One week after my arrival, the Baron of Selve arrived, demanding to see whoever was responsible for his son's imprisonment. I met him in the heir's court, a smaller version of the throne room. It contained a granite dais at one end of the room with a high backed oak chair sitting in the middle of the dais. The rest of the long narrow room was empty, save for the afternoon sun filtering in through a row of blue, green, and yellow stained glass windows that lined the western wall. Edgerton and Bokham accompanied me into the room.
I was wearing a red silk gown with a flared skirt and a built-in corset. The gown contained long sleeves and a scoop neckline. The hem, cuffs, and neckline were trimmed in white lace. I wore my hair in a braid with the bone handled choker tied at the bottom of the braid.
The Baron of Selve's thinning hair was gray. He had a face scarred by some childhood disease. Time had added extra pounds to his frame, most of it in the belly. He dressed like any well heeled royal that abhorred physical labor, polished black riding boots, black silk breeches, a white silk shirt that laced down the front, and a black velvet waistcoat.
"You're the one responsible for my son's imprisonment?" the baron growled, as I took my place on the heir's throne.
"Your son is the one responsible for his imprisonment." I locked eyes with the baron. If he thought he could intimidate me then he was in for a surprise. "He conspired with the queen's physician to poison Queen Catlett."
"He says he's being framed. He says you're trying to make him a scapegoat."
"He was wearing this." I tossed the gold KRB medallion to the baron. He caught it out of midair and looked at it.
"He also had this on him," Bokham said, tossing the baron the bag of gold we found on his son. The gold he intended to give to the queen's physician as payment for poisoning her.
"Where would your son get that kind of money?" I said. "He has no holdings."
"You might want to look at whose face is embossed on the gold inside the bag," Edgerton said.
The baron opened the bag and looked at the gold. He saw what we already knew. Embossed on the gold coins inside the small leather bag was the face of Maximillian Bedard, the King of Dunre.
"We have a signed confession from the queen's physician," I said. "He admits to poisoning the queen. He also admits that your son has been paying him to poison the queen, and that your son has been acting on behalf of the Knights of the Royal Brotherhood. He says your son recruited him into the Brotherhood."
"We searched the physician's quarters," Bokham said. "He had five identical bags of gold stashed there. He says your son gave them to him."
"What did my son tell you?" the baron asked.
"He's refused to talk," Bokham said. "Not that we needed him to say anything, the physician has said plenty. Plus, the owner of the Fisherman's Rest has seen your son pass bags to the queen's physician."
"That's where your son was arrested," I said.
"I'm sorry, Kelland," Edgerton said, using the baron's first name. "But the evidence is overwhelming. Despite what he claims, your son is a member of the KRB and has been conspiring to poison Queen Catlett."
"So what's to become of him?" The baron placed the bag of gold and the KRB medallion on the front of the dais. Any fight he had in him was gone, taken out by the evidence against his youngest son.
"That's up to the princess," Edgerton said.
"Excuse me?" This was news to me.
"I presented this problem to the queen. She said that since you were the one to uncover the conspiracy, you should be the one that decides the fate of the conspirators."
I thought for a minute. "If the queen dies from being poisoned, the conspirators will be put to death. Hung in the town square the same day the queen dies. If the queen recovers, they'll spend the rest of their lives in chains. I've been told the Kingdom of Poshta buys prisoners to work the iron mines in the northern mountains."
I turned to Edgerton for conformation. He nodded. "That's true, Your Highness. A prison ship is due to pass through here in about a month."
"That's perfect." I turned back to the baron. "A month from now, we should know whether the queen will recover. If she does, the conspirators will be sold to the Poshtan prison ship. If she doesn't, they will be hung."
"What about the Knights of the Royal Brotherhood?" Bokham said. "They could buy the prisoners from the Poshtans and set them free."
"The strength of the KRB lies in the anonymity of its members," I said. "They have no use for people we know about."
"The Poshtans work their prisoners hard," Edgerton said to the baron. "But they treat them fair. The hardest workers can even earn rewards, include their own cabin and the right to take a wife from the female prisoners. Family is even allowed to visit them. Assuming you want to make the journey."
"Louis is no longer a member of my family," the baron said. "As of today, I'm severing all ties with him. Do with him what you will."
"I'm sorry we had to meet under such inauspicious circumstances," I said to the baron. "I would've preferred to meet someone the queen values as much as yourself under more pleasant surroundings."
In truth, I had no idea whether he was important to Queen Catlett or not, but when you had as many enemies as she did, it was best not to alienate your friends.
"The fault is entirely mine, Your Highness." The baron bowed. "I should've done a better job of teaching my son right from wrong."
"Perhaps you could talk to him. Ask him if there are other conspirators here in Vassa. If he could lead us to them, we could amend his sentence, keep him here in Vassa so you could visit him."
"I can't visit a man that's conspired to kill the queen I've sworn to serve." The baron bowed again and left the room.
"Louis always was the black sheep of the family," Edgerton said. "Many people believe that his mother wasn't trampled to death by a horse, but that he beat her to death in a rage."
"What does the baron believe?"
"Kelland never talked about his wife's death, but I suspect he knows the truth. Whatever it might be."
"Maybe that's why he didn't fight harder for his son," Bokham said.
I pushed myself out of the heir's throne and turned to Edgerton. "This will carry repercussions. My passing judgment in the queen's stead." Edgerton smiled, which made me think that he knew something I didn't. "All right, out with it."
The smile on Edgerton's face widened. "Out with what?"
"Whatever it is that put that grin on your face."
"Your passing judgment on the baron's son won't carry as many repercussions as what the queen plans to do next."
"Which is?"
"She's decided to make it official and hold a ceremony declaring you to be her heir."