Page 96 of Unrivaled
Sullivan’s eyes swung to me.I saw him as the man in Mikus’s shadow, as I’d viewed him as a child.Tall and lean, dark and dangerous.I saw him as the knight he was, as I knew him as an adult.Tired from the road, with dulled reflexes and a stink that’d make the Wife hesitate to serve him.A small part of me felt his hands on my flesh.What.Raider’s.Ban.Men.Do.
Except they didn’t.
I reached forward, forcing my mind to unstick itself by moving my body as I took the oiled parchment from Thomas’s hands and unraveled it.Itwassealed.I cracked the wax with the flex of parchment and my nail, ignoring the way the texture of the wax lingered.The feel of it wedged up high between the skin and the firm surface that had been clean of debris at the top of my nail.Now the dark wax sat there, tacky and thick.
The letter had been coiled so long it didn’t open far.I skimmed enough of my father’s blunt hand to know it had been penned before the most recent updates from him.It was addressed to the steward.
Why Sullivan had gone for it at all…
The sound of Chay sheathing his sword was as familiar to me as the sweet smile I spied on Isolde’s lips when she settled beside me.
“I’ll go over this,” I told Sullivan.“And come to you with any queries.Thanking you for its safe delivery.”
He watched me like a fox watched a hen.That fox didn’t realize this hen was actually a steppe cat.
The door opened again, and a group of unfamiliar, road-worn men came in, looking around.They started toward where the food was waiting, but their gazes kept dancing back toward us.Clearly, my father had answered my desperate requests for more guardsmen.However many there were, I was confident we could put them to use.
“You’re looking at me like there’s something else,” I said, because I was tired of waiting.“Is there anything else, sir, or have you forgotten your manners entirely?”
“That’s an interesting question, my lady,” he said, looking from me to Kaelson to Chay and back again.“An interesting question.”
I didn’t have time for his cryptic nonsense.The stench of him was coating my throat.“When you’ve a simple answer, do let me know.”I turned back to the tailors and Sandra.“Pardon me.”
They nodded.Kaelson fell in beside me as I left.“A moment, my lady,” he said.
“Of course.”Thomas grabbed the door for us, and I went to follow him.
A red-faced runner barreled around a corner, scrabbling to slow down before they crashed into us.Kaelson caught him by his collar and lifted him, not unkindly.The runner shot the older man a relieved look.“M’lady,” he gasped.“Captain.Steward.The steward’s dead.”
Everything seemed to slow.
“Easy, lad,” Kaelson said, shaking his head.“Which steward, son?What’s happened?”
The boy doubled over, panting.“South bailey,” he said, jerking back upright.“With all them that’re back from the war.Keeled over.”Pant.“Clutching his chest.He’s dead.”
The ramifications of that death spread out before me.I barely registered the way Kaelson confirmed it was the recently returned, disgraced Steward Daniel, who’d promised to be such a thorn in my side.
If it had been Isolde, it would’ve been a bloody, probably private, death.Poison was a possibility, of course, but it wasn’t her weapon of choice.When I glanced over, her eyes were narrowed as she listened to the boy.Feeling my attention, she glanced up.
There was nothing in her expression that indicated she’d known this was coming.Not a hint.
“I’ll see to this, m’lady,” Kaelson told me, with a nod.
It had nothing to do with my delicate feelings and everything to do with how suspect I would be.The hall behind me, far from empty, was entirely silent.
“We need the truth of this,” I said to Kaelson, knowing my words would carry.“I won’t have anyone murdering those they disagree with.”
“Of course.”He bowed briskly.“Come, lad.Were you there?”
The boy trotted off, two steps to every one of Kaelson’s.“I was.I didn’t see much, Cap’n.I was fetching water.”
The tension in my belly was a familiar knot.I stayed where I was, letting them go, knowing I would be observed.My disagreements with the steward were hardly a secret, after everything that had transpired.Yet he’d died on the other side of the keep, from what sounded like it could be natural causes.
I could do nothing.Say nothing.I’d been planning on going to see Kaelson, but now I couldn’t.Disoriented, I turned toward my rooms.Accusations would come, of course.But useful that Sullivan had been with me, and the newly returned men had been surrounding the steward.
What had he been doing in the bailey?
In the shadows beside my tower, I spotted the disguised figure of Luca.I didn’t know if I had patience for him, even with his newly discovered respect for me.I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the conversations we had, but I didn’t want to have that doubt in the back of my head right now.I didn’t have the space in my mind for second guesses.
