Page 17 of Winter Queen
“Your Highness… a word?”
I nod and he leads me along a corridor, away from the Council. When we’re out of earshot from any curious noble, he stops and looks at me with a pained expression.
“Ada has disappeared.”
“What?”
Ada is his second in command, a woman with her own harem of Guardians. The last time I’d seen her had been with the dragon prisoner in the dungeons. She’d been in charge of interrogating him, although even she hadn’t managed to get much out of the dragon shifter.”
“She left last night. There’s a note…”
I frown in irritation.
“Last night? Why am I only hearing about this now?”
He shifts uncomfortably on his feet. “Tamara told me to wait until today to tell you, she said you were busy.”
Now it’s my turn to look uncomfortable. I was busy indeed, exploring my Guardians’ bodies inside out. Still, I would have made myself available for something as important as this.
“What’s on the note?” I ask brusquely and he takes a folded piece of paper from his waistcoat pocket.
I stretch out my hand to take it but instead, he unfolds it.
“It’s written in code, Your Highness. Even knowing the cypher, I can’t make much sense out of it though. She says she needs to leave, that she has to do something that will aid the war effort. She doesn’t say what. There’s several sentences in which she apologises, and that she hopes we won’t treat her as a traitor.”
“Why would we do that? A deserter, perhaps, but a traitor?”
Gwain clears his throat. “Ada isn’t the only one who’s gone. She took the prisoner with her. The dragon.”
Anger fills me. “And you didn’t think to tell me?”
I had hoped that the Master of Arms would support me, see me as a worthy heir. Instead, he didn’t even bother to inform me that a prisoner escaped.
“We didn’t make the connection until about an hour ago when the guards told me that the dragon was gone.” He pauses, then looks at me gravely. “I’m wondering if he managed to bewitch her somehow. Manipulate her. We know almost nothing about the powers dragons possess, and it could well be within the realms of the possible that he made her leave.”
He’s right. When the prisoner was caught, Algonquin provided us with all the books on dragons from the Royal Library. There weren’t many and most of them were based on legends or hearsay, not on actual facts.
“What about her men?” I ask.
“Gone.”
“Then I doubt that she was manipulated to leave. She would have needed some excellent arguments for them to come with her. The dragon convincing her, maybe, but also the three men? No, I think she must have a genuine reason.”
I sigh. “Are we going to search for her?”
“Usually I’d say yes, but at the moment, our soldiers are needed more urgently here and in our outposts.” He clears his throat again. “I propose that Storm takes her place. I know he is head of your personal guard, but you have three others to keep you safe. We need his expertise and authority.”
To be honest, I had already planned to give Storm a more important role on the Council. This might actually turn out to be quite convenient. Not that it doesn’t upset me that Ada left. We’d had a few chats about being in a relationship with several men at once, and had begun to form the beginnings of a friendship.
A gong sounds through the corridor, the signal that the Council session is about to begin.
“Anything else?” I ask Gwain, mentally preparing for yet more bad news.
“No, nothing that needs your attention personally.”
“Good, then let’s get this over with.”
I turn and stride along the hallway, leaving him behind. I feel like a real Princess, suddenly, strong and confident and a tiny bit ruthless.
