“Stand down, Sergeant,” I told my Imperial. “I’ll take the Consort Janos to see Prince Larz. As for you, sir,” I said, turning toward the human soldier. “Your presence is not required. Please go back to your men and wait to be interviewed.”
Immediately, he bucked up to me, staring up at me belligerently. “What part of ‘I don’t take orders from you’ don’t you understand?”
Several responses ran through my mind, but before I could reply, Janos put a hand on the man’s arm and shook his head. “Don’t be silly, General Dimitri. Of course, we want to cooperate with these soldiers in any way we can. Just…please go back to your men, and I’ll go with General Vargarra. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
Janos stepped up beside me and after one quick glance down at the arm I offered him, he took it with a slight nod of his head. It was a regal gesture that I don’t think he was even aware of, and I knew it took courage on his part to take my arm. From what I’d heard, the main reason Prince Larz had refused to come home to Tygeria was because of his mate’s fear of all Tygerians—except for his husband, of course.
I could understand why, considering what must have happened to him at Beatik. As he stepped up beside me, I was again struck by how small he was, much smaller than his adopted son and how handsome his features were up close this way. His skin was like fine porcelain, and the only marks of his age were the few silver strands in the hair framing his face. I deliberately turned my back on Dimitri, who was seething behind us and led the little former king of Laltana from the room.
I had studied the layout of the castle before we arrived, so I knew the infirmary was on the lower level. In fact, we saw the men carrying the stretcher with Taran on it just disappearing down into the stairwell as we came out into the huge main hall.
By the time we reached the clinic, the stretcher bearers had already gone inside. As we followed them in, we saw the two royal princes right away, Larz and his older brother Vannos, were standing aside to let the stretcher bearers carry Taran to one of the beds inside the infirmary. Prince Larz glanced over and spotted us at the door, and he came over quickly to greet his consort and take his hand off my arm. The look he shot me reminded me so much of the resentful, suspicious one his brother Mikos had sent me when I held his consort’s hand on the ship that I had to struggle to keep a smile off my face.
By this time, he had a much smaller, neater bandage on the back of his head, though he still looked pale and drained. He’d taken quite a blow to his head, and he’d been lucky there was no sign of concussion. Janos began to softly exclaim over him as Larz enfolded him in his arms.
“I’m fine, darling,” he said, using one of the human words I’d heard the Consort Blake use so often. It was a term of endearment my own omak had used occasionally with me and my brothers.
“There’s nothing seriously wrong, the doctors said, and I just needed a few stitches.” He glanced over at me. “They think the assailant must have used something like a cudgel or perhaps the hilt of the knife to hit me with before turning it back around to attack Taran. Thank the gods the medics managed to get the bleeding stopped. If they hadn’t, or if the knife had struck his lungs or his heart…”
Janos shuddered and gave a soft cry. The prince was right—the boy could very easily have been killed in the vicious attack. If they’d aimed a bit higher… Surprisingly, something twisted in my own chest and in the pit of my stomach. I thought it must be because of the duty I owed to all of the royal family. The attack was a reminder of my failure in that regard. Even though PrinceLarz seemed not to want the Imperials to protect his small family, I should have insisted and sent some guards anyway.
“Were you able to see your assailant?” I asked. “Did he say anything to you before the attack?”
“No. I was caught completely off guard.”
“What about you, Your Highness?” I asked, turning to Janos. “Did you see or hear anything?”
“I saw a dark shadow come rushing up from behind us. And I heard his footsteps. I knew the Royal Guard was behind us, so at the time I thought one of the guards was coming over to guard Larz. Someone brushed right past me, and Larz cried out. But before I could react, Taran pushed me down in my chair and crossed over in front of me. Then there was only Taran, on the other side of me until he began to stagger and I was able to push past him to get to my husband. I didn’t know he’d been hurt as well.”
“You were seated, between Prince Larz and your son?”
“That’s right.”
“Taran’s going to be fine,” Prince Larz said softly against Janos’s hair. “The doctors say he should wake up pretty soon. We’ll stay here with him until he does.”
“I’m going to send some guards down here to stay with you. I’m not sure the danger has passed, though the storm is still pretty bad outside.”
Janos nodded. “Thank you. Prince Vannos told me earlier that these storms can last for days at a time.”
“Which means the power can go out again at any time, and another attack could be attempted. I’d rather have your family isolated and guarded here inside this infirmary while we figure this thing out. There seems to be only one door in or out here.”
“You can just send some of our Royal Guards down then to stay with us.”
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible, Your Highness.”
“Why not?” he asked, his tone sharp as he frowned at me.
“Because they, along with everyone else in that room are all suspects at this point. In addition, they were closest to you when the lights went out, and all of them were armed.”
“No, that’s ridiculous. None of them would hurt us.”
“Nevertheless, they must be interrogated. I’m sorry. I can’t take any chances until they’ve all been spoken to and definitively ruled out.”
He scowled at me. “But youdotrust that the Imperials weren’t involved? How convenient.”
“Your guards were standing behind you, sir. The Imperials were all the way across the room. It’s the most logical conclusion.”
“Except for the fact that my men would have no motive.”
