The Queen's Secret (The Queen's Secret #2) - Melissa de la Cruz Page 0,62

strength to feed his birds. They gather on the ledges of the tower, waiting for him, while he lies in his bed ranting about dark monks. He saw one just before the murder of the priest, you know.”

“I don’t care about that Father Jumper or whatever his name is.” The duke is red in the face, blustering. “He’s just another commoner and the castle’s full of ’em. The bewitching of the horse, that’s another matter. If a man can’t trust his horse, he can’t do a thing. Begin investigating that, and don’t bother with training these idiots the captain has dragged in, who will never be anything but apple pickers and shepherds. And not very good apple pickers and shepherds at that. First sight of the enemy, they’ll run, that’s my prediction. If they need you in the north to kill a few things, you can head off there.”

“Sir, I wish to suggest something.” Cal doesn’t have much faith in the wisdom of this Small Council, but he needs to share his theory with them. “I believe that the attack on the palace of Violla Ruza might have been intended to drive Her Majesty the Dowager Queen Lilianna here, to Mont. It’s the natural place for her to seek sanctuary. But the result is that we have three monarchs in residence, and the castle has already proved itself vulnerable. We must reinforce this place and stop sending men north. In addition, I don’t believe it’s safe for the dowager queen to stay here. If something were to happen . . .”

The two men look at him, Lord Burley horrified, the duke bad-tempered.

“What?” Lord Burley asks in a whisper. “What might happen?”

“I don’t know, sir. But we don’t want to wake in our beds to find the entire castle on fire.”

“Well,” says the duke. “You must stop that, Holt. You must stop anything else from happening. Simple as that.”

“Perhaps a banning of tapers,” Lord Burley muses, but the doors to the chamber open before he can make further suggestions.

Queen Lilac stands in the door. Cal clambers to his feet and bows, while the duke and Lord Burley take their time following suit.

“I see you have returned, Chief Assassin,” she says, her voice cool, walking to her accustomed seat near the fire. “I believe you arrived yesterday. But you have not presented yourself to me or the king or to the queen mother. A strange business, wouldn’t you say?”

“Your Majesty,” he says, bowing again. She’s angry with him, he can tell. “I arrived too late yesterday to seek an audience.”

“Not true.” Lilac’s voice has a tremor in it, and he knows that sound: She’s hurt as well as angry. “My mother and I observed you arriving in the early evening. She was shocked to see you here, since you had been instructed to investigate the arson attack in Serrone.”

Cal doesn’t know what to say. Lilac looks pale and drawn, her hair pulled back in a severe way. Her gown is voluminous and more ornate than anything Cal remembers: She’s drowning in it. Drowning in this place, he thinks, and he longs to hold her.

“Your Majesty,” mumbles the duke. “We have kept the Chief Assassin busy this morning, I’m afraid.”

This is odd, Cal thinks. The duke is never usually so deferential.

“We were just asking him to help sort out our problems here,” explains Lord Burley, talking slowly as though Lilac were a child. “There are to be no more wild chases to Renovia.”

“All is lost there,” adds the duke, and Lilac blanches. “It’s quite the waste of time.”

“Sir, you and the king insisted that a mission to Renovia was the most important matter of state business,” Lilac says, unsmiling, glaring at the duke. The logs in the fire snap and settle; the lights in the tapers flicker, as though a cool wind is passing through the room.

“Well, things have changed, as you know, ma’am.” The duke is standing his ground. “Montrice needs the Chief Assassin now.”

“Renovia needed him!” she snaps. “The palace there has burned to the ground!”

Cal feels intensely uncomfortable. Not only does Lilac not seem pleased to see him, but she’s arguing that he should have stayed in Renovia.

“Let us not keep the Chief Assassin sitting here, shall we?” Lord Burley asks. “He has much to do here in Mont.”

“Quite right,” says the duke, scowling at Cal. “Away with you, Chief Assassin! You have hopeless assassins here to train. None of them were any use at all during the carry-on at