The Queen's Secret (The Queen's Secret #2) - Melissa de la Cruz Page 0,95
thoughts. Those are all my own.
Chapter Forty-One
Caledon
Back at the castle, Cal hands his horse over to one of the stable hands. It’s afternoon and the sun has already set. Cal can’t help but think about Jander. Jander’s own horse is in its stall, covered in a blanket, chewing on straw. It was not a week ago when Jander placed the blanket there, Cal thinks, and now he’s gone—gone forever.
The horse is a fine mare and should have a worthy new owner. Cal can’t think of anyone at the court here in Mont who deserves her. Perhaps, when Hansen exiles him from the castle, Cal will be permitted to deliver the horse to Lilac’s mother in Renovia. She and aunts Moriah and Mesha will cherish the mare the way Jander did. When the palace of Violla Ruza is rebuilt and Queen Lilianna returns there, she can take Jander’s horse with her, to ride through the steep streets of Serrone. It can be a reminder of Jander’s loyalty, and of his service to the crowns.
Cal loads fresh straw into the feed box and pats the mare on her sleek neck. She snorts, and he reaches up to scratch behind her ears. If Hansen decides to send him away now, as he certainly will, Cal thinks, at least he shared a last kiss with Lilac. At least they had the chance to talk to each other—properly, honestly—and speak the truth out loud. That they loved each other, a love that hadn’t dimmed despite everything that’s happened and everything that’s kept them apart. And now Lilac is safe from Aphrasian assassins and their dark magic. If he has to leave her, Cal can at least be sure that she’ll come to no harm. Anyway, Rhema will be here, and she can be trusted to take care of Lilac.
Not that Lilac can’t take care of herself. She proved that with her bow and arrow.
In his room Cal packs his things. He doesn’t have much; he’s never had much. Just a couple changes of clothes, a compass, his sword and filleting knife, and the lilac-colored handkerchief that’s his most treasured possession. He has to be ready to leave as soon as the summons comes.
In the kitchen he seeks out some supper—a hunk of nutty bread and some roasted fowl, with a bowl of dark, oniony gravy for dipping. It’s noisy in the kitchen and too warm, with three roaring fires, but Cal sits at the long scrubbed table right there rather than taking his food to the main hall, where he’s entitled to eat. He’s not sure he’s entitled to anything anymore.
Someone behind him coughs. Cal turns, hoping it’s one of the kitchen maids with some wine or mead. But it’s not. Standing behind him is a page, in the king’s green livery.
“They want to see you, sir. The Small Council. In their chamber.”
So they can’t wait until the morning. Cal shouldn’t be surprised, he tells himself. Today he was needed on the procession outside Mont, to add heft to the band of assassins. Now the trip is over, and there was no booing, no threat of attacks, no sign of an incipient rebellion. It was a success. Montrician feeling toward the queen has changed. Nothing has changed for Cal, though; nothing has changed about Hansen’s rage at catching him alone with Lilac.
The king must have informed the duke and Lord Burley, or told them enough to persuade them that Cal must be punished or exiled. It’s time to learn his fate.
Cal strides across the courtyard, the page scampering ahead, as though Cal might not know the way. In the hall keep that houses the royal apartments, the light from tapers glows yellow in its windows. Cal wonders if Hansen will even be present at this meeting, or if he’ll let the duke and Lord Burley do the dirty work. That would be better. Cal’s not sure he could take Hansen’s sulky face right now, or see him self-righteous and enraged—and quite possibly vengeful—at the end of the long table. Not that Hansen is wrong to be upset about this. It was one thing—in the past—for Cal and Lilac to meet in secret, but Hansen had never been confronted with the reality of their relationship, their intimacy, until now.
He isn’t scared for himself. If they’d wanted to arrest him, the guards would have come for him, not a page. But he is scared for Lilac. What will Hansen and his Small Council toadies do to her?