“Sacrificed goats, perhaps, or vials of virgin blood,” Florence quipped. She was too calm; the only hint of anxiety came from a brief flit of her gaze toward me. “They will find my amateur apothecary station, a collection of rather dull books, and perhaps, if they look in the box beneath my bed,” she grinned, “a nine-inch cock carved from ivory.”
Taran didn’t so much as blush at that remark, even as the courtiers gasped. Angharad placed a hand over her heart in a false display of modesty.
“Can you swear fealty to the Lady of Day?” asked Taran.
“The only fealty I observe is to Her Majesty, Queen Alana Callan of Antier, and to her husband, the king.”
“Curious that you should list your queen first.”
Florence shrugged. “I serve her directly.”
“But you deny the Lady?”
“Come now, this is a farce,” Quinn attempted once again.
“Interrupt me again, Viscount Navarro.” It was a bone-chilling dare. Quinn hesitated, looking to me for direction. I shook my head; I didn’t want to find out what lay on the other end of that threat. “Do you deny the Lady of Day?”
“No, I am aware of her,” said Florence. Could she not lie? Would the Lord punish her for it? Her obtuse attitude wouldn’t earn favor with Taran. “Is it illegal to be secular?”
Taran said nothing. Then Asli tore out from the palace entrance, followed distantly by Sahra.
“And?” Taran asked, not having to turn his head to know who had come out.
“It seemed normal,” Asli began, almost sounding dejected. Good. They’d found nothing. “A few empty diaries, some books on Gallaean customs, an old Hadrian tome on botany. She had a decent setup for making potions, but on further inspection of those along the shelves, there were only health tonics. Nothing supernatural.” Florence lifted her chin.
“Sahra found no signs of enchantment. No evidence of rituals performed, no heretical symbols. Everything seemed to be in order.”
How could that be? I’d been in Florence’s chambers many times. I knew she had books on magic, that the potions on her shelf were more sinister than medicine, that she kept theimplements for curses and incantations in a box inside. The only way they wouldn’t find those items was if Florence had somehow hidden them, and the easiest way to do so would have been to enchant the space with some sort of illusion.
But Sahra would have noticed that, unless… Was Sahra lying for her?
Taran shifted his footing. “Unrelated, perhaps, but… What did you tell me when we first arrived here, Asli? During the execution of Augustine?”
The Seeker folded his hands behind his back. “He’d been drugged the night of his arrest. The man could drink; you saw how he behaved from only a few glasses.”
“And then he confessed to treason,” Taran replied. He turned away from Florence, regarding the audience. “Asli has seen no magical traces since our arrival, but Sahra has, so we know that we are dealing with a sorceress…and if the matters are related, she had much to gain from such a confession. Do you all recall the night of his arrest?”
“I remember Lord Quinn returning to the dining hall,” said Angharad. “He whispered something to King Nicolas, and they both departed. It seemed related to the former Duke of Demagret; he was arrested shortly thereafter.”
Murmurs of agreement rang through the crowd. An uneasy feeling came over me, and it must have done the same to Quinn as he came to take my side.
“Were any women notably absent from dinner, in that span of time?” asked Taran.
“There was Winnie Balden,” joined someone else, making me flinch.
“The Balden girl lost her parents due to his confession. If the fool loosened his lips to her, it is unlikely she would’ve shared that information.” Taran scratched his chin in a performative, exaggerated way. “Anyone else?”
He asked it like he knew the answer and was only playing a game of cruel riddles.
Angharad spoke up once more. “Florence excused herself rather quickly. As did Queen Alana. If I recall correctly, thequeen was also in attendance when the viscount came to speak with the king.”
All eyes turned to me, and more than half of them were filled with that hunting suspicion that had just been focused on my lady-in-waiting. All I could think was that I should’ve locked Angharad away a long time ago, the moment she began to annoy me.
Quinn put a hand on his sword, but it was Marcy who stomped forward. “You would dare implicate your queen in this matter?”
“You must admit it’s suspicious,” Angharad retorted, meeting my eyes. “The Princess from Nowhere suddenly manages to woo the bachelor prince on a hunt? She is beautiful now, but let’s not fool ourselves, the woman lived in a hut. She would’ve been filthy. And yet the prince declared their betrothal a ‘matter of love’. How on earth did she enchant him so?”
Taran made a thoughtful sound and quirked his brow at me. There were cracks in my story now, and my options were depleting. If Taran had another means of checking for witchcraft and he turned those on me, I’d be killed. But if my people knew the truth, that I had won their king through the effects of a curse… I couldn’t imagine what might happen then.
