I had hidden the winter ledger behind a cracked tile in the conservatory wall.
The guards kept the chain attached as I walked there, one on either side. The palace conservatory had been closed for years. Half the glass panes were clouded with age, and the surviving plants had grown wild around the old fountain. The king had once brought me there to show me a lemon tree he had grown from seed. I remembered the sunlight on his face and how I had believed that love could make a cruel man gentle.
I had been wrong about the tree, too. It had died the following winter.
Cora entered behind me. Rusk waited by the door.
"Where is it?" she asked.
"Behind the fountain."
A guard pulled me back while another searched the stones. He found the cracked tile and loosened it with the edge of his knife
