The Blood Spell (Ravenspire, #4)(79)
“We have much to discuss,” the queen said as Dinah moved toward her.
“Shall we walk in the garden?” she asked Adelene. “It would be nice to get some air before the storm hits, and it would give us some privacy for our conversation.”
The queen nodded, and together they left the castle and moved to the crushed-seashell path that wound through the royal garden. The sky was a dark blue streaked with gray, and a damp wind slapped at their faces. They’d only gone a few paces past the flowering hedges that bordered the garden when the queen said softly, “I thought we were friends.”
Dinah drew back in surprise, and said quickly, “Of course we are, Your Majesty.”
“Then why did I have to find out from my son that creditors are going to take your mansion and much of your business interests once the estate review is finished?” The queen’s tone was gentle.
When Dinah was quiet, the queen asked, “It was James’s gambling, wasn’t it?”
Dinah sighed as if weary beyond words. “I tried to stop him. I took over the accounts. Had everything transferred to my name so he couldn’t do anything more than lose the coin I allowed to be kept in our coffers at home.”
“And he agreed to that?” She sounded surprised.
“I didn’t give him a choice.” Anger threaded through Dinah’s words. “He was going to destroy us. Destroy the entire Chauveau family if given half the chance. My solicitor copied his signature on the documents. I had to. It was the only way to save my daughters and my quarter.”
“But it didn’t work?”
Dinah took another three steps into the garden, scanning the plants for the dark blue diamond-shaped leaves that marked the volshkyn bush. “He must have copied my signature on documents as well, and he pledged everything we owned to his creditor. When James couldn’t pay, his creditor had him killed and served me notice that they would be taking everything owed to them. Including marriage to one of my daughters.”
The volshkyn bush wasn’t here. She pulled on Adelene’s arm to guide her farther into the garden.
The queen brushed past a stone bench with tendrils of ivy snaking up its back. “Of course you couldn’t let the other families know, or they’d have tried to buy it out from underneath you. But you could’ve come to me.”
“I know,” Dinah said. “But the betrothal period had just begun, and—”
“And you thought you’d trick me into thinking your family would make the strongest alliance to the crown?” Adelene’s voice sharpened.
Dinah gritted her teeth and worked to sound like she regretted her choices. “I thought I could turn it around if I just had a little bit of time. And frankly, I was more concerned with how to protect my family and my quarter than with whether we still qualified for the betrothal. I should have thought about how that would appear to you. I’m sorry.”
The queen was silent for a moment as they walked. Finally, she said, “I’m concerned about protecting your family and your quarter as well. I’ll have the royal magistrate request the debt sheets from James’s creditors so we can verify the authenticity of your signature.”
They turned toward the center of the garden, where tall oaks with fat trunks spread their limbs over clusters of cheerful yellow, purple, and red flowers. The sky was more gray than blue now, and the wind had a bite to it.
Dinah scanned the area for the volshkyn bush but didn’t find it. “Thank you for your help, Adelene.”
The queen patted her arm and said quietly, “I’m getting into the habit of asking the royal magistrate to verify signatures lately.”
Dinah’s skin went cold. “Are you?”
She had to find that volshkyn bush. Quickly, before the queen became more suspicious of her and refused to let her harvest any. Her heart pounded in time with the far-off rumblings of thunder that shook the air over the distant sea.
Drawing in a deep breath, Dinah steadied herself. If the queen knew the truth about Dinah’s actions, she’d have already thrown Dinah in the dungeon.
“Tell me,” Adelene said, “how did you know Valeraine de la Cour?”
Dinah sent the queen a look of surprise and prepared to lie through her teeth. “We were girlhood friends. You know I was part of the merchant class before I met James. We drifted apart a bit after our marriages—hard to stay close when one of you is running an alchemy shop and the other is learning how to be a member of one of the head families—but we never lost touch. Why?”
Adelene frowned. “I was friendly with Valeraine. Our husbands were close. I never heard her mention you, and yet here you are with guardianship over Blue and the de la Cour property.”
Dinah matched the queen’s frown with one of her own. “And so you had the guardianship document checked for authenticity? You could have just asked me for the story behind it.”
“I did just ask you for a story behind the loss of your mansion and your business titles, and I learned that you had your solicitor fake James’s signature on official property deeds.” The queen’s voice was still soft, still sympathetic, but there was stone beneath it now.
Dinah infused her voice with hurt. “And you think that the fact that I had to stoop so low to avoid utter humiliation and homelessness means I would stoop that low again? For what? To have to take care of some mouthy girl and her decrepit farmhouse? How does that benefit me?”