The King's Bastard - By Rowena Cory Daniells Page 0,169
eyes widened as he took in her ragged nails, which were clearly incapable of scratching anyone.
'They weren't like that when she scratched me,' Cobalt insisted.
The king's mouth settled into a grim, sad line. 'I'm going to see Myrella.'
When he strode off, the others followed. Piro hurried to stay by his side. Captain Temor fell into place on his other side.
'Rolen, if there is any doubt we can't risk freeing the queen,' Temor whispered. 'Only betrayal from within could cause Rolenhold to fall.'
'I know.' Her father sounded bleak.
'Mother is not a traitor,' Piro protested, having to take an extra skipping step to keep up with the men.
'Can you prove that?' Cobalt asked, from just behind them.
She spun to face him. 'Can you prove she is?'
He pointed to the forgery in her father's hands.
'One of you is lying,' King Rolen said. 'Once, I would have said nothing could make me doubt Myrella. But she was the one who encouraged me to betroth Lence to Isolt, and King Merofyn has used this to lull us into a false sense of security.'
Piro's heart sank. Nearly thirty years of peace and twenty-one years of marriage to Myrella were not enough to erase the ancestral mistrust of Merofynia.
They had to mount the stairs of the mourning tower in pairs. The tower had been built one hundred and thirty years ago by Queen Pirola the Fierce to celebrate her wedding but, when her betrothed was murdered, she locked the murderer, her own sister, in its topmost room. Her sister leapt from the top rather than face trial. It had been used ever since to contain royal prisoners.
A guard stood at the door.
'Unbar the door.' King Rolen waited while the door swung open.
Piro watched her mother come to her feet, small, regal and very angry.
Queen Myrella's black eyes flashed as she took in the crowd on the tower landing. 'So, you have come with a court, King Rolen?'
'I have come to find the truth,' he said, growing stiff and formal but, underneath, Piro heard defeat. He had already given up on the queen. This man was a pale shadow of her father.
Piro glanced to Cobalt, who was watching their faces. She remembered how he had turned everything to his advantage when Byren confronted him, and she had a bad feeling.
'Only one person is lying here and it is not me, Rolen,' the queen's voice quavered ever so slightly. 'You've known me since I was a child of eight summers. Have I ever lied to you?'
Piro froze. Her mother had lied by omission since the day she discovered she had Affinity. Thank the goddess Cobalt did not know that!
'We are at war with your homeland, Myrella.' He sighed. 'I would be a fool not to protect my castle and my people.'
'You don't believe me.' The queen blanched and turned away from him, going to the window. After a moment she recovered and faced her accusers. 'There is a traitor in our midst and it is not me. Someone forged that letter. I think...'
She stiffened, head tilting back. Piro smelt the tang of Affinity on the air. Piro glanced to Seela to see if she realised what was happening but no one else could read the signs. If her mother's Affinity came out now her father would be forced to execute her.
Her mother's eyes rolled back in her head. One hand lifted. Piro glanced to Seela. For once the old nurse was stunned into immobility.
A voice that was not hers came from the queen's lips. 'Rolen Byren Kingson, heed this warning. Listen to false counsel and your castle will fall. A man who is half snake, half wyvern is coming. He will tear out your heart, he will -'
'No!' Piro screamed and ran across the room, shoving her mother off her feet so that she staggered, hitting her head on the stone lintel of the window.
Nimble despite her age and girth, Seela darted forwards to catch the queen as she crumpled to the floor.
Inspired by what Valens had done to her father, Piro spun to face the men. 'You must send for the mystics. Mother's been under the influence of a Merofynian renegade Power-worker. Only a mystic can counter the renegade's influence and save her!'
The men all nodded wisely. The bigger the lie, they more they believed it. Fools. No wonder Cobalt could play them like fish on a line.
'Perhaps one of the ambassador's servants was a renegade Power-worker in disguise. It's happened before,' Captain Temor muttered.