The Unexpected Heir: A Tale of Alus (26 page)

"You and your husband?"

She nodded. "My sister helped raise me and actually got me a position in the castle as a maid. I owe her a lot, but Jaius and I have done a little better recently. We aren't rich, but I help her with the girls... helped her," her voice broke a moment and the woman looked away towards her niece.

"Aunt Kiely and momma were close," the girl stated soberly. Her eyes were a bit red, but she was trying to be strong, he thought.

"Sisters often are," he said with a smile. "I have two daughters and they are pretty close even though they both have a lot to do that keeps them apart.

"What is your name?"

"Nora and that is my little sister, Iris, who you saw earlier. Why are you here?"

Her blunt question made her aunt's face wrench back towards him and she said apologetically, "I'm sorry, my lord. My niece hasn't learned how to talk to a lord."

Glaring at the younger girl, Kiely added, "You should bow your head and speak to him with more respect, Nora!"

"It is alright and as I said, I am here to check on Needaly's family. What has happened has been quite a shock to us all and the king wants to make sure that everyone affected is taken care of as best we can. If they have no father or mother, what do you plan to do for them?"

The final question brought worry and perhaps panic to her eyes, but Nora saved her as she spoke again, "We know that there was an accident, but what kind of accident poisons someone?"

"Nora!" Kiely exclaimed once more looking mortified.

"That is what I heard the healers say when they came to check on momma, but she was already dead by then," the girl said with little emotion. She appeared neither angry nor sad. Emotions were beyond her at the moment, he thought, if Nora planned on not breaking down in front of him.

"Someone managed to poison the flowers," Philip answered revealing more than perhaps he should. This was an investigation and the truth of the matter had yet to be revealed to the general populace for fear of panic and of looking weak as well. "Your mother worked in the garden. Did she happen to say something about working with something new that was odd?"

Kiely looked at him questioningly and asked, "Are you saying that someone put poison on the flowers and that killed her? Why would someone do that?"

"We don't know for sure yet," he answered truthfully. There might be reasons to lie, but obscuring a truth that was unknown as yet wasn't necessarily worth anything either. "Had Needaly spoken of anything new?"

"She was afraid for her job until recently," Nora spoke up surprising them both. "Master Kamaal was always so mean to her and the other gardeners. She was afraid that he would fire her, as if it was her fault, or anyone else's.

"When the garden she worked in suddenly looked better than the others, momma and her group were put to work on more of them. When everything grew, he became nicer to them."

Nora frowned at the end and added, "If the flowers suddenly died again, I bet that man would have been mean to her again."

Her complaint about Kamaal wasn't the first he had heard in relation to the head gardener. His treatment of the others certainly seemed dependent on how well the garden was doing. It also made it a bit more likely that he had something to do with the poison.

The only thing that didn't fit was where he had gotten it and that Kamaal had died as well. On the other hand, if he had used something that was supposed to make the garden grow better than it ever had; was he duped into believing that it was in fact supposed to be safe?

"Master Kamaal is another fatality of the poison," he answered thinking that maybe the admission might coax more out of the women. Her mother's nemesis was dead. Did that mean something? "Whatever poisoned your mother killed most of the people she was working with in the garden. Are you sure that she hadn't said anything pertaining to a change?"

He was forced to ask the question again.

Kiely shook her head, but Nora shrugged before saying, "She went to the temple and prayed for weeks. Maybe Sordrian or one of the other gods answered her prayers before making it worse? She was happy until she got sick."

"Did she get any help from the brothers?" Philip asked hearing the involvement of this order once more.

The two young women glanced to each other uncertainly. Kiely replied, "I think maybe they gave her some food and maybe a little money from their tithes."

"Aunty Tareina might know," Nora supplied an idea for her aunt.

"She has another sister?" Philip questioned curiously.

"No," Kiely returned with a smile for his confusion, "Tareina is a close family friend. She has been around to help Needaly throughout the years helping her with the girls. The girls call her aunty because she is like family."

"Did she go to the temple with Needaly also?" he continued fishing.

Nora stated, "Momma went with Aunty Tareina sometimes and walked to the castle with her also most mornings."

"She is a maid in the castle as well," Kiely clarified for the lord.

Unsure what more he could glean from the two young women, Philip's eyes glanced to the room around him. Bedding in the form of a rectangle stuffed with whatever cheap material could be found had lightweight sheets. Blankets weren't needed with the current weather, of course, but the sheets looked like rough linens. This must have been a shared living space, but a small kitchen area with its iron stove stood only a couple feet from the bed.

"What will you do now that their mother is gone?"

The older of the two looked uncertain and Kiely spoke as she contemplated a problem that had been weighing on her mind since her sister sickened. "My home isn't much larger, but I suppose that we will take my nieces to live with us there. We will sell what we can, but I doubt that it will do much to offset the new costs."

Her eyes suddenly looked to her niece realizing that she had just reduced the younger girls to costs on her life. "The burial costs, I mean, though we will need to get used to providing for more mouths as well."

Philip reached into a pouch tied to his belt and shook free a handful of coins. Handing them to the aunt, he said, "Perhaps this will help with the burial costs at least. If things get too hard, you work for the king; pass on word to me and I will see what I can do for you."

Dropping to her knees at the sight of the coins in her hands and his hopeful words, the young woman gratefully praised, "Oh, thank you, Lord Philip. I-I hadn't meant to beg from you! This is too generous."

"Consider it a gift for your sister's service. In a way she gave her life for the kingdom. We can do no less than help her family."

The younger girl looked at him with what he felt was skepticism, and Nora didn't filter out the reason why as she stated, "I don't know why they say that the king doesn't care, or at least you do anyway."

"Who, the Brothers of the Blood?" Philip questioned readying to leave, but he found the girl's candor interesting, if nothing else.

She nodded. "They say that the king doesn't care about the poor. Momma often said that she wished there was more money to buy us clothes and food, but I don't think she felt like she was paid unfairly."

"Did she ever say anything to someone about needing more?" he asked curiously. A few extra golds paid out a month to his staff might change the budget, but Philip knew there was enough for those serving the king to be paid a little more without hurting anyone.

Kiely replied, "I think she may have said something to Master Kamaal once, but she was too afraid of losing her job to say much."

"I guess that I will have to suggest an increase in pay to the king. He has a lot of things on his mind. The steward tends to set wages, so maybe it is time to make sure that the pay is proper to offset the costs of living."

"It would be appreciated by everyone, I am certain," Kiely said with a relieved nod. "I don't complain about my pay either, but a little more would certainly be helpful. Thank you again, my lord."

A moment's pause made Philip think to ask, "Where would I find Tareina? Is she working in the castle today?"

The aunt nodded and answered, "This is her work day, though she has been spending more time near the temple."

"I think Aunty Tareina might have a boyfriend who meets her there," Nora stated with a knowing smile. It reminded Philip that children saw and heard more than many gave them credit for and Nora was probably entering her teen years. She spoke a bit childlike, but girls her age often thought more of romance than their parents realized. Serafene's talks about his daughters at that age gave him that much knowledge of the young female mind anyway.

"He isn't one of the brothers, is he?" the lord asked in surprise. With the title of brothers in the name, he had never noticed any women serving in the temple. From what he had learned, Philip thought that the brothers were declared celibate in fact.

Nora suddenly laughed and smiled at him as she shook her head, "There are others at the temple who aren't brothers. I am sure that Tareina can find an appropriate man. She's quite pretty after all. Pretty girls can find lords even, can't they, my lord?"

Philip smiled back at the girl and thought that she was definitely nearing that age all fathers feared from their daughters. "Some can, I suppose. Not every lord and lady marry a noble. My wife married me and I wasn't technically a lord after all."

That made Nora tilt her head in appraisal and she asked, "Then why did she marry you? You are kind of handsome, I suppose."

"Well, thank you, but my father is a well known wizard; so there is some prestige to my family line. My businesses brought me into contact with her and we fell in love. Her father was kind enough to give us permission to marry. As to why she fell in love with me, I suppose that you would have to ask her," he finished with a laugh.

Excusing himself shortly after, Philip rejoined his guards. They remained vigilant and moved with the lord making sure to keep him safe as he walked.

"Did you discover anything, my lord?" Narden asked as he moved beside Philip.

"Perhaps, but there certainly seems to be more to this, maybe the next family will know more."

A small list of servants and their family homes remained. This one had given him more than the previous visits, or at least the ties to the temple seemed promising anyway. He would need to follow up with the family friend. Maybe he would get lucky and discover more.

The woman pulled free to roll onto her side lying on Karlaan's arm. She tucked in against him breathing hard after their lovemaking. Her leg draped over his and her right hand slid up his chest to stroke his neck and chin.

"Well, that was enjoyable," she purred against him looking up at him with her dark blue eyes. In a city full of brown hair and brown eyes, Tareina's eyes were among the things that made the woman stand out from the rest. They were certainly among the features that had drawn him to her at least. Her brunette locks were wavy and curled more with the humidity, he had noticed. Brushed out, it could remain straight for a time, but the waves and curls were natural.

Her olive skin was common enough as well, but even working as a maid had done nothing to mar her perfect, soft skin. She was young enough to be in full bloom, he thought, but Tareina was also old enough to have a certain maturity that he liked in his women also.

Karlaan had been with a few women. Caldrefan probably knew as much, but as long as his dalliances didn't get in the way of their goal the women didn't matter. He was a young man with needs and sowing his wild oats was natural. If his mother would approve, Karlaan didn't know; but since his birth came from her being a mistress to a married king, he doubted that she could say much against it.

A small cough slipped out making her warm body shake against him.

"Are you all right?" he asked showing concern, though to a certain degree it was more to avoid getting sick as well.

"There is certainly something going around the castle. My friend Needaly has been sick enough to skip work the last couple days, in fact."

"Needaly is sick? Maybe I should go check on her. Master Caldrefan has taught me a few cures for colds and the flu. I could help her maybe. When did you see her last?"

Her brow wrinkling at the topic, she responded, "It has been a few days. I didn't even check at her house the last few. I figured if Needaly was over it, she would come find me. My home is on the way to the castle, so she always stopped by to walk with me.

"And, of course, I have been here with you recently," she added playing her fingers across his chest seductively.

"How are the flower gardens doing? Has the fertilizer continued to help? Do you visit the gardens?"

Frowning slightly at his ignoring her touch, the pretty woman replied with a slight pout, "The gardens are for the ladies and lords. Gardeners see them and maybe a few that pass through while working, but I don't work in those areas. They have brought in a lot of them to put in vases in the halls. The princesses and their maids arranged them. Flowers of certain colors are grouped for each hall that they've decorated.

"I don't really look at them closely though. My allergies seem to flare up when I am too near them," she said with a slight shake of her head looking almost sad at being unable to appreciate the flowers fully. "They are pretty though. If I were to guess, the fertilizer you gave Needaly worked great. She was asked to work in other sections that weren't doing as well, but the extra flasks that you gave her made everything grow so fast that they actually had to cut them back."