The Palace of Lost Memories

Chapter 20

"You prying little wretch," Lady Lucia snapped. "How dare you spy on me!'

"I'm not spying," I said, surreptitiously removing the jar of Baby's Breath salts from my pocket as I stood. "I dropped this on the floor. It rolled under the bed."

Her nostrils flared and her eyes narrowed, turning her from beautiful to deadly in a moment. I eyed the chamber pot in her hands in case she decided to throw it at me.

She marched past me and set the pot on the dressing table beside my pack. "You're all the same here," she said with a sniff. "Impertinent and opinionated with no respect for your betters. You're not normal."

"I am not palace staff."

I added a pinch of Baby's Breath salts to the urine in the pot as she settled back on the bed with all the grace of a woman used to reclining all day. The salts did not change color.

"You're not with child," I said.

"I know that but you wouldn't listen. Freddie!" she called. "You can come back in."

The words were hardly out of her mouth when her brother barged through the door. "Well?"

She shook her head.

He sat heavily on the bed. "Thank the goddess."

My gaze connected with Hammer's, but he showed no signs of interest in the conversation.

"There is still the mystery of your fainting spell," I said to Lady Lucia. "Can you describe how you felt—"

"I am not speaking to you about it," she said. "The doctor has already seen me."

"She was hot, that's all," Lord Frederick said, rising once more. He really was quite handsome, but in an elegant, fine-boned way. He was all golden hair and coltish limbs with eyes that matched his sister's for quickness. "She's fine now."

"I'll inform the king," Hammer said.

"The doctor already has."

"Wait, Captain." Lady Lucia sank back against the pillows and arranged her hair around her shoulders. "Tell the king I am still feeling poorly. His company would cheer me enormously, and my health will benefit from his presence. Please suggest that he join me in here instead of taking a turn about the gardens."

Her brother squeezed her hand but she either didn't notice or pretended not to.

Hammer bowed then asked if I was ready to leave. Without being able to ask more questions, there was no point in staying. I had all the answers I needed anyway.

"Don't say a thing yet," Hammer said before I could speak in the corridor outside Lady Lucia's room. "We'll talk in Balthazar's office."

The master of the palace's office was situated in the northern wing, close to the garrison. Or possibly a little away from it. Perhaps. It was certainly on the ground level, that much I knew. Like the garrison, it was a room with a function other than decorative. The desk was covered with paperwork, ledgers and books, and there were more on a set of shelves. A colored map of the palace and its grounds covered an entire wall. The detail was very fine with each of the outbuildings and gardens labeled in neat script. The only other noticeable feature was a portrait of the king behind the desk dressed in somber gray and black, holding a quill pen in one hand and a document in the other.

Hammer closed the door. We were alone. He indicated I should sit then took up a position by the sideboard. "She's not with child?"

"No."

"So what caused her to faint?"

"Her need for attention. Specifically, her need for attention from the king."