Page 87 of The Courting of Bristol Keats
CHAPTER 61
Here you go.” Winkip placed parchment on the table in front of Kierus. “Write your message.”
Kierus balked at the tiny sheet of paper. “Is parchment so expensive?”
“You insisted on actual paper, and small messages are easier to conceal and pass. We have someone inside the palace who will leave the note for your daughter.”
Inside the palace?Kierus wondered. “Who—”
“Thewhois not your concern. Just that they can get the job done.”
Kierus understood anonymity, but he still wondered who in the palace would have dealings with trows. Was a pouch of gold their only motivation? Or something more? Either way, they were a Danu traitor, which shouldn’t have been any of his concern, more his good fortune. Still, it nudged something inside him, something old and buried, but not entirely forgotten. A virtuous oath from a different lifetime. “It’s more than just a note I need to send. I need to speak to her face-to-face.”
Winkip shook his head. “That would involve additional risk.”
“Like the risk I took to save your king’s son? She’s my daughter. I will see her.”
Winkip’s stony expression remained unchanged, but Kierus knew he wasn’t pleased. “Use caution with your words,” Winkip ordered. “No one should know the note is from you in case it’s intercepted. And don’t mention trows.”
Kierus could manage that easily enough. No one would even know the note was for Bristol—except the person who delivered it. Who was that? The question still niggled at him. Could it be Fritz? He could access the palace. But he had sworn to guard the house in Bowskeep with his life. He would never break his promise to Kierus.
He finished the last few words of the note and dusted the ink with powder before handing it to Winkip. The doorward tucked the note in his vest. “We’ll get word when it’s been delivered. It may take a while.”
“How long?” Kierus asked.
“We don’t know. The note will pass through several hands. Our primary contact said access to your daughter is limited. Someone is always with her.”
Limited.Kierus knew Tyghan’s ways, but he knew his daughter, too—far better than the young prince did. She’d find a way out. A way to reach him. He’d explain everything, so she would know the truth. The real truth.
CHAPTER 62
Ivy flew into Tyghan’s path, intercepting him.
“Your Majesty!” she said, breathless. “I heard from Stable Master Woodhouse that you were back. The counselor wanted me to warn you as soon as—”
“Stop!” Dalagorn complained, trying to dodge her wings. They were still flapping, batting him in the face. “Slow down.”
Ivy eased out an even breath, and her wings settled. She told them there was a council meeting in session. “Eris wanted to stop it, but there was a quorum and—”
“In the rotunda?” Tyghan asked calmly, though his aggravation was already spiking.
She nodded.
“Thank you, Ivy,” he answered. “How’s Cully?”
Her face brightened. “Still recovering,” she answered. “But back to light duty!” Just as quickly, her lashes lowered. “I mean, I believe he’s doing well—at least according to the High Witch.”
“Good,” he answered. He expected nothing less. Cully was strong, and after his close call with the restless dead, he would be twice as clever and fast. “Would you check in on the Lumessa? Make sure she has everything she needs? She’s in her suite at Celwyth Hall. I want her to be able to receive Keats as soon as possible.”
“TheLumessais here? At the conservatory?”
Tyghan nodded. And the Sisters. And their damn wolves. And some newly acquired welts on his arms he hadn’t had the time or inclination to heal. It was a very long two-thousand-mile ride, and an aberrant council meeting was not something he wanted to come home to.
“And Keats?” he added. “How is she?”
Ivy’s face darkened. “I’m not sure. I haven’t seen her since you left. She hasn’t left her room.”
Lord Csorba pounded his fist on the table. The towering candelabra in the center trembled under the force of the blow. “And I say, kill her!”
