novelraw Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty
Early the next morning, Gregor’s coach pulled up to the palace. He entered the great hall and saw the palace steward and Marshall Torin, their heads bent over a ledger.
Both men bowed as he approached, and he waved aside their formality. “Lestos, do you know if Prince Reis has come down for his morning bout of fresh air?”
“His guards escorted him to the palace gardens only moments ago, m’lord. Shall I send a servant with a message?” the steward asked, but Gregor had already turned toward palace’s expansive gardens.
“No need, Lestos. I’ll find him myself.”
He knew the young prince liked to wind his way through the garden’s tall hedges toward the large fountain at the center. A shiver of foreboding slithered down his back. The gardens were a perfect site for an ambush as the palace guards would hear the attack, but be unable to locate it very quickly. Anyone else who knew the prince’s habits would know his destination and could be waiting anywhere along the path.
Gregor cursed. Hadn’t he asked Prince Reis to vary his activities and keep his routine unpredictable? By the time he reached the garden’s entrance, his mind had conjured up numerous nightmarish scenarios so bad that he was practically running. He forced himself to slow, acknowledging that he might be overreacting, and wound his way down the garden’s path at a more moderate pace.
Prince Reis’ voice, its tone calm as he asked one of his guards a question, carried to him as he neared the center so that when he broke from the path into the garden’s center, he appeared completely at ease. The three guards with the prince each stood at one of the three entrances to the garden’s center, which held a large fountain with a water nymph rising from the water with arms raised and face turned up to the morning sun. Reis sat on a bench, his journal in his lap, a replica of the statue staring up from the page. At the sight of Gregor, the guards came to attention, pulling Reis’ gaze from his drawing.
Gregor bowed. “Good morning, my prince.”
Reis smiled and gestured to the bench beside him. “Good morning, Gregor. What do I owe the pleasure of your company?”
Gregor lowered himself to the bench beside the prince, then signaled to the guards, who each moved out of the garden center into the paths leading to it. “I was hoping you could help me with something.”
Reis raised his brow. “Of course. Anything.”
“Have you heard the name Areisteo? From your mother, perhaps?”
The prince’s face paled. “What? Why do you ask?”
Gregor bit back a satisfied smile. He’d guessed correctly.
“You know this person? Do you know where he is?”
The prince sucked in his cheek, uncertainty written on his face.
Gregor leaned forward. “You know you can tell me anything. I’d give my life to keep you safe.”
The young prince’s agonized gaze jerked up to his. “I know, and that’s why I can’t tell either of you. It’s safer.”
Gregor scrunched his brow. “You’re protecting us? From what?”
Reis swept imaginary dust from his pants. “Divided loyalty.”
Gregor narrowed his gaze on the boy. What were the chances that two people in his life were both protecting him from different things?
“My prince, you consider your brother and me to be somewhat intelligent, am I correct?”
“Of course. You’re the two wisest people I know.”
“Then please, let us decide for ourselves what to do with the information you have. Trust us to know what is safe for us.”
Reis stood and paced between the bench and the hedges surrounding the garden center. “If I tell you, it could start a war. People could die. People I love.”
“I promise that we will think long and hard before we act on the information you give us. Your brother would not needlessly endanger the lives of the people he will one day be entrusted with.”
Reis slowed, his shoulders lifting as he took a deep breath. “I’ve wanted to tell Stefan all along. I love him like a brother. But—” Reis’ eyes widened. He coughed and stumbled forward.
Gregor jumped to his feet and caught Reis as he sank to the ground, blood bubbling from between his lips. One of the guards stood where the prince had been, a bloody dagger in his hand. The other two guards ran back into the garden center. Gregor pulled off his jacket, wadded it up, and wedged it under Reis’ back between the ground and the wound.
The other two guards pulled their swords. Two more guards dressed in the Dieuroi’s colors stepped from the paths behind Prince Reis’ guards and ran them through before they could do more than step forward.
Gregor stood and faced one of his own men. “Traitor.”
The guard shrugged. “Our mad king has offered a handsome reward for the bastard’s death.”
“You won’t live long enough to collect your reward,” Gregor promised, pulling his sword free of its scabbard.
The guard lifted both brows, a smug smile on his face. “Those are big words from a man who’s outnumbered three to one.”
Gregor pulled his hands from his waist and with a flick of his wrists, sent his dagger into the throat of one of the traitors while lunging toward the other and running him through with his sword. Both men sank to the ground. The first guard’s smile melted from his face.
Gregor smiled. “Problem solved.”
The traitor lunged forward, slashing at Gregor’s midsection. Gregor stepped back, and the other man’s sword only met air. They circled the fountain. Seeing his opportunity, he swung his sword high, forcing his opponent to block. Then he stepped into the other man’s embrace and punched him in the temple with his free hand. Pain exploded across his knuckles, but the guard released his sword and stumbled back. Gregor snagged the other man’s sword in his throbbing hand and tossed it behind him when his hand wouldn’t close around it. Shouts came from the direction of the palace as the guards picked up on the sounds of clashing swords.
Focused on the traitor who unsteadily waved the bloody dagger used on Reis, Gregor slashed at the man, opening his arm from wrist to elbow, then slashed across the man’s thigh. The guard cried out, limping around the fountain back toward the bleeding prince. Unwilling to prolong the man’s death any longer, Gregor lunged forward and shoved his sword, hilt deep in the man’s stomach, jerking his blade up and twisting.
The king’s men burst into the garden center, swords drawn. Gregor jerked his sword free and cleaned it against the dead man’s clothes before turning away. “Clean that up.” He knelt by Prince Reis and lifted his gently into his arms. “Someone run ahead and have the healer summoned to Prince Reis’ suite.”
One of the guards turned and ran out of the garden center. Gregor followed behind, the injured prince in his arms. He prayed to each of the gods, even Druj, to keep the boy alive for Stefan and Nadia’s sake. Reis might well be the key needed to discovering where Diomere’s heir was hidden. The prince gasped for breath, and Gregor walked faster. If only Arri hadn’t already left for Diomere.