Honest

Chapter Three

Valka was displeased. Honest could tell, because whenever Valka was displeased she looked like an angry, drowned rat. Well, she looked like that, regardless – her face was tapered and a pasty gray-white, and her eyes seemed almost feral at times. But she especially looked like that now.

"Your Highness," she began, "I simply don't have any available men."

Honest gritted her teeth. "Why not?"

Valka rubbed a skeletal hand across her forehead. "All of them are set to guard the ball." She looked at Honest pointedly. "Your ball."

Honest fought the urge to throw the clock on Valka's desk at her. "I'm sure you can spare one."

"I'm afraid I cannot." Valka thrummed her fingers on the table. "Emmerich has called for every available guard to patrol the castle. We can't have a repeat of what happened to your unfortunate nurse, see."

Honest almost flinched. But no – she would not give Valka that satisfaction. She stood up, the chair falling to the ground behind her, and hissed, "If the Queen didn't care for you, I'd have had you fired a decade ago."

"Well," said Valka, "fortunately for me the Queen does care."

*

Honest watched as Emer slammed her wooden sword into the sire's stomach. He cried out, and stumbled to the floor, his back twisting. Quickly, almost instinctively, Emer slammed a foot into the middle of his back.

Her garrison applauded and she pulled back. She grinned and wiped the sweat off of her face with a towel that Talon brought her.

Honest waited until after she had kissed Talon before stepping forward. She ignored the garrison's bows, and Talon's cheerful 'how're you,' and nodded toward Emer. "Are you busy?"

Emer looked at Talon, then looked at Honest, and then back at Talon before sighing. "I was," she told Honest. She turned around and pressed a kiss on Talon's cheek. "I'll see you at dinner," she told him.

Honest didn't bother to roll her eyes. She had gotten used to how affectionate they were two years ago, when Emer had first told her about 'the slightly attractive guard with green eyes.' All things considered, Talon wasn't that bad, even if he did sometimes show up to formal dinners in his dirty, sweat-stained training clothes.

"Where are we going?" Emer asked.

"The Orchards," said Honest. "I need to think."

"You know," Emer said, grinning and sidestepping a harried maid carrying a pile of linens, "most people can do that by themselves."

Honest told her to shut up, and then said, "I visited Valka today."

And then, on the way to the apple orchards, she told Emer about the stab marks she remembered seeing on Bertha's body and about Valka's refusal to let any of her guards investigate.

"She's hiding something." Honest stepped underneath their favorite apple tree. "I know it."

Emer tilted her head, contemplating it, and said, "Maybe. She always seemed like a rat to me." She laughed when Honest nodded. "But still. I don't think she's the one that. You know."

Honest exhaled. "You don't...you don't know that."

"She doesn't have a motive." Emer's words were reasonable, which also made them unbearable. "If anything, I'd say a servant with a grudge did it."

"That would be a great answer if not for the fact that no servant has a grudge on her."

"There's a lot of servants in this castle, Honest."

"I know," Honest snapped. "I spent all week interrogating each one." That, and spying on them. No one had even mentioned Bertha's name. "And besides – even if some do have a grudge, it doesn't make sense for them to kill her." Her voice cracked on the word "kill".

"Honest –"

Honest continued, ignoring the look on Emer's face. "I have a grudge with Valka, but she's not dead in the forest. You had a grudge on your stupid sword instructor and he's still alive. There's...There's something more to this."

Emer tapped a finger on Honest's shoulder. Her way of telling Honest to calm down. "Listen, maybe you're right. Maybe you're not: maybe it was just a drunk accident. Who knows?"

"I need to know." Honest's hands clenched into fists. "I need to know who killed her and then I need to –"

Emer slid back against the tree. Her hair was a wild mess of orange curls, and her freckles almost glowed underneath the refracted sunlight. "You want revenge."

Honest did not deny it. Could not deny it, because it was true. Partially true. "If it was me," said Honest, voice hoarse, "or Talon, or even your great-aunt Genevieve, underneath that tree, Emer –"

"I'd do the same thing." This was what Honest loved the most about Emer: she never lied, even when the truth was ugly. "Well. What do you want to do, Honest?"

Honest rubbed her eyes. Emer handed her a fallen apple, and she bit into it, suddenly ravenous. The juice trickled down her chin, but she didn't bother wiping it away. For a brief second it almost felt like she was a child again, lying down in the grass underneath this tree, munching on slightly spoiled fruit, and hiding from her sententious tutors. And then, that too passed.

"I need someone else to investigate," said Honest. "Someone not associated with the castle." She bit the inside of her cheek. "Someone who...who Valka won't know."

A/N:

This is pretty short filler chapter; the chapters after the next one will be longer.