The queen gave her a ghost of a smile. “You think I’m foolish, or deluded, but I’m clear eyed. It may be there are competent leaders in the Rising Wave who can take the Commander’s place, and then, we are done. Or killing him might be enough to throw them into disarray and buy us some time to save ourselves.”
“How will you kill him?” she asked. She would need all the information she could get to stop this from happening.
“An arrow from the wall.” The queen shrugged. “The coward’s way. I can claim it was a rogue soldier, deny all responsibility.”
“I am sorry that it is going to end like this.” Ava turned away from her, and started walking back toward the doors.
“I am sorry, too,” the queen said. “I wish I could see another way.”
There was another way, but it would mean putting someone other than herself first, and Ava knew her aunt was incapable of that.
Herron was suddenly beside her, roughly grasping her arm. “You leave the queen’s presence when the queen tells you that you can leave.” He gave her a shake.
“What’s she going to do?” Ava asked, lifting mocking eyes up at him. “Have me killed?”
The queen laughed from her perch on the throne. “I really am sorry I’m forced to kill you, Ava. And Herron, I’ll remember you are responsible for this situation. I won’t forget. Take your hands off her and don’t touch her again.”
“What do you want done with her.” Herron let go but he was still standing too close.
“Balrick knows what to do. It’s none of your concern.”
Ava started walking again and Herron started after her, getting to the door in time to open it.
“You should wear your best clothes tomorrow to see me murdered,” Ava told him as she stepped out into the airy atrium. “You’ll want to make a good impression given how angry the queen is at you. Something beautiful and ornate.” She gestured to his jacket. “You’ll never have a jacket like that again when I am gone. I’m the last of my line.”
Herron stared at her for a moment, then turned on his heel and stalked off.
When she had conceived of embroidering the shirt she had made for him, she had never envisaged being in Fernwell to see it work.
But now, Luc and her lives depended on his wearing it.
At least her mother’s magic in his jacket meant he would most likely wear the shirt tomorrow, if he had it.
The final gift from her mother, from the grave.
Chapter 38
Lucinde didn’t ask her how she’d slept, or engage in any chitchat with her at all when she arrived the next morning with breakfast.
Ava respected that.
There was nothing either of them could do about her situation, no matter what anyone thought of it.
She had tried to get access to a needle, but needles were sharp, and Balrick must have thought she planned to use it as some kind of weapon.
She had, but not in the way he thought.
Ava ate the fruit and pastry and looked for the shirt that Lucinde had taken yesterday. The only thing for her to wear was the silk dress with the embroidered flowers and birds on it.
When Lucinde came back in, she clicked her tongue at the fact that Ava hadn’t gotten dressed yet.
“I’m looking for my shirt and trousers.”
“Oh.” She shook her head. “The queen doesn’t want that. She wants you to look like her niece. Like a princess.”
Ava did not try to hide her disappointment, but she pulled on the dress. What Lucinde meant was her aunt was going to use her to strike fear into her court’s hearts. It didn’t matter how high you ranked, you could still be executed.
It would be harder to make that stick if Ava was in a plain shirt and pants.
“Do you know when the Commander of the Rising Wave is due to arrive?” she asked.
Lucinde shook her head. “Not my business.” She led Ava out the room again, and once again two guards followed behind.
As they reached the ground floor of the high atrium, one of the guards tripped on the last step, and fell with a shout.
His companion bent to help him. Lucinde turned as well.
“I’m telling you, I felt a foot. It had to have been you.” The fallen guard glared up at his partner.
“I’m here.” The whisper in her ear was so welcome, so wonderful, Ava had to look down and clench both hands to stop herself looking for Luc. Reaching for him.
“They plan to kill you when you come for me.” She breathed out the words in quick gasps. “With an arrow.”
The guard was getting to his feet, and his friend was teasing him.
“Wear the tunic as well as your cloak.”
“I already am.” His lips touched her neck. “So when they called you princess at the fortress when we met, they weren’t taunting you, they were addressing you by your title.” There was a laugh in his voice.
He didn’t care, she realized. He truly didn’t care.
She felt lightheaded with relief.
Lucinde had turned and was looking at her. “Did you say something, Princess?”
“Just muttering to myself,” Ava said. “Does my aunt intend to execute me in public or just in front of the court?”
She felt Luc go still behind her.
He was shocked at that, although he had obviously suspected her aunt intended to assassinate him.
Lucinde shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“Public’s what I heard,” one of the guards said. “When the Turncoat King comes to get you.”
The guards were standing to attention again, so close to her. Lucinde stood beside them.
They were all looking at her, and she felt a flare of panic that they would somehow be able to sense Luc’s presence.
Ava could feel the heat of Luc’s body behind her, and she moved her hand back, hidden by the skirt of her dress, and touched his thigh.
His hand came around her fingers and squeezed.
“Well, I hope my cousin is there in all his feathered finery to see his plans come to fruition.”
Luc touched her shoulder to let her know he understood what she had just told him, and then she couldn’t feel him anymore.
He was gone.
She felt suddenly bereft.
She knew she would see him all too soon in whatever pageantry her aunt had arranged for both their murders, but she couldn’t help the tear that escaped and ran down her cheek.
“Ah. And here I was thinking you were unnatural in your calm.” Lucinde was watching at her with a sympathetic gaze. “You’re a credit to your father, girlie, and I’m sorry to be leading you to your death.”
Ava was sorry, too, but she was planning not to be the one who died today.
Princess Ava Valestri.
His lover was a dark one.
Luc slipped through the palace and out into the gardens that covered the clifftop.
The marble walls that lined them plunged into the sea, slippery and impossible to climb.
It didn’t matter. He had managed to get Oscar and Deni into the city with him by twisting the invisibility scarf around all of them.
Dak and and number of others had been unhappy about missing out, but Luc had told them Oscar and Deni had worked with Ava before and would be the best two to help. It was true, but it was also to keep the pool of people who knew her secrets to a minimum. And now he would have to reveal one more.