Page 48 of Apple Boy

“The contract states that once the shipment leaves Osian waters all responsibility for the cargo lies with Serein and should the ship be attacked by pirates, lost or wrecked Serein owes the full cost of the gold to Osia.”

“So whether or not the ship arrives in port we still owe the kings their coin?” Mahon Darkemore stated furiously.

“How much coin are we talking about here? How much was to be minted from the weight of gold in that shipment?” Bowe Copperstone enquired.

“We estimated ten thousand Empire Gold’s” Mr. Percheval chipped in.

“But, we cannot pay that! We don’t have that amount to spare. Reimbursing the Kings would bankrupt our city!” Featherwin Rainster exclaimed.

“They have us by the throats!” Gilda Crowport scowled.

“Only if the ship is not located—maybe it can still be found?” Amber Silverrich suggested hopefully, but her words fell on deaf ears. The doom-laden picture the councilors were painting was all too clear.

“We don’t even know if those boxes contained one ounce of gold, there is no way we are repaying Osia,” Darkemore repeated insistently. Madame De Belamine’s hand rose again and snatched at the air. At once all councilors stopped talking and returned to their seats. The air fizzed with rage, anxiety, and magic.

Madame De Belamine looked directly at my uncle and me. “What you have shared with us today is indeed grave news. I have much to discuss with my councilors in private. Therefore, I suggest we adjourn any further talk on this issue until the morrow. We will assemble again at the noon bell.”

With that Madame De Belamine rose, and without question the other councilors mirrored her. I watched in reverence as the seven councilors returned through the door to their back chamber. The scribe hastily gathered a tall stack of papers and scurried after them.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-SEVEN

RESPITE

It was not yet the tenth bell. We sat silent and ill at ease in the back of the carriage. Hearing that the old council chairman, Karsen Augustin signed a shipping agreement for the Osian gold just before he was assassinated and that the terms were heavily in Osia’s favor was a shock to all parties. It seemed that the plot to reassert the Crown’s dominance over Serein was far more complicated than any of the councilors had expected.

It seemed that old King Emmerich’s twin sons’ inherited his obsession with Serein and had concocted a long-held plan to bleed the city dry.

The carriage juddered as it rolled through the streets of the Dells district, shaking me from my thoughts. My uncle kept his own counsel, his hands clasped over his rotund belly, eyes closed, and lips pursed in a scowl. Adam preferred to look aimlessly out of the window at the city passing by rather than attempt conversation. I tried to behave as if everything was fine, and yet it was not. There were so many threads to the puzzle of the Trojan Star and the king’s plan for its cargo. But, whether the ship miraculously arrived in port or not, one thing was abundantly clear. Serein was now indebted to Osia for a staggering ten-thousand Empire Gold coins.

As we neared Copperdall House, my heart skipped in trepidation, aching to be reunited with my Star-fall. I was foolish for leaving such a precious gem hidden in a house I was not yet familiar with, and with staff and possibly other guests I did not know of noseying around.

As we alighted from the carriage, my first imperative was to rush up to our chamber and retrieve the gemstone from its hiding place. It was ridiculous, but I’d become rather attached to it and felt peculiar at the meeting without its comforting weight in my pocket.

Ivon blustered through to the reception hall bellowing for his valet Jaxon to attend to him. Adam and I made our way up the curvaceous marble and copper staircase and along the lamp-lit corridors with the twinkling gazes of the long-dead people in the portraits admonishing me all the way to the peacock suite for my stupidity in leaving the gemstone behind.

On opening the chamber door, I could see at once that a maid had worked her own kind of magic upon the room. “Shut the door,” I called urgently to Adam. I strode purposefully across the lounge, removing my cloak and tossing it onto a chair. I passed into the bedroom and immediately noticed that the linens had been changed—removing the telling evidence of our lovemaking. Our bed sheets would no doubt be the subject of much kitchen maid gossip! The bed was remade with crisp, freshly laundered sheets, the pillows puffed up and a sprig of fresh lavender placed on each. The windows in the chamber were open, permitting a bracing chilly breeze from the Wide Sea to rush in to air the room.

Our bathing room was also tidy and replenished with drying cloths, oils, and robes. Looking around the room, I saw that our meager belongings were tidied away into drawers and wardrobes so that the peacock suite looked, for all intents and purposes, as though not a soul had slept there the previous night. I wondered if the maid had discovered my bulging coin purses—and what of my Star-fall? A dart of anxiety chilled my blood. I stormed straight for the bookcase.

“What’s the rush?” Adam called as he swaggered into our bedchamber and removed his cloak, tossing it on the chair beside my own. A few hours had passed, but it felt like a lifetime since I’d hidden the stone. I stood with my hands on my hips staring at the bookcase as I frantically tried to recall which of the hefty tomes I had hidden the emerald neckerchief behind. It was concealed during the early morn when I was tired, and my mind distracted. I thought it was behind a religious text, thick, with a faded burgundy spine and gilded letters impressed upon it. I was sure that the book was on the lowest shelf, but no, I could not see it. My breathing faltered as I thought of the consequences of mislaying what could be the only Star-fall that was not in the clutches of the twin kings.

My head spun from lack of food, and my thoughts sped forward to the worst case scenario—maybe, one of the stagecoach passengers remembered that Adam and I used sorcery to end Fitzwarrin—that they had informed the kings guard and we were followed by an agent of the crowns who was sent to retrieve the precious Star-fall. I obsessed about the strange noises I’d heard which I believed to be from other guests secreted in the huge house, but Mr. Eliot assured me that no one but Uncle, Adam and I resided here. So were the noises I believed were guests made by a thief working for the Crowns who gained access to our room and stole my magical gemstone when we left for our meeting?

My heart thumped a dull, distant rhythm as if it had been removed and housed in a box in another room. Sweat poured down my face as I was overcome with anxiety.

“God’s Winter! What ails you?”

“Must. Find. The. book.” I ground the words out as my vision swam. I fell to my knees in front of the bookcase and began to drag large dusty tomes from the lower shelf, letting the expensive books drop carelessly to litter the floor. When I had cleared that shelf and found nothing except dust and a few dead moths I expelled a violent curse! I tried the next shelf, my mind racing as I beat myself up for such foolishness. I should never have let such a precious gem out of my sight.

“Here, let me help,” Adam offered. I was sure he thought I’d been touched by madness, for I had not explained why I was removing books from the shelves in such a crazed manner. It warmed me that he would help me no matter. Adam reached out and pulled out a thick book from the shelf, he then gasped in surprise and pushed his hand into the space left by the book and drew out the emerald green neckerchief.

“This what you’re looking for?” Adam snickered, replacing the book into the gap. He appeared rather pleased with himself. “Isn’t this the neckerchief Ma gave you?”

“Oh, Gods!” I saw what he held, and relief flooded my veins like a cooling draught on a stifling day. I stood, and instinctively I reached out and clasped Adam’s face in my hands, then I drew him in to steal a passionate, thankful kiss. Adam flinched with surprise at my ardor but surrendered without a fight. When we pulled apart, he took hold of my right hand and stuffed the fabric into it.

“I had no idea ye liked that neckerchief so much. If you’ve lost anything else, do tell, I’ll be more than happy to go look if that’s my reward!” He chuckled. I unwrapped the bundle to let the Star-fall drop into my hand. The relief I felt at that warm, magical gemstone touching my skin was palpable.