“And you kept this from me?” Hadrian asked, astonished.
“I didn’t want to tell you until I knew for sure. I thought Esrahaddon might be playing us.”
“Don’t you think I would have thought of that too? What do you take me for? Have you worked with me for twelve years because you think I’m stupid? How conceited can you be? You can’t trust me to make my own decisions, so you make them for me?”
“I’m telling you now, aren’t I?”
“It took you a whole damn year, Royce!” Hadrian shouted at him. “Didn’t you think I’d find this important? When I told you I was miserable because I felt my life lacked purpose—that I wanted a cause worth fighting for—you didn’t think that protecting the heir qualified?” Hadrian shook his head in disbelief. “You stuck-up, manipulative, lying—”
“I never lied to you!”
“No, you just concealed the truth, which to me is a lie, but in your twisted little mind is a virtue!”
“I knew you were going to take it this way,” Royce said in a superior tone.
“How else would you expect me to take it? Gee, pal, thanks for thinking so little of me that you couldn’t tell me the truth about my own life.”
“That’s not the reason I didn’t tell you,” Royce snapped.
“You just said it was!”
“I know I did!”
“So you’re lying to me again?”
“Call me a liar one more time—”
“And what? What? You going to fight me?”
“It’s dark in here.”
“But there’s no room for you to hide. You’re only a threat until I get my hands on you. I just need to grab your spindly little neck. For all your quickness, once I get a grip on you, it’s all over.”
Without warning, cold water poured down on them. Looking up, Hadrian saw silhouetted figures.
“You boys, be quiet down there!” shouted a voice. “His Excellency wants a word with you.”
One head disappeared from view and another replaced it at the opening’s edge.
“I’m Luret, the imperial envoy of Her Eminence, the grand imperial empress Modina Novronian. Because of your involvement in escorting a member of the royal court of Melengar to Her Eminence’s enemy, the Nationalists, the two of you are hereby charged with espionage and hitherto will be put to death by hanging in three days’ time. Should, however, you wish to attempt to rescind that sentence to life in prison, I’d be willing to do so under the condition that you reveal to me the whereabouts of Princess Arista Essendon of Melengar.”
Neither said a word.
“Tell me where she is, or you’ll be hanged as soon as the village carpenter can build a proper gallows.”
Again, they were silent.
“Very well, perhaps a day or two rotting in there will change your mind.” He turned away and spoke to the jailor. “No food or water. It might help to loosen their tongues. Besides, there’s really no sense in wasting it.”
They waited in silence as the figures above moved away.
“How does he know?” Hadrian whispered.
A ghastly look stole over Royce’s face.
“What is it?”
“Etcher. He’s the mole in the Diamond.”
Royce kicked the wall, causing a splash. “How could I’ve been so blind? He was the one who lit the lamp on the river, alerting the wherry behind us. The only reason he never thought to check the mill’s sails was because it didn’t matter to him. I bet he never even told Price where we were, so there would be no way for the Diamond to find us. There must be an ambush waiting at Amberton Lee, or somewhere along the way.”
“But why take her there? Why not just turn Arista over to Luret?”
“I’d wager this is Merrick’s game. He doesn’t want some imperial clown like Luret getting the prize. She’s a commodity which can be sold to the empire, or ransomed to Melengar for a profit. If Luret grabs her, he gets nothing.”
“So why tell Luret about us at all?”
“Insurance. With the manor officials after us, we’d be pressed for time and wouldn’t question Etcher’s story. I’m sure it was to hasten our departure and have us unprepared, but it turned out even better, because you were captured and I decided to stay behind to help you.”
“And you sent Arista off alone with Etcher.”
“She’s on her way to Merrick, or Guy, or both. Maybe they’ll keep her and demand Alric surrender Medford. He won’t, of course. Pickering won’t let him.”
“I can’t believe Alric sent her in the first place. What an idiot! Why didn’t he pick a representative outside the royal court? Why did he have to send her?”
“He didn’t send her,” Royce said. “I doubt anyone in Medford has a clue where she is. She did this on her own.”
“What?”
“She arrived at The Rose and Thorn unescorted. Have you ever seen her go anywhere without a bodyguard?”
“So why did you—”
“Because I needed an excuse to bring you here, to find out if what Esrahaddon showed me was true.”