Long May She Reign(28)

“Is it really sensitivity to care about the feelings of mass murderers?” Sten spoke quietly, his expression fierce. It would have been easy to forget he was here, near silent but always listening, if it weren’t for the intensity of his gaze on me. “I would ask why Her Majesty sympathizes with them, when they killed almost everyone any of us knew. Is that how we should conduct our diplomacy now?”

“No,” I said quickly. He continued to stare at me, and I couldn’t fit my thoughts into words. “I only thought—”

“Your Majesty may have a tender heart,” he said, “but you should remember why we are all here. It would be dangerous to appear too sympathetic. Do you not agree?”

A shiver of fear ran down my spine. He was still suspicious of me. If I seemed too sympathetic, I’d look like I was involved. And I wasn’t sympathetic, not to the idea of killing hundreds of people, not to any of it. But this was a puzzle, and you had to look at it the right way, without letting emotion muddle your thoughts.

But I couldn’t do that here.

I sat in silence, picking at the splinters underneath the table, as they returned to their discussion of guards and patrols. How could I get that book without any of them knowing? I couldn’t exactly buy it from a bookshop, even if I could leave the Fort. Someone like Thorn might have a copy, one she’d confiscated if not one she’d read, but she didn’t seem likely to share.

“We still need to find more tasters,” Norling said, “after the loss at the banquet. But to find people we can trust—”

“We should find a way to avoid using tasters at all,” I said. “They clearly don’t work—”

“They work far better than the alternative,” my father said.

“Then we need to find another alternative. Some other way of detecting it, some test. If we get scientists to study—”

“Freya!” My father’s shout almost made me jump. He was glaring at me, his face red. “All our resources must go to finding and punishing these murderers, and on protecting you. I suggest you focus on keeping yourself safe, as well.”

“I don’t want other people at risk because of me.”

“But they are. That’s what it means to be queen.”

I swallowed. A lump wedged itself in my throat. “How many tasters died at the banquet, for nothing?”

“None of them, Your Majesty,” Norling said, her voice a little softer than I’d heard it before. “Three tasters died, but not the one who was actually assigned the dish. It seems the tasters were eating anything returned to the kitchens, as well as performing their duties. By the time we realized there was an issue with the cake, several of them had eaten it, and two of them died. But not the one doing his job. So you see. Two poison attempts, two tasters who have survived. Put the worry out of your mind.”

“Although of course, the first taster has been arrested,” Thorn said. Norling glared at her.

“Arrested?” I said. “Because he didn’t die?”

“If hundreds of people die and the taster is not among them, then the taster must be considered suspicious. Perhaps he added the poison, perhaps he was warned and knew not to eat too much of it. Either way, we have to investigate.”

“He was warned, but he didn’t tell his friends not to eat any? You think he’d let the other tasters die for no reason?”

“It’s possible. If he warned them, they might have warned us.”

“Is he here? In the Fort?” I needed to speak with him. Whether he was guilty or innocent, he must know something. He must have seen something.

“He is in the dungeons, Your Majesty. In the dark cells. Until we have answers.”

I stood. “I wish to speak with him.”

“That would be unwise, Your Majesty.” Holt’s voice slid over the many words that simply meant no. “Especially after what happened. You would be unsafe.”

“I’ll be safer once we know exactly who has been murdering the court.”

“And we will know, Your Majesty. But you need not concern yourself with the question.”

But I did. Obviously I did. It was my life, my rule. And even then . . . I wanted to know. The mystery nagged at me. I wanted to be doing something, using what skills I had. But I wasn’t supposed to speak to the suspects, I wasn’t supposed to read their texts . . . my advisers were keeping me as far away from the investigation as they could, and the question of why thrummed through me. Why were they hiding things from me, why didn’t they want me to know?

The tiny beginnings of an answer twisted in my stomach. I couldn’t jump to conclusions here. I would gather the facts, and then I would see.

“What have you learned so far?” I said instead. “If you’re keeping him in the dungeons, then you must have some intelligence against him?”

“Nothing useful, as of yet,” Thorn said. “He claims he saw nothing.”

“Then maybe he saw nothing. You don’t know he’s lying.”

“We don’t,” Thorn said. “The problem is, murderers tend to say they saw nothing, too.”

I hurried away as soon as the meeting was over, my guards walking behind me. Every step away from the council room fed my anger, making my hands shake. I’d spoken. Loudly and clearly, over and over, as queen, and they still hadn’t heard. They’d dismissed me or ignored me every time, even when I knew I was right. I’d managed to speak to all of them, interrupted them, argued with them, and it hadn’t meant anything. My stomach still shook slightly from the effort, and yet . . . nothing.