The Princess Who Tamed Demons (9 page)

"I…I can't stay long." As the words escaped my
lips I was already regretting them. The truth was I had nowhere to
be right now—at least if you didn't count the irate, hyper-anxious
husband who would be scouring every inch of the palace when he
discovered that I was no longer in our bed chamber.
That
,
however, could wait.

"Perhaps you can, perhaps you cannot. Drink
some tea. It will give you clarity." Linn waved me over, and I
reluctantly took a seat. When I sat across from him he slid two
piles of books out of the way, pushing them just far enough that we
could peer face to face between the columns of tomes.

"Do you mind if I ask you an indelicate
question?" In reply Linn's eyes sparkled at me. Was that
amusement?

"Those are sometimes the best kind," he said,
rubbing his hands together. "Go ahead, but if I dislike it you may
not get another."

"Where are you from? I have never seen anyone
like you."

Linn laughed, a dry chuckle that reminded me
of reeds pushed together gently in the wind.

"Yes, I expect not, girl from the Black
Kingdom. Like most people here, you think that Arkor covers the
whole world. It does not. I am from north and west of this place,
if you crossed the dead lands. My people build great cities just as
yours do, and they squabble considerably less. What you call
libraries here we would hardly dignify with the name 'collection.'
Bah." Linn lapsed into irritable silence, then shook his head as if
to recover his bearings. "Forgive me. I am still resentful
sometimes about where life has taken me, after being forced from my
home."

"I will not ask why, in that case, if it would
cause you pain."

Linn wagged a finger at me. "Smart girl.
Considerate. I like that in a woman. Good trait in a man too." He
took a savory sip from his teacup, his hands cradling it like a
little treasure.

"Well? You like?"

I inhaled the deep, rich scent of the tea
leaves, hints of citrus tickling my nose, and then brought the cup
cautiously to my lips. The liquid heat poured down my throat,
reviving me as its pleasant warmth settled in my belly.

"It
is
wonderful. Thank you. You have
been so kind to me and I hardly know more than your name." So much
for being careful who I accepted drinks from. Somehow this man had
me lowering my guard. Part of me prickled in alarm, yet the greater
part of me told the more skeptical me to just shove it. The heady
aroma swirling up from the tea continued to disarm me.

"Did you happen upon my library by design or
by dumb luck?"

"Dumb luck," I admitted.

Linn chuckled. "Honesty. Also a good trait.
Since we are being honest, Najika, I must confess that I am glad
you are here."

My eyes narrowed. "But you don't even know
me."

The librarian shrugged, his brown robes
shifting. "I know enough. Secrets don't keep easily, not in a
household of this size, with so many servants and
staff."

"Fair enough, but where do I come in?" I had a
sinking feeling that I knew exactly where.

"I heard about the attempt on your life." He
stood and refilled my cup. I relished the mind-calming scent as I
brought it back to my lips.

"You and everyone else in the Gold Kingdom," I
said sourly. But Linn's bulbous eyes narrowed, piercing me with a
calculating stare.

"And yet I know something which others do not.
Whether chance brought you here or not, I have information that you
might find useful. Something that might shed light on your
near-assassination in a whole new way."

My fingers trembled as I set down my
teacup.

"How would you know such things? Even if you
did, why would you tell me?"

His gaze never wavered. "Because I am a
scholar, and scholars value
truth
, Najika. Even when truth
is inconvenient. Particularly then." He huffed. "As for how I
know…." He gestured at the collection all around us, separate
worlds locked into lovingly bound tomes or carefully tied-up
scrolls. "All records arrive for safekeeping eventually, many as an
afterthought—and
some
reveal secrets hiding in plain
sight."

I leaned forward, shoving the heaps of books
farther apart so I could clearly see Linn's entire
profile.

"And?"

Linn reached under the table, fishing out a
roll of parchment and handing it to me.

"What is this?"

Linn's gaze strayed to the
parchment.

"Potent evidence that the Red Queen and the
Vizier were
not
the ones responsible for the attempt on your
life."

"That can't be true." If it were, then there
was a murderer unaccounted for. One who still very much wanted me
dead.

Linn's chin jerked at the document now held
between my fingers, and they were trembling.

"Read it, and come to your own conclusions. If
you come to the same conclusion I did…." His thumbs made deliberate
circles along the sides of his teacup, his gaze lost in the
steaming liquid. "If you come to the same conclusion I did, Najika
of the Black Kingdom, then I have a proposal for you."

I began to read, and what I discovered made
the blood in my veins succumb to an iciness that no tea could
thaw.

~*****~

Chapter 6

Day Five - Part 2

I unrolled the parchment Linn had given me,
lobbing him one more skeptical look before focusing my eyes to ink,
and this is what I saw:

Fasima, loveliest of all that is
lovely, thief and imprisoner of my heart,

I miss you very much. Soon I will visit the
village and bring gifts for you and the children. Has Ankhar
stopped fighting with his sister? The answer best be a sincere
yes
or I will be returning back to Tajma with one gift
unopened.

I am glad that you and the
children are doing well, away from the city, even if Tajma's
splendor does sometimes create the ache of the poet in me. Though I
know you and the children might enjoy the hustle and bustle of
Tajma's markets, especially now with some of the exotic goods we
are receiving from the Black Kingdom, I am glad that you can enjoy
the greater freedom by living in the village. Continue to teach
Mhirra and Ankhar by our hearth, so that our daughter and son will
know that the Tajmari way is not the only way.

As I write this to you my nerves
spark and sleep will not come. The Knight of the Black Kingdom and
his formidable lady, Queen Najika, arrived in Tajma yesterday to
discuss strengthening ties between our two Kingdoms. If you could
but see Najika, I think you would be so encouraged. There are other
Kingdoms where women do not walk veiled in the shadows. This Najika
is a strong woman, and I look forward to getting to know her,
although I have no doubt that Queen Caerra will try to monopolize
her time.

I must go now. The urgent knock on
the door will wait for no man, even a Vizier.

My love, more intense than the
fragrance of a thousand carnations, go with you and keep you
safe.

-Baalil al-Sham

I rolled the parchment back up and retied its
ribbon, staring into nothingness and trying to process what I'd
just read.

"This letter…you are certain it was written by
the Vizier? Vizier al-Sham?" My tone hinted that I didn't want to
believe a word of it.

But Linn nodded, his whiskers temporarily
hidden by the rise of his teacup as he took a deep gulp. "Yes. I
have catalogued many of the Vizier's records and I can firmly
attest—the unsent letter in your hands is no forgery."

"That's not possible." I clenched both hands
on the table. With only books and the precious tea set in reach
there was nothing I could safely smash.

"Yet it is the truth, and I can see it
troubles you as much as it does me."

"But he was found guilty!" My face was hot,
and I made a pointed effort to refocus my energy on something more
productive than denial. "If this letter is true, then Vizier
al-Sham…." I was at a loss for words. Had the Great Amir hung an
innocent man's head above the city gates?

"I know what you are thinking. This letter
does not read like the thoughts of a man who was planning to have
you killed. Quite the opposite."

I frowned, my hands clinging to the sides of
my teacup, soaking up the heat as if to ward away the chill that
seeped through my bones.

"It doesn't make sense though. Why would he
not attempt to show this letter as proof of his innocence? Why
would he accept the death sentence and make a false confession,
even providing a false motive? This doesn't add up."

Linn's shrewd eyes met mine. "No, it does not,
Lady Najika. Something else is at work here.
Someone
else."
He stood up to pour us each a fresh helping of tea, the
lemon-orange scent combining with the mustiness of the books to
soothe me in its own odd way.

"As a man cloaked in solitude more days than
not, I have found ways to occupy and sharpen my mind. Mysteries,
whether great or small, intrigue me. Seldom can I pass one up,
especially one as ripe as the one before us. I have one more theory
to lay out to you, though I admit that it has its holes and I have
no solid evidence for it…yet."

I crossed my arms and sat back, unsure how
this could possibly get worse. "Go on."

"I find it hard to believe that the Red Queen
was responsible for your assassination attempt."

My hands smacked the table hard, and I leaned
forward, face flush as if I might open my mouth like an enraged
dragon and breathe fire to engulf the tea set, the books, and the
librarian.

"She's wanted me dead ever since I killed her
abusive son in self-defense, and believe me, she hasn't wasted an
opportunity. The woman nurses her grudge against me with roots
deeper than the gorgul tree. Trust me on this."

Linn seemed annoyed at my outburst, waving his
hand dismissively. "You are known for your brains and not just your
strength, Lady Najika. Have your wits take charge of your feelings
for a moment. Think about this. If I were the Red Queen and I
wanted you dead, would I openly stay in the same city as my target
in a
well-known
location, at one of the largest inns? Queen
Agwen was found without difficulty by the Tajmari Guard and
arrested. What does that tell you?"

I sighed, furious at the implication of Linn's
words. "That she was caught off guard. What of it? She was
over-confident that her plot would succeed against me, and when it
failed, she suffered the consequences. End of story. I fail to see
what you're getting at. Kingdoms help us, we
know
she was
part of it. Drake told me some of her vile intentions almost word
for word."

"Words that you only know second-hand from
Vizier al-Sham's confession, which we now know may have been
fabricated."

I squeezed my teacup tight. I wanted to hurl
it at the librarian just to see the fragments of ceramic and
splashing tea cover and soak the front of his damned
robe.

Linn threw me a noncommittal grunt, propping
his fingers together as he leaned back in his chair, deep in
thought. "Hmm."

"What? Don't 'Hmm' me. I hate it when people
do that."

The librarian's wizened face didn't smile—he
didn't appear capable of it—but his eyes did carry the mirth to
match a budding smirk.

"This is what makes this case so interesting.
The Red Queen is no idiot. Whoever has played her could very
possibly be the same person who manipulated the Vizier."

"If it even is a single person," I admitted
glumly. "The Verse-preachers…what do you call them?—the ossaqas.
They have no great love for women wielding influence. Their motive
for seeing me dead probably has some legs to it, and their love for
foreigners isn't exactly the stuff of songs. I can think of at
least one ossaqa who might find rapture in seeing me dead and the
Red Queen executed, all in one fell swoop." My shoulders slumped as
I thought of Ghayth, the intense, xenophobic Verse-preacher I had
met at the reception dinner in the palace.

The librarian looked at me proudly, like a
father seeing that his daughter had just unlocked a
puzzle.

"What? Why are you looking at me like
that?"

Linn cocked his head, putting down his teacup
and clapping his hands together.

"It is as I hoped."

"Excuse me?"

"You have a mind for this sort of thing. Your
intelligence it not limited to battle tactics, or to simple wit.
You have the mind of a detecting, discerning woman. Together we can
sift truth from the secrets and lies to find out what really
happened. What do you say to my proposal, Najika of the Black
Kingdom?"

I put a hand over my chest.

"Me? What? You would have us work on this like
a team of investigators?"

The whiskered man stood up and proceeded to
scan a line of books along a nearby shelf bordered by wyvern-carved
bookends.

"Just so, yes. We both gain something from
it."