“What does that mean?”
“It means I don’t know who or what the hell she really was before, Phil. But now she’s your wife, your queen and the mother of your little boy. And man, does she love you. That’ll have to be enough.”
He scowled in frustration. “What if something like this happens again?”
“Not a chance,” I said with absolute certainty. I wasn’t that sure, of course, but I wanted Phil to be. And the relief in his eyes was payment enough.
We passed the flask and watched the eastern sky grow lighter until neither of us could keep our eyes open. We went inside, and I slept most of the day. If I dreamed, I don’t recall.
T HE OFFICIAL PARTY celebrating Rhiannon’s exoneration and Pridiri’s return from the dead was as big an affair as Wentrobe could organize in a little less than twelve hours. Anyone of note who could get to Arentia City was present, and the free food and liquor meant a lot of people came to town. Phil and Rhiannon held court seated on their matching thrones, each in their best official trimmings. I’d never seen either of them in their work clothes before, and the effect was suitably impressive. They passed Pridiri back and forth often, neither wanting anyone but the other to care for him.
For about ten seconds that evening, I’d considered wearing the LaCrosse crest on my dinner coat. One had mysteriously appeared in my closet, no doubt at Phil’s instruction. I tried it on and checked myself out in the mirror; my father looked back at me. I returned it to the closet and dressed in nondescript, borrowed finery.
I lurked around the party’s sidelines, raiding the bar and buffet but avoiding anyone who looked like they might recognize me. I also couldn’t keep myself from scanning the crowd for ugly chimpanzees. Eventually the sound and noise got to me, and I eased out of the banquet hall. People milled about all areas of the castle, and I pretended to be taking in the wonders of the royal family’s art collection until, near midnight, I entered the dark Hall of Portraits. I startled one teenage couple necking in a corner, and they scurried away. It made me smile, though.
Again the big room was lit only by moonlight, only this time I wasn’t drunk, and the sounds of joy and life from the banquet soaked through the centuries-old stone walls. I looked up at Janet’s picture for a long time before I realized I wasn’t alone.
Rhiannon drifted from the shadows. Her golden hair shimmered, and her jewels twinkled like trails left by her mysterious birds. Her gown swished across the marble floor. “I hope I’m not intruding,” she said.
“It’s your castle.”
She laughed. “So why aren’t you with the rest of us? Dining on ashes?”
I shrugged. “Maybe. Better for you than crow.”
She stood beside me and looked up at the portrait. “Philip told me a lot about her. Sometimes when I look at that painting, I feel like I knew her, too. I feel the loss.”
“I’m sorry for that,” I said. I meant it.
She took my hand. I didn’t look at her. “I owe you more than I can ever repay,” she said. “All of us do.”
I shrugged. “It’s my job.”
She turned my face toward her. “No. Not what you did. And what you’re still doing. I know you could tell me who I really am. Or I should say, who I used to be. No, don’t bother to deny it. But you won’t. Because it would do too much damage, wouldn’t it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Really.”
She gazed into my eyes for a long moment, then released my chin and looked away. “I suppose you’ll be leaving soon,” she said sadly.
“Yeah.”
“You don’t have to, you know. Your castle and lands are still there. Philip rents them out occasionally, but he’s never officially confiscated them to the crown. Even if he had, all you’d have to do is ask.”
“Arentia ain’t my home anymore. Isn’t my home anymore. See? I can’t even speak good no more. I’d just embarrass all of us.”
She laughed. “Just so you know the drawbridge is always down for you.” She leaned close and gave me a quick kiss, on the lips, which lingered just an instant too long to be fully chaste. She smelled of clover and sunlit meadows. Then she drifted back toward the great hall, leaving me alone once again.
TWENTY-NINE
So I went back to Neceda, not much richer but a fair bit wiser. The mud had disappeared during my absence, and the town was back to its mean, rapacious little self. I’d found a small bag of gold, each piece embossed with Phil’s stern profile, hidden in my saddlebags. It wasn’t enough to be considered a reward, because he knew I’d never accept it, but it did cover my expenses, which was fair enough.
The first thing I did was arrange a meeting with King Felix’s elderly emissary. On a bright morning two months after my return, the old man again sat across from me and regarded me with his tired, defeated eyes. He was dusty, and sagged in his chair as if he’d ridden all night. “Dead?” he repeated flatly. “You’re absolutely certain?”
I nodded. “I’m sorry. Pass on my condolences to the king.” I nodded at the bag of gold on my desk between us. “And make sure he gets my refund.”
He looked at the money as if it were snot that needed wiping away. “And where,” he asked coldly, “is her body?”
“Cremated,” I said sadly. Oh, was I sad. “I arrived just as the ceremony started. I verified it was her, but I couldn’t convince them to let me retrieve the body. You know how they are.”
“Convenient,” the old man said.
I shrugged. “Unfortunate.”
“No, I think it’s pretty fortunate. That you arrive just as the moon priestesses are setting the funeral pyre for the poor indigent girl they’d found murdered. And only you knew it was Princess Lila.”
“Still, what’s done is done. I don’t feel right taking King Felix’s money under the circumstances.”
The old man took the bag, hefted it in his hand and then tucked it into his belt. “You were gone a long time. If your friend Commander Teller hadn’t insisted you were honest, I’d have thought you’d simply taken our money and vanished.”
“Something came up while I was gone, and took a little while to resolve.”
“More successfully than this, I hope.”
I nodded. “It all worked out for the best.”
His eyes narrowed as he looked me over. “Perhaps that’s it.”
“What’s it?”
“There’s something different about you. In your eyes. Something’s not there any longer.”
I said nothing.
I followed him downstairs into the tavern. Two uniformed soldiers from the army of Balaton awaited him, and they all rode out of town together. I closed the door, took a seat and nodded to Callie behind the bar.
She put a tankard in front of me. “Did you make a lot of money off that guy, Mr. LaCrosse? He looked rich.”
“He was.” I took a drink and smiled wryly. “And unfortunately, he still is.”
Callie looked at me, her brow wrinkled in thought. “You know, Mr. LaCrosse, I like you and everything, but sometimes I wonder… are you any good at your job?”
I was glad I didn’t have a mouthful of ale when she asked me that. “I’ll let you know as soon as I figure it out myself.”
Angelina stuck out her bottom lip, blew a stray black curl from her face and looked at me with disapproval. “So do you ever plan to really work again?”
“My tab’s paid up,” I replied.
“Sure. But you’re starting to settle and spread, if you know what I mean. You need exercise.”
“My kind of job isn’t on a schedule like yours. I just worked for six weeks straight, I deserve some time off.”
“Hmph,” she snorted. “You say you’ll only be gone for a couple of days, then you travel all over the place and come back with a sack of gold, a fancy horse and no new scars. Nice work if you can get it, I suppose.”
The front door creaked open; the hinges were purposefully left ungreased so no one could slip in unannounced. A tall figure stood backlit by the morning sun. She wore boots and trousers, but her shape was definitely feminine. In her right hand she carried a large, vaguely round cloth-covered object.