Royal Outlaw: (Royal Outlaw, Book 1) (22 page)

The desire to scream in fear overcame Mariel, but she choked back the strange, unexplainable cry. “And why should I believe your judgment, Dreyfuss? What have you ever done to help me?”

“Need I remind you,
Highness
, that I just saved your life?”

Once again, James cut Mariel off before she could speak. “Mariel, I know that the thing that tried to kill you is the same one who killed your mother because you told me.”

“When?” Mariel asked in complete disbelief. She could not have told James who killed her mother because she did not remember who the murderer was.

He hesitated again, obviously reluctant to reveal the information he had, although Mariel could not comprehend why.

“You told me when you were in the temple the other night, while
he
was attacking you.”

“But I was unconscious when he gave me these wounds!”

James shook his head. “No, you weren’t. I’ll never forget your screams, and I don’t think any of the others will either.”

“What others?” Mariel still did not believe that she had simply forgotten the attack, and she intended to question these “others” that James mentioned.

“High Priestess Sonja, Sir Robert, Squire Derek, the stable master, and some of the priestesses.”

That was a thorough list of witnesses, one that James could not possibly lie about. That meant he was telling the truth. And that meant she had forgotten the attack. It was one thing for her a six year old to forget traumatizing events, but it was something entirely different for a seventeen year old like Mariel to forget. Who, or what, could possibly scare her that badly?

Mariel turned her head away from the two men, trying to fight off tears of fright. It had made sense that since being declared crown princess assassination attempts had been tried on her. After all, many were adverse to a female heir, especially one in possession of Darren Brightsword’s blood. But this attack did not make sense, just as the murder of Princess Carolina did not make sense.

When Mariel was six, she was in exile with no chance at being heir to the throne, so it was not logical for someone to try to kill her. She had been left alone for years, but evidently that same someone who had murdered her mother still wanted her dead, and she did not think it had anything to do with recent events or formal announcements.

She wished she could jump out of bed and flee to leave behind the oppressive binds of behavior and etiquette and assassins and the feeling of betrayal, even if it meant surrendering her life as Mariel Quickwit and retiring to the comforts of Parloipae and zreshlans for the remainder of her life.

“This conversation is getting us nowhere,” Dreyfuss drawled. “I have other questions, and I’m sure you can answer these, your Highness.”

Mariel did not deign to look at the archmagician, and she heard James settle back into the chair beside her bed.

“You expect her to answer questions? You are a daft man,
Dreyfuss
.”

The blatant disrespect Mariel heard in James’s voice made her realize she had been foolish to think he was in league with the archmagician, but why he was not running while he still had a chance to escape the hangman’s noose was beyond her.

Dreyfuss ignored the insolent comment. “Two nights ago, Princess Mariel experienced not one assassination attempt on her life, but two. Obviously, she remembers nothing of that second attack,” the archmagician sounded annoyed with that. “But I have no doubt that she clearly remembers the attempt to poison her earlier in the evening.”

The words caught Mariel’s attention and she turned her head back to face Dreyfuss. “You believe that there really was poison?”

The archmagician snorted. “Yes, High Priestess Sonja informed me of the events this morning. She was under the impression that you were lying about the wine, but being the clever man that I am, and knowing that you are not one to intentionally brook pity from others unless you can gain from it, I followed the lead. Seeing as your dress was utterly ruined by bloodstains, I was forced to perform my test for poison on Lady Isabel’s soiled garment. Knowing your history as an underworld outlaw, which undoubtedly brought you face to face with poisons on various occasions, I was none too surprised when the test turned out positive. However, what did astonish me was when Sonja informed me that you had not so much as touched the goblet before declaring that the drink was poisoned. Explain.”

Dreyfuss’s cold, calculating logic reminded Mariel of exactly who she was dealing with. The archmagician was not a prison guard or an unsuspecting soldier or nobleman who could easily be tricked with clever lies and deception. He was a man who had spent years studying evraïsér and climbing the social ladder. Dreyfuss was no fool.

Mariel could not confess that she was aware of the secret of evraïsér and that was how she had known the wine was poisoned. Magic was a well-guarded secret by the temples. Mariel was in no position to anger any magicians, let alone one of the most powerful human magicians in the Eastern Lands, especially when her life was currently in his hands.

“How did you know the wine was poisoned, Princess?” Dreyfuss repeated his question.

James laughed. “She won’t tell you anything.”

Dreyfuss glared at the serpentramel then reached across him and grabbed something off the table near the bed. “If she refuses to tell me, I will destroy this.”

Mariel could not see what the object in question was, but James could and his smile turned wicked. “You are threatening Mariel Quickwit with a vial of potion? You have lost your mind, Dreyfuss. You must have forgotten exactly who you are dealing with, she isn’t any delicate maiden.”

Dreyfuss’s hand twitched in suppressed anger, and Mariel caught sight of the vial filled with a familiar amber colored liquid. She paled at the sight of it in the archmagician’s hand. She could not let that potion be destroyed. It kept the nightmares at bay. The nightmares that forced her to relive the forgotten memories, run mad, and then wake up terrified with the memories forgotten. She could make the potion again, she almost always made it herself, but she was in no condition to brew anything.

“Where did you get that?” she asked hoarsely.

James stared at her in astonishment and Dreyfuss smirked.

“Your little roommate thought you might want it.”

Cara. Her friend had only been trying to be helpful, but she had unwittingly given the twisted archmagician the very tool he needed to get information out of her. She could not tell about her knowledge of evraïsér. Not only would she be endangering her own life, but Dreyfuss would demand how she discovered such forbidden knowledge and then she would betray the zreshlans by telling about them. No, she needed to find a way to convince Dreyfuss that there was another way she knew about the poison.

The memory of the eventful hours before the poison incident came easily and she remembered the reason she had been suspicious of the wine in the first place. It was a relief to find an answer to her problems so quickly. She began to explain her relationship with Cook and how she had gotten on her bad side early on by stealing from her precious storeroom. Then she proceeded to happily relate the stealing of Sir Robert’s purse and his ensuing humiliation, followed by her visit to the forest and the strange scene she witnessed between Cook and the cloaked figure.

“I saw the figure give Cook something, so later when a novice presented me with the special wine, I naturally suspected poison,” Mariel finished, proud that she had spoken nothing but the truth. Of course, she had neglected to mention some parts, like her use of evraïsér and her unicorn friend’s reaction to the people in the woods.

Dreyfuss grudgingly accepted her story, but James was not so easily pleased.

“When you were in the woods, did you smell anything unusual?” James inquired.

“No,” Mariel responded automatically, but then she stopped to consider the question and realized she had not spoken the truth. “Actually, there was a strange smell. I was sitting on the forest floor for a while and then I smelled something like rotting flesh.” She did not mention that the scent had inexplicably made her leap to her feet and draw her knives before she even registered what it was. “I know animals die all the time, but it smelled stronger than anything I’ve ever smelled before, and it made me uneasy.” She refused to admit that she had been more than uneasy, she had been scared.

Dreyfuss did not find the news exceptional, but one look at James and she knew that the scent meant something to him. He paled and stared at the wall. Alarm struck Mariel when she noticed the viper fangs that had sprouted in his mouth. Being a serpentramel was a death sentence in Natric and, although James was already wanted dead as it was, he seemed to be fairing fine so far.

“
James!
” Mariel called, trying to shake him from whatever horrifying realization he had come to and make him retract his fangs before Dreyfuss saw and killed him on the spot.

Her voice seemed to trigger him back to the moment and his elongated teeth quickly vanished. But the look he gave Mariel scared her. His eyes held fear and relief and something she had never seen before. The depth of his emotions unnerved her, even though she did not fully understand them.

“Does the smell mean something to you?” she asked.

James did not respond automatically, he seemed to be deciding whether or not to tell her. Finally, when the silence became palpably strained, Dreyfuss spoke with an arrogant tone. “He’s just trying to trick you, or impress you, or whatever goes on in his little mind. The smell of carrion is nothing to be concerned about. Snaketongue is simply being
difficult
.” 

James spoke in an angry rush of words, directed to the archmagician. “I asked her about the smell because the scent of dead carrion was thick about the assassin. I caught a whiff of it when he ran out the door and I noticed it in the temple before High Priestess sent me away. The hooded creature in the woods who gave the vial to Cook was the same one who attacked Mariel in the temple. Had he known she was in the forest, he would have killed her right then and there.”

“That’s why Iyela wanted me to run,” Mariel whispered under her breath.

James heard the comment and picked up on the strand of information. “Iyela was in the woods with you?”

Mariel shook her head, but regretted the movement. “After I saw the cloaked figure pass something to Cook, I wanted to know what it was, so I started to step closer. That’s when Iyela appeared and insisted on herding me out of the forest.”

Horror was the first emotion to cross James’s face, but soon amusement replaced it. He shook his head and chuckled lowly. “Curiosity is going to be your downfall, Little Miss Inquisitive.”

Mariel did not argue, knowing that he spoke the truth.

“How sweet,” Dreyfuss interrupted. “This is the first time I have seen you agree on anything today. But this ‘Iyela’ that you speak of, is that not what you called the white steed you rode to and from the City of the Gods, James Snaketongue?”

The girl was completely startled by this new piece of information. Iyela and James hated each other as much as horses hated normal snakes. The unicorn refused to let James come within five feet of her; she would never actually let him ride her. Mariel bit her tongue to keep from asking about it while Dreyfuss was present.

“Yes, Iyela is Mariel’s very smart horse. I believe some of Mariel’s brain wore off on her, which explains why our dear princess here has evidently become less intelligent recently. Nearly walking up to an assassin? Hah!”

Dreyfuss’s frown deepened until wrinkles creased his forehead and the corners of his lips. “Unicorns are intelligent creatures.”

Mariel inhaled sharply, causing stabs of pain to strike her and her breath to come in little gasps. Both men turned toward her in concern, briefly forgetting their argument. But Mariel liked the attention and pity directed at her even less than she liked Dreyfuss knowing Iyela was a unicorn.

“You see a white horse and you automatically believe she’s a unicorn? I am flattered that you think me pretty and intelligent enough to have a unicorn serve as my beast of burden. After all, they say that unicorns are attracted to virtuous maids,” Mariel said through her thick eyelashes.

Dreyfuss snorted in disbelief. “
You virtuous
? That is like saying a murderer with a bloody knife found in his hand is innocent of the crime. And a maid? I do not think so. You are probably worse than your mother. I am certain you climb into the bed of nearly every man you stumble across.”

“I do not!”

“She would never!”

Mariel and James both responded angrily, nearly speaking the same words. The princess was surprised that James had defended her honor so rapidly after all the times he had spent trying to convince her to surrender her virtue to him. She would have to contemplate his reaction later. Currently, she had a reputation to cleanse and a unicorn friend to protect.

“I may have lived much of my life as an outlaw, but that does not make me a trollop. The only times I’ve ever touched a man in his groin have been with a jab of the knee or a kick with the foot. And my mother was not a strumpet either.”

The last statement was not entirely accurate. Princess Carolina had seduced the naïve young Sergeant Darren without him knowing she was royalty. Mariel had always wondered why, but the thought struck her suddenly now. Her mother had felt trapped as a princess, she had wanted an escape, and she had found that possibility with the young Versati Corps officer.