Chapter Thirteen

The Ruler of Woodfall Gath

Nicolo was so lost in the sudden rush of grief at the passing of the Old Queen, I didn't think he registered the other words from Prince Balduin.

Or make that, King Balduin.

Of course, he was king; he'd been the heir, that was how it worked. But it was so hard to accept, and I wondered how many who had stood behind him and beside him for years, had quietly assumed that it would never really happen. The length of the Old Queen's reign had tricked everyone into the optimistic fiction that she was never going to die, and so the Great Castle had sleepwalked into the inevitable.

King Balduin.

What fresh Hell was this?

But that alone surely did not explain the curfew and the fires. I badly wanted to talk to Nicolo about it, but one look at his face told me this wasn't the time, as he struggled to process the news. Perhaps he too had bought into that collective assumption that this day would never come.

"I'm afraid I must hurt you further, Nicolo," the new king went on, and I was sure I heard a leering pleasure in his voice. "Her death was not a natural one."

"What?" Nicolo looked up in shock. "Are you certain?"

"She was poisoned. Assassinated," Balduin announced, and though it was quick, I didn't miss the look of triumph he shot me.

So that was his plan.

It was a good one. There was no doubt in my mind that he'd killed the Old Queen himself and blamed the revolutionaries. Now he had a genuine assassin on whom he could pin the act itself.

I looked towards the door. I didn't want to leave Nicolo, but things were getting more complicated by the second and I wanted to know my options. Guards stood posted on every exit, so there was one option I could rule out.

Better to stay. Running would only suggest guilt, and I cared about what Nicolo thought of me. Right now, he was probably my only chance of survival.

"What are you doing to find the people responsible?" Nicolo's voice came out white hot, like a jet of steam.

"Oh, I don't think we need to tax our intellect too much on that score," dismissed Balduin. "Former-Duke Wylder already tried to have me killed, but I proved too wily for him." That was a unique recollection of the event. "It is only natural that he should turn his attention to an easier target, and my grandmother was always lax about her personal security, relying on the loyalty and love of her people."

Blindsided though he still was, Nicolo frowned at this. "No. Wylder was loyal to the queen. It was you he hated. Besides, we have his family, there's no way that would…"

But Balduin shook his head. "His family was rescued two days before the queen was murdered. Coincidence? I hardly think so."

The rat had thought of everything, even willing to release his own prisoners to make Wylder look guilty.

"And as for Wylder's loyalty," the king sighed, "I hate to say it, but I'm afraid Wylder played you expertly well, Nicolo. Your love for my grandmother is well known and so he told you what you wanted to hear. If only you'd simply killed him, none of this would ever have happened."

My heart bled for Nicolo, devastated by the thought that he could have saved the queen by killing the traitor when he'd had the chance.

"But you asked what I was doing, hadn't you?" Balduin went on. "You no doubt noticed the curfew."

"Yes."

He nodded, still wearing that damned smile. "I have clamped down on the Gath, in a way that, frankly, my grandmother should have done while she was alive. I have resurrected the Purge and for the last two weeks, my soldiers have been rooting out treachery and intrigue wherever it lies."

Burn first, ask questions later , I thought to myself, wishing I was in a position to say the words out loud.

"Under the Old Queen's rule," said Balduin, warming to his topic, "Woodfall Gath has become a hotbed of conspiracies, plotting against the royal family."

Plotting against him . Not against the queen. Not against the family.

"No more," Balduin stressed. "They will be eradicated. The Old Queen was foolish enough to repeal the law against dissent of the monarch. I have re-established it and we are already rounding up those who dare to speak ill of their king."

And so anyone who dared to voice an opinion contrary to Balduin became a criminal.

"The court has been in favor of this?" To my secret delight, Nicolo was clearly not won over by Balduin's new regime. I could hear the doubt in his voice—not just doubt, but anger. The man I'd known in Simnel still stood before me, the good man who wanted to change things for the better. Right now, he was probably the only person in a position to stand up to the king.

"Look at them," Balduin indicated the room. "How happy they all are. Do you know they've been celebrating since my coronation? Some have even slept in this room, just to demonstrate their love for me. And their loyalty. Sadly, not all the court are so loyal, and have fallen prey to the new laws. Let me show you something that might amuse you."

Balduin led the way through the chaos of the Hall to the far corner, where two women were chained to the wall. One of them was being rutted by one of Balduin's guards. As we walked up, he finished and then pulled himself out of her, walking away to partake in a drink.

"You've always wanted to see my sisters taken down a peg," grinned Balduin, gleefully. "There you go. My gift to you."

It took me a moment to identify the proud, arrogant figure of Princess Alder, who had just been used and then left to her punishment. I'd met her not so long ago, but looking at her now, I didn't recognize the creature crouching naked by the wall, chained there where any man could do whatever he pleased to her. Her sister, Princess Maple, was chained beside her. They both looked up at Nicolo, a man they'd treated vilely when they were younger, their eyes begging him for help.

"The others are still missing," said Balduin conversationally. "They are undoubtedly criminals. It would not surprise me to learn that more of them had been in league with the hated Wylder. We shall find them. They cannot hide for they have no friends. The Purge will run them down. They will die in chains or in flames. Either way suits me, although I do find this more satisfying."

He took a chunk of bread from a table and tossed it onto the floor, then laughed as the two sisters fought over it.

"Balduin," Nicolo said, his eyes still revealing his shock.

Only now, did Balduin turn to Nicolo and ask, "So, what do you think?"

"I think we should talk." The strength in Nicolo's voice gave me hope. Though he'd sometimes caved to the wishes of his prince, Nicolo had always been his own man, and if anyone could stop Balduin, it was the master.

"Of course."

I followed Nicolo as Balduin led him out of the Banqueting Hall to a side-chamber. Nicolo was talking before the door had even closed.

"Balduin—Your Majesty—I know how hurt you must be by your grandmother's passing. I feel the same way," Nicolo started as Balduin breathed out impatiently. "And those responsible must be punished. But this is too much. This is… by the great god, I don't know what this is, but it's too much."

"This is a party, Nicolo," Balduin laughed.

"Your sisters—"

"Are being punished for their crimes against the crown."

Nicolo shook his head. "This isn't punishment for a crime, it's sadism. People cannot be criminalized for their thoughts and opinions, Balduin. You're tearing down all the good that the Old Queen did."

"Bah," Balduin started, waving away Nicolo's words with an unconcerned hand.

"You need to stop now before it's too late. Together we can find the middle ground, Balduin. Yes, we must find the assassins and revolutionaries and drive them out, but if in doing so, we destroy all we believe in, then they win. We can do this together and we can do it fairly. Hard, yes, but fair too."

Balduin looked up sadly at his old friend—his only friend. "I thought you might feel that way. I did myself once. But then I learned that you can trust no one."

"That isn't so," Nicolo shook his head, but Balduin interrupted him.

"I trust you, Nicolo, no one else. You have been my longest and my closest friend. My only friend, really… That's what makes what I have to tell you now, so very difficult."

Nicolo frowned, and I felt as if a steel hand had closed on my heart. I'd been so overwhelmed with everything I'd seen, I'd almost forgotten about my own precarious position. I glanced around myself again and noticed the doors were guarded; I was going nowhere, whatever was about to happen was going to happen.

"What do you mean?" asked Nicolo, his ashen face growing even graver.

"Through systematic questioning of Wylder's revolutionaries," Balduin began, "we have learned that, back when he was still a duke, he hired an assassin from the Guild in Crammer. We believe I may have been the original target of that assassin, but when that proved impossible—due to my constant security— she moved to an easier target, and then removed herself from the area to avoid suspicion falling on her while the slow-acting poison did its work."

"If you know who this assassin is, then why haven't you arrested her?" asked Nicolo.

Balduin turned his gaze on me. "Because, my dearest friend, she has only just returned to the Great Castle."

Even though I'd known it was coming, his words still felt like a punch to the gut, but they were nothing compared to what I felt when Nicolo looked at me. There was immediate shock and pain in his eyes.

"No," I said immediately, shaking my head.

But Nicolo believed Balduin, I could see it in his gaze. After all we'd been to each other, he still put Balduin's word above mine. Still, he turned back to Balduin, vigorously shaking his head. "No, no, no. It can't be Charlotte."

"Nicolo," Balduin started but Nicolo wouldn't be silenced.

He continued shaking his head. "She's been with me for the last month. If she were a traitor, it would have been the ideal opportunity to kill me and yet, here I stand."

"It would seem so," said Balduin, with a degree of irony. "But you were not her mission, my friend."

"I don't… I don't understand."

Balduin breathed in deeply. "You gave her… not just an alibi for the Queen's death, but also a champion."

"It isn't true," I started but Balduin spoke over me.

"It's common knowledge throughout the court that you've taken a shine to your squire, Nicolo. Charlotte doubtless hoped that by pretending to reciprocate your feelings, she could win your protection…"

"NO!" I'd listened in silence to the rest of the lies, but I would not hear another word. I wouldn't allow Balduin to tell Nicolo that my feelings were anything less than love. "Nicolo, you know me," I said as I faced him, shaking my head. "You know how I feel about you."

"So, it begins," sneered Balduin. "See how she tries to use your emotions to manipulate you? I suppose she's told you she loved you?"

I felt my stomach drop.

"Charlotte?" Nicolo looked broken. The double blow of the queen's death and now this. The timing could barely have been worse, but I had to tell him the truth now and hope our love would be enough for him to see that it was the whole truth.

"I am an assassin."

From the look on his face, Balduin hadn't expected that, but he rallied quickly. "A little truth and then a big lie."

"And I was sent here to kill you," I went on.

Nicolo believed that, I could tell. My story hadn't added up from the start and if I'd been someone else, then no doubt he would have questioned it sooner.

"That I did not know," Balduin was quick to jump on this story. "But it tracks that that damned traitor Wylder would want you dead, as well."

"When I came here, I had no idea who I was working for," I tried to keep talking, fast and constant so Balduin couldn't interrupt me. "That's the way it is with the Guild; we never know the client, only the target. You were my first mission." Nicolo swallowed hard but he didn't say anything, so I continued. "But I'd never killed before and outside of battle, I still haven't. I did not kill the Queen, Nicolo. And I haven't killed you, even though, as you said, I certainly could have."

"You came here to kill me?" The look of betrayal on his face was unbearable.

"But I didn't, I couldn't. I fell in love with you instead," I rushed on, feeling tears start in my eyes.

"Ah, did I not tell you she would feign love?" sneered Balduin.

"And while I was here," I forged on, determined to get this last bit out. "I found out who my client was; who had hired me to kill you. I know you won't believe me, but please Nicolo… if I ever meant anything to you at all, please listen to my words and think about them rationally. Try to see beyond your anger and your pain. Try to believe me. The man who hired me to assassinate you was Balduin." Perhaps a little overdramatically, I thrust a finger at the king. "Your best friend."

"Ha!" Balduin squawked with laughter as he shook his head. "A noble attempt, my dear, but there is no way my closest friend would ever believe I would kill him. Not when I rely on him for my very life."

Nicolo nodded as he looked at me.

"I suppose you can't blame her for trying," Balduin continued.

I didn't take my gaze off Nicolo, whose eyes were narrowed on me, like a vulture's. "He's found a boy with violet eyes—just like you, Nicolo. A boy he keeps imprisoned in his room. That is… in a secret room next to his." Even as I said the words, I was aware how ridiculous they sounded, not helped by Balduin crowing and mocking every word I said.

"How can you listen to another second of this tripe?" he called out, shaking his head and laughing.

"Please, Nicolo, please, you have to believe me and if you just… if you just take the time to think about what I've told you and to open your mind to the possibility, you will see that I'm telling you the truth."

But one look at his face was enough to tell me that it was all for nothing. He'd lost the woman who had filled the role of a mother in the years he was separated from his own, and now he'd lost another woman he'd allowed into his heart—the only woman who had shown him what love meant.

For an instant, the Nicolo I knew seemed to cave in on himself like crumpled paper—I could see the sag of his shoulders, the sigh of the air leaving his lungs. But in the next instant, he reformed in a way that chilled my heart. I saw all trace of emotion drain from his face, replaced by a cold hardness. It was a face I'd seen before, on those occasions when I'd witnessed the worst of Master Nicolo, when he was terrorizing the court and living up to his fearful reputation.

Not only had I lost him, but my betrayal had scoured away the decent man he'd become, all his good intentions were gone in that single, horrible moment. I could see it in his eyes—in the narrowed, angry and pained way they burned fire at me. The idyll of Simnel was a passing dream, now tainted by the woman he'd spent it with. He wouldn't go back—never again. There was nothing for him there now. Simnel was as dead to him as I now was.

His hard gaze centered on me, those violet eyes I loved so much, and which had held such love for me, now filled with hatred.

"Take her to the dungeon; I'll deal with her later."

The guards instantly started forward, grabbing me by the arms and yanking me backwards as Nicolo stared at me and the tears burst from my eyes.

"Nicolo, please don't do this! I'm telling you the truth!"

But the man I loved was gone, and the one standing in his place was like flint.

"They call me "The Unbreakable'," he answered, never taking his eyes away from mine. "Very well then… I shall live up to the title."

Return to the Table of Contents