The King's Traitor (Kingfountain #3)(61)

“But the snow,” Lovel said earnestly.

“Who didn’t see the clouds coming yesterday?” Severn snapped. “Now heed my orders and serve me well, Dukes of Ceredigion. I command you to return to your duchies and make preparations.”

Catsby looked greensick. “What about the Espion?” he whined.

“Can you not see past your own greed for a quarter hour!” Severn roared at him. “I’m not changing aught until this storm blows past. And it will, mark my words.” He snapped his fingers. “I know what I’ll do. We’ll send out a royal decree to summon all the children of the kingdom to the palace. All of them.” He turned to Owen. “I want you to post Espion to guard the fountain night and day. Stop this sniveling and fidgeting. I am the master of this realm. No little brat is going to steal my crown.” He chuffed and began pacing.

Then he turned to Catsby. “Prepare the summons and then get your body to the North. Of all the duchies, it’s the most vulnerable. Because of your greediness. But thankfully, I thought ahead and prepared a way to keep Iago in line. He loves that little girl, you see.” His face turned menacing. “She’s his weakness, and he’d never allow anything to happen to her.”





CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO


Mantic Gifts




The king dismissed all of the dukes except for Owen. Lovel, Paulen, and Catsby left—Catsby pausing to cast a suspicious glance over his shoulder at Owen before he walked out—and the door thudded shut with an ominous sound, leaving Owen and Severn alone together.

Torches hissed and fluttered in the throne room sconces. Owen stood still, but he felt the nervous impulse to reach for his sword hilt. The king was pacing again on his crooked leg, his brow knitting with consternation. He stopped and then fixed Owen with a wary stare.

“Why did you announce your dream in a hall full of witnesses?” he asked in a low, seething voice.

Owen held his ground and met the king’s gaze without flinching. “Why did you execute Dunsdworth and Eyric before I returned?”

Severn’s face darkened. “I did it to spare your sensibilities, lad.”

“How considerate of you,” Owen said. “I’m glad you’ve always kept my feelings in the forefront of your thoughts.”

The king gave him a measuring look, as if Owen’s words had caught him off guard. “Have you finally found your tongue after all of these years?” he said with a snort. “The boy who used to quaver in this very hall at breakfast each morning?” He swept his hand in a wide circle, indicating the food-laden tables that had been ransacked earlier.

Owen took a deliberate step closer. “I’m not a child anymore.”

The king’s anger was growing, but he looked uncomfortable as well, as if his conscience was suddenly bothering him. “You should have told me privately about your dream. Now the entire realm will hear of it within the hour. You owe allegiance to me, lad. I gave you everything you have. And I can take it from you just as easily.”

Owen couldn’t have cared less, and he hoped it showed on his face. “I returned, did I not? Even after your threat. Even after your test. Can you not stop such antics, my lord? Have I not proven my loyalty again and again over these many years?”

The king shook his head. “I do trust you, lad, but Catsby has been whispering that it’s a mistake. That you’ve had too much power for one so young. He said that some of the Espion are more loyal to you than to me.” He gave Owen a meaningful look. Did he mean Etayne? Kevan?

Owen held up his hands. “Then strip it from me, my lord, like you did to Ratcliffe. If Catsby wants the burden, he’s welcome to it. If he’s done ruining everything Stiev Horwath built in Dundrennan, why not turn him loose on your Espion next, as he wishes?”

The king looked at him again in surprise. “Do you hear yourself?”

“I do. I sound like you, don’t I?”

The king nodded. “You are young and you’ve carried a heavy burden. Perhaps it is time that I eased some of it off you. What news from Ploemeur? I’ve heard the duchess wasn’t opposed to the match after all?”

Owen wondered how he could keep his face disinterested, but he tried. “She’s no fool, nor was she Roux’s puppet.”

“Was? What do you mean?”

Owen bit his tongue, cursing himself for the slip. “I only meant that she’s not his puppet after all. She sees the value in the deeper alliance with Ceredigion. We are betrothed.”

The king looked surprised and a little envious. “So quickly?” he murmured. “You think this is a ruse? Or does she mean to go through with it? I hadn’t intended you to actually marry her, you know.”

“Then you shouldn’t have sent me to offer an engagement,” Owen rebuffed. “I was rude, cantankerous, and unkempt.”

“You still are,” the king said snidely.

“Is it any wonder?” Owen answered. “The assignment is complete. If you have no further plans for me, I’d like to return to Westmarch and prepare my army.”

The king shook his head. “No, Owen. I need you here. Send word to the duchess to be alert for signs that Chatriyon is stirring and seeking to reclaim his lost cities. I might send you to Pree to lay siege there.”