Aurelia

  He had scarcely recognized her and might not have known her at all if it were not for those familiar dark eyes, shining with intensity. upon first glance, he had feared a polished persona had replaced the opinionated rebel from his past, but not much time went by before the polish began to fade. she had fidgeted all through the king's speech, and now she was dissecting the head of some nobleman who had stepped on her foot. robert grinned in enjoyment at the improper display.

  "Well, I pity the crown princess." A female voice slipped under the harmonic music, catching robert's attention. Aurelia's lady's maid, daria, stood at his left elbow speaking to Chris. she wore the white gown of servitude, and her typically pale face glowed with a rosy hue against the fabric. Her first full day of married life must have agreed with her, despite the fact that her new husband, being a courier, had not been invited to the party.

  Robert joined the conversation. "It's her partner you should take pity on." He nodded toward Aurelia's enraged face as it disappeared in and out behind the colorful screen of spinning couples.

  Daria's dark curls swished as she laughed. "yes, she is giving him the back side of her tongue, which he no doubt deserves. I still pity her. The poor girl is trapped like carrion among the men in this ballroom. Are you aware, robert, she's already had to refuse seven proposals of marriage?"

  "And who forced her to refuse them?" scoffed Chris, pausing in the aimless pursuit of buttoning and unbuttoning his wide sleeve cuffs. A smirk spread across the fine bones of his smooth face, and he lounged against the tall back of a chair with relaxed grace.

  Daria shoved him. "you know five of those so-called suitors were old enough to be her father, even her grandfather."

  "And what was wrong with the other two?" robert asked.

  "Besides the fact they were only after her money and her title?" daria bristled. "One was an utter fool. He couldn't even stand up to his father, much less help run a country. The other was cruel." she shuddered. "He beat his own horse."

  Robert grimaced. He held animals in higher esteem than most people.

  "Now," daria said, "Aurelia can only wait, knowing sooner or later her father is going to select some suitor and give her no choice but to marry him."

  Chris shook his head. "do you really think Aurelia's that easily overpowered? When has she ever obeyed an order?"

  Robert had to agree with his cousin. The Aurelia he remembered had broken as many rules as she had followed. she had talked her way out of more punishments than anyone robert knew--except for Chris.

  "Don't be so certain." daria's expression grew serious. "ever since her brother's death, her father has held the kingdom over her head like a giant scepter he can smash her with. If she refuses to marry, she cannot inherit."

  "She would lose the kingdom." robert frowned. "And we would lose a strong leader."

  "Her second cousin, the king of montaine, would take over Tyralt," Chris muttered.

  "At least melony can't inherit." daria motioned toward the grand portrait of Aurelia's sister hanging on the wall. The younger princess held no claim on the crown through blood. "Can you imagine her dealing with a crisis?"

  Chris jostled his friend. "Come on, dar, melony's not that bad. she's just not Aurelia."

  On this point, robert was not certain he agreed with his cousin. He had never known the younger princess well, but he had observed her telling one person one thing and another the opposite in order to keep both happy. He did not like the idea of being unable to trust the person making decisions for the entire kingdom. His father and mother had taught him to value people who were willing to disagree with him. "Far better that, than to place your trust in someone who will deny you their support in a dangerous situation," his mother had said. One thing Aurelia had never been afraid to do was argue with him, or anyone else for that matter.

  "If Aurelia did love someone," daria continued, ignoring Chris's comment, "she'd probably run away and marry him whether or not her father approved. As it is, she doesn't care a bit for any of those suitors, and she wouldn't gain anything by infuriating the king." Neither robert nor Chris disagreed. "by refusing to marry, she would just succeed in losing what is most precious to her."

  "At the moment," robert said, nodding toward the princess, "I think she's holding her privacy most precious because she hasn't had any all evening."

  daria smiled, a gleam in her black eyes. "Neither has she had a moment away from those titled aristocrats. I dare you, robert, to go rescue her."

  "And just how would I do that?" he asked.

  "go ask her to dance, of course. Then waltz her this way and out from under her father's watchful eye."

  "don't." Chris gripped robert's elbow. "every man who speaks to her these days is put on the palace watch list. They intend to pack her wedding trunks within the year. Anyone who is a potential husband is required to speak with her father, and anyone in the way becomes an object of palace scrutiny."

  Aware he was ignoring sage advice, robert shook the hand off his elbow and took a step forward. "Oh, calm yourself," he teased. "she's danced with ten or fifteen men thus far tonight. by the time anyone gets around to worrying about me, I'll be safely back on the frontier. Of course I'll accept daria's dare. you obviously aren't up to the challenge, and if I don't, Aurelia may suffocate before I get a chance to talk to her."

  somehow he managed to maneuver through the revolving swirls of silks, taffetas, and velvets overflowing the dance floor. He sidestepped several couples just in time to avoid being stamped on by an ill-placed boot or a high-heeled shoe and emerged, feet intact, just behind his old classmate.

  Aurelia shook her head at an insistent partner's demand for a second dance and managed to slip loose of clinging arms. she recoiled, fortunately in robert's direction. Another lurker reached out a hand for her elbow, but the would-be partner was too late. robert had her in his grasp, spinning her around to face him.

  "How dare you!" Anger flared, transforming the landscape of her face. sharp lines and angles replaced the smooth curves of her chin and jaw. muscles tightened around her cheekbones, and her eyebrows spiked as she tried to tug her right hand out of his grip. Her brown eyes boiled with indignation and, due to a fierce tug, her hair arrangement tumbled halfway down her neck.

  "don't snap," robert scolded, encircling her waist in waltz position. "you'll draw your father's attention, and we'll never escape."

  "my father's attention?" The scornful tone let robert know she had kept the same opinion on this point. she managed to free herself from the dance hold but not the tight grip on her right hand.

  robert tugged her back, whispering, "you are still a falcon, one camouflaged in silk, face paint, and hairpins, but a falcon nonetheless." He waited to see if the old name-calling would stop her from taking flight.

  emotions flicked across her face, first wariness, then surprise, and finally, recognition.

  "robert Vantauge!" Her eyes lit up. "When did you arrive? I thought you had gone off to become a frontier hero and live on the land. you were going to come back with a pack full of furs and stories about how you'd collected them." she eyed the proper attire he had borrowed from Chris, clicking her tongue. "I must say that as a frontiersman, you are an abysmal disappointment. Where are the scars, the hunting knife, and the buckskin jacket?" she could always parry with her tongue as well as he could with a sword.

  "I'm afraid I collected more bruises than scars. my knife is in my saddlebags, and my jacket is hanging behind the door in Chris's room. I came for a visit and had the misfortune to arrive last night, too late to attend daria's wedding and too early to avoid this exercise in elitism."

  Aurelia's face darkened.

  "And," he added, putting on a forcefully cheerful voice, "just in time to rescue ye fair maid. I have been sent on this mission, risking your wrath, to lead you over to yon comrades." He wagged his head. "'Tis a shame. you seem to have left them yearning for your presence far too long."

  Aurelia leaped up to see her friends bey
ond the crowd of heads.

  "No, no, no!" robert embraced her in waltz position. "We don't want to draw unnecessary attention."

  she beamed with anticipation and graced him with a smile.

  At that moment he knew he was in trouble.

  "you've been bad," she said, "arriving at the palace last night and not bothering to let me know you were here."

  "I won't beg your pardon." He grinned. "I was exhausted by the time I arrived. even Chris barely received three words from me, 'Hello. good night.' Then today the palace was so hectic I couldn't have grabbed a minute of your time if I was holding your lady's maid at sword point."

  "Ha!" she shook her head, knocking off several tenuously placed hairpins. "I will only forgive you if you promise to wait for me tomorrow night before you and Chris leave."

  "Tomorrow night?" Her teasing threat was too far out of context for him to manage a smart response.

  she laughed at his confusion. "yes, it's Carnival, the Night of the masks. remember all those nasty tricks we used to play on our instructors, like the time we spent the whole night painting the classroom black?"

  robert did remember that night with the paint. He and his friends had been caught, eventually. His father had taken two months to uncover the names of every student involved. being the daughter of the king was no caramel apple, but being the son of the king's royal spy had its drawbacks as well. robert had paid for that practical joke long after many of his fellow students had forgotten it had ever occurred.

  "We're old enough to go out in disguise now," Aurelia said. "you must wait for me before you go." she frowned. "It's no fun alone."

  A trace of sadness in her voice made robert promise despite misgivings. "All right, it's not like I can refuse the order of the princess."

  Her voice fried him to ash. "It's not an order, robert, but even if it was, I expect my friends to have enough courage to refuse an invitation."

  Nothing had lengthened her temper over the last four years. He resorted to humor, the only defense available, and swept her a mocking bow. "I'll be your lifelong friend then, since I won't put up with being pushed around."

  "really?" Her eyes danced. she splayed her hands against his chest and pushed, hard.

  robert held his footing without giving ground. "yes, and thank you for the invitation." He encircled her waist with his hands and twirled her toward her anxiously waiting friends. His mind spun as he looked down at her laughing face. He could not imagine why someone was trying to kill her.

  Chapter Two

  PROTEST

  "...TOO DANGEROUS."

  "...is aware of the danger."

  Fragments of voices, restrained in volume but not intensity, filtered through the goose-feather quilt and cotton blankets. robert burrowed deeper into his sanctuary, thankful the voices were on the other side of the closed door.

  The sound of his own name catapulted him awake. "robert proved last night that he could gain intimate access to her," uncle Henry told his son. "That is more than her personal guards have managed to achieve."

  "We're not talking about escorting her to a party," Chris argued. "We don't know who we're dealing with, and robert hasn't even been at court for years."

  "He grew up here. He knows the principal players well enough, and it is to his advantage that whoever is behind the plot may not remember him. even if they do, it is unlikely his role will be suspected for exactly the reasons you just pointed out."

  robert smiled at the familiar words. He had used the same line of thought with his father.

  "you can be his source for current information," uncle Henry went on. "Tell him what you know about everyone. Answer his questions. Connect the web. He can blend in and investigate where I can't, and you can provide him with the insight he's lacking."

  Chris sounded unconvinced. "He's had no training. How will he know what to do?"

  "His father was the royal spy for fifteen years. He must have thought robert would be helpful enough. If we do not use him, we may not find out who we're dealing with until it is too late. We have no choice. There is no time."

  "Last night makes that painfully clear," Chris grudgingly agreed.

  With his cousin's protests out of the way, robert swung up into sitting position on the bed. "What about last night?" he demanded.

  Immediately the door swung open. Chris glared into the room, then flung up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "At least he has the eavesdropping part down."

  uncle Henry stepped through the doorway. The stress of being the king's adviser had added years to his appearance. gray hair streamed out around his face in wild strands, and tension lined the leathery skin above his long beard and slightly stooped body.

  "There was another assassination attempt last night," he said, directing his words to robert. "you were right about what you told me yesterday. I wrote your father because I need a secret investigator. If he cannot be here, we need you to spy for us. spend time with Aurelia, and listen for anything suspicious. We must uncover this plot soon. Her life is in grievous danger."

  "Has she been hurt?" robert's thoughts whirled, the real reason for his return to the palace flashing into reality.

  "she does not even know about the danger." Chris brushed aside the question, kicking a broken scabbard into a corner beside his collection of loop-hilt smallswords. uncle Henry frowned at the scabbard. "you might want to pick that up, Christopher, now that your cousin is in need of our hospitality."

  "The maid will get it."

  robert propped the broken scabbard up against the wall. He had been away from the palace too long to feel comfortable taking advantage of the palace staff, but he knew better than to argue with his cousin. Chris had looked far from comfortable sleeping on the sitting-room settee last night, and robert had no desire to take sides between his cousin and his uncle.

  "I must leave," uncle Henry said, turning to his son. "The king requires my presence for a public statement this morning, and I need to inform him of my decision to hire robert on his behalf. provide your cousin with the details."

  As his uncle departed, robert scrambled from the bed and reached into his saddlebags for a pair of wool trousers.

  "you don't want to attract attention by wearing those frontier clothes," said Chris, pulling a pair of breeches from a drawer and tossing them to his cousin. "you can borrow mine while you're here."

  reluctantly, robert set aside the durable wool. "Tell me about the assassination attempt."

  "dress yourself," Chris replied, plucking a dull practice sword from a hook on the wall, "and let's have this conversation in the practice yard."

  "Is that a challenge?"

  "If you are going to invade my room for a prolonged period, I at least deserve the pleasure of embarrassing you in combat."

  Within minutes, both young men pounded down a servants' stairway. For every formal route in the huge T-shaped palace, another hall or stair allowed servants to negotiate the three floors of the old square structure at the back and the modern east and west wings at the front. The servants' routes, being the most direct paths anywhere, were Chris's and robert's preferred mode of travel. dim stone walls flashed by, and robert felt his chest tighten. Narrow spaces made him nervous.

  He burst out the door into the practice yard. Fresh air cleansed his lungs as his cousin tugged him onto the flat, sanded surface. The palace's stone walls and sculpted windows stretched up on two sides, and the guardhouse bordered the yard's southern edge. A handful of men crossed swords near the guardhouse wall, though most had apparently abandoned the pursuit earlier in the day. Chris led the way toward the center of the yard, far enough away from the other men to avoid being overheard. "On guard," he said.

  robert complied. "Well, what happened last night?" he demanded.

  Chris's sword leaped into action. "Aurelia's meal taster died of poison."

  "poison?" robert blocked his cousin's thrust.

  "yes." Chris shifted position. "It was in the banquet cake, only the slic
e set aside for the crown princess. The assassin used too much, though. Otherwise the meal taster wouldn't have shown signs of illness until after the cake reached the table."

  "Who could have had access to the cake after it was sliced and before the meal taster took a bite?"

  "The person who can answer that question is dead."

  robert blocked another swing in frustration. The long trip and late night had taken more out of him than he had realized. He should not be sweating this early in a practice. "The first attempt involved poison as well. Have the guards spoken with the apothecaries in the city?"

  "They did. Any apothecary could have mixed the poison. Regular customers buy it to kill rats. The buyer could have transferred it to the cake without the apothecary's knowledge."

  "Did guards track down customers who bought the poison?"

  "There were hundreds, and most of the names were not written down." Chris leaped back as a blunt edge grazed his stomach. "Curse it, rob! When did you find time to practice? I thought sword fighting was considered a frivolous art on the frontier."

  "Not by my father. A sword is more accurate than a pistol. besides, I'm still aiming to defeat you."

  "One can always dream."

  They circled to the right, assessing each other. Chris's lean body gave no sign of tiring. His feet stepped smoothly over the white sand, and his brown eyes skimmed over his cousin, no doubt noting the telling beads of sweat on robert's forehead.

  "Ah, but I have nothing to lose," robert argued. "It takes only one win to challenge the reputation of the palace's best swordsman. If I don't win today, there's always tomorrow. I prefer to practice at seven o'clock, though, have it out of the way early."