Both royal children had inherited something of their mother’s beauty, though their complexions favored their father’s. The boy had a stingy-looking mouth and his father’s glacial blue eyes.
Ash planted himself by the steps where the royals would pass by, carefully palming his needle. But an impenetrable wall of black uniforms kept him from getting to within arm’s length of any of them.
When the royal family reached center stage, a servant filled jeweled cups from the two gold chalices—one for the adults, and another, perhaps less potent brew for the children. Marin Karn stood to the right of the dais, and a foot or two below, covered in the military glitterbits appropriate to his rank. Ash looked around the room, finally spotting Destin Karn in the galleries, scanning the crowd for trouble. For once, he was wearing the black of the royal guard, a dress sword belted at his waist.
When everyone on the stage was served, Montaigne and his queen lifted their cups. As was traditional, they would drink first. “To the great good health of the servants of this household, and the noble houses that are our strength! To the health of the nation, and glory to the great saint!”
And the assemblage lifted their much less elaborate cups and cried, “To the great good health of their majesties, King Gerard Montaigne and Queen Marina, and their royal highnesses, Prince Jarat and Princess Madeleine!”
That was when a servant standing next to the chalice swayed and crumpled to the floor.
There was instant pandemonium up on the stage. Marin Karn batted the cup from the king’s hand. It landed, rolling, splattering steaming wassail everywhere, until it disappeared over the edge. The royal children set their cups down with a thunk, their faces pale and frightened. The blackbirds surrounding the stage formed a prickling wall around the dais and blocked all the exits to the hall.
But Queen Marina tilted her head back and drank greedily, three huge gulps, before Father Fosnaught wrenched the cup from her hands and handed it off to a blackbird. Then he gripped her wrist and thrust his face into hers, haranguing her about something.
“Who was that—the one that fell?” Ash whispered.
“That was the king of Arden’s taster,” Lila said. She pulled him into a corner and got in his face. “Do you know anything about this?”
“What do you mean?”
“No doubt they’ll search all of us. You’re not . . . carrying anything you shouldn’t be, are you? If so, give it to me and I’ll get rid of it.”
“Besides an amulet?” Ash touched his amulet, in the process returning his sting to its sheath. “Do you think I’m stupid? Only a fool would use a fast-acting poison on a target with a taster. The taster goes down before the king gets it into his system.”
Lila blinked at him, as if surprised by this display of logic. “What about the viper?” she persisted. “Were you responsible for that?”
“I may be good with animals, but until I can teach a snake to bite the right person, I wouldn’t use one to try and kill someone. Either this would-be killer is an amateur, or someone wants to put the king on his guard.” Ash watched as Merrill forced his way through the crowd to kneel at the taster’s side.
And that’s when the queen collapsed. Her ladies surrounded her, fluttering like birds. Merrill abandoned the taster and knelt by the queen’s side.
“Blood and bones,” Ash muttered, debating. He hated to leave the queen in Merrill’s incapable hands. There was no escaping the hall, anyway.
You can’t save everyone, sul’Han. That was becoming his mantra.
And suddenly, somehow, Destin Karn was there, in Ash’s face. “Come with me,” he said, gripping Ash’s arm, “and see to the queen.” The lieutenant seemed unaccountably agitated. Maybe he was worried that if the queen died, he would get the blame for not somehow preventing it.
“Master Merrill’s handling it,” Ash said. “I’d rather not butt in. He’s furious with me already, and I’m still a little shaky from—”
“Listen to me, healer,” Karn said. “The queen is the kindest, most compassionate—the only truly decent person in this entire court. You are going to come with me, and you are going to heal her if you can, understand?”
“All right,” Ash said. “Let’s go.”
“That’s what you get for being so damned capable,” Lila called after him.
28
DEATH’S DOORSTEP
The crowd parted to let Ash and Karn through. He climbed onto the dais to find Merrill waving a pomander under the queen’s nose. “Stay back and give Her Majesty some air,” he cried.
Montaigne leaned against a marble pillar, guards on every side, arms folded across his chest. His eyes were like chipped ice, fixed on Destin Karn. There would be no getting close to the king now.