“How many of them are there? Do we know who’s involved in them?”
“They are being very secretive, Your Majesty. Another reason to suspect them. But we will learn all we can.”
It made sense that a group like that would be secretive, whether they were planning murders or just meeting for weekly book discussions. My councillors had no evidence that they had any connection to the poisoning.
“Regardless, we must be wary of them,” Holt said. “They may use this as an opportunity to increase their influence.”
Of course. I was so far down the list of inheritance that calling me queen was almost laughable. All order had already vanished. They’d only have to push slightly for me to fall, as well.
“So what should we do?” I said.
“Show your strength,” my father said. “Continue as before, unfazed by any of this. If you are convincing as queen, it will be much harder for them to fight against you.”
All I had to do was be convincing. That was all. I tried to fight back a laugh, but it escaped anyway, ringing off the walls. Everyone stared at me, and my face burned. “I—yes,” I said. “I just have to be convincing.”
“We will guide you, Your Majesty,” Holt said. “You are new to this, we know, but we can help you. You can trust us here.”
But I couldn’t trust them. I couldn’t trust anyone, except my father and Naomi. Everyone here had survived the banquet. Any of them could have been involved in the murder. And none of them had any reason to be loyal to me. There was nothing to stop them from finding a better candidate to rule.
I looked at the table, gathering my courage again. “Were you all at the banquet?” I asked. “When it—when it happened?”
Thorn shook her head. “My husband was taken ill, so I could not attend.”
“Is he all right?” I asked.
“He is well now, Your Majesty, if weak. He may not appear in court for some time.”
That was convenient. But I nodded at her.
“The rest of us were all there, I believe,” Norling said. “I remember speaking to Rasmus, at least, and your father. I was lucky that I was no longer hungry, and didn’t eat any cake.”
And Sten had been sitting at the high table. I’d seen him clearly. I looked at him now, and he frowned. “The cake did not appeal to me,” he said. “I am not the sort to eat gold.”
“Torsten, your cousin,” Holt said, cutting the tension left by Sten’s last words. “Have you heard from her since this happened?”
“She sent a letter ahead,” he said. “I told her to stay at home, but she’s returning to the capital, as quickly as she can.”
“Madeleine is your heir, now,” Holt added to me. “Perhaps you are friends already? Such a delightful girl.”
No, Madeleine Wolff and I were not friends. I’d seen her many times—every time I came to court, she was at the center of it, smiling at everyone, twittering with her bell-like laugh, flirting with Fitzroy when he was in favor, ignoring him when not. Everyone adored her, but she had always seemed rather empty-headed to me. Too beautiful for her own good.
Not that I’d ever actually spoken to her, beyond the odd “excuse me.” She was too refined to ever stoop low enough to talk to me.
If I hadn’t left the banquet, she would have become queen. Everyone would have been far happier with that. Including, perhaps, Madeleine, judging from her flirtations in the court.
“I told her she wasn’t well enough to travel,” Sten said. “The doctor told her to stay away until the new year—but when has she ever listened to what the doctor says?”
“She isn’t well?” I asked.
“She hasn’t been for some time, Your Majesty,” Holt said. “It is always such a loss to the court when she retires to her estate. She is most dedicated to her charity work, and a lovely girl besides. But the country air is said to do her good.”
“How long was she gone? This time?”
“A couple of months, I believe. Is that correct, Torsten?”
“Yes,” Sten said. “That’s right.” He was watching me carefully. “Did Her Majesty not realize my cousin was away?”
“I’ve never spoken to her,” I said. “I didn’t know she was gone.”
“Do not worry, Your Majesty,” Holt said. “I am certain you will like her. She is a kind girl.”
A kind girl who just happened to be away from the capital during a mass murder. A kind girl now one step away from the throne.
“Speaking of journeys—I know this is a delicate subject,” Holt continued, “but we must discuss the funeral arrangements for King Jorgen. He must have a fitting ceremony. The funeral will of course involve the traditional rites, and the queen will travel alongside him. But it has been suggested that the other victims should be included in the service, too, in one show of respect for them all.”
“It has been suggested by you, Holt,” Norling said. She had a sharp, decisive voice. “And it is completely unsuitable. To let people share the funeral arrangements of a king—”
“It would make the queen seem gentle hearted,” Holt said firmly, “and it would be fitting, considering how they all died together. It creates a sense of unity in mourning—”
“It creates the sense everyone is equal,” Norling said. “Which is not what a new queen wants.”
I picked at the loose splinters underneath the table as they continued to argue. It wasn’t what was usually done, but that didn’t mean we shouldn’t do it. Everyone had died with the king. They’d probably died because of the king. And people like Naomi’s brother deserved just as much respect as he did, in the end. “I think it’s a good idea.”
“Then we shall proceed.”
“Your Majesty,” Norling said. “It is a good idea in theory, but you cannot understand Holt’s true meaning. He does not just mean the king and his relatives. He means all of them. The servants. Everyone who died.”
“They died the same as anyone else,” Holt said. “They deserve respect.”
“They deserve respect, yes,” my father said. “But at another time.”
I didn’t know what the wisest choice might be. But I felt like I knew the right choice, the thing that should be done, and that was all I had to go on. “We will do what Holt suggests. Everyone will be included.”
“Your Majesty—!”
“Her Majesty has spoken,” Holt said, “and we do not have time to delay. We still have to discuss the arrangements for our guests. Nobles from all over the kingdom will be traveling to the capital. I propose we offer them rooms in the Fort, to guarantee their safety—”
“And I say that is ridiculous,” Norling said. “They will not consider it suitable accommodation, and we don’t have time to improve things here. We will look poor. Weak.”
“We will look safe and secure,” Holt said. “Behind solid walls. We cannot expect our guests to live out in the city, considering what has happened.”