Aurelia (5 page)

"yes, I should." The words came out choppy and harsh. must he bring up all her failures in one night? "Life isn't always as you'd imagine it, robert!" she brushed past him, making her way across the bridge.

He moved to follow, but she faced him, her flat palm ordering him to stop. something must have convinced him to obey. He turned back to the bridge rail, staring out over the river's voiceless waters. she left him there and crossed the bridge into the night, allowing her anger and frustration to spill off into the darkness, where it could burn without scarring anyone else.

robert remained by the railing less than a minute, giving Aurelia time to get off the bridge though not out of eyesight. Obviously more was wrong with her than she let on. He knew he was capable of setting off her temper, but he had been teasing her all night without gaining so much as a glimmer of genuine anger. This time he had not been teasing at all, just asking a simple question.

If he waited until she calmed down, she might tell him something; but the chance was gone for tonight, the comfortable conversation scattered like Carnival leftovers on the ground. besides, did he really want to be Aurelia's confidant? The part of his life dealing with the problems of the aristocracy was past him. He did not need to involve himself in the princess's minor problems. His job was to deal with the major one.

The memory of the attempted poisoning from the night before flashed into his mind. He could not let her walk alone, no matter how angry she was with him. pushing himself away from the bridge rail, he started after her as she fumed her way around a curve on the opposite edge of the road.

He had just crossed over to the same side when a screaming sound yanked his attention. Horses? robert's head snapped up in astonishment, searching for the source. It was the same sound mustangs made on the frontier when there was a fierce storm coming.
What under the clouds . . . ?

At that moment the distraught horses came careening around the corner, six of them pulling a carriage. Light flared in multiple pairs of wide eyes. broken stones ricocheted out from the squealing wheels, and a man perched motionless in the driver's seat. The carriage, the horses, and the man's clothes were all black, fading into the night's cloak. robert took in the scene, reaching past his fear to record finer details even as his body broke into motion.

Aurelia had already turned and was running back toward him. What happened next was instinct. He grabbed her by the hand, hauling her off the road toward the cliff bank. somewhere his mind registered that the horses were also departing the roadside, coming after them. In swift movements, he swung Aurelia over the bank, watched her secure a grip, and slid over the edge. somehow his hands grasped hold of the rocky surface, keeping his body from crashing into the river below.

The lead horses reared overhead, screaming shrilly enough to shred veins. Hooves slammed down on the earth, sending a cascade of small stones over the two humans clinging to the cliff side. robert closed his eyes and pressed his face close to the earth. dirt burned in his lungs, but he held his position until the pelting ceased.

When he opened his eyes, the horses were gone. He turned immediately to the presence on his right. Aurelia's chest heaved beside his. Her breath came out in rasping gulps, and her fingers clung to the rocky bank just as fiercely as his own. she was still alive. but the fear pounding through his body was so overpowering, there was no room for a sense of relief.

Chapter Four

HORSEFLESH

ROBERT PACED ON THE PRACTICE-YARD SAND, HIS boots tracing and retracing their own prints. He frowned at the gray clouds blocking out most of the morning light, though at least here he had space to think. Visions of the carriage attack had pressed down on his mind ever since he had scrambled up the riverbank the night before at Aurelia's side.

A team of six horses. All black, but none the same. His father had taught him nothing was identical. A spy must look beyond the similarities. details and differences, those were the clues to identification. No knife, no sword, no carriage was exactly like another.

robert had noted the height, approximate weight, and style of the carriage. At the pace it had been traveling, it was plenty large enough to overrun another vehicle on the road. He might trace the carriage or the carriage maker, but robert had seen no crest or distinguishing features. He hoped if he spotted the exact vehicle, he could identify it. still, he doubted the carriage was the best place to focus his attention.

He should have far better luck tracing the horses. six black. robert had spent the past four years working with horses on the farm. He loved their personalities, had spent hours studying their traits and learning to appreciate each as an individual. When the carriage had come into view, robert's attention had focused on the horses. both members of the lead pair were big, one with a large scar below the knee, the other with a long neck and shaggy coat. He had only caught a glimpse of the back four, but it had been enough to recognize two mares in the rear and two stallions, smaller than the lead pair, in the center. The mare on the right side had a white streak in her mane. someone had worked hard to put that team together. The horses had run full speed toward Aurelia and robert, not shying at the nearness of the cliff. No animal would voluntarily charge itself into harm's way, despite the guise of the driver losing control. Those horses had been following instructions, obedient to the point of self-endangerment. They were a frightfully well-trained team. robert would find all the horses together. And if they were together, he was certain he could identify them.

He also thought he could recognize the stallion with the scar even without the company of the other horses. It had led the charge and seemed to aim deliberately for robert and Aurelia. A shiver ran down robert's body. He could not shake the chilling feeling the stallion had done this before, charging and trampling the life from its victim. He had known many horses during his life: friendly, gentle, shy, cocky, proud, and wild--but he had never before seen one that was cruel. That horse had been hunting him last night. He would recognize it if he saw it again.

And he knew a horse and a team like that would leave an impression on anyone experienced with horses.

Who here would be? Of course, there was the head groom, but asking a palace insider would be risky. Outside of Chris, uncle Henry, and the king, no one in the palace knew robert's real purpose there. One leading question in the wrong quarters and his secret would be splashed about with the washwater.

No, he could not ask daria's father. robert needed someone in the city, someone who had access to wealthy houses and wealthy horses. He could ask Chris, but Chris had never cared much for horses. And robert doubted his cousin was yet awake after the late Carnival night.

"Her royal Highness, princess Aurelia, wishes to see you, sir." A feminine voice tore through his mental web.

robert flinched, caught unaware by the presence of a young lady's maid standing not ten feet before him. Hazel eyes stared through him as if they could read his thoughts. "Is something wrong?" he asked, worried Aurelia had realized the carriage accident was no accident.

"The royal physician has restricted Her Highness to her rooms for the day, and she is in search of entertainment."

robert raised his eyebrows. He certainly had no intention of spending the day in Aurelia's rooms. He needed to find those horses.

On the other hand, he had to admit he wanted to see her, to see for himself that she was still alive this morning, unchanged. she had been in a hurry last night to return to the palace, too much of a hurry to let him comfort her; but he suspected underneath her urgency had been fear. He nodded and reached for his frock coat. "I suppose I can see her for a few minutes."

"Follow me, sir." The girl led him through a carved doorway and along the lengthy, formal route to Aurelia's rooms. The trip took forever. men and women passed, pausing to offer a greeting. robert struggled to identify each person's rank, his eyes seeking out the emblems, ribbons, and clothing that would tell him the correct means of response. He scrambled to remember titles and forms of address, all the while afraid he might offend someone. No wonder Aurelia had preferred traveling in disguise the previous night.

And now robert was left with the guilt of having assisted in the secret escapade. Nothing about the previous night's attack made sense. How had she been recognized? They had overrated the strength of her disguise by half.

He should have informed palace security.

He should have warned his uncle.

He should have--

The rap of the lady's maid's knuckles on Aurelia's private door restrained his self-inflicted flogging. He had passed through the princesses' joined parlor without even realizing it.

"my lady, I am returned with robert Vantauge," the girl said.

"Come in!" Aurelia called, then watched as robert entered the sitting room.
Come in and let slip everything your uncle told you.
Her various attempts to speak with her father about last night's accident had resulted in a dearth of answers, an excess of concern, and her following confinement in the name of good health. she was being kept out of the investigation for some reason, and robert must know more than she did.

His blue eyes studied her with intensity. "Are you all right?" he asked.

she had the sudden sharp memory of his hands lifting her from the cliff and pulling her to him. An unnatural warmth rushed up to her cheekbones.

she tried to shake off the thought by pointing dramatically at the chair across the table from her seat. "Care to test me?" she lifted a card deck from the game table's patterned surface and shuffled.

He slid into the empty giltwood chair.

"keep your wits about you, sir," she heard minuet whisper. "I have heard Her Highness is not one to lose a card game on purpose."

"I'll keep that in mind," robert replied.

Aurelia dealt the cards. Then, hoping he might let down his guard, she eased the conversation smoothly onto the topic of horses. A brief summary of robert's recent equestrian experiences grew into a winding pathway of horse breeding, training techniques, and the relationship between horse and rider. by the time he admitted surprise at her expertise with regard to both horses and cards, she had trounced him in three straight hands of double hearts.

she used the compliment as a chance to launch her interrogation. "I thought I was familiar with the strongest teams in the city, but I didn't know the one we ran into last night. Tell me, robert. What is being done about that carriage? Has the driver been identified?" she glanced up to gauge his reaction.

robert fumbled, cringing as a jack of diamonds fell faceup on the table. "Why would anyone tell
me
?"

she gave him a penetrating look. "because your uncle is the king's adviser, your father was a spy, and you were there last night. don't tell me you haven't asked." she sloughed a high card. "What does Chris say?"

"I doubt Chris will say anything for several hours yet. He's still asleep."

The lie was so unexpected Aurelia had no idea how to react. True, she had feared Henry might tell his nephew not to discuss the accident with her until the investigation was complete, but why would robert lie over something as trivial as Chris's whereabouts? It
was
a lie, though. she had already seen Chris that morning, laughing with Tedasa in the parlor.

"Asleep?" she gave robert the chance to correct himself.

"As a drunken rooster."

"don't play verbal games with me." she slapped another high card on the table. "That driver on the road last night came around the corner in a reckless manner. He or she should have reported the incident to the authorities."

robert picked up the card with a painful slowness and began a new round. "I would have thought so myself, but nothing has been reported. Apparently the driver does not want to be identified."

doubt spiked through her chest. If robert had lied about Chris, he might be lying now. "Then we must see that the driver is found," she snapped. "He or she shouldn't be allowed to endanger other lives."

"I agree. However, I doubt the palace guards have enough time to investigate the disappearance of a reckless carriage driver. perhaps I should ask in the city myself. I believe I could describe the horses well enough so someone who knows them might recognize them."

"I suppose that would be a decent start," she acknowledged grudgingly.

"you don't know who in the city might be a good horseman or horsewoman to ask?" robert probed. "perhaps someone familiar with the upper classes as well as the horses that come in and out of the city gates?"

she floundered, not able to come up with an ulterior motive behind his offer. "There are several people," she finally said, then gave him the best suggestion she could, "but I'd start with drew Fielding. daria's father asks him for breeding advice, and I know drew advises many upper-class families looking for strong teams. He runs the gamut on horseflesh. spends plenty of time fleecing commoners at the city racecourse as well. And he'd probably like to talk to you anyway. He loves to hear about horse breeding in other regions of the kingdom."

The clock chimed eleven and robert stood up. "Listen, if I'm going to go find this Fielding, I need to leave." He placed the winning card on the table. An ace of hearts.

she stared, stunned, unable to shake the feeling that he had won more than the game.

Twenty minutes later, a commoner rode out through the palace gates.

At least he was dressed as a commoner. Comfortable in his own worn shirt, trousers, and buckskin jacket, robert guided his personal mount onto a dirt trail skirting the western half of Tyralt City. According to a talkative groom, the place to be was a local horse fair, and robert assumed drew Fielding would be there.

The fairgrounds were located in the northeast corner of town, not far from the main gate. robert could have walked straight there as quickly as he could ride around the city circumference, but he preferred to avoid the heavy traffic of wagons and carriages cluttering the main road.

The famous Tyralian wall rose up on his left, its protective layers of stone reaching as high as the palace tower. The wall swept out from behind the palace, traced its way down the slope and around the front of the city, disappeared along the waters of the bay, and climbed back up the hill to complete the circle. Tyralian peasants had built the wall more than five hundred years before, and robert pitied the invading armies that had broken themselves and their weapons upon the impenetrable stone.

His horse, Horizon, broke into a canter beside the wall's edge, and robert allowed the three-year-old stallion to enjoy the run down the sparsely populated slope before pulling his mount to a safer brisk walk at the edge of the marketplace. The powerful bay slowed reluctantly, and Robert maintained a firm grip for the next hundred feet. Horizon was not opposed to depositing a rider on the ground when asked to do something unpleasant.

The marketplace eventually gave way to tenement buildings. grim faces stared out from rickety staircases and stained windows. robert guided Horizon closer to the Tyralian wall, hoping to avoid the downward path of refuse or emptied bedpans. broken carts and wagon pieces littered the alleyways, and dirt smeared everything, even the wet laundry connecting each row of buildings with the next.

"excuse me, mister, do you have a coin to spare?" A ragged boy stretched out a hand toward Horizon. The stallion backed away, and robert leaned forward to press a few coins into the grimy palm.

A sudden flood of skinny bodies with outstretched hands scrambled out from behind corners and doors. Children surrounded him, pressing close, with no regard for their own safety in the face of the stallion's sharp hooves. robert struggled to calm his horse as high voices raised in begging pleas.

"A copper! A copper!"

"For my family, mister."

"For my hungry baby sister."

"please, mister."

"please, please!"

He emptied his pocket and shouted a warning to the children before urging Horizon forward. robert felt thankful when the inns and taverns near the main gate replaced the tenements. He had seen poverty before. No one on the frontier had much in the way of material goods, but here the poverty felt raw, the lives of the poor standing out in stark contrast to those of the nearby aristocracy.

Horizon whistled with excitement as he passed the city stables and approached the horse fair. A roped-off boundary came into view, and robert dismounted, shortening the reins.

He had no intention of providing a horse thief with the lift of a lifetime.

robert descended into the fair's shifting sea of shoving elbows and stomping boots. Cajoling voices of horse traders glided under the demanding questions of potential buyers. prices swung like dying pendulums, the distance between both ends narrowing toward the center. unbridled children, grown feral with their parents' neglect, pounded after one another, ducking dangerously under horses and humans alike, then popping up just long enough to spot their fellow predators and prey. draped over everything hung the humid smell of hay, manure, and horseflesh.

robert strained to identify a horse worth the attention of a genuine horseman. Filtering through dozens of pack and cart horses, he focused on a full team tied to a single hitching post. Here, at least, was a place to start.