Stormcaster (Shattered Realms #3)(46)

Ash, momentarily speechless, stared at her. I left of my own accord, he thought. But she’s been shut out by her own father because of the job she’d been assigned to do—nannying me.

“I’m sorry, Lila,” he said simply. “I didn’t know.”

“No worries,” she said. “I only have to see it once. My home is on the coast, with my aunts, uncles, and cousins. Besides, things have changed around here. You won’t get through the gates without me.”

Lila had a writ from the Queen’s Guard that was enough to get them inside the walls of the close and across the drawbridge into the inner bailey. At the palace gate, they ran into a stone wall in the form of Ruby Greenholt.

Ruby was a war orphan who’d been adopted by two of the queen’s most trusted Wolves—Pearlie Greenholt and Talia Abbott. Ruby and Ash had played together as children, since her parents often escorted the royal family when they traveled within the queendom.

Ruby was as tall as Ash, but was still totally recognizable with her auburn hair pulled back onto the nape of her neck, her face nearly freckled over from the sun. When he’d left, she’d just been accepted into the elite Gray Wolves. Now a lieutenant’s scarf was knotted around her neck, so she must’ve done well. He stood there mutely, hands clenched, heart pounding in his throat, waiting to be recognized.

But he wasn’t, at least not at first. Ruby was all business.

“I know these are the queen’s public hours, but she’s not receiving anyone today,” Ruby said. “I don’t know whether she’ll be granting audiences anytime this week.” Looking them up and down, taking in their travel-worn appearance, she softened a bit. “It looks like you’ve been a long time on the road. I’m sorry if you’ve wasted a trip.”

Lila hesitated, shooting a look at Ash as if to see if he wanted to speak up. When he didn’t, she said, “Tell her it’s Lila Barrowhill. I think she’ll remember my name.”

Ruby shook her head. “Her Majesty said she was not to be disturbed, and so it doesn’t matter who you are.”

“What about Captain Byrne?” Lila persisted. “Is he available? Tell him Lila is here and needs to see him.”

She shook her head. “He’s in with the queen and some others, meeting with—they’re having a meeting,” she finished lamely. “If I disturb him, I’ll be disturbing the queen.”

“Ruby,” Ash said softly. “Don’t you know me?”

Their eyes met, with Ruby’s as hard and blank as an ice field. Then doubt crept into her face, followed by disbelief and a trace of fear. “By the Martyred Queens,” she whispered. “It can’t be—is it really . . . Adrian?”

“Yes,” he said, clearing his throat. “It’s me. I am so glad to see you alive and well.”

“Me? You’re glad to see me alive?” Ruby’s voice was rising. She gripped the front of his coat and fingered the rough fabric, patted him on the cheek with her rough palm. “Blood and bones! You feel real enough. You’re so tall, and thin, and—that head of hair! Are you risen from the dead in our hour of need or what?”

Adrian shook his head, his cheeks heating with embarrassment. “Not exactly. I am alive, and it’s a long story, but right now I would very much like to see my mother.”

“Follow me,” Ruby said, turning and striding off down the hallway so that Ash had to trot to keep up. As they twisted and turned down the corridors, it was like revisiting the time-blurred setting of a childhood dream, the spaces narrower and smaller and plainer than he remembered.

Lila trailed along behind them, shifting her eyes from ceiling to floor, peering down cross corridors.

“It’s not as fancy as I thought it would be,” she murmured. “I guess I’ve gotten used to the palace at Ardenscourt.”

Really? Ash thought. I never got used to that place.

When they reached the familiar door that led to the queen’s audience chamber, Ruby pounded on it. And then, as if she couldn’t wait for a response, she wrenched it open, to be met by a snarling brace of the queen’s Gray Wolf guards.

They quit snarling when they saw it was Ruby, but they didn’t step out of the way. “Greenholt!” one of them said. “You heard the morning orders. What the hell are you doing?”

“Just . . . fetch Captain Byrne,” Ruby said.

But the captain was already on his way. The commander of the Queen’s Guard was leaner and grayer than before, though his eyes were as sharp as they ever were.

“I told you we were not to be disturbed, Lieutenant,” he growled. “For any reason.”

“Sir,” Ruby said, then looked beyond him, into the room. “Your Majesty. It—it—it—”

“Captain Byrne,” Lila said, oddly formal to be speaking to her father. “We’re back.”

They stared mutely at each other for what seemed like a long time. Then Byrne pulled Lila into a hard embrace. “Sweet Lady of Grace,” he whispered. “I thought I’d lost you, too.”

Without waiting for an introduction, Ash stepped around Ruby and fully into the room, where two guards seized hold of him.

He spotted his mother immediately, sitting by the fire, a glass of wine cradled between her hands. Like nearly everything else, she looked smaller than he remembered. Her face was drawn and sad, and she was dressed all in a sooty black that absorbed the light. Was it possible she’d never left off mourning colors? He recognized Aunt Mellony, dressed all in black as well, and Micah Bayar, looking grim and grave, but then that was his default. And, next to him, that must be Cousin Julianna. He took another look around, to make sure. No. Lyss wasn’t there.