I nod. “His mother was killed in the first battle with Emberfall, too.” I pause. “But Alek was young when all that happened.”
“That means nothing. You were a boy when you stormed my castle with Grey.”
I suppose that’s true.
“And?” Rhen prompts. “What was Alek doing there?”
“I don’t know.” I frown. “He wasn’t doing anything wrong.”
“If his presence there feels significant to you, I believe there is a reason.” He pauses. “He has bothered you in the past, has he not? Grey should have locked him up in that stone prison.”
“I can handle it.” Alek isn’t the only member of the Royal Houses who takes issue with my position as King’s Courier—but he’s the only one who has no hesitation in being openly antagonistic about it.
Rhen scoffs. “I know Lia Mara wishes to rule with a gentle hand, but if she and my brother do not keep a tight leash on their nobles, they’ll seek every weakness. Any attack on you is an attack onthem, and they should have taken action to put it to rights.”
I shift my weight, fighting the urge to squirm. I don’t like questioning Grey’s actions, or Lia Mara’s either. “Politically, it’s tricky,” I say. “Lia Mara believes Alek is loyal to Syhl Shallow—just not to Grey. He hates the magic, and he’s not the only one.”
“That is nottricky. Loyalty to your country doesn’t matter if you’redisloyalto whoever is ruling it.”
I’m the last person who’s going to tell Lia Mara how to rule, especially if she can’t eat and she’s vomiting all night. I take a bite of the apple to avoid saying anything.
Rhen sighs and pulls one of his maps closer. “Fine. So you have no idea what thispolitically trickypotential traitor was doing?”
“He said he was looking for the blacksmith. It’s innocuous enough that it might not even matter. I mean, I was doing the same thing. Grey asked me to see if he was still there when I rode through, but he wasn’t. I spoke to many people, but no one seemed overly familiar with him.” I pause, thinking of Callyn and Jax, and the silver scattered along the floor, or the way Jax’s hand was burned so severely.
“You’ve thought of something,” says Rhen.
“No. Maybe? The blacksmith is friends with the girl who runs the bakery. I saw them the first time, too, when Lord Alek first appeared. The blacksmith was badly injured this time. A burn from the forge—but it didn’t seem like a casual burn. I got a close look when I healed it.”
Have a good look, my lord.
Callyn was frightened, but Jax was so brazen. I realize now that it was a camouflage for his own fear. I learned early on with skittish horses that sometimes they need a quiet moment to allow an element of trust to form before you ask something of them. People aren’t much different. I know that better than anyone.
I wish I’d given Jax that moment.
Rhen’s voice calls me back. “The burn seemed intentional?”
I nod, then frown. “He said his father caused it. I don’t get the sensethat they’re working with the Truthbringers—but I can’t get past the fact that Alek was there. They had so much silver. More than I’d expect for a small bakery in a tiny town. You remember those first letters mentionedgathering your best silver. So … maybe.”
“Is Briarlock a merchant city?” he says. “Could this be related to the messages hidden in the shipments?”
I think about it. “Not really. It’s a small village surrounded by farmland. A blacksmith and a baker wouldn’t be involved in shipping much of anything.”
“They’d be receiving things, though,” says Rhen. He sits back in his chair. “A blacksmith would receive bars of iron and steel—though admittedly those wouldn’t do well for hiding slips of parchment. I presume they know who you are. Do they seem disloyal to the Crown?”
“They seem less like traitors and more like people wary of a distant nobility. You know how these villages are with rumors and gossip. What you hear in Emberfall is only half as bad as what they say in Syhl Shallow.”
“How so?”
I shrug. “A month ago I heard a woman telling a tavern full of people that her cousin had seen the king’s magic twist a man into knots while he screamed. For courtly entertainment.” I roll my eyes. Grey would never do any such thing.
Rhen sighs. “I suppose stories of benevolence don’t generate crowds.”
“I spent so long chasing down messages with you that I think I’m looking ateveryonewith suspicion.”
“Good. That’s a healthy way to stay alive.”
I wonder if he’s being facetious. He doesn’t look like it. I sigh and take another bite of the apple.
