Niko attempted to hide his disbelieving frown. Vasili’s voice was indeed smooth and controlled, and another weapon in the man’s varied arsenal, but singing? “You don’t know where he was for the eight years he was missing?” Niko asked, steering her back toward the topic of his absence.
“Oh, I know.” She sipped her wine and sent her gaze out the window. “He and Julian returned together.”
“They did?” Three minutes with the woman and he already knew more than Julian or Vasili had revealed in weeks. The prince’s years away hadn’t been planned, and Julian had been with him?
“Vasili without an eye and Julian without his fingers. They’re inseparable. I’m sure you’ve noticed. But it’s not always…” She straightened her skirts. “Anyway, what do you want to know about our Vasili?”
He stopped short of saying everything. “I’m intrigued.”
“Of course you are.” She patted his knee. “Vasili is…”
“Complicated?” he offered, beginning to despise the word.
“Exactly. I see you understand. As his doulos, I imagine you’ve spent a great deal of time with him.” And now she was fishing for answers of her own.
“As you would expect.”
“Hm, you’re a slippery one as well. A soldier and a thinker. A dangerous combination. Vasili must be absolutely fascinated by you. I find myself similarly intrigued. No wonder Amir is jealous.”
“Amir is jealous?”
“Well, yes. He doesn’t see his brother for eight years and then Vasili returns with a guard nobody knows, demands control, and now you’re here? And he isn’t the same as he was. And it’s not just the eye. Terrible, what was done to him. I hope they all rot, the butchering bastards.” She clutched her skirts in her fists and sighed. “I know the Cavilles are difficult to love. But I loved mine.”
“Your husband?”
“He died on the front line.”
“A soldier.”
“Yes, like you.”
The king’s brother. Niko didn’t recall much of the man, just his name on the family tree. He probably kept himself out of public view.
“Those fucking elves took him,” Maria seethed.
He fought the urge to hold her hand, unsure if she’d welcome the touch of her nephew’s doulos.
His thoughts tripped on something she’d said moments ago. Butchering bastards. A great deal about Vasili suddenly fell into place. “Elves took Vasili’s eye?”
“You did not hear it from me. I mean, the whole palace knows, but he’s never confirmed it. He doesn’t say much of anything at all anymore.” She sighed, her tone distant. “The cuckoo in this nest.”
“Is he so different from the others?”
“Can’t you tell?”
“I…” He hesitated, not fully understanding the question. Vasili was different from anyone Niko had ever met, but all the Cavilles were. As a family, however, they were all the same.
“Ah.” She stroked a crease on the tablecloth into smoothness. “I have perhaps said too much.”
He was losing her. “No.” He clasped her hand in his. “I… it’s important I know. He’s asked me to protect him”—that was mostly true—“and I need information to do that.”
She looked at his hand and up into his eyes. “It’s in their blood.”
“What is?”
“The flame.” She pulled her hand free. “It corrupts them. All of them. Makes them difficult. Vasili has… He has more of it, I think. But it’s what the wretched elves wanted. They tried to cut it out of him but he kept it, because he’s… he is Vasili and he’ll always protect us even if the whole world hates him for it.”
She finished her drink. “Terrible business. They were all just boys once.” She trailed off, smoothing out the tablecloth once more. “Excuse me, talk of these things has put me in a foul mood. I’m afraid I’m not the best of company when melancholy. I’d ask you to stay and help me finish this bottle, but I do believe he’ll want you back soon, and it’s rather unseemly for his doulos to be in my chambers.” She leaned forward suddenly and gripped Niko’s chin. “You dear man. You will protect him, like he’s asked of you?”
“If he’ll allow me.” Her passion and conviction made Niko almost want to believe his own words.
“Good.” She let him go and turned toward the window. “Everyone else can burn, but he must survive. Loreen depends on it.”
Niko had a thousand questions on his tongue, but she’d faced away and closed down. He’d get nothing more for the rest of the day. He left her alone, hoping she had someone to hold her hand—someone who wasn’t Amir.
Niko walked the darkening corridors, mind whirring. He’d heard a reference to a flame before, but couldn’t remember where. Something to do with the Caville name. He needed to find the palace library, but it was getting late and Julian would be looking for him.
A man carrying a messenger bag stepped from a side corridor into Niko’s path. Niko narrowly avoided colliding with him and apologized before continuing on a few steps. The bag and clothing? They triggered a memory. He turned, frowning after the man. “Sir?”
“Excuse me.” The man hurried on, unable to meet Niko’s eye, clutching his bag to his side.
A light tingling tickled Niko’s lips.
Spice.
The man carried spice. A spice dealer. And he’d been the same man who Julian denied had been inside Vasili’s chambers. Perhaps that explained Julian’s reluctance in admitting his presence. The squire wasn’t so much a mystery as he was the prince’s illicit drug habit. The Loreen people would certainly prefer their regent to be sober while running the country. Although, given the Cavilles’ madness, spice might have improved their leadership abilities. It couldn’t make them any worse.
Unless…
Niko followed the dealer’s path down the hallway. Perhaps the man’s lurking was nothing more than the nature of his business, but curiosity had its claws in him now. He followed the sound of retreating heeled boots, quickening his pace, and then found the man standing outside a door talking with another staff member. He ducked back behind a corner, out of sight.
“We agreed to a higher sum,” the dealer argued.
“That’s all he gave me.”
“I won’t be able to come back here. This isn’t enough,” the dealer said, his voice rising in pitch.
“Overdoses happen all the time. Give it a few weeks and the fuss will die down. He said that’s more than enough. I can’t give you any more. I don’t have it.”
The conversation ended and the dealer’s heels tapped away at a brisk pace. The staff member’s door was swinging closed.
Niko dashed out and rapped on the door. The woman yanked it open and froze when she saw Niko. She had tight curls and a young, rounded face. Spice made her eyes glassy, the pupils blown wide.
He smiled and opened his mouth to introduce himself.
She shoved the door in his face. He slammed a palm against it, bouncing it open, and bolted after the woman, who was already halfway across the chamber. She tripped on a rug and went sprawling onto a couch.