When the queen and her brother arrived, the captain stood up so quickly the stool toppled over. He managed a salute. Areava could see that he was terrified. What had Dejanus been saying to him?
“Your Majesty, this is Captain Rykor of the Revenant, one of the ships sent after Grapnel Moorice’s Seaspray” Dejanus told her. He looked at the captain with barely disguised contempt. “He has a tale for you.”
Areava nodded for Rykor to tell his story. In a nervous voice he told Areava and Olio about a small boat that had fled from his ship the previous day, and which had been wrecked against the rocky cliffs north of Kendra. His description of the events was sparse but left out nothing.
“How many did you say were in the boat?” Areava asked the captain when he was finished. She glanced at Dejanus standing behind the captain like a nemesis, brooding and threatening. For a moment Areava herself felt threatened by his presence, but then she heard Olio’s steady breathing behind her and she felt safer.
Captain Rykor swallowed, cast his gaze down to his feet. “Four, Your Majesty. Three men and a woman.”
“Did you recognize any of them?”
“Not as such, Your Majesty. But the largest one had the build and look of the const… I mean… of Kumul Alarn.” He cast a frightened glance toward the new constable. “We were never close enough to see their faces.”
“And there were no survivors,” Dejanus said, a statement and not a question.
“No,” Rykor confirmed. “We waited for several minutes. No one survived. There were no bodies. The undertow there is horrific. If they are not… well, eaten… one or two of the bodies might wash up on the shores of Aman or Lurisia in the next few days.”
Areava sighed deeply.
“How did you find the b-b-boat?” Olio asked. “I thought you were sent after the Seaspray?”
“Three warships were sent out, Your Highness,” Rykor answered. “Besides my own Revenant, there were Moonlighter and Windsnapper. My ship was out last, and my lookout saw kestrels above a boat northwest of our position, though he saw no actual boat at that time. I knew that both Moonlighter and Windsnapper each had the necessary speed to catch Seaspray, so I decided to follow the new sighting, just in case.”
“As well you did,” Olio said gently.
Areava nodded to Dejanus, who tapped Rykor on the shoulder. The captain saluted the queen and left.
“I want patrols increased along that coast, both by sea and by land. If any bodies resurface or are washed up on the shore, I want them returned immediately to Kendra for identification.”
Dejanus nodded. “It may be hard to recognize any remains, Your Majesty. Thrown against those rocks, and what with the sharks and other creatures… well…”
“Nonetheless,” Areava insisted, “I want it done. Is there any word from the captains of the other two ships?”
Dejanus looked dejected. “They lost the Seaspray, Your Majesty. She went too far out to sea. There was a fog, some shoals…” His voice trailed off.
Areava nodded stiffly, turned on her heel and left, not waiting to see Dejanus salute her. Olio followed her.
“I had hoped it would all be over by this morning,” Areava said dully.
“It m-m-may b-b-be all over. I don’t think anyone could survive b-b-being thrown into the sea so close to the rocks near those cliffs.”
“And what of the conspiracy?” the queen wondered aloud. “Without Lynan or one of the others, we may never know who else was involved.”
“And it may never m-m-matter. If Lynan and Kumul were both involved in B-B-Berayma’s death, then they were almost certainly the ringleaders. Who else could have been? And without them, any other conspirators aren’t likely to b-b-be a threat.”
“If Lynan and Kumul were involved? You still doubt it?”
Olio shrugged. “The evidence against them is overwhelming, I admit, but it is entirely circumstantial. Think, sister: if the conspiracy was set against you or m-m-me as well as B-B-Berayma, do you think either of us would be here now to talk about it? Poor B-B-Berayma was the target, not the whole royal family. And if that is the case, what profit did Lynan gain from the king’s m-m-murder?”
Areava nodded. “Perhaps he argued with Berayma on the night.”
She stopped suddenly and looked up, wide-eyed.
“What’s wrong?” Olio asked.
Areava had just remembered her conversation with Lynan on the south gallery only a few hours before Berayma’s murder. She had consciously tried to suggest to Lynan that Berayma supported her approach. What if Lynan had confronted Berayma about it that night? What if in anger and frustration and confusion Lynan had lashed out, killing Berayma?
It was my fault, she told herself, then shook her head fiercely. No. If Lynan went that far, it was his own base nature, not my words, that drove him.
Olio looked on, bemused, wondering why her expression was so bleak one second and then so angry the next. “Sister?”
“Perhaps he argued with Berayma on the night,” Areava repeated.
They resumed walking. After a moment Areava continued, “We may never know. Of most concern to me is the loss of the Key of Union.” She looked down at the two keys that now hung around her own neck. “I do not know what power the Keys hold, but I fear that the loss of even one Key will weaken them.”
There was the sound of footsteps running behind them. Areava looked over her shoulder to see Harman scurrying after them, his writing implements and pads tucked under one arm.
“So soon, old friend?” Areava called out to him.
“The business of the kingdom waits for no man or woman, your Majesty,” Harman replied, catching up with them. “Not even the queen herself.”
“Tell me, was it always like this for my mother?”
“Always, Your Majesty.”
“How did she live so long?”
Harman smiled slightly. “I think she actually grew to enjoy it.”
“That is something I will never do, I think,” Areava said wistfully.
“Give it time,” Olio said in her ear. “You are more like our m-m—mother than you think.”
Dejanus left his office in high spirits. When he passed a patrol of the Royal Guards that forgot to salute him as constable, he merely reminded them of their duty. They will learn, he told himself.
Captain Rykor, whether he knew it or not, had lifted from Dejanus’ mind his greatest fear: that Lynan would be captured alive. Exactly how much the young prince knew of Dejanus and Orkid’s part in Berayma’s murder he did not know, but his predecessor Kumul was certainly clever enough to have figured out most of it, and was sure to have told Lynan. Now that both Lynan and Kumul were dead, however, Dejanus was secure in his new position.
At last I am safe, he thought.
Ever since Orkid had discovered his betrayal of Grenda Lear during the Slaver War, Dejanus had lived in fear of being exposed to Usharna, but from the moment he had pierced Berayma’s throat with Lynan’s dagger he had as much against Orkid as the chancellor had against him.
He stopped for a moment, frowning. And what of the deal with Orkid? For helping with the assassination of Berayma, the chancellor had promised to ensure he was made constable… and yet… and yet Orkid’s expression had seemed particularly displeased when Areava had announced Dejanus’s elevation at the first meeting of the executive council.
The constable shook his head. There was nothing the chancellor could do. If Dejanus was brought down, then Orkid would come down with him. And now that Lynan and Kumul were dead, no one except the pair of them knew the whole truth about Berayma’s death.