Page 40 of The Court of Venus

Roland stroked circles on the king’s back to soothe him while I ran from the room, the king cursing and bellowing in my wake.

But I had what I wanted. The king had let it slip without realizing.

In the privy chamber, I leaned against the wall, breathing hard. My head rested against a tapestry of King Armel, the first king of Alvion, dancing in full armor around a bonfire with fairies and nymphs, all seven planets shining above. His magician, Oberon, did not partake. He watched over his king from the forest, protecting him—from what dangers, it wasn’t clear.

It was a long while before Roland emerged, his face glazed over with exhaustion. “Well, that was pointless,” he seethed.

“It wasn’t pointless at all. We learned something.”

“Oh, yes? What exactly did we learn?” He looked to the ceiling, pressing his lips together. “Richard is last to know everything. He’s been manipulated since he took the throne. I thought—I truly thought Prospero would have told him more. But the king has been at ease his entire life. We all move around him, informing him only when absolutely necessary. Prospero probably never mentioned exaltation to him.”

“Roland, he said ‘it.’ Did you catch that?”

“No,” said Roland dully.

“If he was referring to an heir, he would have said ‘he.’ But Prospero had a different plan, something else the king wanted.”

“The king wants a great many things.”

I worried my bottom lip with my teeth. Roland’s eyes fell to my mouth. “Eleanor Guildford must have been helping Prospero somehow.”

He pushed off from the wall. “Oh, yes? Well, in a useful turn of events, Eleanor is also dead.”

“All of Prospero’s work was confiscated, but Eleanor’s books, her things, would be with her family.”

“Why would Prospero entrust his plans to Eleanor?”

“Why wouldn’t he?” I argued. “They had the same aim. To keep the king happy. To remain in favor.”

“In other words, to stay alive.” He frowned then, deep in thought. Hope rekindled in him. “I suppose Prospero and Eleanor were close…”

“Were they?”

Venusborn sensed such intimate threads. The heat of two lovers burning across a room, the ties of passion that bound them. He saw the world, he’d once told me, as if it were a dance, each partner grasping different hands as they spun, that one touch lingering forever. Prospero and Eleanor must have brushed against each in some way.

“Somewhat,” he admitted. “You must remember how Eleanor was. She was humble and quiet, and she would have never invited anyone but the king to her bed. She suffered silently. During the last months of her marriage to the king, she was searching for companionship, however small. Prospero was that. I doubt she ever even told him she cared for him. He was certainly unaware.”

“I thought they despised each other.”

“She was wary of magicians, thought Prospero was not to be trusted. At first, she secretly worked to undermine him at court. But in their desperation to please the king, they may have formed some sort of…” His eyes roamed across my face as he searched for the word. “Alliance. Perhaps you’re right. Perhaps Prospero told her about exaltation.”

He tapped a knuckle against his chin. I’d hooked him. What if he could accomplish what they couldn’t, and finally satisfy the king?

“Tomorrow afternoon,” he said, “I’m listed in the jousts against Tom. If I were to lose, and he were to move on—”

I caught on quick. “His family would be watching from the stands. The palace would be free of Guildfords all afternoon.”

“And I adore palaces free of Guildfords.” A raised brow. “Don’t you, Mouse?”

Ten

By his sky I chart my path.

—ELEANOR GUILDFORD’S MOTTO

The horses pawed at the mud, eager to run. The cages, and the blood, all swept away from the tiltyard, as if the magicians’ tournament had never occurred days before. The only reminder was the charred wood of the stands.

Under an awning directly across from the queen’s ladies, I took the opportunity to study Kitty Seton. She was very expressive—a rarity at court. She rolled her eyes as soon as the other women turned their backs. Scrunched her nose watching the king being led to his seat beside Cecily.