Page 151 of Unrivaled
I should’ve been targeting those I suspected were in bed with the Duke.Instead, I looked toward the servants’ walkways that would lead me beneath where the Raider’s Ban men from the picnic sat.
Chayhadbeen the picture of rage, but I’d never seen anything that hinted at jealousy.I could believe Luca would do something as stupid as starting a plague…except who would give him that sort of power?He wasn’t rich, not by nobility’s standards.He knew people, but why would those people risk unleashing such destruction?Even the most selfish person would see concerns for their own wellbeing, surely.
Chay was a lot of things, but prone to overreactions wasn’t one of them.Mayhap I’d get lucky, and someone would mention Luca’s skill with poison in general conversation.That would be convenient.
Much as the steward’s death had been convenient.And the assassination attempt on the Duke last tourney had been convenient.If the stewardwasLuca, he was getting better, at least.
Irritated with myself for not investigating my concerns sooner, I slipped through the dark, dusty passage, passing an unfamiliar woman carrying a basket without making my perusal of her clear.Still, I noted the grey hairs, the calloused hands, the grease spots no scrubbing would get out from one side of her cloak, the hat pinned to her head.She paused at the end of the passage, as if unsure where to go.
The wooden structure around me shifted and groaned.I held my hatred of such constructions close, drawing strength from spite, and strode in the direction of the so-called rebels.
They were exactly where I’d thought they’d be, the walkway beneath them empty but unilluminated.It smelled of dust and, unfortunately, rotting wood.
If the whole thing collapsed, that would certainly ruin Audrey’s grand plans.
Despite the impatience already humming under my skin I forced myself to stop and notice the perfume of the rich, the shuffle of the feet of their co-conspirators, and the lingering musk of the slowly rotting construction.Audrey would enjoy the metaphor, if I had a chance to recount it.
“…know who that is?Green field with the bigass tree on it?”
“Southern Ltonan,” someone responded.“Not sure who.Not a bad showing.Basic backwater chap, from the look of him.”
“Love me a basic backwater chap,” someone said.Laughter sounded from the group above.
Impatience surged.Green field with a large tree was the province of Finnegan-over-Green.Much to my irritation, the description ofbasic backwaterwasn’t too far off.
I’d been born not too far up the road.
“Basic backwaters always have the best archers,” a different voice offered in a good-natured way.I conceded that, waiting for the follow-up comments about poverty forcing them to hunt rather than wealth allowing them to spend time training the sword.
Instead, the response was, “What’re you saying about ’Ban, you knave?”and more laughter.
Nothing.It was just a whole lot of nothing.I’d expected if his claims were true they’d be too smart to say anything openly, but I’d had to check.Luca certainly didn’t seem like thesmarttype.
I closed my eyes, listening to the back and forth.It wasn’t like Chay to lose his temper or be dramatic, but I hadn’t thought he’d so cruelly and coldly cut Audrey off, either.She seemed to be the exception to the rule when it came to him.
I blew out a breath, knowing I’d need to tell her what he’d claimed, and revisit that topic again.Doing so with no evidence of anything more than the Raider’s Ban men’s good nature and poor humor was just going to set off her series of what-ifs.
There was another possibility, though.A more…hands-onapproach I could take.
By the time I removed my makeshift disguise and returned to Audrey’s side, the archers had been replaced by jousters, and I had no information except that I’d heardnothingof interest and a lot of talk about the tourney.Luca was there, leaning against the rail on one side of Audrey, when I got back.Yasmine shot me a quick look of apology.As chaperones went, I was sure she’d done a fantastic job.
Much as Audrey did, Luca had guards.Thatinterested me.
The man in his livery smiled at me and spared me a bow.“Good afternoon, mistress,” he said, shuffling to the side as if I needed his specific piece of polished wood to stand upon.“Are you feeling better?”
So someone had been asking about me.I’d need to find out who.“I am, thanking you.”I wasn’t going to get anything useful out of one of Luca’s men, not out here in the open.I was moving to Yasmine when his hand reached out toward me.
I avoided it, of course, stopping in my tracks and giving him a disgusted look.Before I’d had time to dissolve his willpower and reawaken his childish nightmares Chay was beside me, his hand on his sword and the first few fingers of steel already bared.
“My pardon,” Luca’s man said, stiffly.“Lord Luca asked for no interruptions.”
“Your lord doesn’t give orders here,” Chay said, and the words held so much menace I decided I was happy enough he’d become involved.There was something satisfying about seeing men’s eyes widen and that half-step they took before they remembered they couldn’t run.
Satisfied, I stepped past the two of them and went to Audrey’s side.Luca wouldn’t say anything interesting now, but that was fine.In my mind I went over what I’d need to prepare to make my incursion a success.It was past time I did a thorough investigation of that laughable lordling.
CHAPTERFIFTY-FOUR
CHAY
