Long May She Reign(18)

That made sense to me, as well. I wasn’t an expert on poisons, but the description matched what I knew. A little more research would be necessary, to ensure the symptoms didn’t fit a rarer, stranger poison, but the explanation worked for now.

But the important question wasn’t what, but why? “But who would want to poison so many people?” I said. My voice sounded a little too loud, and I swallowed, fighting the urge to soften it with rambling.

“We do not know,” Thorn said. “We have yet to find any clues in the cake. The king ordered it himself. We will track down the ingredients and see who might have had contact with it, of course, but it is all just speculation as of yet.”

“One possibility,” Norling said, “is that the Gustavites were involved. Are you familiar with them, Your Majesty?”

“I’ve heard of them.” I’d heard of the book, anyway. Gustav’s Treatise. He’d been something of a radical, a hundred years ago. Claiming the nobility were corrupt, that we were all a gold-devouring plague on the land. The corruption part was definitely true. He’d wanted all the crown’s wealth to be spread equally across the kingdom, and he wasn’t quiet about his views. He’d been exiled, along with his words, but he’d never stopped talking, and people had been far more interested in his book once it was forbidden.

“A small group of them have been meeting in the capital, and they’d have the motivation. They are dangerous people.”

But it felt a little too convenient. They’d never acted against the court before. I hadn’t heard a single rumor about them. Wouldn’t something have happened, before they resorted to mass murder? “Do you have any proof?”

“It is only a theory as yet,” Thorn said. “But if they were responsible, we will prove it.”

“How many of them are there? Do we know who’s involved in them?”

“They are being very secretive, Your Majesty. Another reason to suspect them. But we will learn all we can.”

It made sense that a group like that would be secretive, whether they were planning murders or just meeting for weekly book discussions. My councillors had no evidence that they had any connection to the poisoning.

“Regardless, we must be wary of them,” Holt said. “They may use this as an opportunity to increase their influence.”

Of course. I was so far down the list of inheritance that calling me queen was almost laughable. All order had already vanished. They’d only have to push slightly for me to fall, as well.

“So what should we do?” I said.

“Show your strength,” my father said. “Continue as before, unfazed by any of this. If you are convincing as queen, it will be much harder for them to fight against you.”

All I had to do was be convincing. That was all. I tried to fight back a laugh, but it escaped anyway, ringing off the walls. Everyone stared at me, and my face burned. “I—yes,” I said. “I just have to be convincing.”

“We will guide you, Your Majesty,” Holt said. “You are new to this, we know, but we can help you. You can trust us here.”

But I couldn’t trust them. I couldn’t trust anyone, except my father and Naomi. Everyone here had survived the banquet. Any of them could have been involved in the murder. And none of them had any reason to be loyal to me. There was nothing to stop them from finding a better candidate to rule.

I looked at the table, gathering my courage again. “Were you all at the banquet?” I asked. “When it—when it happened?”

Thorn shook her head. “My husband was taken ill, so I could not attend.”

“Is he all right?” I asked.

“He is well now, Your Majesty, if weak. He may not appear in court for some time.”

That was convenient. But I nodded at her.

“The rest of us were all there, I believe,” Norling said. “I remember speaking to Rasmus, at least, and your father. I was lucky that I was no longer hungry, and didn’t eat any cake.”

And Sten had been sitting at the high table. I’d seen him clearly. I looked at him now, and he frowned. “The cake did not appeal to me,” he said. “I am not the sort to eat gold.”

“Torsten, your cousin,” Holt said, cutting the tension left by Sten’s last words. “Have you heard from her since this happened?”

“She sent a letter ahead,” he said. “I told her to stay at home, but she’s returning to the capital, as quickly as she can.”

“Madeleine is your heir, now,” Holt added to me. “Perhaps you are friends already? Such a delightful girl.”

No, Madeleine Wolff and I were not friends. I’d seen her many times—every time I came to court, she was at the center of it, smiling at everyone, twittering with her bell-like laugh, flirting with Fitzroy when he was in favor, ignoring him when not. Everyone adored her, but she had always seemed rather empty-headed to me. Too beautiful for her own good.

Not that I’d ever actually spoken to her, beyond the odd “excuse me.” She was too refined to ever stoop low enough to talk to me.

If I hadn’t left the banquet, she would have become queen. Everyone would have been far happier with that. Including, perhaps, Madeleine, judging from her flirtations in the court.

“I told her she wasn’t well enough to travel,” Sten said. “The doctor told her to stay away until the new year—but when has she ever listened to what the doctor says?”