Alabaster Cities (Kings and Thieves Book #2)

Chapter 34

**I think I'm going to keep posting on Mondays and Fridays, FYI :) **

Chapter 34

"Lady Belthrop is dead," Eli said by way of greeting as he boarded the ship the next afternoon, his forehead disturbed with lines of thought.

Ari wiped his forehead and sat back on his heels. He'd been helping Inez all morning to prepare the ship for their departure to the Capital.
"What?"

"She died." Eli idly toed a broom that had been left out on the floor, his chin down. "This morning. Of 'natural causes', they say."

Lyla, who was sitting with one of the children, gasped.
"Shit."

"Shit, indeed." Ari wearily rose to his feet. "Then they must know."

"Apparently not," Eli replied. "Dana reminded me that our journey to the Capital is happening as scheduled."

Jamie cocked her head. "What about Guernot?"

"Still gone."

Lord Guernot seemed to have disappeared after his altercation with Ari in the palace corridor. Ari thought he'd frightened him enough that Guernot would stay away permanently, but he also knew better than to keep his hopes up.

"Did they kill her?!" Lyla's voice rose. "Lady Belthrop?"

Ari said nothing. Disturbing images flashed through his mind of the elderly Duchess writhing in her bed as one of her guards suffocated her with a pillow. He wanted to say that, perhaps, she had died of old age and the strain of Verignes's crimes on her conscience. But then he remembered Lady Belthrop, a weighty sorrow in her voice as she told them that she was a traitor and didn't expect to last.

"Are we sure we still want to go to the Capital?" Jamie sounded skeptical.

"Of course we are," said Lyla. "We owe the Duchess that much."

"With the dangerous information we know, then we could very well be walking into a trap."

"No," said Ari. "The King wouldn't dare kill us; we were sent by the Queen of Apreuna. Who is Lyla's aunt, by the way, if anyone has forgotten."

"Ari's right," Lyla agreed. "Tristran and Ben consider Ari and Aveline to be friends; the crew is under royal protection. And, if Prince Oliver really does step down from the throne, then Jamie is sister to one of the future kings." Which would probably make her a princess, Ari belatedly realized. "It would provoke war."

"Verignes wouldn't go to war just to protect a secret," said Jamie quietly, "would they?"

"I doubt it," said Ari. "In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this little journey to the Capital is just so the king can convince us to keep quiet. I imagine we'll be living in luxury for the next few days."

"Great," Eli groaned. "What a comfort to know that I'll be dying in style."

"We're not dying, Eli. But we do need to stay on our best behavior," Lyla said pointedly, looking at Ari.

Ari glanced at Aveline whose head was down as she tied the knot of a mast, her hair shielding her expression in messy waves.
"Why are you looking at me?" He said wryly. "Aveline's the ill-tempered one."

Aveline's chin jerked up, eyes flashing, and she opened her mouth as if to retort.

Ari waited with bated breath. Mock me. Laugh at me. Anything.

But the spark of anger died quickly. She pressed her mouth shut, shook her head. Turned away. Ari swallowed and stared at his hands.

"Aveline's far too sweet to ever be in a bad temper," Eli chided. He stretched out on the floor beside Aveline, who pulled his head into her lap.