Chapter 17: A Hush of Secrets

The group that convened in the sanctuary of the royal bedchamber consisted of a king, a queen, a pawn, and a rook.

"Did we really have to do this here?" muttered Gorogon. "It's... really weird."

"I know, but I'm reasonably certain we won't be overheard in here."

In contrast to her words, Luvenia was checking inside closets and behind paintings to make sure there was no way for a spy to listen in. The conversation they were about to have needed to be kept deathly secret.

Once she was satisfied that they were thoroughly isolated from the outside world, she sat on the edge of the bed next to Gorogon, facing the chair in which Millie sat cowering. "Iron Hans" stood with typical passivity at the door.

"I know you're scared, Millie. It's okay. We're talking like this because I want to keep it off the record. Nobody will hear what you have to say except us."

Millie nodded, but her face was very pale.

"Gorogon, dear, I would like your word that you will grant full pardon for any crimes admitted to during this conversation."

"I can pardon anything except high treason."

Millie whimpered. Luvenia reached out and squeezed her hand.

"ACTS of high treason?" she specified.

"Hmm? Yes, I suppose." When she elbowed him, he amended his statement: "I will pardon anything short of an act of high treason."

"There we go. See, Millie? You're safe now."

The maid nodded. She still looked terrified to the point of paroxysm.

Luvenia wanted to reassure Millie beyond a shadow of a doubt. The only way she could think of to do so was very risky, and there was no guarantee that the others would cooperate.

She took a deep breath.

"Every person here has a secret they have shared with me. I won't reveal their secrets, but I will give you one of mine."

Millie looked up at her. "Madam...?"

Now or never.

"I witnessed my father, the king of Alatir, murder my half-brother Lephane and my mother, Ligeia. He is also responsible for the deaths of my two half-sisters and of two more half-brothers."

She swallowed hard and gripped Gorogon's hand.

"Even now, he holds my last half-brothers hostage—one locked in a tower within the palace, the other isolated in the furthest reaches of our kingdom. He intends to ensure my loyalty to Alatir by threatening Beaucaire, the only family I have left in the world–" She had to clear her throat. "And poor little Jobrien is kept far from the palace to prevent him from gaining any support but what little my father gives him. His life has only been spared so Alatir will have a crown prince if anything should befall Beau."

Only when Gorogon pressed a handkerchief into her hand did she realize she was crying.

Millie had tears in her eyes as well. It seemed she was close to admitting her own secret.

"As long as we're sharing..." Gorogon held Luvenia around the waist with one arm, letting her rest against him. "I'm jolly fond of Luvenia, but I'm not actually in love with her—nor she with me. I've never passionately loved a woman in all my life."

Millie was evidently too shocked to continue to be scared, let alone tactful. "But, sire—what about what you did to the poor madam on your wedding night??"

Gorogon turned bright red. Luvenia laughed and dabbed away the last of her tears.

"I told you time and again: he didn't do anything to me that I didn't ask him to do." She eased herself out of his grip. "I was worried someone would find out I was still a virgin, so we... took care of it."

"In my defense, neither of us had any idea what to expect," mumbled Gorogon.

"It worked out for the best. Now nobody would dream of suggesting that he isn't mad about me."

She looked over at "Iron Hans", who stood like a figure of stone.

"I wanted to tell you," she said sincerely, "but it wasn't my secret alone."

The guard seemed to come alive, turning to address the others.

"Before I was known as 'Iron Hans'..." She pulled back her hood. "...my name was Hanna."

The stunned silence lasted long enough for Luvenia to go through a full cycle of panic, rationalization, and resignation.

Then Gorogon laughed, and the air came back into the room.

"And here I thought your secret would be that you were my wife's lover!"

"No." Hanna's voice was somehow both reverent and bitter. "She's far too precious to be desecrated by a brute like me."

Luvenia reeled as if she had been struck. Gorogon steadied her with a hand on her back.

"Sounds like you two need to talk about that... but not right now, definitely not with me in the room." He turned his attention to Millie, who was watching them all with wide eyes. "I believe you have more than enough information to hold each of us in check, my dear. If you have anything to tell us, you need no longer hesitate."

Millie nodded. She raised her chin and spoke, tremulously but without hesitation.

"I was born and raised in Alatir. My husband was a squire when we met, and as soon as he was knighted we got married. He made a fair salary as a royal knight, and I was a lady's maid, so I thought we wouldn't have any more problems and would live happily ever after.

"Then there was... an accident. During an innocent sparring match, my husband struck his opponent and killed him. It turned out that the other man hadn't maintained his armor, so it wasn't Theriar's fault... but someone started a rumor that the other man had been my lover, and that Theriar had killed him on purpose. It was all lies—I never once betrayed Theriar, least of all with a man I'd never even met!

"It seemed like Theriar might lose his knighthood, so I sent a petition to the knight-commander to have the matter looked into properly. Next thing I know, I'm up before the king himself, and he's asking me all these questions! I hardly know what I said to him, but he must have been satisfied, because then he offers to issue a full pardon to Theriar in exchange for my help. I said yes without hearing the whole offer, and signed my name to a document he wrote—and then he told me I'd just agreed to work for him as a spy.

"You can imagine my blood ran cold at the thought, but he had my name on the agreement, and Theriar's knighthood in his hands, so I was stuck good and proper. I barely had time to tell my husband I loved him before I was bundled off to Middewold with a set of false references and a made-up history of growing up in a town just this side of the border.

"I thought I'd have to do all manner of dangerous things—gathering information, sneaking into places I wasn't meant to go, and so forth—but, when I meet the man who gave me my instructions, I found out I was only meant to establish myself as a maid in the royal palace. It seemed too easy, but who was I to complain?

"That was a good two years ago. I didn't get any more instructions until this last spring—not long before you arrived, madam. Then I was told to make sure I was one of your attendants, by hook or by crook. That wasn't hard at all, since by then I was already great pals with Mollie and Mellie.

"It's been a real pleasure to serve you, madam. Don't think for a moment that I was only pretending. If that was all I'd had to do, I would've counted myself lucky, even if I couldn't see my darling Theriar again.

"But then, after your wedding..."

***

[flashback]

The maids had dared one another to taste the fancy cocktails on offer at the royal wedding reception. Each of them ended up with a different color of drink, but they sipped each other's as well, giggling and exclaiming over the unfamiliar tastes.

Millie was already feeling a little light-headed when she heard a cold voice in her ear:

"West hallway. Three minutes."

She started to turn her head, but the speaker twisted her arm behind her back and stopped her dead.

"Three. Minutes."

It took two and a half minutes to extract herself from the others, who had started mixing together various drinks to make new and exciting concoctions, and another half-minute to make sure she was at the correct hallway.

She padded along the corridor, heart racing, and crept around the corner.

There he was: Eddard the Faithless, pale as death, cold as death. His eyes were the same color as the new queen's, but with none of her gentleness, nor of her affection.

"Phaon had a message for you. You must not have received it."

She had never known the name of the man who gave her the king's instructions. She did know that Lord Phaon was one of the victims of the attack that her mistress had survived.

"No, sire."

"Then listen well." He said each word distinctly, so there could be no mistake. " 'Should heaven fall, slay the hart and snare the hind.' "

"Sire? I don't–"

"You were cast from heaven, and you wish to return." Heaven was Alatir, then. "Should heaven fall, the hart with his branching crown will die." The crown of Middewold, therefore the king. "His mate will be to blame for his death." The new queen would be found guilty of high treason.

"Sire, how could I do such a thing?? To leave my mistress widowed, to frame her for such a crime–"

"Your mistress?!" He laughed joylessly. "You serve me and me alone, wench. That girl is mine; her life and death are at my whim."

"Sire–"

"Enough. Do as I command if you wish to see your husband again in this life."

Millie stared at him in horror. The choice before her was too terrible to contemplate.

The king's eyes flicked down to her neck. A hint of something dark tinted his cold expression.

"Where did you get that." His flat inflection turned the question into an accusation.

Her hand flew up to touch the necklace of cherry-pink pearls. "My mis– her high– her majesty lent us–"

He seized the necklace and tore it from her throat with such force that she choked. The string cut into her flesh as loose pearls scattered in a dozen directions.

"How dare you wear Ligeia's pearls–!"

Struggling to catch her breath, she fell to her knees. He was standing over her. Would he strike her? What would he do?

She braced herself for anything.

"...thought I saw her go this way..."

The familiar voice drifting down the hallway brought her to her senses. She looked up—and found herself alone, surrounded by the beautiful ruins of the necklace.

Mollie was the first around the corner, and just stared in shock for a moment. Then Mellie rushed over and threw her arms around Millie.

"Are you all right?? Poor Millie..."

As soon as Mellie started crying, Millie broke down as well. She could only just hear Myra's voice through her own tears:

"Call the guards! Someone's been attacked!"

[/flashback]

***

Millie's eyes were bright with tears, but she looked more angry than sorrowful.

"That filthy murdering scum! How dare HE lay his hands on your mother's pearls!! He ought to be horsewhipped for that alone!!!"

Luvenia surprised all of them, including herself, by laughing. She rose from the bed and went to hug Millie.

"I'm sorry you had to go through all that... but I'm so happy that you're upset for my sake."

The maid was blushing when Luvenia leaned away.

"You're really too kind, madam," she mumbled. "After all I've done..."

"All you've done is serve me faithfully and endure my father's wickedness. I don't blame you for any of it."

"Pardon the interruption..." Gorogon looked serious on the surface, but Luvenia caught the mischievous glint in his eye. "...but did you say you were ordered to kill me?"

Millie jolted upright. "Sire, I– I would never–!"

"Don't tease her, Gorogon. She's been very brave."

"I know. –Don't be afraid, my dear. I understand." He glanced from Hanna to Luvenia. "In any case, knowing that our new ally has designs on my life has some serious political implications. Obviously I can't tell the council, but I've got to consider my next moves carefully."

"Naturally. For now, I think it would be prudent to proceed with the plan we outlined at the council meeting."

"Agreed. You're as wise as you are beautiful." He gave Hanna a cheeky grin. "But I shouldn't be the one to say so."

Luvenia felt herself blushing. She pretended to fix the hem of her dress so the others wouldn't see her face.