Incendiary (Hollow Crown #1)(75)

Alessandro takes in the stone, then dismisses Leo. “The Ventári expired, no one can verify it until we find another one.” I see the moment he understands his mistake. The alman stone will show Alessandro attacking me and Leo stepping in to calm the erratic judge. Anger cuts his features into a terrible scowl. “It won’t matter. My word is higher than yours.”

“I do not deny that,” I say, setting the slat down. I am sure I no longer need it. “There are, of course, hundreds of judges like you in the Arm of Justice, and I am but one Robári.”

Leo turns to the side, but I catch the way his mouth twitches.

Alessandro whirls between me and Leo. If he were a stray animal, he’d be frothing at the mouth with anger. He shoves a finger in my chest, on the scab where King Fernando cut me. I bite down so I won’t wince. “I will be there when you make a mistake, bestae.”

As he sweeps away, Leo and I stand and listen to the music. He saved me from Alessandro. He has to be the Magpie. But when I open my mouth, he shakes his head. He covers my alman stone.

“We will not speak of this,” he says.

I want to argue, but I can’t risk getting Leo in trouble. Especially if he is the spy the justice is searching for. For now, I am content in knowing that I can trust him. I don’t protest as we return to my room, and my mind returns to Jacinta’s memory.

Castian had been engaged. Justice Méndez did say that Leo had started off as Lady Nuria’s attendant. Is it a coincidence that I’m in her old apartments? Surely out of every guest room in the palace . . . She’s married to Alessandro now but was engaged to Castian. My stomach sickens at what they might have done in the same place where I sleep.

The palace at night takes on an eerie stillness. Shadows feel longer, and even the statues along the halls give me the sensation we’re being watched. But I memorize every turn we take and every step back to my room because I will have to get myself back there. Leo goes on about how a shipment of wine for the festival met a sorry end in a ditch on the way into the capital, setting the royal vintner into a frenzy. I pocket the alman stone.

“Leo, I heard a rumor tonight,” I say, letting my eyes slide conspiratorially from corner to corner. I’ve seen Sayida do this when she wants to be coy about a subject. I, however, am far from coy and fear he’s going to shut me down after what we just went through.

“There are as many rumors as there are citizens in the capital, my dear lady.”

“Not a lady,” I mumble.

Leo loops his arm around mine and gives the halls a quick glance before stepping onto an open sky bridge. I realize we haven’t walked it at night before. It feels like we’re walking across a stretch of long black shadow. Each glittering arch and pillar reflects the half-moon’s light.

“Pray tell, what is this rumor? Did you spend your hour of party chatting up a scullery maid?”

I laugh, trying to keep my voice light. By the sound of him, the confrontation with Alessandro never happened. “I heard that Prince Castian was engaged once to your former lady.”

Leo’s face brightens with his usual smile. I wonder how many things he hides with the turn of his lips. “Ah, Lady Nuria Graciella, Duquesa of Citadela Tresoros, was indeed set to wed the prince once upon a time.”

Tresoros.

“As in, the family that once ruled Tresoros?” I ask.

Over a century ago, the kingdom of Tresoros had the richest earth of the continent before beginning a tenuous alliance with the Fajardo family. Now that Puerto Leones has conquered most of the continent, it’s hard to imagine that it was once a fraction of what it is today. When the royals of Tresoros surrendered, they did so under the condition that the royal family be given titles and a place at court. Now those lands are just another provincia where there was once a nation.

“The very same,” Leo says. “Lady Nuria is the wealthiest woman in all of Puerto Leones. She owns most of the western provincia, because of the treaty her grandfather negotiated when they abdicated their throne to the Fajardos. I suppose the Whispers wouldn’t have known about her scandal with Prince Castian in those mountain hovels you call homes.”

And just like that, my doubt about Leo returns. Coming from him, that hurts more than any of the terrible things Alessandro said to me. How could he risk his reputation for me one moment, and then say something like this the next?

“The Whispers are disconnected from the rest of the world,” I say. “That is why their rebellion failed.” The words feel empty, but the lies now roll off my tongue.

“Perhaps,” Leo says. He stops halfway across the bridge. From here we can see the yellow glow of streetlamps that line the Andalucían streets. It’s a pretty sight when the dark can hide the filth and violence of the day.

“Who called it off?” I ask.

“It’s a complicated affair,” Leo says. “Lady Nuria was betrothed to Prince Castian since before they were born.”

“How is that possible?”

“Jústo Fajardo, the king’s father, was having a hard time holding the annexed Tresoros territory.”

“Tresoros was half the size of Puerto Leones at that time,” I say. “How could they hold off the Fajardo attacks?”

“For every man enlisted to the Fajardo army, the Tresoros family could afford to match it with hired soldiers.”