The Orphan Queen (The Orphan Queen #1)(32)

Was that true? Could Julianna be known for her spinning? It wasn’t something that had come up in my research of her, though I hadn’t been able to find much on the duchess in the first place.

“I’m sorry to disappoint,” I said at last, setting aside the spindle and wool. “Perhaps I should return to my chambers to rest. I’m sure my companion is wondering what’s become of me.”

“Of course.” Meredith gestured toward the door. “Please accept my best wishes, and again I apologize for my fiancé. He simply does what he thinks is necessary for the good of the kingdom.”

And now that she’d told me twice, I was certain to remember.

I curtsied and said my farewells before gathering my papers and hurrying out the door.


Lunch waited on the sitting room table when I returned to my apartments. Steam obscured the contents beneath the glass-lidded trays. Books and papers surrounded them, and our map in progress lay across the back of one of the chairs. Melanie glanced up from the notes she was writing and grinned. “Well?”

“Well, what?” I shut and locked the door behind me. “What’s all this? Osprey papers?”

Melanie’s smile dropped.

“If I’d been anyone else, we would be in the dungeon by now.” I strode toward her.

Her pen fell to the table as she scrambled to her feet. “I—I’m sorry. I figured anyone else would knock.”

“You were willing to risk the entire mission on politeness?” I was overreacting, I knew. About this anyway. “Tobiah offered to walk me back here. And Chey tried to attach herself to my hip. If either of them had joined me, they would have seen this.” I thrust my hands toward the map, bright with streaks of color denoting the gardens and fountains and offices and bedchambers of nobility. If anyone saw that . . .

Melanie said nothing, but her eyes were round.

“And why is it taking you so long to deliver reports? Where else are you going after?”

Her eyes grew wide and hurt. “Nowhere. I come right back here.”

I held her gaze for a moment longer, but she didn’t so much as squeak. Finally, I turned away and took a seat.

“Sorry.” Melanie lingered beside her chair, as though unsure whether she was allowed to be here anymore. “I’ll put everything away.”

“Take notes during the day. Remember that we could be interrupted at any moment.”

Her eyes cut to the door. “Sorry, Wil.” A few minutes later, she had everything back in hiding, except a notebook and a couple of books we’d been reading. The Lost Art of Architecture: Skyvale Palace and The Valley within the Valley: The Exploration of the Midvale Ridge. The latter was a pre-wraith book, with incredibly even lettering and realistic art. It was worth a fortune.

Lunch was a small bowl of soup, half a loaf of bread, and a pile of sliced meats and cheeses. It was only stock, whatever they had in the kitchens, but still so much more than what we called lunch at the old palace. Not to mention the setting; the price for just one of these glass lids could have fed the Ospreys for a week.

I glanced out the window, watching clouds drift in the breeze. I hoped the Ospreys were well. I hoped Connor was in control of himself. I hoped Quinn and her team were safe. I hated so many of us being spread out. Already there were so few of us.

Melanie nodded at the papers I’d brought back. “Those look important.”

We Ospreys prided ourselves on our powers of observation.

“From His Surliness. It should be wraith research. Thanks to Chey practically kidnapping me in the hall, I haven’t read them, but perhaps it will provide us with some answers.”

She nodded. “Good. That will be useful.”

Awkwardness pulled at us.

“There was some kind of monster attack in Thornton the other night. That’s why I was back late.”

We both knew that wasn’t true, but I didn’t call her on the lie, because here our secrets overlapped. “A wraith beast? What happened?” I was pretty sure I’d left before anyone else arrived, but I wasn’t ready for Melanie to know I’d followed her.

As she told me about Black Knife’s victory over the wraith cat, with no mention of a second fighter, I relaxed.

“That guy is everywhere, isn’t he?” I sipped my wine.

“I doubt he ever sleeps.” She flashed a pale smile. “I keep seeing posters asking for his help. They want him to stop a gang in Red Flag, or find a missing child in White Flag. I even saw a few demanding he stop the wraith before it crosses into the valley. The police keep tearing them down.”

“He’s a menace.” He took flashers and did who knew what with them. Something bad enough that no one would dare tell a lady. I couldn’t let that happen, not to myself, and not to . . . others I cared for.

“Did you learn anything at the meeting?” she asked after a few minutes.

I learned that the Indigo Kingdom didn’t have any more of an idea of how to stop the wraith than anyone else.

I learned that the Overlord of Aecor was here in Skyvale Palace.

And I learned that my people were being used to fight King Terrell’s war.

“Yes,” I said at last. “I learned that we are going to win this.”





ELEVEN


IT WASN’T LONG before a maid came to collect our dishes, and a young boy followed close behind with an envelope. “For Lady Julianna.”