“I’ll be there in five,” Kentario confirmed. “Everything’s okay?” Is Ryu safe, he desperately wanted to ask, but couldn’t risk being overheard.
“It’s all fine. We’ll see you soon.”
Hanging up, Kentario headed in the direction Maro had gone. He found him in the hallway outside the staff apartments, a crowd of housekeepers and butlers waiting anxiously for news. “You’re free to leave,” Maro announced, to a chorus of sighs of relief. “Thank you all for your cooperation. I know it’s been a very difficult few days. And I’d like to inform you all that you’re being given the rest of the week off, with full pay. Counselling services will also be provided, for those of you who feel you need it. Please contact the guard house if you’d like to arrange an appointment.”
The throng of staff began to drift away, muttering comments of relief, with a few choice curse words thrown in.
“Got a minute?” Kentario asked Maro. “There’s something we need to address over in the main wing.”
“Of course,” Maro agreed willingly. He followed Kentario back down the hall. The door to the sapphire lounge was closed, though Kentario knew it had been open not two minutes ago, as he’d headed down the hall after Oris had called, and it was disconcerting to realise that his heartrate had suddenly picked up. It was hard to tell whether it was because he wasn’t sure how the conversation between Maro and Ryu was going to go, or because he was just so damn relieved to be able to see Ryu again. Expression carefully neutral, he knocked on the door, then opened it, not needing to wait for an answer.
Inside, Ryu was seated in a wide armchair, leaning back with his arms spread over the sides, one leg crossed over his knee. He looked entirely confident and in control, sending a clear statement to any potential audience;the king is in the house, and he’s not going to put up with any bullshit.
Oris was standing by his side, calm and poised. To a large extent, whatever happened next was out of the older man’s control, but the display of moral support was reassuring, nonetheless.
“Oh, thank Selene!” The look on Maro’s face was one of pure relief as he caught sight of Ryu. “You had me worried out of my mind!”
In the next instant, three things seemed to happen almost simultaneously. Maro took three quick steps towards Ryu. Ryu, seeing him coming, suddenly tensed, sitting up and preparing to defend himself.
And Kentario, in a split-second reaction, grabbed Maro by the back of the collar, spun him around, and had him pinned up against the wall before he could blink.
“Kentario! What the hell…?” Kentario only tightened his grip, glaring daggers at the Captain. For all that he’d decided that Maro was innocent of treason, Ryu still had insufficient information to reach the same conclusion, and if the prince felt threatened, then Kentario’s job was to protect him. No questions asked.
Behind him, he heard Ryu get to his feet, crossing the room with quiet steps to come and stand before Maro.
“You’ll have to forgive the rough handling,” he said, not even a trace of contrition in his voice. “But Kentario is currentlyveryenthusiastic about doing his job. I would recommend not getting in his way.”
It was comforting to know they were still very much on the same page. Ryu was no doubt a quivering wreck inside, with far too many pressures weighing on his mind, but he was playing the part magnificently, every bit the king his people needed him to be.
“My apologies,” Maro said, still pinned to the wall. “And you’re right. He’s done an admirable job so far. You couldn’t be in better hands.”
Ryu waited a moment, just long enough to make his point, then he nodded to Kentario and calmly returned to his seat. Kentario let Maro go, then crossed the room to stand on Ryu’s other side. Oris, to his credit, said nothing, looking not the least bit surprised by the display.
“That’s a rather odd thing for you to be saying,” Ryu observed, once more crossing his ankle over his knee. “Given that not two weeks ago, you removed my bodyguard from his post and made it clear that you believed him completely inadequate in his ability to protect me.”
Maro swore under his breath. “For what it’s worth, that was not my decision. I’ve said repeatedly in the past that Kentario’s one of the finest guards we’ve ever seen.”
“Then why did you stand him down?” Ryu’s tone had grown sharper, and though it might have been petty, Kentario was gratified to see him lock horns with Maro now. He’d been wondering the same thing ever since he’d returned to the palace, but had thought it would look childish to press the issue.
“I was under orders from King Sou.”
A momentary frown crossed Ryu’s face. That was not the answer either of them had been expecting. “Why would he assign Kentario as my bodyguard, only to undermine him at the first real test of his capabilities?”
Silence followed, and Kentario watched Maro carefully. Though he’d mentally cleared the man of treason, there were still plenty of things about his recent behaviour that remained unexplained.
Unfortunately, it seemed that answers were not going to be found in the near future. Maro glanced from Ryu, to Kentario, and back. “I cannot tell you the reason at the moment. I sorely wish I could,” he added, seeing the cold glare on Kentario’s face. “But even after his death, I am still bound bypromises made to King Sou. At some point in the future, I hope to be able to tell you the whole truth of the situation. But for now, I have no answer for you other than that it was the king’s wishes, and I was obligated to obey him. And to continue to do so, even after his passing.”
Ryu sighed. “That’s unfortunate. Because one of the reasons I came back here was to find out whether or not the Captain of the Guard was complicit in the murder of my parents. And your silence is not reassuring. Nor is the fact that Mister Izarius was able to sneak me past the guards at the gate without any of them so much as batting an eyelid.” In a long list of minor indiscretions, that last one in particular pissed Kentario off. As much as he’d wanted Ryu to get back in cleanly, the fact that he’d actually managed to do so was a matter of concern. Given all that had happened in the last forty-eight hours, the guards should have been far more diligent than that.
But Maro raised an eyebrow at the cool denouncement. “No, he didn’t,” he said, looking Oris in the eye. “The guards were perfectly well aware that you were smuggling…somethinginto the palace. A something that was stashed down behind the front seats and was about the size and shape of a certain prince? On the bright side, you have a high security clearance, and they had no reason to suspect you of foul play. And given the situation, I made sure they were all aware of the possibility of His Highness attempting to sneak back inside. You were allowed past on that basis, and then followed, to ensure nothing untoward was going on. And if you want to accuse me of talking out of my ass,” he added, with a wry glance towards Kentario, “then you might recall the phone call about the ‘disturbance’ at the gate?”
“Touché,” Kentario said, with perhaps the slightest hint of admiration in his voice.
Ryu, for his part, gave no reaction to the announcement. “Well, since I’m here now,” he said, sidestepping the issue for the moment, “perhaps someone should fill me in on exactly what’s been going on in my absence. Who broke into my palace?”Hispalace, now, and for the foreseeable future. “How did they get in? And what have you done to ensure it never happens again?”
They spent the next half an hour filling him in on all the details, the service door in the kitchen, the staff who’d been arrested, and the cascade of errors that had allowed the breach to happen in the first place. Ryu listened patiently throughout, asking an odd question here and there, but for the most part, simply letting them talk.
“Neither Liandra nor Xi are saying much at the moment,” Maro admitted, as he came to the end of the story, “but we have enough evidence, based of the stories of the rest of the staff, to build a case that Liandra was responsible for the service door being re-opened, and Xi wasthe one who let the Nalmagians in. Both of them have been arrested and charged with high treason. I’ve also ordered that the door be permanently bricked over, so that this can never happen again.”
