“No,” Viggo said crossly. “The guards that you sent to watch him were found dead this morning. They were stuffed into one of the closets in his living quarters, which were stripped. He left nothing behind. He’s fled.”
I gritted my teeth in frustration. “He was working with the traitorous Holgarians the whole time.”
Viggo ran a hand over his tired face. “I think it’s safe to assume so, yes.”
“Then we’ll see him again,” I said, suddenly determined. “When we find the leader of these traitors, we’ll force him to give us the names of every man working with him. We should start with all of Lennart’s friends, anyone he showed even the slightest bit of interest in.”
“Including Lady Helka and any counselors who could stand his company,” Viggo said with a nod.
Someone knocked on the door and then a guard partially entered the room. “Master Viggo?”
Viggo rose from the bed. “Yes?”
The guard noticed I was awake and bowed his head. “So sorry to bother you, Lady Warrior.”
“It’s all right, guardsman. What message do you bring?” I asked.
“It’s Prince Haskell, miss. He says he has to speak to you. He was quite insistent.”
I placed my cloth-covered hand over Viggo’s back before he could answer. “Bring him in.”
“Yes, miss.” The guard retreated.
Viggo raised an eyebrow at me over his shoulder. “You think he knows who set the barrels?”
“I think he knows something,” I said. “I’d rather see him now, before he changes his mind and runs away again.”
The door opened a moment later to reveal the young prince. He looked haggard and close to tears.
“Hello, Prince Haskell,” I said. “How can we help you?”
Haskell looked into my face and winced. He wrung his hands, averting his gaze.
“Lady Isa needs her rest, Lord Prince,” Viggo said, though not unkindly. “Please, speak your mind quickly.”
The boy swallowed hard. “P-Promise I won’t be punished for speaking.”
“No one will punish you for telling the truth,” I said. “Haskell, are you all right?”
“It was Mother,” he blurted out, tears streaming down his face. “Mother killed those counselors.”
Chapter Thirty
Viggo nudged the young prince forward. “Go ahead. Tell your brother what you told Lady Isa and me.”
Torvald propped himself up on his elbows and gave the boy his undivided attention. Because it was his back that had been mostly burned, he had to lie on his belly while he healed.
Haskell sniffled. “Mother’s been sneaking strange men onto the hill.”
“What?” the king asked. “How?”
Haskell wiped his nose with the back of his hand before continuing. “There’s a secret panel in the southern side of the wall. You know, toward the back of the hill? Mother sneaks out of our rooms at night and opens the panel to allow them in. They’re always dressed like guards, but she has to give them fake documentation plaques. Then she leads them back to our rooms in the jade building. She pretends to be… entertaining them, I think. Whenever any of the real guards see her with the impostor, she giggles and drapes herself all over them. The moment they’re out of sight, she becomes serious and distant.”
Haskell’s lips trembled. “The m-men come into our living quarters, but then sneak out through the laundry chutes. They come back hours later. Mother hand washes their clothes and cleans up any mess they make coming back up the hatch while they rest in her bedroom. Then she sneaks them out the same way they came in. And every morning following one of their visits, there’s a report of a counselor who has died mysteriously in the night.”
Torvald stared at his half brother as if in a trance.
Viggo waited a moment, no doubt hoping the king would speak. When no words came, Viggo gave Prince Haskell’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “Thank you, Lord Prince. That couldn’t have been easy to share a second time.”
“How do you know this, Haskell?” Torvald finally managed to ask.
“I-I followed her,” the boy sobbed. “Lady Isa told me to keep an eye out for anything suspicious and Mother had been acting suspicious for weeks. She ordered a package from a place with a strange name. I was home when it arrived. I asked her about it later and she yelled at me. She said I wasn’t allowed to touch her things, but it wasn’t my fault! Who else was going to answer the door?”
“The package contained…” Viggo prompted.
“S-Sorry,” Haskell hiccupped. “The package contained thin silver sheets that are used to make documentation plaques. I crept out of my room that night, after Mother thought I was sleeping, and I watched her create the new plaques. Then she hid them in her desk and went to bed. I wasn’t sure what they were at first, but then I recognized them. Each metal sheet had a name, a date of birth, and ‘guard’ listed as the occupation. Each plaque was attached to a piece of cord.”
“You could’ve seen a documentation plaque on any guard and described it,” the king said. “Do you have any proof?”
Haskell blinked. “Mother always melted the plaques once she was through with them. I took a blank metal sheet, though.” He dug through his pockets and produced one.
Viggo took it and handed it to Bryn. “What do you think?”
Bryn raised the little rectangular piece of metal to the light and carefully turned it from side to side. “My documentation plaque shimmers in the light. This one doesn’t.”
“Then how could these fake guards not be discovered?” I wondered. “Any member of our security could spot the difference right away.”
“Documentation plaques are only brought before the light at the portcullis located at the base of the hill,” Viggo said. “Anyone on the hill who doesn’t have a plaque is stopped and questioned. Otherwise—”
“As long as you’re walking the grounds with a plaque around your neck, you won’t be bothered,” I assumed.
“Well,” Torvald said, voice pinched with shock. “That’s going to change. Immediately.”
“What’s going to happen to Mother?” Prince Haskell cried. “Is she going to be executed?”
“We’ll determine her punishment at a later time,” Bryn said soothingly. “You’re free to go, Lord Prince. Thank you for coming. Please, tell no one else what you’ve seen.”
Haskell was reluctant to go, but after more reassurances that he wasn’t in trouble, he finally left the king’s hospital room.
I was going to run a hand over my face but then remembered both were wrapped. I let my hand fall back into my lap with a sigh. “I never saw this coming.”
The king laughed but it was off. “That goes double for me. Helka, my almost stepmother… a traitor. All these years, I’ve taken care of her. I’ve offered her a place at my table.” Anger made him tremble. “I’ve helped parent her children. I’ve honored her. How could she do this?”
I cleared my throat to get Viggo’s attention. He came to move me and my wheelchair closer to the king’s bedside.
“Sire,” I said softly. “I can’t imagine what you must be feeling right now, but we need to discuss how we’re going to proceed.”
“It’s really quite simple,” Torvald said, dark blue eyes aflame. “She committed treason. She must be executed.”
“But, sir, she’s—”
“I know who she is!” the king shouted. “I gave her special treatment because she bore my father’s children, and look at how she repaid me. She chose to commit the crime. Now, she will receive the same punishment any other traitor would.”