Lady's Ransom (The First Argentines, #3)

He wrinkled his brow. “What is it?”

She glanced down at the board again, not meeting his eyes. “Our beach is known for the glass beads that wash ashore. When Leoneyis succumbed to the Deep Fathoms, the palace windows shattered, and the relentless waves have crushed and polished the glass into smaller gems. But there are other secrets on that beach. One of the stones you described is hidden within a sea cave, and its power has protected Brythonica from drowning too. I must go there at certain intervals to bolster the protections. It is a secret handed down for generations.” She glanced up at him. “Until now, I had only shared this with my husband.”

“So Goff knew of it?”

She nodded. “He never told anyone. Not even his father. That I risk telling you shows my trust in you, Ransom.”

The door opened, and her son, Drew, ambled inside. “Maman! Maman!” He started when he saw Ransom and then smiled. “Hello!”

Ransom felt uncomfortable being in her private chamber, but Constance didn’t seem bothered. She turned to her son with an open, loving expression. “What is it?”

As the two spoke, Ransom studied the board. He saw several pieces that he assumed represented the different dukes of the realm. But there was a mottled white piece near the ones representing Constance and him. Who might it be, and what did the square represent? Averanche, perhaps? It lay near Brythonica.

“Yes, Drew, we can go down to Glass Beach this afternoon. You can show me what you found.”

She held the boy’s little hand and turned to Ransom, her forced smile revealing the heaviness of her heart. “I’m sorry for what you’ve endured, Ransom. Truly. As I said before, I do not control the visions. The Fountain has a wider vision than any of us can understand.”

“I can see that,” Ransom agreed. “This piece here? Do you know what it is?” He pointed to the one.

“The location is probably Averanche,” she said. “I think that’s Jon-Landon.”

“My uncle?” asked Drew innocently. He looked in the box with eager eyes.

“Yes.” Constance pointed to the piece she’d indicated earlier. “This is Ransom.” Shifting her finger, she added, “And this is Jon-Landon, your uncle.”

The boy touched the piece that represented Ransom, and it felt like an invisible hand had clutched his heart. Something inside him lurched as the boy effortlessly moved the piece across the board. A sound filled his ears, although it was not that of the Fountain but the dissonance of stone grinding on stone. Dizziness washed over him. The feeling left as quickly as it had come, but it made him feel sick inside.

And he remembered that he had experienced that feeling before. With Noemie at the sanctuary of Our Lady of Toussan.





My hand trembles as I write this. Keeva is dead. A ship arrived this morning with knights from the Vexin on board. We were told they were escorting Emiloh back to her duchy. It was an unexpected boon, or so I thought. My stomach . . . I’m going to be ill.

It wasn’t Emiloh. She looked like her. She even sounded like her. But something was amiss. Her mannerisms were different. I thought it strange that her knights remained on the ship. Then Emiloh asked if I knew where Ransom was. The question surprised me because he had been summoned to court. Shouldn’t he be with her? Then she asked to see my baby. Didn’t she know I’d had two? Keeva went to fetch the twins, but all the while I felt unsettled, confused.

She found the book at the window seat, almost as if it had led her to it. Even before I knew who she was, I feared she would take it. I don’t know why. I asked her why she had come, and it was then she revealed herself. It was Alix in disguise. While she tucked the book into her leather satchel, much too calm for a thief, she told me that Ransom has betrayed me. That he and Constance have been lovers before and since my wedding. She insisted she would take my son back to Bayree with her and hold him there until Ransom came for him and returned something he’d stolen from her.

My mind went black with fear and panic and then anger. This woman had killed my father, and now she wanted my sons. Then Keeva arrived holding one of the babes. Just one. I told her to run, but the poisoner struck her down. I grabbed my bow, which I had restrung earlier to practice with, and sent an arrow at the poisoner.

She vanished before the bolt could strike her. I screamed for my knights, and they came. The babe, little Willem, was safe in my maid’s arms. But Keeva is dead. The ship from the Vexin was already gone when I sent the knights to seize it.

I’m convinced that what the poisoner said about Ransom was true. He has betrayed me. That thought burns in my mind like a white-hot spike.

—Claire de Murrow

Connaught Castle

(blood and revenge)





CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE


Averanche


You look pale,” Constance said.

The feeling of dizziness had subsided, but the memory still tickled inside Ransom’s mind. “He moved the piece,” he said, looking at Drew’s face.

“I saw that,” said the duchess. “That means the Wizr game can be manipulated. It doesn’t just reveal where the pieces are.”

Ransom felt a strong compulsion to go to Averanche and bring Jon-Landon back to the palace. The conviction of it surprised him.

“I must go,” he said to her.

“You still need to heal, Ransom.”

He shook his head, trying to understand his surging feelings. “When the piece was moved, I felt it in my soul. Now I feel that I need to go to Averanche and bring Jon-Landon back to the palace.”

She looked at him curiously.

“Did I do something wrong, Maman?” asked the boy. “Should I move the piece back?”

She tousled his hair. “Why did you move the piece there?”

“It felt right,” said the boy simply. He looked at Ransom. “He’s supposed to go.”

The board had created a compulsion too strong to be denied. He rubbed his mouth, thinking again of Noemie. “I’ve felt this way before,” he said, glancing at Constance.

“When?” she asked.

“It happened here in Brythonica,” he said, “at my last tournament with Devon. I’d gone to visit the Sanctuary of Our Lady.”

“I remember that day,” she said. “So do many.” It was the time he had defeated Sir Terencourt.

“I spoke to the deconeus, and he told me to visit St. Penryn. I found Noemie kneeling before the waters of one of the fountains. I had the same feeling then that I had just now. Like one of the Wizr pieces had been dragged across the board. Noemie tried to convince me to meet with her that night, at one of the fountains here in your palace.”

Constance studied him. “That is strange. So you think Estian used the Wizr board against you?”

“He must have. His sister tried to . . . seduce me.”

Constance gave him an approving smile. “But you did not fall, Ransom. The pieces may create a powerful compulsion, but it cannot supersede a person’s free will.”

Ransom snapped his fingers. “Alix told me Estian has some sort of power over her, and while I don’t believe anything she says, I suspect he has the ability to recall her whenever he wishes. This Wizr set is powerful indeed. It must be brought to the king.” He gave her a significant look. “If the king’s posterity can use it, that includes Jon-Landon as well as your son.”

“Take it with you,” she said. “They will not let such a prize go easily. Some people have the ability to travel through fountains, so there’s no knowing how quickly they will come for it. I don’t quite understand how it works, but many cities are built where the Fountain’s power is strongest.”

“Alix has that ability,” Ransom said.

“All the more reason for you to take it,” Constance said. “The Fountain-blessed can hide relics in water, Ransom. You must hide the set, and it would be better if I didn’t know where you kept it. I will assign patrols to guard each of the fountains in the palace.”