Drifting Snow

Chapter 2: A King's Courtesy

Adrian came to Greyglass Palace after dark.

I heard his footsteps in the corridor and knew them before he knocked. He used to walk quickly, as though every delay were an insult. Now he moved at the measured pace of a man who had learned that people watched him even when they pretended not to.

I didn't open the door.

"I know you're awake," he said from the other side.

"I'm sure the guards have told you."

"I didn't send them to watch you."

"You sent them to keep me here."

Silence.

The lock turned. Two guards remained in the corridor when Adrian stepped inside. His black evening coat fit perfectly, and a silver pin marked the center of his collar. The coronation had made him look older. It had also taught him how to hide exhaustion behind a still face.

I had seen that face before, but never directed at me.

"You should have told me," he said.

"Told you what?"

"About the arrangement with Marlowe Maritime. About the foundation."

"I did. Twice."

"You told me the guarantees were unreliable."

"I told you the funding had already been pledged elsewhere."

"You said the company had concealed a second obligation."

"I showed you the filing."

He glanced at the table. The diamond necklace lay where I had left it.

"I didn't intend for this to happen."

"Which part? The locked door, the guards, or the necklace?"

"I thought the council would use you to discredit the agreement."

"So you decided to do it for them?"

His jaw tightened. "The crown needed time. If the council believed you were part of my private household, they'd have no reason to treat your statements as an official objection."

"They'll have every reason to treat them as a jealous woman's complaint."

"I can protect you."

"You've taken away my office, my papers, and my freedom. What does protection look like to you?"

He looked toward the guards. "Leave us."

The men didn't move until Adrian repeated himself. Then the door shut, leaving the two of us alone.

I didn't mistake privacy for safety. The corridor was still guarded, and every person who served the palace knew I was f*******n to leave. Still, the silence between us felt less like a performance.

"Why did you sign?" I asked.

"The Marlowe company is keeping the northern port open. The council demanded a solution before the winter fleet arrived. If I had refused, they would have held the repair funds back."

"They've already held them back."

"The contract gives us leverage."

"It gives them control of the docks and gives the foundation a fee from the crown."

"A fee that can be reviewed."

"By whom?"

He didn't answer.

I stood, careful not to let him see how much the room's confinement had unsettled me. "I gave you the audit. The original figures are in my office."

"Your office is being searched."

"Then you know where the copy is?"

His gaze flicked to mine. "There's no copy in the office."

I had made one. The one in the cabinet beneath the map table was not the only one. The second lay inside the leather cover of a public harbor register in the archives. I had arranged that before the coronation, when I still believed I could convince Adrian to delay the signing.

"Do you think I'm an i***t?" he asked.

"No. I think you've decided that keeping me quiet is easier than admitting I was right."

He took a breath. "I did what I thought would prevent a crisis."

"You've made a crisis. Now you want to decide which parts of it the public gets to see."

"If the contract collapses before the winter fleet docks, the northern towns will lose their food supply."

"If the contract stands, the company can charge the crown for work it never promised to complete."

"I know."

The words came out too quietly. I searched his face, but I couldn't tell whether he regretted the signature or only the way I had found out.

"Why keep me here?" I asked.

"Because Chancellor Voss is looking for the harbor schedule."

"And you don't want him to find it."

"I don't want him using it before we know what he has."

"Then let me go to the archives."

"No."

"Let me contact the council."

"No."

"Let me out of this room."

His eyes held mine. "Not yet."

I laughed once, without humor. "That's a king's answer."

"I'm still the same person."

"No. You're the person with the key."

He stepped toward me, then stopped when I shifted away. For the first time, he looked hurt. I hated that it still mattered to me.

"I never wanted to make you feel like this," he said.

"You've made me feel like a tool you used until I became inconvenient."

His hand moved toward the necklace. I covered it with mine.

"Keep the gift," he said. "It was meant for you."

"Then it can stay where it is."

Adrian turned toward the door. Before he left, I asked him one last question.

"Does the council know what I am to you?"

He didn't answer.

That told me enough.

When the guards opened the door, I watched him leave. He didn't look back.