For Want of a Fiend (20 page)

He waited at the entrance to his room and nearly shut the door in her face. Starbride pushed it open, and when they were alone, he tore the mask off his head, revealing his red, swollen eyes.

“Get out of here.”

“You let Katya hug you but not me?” Maybe if she let him think he offended her, he’d calm a bit.

He sank onto a worn ottoman, his mask dangling between his knees. “She wasn’t hugging me; she was hugging Pennynail, Crowe’s contact, not his…” His mouth quivered, and he dropped the mask to cover his face.

Starbride sat next to him, her arm around his shoulders and her brain making connections almost before she was aware of them. “Not his…son?”

Freddie sobbed and leaned into her embrace. Why else would Crowe keep a criminal so close to him? Why let an accused murderer into a position where he could hurt the royal family? What other relationship would have such trust?

“I’m so sorry, Freddie,” Starbride whispered. “I know you may not understand this as a compliment, but he carried the honor of his caste.”

Freddie barked a laugh through his tears. “It always thrilled him to hear you say that.” He closed his eyes and rested his chin on his palms, elbows on his knees. “He was training you to replace him, but you can’t be king’s pyradisté, not yet.”

“I have to graduate from the academy.” Training with Crowe would have amounted to the same thing, but now she would have to go the traditional route. The royal family couldn’t take a rogue pyradisté to their bosom.

“You’re the pyradisté for the Order.” He opened one eye. “And for the dirty jobs. We’re going to have to work on some persona, some reason Katya or the king would have to send you on various errands, like…he…did. Brutal or I could bring in prisoners, but Crowe had contacts and informants that are lost to us now, though I can handle some of them.”

Starbride had to laugh. “I’m the crown princess consort and the royal watchdog?”

“Your mother is helping with all the nobles she’s getting to know. You might have to be the palace rat, building a fear base. If you see courtiers getting into trouble, they’re liable to disappear the next day, that sort of thing. Not many of them will clamor for your attention after that happens.”

“Horsestrong be praised,” Starbride said before she could stop herself.

Freddie chuckled slightly. “People knew he did the king’s business, my father. That was one of the reasons people stayed away from him. If the palace knows you’re taking his place, they’ll stay out of your way, giving you a little room to maneuver, but they’ll also be watching the rest of the Order less and won’t question it if you’re sometimes spotted in the seedier parts of town.”

“I feel a headache coming on.” Starbride switched to another chair, one she could lean back in. “Everything here is so complicated.” She told him about Brutal’s determination to skulk with her.

“Sounds like something he’d do. I’m very grateful about your ruse the other night. If Brutal ever got a hold of me, he could crack me like a nut.”

“And he wouldn’t even know what he’d done.”

“You and I can meet in private if we have to sneak out.”

Starbride couldn’t hold in a grimace. “I’m going to have to lie more, aren’t I?”

“Da said people have to be protected from the truth.” He choked up again.

Starbride swallowed several times. “I remember him saying something like that once, hinting that Katya doesn’t know half the events that make the Order function.”

“King Einrich knows. He and Crowe were close; he knew what we had to do, if we ever had to quietly dispose of someone. Sometimes, King Einrich even ordered it done. Your relationship with your one-day father-in-law is about to change.”

Starbride nodded, though she promised herself she wouldn’t keep everything from Katya, that she’d let her into it gradually. After all, if something happened to King Einrich, Katya could find herself queen regent before her niece was old enough to take the throne. “I’m going to tell her that I know who you are, Freddie.”

“You can’t! She’ll recognize my name. She won’t…let me help her anymore.”

Starbride peered at him, not missing the pause and guessing it covered the words, “won’t respect me,” or “won’t like me.” She didn’t comment on that. “I’m not going to tell her your name,” she said, “just that I know what you look like and that your face is recognizable.”

“It’ll eat at her until she gets it out of you.” He still didn’t sit.

“She never got it out of Crowe.”

“She wasn’t having sex with Crowe.”

Starbride barked a laugh. “That would have to be some evening to get me to call out
your
name.” The statement sounded wrong to her as soon as she said it, and she had to look away, hoping to hide her blush.

“True enough. And Katya knows you’re my father’s successor. She had to suspect he’d tell you who I am.”

“Yes.” That was one way to keep Katya from asking. She could say, “Crowe didn’t want you to know.” Not fair to use a dead man, but she was going to have to embrace whatever tactics worked. “I have to go to her.”

Freddie gestured at the door and turned away. Starbride wanted to say more but had no clue what. “When you get a chance,” Freddie said, “look in the bottom right drawer of his desk. There’s something he wanted you to have.”

Starbride only nodded and hurried to Katya’s apartment.

Katya sat on her bed and stared at the wall, no one else with her. Starbride folded her into an embrace and stroked her hair. “Why did they leave you alone?”

After only a few moments in Starbride’s arms, Katya sat up. “I’m sick of crying. Where did you go?”

“To see Pennynail.”

“To…see him?”

“Without the mask.”

Katya’s sad face gave way to amazement. “What does he look like? Who is he? Is he even a he?”

Starbride took a deep breath.

“Spirits above,” Katya whispered, “you’re not going to tell me, are you?”

Starbride tried to force out the excuse about Crowe not wanting it, but the words wouldn’t come. “I can’t, and you know why.”

Katya paced up and down the room, her face dark and angry. Starbride let her fume and waited. Finally, Katya took a deep breath of her own. “I know you’re right, but…”

Starbride stood and kneaded her shoulders. Katya’s head drooped as she leaned into the contact.

“Spirits above, Star,” Katya whispered. “What am I going to do?”

“We’re going to handle it together. All of it. We’re all behind you, Katya, and some of us are even far out to the side of you.”

Katya chuckled softly. “In the shadows, taking care of the things I can’t. I miss just being the head of the Order.”

“Oh, just being the head of the Order, secret protectors of the royal family, your family.” She kissed the back of Katya’s neck. “Poor, lazy, run-of-the-mill princess. What did anyone see in her?”

“Now that I’m the crown princess, are you saying I’m worthy of love?”

“I’m secretly holding out for queen, but sure.”

Katya kissed her long and deep. “I love you, Crown Princess Consort Meringue.”

“And I you, Crown Princess Steppingstone.”

Katya hugged her hard, making the wind rush from her lungs. “Promise me you won’t die.”

“I promise.” Starbride shut her eyes and just held on. “And I know you promise the same.” She chuckled slightly, trying to get some air back into the room. “I might get to meet Crowe’s seedy contacts. Do you pity me or are you jealous?”

“Both. If I’m out hunting traitors, I’ll pity you. If I’m meeting with the nobles’ council, I’ll invoke the spirits with my raging jealousy.”

*

Starbride waited until Katya was calmer before she went to Crowe’s office. She’d done everything she could not to think of what Freddie had said, not to speculate on what Crowe might have left her.

In his desk, she found a small stack of notes, each with a different name on the front in Crowe’s tidy handwriting. She opened hers with trembling fingers.

“If you’re looking at this,” it read, “I guess I died.”

Starbride barked a half-laugh, half-sob. She could almost see his wry smile.

“Don’t blubber,” the note read as if it could hear her. “And tell the rest of them not to be foolish as well. If I died suddenly, the last thing you all need is to be carrying on like a bunch of children who’ve had your sweets stolen.

“Now, no doubt you’ll have a new teacher from the academy, Starbride, but I want to give you a leg up and tell you which books from my study to focus on. I also want to give you a few more pointers.”

He fell into a list of what to read and where she could find it in his office. He also named all the pyramids he kept in his cabinet. “Until you learn how to make the more powerful pyramids, use mine sparingly. And be careful with fire pyramids. They won’t just burn your target.” She paid special attention to any instruction he gave on how to subdue the Aspect and any advice he had on Fiends.

“Please, give the others my notes. And if you ever see Maia again, please tell her how sorry I am. If there’s any of Roland left in that body, tell him I’m sorry, too. I’m proud of you, Starbride. I love how happy you’ve made Katya. I should have said it when I was alive. Maybe I got to at the end, but I’ll say it again: Welcome to our family.”

Starbride set the note to the side, laid her head on the desk, and wept.

Katya stood with her parents when they broke the news to Duke Robert that his daughter was dead. They didn’t mention Crowe, saying only that Brom had taken her own life. They’d told everyone else that Crowe had died from a heart attack that same evening.

Duke Robert stared without blinking. “And there’s not even…a body?”

“No,” Da said, and Katya was surprised at the grief in his voice. Maybe it was his feelings for Crowe coming through, or maybe the loss of his grandchildren’s mother really moved him. It didn’t move Katya an inch.

“Forgive me for…” Duke Robert shook his head, didn’t seem to know whether he was coming or going. “Forgive me,” he said again. “I can’t believe it.”

“Do you know who might have given her the pyramid?” Da asked.

“No.”

Da put an arm around his shoulders. Katya might not have sympathy for Brom, but Duke Robert’s grief moved her a little. Da guided him to a chair. “I hate to ask this so soon, Robert. I know how hurt you must feel, but we need to know how your daughter came by the pyramid she used. Would you submit to a mind probe?”

“Why?”

“Whoever gave Brom the pyramid might have tampered with your memory. The crown princess consort could check for you.”

Duke Robert blinked at them, staring for so long that Katya wondered if he’d been hypnotized. “I will do this,” he said slowly, “in order to find the person who helped my daughter…end her life. I must insist on a different pyradisté than the crown princess consort, one more advanced in learning.”

“Of course,” Ma said before Katya could argue. “I’ll have someone sent to your apartment before you leave.”

Duke Robert nodded and stood. He seemed shaky, but he made it through the door unaided.

Da turned to Katya. “Tell Starbride not to be offended, my girl. He’s of the old guard and wants someone more his age, that’s all.”

“She won’t be offended,” Katya said. Well, she might be a little, but Katya would tell her to ignore grief-stricken Duke Robert. Or maybe they should focus on him. Maybe it would give them something else to think about besides the empty office down the hall.

*

Katya had to catch herself as she walked toward Crowe’s office or reminded herself to tell him something or ask his advice. Starbride had told her that she and Pennynail would take care of Crowe’s property, his personal effects. Katya could almost picture them doing it together, though with the laughing Jack mask always covering Pennynail’s face.

How long had Starbride known who he was? Since Crowe took her as his protégé? Or more recently? After a few deep breaths, Katya told herself not to worry. That was Crowe’s line, his area. He’d had his reasons for keeping Katya in the dark. Now, Starbride had adopted those reasons. Katya tried to tell herself not to be bitter, but bitter felt so much more comfortable than grieving.

With no body, they couldn’t even lay Crowe to rest, not that many of the people would have come to his funeral. The king’s pyradisté hadn’t been nobility. He’d had no real money to attract hangers-on, and his reputation as the king’s sneak—as he’d always called himself—guaranteed that many were wary if not outright afraid of him. When Da held a candlelight vigil for Crowe outside of Marienne’s largest knowledge chapterhouse, only the family and the Order attended. His notes brought them all some measure of comfort.

*

If all had gone as planned, the fall festival would have marked the end of Reinholt’s visit to Marienne. He would have taken a long, winding route to his holding while stopping at the country houses of various nobles, and spreading goodwill through the villages. Katya couldn’t do the same in his place. With Roland lurking about, she had to stay close to Marienne, and there was no way her father was letting Vierdrin and Bastian out of the city.

Life in the palace gave Katya a chance to get back to normal, lazing through the hallways like she used to, gathering information, sometimes with Hugo pretending to be a languorous noble at her side. She was glad of his company. Starbride spent most of her time practicing pyramid magic.

Katya had only taken one step toward the crown, but the effect was immediate; nobles and courtiers clamored for her attention like never before. With the children under the strict gaze of Lord Vincent, she was one of the few royals they could get to. The fact that she might one day be in charge of the kingdom, if only for a short while, made them far more desperate to speak to her than before. When she tired of them, she could usually slip away with Hugo covering her. She knew the palace better than any of them.

When she ducked away one afternoon, Lady Hilda waited for her around a corner. Katya pulled up short, nearly gaping at the display of stealth.