‘Pet?’ she echoed, aghast, her face a mask of despair. ‘Sooner you kill him, barbarian. He has no concept of his life, in truth. Perhaps he is best dead.’
‘Fancy a mother saying that,’ Loethar replied, derision in his voice. ‘Tsk … tsk. Even stepmothers should offer some love.’
‘He bears the Valisar name. For that you should accord him just a little respect, even if you will not show that same respect to his father or his mother.’
‘I shall send for you soon, your majesty. I thought that by keeping your son with me it might prompt you to stay obedient. But now that I know you have a heart of stone — that you would wish your own child dead — I can tell you would likely follow your husband’s theatrical lead and kill yourself. That would be most disappointing for me. Guards! The lad remains here, chained like the little beast he is now for me. Escort the queen to her rooms. She is to be treated with care and kept under watch at all times. She is not to be left alone — no matter how she begs — for so much as a heartbeat. Take her. Piven?’
The youngster turned and Loethar, pleased that he at least recognised his name, was amused beyond belief when the boy ran to him open-armed.
‘Leo, steady!’ Gavriel hissed, reaching awkwardly for the prince.
‘My father,’ Leo whispered, his distraught young face ghostly in the dim light of the one low candle they permitted themselves.
Gavriel squeezed the boy’s shoulder. ‘You should never have seen that.’
‘Now we have both had to watch our fathers die,’ Leo said, his whisper unable to hide his grief.
There was nothing Gavriel could say to ease the pain. He was still trying to deal with the recurring image of his own father’s brutal slaying. He wanted to say that at least King Brennus had taken his life on his own terms but was afraid his words would sound callous.’ What about Piven?’ Leo groaned.
Gavriel peeped through the holes bored into the stone. ‘He looks happy.’
‘He always looks like that.’
‘True, but he’s safe for now. I think if Loether was going to kill your mother or brother it would already be done.’ He saw Leo nod, felt a tiny measure of relief. ‘Let’s think about our own situation,’ he said, hoping to distract his charge.
‘What do you think of my hiding spot?’ Leo asked, following Gavriel’s lead.
Gavriel was sure they’d be whispering like this for days to come. ‘Inspired. Who knows about this?’
‘Only my father.’
‘So now only you?’
‘It’s a secret known only to the king and heir, passing down through generations that way.’
‘So that’s why Freath was given such a cryptic message.’
Leo nodded. ‘father showed it to me when the troubles in the Set began several moons ago. He called it the ingress. It was built into the castle walls by King Cormoron centuries ago.’
Gavriel looked around at the narrow corridor in which they found themselves. Leo had had the forethought to grab a lantern as they ran into it via an exquisitely disguised entrance that even someone lifting the tapestry would likely not notice, and had used its flame to light a few tiny candles, that threw a ghostly glow but one still low enough not to attract attention through the peepholes they were now using to spy through. There was not sufficient room for the two of them to stand side by side and Gavriel thanked his stars he didn’t suffer Corbel’s dislike of enclosed spaces. He touched the cool stone. This hidden walkway had been deliberately designed and built for spying he now realised, exactly as they were, into the king’s main salon where presently Loethar presided.
‘Cormoran was obviously a man who trusted no one.’
‘Father used to play in these tiny spaces when he was a boy. His father told him about it when he was much younger than I am. I wish I’d known about it longer. I could have listened to so many conversations.’
‘Perhaps that’s why he didn’t mention it earlier,’ Gavriel whispered, his gaze never leaving Loethar. The barbarian sat quietly in a high-backed chair, watching Piven paint pictures on the floorboards with his father’s blood. ‘Is it limited to just behind this chamber?’
A cunning smile broke across the prince’s mouth. ‘No. There are several access points and all the main public chambers have these hidden chambers in the walls. So do some of the more private ones — my father’s salon, my mother’s apartments…’ Gavriel immediately decided Cormoron hadn’t trusted his queen. ‘… kitchen. I haven’t seen them all. But they’re all this tiny and uncomfortable.’
Gavriel’s attention returned to what Leo was saying. ‘No complaints,’ he admonished in a tight whisper. ‘It has saved not only your life but the Valisar line. There’s enough room to lie down, so we can sleep. If we keep the candles low and small, and only lit during daylight hours, we should go unnoticed indefinitely.’
‘What about food?’
‘I’ll have to think about that.’
‘I know how to get into and out of the kitchens. I’ve stolen birdcakes when Cook’s back was turned but this is obviously more risky.’
‘We’ll work something out,’ Gavin replied noncommittally.
‘Gavriel,’ the prince said solemnly. ‘I will never lose that image of father killing himself.’
‘I know, Leo. Look —’
‘No, wait. What I was about to say is that I’m deliberately going to carry that memory. Although few people take me seriously yet, I am a Valisar. That has been drummed into me since I was old enough to pay attention. Whatever I have to do to stay alive and make the barbarian pay for his cowardly deeds, I will do. So I’ll find us food and I’ll get us out when the time is right. We’ll have to learn the movements of their guards first.’
Gavriel wanted to cheer for the prince but his throat tightened with emotion at Leo’s stirring words and he just nodded, before saying, ‘We have to take off anything that could make noise, Leo. We’ll have to move around these narrow spaces in silence. If you’re going to sneeze or cough, you’ll have to smother it. We’ll need to tiptoe and whisper at all times.’
‘Lucky we had on our travel coats,’ Leo added.
And that reminded them both of being on the battlements and what had happened since.
Gavriel deliberately distracted the boy’s thoughts again, as well as his own. ‘We’ll have to pick a place to leave our waste. It’s not going to smell very nice soon but —’
Leo shook his head. ‘My great-grandfather thought of that,’ he whispered. ‘He and his son built an opening to piss down. It links up with a drophole.’
‘Ingenious,’ Gavriel muttered.
‘I’ll take you later to a spot where we can even sit down to take a shi —’
‘Surely not?’ Gavriel said, genuinely impressed.
Leo actually grinned. ‘It’s true, I tell you. The kings before us have thought of everything.’
‘They obviously enjoyed spying on people.’ Gavriel’s attention was grabbed by movement at the side of the room. The man called Stracker was back and the raven, which had been sitting quietly, was suddenly alert on its perch on one of the high-backed chairs. Gavriel nodded at Leo, and put a finger to his lips.
‘Back already?’ Loethar asked.
‘The cook is planning a feast for you tonight … if he can stop himself from gagging. He’s taken the king’s death hard.’ Stracker laughed.
‘Good,’ Loethar said. ‘I can still hardly believe