Page 23 of Lady's Steed
Had her mother? When she’d told Avera to visit, she’d not gone into much detail. What secrets hid there that were required for Avera to rule? And was it terrible of Avera that she’d prefer toleave on a pilgrimage rather than deal with the funerals and her new role?
Gustav stood guard by the door while she browsed the texts, only to learn almost nothing. The spire was cold. She already knew that. Dangerous. Again, common knowledge. The one passage she found interesting was from a man who’d claimed he’d managed to climb a hundred feet only to turn back because he heard singing. It seemed improbable since no one could live there.
Before the lunch hour, a knock on the library door had Gustav exiting for a moment. He returned to growl, “Benoit has fled the city.”
That arched her brow. “Fled where?”
“To his family’s country estate. Apparently, overwrought with grief, he chose to not remain for the funeral and took himself off where he could mourn in private.”
“Plausible,” Avera remarked.
“That man didn’t shed a single tear as your mother lay dying. Nor did Calixte want him anywhere near her. Hadn’t in months.”
“Oh?” This was unexpected news. “Why not? I got the impression they were enamored of each other.”
“In the beginning they were, but something between them changed. The last few months she barred her room at night and refused his visits. In public, they played the role of loving couple, but in private, they didn’t talk.”
“No idea why the change?”
“She never said. I assumed she must have caught him philandering.”
Her mother’s pride wouldn’t have stood for that. Despite being in her sixties, she’d matured very well and looked at least a decade younger than others her age. Benoit, however, had been much younger. Many had wondered at his choice to marrysomeone past childbearing age given he had no heirs from his late wife.
“Should we have him fetched?”
“That’s up to you, my queen.”
Her first big decision. It seemed unlikely Benoit would have plotted against his own position. Only the queen had ranked higher than him. “Leave him for now. We know where he is, and given I’m supposed to do a tour of the continent after the funeral, it’s easy enough to pay him a visit en route.”
Gustav’s lips curved, transforming his grizzled visage. “Excellent thinking. Although…” His smile faded. “A journey will expose you to danger.”
“So does sleeping, apparently. If it helps, we can ensure no one knows of our travel plans. After all, assassins can only attack if they know where I’m going to be.”
“There is only one main road the carriage can follow. I’m afraid you’ll be quite easy to locate.”
“Who says we’re sticking to the road? Or have you forgotten I’m a most excellent rider?”
“You want to go cross country?” Gustav didn’t hide his shock.
“I hate carriages. Stuffy contraptions. They make me quite queasy and take forever to get places. Besides, Luna would be most upset if I didn’t take her.” The steed being the best present her mother ever gifted her. Avera had never been more shocked than when on her twenty-first birthing day she’d received a note from her mother saying she had a surprise waiting in the stable.
Gustav didn’t argue. “You do have a point and Luna is a fine mare. Your brother had a fit when he found out your mother had her imported specifically for you. Cost her a fortune to get Aldrich his own stallion so he’d stop whining.”
She remembered Fleet, a gorgeous horse with a sleek black coat. Dead because the First Prince rode it drunk during a heavy fog where Fleet broke his leg bad enough he had to be put down.
“Given I’ll be riding on horseback, we’ll travel light.”
“What of your clothing and retinue?”
She laughed. “I don’t need help getting dressed. As for clothes, a riding habit, and a gown for greeting.”
“A single gown?” He sounded skeptical.
“Two, if I can squeeze it. And before you tell me that’s not how things are done, I am queen now, so I’m the one who decides what is and isn’t acceptable. I will say right now, lugging a wagon full of trunks so I can change outfits numerous times a day is dumb.”
His lips twitched. “Your reign will be interesting, my queen.”
And hopefully long-lived.