The queen looked upward, thinking. “No, not winged women. How do you say? Ah, I remember. Fairy tales.”
“Oh,” I said. “Yes, our story is like a fairy tale.” One where the hero and heroine nearly killed each other.
“You mustn’t mind my fancies.” She fluttered her hand. “I love to read the stories of romance and adventure. Leofric says I may have my own library here.”
And yet another reason to like the queen. “I would be happy to help procure books. I know of many good ones.”
She brightened. “Yes, you must do this.”
I decided then that I wouldn’t mind being Marita’s lady-in-waiting after all.
CHAPTER 30
Iwent to visit Gwenyth next. She was splayed out straight like a doll, her legs wrapped in linen bandages. The doctor had just finished changing them and was standing to leave. “She’s recovering nicely,” he told me. “Mage Warison came by this morning with some salve to help keep infection at bay.”
“Mage Warison was here?” Did the man never sleep? “I’ll have to thank him.”
The doctor left, and I shut the door so I could talk to Gwenyth privately.
“I imagine,” Gwenyth said dryly, “that you’ve already thanked Mage Warison enough.” Her tone made it clear she was aware of my decision to stay at Valistowe.
I pulled a chair over to her pallet, took out my knitting, and repeated the spell Ronan had used when he muffled our conversation. “What have you already heard?”
“Everything. Alaric came by earlier to see when I’ll be able to travel. The doctor says not until two weeks at the earliest. Then I can go a short distance if I’m laying down and well padded. Alaric is going to procure a wagon and blankets.”
“Did he tell you that King Leofric agreed to abolish the servants’ price?”
“Yes, and I’ll believe it’s the truth when I hear those words come from his mouth and see the sweet sight of his noblemen bursting into tears.”
“I’d no idea you were so peevish when you were cross.”
She grunted and finally turned her gaze to mine. “When we first came to court, I worried your knowledge of magic would be insufficient to complete your task. I worried wizards might find and kill you. I never worried one would woo you to his side. Clearly, my anxiety was misplaced.” She let out a long unenthusiastic sigh. “And yet I will grudgingly admit that for a wizard, Warison isn’t horrible. Perhaps he’s a decent fellow beneath his charm and power.”
“High praise.”
“I’ve no idea what Grey and Sutton will say of all of this.”
“If it isn’t ‘Thank you’, I don’t want to know. We achieved the aim of the mission even if we didn’t do it the way they imagined.”
“We don’t know that it’s achieved,” she muttered, “and now the man who championed our cause is dead.” She didn’t add, “All because you couldn’t bring yourself to take Ronan’s mark,” but the implication was there.
“King Leofric will abolish the servants’ price,” I said, though I was growing less confident of this fact under the harsh glare of Alaric and Gwenyth’s skepticism. What power did I have to hold a king to his word if he changed his mind?
Gwenyth and I talked for a bit longer. She reluctantly forgave me for being in love with Ronan and for my misplaced faith in Leofric. “I hope you’re right,” she said. “Hope is all the lot of us have left now.”
I wished I’d pinned down King Leofric as to when he would implement his new law. What was to say he wouldn’t wait for ten years?
After I left Gwenyth, I wandered around the castle in hopes I’d run into Ronan.
There was no sign of him.
Earlier when I’d talked with Queen Marita, she told me I should spend as much time with Lady Edith as I could before she returned to Paxworth, so I was back at my old table that night at supper. No one asked where I’d been all day.
Lady Edith informed them of my appointment and they gave me hearty congratulations. Madame Godfrey even smiled at me with approval and, I thought, design. Perhaps she had put me back in the running for her son’s attention.
The talk turned to the events of last night and what they meant for the country’s future with Marseden. Lord Percy said that King Leofric had been meeting with his advisors all day. He wasn’t in the dining hall. The entire dais sat empty.
Agnes was sure King Regnault of Marseden would consider his grandson’s death an act of war and invade us shortly. Her mother was equally sure we would invade Marseden as that country must be behind Lord Clement’s treachery. We discussed whether Princess Beatrice would be able to retain her Marseden holdings in her child’s name and if King Leofric should help her protect those lands from any attempt on King Regnault’s part to strip them from her. Each person had an opinion of the response Aerador should use in the wake of the assassination attempt.