Aurelia (15 page)

but he did not have time to watch because Chris had lunged forward again. parry. riposte. parry. slice. Chris moved up fast, whipping his sword in an arc, then pressing against robert's steel blade. They stood, locked in position for nearly ten seconds, muscles straining. robert changed his stance and thrust his cousin away.

Chris backed off. "It wasn't my idea to send for uncle brian. It was my father's, and I had no way of knowing you would come instead. by the time you arrived, I'd already promised melony I'd help."

Commit murder.
"I hope she valued that promise." robert played for time, searching the background and breathing a little easier to see that Aurelia was indeed headed for the gate.

"I never thought you'd find out much of anything."

"Not with your help, you mean."

Chris swept in for a series of quick jabs, all of which robert swept away.
Waste of effort.

Neither he nor his cousin had yet attacked in earnest. stalling, stalling, stalling. somewhere outside the arena were soldiers, soldiers trained to obey the crown princess if she could just get out. Again robert sought her with his eyes, and, sure enough, she was nearing the gate.

Now the swords clashed again. Chris reached out to the left, to the right, slow at first, then picking up speed.
He's testing me. He knows I've only been defending myself, and he wants to make sure I don't have any surprises in store before he starts his real offensive.
They had not practiced together since the day after robert's return to the palace. Chris had never woken early enough until this morning.

He had not planned to practice this morning either--the realization hit. "you were prepared to fight with me today," robert blurted.

"I had no intention of a fight. I had hoped you wouldn't bring your sword to a horse race. my way would have been much quicker."

robert reeled from the verbal blow, and the traitor chose that moment to begin a genuine attack. The sword flew forward in sharp slashes. Chris's style: quick slashes followed by a powerful blow and repeated without abatement until the opponent crumbled under the onslaught.

robert dropped his defensive pose. He did not wish to die this day, even if it meant attacking his cousin. As a heavy blow landed, robert twisted to the right and slid his own weapon under his opponent's arm. The sword slid along Chris's side, but Chris also managed to glide away unharmed. A glare came robert's way, hot with anger.

Now the swords flew. up and arcing, low and jabbing, slicing across and down and always joined by the agile movement of the body.

Chris connected first, scratching below robert's collarbone out and across the right shoulder. A hair deeper and robert's sword arm might have fallen useless. As it was, robert ignored the blood and retaliated with a sharp slice, sending Chris retreating rapidly. robert pressed forward, refusing to allow his cousin the luxury of space.

both fighters were now breathing hard and sweating.
Hurry, Aurelia!
robert screamed in his mind.
Send someone. Please hurry!

but even as he screamed, Chris's sword jabbed downward, this time at an angle. gripping the sword with both hands, Chris brought all the strength he could muster in one thrust, straight for robert's chest.

robert rolled, hurling himself to the ground for the first time in the conflict. He brought his own sword up underneath the downward movement of the other and plunged his blade deep into the soft, unprotected flesh just below his cousin's rib cage. The sword slid upward at a sharp angle, through the liver . . .

And the heart.

Chapter Fourteen

CONFRONTATION

IN THE KING'S WAITING ROOM AGAIN, ROBERT'S tightly wrapped shoulder throbbed and his hands felt numb. He flexed his fingers, watching dull, pink nails flash in and out above the clean, beige linen of his shirtsleeves. Hot water and soap could not wash away the blood on his hands.

Murderer.
He had not planned; he had not schemed; he had not dreamed of killing anyone, but he had committed the act.

Images from that morning scalded his vision: beneath him on the ground, the friend with whom he had teased and joked, trained and fought, cried and celebrated; Chris's chest struggling to heave up and down above the metal shaft; red liquid pooling on the churned earth; the blur of running guards in the distance; the guards' hands lifting the fragile shell of the man robert had killed, his cousin.

"Come in," a deep voice echoed from within the king's official chamber.

robert stepped into the square room. Another day his jaw might have dropped at the ancient banners hanging from the ceiling, the medieval spear beneath the glass case, the royal coat of arms displayed with prominence. Instead he felt only the tightness of the windowless walls around him, the harsh stare of the king's gaze from behind the long oak desk, and the shock at seeing Aurelia.

she sat in a chair between him and the king, her back facing robert. An elegant auburn dress flowed down from her neck to her ankles, white feathers skirting the hem. A foreign image, irreconcilable with the one scrawled on his brain: her brown eyes accusing him of being late.

He avoided those eyes as she twisted around.
Why was she here?
He had thought her father would protect her from reliving the morning's trauma. Then again, the last place robert wanted to be was alone--alone where the cloak of anger, guilt, and powerlessness could render him motionless. perhaps the same fear had chased her here.

"your majesty, you wished to see me?" robert bowed, falling back on his childhood training to get through the moment.

"Indeed." The king's voice pounded like a gavel. "I find myself reeling. A man I hired uncovers a plot within my family and yet does not deem to tell me the nature of his discoveries." Aurelia shifted as though to argue, but her father held up a hand. "I expect to hear everything before either of you leaves this room. young man, you may begin. be sure to include how my daughter, whom I asked not to be informed of this investigation, came to know more about it than I."

robert felt the room closing in around him. He had been summoned to account for actions he could no longer justify.

"Frankly, Father," Aurelia broke in, "I think
you
should begin. After all, you were the first of us aware of the plot."

The king pressed together the tips of his fingers, forming an arrow. For a moment robert felt at a loss, unsure whether to speak or wait for the older man to do so. Then the king ended the suspense, dropping his hands to the sharp edge of the desk. "The first attempt on your life came over two months ago," he said to his daughter, launching into a recitation of the first two assassination attempts.

robert listened with new ears, wondering what details his cousin had left out. When the king reached the part about the injured groom, robert dared to interrupt. "Who had access to the damaged saddle?" he asked.

"The grooms, the stable hands," said the king.

"It is a beautiful saddle. melony gave it to me as a gift," Aurelia added, saying this last as if it were a cherished detail.

She doesn't know.
Why had the king not told her? Of what use were secrets now?

robert struggled with his thoughts, unsure how to break the news as he took over the recitation. He shared the information about Chris's role in the Carnival-night accident but left out melony's involvement. "The day of the horse fair," he said to Aurelia. "you told me you saw Chris in your parlor. Who was with him?"

"Tedasa," she answered.

"And melony?"

"Of course. Why else would they have been in our parlor?"

pieces, pieces, all slipping into place, all missed before. The king remained unreadable, his face a still carving, his thumb spinning a gold band on his left ring finger.

robert continued with his story. When he reached the part about his trip to midbury, Aurelia turned to her father. "Why did edward of Anthone bring an illegal horse into Tyralt?" she asked.

"And what does he want from your majesty?" added robert, hoping to finally receive an answer to that nagging question.

The king gave his daughter a stern look. "We will discuss king edward in private."

Frustrated, robert went on. "After my trip to midbury, I tried to contact Aurelia. I must have left five messages with her lady's maid."

"minuet, my new lady's maid?" Aurelia asked. "The one who used to work for melony?"

No doubt she still does.
"yes." robert realized the messages had not been screened by the queen at all, but had been passed on from a loyal servant to her previous mistress.

He skimmed over the day of the picnic, which brought him to this morning and his father's letter. "That's when I found the motive," he said, "a reason strong enough for someone to kill the crown princess." He hated to hurt her with the truth, but she had suffered enough from this secret. "At the time, I thought the culprit behind the plot might be the queen." He faced the king. "your majesty, Aurelia should know. The secret almost cost her her life."

silence inflated the room. The king stared at his daughter, his face rigid. she waited, her eyes watching her father with expectation. robert could hear their breathing.

Finally, the king spoke. "melony is your sister, Aurelia. she stands next to inherit the throne."

"but . . . she can't." Aurelia shook her head. "she's not--"

"she's your blood sister, your half sister." The king's words dropped like bullets. "she is my daughter by birth."

Aurelia's jaw flexed. robert wished he could comfort her, but there was no place for him in this discussion. It was between her father and her. Cold facts peeled from her lips. "melony is only two years younger than me. When she was born, elise had a husband, and my mother . . . "

"your mother still lived here," said the king, flattening a palm on the top of his desk. "After my second marriage, elise and I agreed to keep melony's true parentage a secret rather than to further tarnish your mother's reputation."

Your own reputation, you mean,
robert thought.

"But melony knew you were her real father?" asked Aurelia.

The king raised his chin. "I drew up an official document, just in case you failed to marry. melony had to sign it when she came of age. elise and I told her a few months before her birthday."

"Before the first assassination attempt?"

"yes."

The emotions in Aurelia's dark eyes swirled. "melony wanted me killed in order to become queen? but how could she have had me poisoned?"

Only at that moment did robert realize he knew the answer. "your new lady's maid," he said. "she moves without making any noise. she surprised us on the balcony, remember? In his letter, uncle Henry said that the person who left the poison goblet had access to your rooms at night. melony must have ordered her to leave the goblet there."

"Melony sends her girls on missions." Aurelia spoke in a haunted manner, as though repeating someone else's words. "she sends them to the kitchens to share her daily preferences."

"Then minuet could have put the poison in the cake as well," robert said.

Horror dawned on Aurelia's face. "she knew about the race. She came with me when I left the bait with edward. I needed a chaperone."

"And she brought you the message with the time for the race. she couldn't answer my questions because she was the messenger." robert reached into his pocket and pulled out the note from the previous day. He stepped close, bending down to spread the paper open before Aurelia on the desk. "Now do you recognize the handwriting?"

Her thumb slid along the neat, clear letters, her thumbnail blooming white from pressure. "melony's," she whispered. "I didn't recognize it before because I expected to see elise's."

"We both allowed our expectations to impair our judgment," robert said, sliding the paper toward her father. The king did not touch it. His face wore a severe expression.

robert realized he was still bending over the princess and quickly backed away.

"but how did gregory get involved in the plot?" Aurelia asked. "He works for elise."

"Not any longer," the king broke in. "When melony turned fifteen, she inherited midbury: the estate, the horses, and the servants' contracts. I did ask her if someone from the stables could greet edward on Carnival night so that arrangements might be made for the later delivery of his colt. I did not specify a driver."

Then Melony chose Gregory. He must have delivered Edward, then rendezvoused with her and Chris before orchestrating the carriage accident.
robert's head ached.

The pain further increased as Aurelia shared her own version of the morning, every word unfolding in a hollow tone. robert winced as she explained why she had shut the gate.

If only he had not stressed the importance of the assassin feeling safe.

If only she had looked for robert's presence before she shut that gate.

If only--

Too late now for ifs. They both had a death on their conscience. They would both face the same guilt in their sleep that night and in the nights to come.

but at least
they
would wake up. robert gathered his strength, then told about his cousin's part in the plot as well as Chris's relationship with melony. "Chris assumed I'd never find out Aurelia hadn't sent the message about the time delay. He thought she would be dead before I arrived at the racecourse."

"And if I wasn't," she whispered, "he planned to kill you."

"And me." The king stood up. "Which is why I am prepared to allow you to leave, robert Vantauge, without having you arrested for placing my daughter in undue danger. you saved my life today, but your task is complete. you will return to your home. I do not want to see you on palace grounds again." The last words hung in the air, a judgment passed down from the leader of Tyralt.

Aurelia heard the door close following robert's departure.
I should stop him,
she thought.
I should say something.
but her mind was frayed, tangled and torn, and on the verge of unraveling.

Her father sat back down at his desk, his pale eyes directed at her forehead. green eyes. green like melony's. Aurelia's stomach turned. For years she had believed the supposed lack of blood ties between her and melony was irrelevant. but blood had made all the difference--to her sister.

And who else had Aurelia misunderstood? "my mother," she said, the strange calm in her voice belying the turmoil in her chest. "Why did she leave? Was it because of your relationship with Elise? "

"That was her excuse, yes."

"you told me she abandoned us." That was all he had told her, and she had hated her mother. she had blamed her mother for her father's grief, for his need to remarry, for his choice of elise as his wife. because her mother was the one who had left.

but her father had left first. "she did abandon us," the king said. "she found out about elise and melony shortly after your brother's funeral. your mother was already insane with grief. she blamed me for James's death, and threatened to tell the populace the truth about the accident if I didn't let her leave. she wanted to take you as well but came to her senses long enough to realize she could not discard your life as easily as her own.

"your mother never learned to bend for politics," he continued with a frown. "I am afraid you inherited that trait from her. perhaps it is my fault. I allowed you too much liberty."

Aurelia opened her mouth to protest, but he overrode her. "That is going to change." He straightened. "you will marry edward of Anthone. I spoke with him this morning, and he is prepared to forgive your picnic escapade. The golden colt is yours. The tribes gave it to edward as a gift for the future queen of Anthone."

Queen of Anthone.
bile rose in Aurelia's throat. "
I
am what he wanted from you?" she asked.

He nodded. "The kingdom of Anthone lies between Tyralt and your second cousin's kingdom of montaine. With you as queen, our family will control the entire southern edge of the coast. If you have a child, one day both Anthone and Tyralt will be in his or her hands. I had hoped to barter for succession of the Anthonian throne even if you do not produce an heir. but the strife with your sister forces my hand. you are no longer safe in the palace. I have no choice but to let you go now."

Choice. He dared speak to her about choice.

"you could disown melony," she said.

The king shook his head, and Aurelia thought she saw sorrow darken his face. "melony was wrong, but she is still my daughter, Aurelia."

"she should be arrested."