Chapter 251: The Unseen Web
Chapter 250: The Unseen Web
Jacinta did not support Duke Aurelgrave’s words.
She sat in her chair with her arms folded and her lips pressed into a thin line, her displeasure evident to anyone who cared to look. The Duke was helping them preserve their image as a royal family, and her mother had agreed with him. How could her mother not listen? Though Jacinta hated it, she could not deny that the Duke was right. They needed to protect their image. They needed to appear as though they cared for the Princess, even if they did not.
She hated it.
But she knew the Duke was right.
And so she said nothing.
---
By evening, the Princess’s wing had been transformed.
The corridors that had been dark and neglected now glowed with warm light from newly polished sconces. Fresh rugs had been laid upon the floors, and the dusty tapestries had been removed, cleaned, and rehung. The difference was striking enough that servants who had worked in the palace for years paused to stare as they passed.
The Princess’s chambers had been similarly improved. Fresh linens. A fire in the hearth. Flowers on the table near the window. It was not the grandest room in the palace, but it no longer looked like a prison.
And Lyria had new maids.
Each one had been handpicked by Elinor herself, and she had pretended to deliberate when it was quite obvious who she was going to place next to the Princess.
And though she knew there were also variables.
The news had spread that the Queen sought new maids for the Princess, and requests had arrived in secret, letters slipped through doors too.
One request had come from Duke Thorncrest.
Elinor had planned to ignore it at first. But she had taken the note to Tommy, and Tommy had shown it to Duke Valenridge.
The Duke had passed a message to Elinor, telling her to accept Duke Thorncrest’s request.
Elinor did not hesitate, because she trusted the Duke.
Two of the maids now assigned to the Princess had been requested by Duke Thorncrest. The others all served under Duke Valenridge.
The guards were another matter entirely.
Elinor had no hand in their selection. The Queen had assigned them directly, but Elinor had suspected that the suitor candidates had a hand in it.
Tommy confirmed her suspicions.
One of the guards had been placed by Earl Hawthorne. Another had been placed by Duke Aurelgrave. While the Queen thought these guards worked for her and would report to her, she had no idea that was not the case.
Elinor smiled to herself sometimes when she was alone.
Princess Lyria did not know how fortunate she was. Even now, lying unconscious in her bed, she had powerful people fighting for her. People who would not normally bat an eye at a servant or a shadow or an illegitimate princess were moving pieces across the palace board, positioning their people, preparing for battles that had not yet begun.
And the royal family had no idea.
Elinor found that quite amusing.
---
Two days passed.
Kathryn visited the Princess’s chambers twice each day, morning and evening, to administer the medications and check on her condition. The infection in her feet was receding. The swelling had gone down. The fever had broken.
But Lyria did not wake.
Kathryn took the Princess’s wrist between her fingers, counting the beats of her pulse. It was stronger now than it had been. But still, the Princess’s eyes remained closed.
The ball was fast approaching, and still Princess Lyria was unconscious.
The Queen asked for updates every day.
Kathryn also knew she was being watched. And she knew those who watched her were the Queen’s people.
But she did not mind.
Duke Valenridge was thorough. No matter what the Queen did, she would never discover what information passed between Kathryn and him.
And the Queen was so focused on the wrong people because the Duke was not the only one who had constructed a web in the unfamiliar palace.
Kathryn always gave the Queen haphazard updates regarding the Princess’s condition. The only people she gave detailed updates to were Baron Redwick and Duke Valenridge.
And the information passed in ways the Queen would never suspect.
---
In the evening of the same day, a letter arrived for Baron Redwick.
His valet, Edmund, brought it to him in his chambers, the sealed parchment resting on a silver tray. The Baron had been standing near the window, his hands clasped behind his back, his gaze fixed on the darkening sky.
"From Stoneford, my Lord," Edmund said.
Baron Redwick turned. He took the letter, broke the seal, and unfolded it.
The handwriting was familiar. It belonged to Marcus, his second-in-command. Marcus was practical, blunt, and rarely bothered with pleasantries.
The letter was no exception.
My Lord,
I told you that this competition would be more than just a suitor competition. I told you that there would be politics, schemes, and games played by people who had been preparing long before your arrival. You insisted it could not be so. You insisted it was only a suitor competition.
And now you are lost.
It is no surprise. The others who planned ahead are ahead. You are not. And I am afraid it is too late for you to catch up.
So stop trying.
Do what you do best. Be sincere. Be honest. Be the man you are. You have supporters, my Lord. More than you know. Do not lose them by trying to be something you are not.
Yours,
Marcus
Baron Redwick read the letter twice.
Then he sighed.
He adjusted his spectacles, pushing them higher on his nose, and stared at the words on the page. Marcus was not wrong. He had insisted that the competition was only a suitor competition. He had refused to see the games being played around him. And now—now he was lost.
Edmund cleared his throat softly.
"Is something amiss, my Lord?"
Baron Redwick folded the letter carefully.
"I made a mistake, it seems," he said quietly. "A thorough miscalculation."
