The King's Lover

Chapter 18

           

    Since Thrash wasn't following them like a shadow anymore, Juliet and Kusy were able to slip out of Kusy's window when night fell, Juliet back in her Brind disguise. They headed towards Valin and Taryd's inn quietly.

     Both of the brothers looked happier than they had the last time Kusy had seen them. Juliet pulled her hood off and smiled slightly at them.

    "Good job on the tunnels," she said. "Clarisse was livid."

     Valin grinned, running a hand through his short hair. "Thanks, Juliet. It was much easier than we thought it was going to be."

    Nodding, Taryd crossed his ankles. "Valin set the gunpowder up in the larger tunnels, and I set fire to the support beams in the smaller ones. We didn't even have to fight any guards—we slipped past their guard without any trouble."

     "They were furious when they couldn't find us, of course," Valin finished. "We had a good laugh about that."

     Kusy nodded, trailing her fingers across the wooden desk she was sitting on. "And...after? Did that part go well?"

     Juliet looked at her, confused, but Valin and Taryd both nodded, grinning. "We saw him."

     "You—you found him?" Juliet whipped her head to Kusy, then back to the brothers. "What? When?"

     "When I went to see Ryder," Kusy started. "I counted the cells, and when I requested that stupid tour from Clarisse, I figured out where it was and told them last time I was here. I didn't want to tell you in case it did not work."

     Juliet nodded, her clasped fingers white. Kusy could tell she was almost bursting as she turned to Valin and said, "Well?"

     "He is alive," Valin admitted. "But he's in terrible shape. He keeps trying to escape, you see, so they keep beating him."

    "We told him to stop, of course," Taryd continued. "And we gave him a bag off food. We'll go back tonight, in a little while."

     Juliet let out a deep breath and nodded slowly. "Could you give him a message? From me?"

     "No," Valin said, shaking his head. Juliet looked stunned and hurt until he continued. "I don't want to recite any of your sappy love stuff. Write it down."

     Taryd tossed the queen his journal and a pen, which she caught, beaming. She started writing immediately, her pen flying over the page like the words couldn't wait to get out.

     "Do you think that the Sadeans will try to carve through the tunnels again?"

    "Trileans have already started," Valin replied. "We spotted them digging today, we figure we'll just keep blowing it until Ryder's safe."

     Kusy nodded. "Do you have enough explosives?"

     Valin tilted his hand to say so-so. "We've all but run out, but more is on its way, along with Talimian reinforcements."

    "How many?" Juliet paused her writing and looked up with a frown. "We can't begin to start a civil war in Trilea—I'm trying to unite the country, not tear it apart further."

    "Just enough to bring the dynamite here," Taryd replied with a shrug. "I agree, a war would be too much right now."

     Juliet nodded and resumed her scribbling. Valin sighed as he looked out the window.

     "We'd better tell you," he said. There was something in his tone that Kusy couldn't quite identify—anger, perhaps—but it wasn't directed at any of them. "We had a visitor today."

     "Who was it?" 

     Taryd wrinkled his nose. "Lady Lucinda."

     Juliet raised her brows. "Ryder's Lucinda?'

    The brothers snorted in unison. "She's not Ryder's anything," Taryd said firmly. "She dumped him a few years ago for a richer lord."

     "She visited him a while ago, at the palace," Juliet added without looking up from her letter. "He looked like someone had hit him when he read her name, and after he left, there was a rebel attack on the palace."

     Kusy crossed her arms slowly. "You think this Lucinda was connected?"

     Juliet shrugged. "All I'm saying is I don't trust her."

     Valin shook his head. "We don't, either. She was spouting some crap about helping us get into the palace and saving ' her darling, brave Ryder.' We told her to go to hell."

     "I'm sure that went well," Juliet muttered under her breath, an amused grin on her face. 

     Taryd glanced at the clock anxiously. "We need to get going soon," he told them. "The shift changes in about fifteen minutes, and we need to be at the edge of the palace gates by then."

     "I'm almost done." Juliet signed her name with a flourish, then folded the paper. "Don't read this, either of you," she said seriously as she handed it to Valin.

     He pretended to gag when he touched it. "I have no desire to read your sap, Majesty."

     She rolled her eyes at him playfully before getting to her feet and pulling her mask up. "We'll see you as soon as we can, okay?" 

     They both grinned down at her, and then Kusy was giving both of them a nod before following Juliet out the door. 

    The queen was quiet on their way back to the palace, her hands clasped in front of her as she thought. After a while she turned to Kusy.

    "The biannual tax collection is coming up," she said. "It's held at the palace, and Clarisse always attends." Kusy stayed silent for the moment, sensing that Juliet was about to continue. "It's usually held in the throne room. Almost the whole city is there."

     "You want to challenge Clarisse in front of all of them?"

     Juliet nodded, her eyes fierce. "But we can't do it in the throne room," she added after a pause. "It's..." She shook her head. "Anyways. Will you help me?"

     "Of course," Kusy replied immediately. She was already looking forward to whatever Juliet had planned, especially if it meant making Clarisse look bad.

     That was something she'd never get tired of.