and rolling down the steps.
Piro grinned fiercely. With any luck he would break his neck!
Then she was off, running back upstairs to the solarium. She had only a few moments before Cobalt recovered and came after her. Where should she hide until King Rolen came back? And how could she prove her mother's innocence, when the seeds of doubt had already been sewn? She glanced to her mother's writing desk. If only her mother hadn't written to the ambassador. But Cobalt would have thought of some other way to implicate her in treason. If only she had proof of Cobalt's machinations.
Perhaps she did!
Valens' case of tools and creams. Maybe there was something in it to implicate Cobalt. She dragged it out from under the desk but there was no time to look through it now. Her first priority was to get to her father before Steadfast or Cobalt could. Where could she hide Valens' case?
The last place they'd look.
Piro marched down the stairs into the servants' quarters. Spotting a scullery maid, who was no taller than her with long dark hair bound in a plait, Piro beckoned the girl. 'My mother needs this. Please take it to her.'
The maid did not ask where the queen was, so the news must have travelled all over the castle. Someone was sure to get to her father if she didn't meet him at the stables. Piro hurried through the connecting courtyard. And she was only just in time for she heard the clatter of returning horses.
'Father?' She ran out into the stable yard.
There he was, riding in with Captain Temor and several of his old honour guard.
'The town has outgrown its walls these last thirty years,' Temor was saying, as he swung down from the saddle and handed his reins to a stable boy. 'But, even if it hadn't, the people are better off coming up here to take shelter. Rolenhold will never fall.'
'And if the townspeople are safe within these walls, they cannot be used as hostages to force us to open the gates,' King Rolen agreed, also dismounting. He grimaced when his boots landed on the cobbles, jarring his body.
'Father?' Piro darted through the stable boys, who led the horses away, past the old honour guard. She caught the king's arm. 'Something terrible has happened. Cobalt locked mother in the mourning tower. He says she's a traitor but it's a forgery!'
'Hold on, Piro.' King Rolen patted her arm. 'What are you talking about?'
'Cobalt has framed mother for treason,' she cried.
Her father froze, his gaze going to Captain Temor, who looked stunned.
'Cobalt did warn us that only time would show the queen's true colours,' Lord Steadfast stated, as he crossed the stable yard to join them, with Cobalt at his side. 'Looks like they're Merofynian azure.'
Piro's heart sank. Cobalt looked none the worse for his fall down the steps. Perhaps he was part cat. Snake, more like. She squeezed her father's arm. 'Don't you believe him. The letter's a forgery!'
'Naturally, the queen would say that,' Cobalt agreed. 'And it pains me to have to arrest her.'
Piro searched her father's face. Surely he would not be taken in?
Cobalt bowed to the king. 'You left me in charge of the castle's safety, Uncle. I have only been following your orders.'
'Take a look for yourself, Rolen,' Lord Steadfast nodded to Cobalt, who offered the message which her father accepted and unrolled. Captain Temor and others peered over his shoulders.
'Looks like the queen's writing,' Temor agreed reluctantly.
'It is a forgery made to look like mother's writing,' Piro insisted. 'He's trying to turn everyone against her!'
Cobalt shook his head sadly. 'Uncle, I fear you are in for a double heartbreak because it was your very own daughter who had hidden this treacherous message -'
'That's a lie!' Piro could have wept with frustration.
Cobalt shrugged. 'Say what you like, kingsdaughter. I bear the marks you left on my body, when I tried to question you.' He rolled up his sleeve to reveal two long scratches that had beaded with blood. 'You know what a wyvern whelp she is, when her temper is roused.'
Piro gasped. Everyone looked at her as if she'd sprouted horns.
Her hands curled into fists. She wanted to claw out Cobalt's sorrowful lying eyes. Then she realised something.
'Look!' She opened both hands, holding them out for all to see her finger tips. 'My nails are bitten down to the quick!' These last few weeks she had fallen back into her childhood habit of chewing her nails.
Her father's