Page 129 of A Queen’s Game (Aithyr Uprising #1)
Chapter Eighty-Four
Marietta
B efore returning to the private prayer chamber, Amryth gave Marietta a quick explanation of the tunnels that ran underneath the palace, Marietta explaining that one led to her suite. After meeting the Queen, Marietta would take the tunnels towards the Guards Garrison and find Amryth.
Marietta thought of all the ways the plan could fail, yet there was no other way.
She’d convince Keyain to drink that evening, so he wouldn’t wake as she crept out of the room.
When she finished with the Queen, she’d meet with Amryth, who had servant’s clothes in which she could change.
It could work. Their plan could work. Tomorrow she could be going home.
Nervousness fought in her gut and not just for the escape.
The meeting would be her first time seeing the Queen since the incident with Elyse, not forgetting Valeriya’s warning.
Marietta decided it would be best not to tell the Queen that she was leaving.
There needed to be no excuses, no further reasons to stay in Satiros.
When Keyain returned for dinner that evening, Marietta had a glass of whiskey waiting for him.
Each time he had finished his drink, she refilled it.
Despite the past week’s fallout, he seemed in high spirits, almost proud of himself.
Sitting across from Marietta at the dining table, Keyain asked, “Do you hope for a boy or a girl?”
“It doesn’t matter to me,” Marietta said with a forced smile. If she had been pregnant, then the gender wouldn’t make a difference, not to her.
“I’m still hoping for a girl,” he said, his smile softening. “Though if she’s anything like you, I’m in for a rough time.”
“If there were two of me, life would be much more interesting.”
“I’d have a lot more headaches.”
She pointed at him with her fork. “And a lot more fun, but our child will still be half-elven.”
Keyain rolled his eyes. “That doesn’t matter.”
“Doesn’t it, though?” Marietta tilted her head with a raised brow. “Imagine our daughter at court and whatever noble could have a marriage license signed without her consent, let alone yours.”
“My child wouldn’t. There are perks to being in positions of power.”
Marietta set down her fork, the food turning to lead in her stomach. “So you recognize that it’s wrong to do?”
“Well, if it’s our child—”
“What if it was me?” she snapped.
“Mar, calm down. Anger isn’t good for the baby.”
Marietta took a deep breath, closing her eyes. “It’s what you did to me, and it happens to pilinos all over Satiros, Keyain. If it’s wrong for our child, then it’s wrong for anyone. You don’t get to pick and choose the use case of your morals.”
“This is why we don’t get along. Everything turns into a fight with you,” Keyain answered, cutting into his food.
She sat back, realizing it was her last meal with Keyain, her last evening with him. As it was in the beginning, he still didn’t understand how his views hurt her, or why they were a problem. It was the proof she needed. Keyain would never change.
“What?” he said, catching her gaze.
“Nothing.” She forced a smile. “What baby names do you like?”
Keyain rambled on about the non-existent baby until they climbed into bed, thinking it was a safe topic.
After settling, Keyain rolled over to face her.
“I’m still upset by you, more than you could ever understand, but I’m trying to work past it for the sake of our child.
I love you, Marietta, and I’m excited about getting this third opportunity with our relationship. ”
“I love you, too,” she said, the lie coming easy.
In the dark, Keyain leaned over with a kiss. “Life will be easier in the country, I promise.” With his last words, he rolled over, making a point not to sleep next to Marietta.
Life on his estate would be easy, away from court, away from the King and Queen. Marietta would never know what that kind of life was.
When Keyain’s breathing turned heavy, she slipped out of bed, retrieving the papers from her wardrobe.
The nymph dagger rested precariously in her pocket.
At the threshold of the bedroom, she looked one last time to Keyain.
Leaving in the night seemed fitting, considering it was how he stole her in the first place.
Marietta pondered what life with Keyain would have been like if she married him all those years ago.
Would she have learned to love it? Would any of it be different?
Perhaps she and Keyain would love each other, filling his countryside manner with kids.
She shook her head, her final goodbye to Keyain.
The hidden door in Keyain’s office swung open silently, though she struggled to close it in the dark of the stairwell.
Marietta didn’t risk lighting her light globe until she stumbled down the spiraling staircase, arriving at the adjacent corridor well below the palace.
Marietta thanked whatever god or goddess blessed her with a memory for directions as she retraced her way to Valeriya’s secret room.
After a few wrong turns, she arrived at the door.
With a deep breath, she knocked. No noise came from the other side. She waited a moment and reached to knock again, but the door cracked open, revealing the Queen’s face before opening up wider.
“Marietta, I’m so happy to see you,” she softly said after she shut and locked the door.
“I don’t have a lot of time, Valeriya.” The Queen smiled as Marietta spoke her name. “I dug through Keyain’s files. I have proof that there is a spy in the Exisotis. I also found this coded message. If they felt the need to hide the meaning, then it’s probably worth knowing.”
She handed the papers over to the Queen, who glanced through them. “You’re right. They have word-for-word documentation from their meetings, a lot of it being from Tilan.”
“We need to get this to them as soon as possible. Were you able to deliver my notes on Minister Royir’s ledgers?”
Valeriya nodded her head. “I delivered them last week.”
“Good.” Marietta paused before adding, “King Wyltam and his council know one of us is leaking information.” She waited for Valeriya to mention the incident with Wyltam, but she didn’t.
Instead, the Queen gave her a sad smile. “This meeting will be the last we can have. I’m leaving Satiros. We’re no longer safe here.” She paused, reaching for Marietta’s hand. “Come with me. I have a way for us to escape.”
“Oh,” Marietta hesitated, surprised by the offer.
“Don’t say yes or no just yet. I have another thing to show you, one last secret. It will probably influence your decision to stay or leave, but you need to see this before I go.”
“What is it?”
Valeriya shook her head. “You have to see it. Come.”
She unlocked the door and led Marietta into the dark hallway.
The Queen held Marietta’s hand and gripped the light globe in the other, weaving their way through the underground passages.
After traveling for what felt the length of the palace, Valeriya dimmed her light and whispered, “We’re almost there. Just stay quiet.”
Voices carried down the hall, causing Marietta to panic, fearing that the Queen betrayed her. Marietta’s steps faltered as the Queen pulled her ahead.
The voices grew louder the further they walked, but the passageway remained dark. They turned, another long hallway extended in front of them. To one side, there was a jingle of metal and muffled laughs. Valeriya didn’t slow; she stayed her pace and continued.
“Here,” she whispered when they could barely hear the voices. “There are some foot holes in the wall. Feel around for them and crawl up. There should be a small hole where the light comes through. Just look into it.”
Perplexed, Marietta felt her way in the dark with her heart thundering in her chest. Gods, what did the Queen need to show her? Marietta struggled to keep her breaths even as panic set in. She did not know where Valeriya had taken her, no idea why she brought her there.
At the top of the wall, there was a crawlspace where Marietta saw the light Valeriya mentioned. She drew a deep breath and looked through the hole.
It took a moment for her eyes to adjust as a dirty and dingy cell came into view below her. The walls were wet stone; the door was solid metal with a grate over a small window. In the corner sat a bucket filled with excrement. A body laid in the other.
Marietta pressed closer to the hole, trying to make out their details. Rail thin, a mop of scraggly dark hair matted their head, with a thick beard on their face. Only humans grew beards that thick. Why was there a human in their dungeons? Were they a prisoner of war, or someone she knew in Olkia?
The breath left Marietta as she realized who the Queen brought her to see. Biting into her hand, she muffled her cry, resisting the scream that built. Less than ten feet from her was Tilan. Alive.
Her husband was alive.
Marietta took in his features, blinking back tears.
In the dungeon, his body wasted to nothing and his mass from smithing lost to inactivity.
Without a haircut or bath in months, his dark hair was so matted like a stray dog.
As he rolled over in his sleep, she saw his face, still handsome, but it pained her to see the neglect, how gaunt his features had become.
The sallowness of his complexion. Tears blurred her vision as anger and guilt battled in her stomach.
Tilan was in the palace the entire gods damned time.
He was alive.
Her husband was alive.
The chaos returned to her chest as her fury grew. It took all of her effort to tear away from the hole. When she met Valeriya at the bottom, Marietta grabbed her by the collar and pinned her to the wall. “You knew the whole fucking time.”
“Marietta, hush,” Valeriya said, placing her hand on top of her own. “Let’s head back and then we can talk.”
Each step away from Tilan felt like a betrayal. Marietta was so close to him, so close to seeing his face, that smile. The Queen had to drag her along the hallway to get her to move.
She’d come back. Gods, Marietta would return for her husband, and she would tear down the whole gods damned palace with her when she did.