Trusted (23 page)

She laughed. “Then perhaps we can continue our celebrations as well,” she said with a smile.

“That sounds a fine idea.” He drew her close to his side and they walked out into the hall together. In her ear he whispered. “Then we shall continue out oral debate, which was so interrupted by my Trusted.”

“I had thought we were rather finished with that debate,” she said with amusement.

“We were only just beginning,” he said with a chuckle.

His words made warmth effuse all throughout her body. It amazed her that even after all they did last night…all they had done just a little while earlier…she was still of great appetite for him. She wondered how long such feelings could last. They couldn’t last forever could they? They would eventually tire of one another. It would grow…old. She would grow old. She would no longer be a novelty to him. He had grown upset when she had expressed her fears that he would one day look outside their marriage bed for contentment and perhaps he was right to do so…perhaps she was being unfair to him by not giving him a chance to prove he would never do that. But never was a long time and there were not going to be any guarantees.

She would simply have to deal with it when the time came and not a moment sooner. Worrying about his potential betrayal before it even happened was promising to be an exhaustive exercise. But even telling herself so did not make it easier to put her worries aside. She would simply have to make herself indispensible as a wife and lover. If she did that, he could not have any complaints. He would have no need to look elsewhere for affections.

“Come. Let us make you queen,” he said, pulling her along by his side.

Chapter Twenty-One

Jesso snapped his fingers in front of Garrick’s face, gaining his attention sharply. His king had been dozing off again. Clearly someone was not getting the required amount of sleep, he thought with amusement.

They were sitting in a room with a pacing wildcat, the small cat still refusing to shift out of truform even after two shona. Finally Garrick stood up and said dismissively, “Throw him back in the dungeon. And throw the other traitor in there with him,” he said.

Jesso nodded and looped a leash around the wildcat’s head and led him back to his cell. After a short while the cell door was opened and another cat, this one long and lean and strong, was led inside the cell.

The two cats paced around one another for a good long while, for at least an hour, before the new cat sat back and shifted out of truform. Naked, he walked over to the pallet of straw that the small wildcat had been using to sleep on. He sat down and relaxed.

“You can sleep over there,” he said, pointing to the cold opposing corner of the cell. The wildcat roared in protest. “I’m not sharing with a cat like you,” he said. “You smell bad.”

The cat sat on its haunches and regarded the man with an evil eye. The man ignored him and the cat began to pace. They sat like that, one sitting the other pacing, for well into the latter half of the day. Finally the cat grew tired and laid down on the cold bare floor. The man had since fallen asleep, dozing sitting up on the straw pallet. It was the only place of comfort in the entire cell. Everywhere else was cold, sometimes damp, stone.

The cat tried to come over to the straw, hoping to lie down next to the sleeping man without him being the wiser. He crept up on his slowly, stalking quietly one step at a time.

“I said no,” the man growled suddenly.

The cat sat back on its haunches and regarded the man a moment. Then, quick as a wink, he changed to a man and leapt onto the other man. The two tussled, fought. As a cat the new man would have outweighed and outmatched the smaller cat, but as a man the small, wiry man could grapple with the best of them. He ringed an arm around the new man’s throat and clinging to his back began to throttle him. The new man choked and struggled to rip free of the assassin’s hold.

“Ok!” he gasped. “You can sit here!”

The assassin let go and, simple as that he walked over to the pallet and sat down.

“You can sit there,” he said, pointing to the cold corner of the cell.

The new man rubbed at his throat and eyed both corners of the cell.

“Surely we can share,” he said.

“No,” the assassin said.

The new man began to pace now, glaring at the assassin. “What’d you do to get in here anyway?” he asked the assassin.

“Tried to kill the queen. And I’ll kill you too if you don’t shut up.”

The new man regarded the assassin. “You just took me by surprise is all. Now that I’m expecting you, I could take you.”

“No. You couldn’t,” the assassin said.

“Sure I could,” the new man said with bravado. But he didn’t look all that sure. The assassin knew he had wised up and was afraid of him. Everyone knew to be afraid of him. “What’s your name anyway?

“None of your business,” the assassin said.

“Mine’s Lino,” the man said.

“Don’t care,” the assassin said.

“Hey look, we’re going to be sharing this cell for who knows how long. Might as well tolerate each other.”

The assassin didn’t say a word.

Until…

“What’d you do to get in here?” he asked suddenly.

“Tried to kill the queen,” he said with a wolfish smile. “Seems we both had the same idea. No upstart country bitch has a right to be queen. I would have had her too. Right in the middle of her coronation. Only that Trusted…Jesso…he caught me. Took me down. He’s a mean, powerful son of a bitch.” Lino paused. “So why’d you want to do it?”

“Amateur,” the assassin scoffed. “They’ve put me in with an amateur.”

“Hey, you got caught too,” Lino pointed out with a sneer.

“By the king. He’s about the only one who could catch me if I was going to be caught. But it doesn’t matter. I’m getting out of here soon.”

Lino scoffed. “You tried to kill the queen. You’re never getting out of here.”

“Never is a long time, and queens come and go.”

“Hey…you shot the king didn’t you? During the wedding. And you were going for the queen? Bad aim, my friend.”

“Who says I didn’t hit my target?”

“You mean you meant to go for the king?” Lino said.

The assassin didn’t reply.

“So why’d you do try to kill the queen? Same reason as me?”

“No. I could care less who’s queen. But the money was right.”

“So you got paid? What’s the going rate for killing a queen anyway? I should have got paid.”

“You failed,” the assassin said dryly.

“So did you!” Lino snapped.

“At least I got my blade in her. It’s just bad luck I missed her heart. Would have had her if someone hadn’t knocked me down. Didn’t even see who it was.”

“So you were responsible for the first time too huh? I heard about that. Killed her little friend. You got close.”

“Not close enough,” the assassin said. “But it’ll happen. If not me then someone. Somehow. Soon. You’re proof of that. And the person that hired me…they’re not going to quit. He wants her dead and he won’t stop until she is. The king, too. They’ll all be dead, there’ll be a new king and that’s when I get my pardon and get out of here.”

“Is that right?” Lino scoffed. “Maybe I’ll get my pardon too then.”

“They won’t pardon you for being an idiot. But the new king, he’s the one that hired me. He’ll see me set free once it’s all done. It’s just a matter of time.”

“No one’s going to kill the king,” Lino said. “The man has a thousand lives. And no one can just walk up and be king. It takes blood. And this king has no blood. Not unless that inferior bitch whelps a kit.”

“They won’t need blood. Mark my words. It’ll work out fine.”

“So who’s this king going to be?” Lino asked.

The assassin narrowed his eyes on Lino. “You ask a lot of questions.”

“I’m only out to save my own hide. Do you think your new king would pardon me as well?”

“Why should he? You’re nothing to him.”

“And who are you to him? You’re a failure same as I am.”

This gave the assassin pause. “He won’t leave me behind.”

But he didn’t sound too sure about that.

“Seems to me this new king is going to have to be pretty cutthroat to make it to the throne. Why wouldn’t your throat be one of the ones he cuts?” Lino asked.

The assassin’s mouth formed a grim line. “Because he’s going to need a good assassin to keep him on the throne.”

“He’s going to need one to
get
him on the throne. Once he’s there, he won’t need you.”

“Shut up. I didn’t ask for your opinion.”

Lino laughed uproariously. “You’re in the same boat I am! There’s no one coming for you, friend. You’ll be dead, new king or old.”

“I said shut up!” the assassin hissed, standing up and moving threateningly toward Lino. Lino held up his hands in acquiescence.

“Seems to me your best bet is to tell the current king what he wants to know. Maybe he’ll spare your life,” Lino said, “in trade for the information. This king is honorable. At least you know that much. This new king of yours doesn’t sound very honorable.”

The assassin sat back down, a dark, brooding look falling over his features.

“Hey, I’m hungry!” Lino shouted through the small bars on the door. He banged on the wood.

“Shut up, night’s meal is hours away!” a guard shouted.

“Give me some bread at least! Just something to tide me over!”

The guard came up to the door.

“I’ll tide you over, traitor,” the guard said, opening the door. He proceeded to kick and beat Lino, two other guards watching and jeering through the door. Then they grabbed Lino by the hair and dragged him out of the cell. “Looks like your friend needs a lesson, eh traitor? Maybe you need one too? I’ll tell the king you decided to be a man,” the guard said, indicating his present state of change.

The assassin said nothing. He thought about changing back to the cat, but what purpose would it serve? He had a lot of thinking to do and he was glad Lino was no longer in the cell with him. The man talked too much.

But what he had said had made some sense.

He knew the details of the plot to take the throne well enough because he had insisted on knowing before committing to killing the queen. As an assassin he liked to see all of the cards on the table in order to protect himself.

But the man who hired him knew he knew many of the details of his plan and was no doubt starting to get worried about whether he might talk or not. So far the king had not resorted to torture…and he didn’t seem to be the type, but with the life of his queen hanging in the balance, he wasn't likely to play nice for very much longer. And it wouldn’t be beyond the man who hired him to send an assassin in the dungeons to shut him up. Maybe a guard or something. He had been waiting for two shona now for something like that to happen. He could take care of himself for the most part, but he was vulnerable in this place. Maybe his best bet was to tell Garrick everything he knew. Maybe the king would spare his life. Lino was right. If he made such an agreement, the honorable king would adhere to it. Far more likely than the man who hired him adhering to his assurances that, if he did get caught he should bide his time. That he would see him freed in the end.

Yes. He had a lot of thinking to do.

Dakon sat down with a groan. The guards had kicked him around a little too convincingly. He swiped at his bloodied lip and grinned at Jesso.

“I told you he didn’t see my face that night. I was still wearing my mask.”

“I wasn’t sure,” Jesso said. “So you got him talking?”

“And thinking,” Dakon said. “I’ll keep working on him. He’ll be talking to you in no time at this rate.”

“Tell me everything he said.”

“He said…he said you have a lot more to worry about than just the assassination of the queen.”

Sarea was walking down the hallway of the east wing of the castle, heading toward the central core of the castle and the king’s arboretum. Her husband should be there at this time of day. It felt strange having to go look for him. Every morning since they had been wed they had woken up together, made love together, spent time talking together. This was the first time she had woken up without him there.

She missed him.

Sure, they had spent hours the night before doing all of those things, but she liked their mornings together before he finally roused himself and went to tend his plants.

The castle hallway was chill and she had wondered how he kept his precious plants from dying of the cold in winter. Then he had told her his secret. The castle was built over a hot spring. The central part was in any event. It was meant to keep the castle warm in all seasons, therefore keeping his plants warm and moist. She had never noticed before how the stone floor radiated heat because it had been warm out when she had first come to the castle. Now she felt it as she stepped from the east wing into the castle core. It only really was noticeable on the first floor, but it was distinct.

Sarea entered the conservatory and was hit with a wall of warm moist air. The sound of birds chirping greeted her and colorful sunlight shone all around. It was as if the bitterly cold day outside didn’t exist in the least.

She went to the small seating area, expecting to see her husband there sitting with his morning tea or fussing over a seedling, but he was nowhere to be seen.

“Husband?” she called into the vast room.

No response. He wasn't there? How odd. Where could he be that would call him away from their bed so early in the morning? She decided to go to the Trusted’s living area. He could sometimes be found there. Or perhaps she would find Jesso and he would know where they had gone.

When she entered the Trusted’s living area it was to the scene of Ulaiah, holding a newborn infant, and half of the Trusted cooing over him. Sana had given birth only four days ago and the Trusted were absolutely mad about the baby. They fawned over it, bought it gifts, cuddled and cradled her and hogged up time with her. Ulaiah had had to get used to all of that male attention, had had to force herself not to be afraid of the big, strong men surrounding her. She had told Sarea how much it had frightened her at first. But Sarea had reassured Ulaiah, telling her these men would never cause her harm. These men would one day find justice for her for the crimes those other men had committed against her. The knowledge and reassurances had calmed the girl and now she had grown close to the Trusted, making sure the crimes against her and her family were ever present in their minds. Jun in particular seemed to be very passionate about finding justice for the girl.