Chapter 86

Jessalyn

"Come in."

If Desiree was trying to seem inconspicuous, she wasn't doing a great job of it. She peered outside the door, looking up and down the street when we arrived, then ushered us in.

The hacking sound of a child coughing greeted us from the kitchen, then a thin wail. I rushed forward without thinking, pressing the back of my hand to the little boy's forehead. He wailed even harder at the sight of a black clad stranger, which had me reaching into my pockets for the supplies I'd brought with me. Not dried turpentine leaves, not the salve my grandmother swore by, but… ah, sweeties. It didn't look very good, the cellophane twist that had covered it when I bought them was now wrinkled and slightly grubby, but when I unwrapped it the child stopped crying.

"Sweeties?"

"For you, sweetheart," I said, then turned to Desiree. "Do you have a kettle we can boil water in?"

"If you're thinking of doing a good steaming, we've already tried that." The woman looked worn down, the red of hair somehow faded slightly, though perhaps that was the low light. "I've been boiling gum leaves in the kettle and getting him to breathe them in."

"Try these."

I crunched one leaf up, the pungent oils released already filling the room.

"Oh gods…" Desiree jerked her head back and then once she recovered from her surprise, she breathed in experimentally. "That might just work."

We were here to play a role in an assassination, that struck me as we busied around the kitchen. The child, Benny I found out, snuffled as he sucked at his sweet, while we found an old bowl and Desiree put the kettle on. I ground the turpentine leaves up to release more of their oils, which were released into the air as the hot water was poured over them. A tea towel was produced and put over the whining Benny's head, but as he breathed the fumes in, the rattling in his chest seemed to loosen, resulting in greenish phlegm being spat into the sink as another coughing fit hit him.

"Much better out than in," Selene said, then produced two jars with a flourish. "And this medicine will help stop the infection in your chest. It tastes terrible."

"What? I don't want that." Benny shrank back against his mother. "Ma, don't—"

"But this is honey," Selene continued, shaking the other golden jar. "Sweeter than that lolly you're sucking on. You want a spoon of this?" Benny started to shift closer. "Then medicine first."

"You know how this will go," Desiree said. "Sister Selene has given you medicine before."

"It tastes horrible," Benny said, flinching back.

"Then you'll have something sweet to help it go down," Selene replied. "Your choice."

That was a curious turn of phrase. Children were offered only one choice in my homeland: obey your parents and your king or face consequences.

"What do you think?" Desiree asked her son.

Benny let out a huff, blowing a green snot bubble, then going to wipe it on his sleeve before Desiree got there with a handkerchief.

"Fine," he grumbled once he was wiped clean. The boy opened his mouth obediently, but screwed his eyes tight as the spoon of medicine hit, swallowing quickly, then spluttering before shouting, "Honey! Honey!"

"Here you go." Selene had another spoon laden with the sweet syrup pushed into his mouth before he could say much more.

"Thanks for this, Sister," Desiree said, collecting the boy up in her arms. She jiggled him the way one might a baby, even though he was considerably bigger, but his head came to rest on her shoulder and his breathing started to even out.

"I'll leave the medicine and the honey—"

"Oh, I can't…" Desiree looked at Selene guiltily.

"The medicine comes from the sisterhood, not my father."

"Ah, well…" Desiree nodded in thanks. "I appreciate it. I just need to put this boy down and hope he gets some sleep, but if you want to put the kettle back on, we can have a cup of tea and…"

Get down to business, that went unsaid. We nodded and moved to follow her orders, the water bubbling nicely by the time she returned.

"So…" Desiree put her hand on her hip and regarded the two of us, "what role do I need to play in the death of the king?"

"Make pastries," Selene replied, once we all had tea and were sitting around her kitchen table. "The special ones the king likes."

"Those strudels?" She nodded slowly. "I can do that. It's usually only done on request though because only he is allowed to eat them."

"He'll request them." Selene took a long sip of her tea. "Jessalyn has brought with her a particularly potent strain of roseblood."

"The red dragon?" Desiree wrinkled her nose. "Nasty stuff that. Has the young men hanging out in the dragon's dens at night time doing god knows what, but what makes this so special?"

"Far, far stronger than anything we've been able to get our hands on in Khean," Desiree replied. "The king has been taking enough to kill a horse for a very long time, having built up a tolerance to the stuff. A strain that gives him the same kick as when he was young? It'll make him randy and hungry by turns."

"Hungry for strudel." Desiree nodded slowly. "I'll need to clear it with the head chef."

"Just let him know that you've been given an order from the king and make sure to use the cinnamon in the locked box inside the pantry."

"I always do…" Her voice trailed away. "That's where the poisons are? In the spice box?"

"Just in the cinnamon," Selene replied. "It's a spice the king saves only for his strudels—"

"And he's the only one that will be allowed to eat them." Desiree nodded slowly. "That's cunning…" She frowned. "This has your father's fingerprints all over it."

"Of course, it does." Selene used the sharp tone a tutor might with a recalcitrant student. "Everything within Khean does and if it doesn't, it's merely because it has not proven useful to him… yet. This will happen with or without you, Desiree—"

"So I may as well earn a wage by doing it." She sighed. "At least I'm not carrying poison past the castle gates, trying to sneak it into a dish I have to serve the whole of court. I'll do it. Of course, I'll do it, but is there anything else?"

"Get clear of the castle by evening without fail." Selene's mood changed abruptly. "This roseblood… No woman wants to be within reach of the king or his lords. If the head cook tells you to stay behind, claim your children are sick. Fall about pretending that you're ill if that's what it takes. I made it clear to my father that there can be no maids, no serving girls, no one vulnerable in the castle once evening comes or I…" She gripped her mug tightly. "Or I'd refuse to play my part in this plan."

"That is unlikely to be a problem," Desiree replied. "The head cook prides himself on being the one to cook the evening meal, making sure he gets all the compliments from the lords, but I take your point. There's enough sharks in that pool as it is, without scenting the water with blood."

"Good."

All the tension seemed to leach from Selene then as she slumped back in her chair, but Desiree wasn't focused on that, but me.

"So…" Her lips twitched as she took my sisterly regalia in. "I can understand the daughter of the Raven and a common cook getting embroiled in such a plot, but how does a princess of all people get dragged into this mess?"

I smiled weakly.

"It's either that or die. The king kills all of his wives. I knew that before coming, but I've only just learned why. Apparently he has a murderous bent that takes him over when… aroused. This was directed at common women that were sent to warm his bed. He killed them over and over…" Desiree went pale, but she did not try and argue with me, because I think on some level, she already knew. "Until he found Giselle."

"That bitch…" Desiree went to spit on the floor, then thought better of it. "I remember her and her wicked ways when she used to run with Weasel's gang."

"Well, she plays with far more powerful men now." I studied the pattern printed on Desiree's tablecloth. "In some ways I sympathise with her." I found it hard to say those words, remembering the monstrous woman and her words when she visited the temple. "She refused to accept her fate. The trouble is she did that by directing the king's ire, or desire rather, towards each princess. She made clear she eggs him on each time, killing the princess on her wedding night or sometime shortly after."

"So that's why he does it…"

To say it was a shock to see surprise on Selene's face was an understatement. She seemed endlessly implacable, unruffled by anything that went on. The sister noted our attention, then shook her head. "It never made sense to me. Khean is largely untouchable due to protection of the wolf shifters, but to create such international tensions with each country he takes a wife from…" She studied me closely. "Each time he thinks he will be able to resist."

"From what Giselle said, yes," I replied.

"But she makes sure that he doesn't." Desiree set her mug down heavily. "That little bitch tried to drag my brother down in her madness, but…" Her smile broadened. "He's found you now, hasn't he?"

I blinked, not sure of what to say. How could I tell a man's sister of what he had done, what we had done. Desiree watched my lips move, my breath suck in, then get exhaled in a great gust before grinning.

"Oh yes, he's got you real bad. I told him it would happen, that love would creep up behind him and take him over before he even realised what had happened. I've never seen my brother look at a girl like he did you, Your Highness."

Did he? I wanted to pin the woman to her chair and interrogate her until the ache in my chest subsided. I needed all of the evidence, all of it. This attempt to be strong and confident, a woman of the world, just like Selene, felt like an act, but then I remembered. Selene melting into Rose like it was one great sigh, the other person collecting her up and holding her close as she just let go. Gods, yes… I wanted that so very badly.

"Really?" I replied finally, tipped my mug in her direction. "Tell me more. Your brother is curiously tight lipped about such things. He did tell me he had a number of beautiful and talented sisters though."

"He never!" Desiree flushed almost as red as her hair, right before she launched into an answer. "Well, let me tell you about Roan…"