“There’s only one way to be sure.” I furrowed my brow, but before I could think about it further, noise started back up in the camp. Maddox came with Flannery, panting.
“No sign of anyone near the premises,” he said between breaths.
Lord Frederick appeared behind him, face grave as he sheathed his sword. “Lady Narcissa, are you alright?”
I nodded. “Yes, but there’s something—”
“Narcissa!” Bennett pushed Maddox aside and took my shoulders, wearing little else but a shirt and breeches. “Are you hurt?”
“I-I’m fine.”
He pulled me snugly to him, smothering my face into his chest. “Good,” he whispered.
Just as abruptly, he let me go. I hardly had time to process the intimacy before Bennett turned to Maddox. “You are supposed to protect her,” he said, his voice steely. “Yet a potential assassin managed tosaw a holeinto the carriage and you didn’t hear?”
“Your Highness, I—”
He looked down at the cotton plugs Flannery had left on the ground. “Tell me one reason you should stay if you cannot perform your duties properly.”
Maddox ducked his head. “I am sorry, Your Highness.”
Bennett turned to Lord Frederick. “Have him removed from the Royal Guard. Have them both removed.”
Flannery squeaked. “But Your Highness!”
Bennett silenced him with a stony stare. I grabbed his wrist before he could leave. “The saw had a silencing charm on it,” I said. “Maddox wasn’t on watch when it happened and Flannery is not the only guard in charge of my safety.”
Bennett turned away. “Nevertheless, they should have been alert and prepared. The fact that they weren’t demonstrates their incompetence.”
Maddox seemed to shrink in on himself. Being scolded by Father was one thing, but being reprimanded by the future king of Olderea in front of his commander and colleagues was something else entirely. Poor Flannery had tears running down his cheeks, which were red from trying to keep them in.
I set my jaw. “The entire camp should have been alert and prepared. Are you going to demote them all?”
“If it comes to it.”
“You are being unreasonable.”
His jaw clenched. “I amneverunreasonable.”
My grip on his wrist tightened, his skin burning hot against my fingers. “Then you’re a fool.”
Bennett whirled around, his eyes ablaze with unfamiliar fire. “Very well, Lady Narcissa,” he said. “If you wish to be in the company of inept guards, that is your choice.”
He wrenched himself out of my grasp and marched away.
***
IT NEVER OCCURRED TOme that I would be begging on Maddox’s behalf, but I found myself doing exactly that the next morning. Lord Frederick barely got a bite of breakfast before I began pleading his case.
“You’re going to have to speak to His Highness, milady,” Lord Frederick whispered after my fifth attempt. I rode a few paces behind Bennett, whose stiff posture and blank expression betrayed nothing. “He has the final say on these matters.”
“Perhaps,” I whispered back, “you can decide first and then convince him.”
He raised a wiry eyebrow. “Milady, I am not so bold as to bend the crown prince to my will. That job is reserved for those who can call him a fool and suffer no consequences.”
My face heated.
Lord Frederick shook his head and increased his pace to match Bennett’s. It seemed he was fed up with me. I looked over my shoulder at Maddox and Flannery, trudging beside the ruined carriage. They were both especially grim this morning, and it wasn’t only because of the dreary weather.
