Page 105 of Knightfall
When we reached the royal wing of the palace, I grabbed Connor's hand. Once we were inside my room, I shut the door. "Well?" I asked.
"One of the footmen did mention that Abbas and his father had some sort of disagreement. But that could have been over anything. The sultan isn't known for his good temper. Overall, the mood of the servants seemed frazzled. They were packing up some trinkets to ship back to Cheryn. It seems the prince has a fondness for souvenirs."
I couldn't hide my disappointment. "You didn't feel any stress or secrets on any of them?"
"Not in the rooms I was in. We didn't get to his personal chamber though. I didn't get to see his personal butler."
I scrubbed at my face. It was sore from all the tears over the past few days. My cheeks were raw to the touch. "Well, if we can't find out what he wants through spying, we're going to have to try something else."
"Yeah?" Connor asked. "What?"
"More magic."
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Connor, Declan, Quinn, and I made our way across the castle via the spelled passageways. I was done with crowds, at least for a few hours. My coronation was at sunset. But I was drained. I needed to recharge before I had to fake smile through a ceremony I wished was still a distant hazy future event. Not the bleak thing I knew it would be.
We had just darted from one secret passage across the hall to another (our goal of Wyle’s tower was all the way across the castle) when Quinn made us stop.
Willard's meeting with some traders from Sedara. I need to hear this.
We all waited in the dark, leaning against the stone walls of the tunnel as Quinn had a silent debate with his minions.
Declan got bored enough that he divided the darkness to create a little bit of light where we stood. He and Connor and I began mimicking some of Quinn's more comical facial reactions.
Connor had just scrunched his nose like Quinn when the latter sent a curse reverberating through all our heads.
Shite!
"What? What is it?" I pushed off the wall. What would have my spy master so concerned?
Quinn looked at each of us in turn. His storm-cloud eyes settled on me last. And I didn't like the fear swirling in their depths.
Willard's meeting with our lovely Sedarian ambassador, Meeker. They went for a ride in the woods. One of my invisibles trailed them, though they set up spelled boundaries. My guy is good though and used his bottle of Flight. Their boundaries didn't extend overhead.
"And?"
And they were talking about trading an Evaness port in exchange for elf-made ice cannons. The kind that might be used to kill a dragon.
“Willard’s land doesn’t have a port.” I said. “It’s grazing land.”
Yes, well they also discussed the possibility that Evaness … needs a new monarch.
The words were a punch to the gut, the kind that goes all the way through the spine. It stole my breath. I stumbled backward into Declan, who put his arms around me.
"Sard. Sard. Sarding hell." I muttered.
"We aren't going to let that happen, Bloss Boss," Connor tried to soothe me.
"We have a treaty with Sedara,” I bit out angrily.
"Countries will use you and toss you aside at their first convenience," Declan said wryly. "A lesson I learned when I was first sent here."
"If Sedara's going help Willard try and unseat me ... they're looking for war."
"This smells rotten. Think about it. Would Sedara be this angry over a suitor visit?” Declan asked.
“Meeker was furious. It took me ages to calm him down,” Connor responded.
