Everyone looked up as another horse approached. The animal moved unnaturally fast, as if enchanted. As the horse and rider entered the ring of light from the stables, Brenn came into view. The stable staff rushed forward to help her from her horse.
“Why are you gathered here?” Brenn asked, breathless.
“Finish what you were saying,” Astrid ordered. “Brenn, you will have to wait.”
“I met Guthmar years ago. He is a good man, and I knew I wanted to marry him,” Tassi started.
Astrid tried to hold her composure.
“He has his quirks, as you know. I love him deeply, and I always will. His heart is so big—he loves everything, everyone, and so I accept where his heart goes, and I am happy to share his light with others.”
“There is no need to defend your love,” Astrid said. “I understand the things you appreciate about him.”
Tassi nodded in acknowledgment. “A month before we left for Torden, he met a woman. She was a visitor to the Sydlig court, a well-respected adviser with connections to nobility. She was witty, kind, and a good listener. When Guthmar talked to her, she genuinely cared about everything he said, no matter how odd or mundane.”
Astrid’s blood chilled. “Tassi,” she said, “are you meaning to tell me you barely know…?”
“I have gotten to know Alvor over the past few months. She…is quite different than I am. But I believe she hides much.”
Alvor, only married to Guthmar briefly before coming to Torden. Impossible. Why would King Skarde have let Guthmar take someone so new to court with him to serve as Sydlig’s ambassador?
“She’s our assassin?” Astrid demanded. She turned to Brenn. “Did you know this?”
“Of course I did not know,” said Brenn. “I think Freya would have.”
“Freya would have been more cautious of someone new,” Astrid said, knowing she was coming off as snippy, beyond the point of caring.
“Perhaps she missed this one thing,” Brenn said gently.
“Freya doesn’t miss anything,” said Astrid.
“I don’t know if she is an assassin,” Tassi interjected. “She fell ill shortly after we left for Sydlig. She stayed behind in Vakker—in the city. Her stomach is not good. Guthmar wantedto hold everyone up and wait, but she insisted we go on without her. I had a feeling…and I tried to follow her to the city, but I couldn’t find her.”
“Was she poisoned?” Astrid asked.
“I don’t know. She didn’t have the king’s brother’s pustules, if that’s what you’re asking. But that was a late symptom,” he threw in quickly.
Astrid grabbed Tassi by the shoulders. There was fear in his eyes, and also defeat. She wanted to shake answers out of him. “What are you hiding from me?”
“Only my hunch, Your Majesty,” he said.
“And what,” Astrid said, “is your hunch?”
Tassi swallowed. “I hesitate to say. I do not like to throw around accusations. And it would hurt Guthmar.”
“Unless Guthmar has been the assassin all along, and he poisoned Alvor?” But that didn’t make sense. Even if Guthmar was adept with poison and arrows, he’d been there for the second assassination attempt, just as frightened as everyone else. Astrid had seen him string a bow, and his form was poor. He would not have been able to make the shot that killed King Skarde.
“He wouldn’t,” Tassi said. “He would never.”
Brenn nudged her staff between the two of them. “Queen Astrid, I hope I do not speak out of turn, but I must insist on your attention immediately.”
Astrid released Tassi. He slumped back, closed his eyes.
“Go,” said Astrid. “King Guthmar needs you.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” said Tassi. “Thank you for hearing me.”
As Tassi mounted his horse, Astrid turned her acid glare to Brenn.
