The King's chamber was a vast collection of private rooms, reception areas, and sleeping quarters. The panel I popped open delivered me to the second antechamber where the king stored his books. The opening panel knocked a bookcase, sending its contents tumbling.
I caught the small, dancing girl figurine in my right hand, and the bookcase with my leg. A few books tumbled to the floor with some alarming thuds.
I waited, listening. Nobody came. The king wasn't here.
Neither were his aides. Ellyn had delayed them a while.
I reset the bookcase, then dashed through the chambers, toward Rowan's bedroom.
The bed was always made, never disturbed. He rarely slept in it, instead he spent most nights slumped at his desk.
The main chamber door creaked open.
I spun, caught a glimpse of the king's fair locks and bulky stance, and flung myself at the daybed, sprawled and posed, as though I'd been waiting hours. He wouldn't know how my heart raced, or how I measured my breathing, keeping him from seeing how I panted.
Rowan froze in the doorway. Quite the opposite of his son, his muscular bulk would have been welcome in War's courts. He often used that substantial presence to bully others.
"Levi," he grumbled. "Do I need to call the guards?"
I dipped my chin, bowing my head. "My king, do as you please. I ask only that you hear me out."
He swept across the chamber toward the dresser and removed a decanter of potent wine, pouring himself a glass and raising it to his lips in a trembling hand. "My wife…"
"I did not kill her." Best to get the facts of the matter spoken. Now was not the time to dance around the truth.
He paused, cradling the glass in his hands. "I should have been there."
He'd get no argument from me. He should have been there for the entire four years I'd played their fool, and now he'd realized. When it was too late. He glanced away, towards the far wall, perhaps searching for the wife he'd lost.
I was supposed to be the fool, yet I found myself surrounded by them.
"Tell Justice, when they come, I did not do this," I said.
He arched an eyebrow. "Check your tone."
"My tone?" I climbed from the daybed and crossed the floor to look the King of Love in his watery, unfocused eyes. He appeared formidable, but the king was just like the rest. He'd buckle under the right kind of pressure, like a wilted wildflower. "Henrietta was desperate for a love you denied her."
"She wasn't so chaste," he scoffed and side-eyed me, making sure to level accusations with his gaze. "You met her needs well enough."
I snorted and moved closer still. "No, I did not. What she got from me was, at most, friendship. What she wanted was her husband. Last night, I didn't hurt her or fuck her. I put her to bed, intoxicated and alone, but very much alive."
Tears glistened unshed in his eyes, but they were so shallow that a blink banished them. "You're not a killer," he mumbled.
He was wrong there, but he'd only know that once it was too late. "Tell everyone, make an announcement, I'm innocent."
"My son, he said—"
"Rafe is mistaken."
Rowan tapped his fingers against his glass. "It is not so simple."
"You're the king, it is as simple as your word."
"I… If you did not kill her, who did?" he said with a whimper. "That's an answer for Justice to find. And not my problem."
He shook his head. "People want answers now. Levi, until the killer is found, you must remain in the dungeons." He lifted his drink to his lips, the matter over with.
Clearly, he'd forgotten our past, forgotten what I'd done for him, forgotten everything I knew.
I shifted closer still, so close the sweet smell of wine and his perspiration wafted around us both.
I looked into his eyes, and I saw the weakness there. Like a cancer, eating him up from the inside.
"Perhaps your precious people will also be interested to learn how the King of Love is addicted to pennywort and hasn't been able to satisfy his wife for years," I said calmly, and tucked a smile into my cheek. "In fact, the only thing he can get it up for is the serving girls, like the poor lady you had me deal with. I'm sure she'd be delighted to confirm how you fucked her into your bed, while she cried silent tears. Half your size, terrified, trapped. Now, tell me, is that how your court celebrates love?"
The glass slipped from his fingers and hit the floor, where it shattered, spilling jagged pieces of glass and wine around my boots.
"How dare you!" he growled and trembled, boiling in his pristine boots. "Get out!"
"How dare you. Lock me up, and I'll sing like a bird, Your Highness."
His mouth twitched into a snarl. "Be very careful who you threaten, Levi. This isn't one of your games. My beautiful wife is dead!"
"And finally free of you."
He reeled and stumbled backward into his dresser. "Guards!"
This man was a coward and a wretched excuse for a king. "You had better be calling them in here to declare my innocence, or Dallin help me, I will ruin your reign. The routine of your serving girls is just the beginning. I know how the royal coffers are all but empty, how you ignore War encroaching on your borders, how you turn away, too afraid to lift a finger. You are weak, and your kingdom is dying. But you can do this one right thing, one simple thing." I stepped close and adjusted his jacket, straightening it again. "Trust me when I say, you will much prefer I am your friend than your enemy."
His weeping eyes scanned my face, and sweat beaded on his brow. "This isn't you," he whispered.
Me? What did he know of me? Was he so naïve as to think my life revolved around his? He didn't know me. Nobody here knew me. Even I sometimes struggled to know the man in the mirror. "Oh, it is."
"Then you are not who I thought you to be, to use these...minor indiscretions against me."
Minor indiscretions?Those accusations were never minor, not even where I came from.
His chamber door flung open, and I recoiled from the king and the mess of the shattered glass on the floor. "Ah, perfect timing, the king has something of importance to reveal." I gestured for the three guards to listen to their liege, urged the king to speak, and waited.
The guards slowed. They looked from me to the king, confused. "Your Highness?"
"Yes, I…" Rowan hesitated. "It's true. Levi is wholly innocent of my wife's terrible departure."
Departure? As though she'd taken some time away from the palace and her delusional husband.
The king smoothed his clothes and cleared his throat. "Please, let it be known how Levi is cleared of all suspicion."
"Of course, Your Highness. Do you want us to… search for another perpetrator? Or will that be all?"
"Yes, yes. I need my aides, where are my aides? And Gideon? Bring Gideon. Gideon will know what to do." He waved them away.
The trio bowed and left, and the king's stuttering, jittery movements stilled again, his shock passing. Behind the bluster, he could be dangerous. But so was I.
"I will not forget this," he said, "nor will I forgive it."
I knelt, careful to avoid the broken glass, and took his left hand in my right. "Neither will the women you stripped of their dignity."
He yanked his hand away. "Get out, Fool. Before I retract my generosity!"
Generosity, indeed. "My pleasure."
I left his chamber as free as I'd ever been in Love's Court, but now the cracks had begun to widen.
And soon, the whole palace would shatter at my feet. Just like the king's glass.