“Baron Mowbray is powerful, and many in the country believe Lord Clement is too close to the Marseden throne. They still see him as a foreigner.”
With the way the royalty intermarried, it could be said that any of them were foreigners. King Leofric had not long since become engaged to Princess Marita, the daughter of Oderic of Odeway, a kingdom across the sea. Instead of resenting her for being a foreigner, most of Aerador considered the king’s wedding a boon for the country, a union that would ally us with a powerful land.
I had to point out the obvious. “You don’t know for certain that Lord Clement would lower the servant price to seven years. Assassinating the king in the hopes that the next ruler might be better seems like thin justification for murder.”
Madame Sutton waved a dismissive hand. “We’ve reliable sources that say he would lower it to five years. Lord Clement believes if he did, Aerador’s servants would stop fleeing to Marseden and Marseden’s servants would begin coming here. With the extra workers, the country would thrive again.”
Alaric looked at me with imploring eyes. They were warm brown and so earnest one couldn’t help but be swayed by them. “Barnaby has joined the renegade army. They want to fight the king’s men. They’re tired of waiting for change to come.”
My stomach sank. Not Barnaby. Alaric’s older brother was his best friend. “He shouldn’t have enlisted. He’ll be killed. You need to stop him.”
“I’m thinking of joining him.” Alaric cut off the protest that sprang to my lips. “Madam Sutton can tell you of your missions as easily as I can. The army needs strong men.”
Such talk was madness. “The king has wizards. The renegade army hasn’t a chance.” I’d grown to depend on Alaric’s friendship. I couldn’t abide the thought of losing him.
“Perhaps that’s true,” Alaric said. “And yet I cannot leave my brother to fight alone. If he goes to battle, how can I not be at his side?”
Madame Sutton looked pointedly at me. “A revolution is coming. It will be fought with thousands of deaths or with only one. The choice is yours.”
A cold choice.
“We can assure the military leaders,” Master Grey added, “we’ve other plans to reach our goals, and they must stand down for a season. Think of the lives you’ll save.”
“What would I be required to do?” I hoped for something small—perhaps unlocking a door or levitating weapons over a wall.
Master Grey rubbed his hands together, warming to his explanation. “Next summer when the king marries, a great number of nobles will fill Valistowe castle to celebrate. Every lord will want to hobnob with the king and every highborn mother will bring her daughters in hopes of catching the eye of a wealthy bachelor. For two weeks, they’ll busy themselves with feasting, dancing, and clandestine meetings around the castle grounds. You’ll accompany Lady Edith there.”
“Has she an invitation?” Paxworth was a small estate with a nearly dilapidated manor house. Usually, my adopted mother only interacted with a handful of servants, the tenants in hervillage, and the merchants who did business there. I assumed her frequent association with the common folk had made her sympathetic to the renegades’ cause, but at times I was just as certain she only helped them to get funds to fix Paxworth’s manor and grounds.
“She is of the peerage,” Madame Sutton answered, at last taking a seat by the fireplace. “And therefore invited. The other nobles will simply think she’s trying to regain some status in court and attempting to find a suitable husband for you. Alaric will accompany you there as her groomsman.”
“And?” I prompted. I hadn’t heard anything that actually resembled a plan yet.
Madame Sutton folded her hands in her lap. “We’ve knowledge of several secret passageways leading from various places in the courtyard to the king’s chambers. They were built to allow him an escape route should the castle ever be under attack and will no doubt be locked. But you’ve no problem getting through locked doors.”
“That depends on the door,” I said. Some had more than locks to keep intruders out.
She went on as though I hadn’t spoken. “All guests are searched upon arrival, and their weapons taken from them until they leave again. You’ll either need to sneak something in or use whatever magic at your disposal to end King Leofric’s reign.”
I shook my head. They didn’t understand what they were asking.
Alaric put his hand on my arm to draw my attention. “I can strike the necessary blow if needed. You’ll just clear the way.”
I kept shaking my head. “The king has five wizards protecting him.”
“Yes,” Madame Sutton said, “but our sources report they’re rarely by his side. Even if you couldn’t access the passageways,only a couple of men-at-arms guard his chambers. With your abilities, you should have little trouble dispatching them.”
Madame Sutton’s sources were uninformed. I didn’t know anything about the king’s wizards, but I still knew one essential fact. “The wizards don’t need to stay at the king’s side to protect him. They’ve cast a reflecting spell on him.”
The group stared at me blankly. I shouldn’t have been surprised. Very few besides wizards knew of the spell. I only knew of it because back when I’d lived in Docendum, Ronan had hunted for information about it and had been frustrated when he could find nothing. The spell had been created by King Leofric’s father’s wizards and, presumably, the secret hadn’t left Valistowe Castle or the wizard council there since. This was probably in part because the spell would only protect a king. If one of the wizard council, in an act of avarice, had wanted to sell it, none of the nobility would’ve cared to buy it.
“A reflecting spell is formidable magic that requires the wizard council to enact and maintain it. The result is that any action taken to kill the king won’t affect him but will reflect back on the assassin. If you were to stab King Leofric, he would pull the knife from his chest, unharmed, and watch you bleed to death. If you put poison into his cup, you would drop dead when he took a sip.”
“Oh.” Madame Sutton winced and placed her hand on her chest. Her voice was tinged with a sudden sadness. “That would explain certain things.”
Had they already attempted to assassinate him?
“How do we counteract that magic?” Master Grey asked.