Incendiary (Hollow Crown #1)(76)

“Mercenaries,” I say. I bet my life that there is not a single book in the library in this hall, or in the entire country, that details this.

“From Luzou, Dauphinique, even the Icelands in the northern seas,” Leo says, his eyes glittering with story. What an enigma he is to have wound up here. Loyal to the crown. Keeper of salacious stories. Tentative friend to someone like me. “The Duquesa’s family sits on the largest and most plentiful mines of gems and gold.”

“So, what? They sold their descendants off to stop a war?”

“You have no sense of romance.” Leo turns on his heel and keeps walking. “I do not know who brought the agreement to the table, but an accord bound the families together. Their children were already promised to others, and so the next best thing was their first grandchildren.”

“And how did Nuria feel being betrothed to such a man?” The last word comes out as a curse. I think of all the words the servant girls used to describe the prince the days I helped in the courtyard, even the thoughts from the courtier whose memory I stole. “A devastating man.”

“He wasn’t so as a child. Lady Nuria and Castian were friends from infancy. They were always together in the palace, or so the stories go. There was a brief period, about a year, when the prince was sent to the Islas del Rey in the south. For his health. That was the only time they were apart.”

“No wonder I never saw him during my time here,” I say.

Leo racks his brain. “I believe it was before you would have arrived. When he was five or six, perhaps? It was right after the death of . . .” Leo trails off, remembering himself before he finishes the sentence, but I finish it for him.

“The death of the younger prince, his brother,” I say, thankful the cover of dark hides the horror I feel. Some say the Matahermano was destined to become as ruthless as his father. A boy who loves pain and death. A man who will die by my hand.

Leo nods. “As for why their engagement ended . . . Rumors flew. Some say he couldn’t keep Nuria away from other eligible men at court. Vicious lies, of course. Only that could have stopped a union decades in the making. And mere days before the wedding!”

I make a sour face. “Castian might be a prince, but that wouldn’t have made him a good husband.”

“And what do you know of husbands, young Renata?”

“You are not more than two years my elder, Leo. I might ask what you know of husbands.”

“Only but the one that I had and lost.”

My heart immediately breaks for him, but he won’t have it.

“Now, don’t make that face, I can’t stand any sadness today. Let me finish my story.”

We’re nearing my apartments and both slow down. “Go on. I suspect you know how to parse the lies from the truth.”

“Naturally. Yes, it was Prince Castian who broke off their engagement,” Leo says. “They went away on a voyage together and when they returned, it was over.”

A year ago? “Was it before or after the Battle of Riomar?”

Leo’s dark brow jolts up. “After. It was meant to be a celebration for the prince’s victory.”

That was the first time he almost killed Dez. I replay fragments of the memory. The Príncipe Dorado and the rebel. My throat constricts with the need to cry, but Leo’s voice guides me out of that darkness.

“Until that voyage, they’d loved each other deeply. Everyone envied them for so long. It was a romance for the ages. There are cantina songs about them, you know.”

“I don’t.” I resist the urge to gag. “What could have been so terrible as to break off a century-old arrangement and true love?”

“They say that Prince Castian caught Lady Nuria with someone else in her bed. When it came to light, the ladies of court wanted to have her tried for treason. A royal priest wanted to excommunicate her. But the lady is faithful, loyal above anything else. Who would take the prince’s word over hers?”

Doubting the prince’s word, even in private, is dangerous. But it has been a dangerous night. Perhaps I’m wrong about Leo in many ways. He might not be the Magpie, but now I know his true master. Lady Nuria.

“Doesn’t that negate the treaty with their grandparents? Could Tresoros reclaim its independence?”

Leo makes a whistling sound, as if even he can’t believe what he’s going to say. “That’s the thing. She was allowed to keep her family lands and title. The prince fought his own father for her to have them. The compromise was that she was to marry one of the judges of the Arm of Justice.”

“But—”

“May I ask why your interest in old royal gossip?” He cuts me off, and I take this as a sign that I’ve pushed him to his limit. We turn down a dark corridor and for the first time I’m relieved to see the guard posted outside of my room.

I shrug and keep my voice light. Airy. The way I’ve heard the girls at court speak. “You can’t blame me if gossip is all I have for entertainment at the moment. I’ve been gone too long.”

Leo’s smile is full of mischief, but if he suspects I have other intentions, he betrays nothing. With a friendly wave, he calls out. “Hector! Where have you been all night? We had to go take a turn around the sky bridge while we waited for you.”

The way that Leo lies fascinates me. The name sounds familiar, but after the night’s excitement I can’t recall why.