Amaskan's Blood, Raven Oak [read me a book .TXT] 📗

“Well, you’d either be someone we missed, maybe someone come to harm Her Highness, or one of those from inside.”

Adelei nodded. “If I was someone here to harm Her Highness, you’d already be dead. I’ll make it easier on you though—I’m Master Adelei, here at the King’s orders. You may see me come and go at all hours and often in odd dress. Don’t let that stop you from making me identify myself if you don’t know who I am, because you’re right. Someone here to harm the royal family is going to do their best to blend in. Always watch who comes and goes, understand?”

“Yes, master.”

Where she was going she didn’t know, but that was the point. Walk the halls. Draw a map of the layout. Learn where you are seen and where you are not. A well-practiced mind sought out the shadows and corners as she traveled down the hall. She wasn’t interested in talking or making friends. She wasn’t out to be noticed this evening, choosing instead to hide in obscurity and listen. Do so now before everyone knows who you are, prompted Master Bredych’s voice in her mind.

A turn brought her to a lengthy corridor which should’ve led to the stairwell. Instead she found a storage closet. Adelei retraced her steps until she found the staircase. She would work from the ground up, so she followed the stairs down to the first floor and down another hallway until she reached the entryway. Masses of people gathered as they waited to sup in the great hall. She doubted the assassin was hiding—in fact, she bet it was someone in the hall, someone in plain sight.

For now, she passed by the crowd of people as she continued her map making. As she moved, most ignored her entirely, deeming her the peasant or servant she appeared. Someone not worthy of acknowledgement. A few women nearby commented loudly on her appearance. “Who let that in?”

“Who does she think she is to be here, walking amongst us so freely?”

“Did someone’s serving girl get lost?”

I’ve never understood why people of class and blood think themselves so far above everyone else. I could slit their throats as easily as a prince in finery. Once past the entrance to the great hall, she roamed into the kitchens where a corpulent woman with arms the size of fire logs loaded her down with a pile of dirty mugs for the scullery. Adelei used the excuse (and the disguise) to pass through the kitchens and into the scullery where she dropped off the dirty mugs with pleasure.

Beyond these rooms lay a back entrance to a smaller courtyard with a well and the back pathway to the stables. Adelei didn’t spend long outdoors and moved back into the castle. She passed the cellar, a larder, and several other rooms for the making and storing of the castle’s food and drink. Around the corner were the servants’ quarters. The majority of the rooms were little more than closets, but she made an internal map of each one. When she tried to go down the stairwell at the end of one hallway, a brute of a guardsman stopped her. “Dungeon’s down here, milady. Ye not be needin’ ta go down here for naught.”

She would have to give it a good explore once she was recognizable to the guards. A few guest rooms for the commons finished up the first floor, and she moved on to the second. By now, the mass of people had moved into the great hall, leaving her free to climb the staircase in peace. The second floor was simple: guest rooms, a shared bathing house on each end, and several ambassador suites.

At first, she thought the third floor similar to the second as she encountered more guest rooms, but near the great chamber lay the castle library. It wasn’t the book collection, albeit vast, that caught her attention, but the two women who stood in the back corner, deep in conversation. Ladies like this will be missed at dinner. What business do they have here at this hour? Adelei moved to a shelf on the other side of them and crouched down to listen between a crack in the bookshelves.

The woman facing Adelei’s direction said, “With all the rumors I’ve heard about him, I wouldn’t let my dog marry him, let alone my daughter.” Her pink-tinted grey hair stood out as did the string of rubies at her neck—one the size of Adelei’s thumb.

I wonder if they’re speaking about this prince. More rumors, perhaps?

“Shhhh…” Her companion, a woman in green too bright for her pale skin, waved a hand.

“What? I’m not afraid to make my thoughts known.”

“I thought I heard the door earlier. Could be stray ears about, Millicent.” The woman wearing green cast a look about the library but didn’t see Adelei through the bookcases. “I’ve heard he leaves a trail of bodies behind him, and no matter where he goes, no one can stop him. Just look at what happened with your—”

The woman in rubies pressed a thin finger to her companion’s lips. “I miss her, Angelina. I don’t understand why the Boahim Senate won’t do something.”

“How could they? Would you want to go up against something—someone like that? That much money and power, he could buy the entire senate.”

Millicent sighed, and when she glanced down, her gaze fell on Adelei. At first, Adelei held her breath and didn’t move, but Millicent’s eyes widened. Her hand flew to her chest as she let out a slight squeal, and she backed up a few paces. “Angelina, there’s someone there.” She pointed at the space where Adelei’s head had been. Her fingers gripped the bookcase’s corner as Adelei leaned back on her heels out of sight.

“Where?” asked Angelina.

“She’s gone. But there was someone there, peeking through the bookcases at us.” While Millicent explained what she’d seen to her companion, Adelei tiptoed away from the stacks and toward a rear