Innocent Queen: A Court Intrigue Fantasy (The Forbidden Queen Series Book 2) by R.J. Vickers

Author:R.J. Vickers [Vickers, R.J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-04-13T16:00:00+00:00

14

Cal’s Spies

I set aside the decree and sagged in my chair. If this didn’t work, I had no idea what to do next.

On the table before me, full of crossings-out and smudged ink, lay the draft of a proposal to outright ban Truthbringers from Baylore. The time had come to take decisive action. I could no longer hope to make progress with superficial attempts to win favor.

Three days had passed since the riots, and no further bodies had surfaced in that time. I wasn’t sure if that meant anything. Guards patrolled the streets of Baylore at all hours; from my balcony, I could see their lamps bobbing down the streets at night. No one had broken the curfew yet, which was a relief—the city cells were already full of those arrested in the riots.

We were at an impasse, and I had no idea what the Truthbringers were planning next. Whoever made the next move could gain the upper hand. Which was why I needed to strike now, to throw the Truthbringers out of Baylore while there were plenty of guards around to quell any protests that resulted from the new law.

I just had to persuade one of my holden monarchs to vote for it.

Spring had begun by the time the next Ilkayumsday vote came around. There were precious few signs of it here, though. The sky remained a dismal, steely grey, the air biting.

When I settled onto the throne in the chamber of law, I could feel the weight of my holden monarchs’ stares. I had yet to address the palace as a whole since the riots. They had heard rumors and read my words taken out of context in the Palace Times, but they did not know exactly what had happened.

I sighed. “It has been a difficult quarter. Someone made a coordinated attack on innocent civilians across Baylore, and the investigation has yet to turn up any connection between the deaths. As far as I can tell, someone is trying to cast suspicion on me, but I haven’t been able to determine whether they have any greater motives.”

“And the death in the palace?” Ellarie asked sharply. “Do you claim this was unrelated to the others?”

“Whoever is killing people around the city must have spies in the palace. We already know they managed to pass on sensitive information about Calden. So no, the man who died in the palace has no known connection either to the Truthbringers or to my cause, but I doubt it was a coincidence he died the same day as everyone else.”

That was another thing—the circumstances surrounding the man’s death were very odd. He had been found in a small, plush tearoom in the historic wing, and as far as anyone could tell, he was playing a game of cards when he dropped dead at the table. He could have been poisoned, but the University Potioneers had found no trace of toxic substances in his wine. No one had confessed to being with the young man when he died, so it seemed likely his partner in cards had killed him.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.