able to avoid most of the castle guards. Not easy. They were as numerous as the rats in the walls. Keeley’s castle didn’t have any rats . . . Quinn was sure that was due to the demon wolves.
For the first time ever . . . he loved those demon wolves. Because he hated rats.
“What about the library?” Quinn asked, which got him nothing but matching looks of disdain from Gemma and the Follower of Her Word.
“What?”
“That’s a little obvious, isn’t it?” Gemma asked.
“I thought obvious was the point.”
“Not that obvious.”
“Her husband has the library searched thrice weekly,” the Follower—er. . . uh . . . Agathon—informed them.
“There is not a lot of trust between them, is there?” Quinn noticed. What a sad marriage. It seemed the pair went out of their way to spend as little time together as they could manage. There were even rooms, apparently, just for the king’s women. Women who had been handpicked by the queen, according to Agathon. Women she allowed him to use for his “sexual needs but who knew their place.”
Quinn couldn’t imagine living like that.
After all these years and despite all the bickering, his parents still slept together and still found things to laugh about. Mostly others’ misfortune, but they still laughed. What they didn’t do was search each other’s things like Marius and Beatrix.
“Does Marius search himself or just have servants do it all?” Gemma asked.
“Well, since King Marius cannot . . .”
Gemma stopped searching and turned to Agathon. “Cannot . . . what?”
The Follower cleared his throat. “Read.”
She sneered. “My sister must be making full use of that.”
“She is, I’m afraid. But he uses his mother to assist him.”
Gemma began to pace. “Where else can we look? Some place obvious but not too obvious.”
“And where her husband doesn’t obsessively look,” Quinn said, sitting on the bed.
Gemma jerked to a stop, her arms swinging wildly. Her reaction was so exaggerated that both males leaned away from her.
“Agathon, is Marius like his father?”
“In what way?”
“Does he have a lot of bastard children?”
“Um . . . yes. From the years before he was married to Queen Beatrix. I think he’s afraid to have any now.”
“Are they here? In the castle?”
“They’re still the children of the king, so yes. They’re taught by pacifist monks along with the other children.”
“What other children?”
“Queen Beatrix has brought other royal children here and keeps them in the castle to ensure the . . . uh . . . loyalty of their parents.”
“She’s holding them hostage?” Quinn asked.
“She doesn’t put it that way.”
“Where’s the classroom?” Gemma asked.
“It’s a room in the monks’ tower.” Agathon’s eyes grew wide and, for the first time, he began to smile. “Oh. I see.”
“Because I’m guessing King Marius never sees his bastard children. Just as his father never saw his bastard children even though they all lived in the same castle.”
“Can we get to the tower from here?” Quinn asked.
“Yes, but the monks, they might be a problem.”
Gemma smiled, which did not put Quinn at ease.
“I’ll deal with the pacifist monks.”
Quinn couldn’t help but ask, “You’re not going to kill the monks . . . are you?”
Gemma turned to him. “Why would you even ask me that?”
With a grimace, Quinn admitted, “That’s not really an answer.”
She walked away from him.
“Still not an answer.”
* * *
Ferdinand knew that the Abbess and the assassins were uncomfortable. He didn’t blame them. But he wasn’t yet ready to rule out the possibility of negotiating a peace with Queen Beatrix. Maybe they could avoid a war between these two strong queens. Maybe dividing the lands between the two was a new way to approach the situation, a new way to deal with a changing way of life. He knew the sisters had a lot of bad blood between them, but bad blood could be dealt with. He just needed to find out what he was dealing with on both sides.
He’d already looked into the eyes of Queen Keeley. She was stubborn, clear-eyed, extremely naïve, and only average when it came to the knowledge of the ancients—at least concerning subjects not having to do with the blacksmithing arts. The thing he appreciated most about Queen Keeley was her good heart. She cared about others. It wasn’t a necessity for a ruler, but it didn’t hurt.
Now he just needed to assess Queen Beatrix, and without all the hatred the war monk spit out anytime her younger sister’s name was mentioned.
All four of them were led into the Old King’s castle.