Schemes

by Krista D. Ball

Lendra stepped out of her carriage and said, “Her Grace is right; we cannot bring Bethany with us to the capital. What if she is infectious?”

  More moans.

  “You can’t become infectious from bad fish,” Darien insisted.

  The Dowager rapped her cane on her carriage’s open window. “Do not contradict your betters, child.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Darien said automatically.

  “Lord Brennus, would you kindly escort my sister to safety?”

  “Of course, Ambassador Lendra,” Brennus said.

  “Take Darien and Myra with you,” Lendra added. She accepted a pouch from the Dowager and tossed it to Darien. “They can help.”

  “Yes, Ambassador Lendra,” Brennus said. He frowned down at Bethany. “Are you sure she’s okay?”

  Bethany clenched her stomach and moaned some more.

  Horses were exchanged and the caravan eventually left them behind with Bethany still moaning in the ditch. When the caravan was completely out of sight, Myra said, “Okay, they’re gone.”

  Bethany casually stood up and brushed the dust off her tabard.

  Brennus narrowed his eyes. “Fish, huh?”

  “You were faking?” Darien asked.

  “Yes, Darien, I was faking. We need to get to the palace before the caravan arrives and warn them that trouble is heading their way.” Bethany chewed on her lip. “I also need to get away from any knights I brought from Wyllow and Orchard Park.”

  “Why am I here then?” Darien asked.

  Bethany accepted the offered reins from Myra and mounted her horse. “You’re a strong rider. I need you to go back to the farm where we were attacked, and I need you to fetch Jonas.”

  “You trust me to go by myself?” he sneered.

  “Name!” Lord Brennus demanded.

  Darien stood erect, thrusting his shoulders back. “Knight Darien of Wyllow, son of Hadley. Diplomatic Escort Commander, Lord Brennus.”

  “One of the Wyllow kids under Jud, before he took over Allric’s position?”

  Darien nodded.

  Brennus stepped up to Darien and said, very quietly, “Well, let’s get one thing straight. I’m still a vowed knight. So if you won’t take your orders from Lady Bethany, then take them from me. You will go get this Jonas she wants, and you will carry out that task or die trying.”

  “Yes, Lord Brennus.”

  “And if you ever disrespect someone of her quality in front of me again, you’ll be drinking your meals for the rest of your life. Understood, Apprentice?”

  “Understood, Lord Brennus.”

  “Get on your horse and leave.”

  Darien asked Bethany a couple of very diffident questions before making the long backtrack to Jonas Whiteriver. Bethany watched him go and said, “I take it you know what’s going on.”

  Brennus folded his arms across his broad chest. “Yup. Bad news travels fast. Any of it true?”

  “Only the parts where the Elven Council overreacted.” Bethany sighed. “Okay, shall we take a few shortcuts?”

  Brennus nodded. “Using the farm lanes will shave a day off the trip. How important is it to get to the palace?”

  “A matter of life or death, or so I’ve been told. Let’s go.”

  Chapter 5

  Opal tugged on Edmund’s trousers and demanded, “Up, Dada! Up!”

  He reached down and picked up the little monster. She looked like her mother, with her dark hair, dark eyes, and her chubby, copper-hued skin. She grinned when Edmund wrapped his hand around her and used the stump on his other arm to balance her. Once settled on his lap, she pointed at a ragged doll on the ground. “Bun, up! Dada! Bun!”

  Edmund obeyed and picked up the cloth bunny, taking care to shake the grass off it first. Opal balanced herself happily on Edmund’s lap and chatted away to her toy in her baby language.

  “What do you say, Opal?” Amber said. Opal grinned up at Edmund before going back to chatting with her toy. “She can’t say thank you yet.”

  The three of them were sitting under the white tent of the Imperial Palace’s south garden. It had taken most of a year to move Amber here. Despite all of his and Arrago’s urging, Amber wouldn’t move into the palace with them. She stayed with the Dowager Duchess of Arsenia the last year. With the arrival of Allric’s sister, however, they were finally able to persuade Amber to move to the capital where Arrago could help her.

  However, Amber didn’t want to impose on Arrago’s hospitality and took lodgings in the city. An actual apartment. Above a butcher shop.

  In the end, Lord Stanley and Lord Rayner used their years of diplomatic experience and convinced Amber to come to the palace for Prince Henry’s benefit. Paverly, Allric’s sister, cautioned them that Opal was Elorian and her maturity would not keep pace with the young prince’s. But, she also thought the young prince would help Opal mature a little faster than many isolated Elorians did.

  This was where Edmund spent nearly every morning now, sitting outside with Amber and Opal, to take breakfast together. Most of the aristocracy didn’t eat breakfast; they skipped straight to dinner. But Amber liked having a simple breakfast, and even Edmund had become used to it, having been around elves for so long.

  He liked the quiet. It was good for Amber to socialize and little Opal needed a man in her life. He was no Lord Allric; no one could ever replace her father. Yet, when he was with Opal, she didn’t care that he was missing an eye and a hand. All she cared about was Bunny and Dada picking her up.

  Opal dropped her toy on the ground and pouted. “Dada! Bun!”

  Edmund dutifully picked up the ragged thing, shook it off, and handed it back. Opal threw it back on the ground and grinned. “Dada! Bun!”

  “Opal,” Amber said in an authoritative voice that reminded Edmund of his own mother’s stern warnings. Why did all mothers have that same tone? Were they taught it in the birthing chamber? “Do not throw Bunny on the ground.”

  “Dada! Bun!” Opal said, pointing. Her face was screwed up into an angry scowl. “Bun!”

  He bent over, picked Bunny up, and shook it off. He handed it to her and said, with less authority than Amber, “Don’t throw it again.”

  She promptly tossed her toy to the ground and giggled. “Bun!”

  Edmund picked Opal up and put her down on the ground. She stomped and protested, but Edmund firmly told her he wasn’t picking Bunny up anymore. She collapsed to the ground in a huge pout and whimpered. “Dada. Bun.”

  “I’m sorry she calls you Dada,” Amber said. “I’ve tried to explain, but...”

  “I don’t mind,” Edmund said. He looked over at Amber and smiled. “I’ve always wanted to be ‘Dada.’”

  “Arrago will never turn Henry against you.”

  “I know. I spend as much time with Henry as Arrago does. At this stage, I think it’s a widely known secret that Henry is mine.” Edmund smiled at Amber. “But I’m not Henry’s Dada. I’m Opal’s, apparently.”

  “Opal adores you.”

  Edmund smiled again and picked up his dainty porcelain cup. “I can’t believe Arrago got us coffee.”

  Amber watched Opal throw Bunny and giggle, before scooting over to pick the toy back up. “Arrago is spoiling us so that he doesn’t have to think about a certain someone who landed a few days ago.”

  “Have you heard from Bethany?”

  Amber shook her head. “I’m worried about her.”

  “So am I. We got word a week ago that they arrived and were making their way here. That’s it. And before that? Nearly all of our news came through Lendra, not Bethany. What were they thinking, demoting her? She did nothing wrong.”

  “She’s the reason Rygents are returning home and rebuilding. There is a home for us now, because of her.”

  “No good deed is unfettered by politics,” Edmund said solemnly. He waved a hand to swat away the fly buzzing around his cup. “So, do you think she’s going to marry him?”

  “Who?”

  “Bethany and Arrago.”
<
br />   Amber’s eyes widened. “What?”

  “Didn’t you know?” Edmund leaned toward her. “Arrago asked her to marry him.”

  “When?”

  “Before she left.”

  Amber leaned forward and whispered, “Did she say no?”

  Edmund grinned. “She said she had to think about it.”

  “Bullshit!” Amber said.

  Opal threw Bunny on the ground and promptly shouted, “Shit!”

  Edmund tried to hide his laugh but it bubbled out of him. Amber slapped his forearm, which made him laugh harder. Opal, pleased to have made the adults laugh, gleefully shouted, “Shit! Shit! Shit!”

  “Thank you, Rygous, that Allric isn’t alive to see this,” Amber muttered.

  Edmund chuckled. “Allric worked with Jovan. He could have handled a toddler.”

  Amber snorted. Her expression didn’t darken as much as it used to whenever Allric’s name came up. She still missed him, just as he still missed Celeste. But it was getting easier to live life. They’d found a friendship through their mutual grief that hadn’t existed before. Edmund had come to depend upon Amber’s company.

  He glanced at her and smiled.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Nothing.”

  “No, what?”

  He shrugged and looked off into the wooded thicket in front of them. Amber insisted on having the tent opening point away from the palace, to give the illusion of privacy. “I was thinking how much I’ve enjoyed these mornings all summer.”

  She smiled at him. “Me, too. I’ve been so lonely.”

  He reached over and took her hand into his. He squeezed before releasing her hand. “I know exactly what you mean.”

  “You won’t be for long, though.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Amber chuckled. “The Dowager has decided you are her next project.”

  Edmund groaned. “I don’t want to marry.”

  “I don’t think you’re going to get a say in it,” Amber said with a grin. “She is quite determined to marry you to the Earl of Middlesburn’s youngest daughter.”

  Edmund stared at Amber in disgust. “Samantha Winterbright? I hate her guts. She visited my sisters every summer and I did everything I could to avoid her.”

  Amber put on a snobby accent and said, “It would be an excellent alliance.”

  Edmund snort. “Tell the old lady I said no.”

  “Samantha is lovely. You need to give her a chance.”

  “I have given her a chance! Every summer growing up! She is the worst.”

  “Edmund, people grow up and change.”

  “Not her,” he said stubbornly.

  Amber was silent for a moment and he’d thought he’d escaped the topic. No such luck. In a soft voice, Amber said, “You have to move on.”

  “No I don’t,” he said, not looking at her.

  “Yes, you do. It would have grieved Celeste to know you’re lonely.”

  “I could say the same about Allric. You’re young, beautiful, and a favourite of the king, both duchesses of Arsenia, and me. Stanley and Rayner both adore you. You’re quite a catch.”

  “Shit!” Opal shouted gleefully.

  Amber chuckled and said, “I’m a woman. The rules are different for me.”

  “How so?”

  “They just are,” Amber insisted. She looked over at him and smiled. “All I want to do is sit here every morning and drink coffee with you. I don’t need anything else.”

  “Tell the Duchess that. Both of them!”

  Amber smiled at him. “I don’t think the Dowager would approve of us marrying.”

  Edmund let his voice turn husky. “There are a great many things I want to do with you that the Duchess might not approve.”

  Amber broke into laughter. “Edmund, are you flirting with me?”

  Edmund tried to go for a hurt expression, but he started to laugh, too. “I can’t flirt with anyone else or they think I’m serious. I have to keep in practice somehow.”

  “Well, you just take that practice somewhere else,” Amber said, still laughing.

  Edmund was about to make a cheeky comment when the crows scattered and cawed angrily. Edmund froze in his chair, watching the trees and bushes ahead for movement.

  “Pick up Opal,” Edmund ordered.

  Amber looked at the trees and said, “Edmund, it’s just the wind.”

  “Pick her up,” Edmund repeated. He stood to walk to the edge of the tent. Sun glinted off steel. “There’s someone in the bushes.”

  He heard Amber move to scoop up Opal, who loudly protested having her play interrupted.

  “Who’s there?” Edmund demanded, stepping out of the tent. In a quieter voice, he said, “When it’s safe, run for help.”

  A moment later, a voice came from the bushes. “Edmund? Is that you?”

  “Who’s there? Show yourself.”

  A familiar figure stepped from the shadows of the mini forest. She was tall even by Elorian standards. Her hair was longer than the last time he’d seen her and it was braided tightly. Her hair was lighter than he remembered, though that was probably from a year in the southern sun. She wore her typical mail and leathers, though.

  “Bethany!” Amber shouted and rushed the woman.

  Even Edmund smiled as he approached her, but his smile abruptly faded when Bethany held out her hand and said, “Keep your voices down. Is there anyone else here?”

  “No,” Edmund said, confused. “What’s going on?”

  “It’s clear,” she said over her shoulder.

  From the protection of the miniature forest stepped out Lord Brennus, Jonas, Miss Myra, and a young pale-skinned elf Edmund didn’t recognize. The one thing they all had in common was their expressions: repressed rage.

  “Why are you all skulking in the gardens?” Edmund asked.

  “Hello, Amber. Edmund,” Bethany said, her words clipped. “We need to talk in private. Somewhere we won’t be seen.”

  “The gardener’s cottage,” Amber said. “It’s just over there.”

  “Amber, take Opal inside.”

  “But...”

  Bethany grabbed Amber’s arm. “Don’t tell anyone you saw me, especially not Arrago. Let me talk to Edmund first.”

  Amber looked down at her arm and back up at Bethany. She released her grip instantly. “I won’t tell a soul.”

  “Thank you,” Bethany said quietly. She motioned to her group and said, “Let’s go.”

  ****

  Bethany walked the hundred or so paces to the whitewashed cottage. Once inside, she prompted the others to do a thorough check. As they spread out, Bethany moved through the cottage, opening closets and looking in large trunks and sacks.

  “It’s just the one floor, right? No upstairs? No attic?”

  Edmund shook his head. “No, it’s a glorified shed. Bethany, what is going on?”

  She ignored Edmund’s question. “Jonas and Darien. Outside for trouble. Brennus and Myra? Stay with me.”

  “Yes, Lady Bethany,” Jonas said, motioning for Darien to follow him.

  Being around real soldiers had rubbed off a bit on Darien. The annoying mixture of sullenness and arrogance had waned somewhat, replaced with a wide-eyed realization that he was well beyond his element with these war heroes.

  “Has Lendra arrived yet?” Bethany asked.

  “Not as far as I know. Bethany, what is going on? Why aren’t you with Lendra? Why are you sneaking around?”

  “There is a lot happening,” Bethany said.

  She then laid out the last year for Edmund in as clear and concise a manner as possible. She explained the current political climate of Wyllow, the attacks just outside of Gree and at the inn, and Darien’s orders. Myra filled in her own suspicions, and then they outlined Malachi’s involvement. She told Edmund about the Dowager and how they purposely left Lendra in hopes of both separating Bethany from her and to get word to the palace ahead of the caravan.

  She detailed every
thing she knew about Rutherford’s involvement with bribing bandits to attack Bethany and Lendra. Edmund’s eyes grew wide as she said the Dowager had sent a message to the palace with her own information regarding plotting against the Crown.

  “I never received that letter,” Edmund insisted.

  “I believe you,” Bethany said. “They’re going to kill Arrago and Henry.”

  “They can’t kill Arrago,” Edmund insisted. “He hasn’t left the Imperial Palace in six months because he wants to make sure he and Henry are safe.”

  “Neither of them are safe. How do you think I got here? I snuck in, and that’s assuming you have an outside force coming to do the deed.”

  Lord Brennus cleared his throat. “Sir Edmund, my name is Lord Brennus. Our information leads us to believe that the Taftlin traitor is one of your own nobility. Lord Rutherford is the money behind it.”

  Bethany nodded gravely. “I saw his aide, the one who’d worked with him during the war, paying off bandits.”

  “The Dowager Duchess of Arsenia has had us gather intelligence on Rutherford’s movements, as well as the movements of several more obscure members of the nobility whose wealth is based on slaves.” Bethany and Edmund both stared at Brennus. He shrugged. “The late queen was a favourite of the Dowager and she has a soft spot for Prince Henry.”

  “Why didn’t you get the information to me?” Edmund demanded.

  “We were preparing to meet with Lord Kiner upon his return.”

  Bethany looked at Edmund. “Brennus told me Kiner’s away with Lord Rayner. When are they back?”

  “Tomorrow at the latest, if the weather holds,” Edmund said.

  “Where’s Jackson, or any of the old regulars from the war?”

  “Most of the younger men left once the elves pulled out. The war was over and all. Jackson is here.” Edmund twitched a smile. “He’s in charge of the perimeter guards.”

  “Have him reassigned to me. Apprentice Knight Rose is with the Dowager and Cassandra, so she’ll join us when she can.”

  “You don’t mean the maid Rose? She’s one of yours?”

  Bethany nodded, growing irritated. She was hoping to have Kiner here to help her. There was almost no one she could trust. She didn’t know how far Jud’s hand extended. Plus, the addition of the threat against Arrago added another layer of paranoia.