“Father?” She gripped his hand with what little strength remained. Her own voice sounded distant.
His lips moved, and he brushed her hair off her face, but she heard and felt nothing. Then the pain faded away and she was falling again. Only this time she knew it was no dream.
***
Faith held back her tears as Danielle’s eyes closed and her limbs sagged. She was furious with herself for letting Danielle compete. She was also furious with Kane. He bloody well knew she wasn’t armoured fully and that a blow like this could kill her.
“My men have secured a cart to take the princess back to the palace, Your Majesty,” Mr. Templeton said, his face almost as white as Dee’s.
“Then what are we waiting for?” Michael asked.
“We have to bind the wound first, or she’ll bleed out,” the chief physician said. “Help us sit her up.”
Danielle groaned but didn’t wake as they moved her, and a bandage was wrapped around her middle.
“Would you like to tell me why my daughter isn’t wearing her suit of chain mail that Mr. Favona went to such pains to craft?”
Faith heard the accusation in the king’s voice and knew the question was meant for her.
She looked up at him. “It was stolen, Milord.”
“Stolen?”
“Yes, Milord.”
“And you let her fight anyway?” Now Michael, too, was glaring at her, and the way Eden glanced up at her as he held his sister made it clear he was just as angry, and understandably so. She deserved their anger.
“Yes. I’m…I’m sorry.” The words seemed so pitifully inadequate, and the guilt she felt sliced as deep as any sword.
“You were responsible for her safety,” Eden said.
“I know.”
“We’ll deal with this matter later.” The king’s voice was low and firm. His cold blue eyes made it clear he held her personally responsible for this incident and that there would be consequences. Faith didn’t care; she just wanted Danielle to be all right. And she wanted justice.
As the men lifted Danielle onto a stretcher and carried her down the stairs to a waiting cart, Faith remained where she was, only now she rested her hand on the dagger strapped to her belt. Kane was still pinned to the floor of the ring, with two palace guards clamping his wrists and ankles in shackles as the knights held him.
“Are you coming?” Michael asked, stopping at the bottom of the stairs and looking back.
“There’s not enough room in the cart; I’ll catch up.” She wiped at her tears. Danielle looked sickly pale as the attendants and physicians loaded her onto the back of the cart, and blood was already soaking through her makeshift bandage. It broke Faith’s heart to see her friend in such a state and to know that she was responsible. She turned and looked back at Kane. She’d have a confession out of him, or he’d know pain like he had never felt before.
The general shock and disbelief were quickly turning to outrage and anger, and a mob was forming around the ring. Men shouted abuse and threats at Kane, some even beginning to pull the cobblestones from the square, making ready to throw them at the prince. A cordon of palace guards was doing its best to keep the crowd at bay.
Kane was cursing and shouting his innocence, his voice half lost in the din. Then he saw Faith, and his expression made it clear that he knew her intent. She moved towards him, and drew her dagger in the same motion.
“You knew, you damn-well knew! You thieving, murdering swine.”
“I didn’t … I didn’t know!” he protested, trying to break free of the soldiers who held him. “Keep her away from me!”
“You lie!” Faith yelled at him. A young knight saw her coming and laid a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. Shoving past him, she launched herself at Kane, the dagger now in plain view. The knights reacted quickly, grabbing Corenbald’s First Sword as she screamed and struck wildly at Kane, demanding he confess. Faith was dragged to the ground and disarmed but not before she drew blood.
Still panting hard and with blood flowing freely from a deep cut on his forearm, Kane spat at her, calling her a mad bitch and threatening charges as he was dragged to his feet and led away in chains by three knights.
Seeing the scuffle begin, Michael had leaped from the cart and charged back up the stairs to the fencing ring. By the time he jumped over the gate, Faith and Kane had been pulled apart. Ignoring his older brother, he raced over and pulled his fiancé into his arms. She fought him for a minute, still screaming at Kane and trying to get at him, and then as Michael soothed her, she suddenly dissolved into tears and sobbed freely against his shoulder.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Joseph leaned on his walking stick, looking on as the palace guards rummaged through Kane’s expansive chambers in the palace’s north wing, pulling out drawers and checking in cupboards. He didn’t seriously expect them to find anything, let alone Danielle or Faith’s chainmail shirts, and he was fairly certain that Kane genuinely hadn’t entered the ring with any intention of murdering his sister. However, he did suspect a certain someone close to Kane of having a hand in this somehow.
“So, sir, where were you last night?”
A court physician was stitching up the nasty looking cut on Kane’s forearm. Apparently it was Faith’s doing and it was being said that if not for the four knights who had pulled the Princess of Corenbald away from Arkaelyon’s second son, she very likely would have butchered him there and then. Not that Joseph was about to let charges be laid against Faith. The young woman was as close as family and that was soon to be cemented with her marriage to young Michael, and her father, Richard Galloway, King of Corenbald, was one of their closest allies.
“I knew nothing about it,” Kane protested, avoiding the question. “If you’re looking for someone to blame, then perhaps you should ask Lady Galloway why Danielle wasn’t wearing her chain mail. Or ask the match wardens why they didn’t check her armour properly.”
“Please, just answer the question, sir.”
Kane gave a weary sigh. “I spent the night at a brothel in the wharf district.”
The admission didn’t surprise Joseph much. He knew of the young lord’s taste for common as well as highborn women, and that he wasn’t above paying to have his appetites sated. “Does this establishment have a name?”
“The Muse.”
Joseph nodded and called one of the palace guards over. “Go to the Muse—it’s a house of ill repute in the wharf district, apparently—and see if Lord Kane was there last night, and if so, between what hours, whether he had visitors, and the like. Talk to the proprietor and the girl or girls he…er, patronised. Anything you think relevant.”
The guard bowed and hurried from the chamber, calling two men of lesser rank after him.
“So what’s to happen to me?” Kane asked.
“That’s a matter for the General Council to decide,” Joseph replied.
“I did nothing wrong, Joseph. I didn’t know Dee wasn’t wearing chain mail.”
“You attacked your sister after the competition was over and she declared the champion.”
“I wasn’t in my right mind. Anyone with eyes could see that. I didn’t know the competition was over.”
“Yes, well, we’ll all soon know the truth of that. And until then, you are to remain in your chambers. And to ensure that you do, guards will be set at your door.”
Kane looked dumbstruck. “You’re placing me under house arrest?”
Joseph gave the young noble a stiff smile. “I am.”
“With all due respect, how can you hold me for what was clearly an accident? You may not like me, Joseph, but you surely think me endowed with sufficient reason not to try and murder my sister in front of the entire city?”
“As I said, that’s yet to be seen. And as for the house arrest, you might want to consider that necessary for your own safety. After all, the Lady Galloway seems not the only one who wants your head right now.” Joseph gave a meaningful glance towards the nearest window,
through which they could still hear the crowd chanting in the city square.
Kane nodded reluctantly. “Fine, then.” He winced as the physician pulled the thread, drawing together the skin of his wounded forearm. “So, how bad is she?”
Joseph smiled wryly. As he expected, there was no remorse in Kane’s face or tone. And no doubt the young man would not be altogether grief-stricken should his troublesome sister die of her wound. Joseph took a certain pleasure in breaking the good news.
“Lucky for you, my dear sir, the wound wasn’t too deep; it merely bled a great deal. However, the question you should be asking yourself is, will the General Council be as merciful to you? Now, good day.”
The guards and servants he passed as he crossed the palace to Danielle’s quarters were sombre, for she was much loved, and news of her wounding at Kane’s hands had sent shock and dismay rippling throughout palace. Even now that it was known she would survive her injury, a certain brooding resentment lingered that such a crime could be committed against their beloved princess.
In due course Joseph reached Danielle’s chambers, where a solemn-faced guard stepped forward and opened the door for him. Joseph nodded a thank-you and went inside, where he found the members of the king’s Inner Council and a few other nobles who were especially close to Arkaelyon’s royal family. It was a much smaller party than the throng of lords and ladies who had followed Eden as he carried Danielle’s limp and bleeding form up the front stairs of the palace an hour ago. Lord Austin Fairfax had seen to that, leaving instructions at the king’s bidding that all concerned parties could wait in the summer hall for news of Danielle’s condition, which would be forthcoming as soon as it was known.
Joseph slipped easily into the company of familiars. He knew these men well; like him, they were staunch reformists in belief and practice, and he greatly respected every one of them. From the air of relief he felt around him, he guessed that the princess was still improving.
Lord Austin Fairfax caught his eye and approached. Even now, in his middle years, Austin was a striking man. His long hair was fair, though with a sprinkling of silver at the temples and tied back in the fashion of the colonies.
Joseph could name only two men he held in higher esteem, and neither had faced the hardships that Austin had, nor were they so young in years. Disinherited by his father after refusing to renounce his love for a commoner, Austin had left for New Arkaelyon without wealth or prospects some twenty years ago. Once in the colonies, he had found himself thrown into the political maelstrom of Ambyton Town on the eve of the Great Uprising. The events of that bloody week eventually fuelled the Wars of Succession, and as a staunch reformist Goddian by faith, and long a convert to the ideals of republicanism and universal liberty despite the privilege his birth had once afforded him, Austin had quickly become a prominent leader among the colonists, rising to the rank of high general of the colonial armies.
Arkaelyon’s nobility, particularly its conservative constituency and the large group of staunch orthodox Goddians who were loyal to the High Church, had admonished him, and for many years he was referred to as Arkaelyon’s fallen son and the principal traitor of the realm. Not in living memory had the church put so large a bounty on the head of a traitor. Thankfully, though, not all had turned their backs on him—a point that Joseph was more than a little proud of. Paul de Brie, the prince regent at the time, had studied and played with Austin when they were children, and even after Austin’s falling-out with his father, the two had maintained a close and loyal friendship, though often in secret. As far as Joseph was concerned, it was that friendship that had brought the war to an end, for even as the Arkaelyon army and colonists met on the field of battle the two men had secretly corresponded, working desperately to broker a peace. That peace had finally come when Paul’s elderly father abdicated the throne due to ill health. Paul, already at odds with the church for using his royal veto to stop the holy crusades to repatriate Amthenium and for ceding sovereignty to the peasant revolutionaries in Noren, Arkaelyon’s fifth dukedom, immediately sued for peace. With the stroke of a pen, he both ceded sovereignty over the territories and peoples of New Arkaelyon to the colonists’ council, and pardoned Austin. Austin had repaid Paul’s loyal friendship by graciously declining the opportunity to be the young republic’s first President and instead returned to his family’s lands in Fairfax and swore his service to Paul’s throne. For the past decade he had served with distinction and dedication.
“So, Joseph, what did the young scoundrel have to say for himself?”
Joseph accepted a glass of wine from Austin. “Not much, I’m afraid, though I’m sure it’s as we suspect. The suits of mail were stolen to prevent Dee from competing—not to give Kane the opportunity to murder her.”
“In which case he still would have known that she wasn’t wearing chainmail and would hence be vulnerable to such a blow,” Lord Worthford added. The other men in the room had ceased their conversations and were gathering around.
“I don’t think he knew,” Joseph said.
“So could the theft have been perpetrated by someone trying to make a great deal of money by preventing Dee from competing? After all, the gambling houses around Illandia have never been so busy.”
“It’s a possibility,” Joseph said, though he still leaned toward his own interpretation. “And believe me, gentlemen, I’ll not rest until the truth is known. Which brings me to another matter: What’s to be done with Danielle while this business is sorted out?”
“We’ve actually just been discussing that,” Austin said. “Given the circumstances, and the chance that this might not have been merely a case of poor judgment on her part and ill luck on Kane’s, but have darker more insidious roots, we think it best that she convalesce away from court. If this was an attempt on her life, she’ll certainly be safer, and to that end I am more than happy to offer the hospitality of the Fairfax Estate.”
Joseph nodded his agreement. Since Austin’s pardon and return to Arkaelyon, Fairfax had been like a second home to Danielle, and if Austin hadn’t made the offer, Joseph would have suggested it. “Yes, I think that’s wise. Danielle loves the place, and I know she’s very fond of your three sons and their wives, to say nothing of little Justin. Also, I am going to send word to your eldest son and have him take up Danielle’s role as ambassador to Amthenium until she is well. Bastion is her undersecretary, after all, and I know it’ll put her mind at ease to have him at the helm of our legation.”
“I’m sure Bastion will be greatly honoured.”
“Very good. Then gentlemen, I’ll arrange it immediately with the king.”
Joseph excused himself and went down the hall to Danielle’s bedchambers, slipped inside, and quietly shut the door. The thin lace netting around Danielle’s four poster bed had been pulled down to give her privacy, and through the material he could just make out the king’s back where he sat at his daughter’s bedside, quietly talking to her. However, before Joseph could approach, a chambermaid, who was cleaning Danielle’s blood from the stone floor, noticed his arrival and hurried over.
“Milord, your presence is sought out on the balcony,” she whispered. Looking where she gestured, Joseph saw three of the court physicians conversing on the sun-drenched terrace. He was also sorely aware of the distant howl of Faith’s wolf floating in from the garden beyond the balcony. The poor beast could no doubt smell Danielle’s blood. To make matters worse, his mournful cries had the hunting hounds in the palace kennels in an uproar. Joseph stepped outside. “Well, gentlemen, you wished to speak with me?” he asked.
“Yes, Milord.”
The way the three men looked hesitantly at one another didn’t please Joseph in the least. “All is still well, I presume?”
“Oh, yes, Milord. We have stopped the bleeding and stitched the wound back up. However”—Mr. Florantus glanced back into the chamber and then lowered his voice—“she has lost a great deal of blood, and we would very much prefer that she be allowed to sleep.�
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Joseph saw what was bothering them. “I’ll see to it.” At that he shook their hands. “Well done, all of you.”
Back inside, Joseph slipped through the netting and laid a hand on the king’s shoulder. Danielle smiled up at him. She was obviously sleepy, no doubt the result of blood loss and the work of the anodyne she had been given, and her face had lost most of its youthful colour.
“Well, did he know?” Paul asked, his brow knitted in a fearsome scowl.
“Kane declares and swears he knows nothing about the suits of mail.”
“And you believe him?” Paul snorted with incredulity.
“It’s not his fault,” Danielle said wearily, squeezing her father’s hand. “I’ve told you, father, he didn’t know. Besides, I got into the ring knowing full well I was not correctly armoured…” She grimaced at the exertion.
Joseph could see how weak she was, and, disturbed by the prospect of draining more of her precious strength, he squeezed the king’s shoulder. “Your Majesty, we need to let Dee sleep. Please…”
Reluctantly, the king stood after kissing his daughter’s cheek. “Call for me if you have need. I’ll be back later,” he said.
As Joseph turned to follow his friend through the opening in the curtain, Danielle reached out and took his hand, bidding him wait.
“Lass, you need to rest,” he said. “You’re very weak and not out of the woods yet.”
“I’m not going to die any time soon, Joseph,” she said reassuringly.
“Well, see that you don’t,” he replied gruffly, grinning back at her. The thought of how close they had come to losing her brought a dreadful ache to his chest. Ten years ago it had been her mother. To lose Dee as well would be more than he could bear, and not just because of what she meant to the realm and their dream for Arkaelyon. She was the daughter he’d never had.
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