Sworn To Secrecy: Courtlight #4 (30 page)

I’m fine. The emperor has maids doing my hair.
She almost began laughing hysterically at that. She collapsed in a fit of giggles while the surrounding maids ducked down around her to keep the combs they were running through her locks from snagging in her hair.

For a moment there was silence. Around her and in her mind.

Then Sebastian asked,
Are they almost done?

At the same time the lead maid asked, “Miss, are you all right?”

She answered yes to both without pausing. She wasn’t really sure if that was the correct answer for either.

But to their credit the maids finished combing, washing, and drying in less than half an hour. She was sent out of the room with freshly cleaned hair and admonishments from the women to not go falling in mud baths again.

She didn’t really think they would understood how she’d gotten so much mud in her hair in the first place. But then again, it didn’t really matter, either. Not to them. And to her it was just another day battling evil minions. Gathering her courage and her solitude she walked out and followed her escort to the judgment room. She was surprised to find it packed from the floor to the rafters with nobles from across Sandrin. As she looked up in wonder at the tiered decks of seats, she noticed faintly that none of the occupants would meet her eyes. They probably wouldn’t want to seem sympathetic to a family potentially on the outs with their emperor. And then Sebastian was there. He didn’t walk up to her, but instead ran and gripped her in a tight hug.

As she leaned into him, grateful that he seemed to welcome her presence again, laughter echoed around them. Still holding tightly to Sebastian, she looked to its epicenter and there, brazen and bold, stood the duke of Carne dressed resplendently as he leaned on a walking stick of solid amber. As she licked her suddenly dry lips, a single, loud clap startled her. She and Sebastian turned in each other’s arms to see the emperor taking his seat on a raised dais at the front of the room.

He was looking directly at them.

“My son, I hope I didn’t take you too long from your precious Weathervane’s arms.”

Sebastian faked a smile. “No, Father. I’m merely glad to have her back. I had heard that you swept her off her feet in a ballroom dance the last time you were alone with her.”

The emperor let a bark of laughter escape. Then he stood and clapped for his son. The surrounding courtiers quickly followed their emperor’s example, giving their impish crown prince a standing ovation.

Only Ciardis stared into the dead eyes of a man and saw nothing but hollow lies ringing from his lips.

Sebastian tightened his grip around her waist in warning as he whispered, “He must not know that you know.”

“Not yet.”

“Not ever.”

She swallowed harshly and stepped away from him. She looked around for the rest of their group and saw them standing to the left of the dais. Lillian Weathervane was not with them.

As she peered around, she whispered aloud to Sebastian, “Where is my mother?”

“She’s coming,” said Sebastian.

“My son, Lady Weathervane, come forth and bear witness.”

They obeyed and went to stand beside Lord Meres Kinsight.

“Bring in the prisoner,” commanded the emperor. 

The outer doors in the back of the room opened and in walked Lillian Weathervane in shackles, her head held high. Ciardis gasped in horror and rushed to move forward in protest. Sebastian and Thanar quickly took hold of her elbows to keep her from going to her mother.

“No,” said Thanar tersely.

“She has not been and will not be harmed,” said Sebastian from her side.

The only thing that stopped Ciardis from shaking them off mutely and continuing forward was the fact that Lillian was looking directly at her and shaking her head silently.

Swallowing, Ciardis settled back.

The emperor stared at the matriarch of the Weathervane family with a curious look in his eyes.

“Lillian Weathervane, you stand before your liege lord and a court of your peers on the charge of regicide. How do you plead?”

Lillian said hoarsely, “Not guilty, sire.”

“By what proof?” the emperor inquired.

Lillian took a deep, calming breath and began her story again. From the time she had entered the empress’s bedchambers to her supposed fiery death, she retold it with startlingly vivacity which set off a firestorm of speculation in the raised seating above.

“Silence!” roared the emperor. “Silence.”

They quieted instantly.

“I hear your evidence and I call forth my inquisitor,” said the emperor. “Lady Vana Cloudbreaker, step forward.”

With wide eyes Ciardis watched Vana step up to a podium in the center of the room.

“Speak to us of what you’ve witnessed and give us the knowledge passed down through the inquisitorial line,” the emperor commanded.

Vana looked neither left nor right, but straight ahead at her liege lord.

“Before my assignment to track down Lady Serena of the Companions’ Guild, I was given the accounts of the nine men who rode to recapture the fleeing Weathervane four fortnights after the death of the Empress Teresa Athanos Algardis,” said Vana stoically.

“By those accounts the Lady Weathervane had been at large for eight weeks since the death of the empress and was being tracked from the outskirts of Sandrin to the interior of the imperial lands,” she continued. “Lady Lillian Weathervane was found and questioned. She confessed to a spirited argument with the empress, but it was determined that she was holding vital information back. The inquisitors decided to take her back to the capitol of Sandrin for trial under truth serum. From their clutches she escaped. It was not until many years later that I was assigned to her case. I was required to find out everything possible about the Lady Lillian, including questioning former friends and attaining vital information on abilities and tactics from current family.”

Ciardis felt shock run down her spine. Vana had been spying on her. The whole time she had been seeking to obtain information on her family. Furious, Ciardis thought spitefully,
Well, the joke’s on her, because we know absolutely nothing anyway.
And then dread filled her. Because Vana already knew the secret about the
kasten
ship, which meant that she could tell the fake emperor at any moment. Ciardis didn’t know why The Marde was so important, but for the princess heir to have it hidden away from her ally in taking the throne it must have been vital. Which was why he absolutely could not get his hands on it. But she couldn’t stop Vana from speaking up. No one could.

“And what did you find?” the emperor asked, leaning forward.

Vana barely moved, but Ciardis thought she could catch Vana’s eye. And for a moment dread and hope mixed in her heart like a toxic poison as they stared at each other.

Vana looked directly in Ciardis eyes. She frowned as if she wanted to say something to Ciardis but couldn’t.

The Emperor cleared his throat in impatience.  

Please, please Vana. Don’t speak about the
kasten
ship.

“Nothing, sire,” Vana said. “I know that the Lady Lillian Weathervane has been searching for her son and daughter ardently but as to her whereabouts for the past seventeen years before that, I could not tell you with any accuracy what she was up to.”

Ciardis blinked.

“Well, then” said the Emperor, “Let’s move on to the Weathervane’s actions within the city.”

“Of course, Sire.” said Vana respectfully.

“She lies, Sire!” shouted the duke of Carne. “You lie!”

Vana turned to her accuser calmly. “I lied about what?”

“The Weathervanes’ plans. All of them are carrion waiting to strike. They undermine this empire at every turn. From the turncoat boy to the murderer of a mother,” spat out the duke.

“The boy has nothing to do with this trial,” said Vana, “His faults are his own. His mother, however, was accused of a crime. A crime none can prove, aside from the people there. We’ve already heard the testimony and seen the visions of the last living person in that room. If we can’t trust that, we can trust nothing.”

“She could easily have manipulated her memories!” he shouted.

“And how would she have done that?” Vana asked calmly.

He spluttered, “I don’t answer to you. Besides I speak as the voice of many here.”

“And yet no one
else
speaks up as you do,” she pointed out coldly.

The emperor leaned forward in earnest, “The duke of Carne is right. His voice is raised for many. But my voice speaks for all.”

“Sire—” interrupted the duke.

“Be silent and be still!”

The duke of Carne quickly took his seat.

“In the matter of regicide against my first wife, Empress Teresa Athanos Algardis, I pronounce the evidence inconclusive to condemn Lady Lillian Weathervane of the crime.”

Ciardis shot forward with a delighted scream.

“However,” said the seated emperor with a cold glance at her form, which now stood frozen halfway across the room from her mother, “I also deem the evidence unsatisfactory enough to absolve Lady Lillian Weathervane of said crime. Therefore I pronounce my decree: The Lady Lillian Weathervane is hereby ordered to a sentence of twenty years’ imprisonment in the palace dungeon, effective immediately.”

A gavel banged in the distance while a yeoman announced the emperor’s sentence to the crowds outside. Stunned, Ciardis stayed still, unable to move until she saw Lillian being dragged away by guards. Lunging forward, she screamed at them to stop. When her shackled mother was pushed through a side door, only then did she realize she was crouched and sobbing in Sebastian’s arms.

Uncaring of the nobles who lingered and stared, she sobbed over and over again, “I failed. I failed.”

“We’ll get her back,” said Sebastian tightly as the others gathered around the two to shield them from curious eyes.

Vana walked over and asked abruptly, “Why?”

Ciardis looked up from where she knelt with tears streaming down her face. “Why what? Why would we save her? How can you ask that?”

“No,” Vana said, waving a dismissive hand. “Why did neither you nor your mother give the last piece of evidence which would have proved the elder prince’s connection to the princess heir?”

Sebastian said shortly, “We can’t talk about that here.”

Thanar frowned, “I think it’s absolutely key that we do. The sooner the emperor finds out, the sooner she is free.”

“He can
never
find out,” said Sebastian.

“Why?” whispered Terris quietly as she brushed a hand through Ciardis’s hair.

Sebastian took a deep breath and put a sound and sight shield up. “Because that
kasten
ship is the key to Emperor Maradian Athanos Algardis’s downfall, and he would do anything to get his hands on it.”

Shock lined all of their faces.

“Did you just say Emperor
Maradian
?” said Vana with careful diction.

“I did.”

A
s they filed out of the palace gates, Ciardis had to wonder what in the world they were going to do with the latest twist in their plans. Not only was an unstoppable god coming, but they had learned that the man who would lead the empire into battle against the deity was a conniving murderer who had just imprisoned her mother for the next two decades.

“I’m surprised he didn’t have her executed,” said Vana.

“Why would he?” said Sebastian bitterly. “By keeping her locked up and imprisoned he not only he keeps all hint of his secrets safe but also gets a scapegoat for his murder while making sure that she can’t tell a soul anything else about that night. It also keeps rumors from spreading like wildfire with her death.”

“Sebastian,” said Ciardis slowly, “I know this is hard. But we must think of the consequences—”

“Consequences?” he snapped, “My father is most likely being held prisoner at the hands of his own brother. Maradian needs to fall.”

“Fall?” questioned Lord Meres. “Or be revealed for the true imposter he is?”

“How do we prove it?” asked Terris, ever to the point.

“Only one of imperial blood or a consort can see through his guise and only if they’re looking for it,” said Vana practically. “That presents a problem in itself.”

“Not to the mention that fact that we need proof that he is who we think he is,” said Thanar from where he hovered close to them in the sky.

“Then we’ll
get
proof,” said Ciardis stubbornly. “But first we must force him to release my mother and to do that we have to prove Leah of Carne’s culpability in Empress Teresa’s death.”

“Agreed, she could also provide the evidence we need to prove the emperor isn’t who he says he is,” said Lord Meres.

“And how do we do that, exactly?” said Sebastian tightly.

“We go to the source,” said Vana softly. “We track the woman to her lair.”

The cold winds around them picked up and they all shivered as one.

“Then why wait?” Ciardis asked. “The duke of Carne has attacked us at every turn. Let’s turn the tables. Tonight.”

“Tonight,” seconded Sebastian.

They returned to their temporary quarters to prepare. Sitting in her small room Ciardis had the urge to explore the underground caverns more. She itched with wonder over where they really where and why the city’s residents referred to the caverns as an ‘underground city’. So far all she’d seen was red caverns, large stalactites, and water dripping in rivulets down the ceiling. Nothing to suggest it was or ever had been inhabited by anything close to human.

But she would explore another time. They had to be ready to go now to face the duchess of Carne. To get answers from the duke of Carne and to obtain proof needed to free her mother. She had already changed into thick leather pants with a white tunic. Over that she wore fitted chainmail and she hoped to grab an extra sword from one of Meres’s men. It wasn’t her favorite weapon, but it would do in a pinch. She lost her last glaive in the melee at the lord chamberlain’s manor.

When she heard steps behind her she whirled around.