Protect the Prince (Crown of Shards #2)(80)

He smiled, but worry darkened his hazel eyes. Once again, I got the sense he knew something that I didn’t—

The workshop door burst open, and Captain Rhea strode inside, followed by two guards.

I slid off my stool and dropped my hand to my sword. Across the room, Paloma quit petting Grimley and got to her feet, her hand falling down to her mace.

But Alvis wasn’t intimidated by the captain’s sudden appearance, and he crossed his arms over his chest. “How many times have I told you to knock before you come in?”

To my surprise, Rhea rolled her eyes, and a teasing grin crept over her face. “Yes, yes, I know. I ruined your concentration yet again. According to you, I excel at it.”

To my even greater surprise, Alvis smiled back at her. I frowned. Were they . . . friends?

“Rhea!” Gemma called out in a happy voice, charged over, and hugged the captain around the waist, just like she’d done to me earlier.

“Hey, kid.” Rhea ruffled the girl’s hair. “We’re still on for sword training later, right? You can’t spend all your time cooped up in this dusty old workshop.”

“My workshop is not dusty,” Alvis grumbled, although they didn’t pay any attention to him.

“Right!” Gemma said. “See you then!”

She skipped back over to Grimley, and Rhea watched her go with a smile. I drew in a breath. The scent of the captain’s rosy love for the girl flooded the workshop. She cared about Gemma just as much as she did Dominic.

Rhea must have sensed my curious gaze, because she glanced in my direction. The longer she looked at me, the quicker her happiness melted away. In seconds, she had transformed back into a stern, imposing captain. Still, she didn’t seem nearly as angry and hostile as she had yesterday, and she tipped her head to me.

“Queen Everleigh. The king would like to see you.” Even her voice was polite, if a bit cool.

“Why?”

“He didn’t say,” Rhea said. “He just sent me to get you.”

I drew in another breath, but I didn’t sense any smoky lie in her words. I glanced over at Paloma, who shook her head in warning, but I wanted to know why Heinrich had summoned me. Besides, he was the king, and this was his palace. It wasn’t like I could say no.

“Very well.” I walked over to the captain.

Paloma started to join me, but Rhea held out her hand, stopping her.

“The king requested that Queen Everleigh come alone,” she said.

Paloma looked at me again, but I nodded, telling her that it was okay.

“Fine,” she muttered, then stabbed her finger at me. “But don’t you dare get into trouble. It’s not even lunchtime yet.”

I grinned and snapped off a cheeky salute. “I can make no such promises.”

Paloma gave me a sour look, as did the ogre on her neck, before turning to Rhea. “And you better protect her the same way you would your own king. Because if anything happens to Evie, then rest assured that you are the very first person I’m going to come looking for, along with your men.”

The two guards paled and sidled away, but Rhea held her ground. She looked at Paloma a moment, then at the ogre on her neck.

“Understood,” the captain said. “I look forward to that meeting, should it ever occur.”

The two women stared at each other for another moment before Rhea turned back to me. “Queen Everleigh, if you will come with me.”

She stepped into the hallway, and I followed the captain out of the workshop.

*

Rhea led the way, with me walking behind her and the two guards trailing after me. Together, the four of us headed downstairs to the first floor.

Rhea stopped and looked at her men. “You two, resume your previous posts. I will escort Queen Everleigh from here.”

The men nodded and set off in the opposite direction. I was surprised she’d sent away the guards, so I drew in another breath, but she smelled only of garlic guilt instead of the smoky lie I would expect if this was a trap.

Rhea gestured at me, and I fell in step beside her.

As we walked along, I realized that the captain had been busy overnight. Many more guards were patrolling through the palace than had been here yesterday. Then again, the crown prince and a visiting queen had almost been killed last night. Of course there would be more guards today.

Rhea kept glancing at me and opening and closing her mouth, as though she wanted to say something. We rounded a corner and stepped into a hallway that was free of guards, and she finally worked up the nerve.

She stopped and held out her hand, and I faced her.

“I am truly sorry about last night,” she said. “I don’t know how those assassins got into the palace, but I will find out. And if I discover that one of my men, or anyone else here, helped them, then that person will wish that they had killed me instead of trying to kill you and Dominic.”

I drew in a breath, tasting her scent, but she smelled so strongly of lime truthfulness that the citrusy aroma burned my nose. Rhea might not like me, but she hadn’t had anything to do with the assassination attempt. I had doubted she would put Dominic in danger like that, given her feelings for him, but it was still nice to know that she wasn’t working with the Mortans.

“I understand,” I said. “And I am also truly sorry for what happened. It was never my intention to bring my troubles to Glitnir, and I never meant to put anyone in danger.”