With every scream of rage that came from the next room, Quilla sank a little lower in her seat. The Queen would blame her. She was sure of it. The Queen wanted any reason to blame her for something.

Gods damn it! They were supposed to be preparing for Garet’s funeral! Instead, attention always seemed drawn elsewhere. Of course, no one could be blamed for the high tensions after yesterday’s attack on Princess Annai’s life, but Sinitïa could have chosen a better time to run away.

Quilla sighed. The worst part was, the Queen wouldn’t be wrong to blame her. It was her fault. She had suggested it. Sure, she’d tried to take it back and Sinitïa had seemed to agree, but Quilla knew it must have planted a seed in Sinitïa’s head, one that grew over the next couple days. Yet another reason she shouldn’t have drunk so much that first night.

The doors swung open and Princess Annai ran through the room in tears and out the opposite doors, slamming them behind her. One of the guards closed the doors she’d come through, just in time to dampen more screams from the Queen.

Quilla looked over at Zandrue and Rudiger, who were sitting beside each other. Rudiger had Zandrue’s hand in his. Gods, she wished Garet was still here. Little things like that would be particularly calming now. His presence had always calmed her. And he wouldn’t have let the guards stop him from pacing. Without him here, she wanted to be the one pacing, but every attempt to stand up she’d made had resulted in the guards making threatening motions, so she’d just sat right back down again. She didn’t have the courage Garet had had.

Sinitïa had said she was going to do a painting of Garet. What would happen to that now? Was anybody else going to do anything for Garet’s funeral? Was Quilla even right to be so obsessed over it?

The doors opened again, and this time, the Queen stormed out. Quilla braced herself, but the Queen never even looked in her direction. She stormed across the room and out the same doors Annai had left through, though she let the guards close them instead of slamming them herself.

Quilla looked back at Zandrue, whose gaze had turned back towards the doors they were seated by. The King was standing just beyond the doors, looking into the room. Behind him stood Captain DeSeloön and two Kingsguard. He scratched his beard, breathed deeply, and stepped into the room.

Zandrue and Rudiger slid off their couch and knelt on the floor. Quilla did the same.

The King waved his hand, palm up. “Rise.”

They stood.

The King look at Rudiger and Zandrue, then Quilla, his eyes staying on her the longest. Then he lowered his gaze to the floor and fiddled with the buttons of his uniform jacket, his fingers trembling. After several moments, he looked up. “There is always drama whenever Felitïa is involved, it seems.”

“With respect, your Majesty,” Zandrue said, “Felitïa’s not here.”

The King glared at Zandrue. His lips quivered, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, he strode past her, Rudiger, and Quilla. He walked over to a desk by the wall and began fiddling with a potted plant there. After several moments, he spoke, “These last few days have been...I don’t even know how to describe it. You’d think I’d be used to tragedy by now.”

Quilla glanced at Zandrue, who gave a slight shrug and nodded towards the King.

“Two dead wives, now a dead son. A daughter who ran away when she was only ten and didn’t return for sixteen years, and now… Now, an attempt is made on another daughter’s life, and my youngest is missing. What am I supposed to do?”

Quilla swallowed and glanced at Zandrue again. Did he expect them to answer?

“It’s difficult, and I’ve never been good at decisions. I know the stories about me, the names I’m called. Wavon the Incompetent. Wavon the Perplexed. Wavon the Idiot.” The King tore a leaf off the plant and turned around to face them, scrunching the leaf in his hand. “Quilla, I have the greatest respect for you. I believe you to be a good person, and I think you would have been a good wife for Garet. You were a calming presence for him, something he desperately needed. No matter what my wife may think of you, I would have been proud to have you as my daughter-in-law.”

Quilla curtsied. “Thank you, your Majesty.” Tears threatened to fall, but she held them back.

The King turned to Zandrue. “Zandromeda, yes?”

Zandrue curtsied. “Yes, your Majesty. Zandrue for short.”

“Zandrue, I’m told you saved my daughter’s life.”

“I only did what anyone would have done, your Majesty.”

The King shook his head. “I wish that were true. My wife believes it was to save your own life.”

“My life was in danger too, your Majesty, so it was certainly part of my motivation, but even if I had been in complete safety, I would have protected her Highness’s life.”

“I’d like to believe that.” The King turned his back to them again for several seconds in silence. “Unfortunately, my wife doesn’t.”

“Your Majesty, I—” Zandrue began.

The King held up his hand. “I know none of you hold much respect for her, but believe me, she is my rock. I may not always agree with everything she says or does, but without her, this country would be in a shambles under the reign of Wavon the Incompetent. I deserve many of those names I’m called, you know. So even if she may sometimes go over the top in matters of family, I think the overall trade-off is more than worth it. And that’s where we get to Felitïa. I love my daughter. I adore her. But I must confess, I do not really know her, and I most definitely do not understand her. Cerus and Ardon have been passionate in their defence of her, but there is no changing what she did. She started a war.”

Quilla took a step forward, but the guards’ hand moved to their sword hilts, so she stopped. “Your Majesty, the Volgs were going to start that war anyway.”

“I know.”

“So then—”

He held up his hand again, and she stopped. Why was she bothering to defend Felitïa anyway?

“I don’t doubt the Volgs wanted to start this war,” the King said. “None of us doubt that. But that’s beside the point. Felitïa gave them the reason they needed. She gave them a way to claim we were responsible. If she had stayed out of it, they would have had to find another reason. Their hypocrisies might have been exposed, and more importantly, Arnor could not be blamed.”

“With respect, your Majesty,” Zandrue said, “what does this have to do with what is happening right now? The war hasn’t started yet.”

The King didn’t reply immediately. He just stood there, swaying a little, trembling. After a moment, he held out the crushed leaf in his hand and a servant rushed over, bowing low, to take it from him. He took a deep breath and turned to face Quilla and the others once more. “I truly believe all three of you are good people. I also believe Felitïa is a good person, and that she is only doing what she thinks is best. But that doesn’t make it right. You are associates and friends of hers. You are caught up in her life, and it doesn’t matter whether she is here or not. Her actions have had an effect on you and thus on here. So I must ask you, do you know where Sinitïa is? Tell me now, and I will hold nothing against you. I do not believe you have kidnapped her or done anything nefarious, but she is an impressionable child and may have taken off on the slightest suggestion or hint of an idea.”

Quilla cast her eyes to the floor. They really did suspect her.

“So, do any of you know? She went to meet all of you when you arrived. She is very fond of your friend Meleng, so it is not surprising that she might want to spend time around his friends.”

“Sinitïa didn’t tell us what she was doing or where she was going, your Majesty,” Zandrue said. “We were as surprised as anyone else when we learned she’d disappeared.”

“You were helping Annai look for her when the attack occurred, weren’t you?”

“Yes, your Majesty. Princess Annai was hoping to find her quickly so no one else would be inconvenienced or alarmed.”

“Why did you take her to the stables? You expected Sinitïa to be there?”

“To find Rudiger, your Majesty, in case Princess Sinitïa had gone to him or he had seen her.”

The King crossed his arms. “I see, and did you truly believe you would find her there?”

Zandrue shook her head. “It was unlikely, but it was possible, and Annai had already covered the more likely possibilities.”

“Did you know Sinitïa took a horse with her?”

“No, your Majesty.”

“At least, we are assuming she took it. There is a horse missing from the stables.”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“With respect, your Majesty, with everything else that’s happened, I wouldn’t assume it was Princess Sinitïa. Whoever unleashed the dogs might have taken the horse to get away.”

The King shook his head. “The horse was Felitïa’s, the same one Sinitïa took to meet you at the gate. We also found a dropped paint brush. It was Sinitïa. So, knowing she left the Palace, probably expecting a long journey, do you have any idea where she might have gone? Again, I’m not accusing you of being involved. But you know her. Perhaps even better than I do. What is your best guess?”

Quilla sighed. Her heart beat faster as she began to regret what she hadn’t even done yet. “She must have gone to find Meleng, your Majesty.”

The King’s head and shoulders sank, and he scowled. “And why do you think she would think she could just head out and find him? How would she know where to go?” He took a step towards Quilla. “My daughter may not be very bright, but even she is not stupid enough to think she could just randomly wander around and run into the boy.”

Quilla tried to swallow, but her mouth was dry. Zandrue was staring at her with narrowed eyes. Blame me, Felitïa had said. Well, that advice could be taken further. “Meleng sent her a letter, your Majesty. I delivered it to her. I don’t know what was in the letter, and I’m only guessing, but maybe…”

“He gave her a place to meet him?”

Quilla nodded and stared at the floor.

The King sighed. “So Annai is right.” He shook his head. “And I liked that boy.”

Quilla looked up. “If I had known, your Majesty, I would never have delivered—”

The King gave her a dismissive wave. “If you had known? You know full well how impressionable she is, and yet you gave her an unvetted letter that could have said anything. Where is he? Where is the boy?”

Quilla bit her lip. Would he see right through her if she told him anything other than the truth?

“We left him and Jorvan in Porthaven on our way here,” Zandrue said.

Quilla glared at Zandrue. What was she trying to do? Make things worse?

Zandrue continued, “Since Meleng is banished from Arnor City, he was going to wait there for us. Jorvan, the Isyar we travel with, stayed with him.”

“Then she’s probably on a ship to Porthaven,” the King said.

Zandrue shook her head. “I find it hard to believe Meleng would ask her to come to him, but if he did, he’d know we would be able to tell you his location. So he’d go somewhere else to meet her.”

The King scowled again. “And I suppose you have no idea where.”

“No, your Majesty. If I had to guess, I’d say Beldrum. It’s relatively close and would be easy for Sinitïa to get to. However, Meleng’s smart. He’ll have anticipated anything we might guess.”

The King nodded. “Then we will begin our search in Porthaven and Beldrum. With luck, we can intercept Sinitïa before she reaches the boy.” He motioned to Captain DeSeloön, who was still standing by the door. “Captain, update the port authorities with what we now know, and send word to his Grace, Patriarch Ardon. Tell him we’d like messages sent to Porthaven and Beldrum as fast as possible.”

DeSeloön bowed his head. “Your Majesty.”

The King walked up to Quilla, stood in front of her, and looked down at her. “I’m very disappointed. You should have told me or the Queen about that letter before delivering it. You know Sinitïa better than these two here. You know the infatuation she has with the boy.”

Quilla peered up at him. “I’m sorry, your Majesty. I didn’t think it would harm.” Gods, what had she done? What if they caught Meleng? What would happen then?

“Didn’t think it would harm? Sinitïa is now travelling on her own because you didn’t think. She has no idea what the world at large can be like. She is too trusting by far. If any harm comes to her…” He paused, his lips trembling, face reddening. He turned away from her.

Quilla breathed a sigh of relief.

“If I may, your Majesty,” Zandrue said, “there really was no reason for us to suspect anything. Not even Quilla. We all assumed it was nothing more than a simple love letter. As I said, I find it very hard to believe Meleng would ask her to come to him.”

The King rounded on Zandrue. “He wouldn’t need to. If he so much as mentioned where he is, it might have been enough to put the idea in her mind, whether he intended it or not. You tell me he is smart, but clearly he is not too bright in these matters.”

“There is another possibility, your Majesty,” Zandrue said.

“And what might that be?”

“Have you considered that Sinitïa might have been abducted? Given yesterday’s attack on Princess Annai, surely it’s something you should consider. The missing horse and the paint brush could be an attempt to put you on the wrong trail.”

“We have considered the possibility,” the King said, “and we are not discounting it. But as Captain DeSeloön has told me, if it were an abduction, we would expect to hear demands from the kidnappers. There have been none. The evidence we have suggests the two incidents are unrelated. Sinitïa most likely took off on her own.”

The King nodded to DeSeloön, who motioned to the Kingsguard and other guards in the room. They snapped to attention and moved into position around the King.

“One last thing: If I learn that you have lied to me, that any of you had a hand in helping spirit Sinitïa away from the Palace into a world she is ill-equipped to handle, then I will order your deaths myself. Am I understood?”

“Yes, your Majesty,” Quilla said. Zandrue and Rudiger said the same.

And then the King strode from the room, servants opening the doors for him as he approached. The Kingsguard and a train of courtiers followed him. DeSeloön was the last to leave. He gave a slight nod to Quilla, Rudiger, and Zandrue before he stepped through. A servant closed the doors behind him. Only two Palace guards and that one servant remained in the room with them.

Quilla stood there, staring at the door the King had left through. Gods, she hated this place.

“I take it we’re free to go now?” Zandrue said.

“You are,” one of the guards answered.

Zandrue headed for the door, and Rudiger followed her.

Quilla stood there a little longer, then rushed after them. When she caught up in the next room, she grabbed Zandrue’s sleeve. Zandrue stopped and rounded on her.

“Meleng and Jorvan might be in Porthaven,” Quilla hissed. “You know that’s where they were going if they couldn’t find a ship to Isyaria here.”

Zandrue glared at her and then over at the single servant by the door in this room. “Not here!” she hissed. She pulled away from Quilla, continued across the room, and out the next door. A befuddled-looking Rudiger followed her.

Quilla hurried after, and then through the next couple rooms until they found a back corridor without any guards or servants in sight.

Zandrue leaned in close and spoke in a harsh whisper. “What else was I supposed to say? That Meleng was making Sinitïa go even farther overland on her own to find him? No, Porthaven was the most believable place that wasn’t the complete truth. I gave him Beldrum as well to—”

“Why not just say that we left him in Beldrum?”

“Because he would never believe it. Nobody goes to Beldrum! The best way to make a lie believable is to make it mostly true. So I said Porthaven and gave a reason for them to redirect to Beldrum. That’s the best I could do.”

“But if—”

“You brought Meleng into this Quilla. You told the King about the letter. After that, I was just trying to cover for you because I’m a hell of a better liar than you. Hell, for all I know, Meleng really did tell Sinitïa to come to him in his little love letter.”

“Oh come on, you know full well Meleng isn’t interested in Sinitïa that way!”

“He doesn’t have to be interested in her physically to care for her and want to see her. But yeah, I don’t really believe he did that. But something put the idea in her head, and one thing I can be certain of is she’s gone to find him, so where does that leave us? Felitïa told you to blame her, remember?”

Quilla bit her lip. Of course she remembered, and she already regretted using that as a justification for putting Meleng in danger.

“Of all of us, Meleng is the one most associated with Felitïa because he went with her to Scovese, and they were likely to go after him anyway, so we might as well use him in the same way. I don’t like it, but if you want to continue to survive long enough for Garet to have a funeral…”

“Don’t you dare bring Garet into this!”

Zandrue stepped back with a shrug and contemptuous smirk. “I intend to keep us alive, Quilla, whatever it takes.”

Rudiger placed a hand on Zandrue’s shoulder. “Come on, you two, take it easy.”

Zandrue pulled away from his touch, but half raised her hands. “Look, there’s a number of ways things can go, and Meleng is safe in most of them. He and Jorvan might have already left before Sinitïa could get to them, and she’ll still be in Arnor City. Or she caught up to them, and they’re on their way to Isyaria, which is a destination nobody here is likely to think of if we never mention it. And other possibilities. And if they are caught, we’ll just have to trust Meleng to take care of himself. He’s a big boy now, you know, and he has Jorvan with him.” Zandrue paused and took a deep breath. “Now, if I’m going to continue to convince Annai I’m her friend, I need to go comfort her now that she’s been screamed at by her mother.” She backed away a couple steps, then turned and stormed away.

Rudiger gave Quilla a comforting smile. “Sorry ’bout that. I’ll try and calm her down.”

Quilla scowled.

Rudiger backed a couple steps away, then followed Zandrue, though more calmly.

Quilla stood there awhile. “Fuck!”

An approaching servant stopped in her tracks.

“Ever had one of those days?” Quilla said.

The servant nodded. “Yes, my Lady.”

Quilla kicked the floor and walked away, muttering under her breath, “I’m not a fucking lady.”