“Not much at all,” Dietan laments. “We were about to enjoy a wonderful meal at Sirona’s temple when it was rudely interrupted by guards intent on my death.”
“Very rude,” Marcus agrees.
Tess leaves the room, clucking to herself. I cross my arms and look at Dietan. “Didn’t you eat both of the date cakes Siena gave us?”
“They were small.”
Tess returns with a laden tray. “It’s only bread, cheese, and tea, but it’s filling. Please sit, Your Highness. Eat.”
Arnfried and Lambert carefully pull the map and the figurines on top of it off to one side of the table. Marcus finds some plates and hands them to us. Jared pours tea.
“I understand this is a safehouse that the sisters of Sirona’s temple have used of late. Who else knows of this place?” I ask, breaking off a heel of bread and looking around.
“One of the ladies of the court, a favorite of King Osian’s, Señora DuVal. A devout and very rich lady who also just happens to want his head on a pike,” says Tess. “He killed her husband and took her as a mistress.”
I shudder and take a too-hot sip of tea.
“Yeah, he’s one classy guy, that’s for sure,” Lambert says mirthlessly.
Dietan reaches for my hand underneath the table. I smile at him before turning back to my friends. “Tell me what we’re working with. What happened the night we escaped? What was that alarm?”
“The king urgently wanted to see the prince and his possessions one more time before putting his body in the fire. They opened the sack and—well, you know. That wasn’t no prince in that sack,” Lambert says.
I shiver, imagining Namreth’s fury at finding that Dietan—and the Rings—had slipped out of his hands. “All hell broke loose. Osian realized he’d been tricked and the prince had escaped. The guards sounded the alarm, and then he rampaged the kitchens personally, looking for you. Bing tried to stall him and did a pretty good job of it…but…” He shakes his head.
My heart clenches in my chest. I knew Bing was going to do something like this, but it still hurts to hear about it.
“Osian snapped his fingers, and Bing died before he could fall,” says Lambert. “I went back to look for him…” His voice wavers at the loss of his friend. “Anyway, Arnfried, Tess, and I barely got away and made it here.”
“What about Nelson? Rosamond?”
“We think they made it out before the city went into lockdown,” says Tess. “At least, that’s what we hope, but… On Osian’s orders, they were killing anyone who tried to leave the city.” She shrugs helplessly. “It was a risk we all took.”
Bing is dead. Nelson and Rosamond are likely lost as well. I swallow the lump in my throat. It isn’t right. They had lives. Friends and family who’ll miss them. Dietan is here right now because of their sacrifice.
Dietan clears his throat. He nods to the former servants who helped him escape, looking each of them in the eye, one after the other. “I’m in your debt. As Prince of Loegria, I promise you, if we live through all of this, I’ll see that you are well compensated. You have my gratitude for the rest of my life.”
“Appreciate that, Your Highness,” says Lambert. Tess murmurs her thanks as well.
Arnfried extends his hand toward Dietan. “Thank you, cousin.”
Dietan takes a closer look at Arnfried. He grips his hand, a smile blooming across his face. “You’re Katharine’s son,” he says and pulls Arnfried into an embrace. “Your mothers will be so relieved to know you’re alive.”
There is a solemn silence, and then Dietan lets Arnfried go and turns to his friends, who’ve been quiet during the reunion. “And how’d you two jokers link up with this crew?”
Marcus laughs, leaning against the doorframe, while Jared throws himself down on a stool, his leg extended awkwardly as he reaches for a mug of tea. “This fellow,” he says, pointing to Marcus, “sent a messenger to Evandale, and I met up with him at the Sarindale Outpost. We weren’t there a day before we were attacked. Raiders—likely backed by the Usurper, again. They no longer fear the kingsguard. I took a spear in the leg”—he gestures to the wounded limb—“and it hurt like a bastard. Good thing we found a healer in town, or I might have lost it at the knee. Marcus feared I’d need a month to mend and threatened to leave me there while he went searching for the two of you. I refused. A bum leg wasn’t going to slow me down.”
“Still, it took us ages to get here,” says Marcus. “Sorry. I had to leave soldiers in Evandale and at court in Loegria, where your family are now,” he says to me. “Jared escorted them there before meeting me.”
“Ophelia didn’t want me to leave, I’ll tell you that,” says Jared. “But I wasn’t going to stay at court while you were lost in the Waste.” He turns to Dietan. “What the hell were you thinking, man?” He shakes his head. “Anyway, nearly as soon as we crossed into this wretched kingdom—which, by the way, totally deserves its name—we were met by Princess Katharine’s people, who were expecting us.”
Arnfried stands a little straighter at that. “Your mother is a formidable woman,” says Jared. “A handful of her warriors saw us most of the way here, before we did the rest on foot. The princess didn’t think much of your mission, either,” he adds, glancing meaningfully at Dietan.
“It wasn’t much of a success,” Dietan admits nonchalantly. He turns to Marcus. “I can’t believe you let Jared walk the rest of the way to Engel on that leg.”
Marcus snorts. “Once we got close enough, we hitched a ride with a wagon train bringing supplies to Engel. We assumed they were merchants, but in truth, they worked for this Osian fellow—apparently everyone here does. Got us into the city, at least. We were delayed a few days, since they had the unfortunate idea to take us captive once we arrived.”
“They like to do that,” I chime in.
