Free Red Palace by Sarah Dalton Page B

it has left me now. I don’t know what I’m doing. What would the Nix want from the castle? Why am I the only one not asleep?”
    “Slow down, Mae. Think of what you do know—not what you don’t know—and then we can fill in the gaps as you work everything out.”
    “I know that everyone is asleep. I know the Nix is here in the castle. I know that my powers can’t break the spell, and I keep being pulled into visions. The first one showed me Cas as a little boy, hiding from his brother and afraid of his father. The next showed me Ellen who was beaten by her father. Then I met Beardsley, afraid of his own inventions. He helped me solve the brass rings on the queen’s chambers.”
    “What does all that tell you?”
    “That the visions are important. The king is bad. Beardsley made something for the king that he’s afraid of—”
    “There!” All erton claps his hands together. “That is the key. If Beardsley created something for the king that he’s afraid of, it must be important. And if it is important, it is something that the Nix might desire.”
    “So I need to find whatever it is that Beardsley has invented. But how?”
    Allerton shrugs.
    “And that means the Nix is sending me clues in my vision. Wait, no. Not necessarily. It was only in the vision with Beardsley that I received any kind of clues, at least that I’m aware of. Apart from the riddles.” I groan. “This is so frustrating.”
    “The Nix is a trickster. He likes to play God with his subjects. He wants you to question what you believe. He wants to confuse you as much as possible. It’s how he weakens his prey, by wor king at destroying your mind.”
    “Well, I won’t let it,” I say , attempting to dismiss my worries and focus on what I do know—there are secrets in the castle and if my conversation with Beardsley is correct, they lead back to the king.
    I set to work on the desk, rifling through the documents. Most are bills of some kind. There is written evidence that the king has sent a vast amount of money to Jakani, but that he owes even more.
    “Could this be to do with diamonds?” I ask Allerton. “There are rumours in every tavern in Aegunlund that the king makes illegal diamonds to sell in Jakani. They say the great Jakani mines are drying up, and the slaves are dying under the sun.”
    Allerton places his hands together like a steeple. “That would certainly fit into the money and power spectrum. The Red Palace is in di srepair and he needs his jewel exports in order to recoup costs. If there is some sort of treaty with Jakani for diamond production, perhaps that would account for the tension in Cyne.”
    “I don’t know,” I say. “It’s hardly a secret, and it doesn’t explain what Beardsley is afraid of.”
    I keep digging through the papers, uncertain as to what I will find. What I’m doing now could be seen as treason and my throat tightens at the thought of the possible consequences.
    “Wait, what’s this?” I pull a wide sheet of paper out from under the pile. On it there are diagrams, jotted numbers, and an i nvoice of some kind. “These sketches are like the mechanical spider that chased us through the castle. And below… look, here.” I push the paper under Allerton’s nose. “It’s a command to all the blacksmiths in Cyne to make these specifications.” I tut. “He’s paying these people a pittance. It’s little more than slave labour. Father earned pennies less than that trading wood at the market.”
    Allerton shakes his head. “He’s a tyrant king. But why would he be building such a large quantity of weapons? If the man is making money with the Jakanis, why would he need to create an army?”
    I read more of the paper in front of me. “This command demands complete secrecy. Anyone caught tal king about the weapons will be sentenced to death! That’s what it says here. Something strange is going on. It looks as though the king is financing weapons for an army. But why?”

Chapter