The boy was maybe thirteen or fourteen, dirty, with clear signs of frostbite on his hands. He had probably been living on the streets. He hadn’t done well for himself since leaving the Palace.

Zandrue motioned to the guard to bring him forward.

The boy looked side to side as he came towards her. His eyes avoided Ardon, who was standing by the stairs to the study cabinet.

Zandrue sat back in her chair and took a sip of wine.

The guard stopped the boy a few feet in front of her, and kept his hand gripped on the boy’s shoulder.

Zandrue waved the guard away. “Leave us. He won’t try anything. Will you, Gillert?”

The boy cast his eyes to the floor. “No, my Lady.”

The guard released the boy’s shoulder, bowed, and backed away.

Once the guard had left, Zandrue motioned to one of the chairs facing her. “Have a seat.”

The boy looked up with his eyes, but not his head. “My Lady?”

Zandrue motioned to the chair again. “Have a seat.”

The boy looked about, wrung his hands together, glanced at Ardon. He shuffled towards the chair, but didn’t sit down, instead staring down at its plush seat and its expensive embroidery.

“It’s okay,” Zandrue said.

The boy sat on the edge of the chair, as far forward as he could, practically falling off it. His eyes continued to dart about.

Zandrue motioned to Ebry, who was waiting off to the side with a tray of wine and pastries. She came forward and held it out to the boy. “Refreshments?” Zandrue said.

Gillert looked at the tray with wide eyes. He glanced at Zandrue, who nodded. Then he snatched several pastries, stuffing one in his mouth right away. He also grabbed a cup of wine just before Ebry moved aside.

“Now then, Gillert,” Zandrue started. “Can I call you Gill? I’ve heard that’s what you went by when you worked here.”

He nodded and mumbled something through his full mouth.

“Great. So Gill, I don’t want to ask you about your time working here, or what led to your dismissal. I want to talk to you about a time you were in the Palace after you’d been dismissed.”

The boy stopped chewing and looked up at her, bits of food and drool dribbling down his cheek. He groaned.

“You don’t sound happy about that.”

He swallowed his food, and wiped his chin with his sleeve. “I already talked about that.” He nodded towards Ardon. “With him.”

“With his Grace, you mean. You do know who he is, yes?”

Gill nodded.

“Then you should feel honoured the Patriarch of the Universal Church talked to you directly.”

Gill frowned. “I suppose so.” He drank from his cup, spilling some of the wine down his chin and onto his tunic.

Zandrue shrugged. “I’m aware of your answers to his Grace’s questions. I just want to ask you some follow-up questions. Is that okay?”

He paused, about to stuff his last pastry into his mouth. “Can I say no?”

Zandrue smiled. “You can, but I’m going to ask the questions anyway.”

“What if I refuse to answer?”

Zandrue sighed. “I hope you won’t. I’d much prefer to do this in a friendly way. I openly admit the wine and sweets are a bit of a bribe to get you talking willingly. But mark my words, you will talk whether you want to or not. So why not do it the easy way and we can all be friends?”

The boy looked towards Ardon, then back at Zandrue. “Sure. What do you want to know?” He took a bite of his pastry.

“I’m glad you see it my way. First off, when did they bring you into the Servants of Sunset?”

“The what?”

Zandrue frowned. “Come now, Gill. You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

Gill looked towards Ardon again. “He...I mean, his Grace never asked me anything about that. I thought you were just going to follow up on his questions.”

“Fair. I did say that. However, the City Guard thoroughly examined you before they handed you over to his Grace. You have a tattoo in the shape of a goat skull on your inside left thigh. I’m following up on that, and I find it hard to believe you got a tattoo like that without knowing what it meant. So come on, tell me about it.” She motioned Ebry back over. “Have some more sweets or wine.”

He stared at the pastries. “I never wanted to be one of them.”

“I believe you.”

“You do?”

Zandrue nodded. “You were taken really young, weren’t you? Darkers do that. They grab children at a very young age and initiate them. Often, they’re the children of other Darkers; sometimes, they’re taken off the street. Which were you?”

“The streets. I’m an orphan. They...they held me down. They forced me to get the tattoo. They...I…” He closed his eyes and lowered his head, grimacing, tears forming.

“It’s all right,” Zandrue said. “You don’t have to give me all the sordid details if you don’t want to. I just wanted to confirm. Few people become Darkers because they actually want to, especially not in childhood.” A part of her wanted to tell him she understood because she had been through it too, but that was a secret she wasn’t admitting in front of Ardon. “Let’s move on. You started working here in the Palace as a messenger boy about two years ago, correct?”

Gill nodded and took a couple more pastries from the tray. Ebry moved away again.

“You told his Grace all about how you were hired here, who you spoke to at the time, most of whom you don’t really remember. And you told him about your duties. Tell me a bit about them.”

“I was a messenger boy. There wasn’t much more to it than that. Sometimes, I delivered letters. Sometimes, it was just to tell people that someone had arrived, or someone wanted to see them. That sort of thing.”

“Did the Darkers have you report to anyone? I mean, they put you in here, right?”

“Yeah, they said they pulled some strings to get me in here. They told me to keep my eyes and ears open, but they never asked me anything about what I saw, not even when I had to leave to go into the city. I pretty much never saw any of them after I started here.”

“What about other Darkers in the Palace? Did you ever interact with them?”

He shrugged as he finished chewing and swallowing a pastry. “I knew there were others here, but I didn’t know who. I probably delivered messages between them, but that was my job. I delivered messages between everyone.”

“What about Barnol Friaz? Did you ever deliver any messages to or from him?”

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

“Yeah, all the time. No more often than anyone else, though, I think.”

“Did he ever say anything to you?”

The boy thought for a moment. “Maybe once in a while, but not usually.”

“Do you remember anything specific he said/”

“He asked me how I was doing a couple times. Sometimes, he gave me a chocolate. He was friendlier than a lot of the other nobles, but he never talked with me for more than a minute or so.”

“Was there anyone else you took messages to or from more often than others?”

“Maybe Princess Annai? I’m not sure. She was always the most demanding, but I took messages between everyone.”

“Well, I think I can safely exclude Princess Annai as a potential Darker.” Zandrue chuckled. “Okay, after you were dismissed—thanks to her Highness, I believe—what happened then?”

“I went back to Arnor City and the Servants—Darkers—there to tell them what happened. They said they already knew.”

“And then they asked you to go back in?”

He shook his head. “Not right away, and it wasn’t them. It was another man I’d seen at the Palace before, but didn’t know was a Servant of Sunset. He seemed to be really important though because they were all doing everything he said.”

“Dyle Aderman?”

“He never told me his name.”

“Short? Scar on his cheek?”

Gill nodded. “Yeah, that’s him. He wanted me to deliver one more message, but he didn’t want anyone to be able to trace it back to him. He said he could get me in and out again.”

Zandrue took a sip of her wine and leaned forward. “Okay, I can see how he could get you through the gates, as you probably didn’t go through them very often while you were here, so the guards there wouldn’t recognise you. But how did you get through the Palace here without being seen?” He had already told Ardon the answer to this, but she wanted to here if from him.

“We didn’t go through the gates.” Gill hesitated, and took a bite of his pastry. “He used magic to get us in. He had a pearl or bead or something. It just...transported us in. One moment we were in Arnor City; the next, we were in the Palace near Prince Garet’s apartments, where his fiancée was staying. I delivered the letter, then he took us back to Arnor City. That was the last I saw him. I...I don’t ever want to do something like that again. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t natural.”

“Did Dyle say anything else while you were with him? At any point?”

Gill shook his head.

“You’re sure? It doesn’t matter how minor it seemed.”

Gill still shook his head. “Not that I remember.”

Zandrue sighed and took a couple more drinks of wine while she thought. “You mentioned you’d seen Dyle at the Palace before. In what sort of situation? What was he doing?”

“I always assumed he was one of Barnol Friaz’s menservants. I only ever saw him at Lord Friaz’s apartments.”

“And he never said anything? To you or Friaz or anyone?”

“Not that I saw, but I was never there long.” He leaned forward, almost falling off the chair. He repositioned himself on it, now clearly looking more comfortable. “There were a couple times there were other people there, too. It was like they were having a meeting or something. I figured Lord Friaz was just addressing his menservants as a group. Now I think of it, though, they weren’t dressed in Friaz livery. Or Palace livery.”

“Friends of his, perhaps?” Zandrue said. “Visiting relatives?”

“They weren’t Foliths,” Gill said. “They were Eloorin.”

“Was Dyle in Palace livery?”

Gill shook his head. “I don’t think I ever saw him in Palace livery, though I didn’t pay a lot of attention. I just did the job and left. It was okay worked while it lasted, but I’m kind of clumsy, and…”

Zandrue nodded. “I know. You have to be a little more careful in a place like this.”

“I guess so.” He looked back down at the floor.

Zandrue downed the rest of her wine, placed the cup on the table, and stood up. She clapped her hands together. “Right, thank you very much, Gill. I need to talk to his Grace for a bit. Help yourself to more refreshments.” She motioned Ebry back over again.

“They’ll know I talked to you,” he said.

Zandrue nodded slowly. “I know. His Grace will look after your protection. We’ll get you away from them, okay?”

He nodded. “Thank you.”

She smiled at him. “Think nothing of it.” She turned towards Ardon, who was already heading up the stairs. She hurried to join him.

At the top, Ardon handed her another cup of wine. “From my personal supply. From the Vermese vineyards in southern Orwin by the Bay of Ras. Prime grape-growing land.”

Zandrue took a sip. “That’s nice.” It was surprisingly sweet. She took another sip. “Very nice.”

He smiled and took a seat at the desk. “It’s not to my usual taste, personally, though it can make a nice dessert wine on occasion. However, I’ve noticed you have an appreciation for the sweeter wines and this is the sweetest I know.”

Zandrue sat down and took another sip. “Well, if you ever need to get rid of it, you know where to turn.” She grinned.

“Indeed.”

She gulped down the rest and reached for the bottle, raising a questioning eyebrow at him. He nodded and she poured herself another cup. “So, what do you think?”

“I think we have enough to approach the Queen,” Ardon said. “Though we should be cautious. Barnol Friaz is her most trusted confidante. She will resist accepting that he’s betrayed her.”

“I suppose we could wait a little longer if we have to,” Zandrue said. “Wait to see if Tianna notices anything. I asked her to keep an eye on her father for me. She wasn’t too believing either, but she agreed. I think it might have been more to prove me wrong, but either way…”

Ardon shook his head. “I’m not sure we can rely on that. If Barnol Friaz was going to do anything for Tianna to notice, she would have noticed years ago.”

“She hasn’t had reason to look before, though.”

“Perhaps, but I don’t think we can afford the time. We need to act on what we have. The Queen will be resistant, as I said, but she will accept the facts in the end. After all, she did offer her apologies to me for the other day.”

Zandrue chuckled. “Good point.”

Ardon raised his glass. “And with a little luck, Friaz can lead us straight to Mister Aderman.”

Zandrue clinked her glass against his. “It’s nice to have things go our way for a change.”

“I wouldn’t celebrate too early. We don’t have Mister Aderman yet.”

Zandrue shrugged. “True, but it’s a start, and after everything else, I’ll take it.”

“My Lady?” Ebry called from below. “Rudiger is here. He says he has news.”

“I’ll be right down.” She looked at Ardon with a raised eyebrow. “Good news, I hope.”

Ardon shrugged. “Let’s find out.” He motioned to the stairs. “After you.”

Zandrue drank some more wine, topped her cup, then hurried down the stairs.

Rudiger was standing beside Ebry, just a few feet from the stairs. Behind them, Gill was picking more pastries off the tray, which was now sitting on the table in front of him.

Rudiger’s eyes were sunken. He titled his head a little and gave a forced smile when he saw her.

Zandrue halted at the bottom of the stairs. “What’s wrong?”

He looked away from her and twitched a bit before speaking. “There’s been an incident. A bunch of horses are missing from the stables.”

“Missing? Did they escape?”

“Uh...no. I went to see Borisin. He saw part of what happened. He also saw Quilla. She had a lot to tell him.”

Zandrue’s eyes widened. “That’s great news! I’ve been worried sick about her and how to contact her. Gods, you had me worried there for a moment. Why the long face?”

“It wasn’t all good news.”

A hand touched her shoulder. It was Ardon, reaching the bottom of the stairs. She stepped aside to let him past.

“There was some sort of ceremony last night,” Rudiger said. “They...uh...that is, the Darkers took the horses for it. They…”

“Is Quilla all right?” Zandrue asked.

“Yeah, she’s fine. It’s just…”

“Come on, Rudiger. Out with it. What’s the problem?”

“It’s about Tianna. They took her too.”

Zandrue dropped her cup. Its contents splattered across the floor, and the cup shattered.

That first cup was just an accident. The others were very much intentional.