

Caradoc cut in to the conversation to ask, “You don’t remember?”

“No. What did I say, Lady Chandra?”

“You said my comment resembled something your mother said about you and your brothers, Castor and Pollux.”

Tacita said, “Those are strange names.”

“I said the same. Adele told me her mother named them for a story in Greek mythology. When I asked what a Greek is, she fainted.” Chandra looked at Adele. “Do you remember what you planned to say?”

Again, Adele shook her head. Her voice showed her confusion as she said, “I have no idea what a Greek is. Or that I had…have brothers. It’s nice to know. I wonder if I have sisters, as well.”

Hollace barked, “You mean to say you don’t remember the very words you said to Lady Chandra last night?”

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I can’t recall any of it. As I said, I remember changing the baby and then waking up here,” Adele said defensively.

Chandra whispered, “You looked to be in so much pain, Adele. I was so scared.”

Caradoc asked, “Do you still have any pain?”

“I have a slight headache,” Adele said. She put her hand to her head.

Caradoc nodded. “It only makes sense; you missed several meals. Your headache is probably from hunger.”

“What time is it?”

“Twenty minutes to dinner,” Hollace said in an exasperated tone. “You have no memory of what you said to my daughter or of these supposed brothers?”

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty, but no,” Adele answered. “I wish I did.”

“I, as well. If you remembered, you could tell us who your family is and be gone from here,” he snapped. After glaring at her for a few breaths, he quit the room. Tacita followed him.

Caradoc excused himself to Chandra and Adele and followed the royal couple.

Chandra sat on Adele’s bedside and held her hand. “I am so happy you are awake. We were so worried.”

“I can imagine. Dinner had just ended when I was with you and now it’s almost dinner again,” Adele said in amazement. What had happened to her? Her concern for herself vanished with a thought.

She sat up in the bed with a scared look. “I didn’t hurt the baby when I fell, did I?”

“No, no,” Chandra said quickly. She patted Adele’s hands. “He’s fine. He started crying when you fell but you didn’t fall on him. I’m thankful you weren’t carrying him when you fainted.”

Adele nodded at that and settled back on the bed. She would have to be more careful from now on. Whatever had made her faint could happen again.

Hollace barked, “Report.”

Caradoc stared at the orb in his hand in confusion. “It makes no sense, Your Majesty. We all saw her pain when she arrived at the infirmary. Something that strong should have left a mark on her of some kind, but there is nothing, absolutely nothing.”

Hollace stopped walking and glared at Caradoc. “How can there be nothing?” he roared.

“The erasure spell seems to have slipped with her glimmer of memory. That slip caused her to faint. During her slumber, the spell corrected itself and erased the memory of the slip so it wouldn’t happen again. Or that is my theory, in any case,” he explained.

“Theory? That’s all you have. What good is a theory?” Hollace gritted out. He started walking down the corridor again.

Caradoc followed. “I don’t know what else to say, King Hollace. I have never seen a spell like this one. It changes and evolves to suit Adele’s condition. Spells just don’t do that unless the caster is physically changing the spell.”

Tacita asked, “Does that mean the caster of the spell is nearby, perhaps even spying on Adele somehow?”

Hollace snorted. “Not likely.”

“But, husband—”

“No mage would be in my palace without me knowing it,” Hollace said, cutting off her argument. He thought on what Caradoc had told him, though. The spell had changed because she started to remember. The caster had to be close, just not in his palace. “Caster…caster…” he mumbled to himself.

“Your Majesty?” Caradoc asked.

Hollace stopped again. He commanded, “Send out a new notice about Adele. Add in that she has brothers by the names of Castor and Pollux. Mayhap this will speed up the search for her true family and she can get out of my presence once and for all.”

Caradoc bowed. “I will see it done immediately.” He turned and almost ran down the hallway in the opposite direction.

“First, messengers sent to every mage guild, and now this,” a soldier grumbled. He shifted his arms to relieve the burden of the heavy paper.

His partner demanded, “Shut up before someone reports your complaints to King Hollace. You will get us both in trouble.” He stopped near his horse and opened the saddle bag to unload the papers.

A strong wind rushed by and ripped several of the flyers out of the man’s hands. He cursed and started running after the pages.

His companion yelled, “Leave them. The wind can spread the word faster than we can.”

The man cursed and returned to his horse. He looked one last time at the papers. A frown marred his features. The only thing the wind affected was the flyers. The leaves of the trees nearby didn’t stir.

“Come on!”

“Right behind you,” the man said. He spurred his mount in the opposite direction the wind had taken.

Chancellor Sabri watched as the guards carried away a man in too much pain to walk on his own. Malik’s latest victim of interrogation. Hundreds had been questioned already, and there were still no leads as to the traitor or Adrienne’s whereabouts.

“There has to be a better way,” Sabri said. The other chancellors edged away from him. He sneered at them for being cowards. He looked up at Malik on the throne dais and said again, “There must be a faster way to find Queen Adrienne, Majesty.”

Malik rasped, “What would you suggest, Chancellor?”

“Ask for the other kingdoms’ aid. Queen Adrienne has not left the planet. She is still on Bron. Someone in one of the kingdoms must have caught sight of her.”

The suggestion made Malik laugh. Feyr roared. Everyone in the throne room took a collective step back.

Malik rose from his throne and descended so he could stand in front of Sabri. “If I were to ask for aid from the other kingdoms, Hollace would find out Adrienne is missing. He would divert all of his resources to find her before me. Once he found her, Hollace would kill Adrienne without hesitation.”

“This is true, Majesty. I hadn’t thought of—”

“I would be forced to level all of Kakra and kill every man, woman and child within its borders, starting with Hollace. Such an action would upset Kontar and I would have to destroy them next before they decided to retaliate.” He stepped into Sabri and his tone dropped to below freezing as he finished, “The remaining eleven kingdoms would take exception at the destruction of both Kakra and Kontar and band together to stop me from destroying other kingdoms. That would mark the beginning of a world war.

“You can believe, Chancellor Sabri, that I would not be killed until I had seen most of this world laid to waste. That is how strong my grief would be should Adrienne die before I can find her. And that is why no other kingdom will be apprised of her kidnapping. Do you understand me, Chancellor?”

“Clearly, King Malik,” Sabri whispered. He didn’t back down but did notice that he and Malik were alone, since everyone else in the throne room had moved to stand along the walls.

“Good.” Malik returned to his throne. He barked, “Bring forward the next.”

The other chancellors rejoined Sabri. “Not even when his parents were killed did he act like this,” Riler whispered.

Valah said, “We must remain vigilant for any signs of Queen Adrienne’s presence. The sooner she is found the better it will be for all of us.”

“Once he is done with the Elite guards, he plans to interrogate us,” said Travers.

“I’m surprised he didn’t start with us,” said Sabri.

A maid carried a basin of water towards the guest wing of the palace. She dodged people who milled in the halls. Everyone was nervous. No one wanted to be next on King Malik’s list. Her mistress had already faced the orb of truth and come out of it unscathed. But the ordeal had put her under a great deal of stress.

The maid hoped a cool cloth would calm her mistress, hence the water she carried. She passed by an open window. A strong gust of wind blew her skirts up and caused her to squeak in dismay. She couldn’t keep her skirts down and hold the water at the same time. Something brushed her leg and the woman screamed.

She dropped the water basin to swat at whatever had brushed her leg. Her hand came into contact with a piece of paper. She lifted the paper and scanned the contents. Her eyes went wide.

Her mess forgotten, she rushed to the throne room. One of the guards stopped her before she could enter. She waved the paper at the man and pleaded, “King Malik must see this. It might be—”

The man snatched the paper from her and read over it. He asked, “Why would this Adele person interest King Malik at all? His queen’s name is Adrienne.”

“Maybe she hid her true identity to remain safe. This message is from Kakra. If she is there—”

The throne room doors opened and Valah stormed out. He glared at the maid and the guards. “Why are you out here gossiping? You have jobs to perform—all of you. You disrespect our king in this trying time with your flagrant disobedience.”

The guard started, “This woman—”

The maid snatched the paper from the guard and held it out to Valah. She explained, “It came in through an open window. I thought King Malik should see it. Queen Adrienne might have needed to disguise her name since the message is from Kakra.”

Valah took the note from the woman and read over it. He whispered, “Castor and Pollux? What types of names are those?”

“What’s going on here?” Travers asked. He came up behind Valah.

“Nothing,” Valah rushed out. He crumpled up the paper. When the maid would have pressed the issue, he ordered, “Get back to your mistress and stop wasting our time with fanciful tales.”

The maid looked stricken. She opened her mouth to voice her theory to Travers. Surely he would hear her out. Her logic made sense.

The guard who stood closest to her shoved her away and yelled, “You heard the chancellor. Get!”

“High Chancellor Travers, the…” The maid’s words stumbled to a halt as Travers and Valah re-entered the throne room and closed the door behind them. Her shoulders slumped.

“Guess they don’t care,” the guard taunted.

The maid walked away. She must be wrong. Now that she calmed down and thought about it, her logic made no sense. Queen Adrienne had to know her life would be in danger if she remained in Hollace’s palace. She wouldn’t hide there, false name or not. But the woman had hoped her queen was found and this madness would come to an end. It would seem her mistress wasn’t the only one overcome with stress.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Caradoc and Adele returned for dinner to report another failed attempt at restoring her memory. She took her normal place at Chandra’s table, situated five tables down from the royal table. It was a topic Chandra bemoaned almost daily. But then the woman bemoaned everything almost daily.