Page 54 of Untouched Queen by Royal Command

Coffee was served on their return, set up on a little table on a balcony overlooking a walled garden. There was also fresh fruit and bread, and an array of northern delicacies to tempt them.

‘Is this all for us?’ asked Sera because, frankly, half a dozen more people could have joined them and it still would have been too much food for one sitting.

‘They’re making up for all the years I was gone. It’s what people do around here.’

‘Every day?’

‘Every damn day.’ Claudia reached for a royal blue folder sitting on the table. ‘Mind if I look through my morning mail? The palace keeps me informed as to the news of the day.’

‘And you trust this information?’

Claudia laughed. ‘Oh, Sera. The look on your face. If something of interest comes up I look into it. Did you not rely on the Arunian palace for information?’

‘Not really. I have my own sources.’

‘I find these ones useful and I don’t have to go looking for them. They even present them in order of palace importance. Very informative in itself, would you not say? Take this one, for example: it’s item one and it’s a note from the desk of Moriana of Liesendaach, formerly of Arun, telling Cas that there’s been an assassination attempt on her brother but rumour of his death is a gross exaggeration. Is that not good to know?’

‘What?’

Claudia passed the sheet of paper over without further comment, and picked up the next item. ‘And here’s what the tabloids have to say. Hmm. Your good King was in a bad part of the city last night. Two people in custody, Augustus and a minor in intensive care.’

‘A minor?’ Sera wasn’t tracking too well any more. Hadn’t been since the words Augustus and death had been mentioned in the same breath.

‘Here.’ Claudia passed that one to Sera too before picking up her coffee in one hand and sifting quickly through the others. ‘That’s all the information I have. Do you have anyone you can get more information from?’

‘Not at this hour.’ It was still too early for regular workday hours, and for all that Augustus’s executive secretary often stayed late, he rarely began his day before nine. ‘Unless the entire communications team has been called in to deal with this. Then there might be someone there willing to give me more information.’

‘Would you like to use one of our phones?’ Sera asked.

‘They’ll think the call is coming from the Byzenmaach King.’

Claudia raised a dark brow. ‘And? Not as if there aren’t advantages to that approach.’

The woman had a point.

She found a phone and made the call to Augustus’s office number and waited impatiently for someone to pick up.

The call appeared to get diverted and Augustus’s secretary answered on the sixth ring, his voice curtly polite and the strain in it evident.

‘It’s Sera,’ she said.

Silence.

‘I’m staying at the Winter fortress in Byzenmaach and heard the news this morning.’

More silence.

Don’t hang up…‘How is he?’ She cleared her throat. ‘Please.’

Claudia was watching her from the doorway. Ari stood sentry on the other side of the room, silently watching them both.

‘He’s in intensive care,’ the older man said finally and Sera let her head droop so her hair curtained her face.

‘And his condition?’

‘He needs someone to fight for him.’

‘I can fight,’ she said, blinking back tears. ‘I know how to fight.’

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