Perhaps she did!
Valens' case of tools and creams. Maybe there was something in it to implicate Cobalt. She dragged it out from under the desk but there was no time to look through it now. Her first priority was to get to her father before Steadfast or Cobalt could. Where could she hide Valens' case?
The last place they'd look.
Piro marched down the stairs into the servants' quarters. Spotting a scullery maid, who was no taller than her with long dark hair bound in a plait, Piro beckoned the girl. 'My mother needs this. Please take it to her.'
The maid did not ask where the queen was, so the news must have travelled all over the castle. Someone was sure to get to her father if she didn't meet him at the stables. Piro hurried through the connecting courtyard. And she was only just in time for she heard the clatter of returning horses.
'Father?' She ran out into the stable yard.
There he was, riding in with Captain Temor and several of his old honour guard.
'The town has outgrown its walls these last thirty years,' Temor was saying, as he swung down from the saddle and handed his reins to a stable boy. 'But, even if it hadn't, the people are better off coming up here to take shelter. Rolenhold will never fall.'
'And if the townspeople are safe within these walls, they cannot be used as hostages to force us to open the gates,' King Rolen agreed, also dismounting. He grimaced when his boots landed on the cobbles, jarring his body.
'Father?' Piro darted through the stable boys, who led the horses away, past the old honour guard. She caught the king's arm. 'Something terrible has happened. Cobalt locked mother in the mourning tower. He says she's a traitor but it's a forgery!'
'Hold on, Piro.' King Rolen patted her arm. 'What are you talking about?'
'Cobalt has framed mother for treason,' she cried.
Her father froze, his gaze going to Captain Temor, who looked stunned.
'Cobalt did warn us that only time would show the queen's true colours,' Lord Steadfast stated, as he crossed the stable yard to join them, with Cobalt at his side. 'Looks like they're Merofynian azure.'
Piro's heart sank. Cobalt looked none the worse for his fall down the steps. Perhaps he was part cat. Snake, more like. She squeezed her father's arm. 'Don't you believe him. The letter's a forgery!'
'Naturally, the queen would say that,' Cobalt agreed. 'And it pains me to have to arrest her.'
Piro searched her father's face. Surely he would not be taken in?
Cobalt bowed to the king. 'You left me in charge of the castle's safety, Uncle. I have only been following your orders.'
'Take a look for yourself, Rolen,' Lord Steadfast nodded to Cobalt, who offered the message which her father accepted and unrolled. Captain Temor and others peered over his shoulders.
'Looks like the queen's writing,' Temor agreed reluctantly.
'It is a forgery made to look like mother's writing,' Piro insisted. 'He's trying to turn everyone against her!'
Cobalt shook his head sadly. 'Uncle, I fear you are in for a double heartbreak because it was your very own daughter who had hidden this treacherous message — '
'That's a lie!' Piro could have wept with frustration.
Cobalt shrugged. 'Say what you like, kingsdaughter. I bear the marks you left on my body, when I tried to question you.' He rolled up his sleeve to reveal two long scratches that had beaded with blood. 'You know what a wyvern whelp she is, when her temper is roused.'
Piro gasped. Everyone looked at her as if she'd sprouted horns.
Her hands curled into fists. She wanted to claw out Cobalt's sorrowful lying eyes. Then she realised something.
'Look!' She opened both hands, holding them out for all to see her finger tips. 'My nails are bitten down to the quick!' These last few weeks she had fallen back into her childhood habit of chewing her nails.
Her father's eyes widened as he took in her ragged nails, which were clearly incapable of scratching anyone.
'They weren't like that when she scratched me,' Cobalt insisted.
The king's mouth settled into a grim, sad line. 'I'm going to see Myrella.'
When he strode off, the others followed. Piro hurried to stay by his side. Captain Temor fell into place on his other side.
'Rolen, if there is any doubt we can't risk freeing the queen,' Temor whispered. 'Only betrayal from within could cause Rolenhold to fall.'
'I know.' Her father sounded bleak.
'Mother is not a traitor,' Piro protested, having to take an extra skipping step to keep up with the men.
'Can you prove that?' Cobalt asked, from just behind them.
She spun to face him. 'Can you prove she is?'
He pointed to the forgery in her father's hands.
'One of you is lying,' King Rolen said. 'Once, I would have said nothing could make me doubt Myrella. But she was the one who encouraged me to betroth Lence to Isolt, and King Merofyn has used this to lull us into a false sense of security.'
Piro's heart sank. Nearly thirty years of peace and twenty-one years of marriage to Myrella were not enough to erase the ancestral mistrust of Merofynia.
They had to mount the stairs of the mourning tower in pairs. The tower had been built one hundred and thirty years ago by Queen Pirola the Fierce to celebrate her wedding but, when her betrothed was murdered, she locked the murderer, her own sister, in its topmost room. Her sister leapt from the top rather than face trial. It had been used ever since to contain royal prisoners.
A guard stood at the door.
'Unbar the door.' King Rolen waited while the door swung open.
Piro watched her mother come to her feet, small, regal and very angry.
Queen Myrella's black eyes flashed as she took in the crowd on the tower landing. 'So, you have come with a court, King Rolen?'
'I have come to find the truth,' he said, growing stiff and formal but, underneath, Piro heard defeat. He had already given up on the queen. This man was a pale shadow of her father.
Piro glanced to Cobalt, who was watching their faces. She remembered how he had turned everything to his advantage when Byren confronted him, and she had a bad feeling.
'Only one person is lying here and it is not me, Rolen,' the queen's voice quavered ever so slightly. 'You've known me since I was a child of eight summers. Have I ever lied to you?'
Piro froze. Her mother had lied by omission since the day she discovered she had Affinity. Thank the goddess Cobalt did not know that!
'We are at war with your homeland, Myrella.' He sighed. 'I would be a fool not to protect my castle and my people.'
'You don't believe me.' The queen blanched and turned away from him, going to the window. After a moment she recovered and faced her accusers. 'There is a traitor in our midst and it is not me. Someone forged that letter. I think…'
She stiffened, head tilting back. Piro smelt the tang of Affinity on the air. Piro glanced to Seela to see if she realised what was happening but no one else could read the signs. If her mother's Affinity came out now her father would be forced to execute her.
Her mother's eyes rolled back in her head. One hand lifted. Piro glanced to Seela. For once the old nurse was stunned into immobility.
A voice that was not hers came from the queen's lips. 'Rolen Byren Kingson, heed this warning. Listen to false counsel and your castle will fall. A man who is half snake, half wyvern is coming. He will tear out your heart, he will — '
'No!' Piro screamed and ran across the room, shoving her mother off her feet so that she staggered, hitting her head on the stone lintel of the window.
Nimble despite her age and girth, Seela darted forwards to catch the queen as she crumpled to the floor.