Incendiary (Hollow Crown #1)(54)

The young judge takes a step back, stuttering through an apology. He genuflects over and over. The way he grovels makes my skin crawl. But isn’t that what I’m doing? Trying to get back into the good graces of the man who destroyed my life?

“My sincerest apologies,” Alessandro says, speaking lightning fast. Méndez’s face is aghast that this boy is still talking, even though he holds his hand up in a way a king would silence a subject. “I am at your service. I am simply overjoyed that our mission will move forward. I only want—”

“The best for the kingdom,” I say, interrupting him.

“How dare it speak for me.” Alessandro practically recoils from where I sit.

Méndez’s gray eyes slide in my direction, a pleased smile curling his lips.

I want to say, It does more than that. It can rip your memories from your head until there is nothing left of you but a fumbling shell. But that is not the girl I have returned to be. I bite my response and wait for Justice Méndez to speak.

“This is Renata Convida,” he says.

“The girl stolen by the Whispers?” When he grimaces, his neck practically disappears. His eyes dart from Méndez to me, as if only now realizing he shouldn’t have spoken so freely. If there is a rift between the king and the justice, perhaps I can use that to my advantage.

“She has returned to us, Alessandro,” Méndez says, regaining his steely calm. “I would like to speak to her alone.”

“My justice—you shouldn’t be alone with such a creature.”

I breathe deep to stomp on the violent impulses coursing through my bones.

“As you can see,” the justice says, “she cannot hurt me in her state.”

“I would never,” I say.

The disdain in Alessandro’s eyes tells me he does not believe me. When he smooths his hair back, I notice the marriage band on his finger—simple polished wood. No one in the Arm of Justice would want to wear metals associated with the Moria.

He bows once more. “I will return with updates.”

“Shut the door when you leave,” Méndez says.

“The young justices can marry now?” I ask, the moment Alessandro is gone.

Justice Méndez sits back down, returning to the items on his desk. He selects a bandage.

“The king, in his infinite wisdom, has decreed that the next generation of Leonesse must be loyal to the crown. What better place to start than among those sworn to protect the kingdom from its enemies?”

Who will protect the king from me?

Unrolling the strip of cloth, he wraps it around my palm and wrist. When he guides my fingers open again, I have the vague notion that I make quite the marionette girl. Margo’s voice rings in my head. Obedient is not the same as clever. While I’m here, I have to be both.

“There we are,” he says. “All better, for the moment.”

He pulls off his blood-splattered calfskin gloves and bundles them in a piece of cloth to be dealt with by a servant who cleans the justice’s office. He pulls out a sweet from his desk and hands it to me: a stellita. He used to always give me them.

I suck in a short gasp, cradling the candy in my hand. My mouth twitches with the need to smile. I decide that it would be an appropriate reaction.

“I haven’t had one of these in—”

“Eight years.”

“Thank you,” I say as I take and chew the sticky candy. My jaw aches from not having had anything to eat in so long. The sugar melts quickly. A rush comes over me when I consider my rashness. What if it had been poisoned? I chew to buy myself a moment to think. Méndez needs me to present to the king, who has been displeased with Justice Méndez. He wouldn’t dare. I decide I’ve done the right thing. This is the way I show him that I trust him, rushing to consume the treasures he’s giving me, no matter how small. Still, I need to be more careful.

Méndez waits until I swallow before he snaps open another drawer to pull out a piece of dark fabric with something metallic attached. It isn’t until he holds it by the metal cuff that I see it is a single locked glove.

It’s been years since I’ve worn the design of his own making, but I hold out my good hand to him. It’s like my muscles remember his every command, and I feel like my body has betrayed me. The gloves, the candy, the story he told me about when I was injured. We are stepping into the past, into a time when he trusted me. I need that trust to find my way around the palace.

He places the glove on my hand, the leather soft but snug over the calluses along my knuckles and palm. Then he clicks the iron bracelet into place. It’s a pretty thing, for a manacle.

“This will have to do until your other hand heals and you can wear them both.” He rings his bell, and a moment later, a boy scurries in, dressed in the sunflower-yellow uniform of a justice’s page.

“Take her to Lady Nuria’s former apartments,” Méndez orders. “The attendants should have arrived by now. When you’ve delivered her, let Leonardo know he will have his work cut out for him before the royal presentation.”

My stomach turns into knots at the thought of being brought before the king and prince. Perhaps if I start now, I will be able to control myself when I see him. Stay for more, Lozar had asked of me. I owe too many promises to the dead, it seems.