Page 143 of The Ragpicker King
And wondered immediately how he could ever, earlier, have mistaken Jolivet for Conor. Even Conor’s pace was familiar to him. He would have known it anywhere.If I were dead and buried and those feet walked over my grave, I would know those footsteps.
Kel put his back to the wall, slid slowly down it. He was sitting on the floor by the time Conor appeared in front of the bars. There was hardly enough moonlight for Kel to see him clearly, but it did not matter. It was Conor.
Conor regarded him silently. Kel was not sure how long he had been in the Trick now—three days? It was the longest he had gone in fifteen years without seeing Conor Aurelian. Though surely thatwas not enough time for Conor to have changed in any real particular way. Still, there seemed something different about him—about the set of his mouth, his eyes. In some way he had not before, Kel thought, he resembled Lilibet.
Like her, his outward appearance was perfectly polished. High black boots, a silk tunic and a velvet cloak with a rose clasp at the front. His winged silver circlet holding back his dark hair. A folded pair of dove-colored gloves held carelessly in one hand. But there was a wariness to him, a tension, that was new. He had never been wary around Kel before.
“I knew you’d come,” Kel said.
“Why so sure?” Conor’s tone was light, emotionless. But that meant nothing, Kel told himself. Conor had been trained for years to use his face, his voice, as tools of diplomacy. To show nothing he did not want shown.
“Because I do not think you can trust Falconet so much as all that. Because I think you must see the holes in the web of lies that he is spinning for you. Because youknow better,Con.”
“Oh, but I don’t.” Conor leaned his back against the bars of the cell opposite Kel’s. “I have learned not to trust my instincts. They seem usually to be wrong.”
Kel wanted to kick the wall. “You cannot honestly think I betrayed you for money—”
“Of course not.” The words came out as a pained hiss. “The betrayal itself matters more than the reason, don’t you see that? And can’t you understand, I don’t want to believe it? But I cannot let myself be someone who ignores what is right in front of him.”
“What is right in front of you is that Jolivet is lying. So is Falconet—”
“Iseveryonein Castellane lying, then?” Conor began to pace up and down in front of the cell. “At the meeting in the Dial Chamber, when we had gathered to discuss the Gremont and Cabrol Charters, Falconet surprised us all by announcing that he had proof of treason. Ofyourtreason. He warned of your secret alliance with theRagpicker King. Of your plans to betray Castellane by helping the Princess of Kutani reunite with her lover—”
“Conor—”
“He broughtdozensof witnesses.” Conor’s voice rose. “Benaset got up to say that you have been creeping in and out of the Palace at all times and going to the Black Mansion. Falconet had Castelguards follow you, you know. Then there was the tavern-keeper from Little Kutani who says that you met there with the Ragpicker King, and brought Anjelica with you. And there were more. Are you really saying that Falconet convinced a dozen Castellani citizens to claim falsely that they have seen you in Scarlet Square?”
Kel tried to picture the scene, tried to picture Conor defending him as Falconet paraded before him one piece of evidence after another. Falconet was clever—clever enough to turn truths and half-truths into damning lies—and who knew how long he had been planning this?
And not just him. He was hardly acting alone.
Kel said, “So you believed all forty or so of these people over me?”
“My old friend Falconet and fifty witnesses and the captain of my guard, you mean?” The ghost of a smile flickered across Conor’s face. “Don’t, Kel. Don’t joke about this.”
“They really are lying, Con,” Kel said, his voice low.
Conor’s gray eyes glittered. “It’s almost ironic,” he said. “You wanted me to be better, a better ruler, and I decided I would be, partly because you wanted it so much. And the person I used to be would forgive you, because he was never interested in being much of a leader. But I cannot forgive you fortreason,Kel.”
“It was never treason,” Kel whispered. “I would never break my oath as a Sword Catcher. You know that, too.” Kel met Conor’s gaze through the gloom. “Iwasmeeting with the Ragpicker King. I was workingwithhim, notforhim—”
Conor made a disgusted noise. “Even if that were true, you’readmitting you kept so much from me, Kel. Has every word out of your mouth for the past months been a lie? When did it start?”
“I was trying to protect you,” Kel said. “I went to the Ragpicker King because Jolivet requested it—”
“He denies that.”
“Because he thinks I’m compromised, useless to you now. He’s cutting his losses—but he wanted the Shining Gallery murders investigated. You know he did. And the Ragpicker King knows everything that happens in Castellane. Jolivet thought if I worked with him—”
“So you just went to the Black Mansion and offered your services?” Conor said acidly. “And the Ragpicker King, out of an excess of civic duty, wanted to help the Palace? And asked nothing from you in exchange?”
“Something like that,” Kel muttered. “There is more to the story of the King on the Hill and the King in the City than you know.”
“But you know it, I suppose. And have kept it from me.” Conor stared at Kel as if he were a stranger. “Don’t you understand? You have lied to me and lied to me and lied to me and you do not evendenyit. You say you did it for my own good, but youdid it.And Falconet has proved it to the Hill, to every family; he has made it impossible for me to forgive you. Even if I believed you, I could not forgive you.”
“Because of how it would look?” Kel said bitterly. “To these people who are conspiring against you? Working with Malgasi to bring down the House of Aurelian?”
“Because I cannotaffordto believe you, Kel. I know that my trust in you is a weakness—has always been a weakness that could be exploited.” Kel stared; Conor had never said anything like this to him before. How long had he thought it? “In these past months, I have known something was wrong between us. Your secrecy, your silence, your lies—and I knew they were lies. I told myself you hadfound a girl or a boy in the city, someone you were keeping secret. I did not want to face the truth. I don’t want to face it now. But it is my duty. I cannot afford the comfort of lies.”
