“So what does our fair knight think about the stone?” the queen asked.
So much for confidential matters.
I seized the moment. “They were just getting to that,” I said.
“Very good. Probably best if I explain.” The queen sipped from her glass. “Davina was acquiring an item of interest for our House. That’s when she disappeared. We’d like you to find the stone.”
I blinked in confusion. “You want me to focus on finding the stone rather than your daughter?” I could understand her disinterest if Princess Davina had been born to Britannia, but she was the queen’s own natural-born daughter.
Imogen drank before answering. “I have every confidence Davina is fine. She’s simply following in her older brother’s difficult footsteps.”
Maeron glowered at her. “An unnecessary jab, Mother.”
“Davina is young and impulsive,” the queen continued. “She’s heard tales of Maeron’s exploits and hopes to copy them. I’m certain it’s nothing more than that. Oats must be sown, after all.”
Interesting that the princes seemed more concerned about Davina than her own mother. Usually it would be the other way around.
“What can you tell me about the stone?” I asked.
The queen nodded crisply. “Indeed. Last week we dined with an antiquities dealer. He mentioned a stone and said he’d never seen anything like it. He’s a fascinating man, well-versed in history, which is why he’s a frequent guest here.”
“It helps that he always brings a trinket for you,” Maeron commented drily.
Her lips curved into a satisfied smile. “It certainly doesn’t hurt.”
So the queen disliked knickknacks for display but was a fan of trinkets. Got it.
“I asked him for a description and it sounded like the perfect artifact for my collection,” she continued.
“What about it appealed to you?” I asked.
The queen faltered. “Its simplicity. The owner, Maria, had apparently discovered the stone at an excavation site. It sounded quite primitive.”
“It was found in the city?” I asked.
The queen nodded. “Yes. The former site of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Do you know it?”
“Yes. Why would a stone’s simplicity appeal to you?”
The queen’s fingers fidgeted along the stem of her glass. “That’s my taste, I suppose.”
One look at the sparkling ‘trinket’ clasped around her neck told a different story.
An awkward silence ensued. They were hiding something. I was sure of it. Their story was far too flimsy. They were probably so accustomed to doing as they pleased, they’d lost the ability to weave a credible tale.
“How did the princess end up involved?” I probed.
“I instructed the dealer to acquire the stone for us at any price. The owner agreed to sell and Davina was dispatched to make the transaction.”
“She begged to be involved,” Maeron added. “I told her she was better off planning another gala. That’s what other seventeen-year-old princesses do. They don’t gallivant around the realm like some kind of common…”
“Knight?” I offered.
At least Maeron had the decency to appear embarrassed.
Callan wore a wry smile. “And how did our fair sister respond to that?”
“About as well as you can imagine,” Maeron replied.
Callan shifted his focus to me. “When she failed to return, I went in search of her. I found the owner of the stone encased in metal, like a corpse in a molten coffin.” He snapped his fingers to someone in the corridor and a vampire entered holding a large envelope. The vampire opened the envelope and emptied the contents into the prince’s hands. “I took photographs.”
He moved to stand beside me and I studied the background. “The owner lived in quite an opulent place.”
“Oh, no. That’s a room in the palace,” Callan said.
My brow creased. “I thought you found the owner elsewhere.”
“I did, but I wasn’t about to leave behind the only bit of evidence.”
I nearly choked. “You carried this? By yourself?” Solid metal like this had to weigh…I didn’t want to contemplate it.
He grinned. “Have I finally managed to impress you?”
There was no way I could’ve carried the metal cocoon. No doubt the reason he brought me the photos.
“We can’t identify the type of metal,” Maeron said. “It’s unlike anything we’ve ever seen.”
“I have a sample if you’d like to take it with you for further examination,” Callan offered.
“I would.”
Now I understood why they needed a knight and why they needed one from a different banner than their usual ones. If word got out that a princess of House Lewis was missing, it would make the royal family appear weak. They wanted this kept quiet. The assignment was more complicated than I anticipated.
I looked at the queen. “And there’s been no ransom note, Your Majesty?”
The queen shook her head. “No communication of any kind. Not even to gloat.” She shot a pointed look at Callan. “Which is one of the reasons I believe she’s absolutely fine and enjoying the air of mystery.”
“The owner of the stone died,” Callan stressed. “The stone and Davina are now missing. What about those circumstances suggests that Davina is absolutely fine?”
I didn’t know much about the princess, but I was inclined to agree.
“I’ll need a description of the stone.” Searching for a stone in the rubble of Britannia City was akin to searching for a drop of water in the ocean.
“I’ll have it for you before you leave,” the queen said.
“That’s assuming you accept the job,” Callan added.
Maeron snorted. “Who wouldn’t accept a job from House Lewis? She’d have to be mad.”
“How about it, Miss Hayes? Are you mad?” The Highland Reckoning raised his eyebrows at me. A challenge.
I’d been willing to entertain the offer because of their stature and the payment involved, but now they’d given me another compelling reason. I couldn’t take the thought of a young woman in peril, even if she was a vampire. Davina was only seventeen. Vampire or not, I knew exactly how it felt to be a vulnerable young woman alone in the city.
I grew up in the long shadow of fear, but eventually I had to learn to stop being afraid. That didn’t mean I stopped hiding. To show my true self was suicide. It just meant to stop letting fear control me the way it had controlled my mother. Once I was born, her entire life centered around my safety. Every choice she made. She quit her job and moved flats. She used her magic to hide our scents. She didn’t allow herself any friendships and certainly not any romantic relationships.
And because she was alone, after she died, I was too.
I clenched my fingers so no one noticed my hand trembling. “I’ll start immediately,” I said.
The queen polished off her drink and handed the stained glass to Adwin. “Splendid.”
7
I left the palace, made one quick stop, and continued straight to the Circus. Now that I’d officially accepted the job, I needed a plan. There was very little to go on. A hunk of metal no one could identify. A nondescript stone from an excavation site. A missing princess.