Chapter 500: A Secret Well Kept

Chapter 499: A Secret Well Kept

Lyria’s POV

I stared at Lucian, a frown slowly forming between my brows.

A coup?

"W-when did this o-occur?" I asked.

Lucian regarded me a moment, appearing to consider the question before he answered.

"I believe it was twenty-eight years ago."

He turned towards Duke Valenridge, who had remained quiet for some while.

"Twenty-eight years, was it not?"

The Duke inclined his head.

"Indeed. Twenty-eight years."

Lucian returned his attention to me.

"Those who were party to the coup are, for the most part, either dead, or afflicted by such circumstances as they may never recover from."

"Every last one of them is either dead or as good as dead," Duke Thorncrest said, with less delicacy. There was a peculiar bitterness in his voice, as though he had long since grown weary of the subject. "And those whom they sought to remove from the throne remain precisely where they were, governing as they please to this very day."

I looked from one gentleman to the other.

"And n-no one has s-spoken of it s-since?" I asked. "For if it is as you s-say, then surely there ought to be c-conversation upon it, if only in whispers."

A faint, humourless smile touched Lucian’s mouth.

"To speak of it is treason, Your Highness. Any person discovered discussing the coup, its participants, or the circumstances surrounding it, may be punished without delay. It is hardly surprising that people have learnt to keep their tongues behind their teeth."

He spoke without raising his voice, yet the words seemed to settle heavily upon us, like dust upon a coffin lid.

Treason.

How convenient a word it was, when placed in the hands of those who possessed the authority to define it.

A person might be condemned for questioning the Crown, whilst those who abused their station, ruined families, and permitted the suffering of children continued to enjoy the privileges of their birth. One need not be particularly learned to perceive the absurdity of such an arrangement.

And yet I had lived beneath its protection, or, more accurately, beneath its shadow, without understanding how far it extended.

For a while, I said nothing.

I had never heard of the coup. Not once. Neither in the lessons I had received from Patricia and Baron Redwick, nor in the conversations I had overheard, had any person so much as hinted at it. I understood now why such knowledge might be concealed, but that understanding brought me little comfort. It left me wondering how much else had been withheld.

What other truths had been buried beneath respectable accounts of the Crown’s reign? And how many of the things I had accepted as the natural order of our kingdom had, in truth, been carefully arranged to preserve the interests of those who ruled it?

My gaze drifted to the parchment still resting in my hands.

A thought stirred, faint at first, then sharp enough to make me lift my head.

"T-the Crown is a-aware of all this, are they n-not?" I asked.

Duke Thorncrest gave me a look that suggested I had enquired whether the sun rose in the east.

"Your Highness, they are the ones responsible for it."

"That is n-not what I m-meant," I replied. "I mean Gallowshill. This t-town. It is a place where s-secrets are kept, is it n-not? A place where p-people are sent when their existence b-becomes inconvenient to those w-with sufficient influence to d-dispose of them. And yet I was s-sent here."

I looked between the three gentlemen.

"The C-Crown entrusted me with the task of improving the t-town’s condition after the storm. If Gallowshill is meant to remain a well-kept s-secret, did they not consider that I m-might discover what lies beneath its surface? Did they truly suppose I should come h-here, attend to its inhabitants, and n-never wonder why the place has been p-permitted to fall into such a s-state?"

For a moment, none of them answered.

It was Duke Valenridge who eventually spoke.

"No. I can assure you, Your Highness, they did not anticipate that you would discover very much."

He turned a small stone over in his fingers, and the lantern light slid along its wet surface.

"Gallowshill has long been regarded as a place hostile to the nobility. Its inhabitants have little reason to welcome those of our station, and the Crown is well aware of the fact. They likely assumed you would encounter sufficient resistance from the townspeople to hinder your labours, let alone to encourage you to investigate the circumstances of their lives."

I considered his words.

"They e-expected the inhabitants to refuse my a-assistance, and if I could not improve their c-condition, I should have little reason to r-remain here long enough to d-discover anything."

"Precisely."

I looked down at the parchment again.

"That is r-rather short-sighted of them."

"An assessment with which I find myself in agreement," Duke Valenridge replied.

Duke Thorncrest made a quiet sound of amusement.

"They believed Your Highness would be so occupied with being despised that you should have no leisure to be curious."

I glanced at him.

"Your G-Grace, I assure you, I possess sufficient leisure for b-both."

Lucian lowered his head, though I caught the faintest suggestion of a smile upon his face, and Duke Valenridge’s lips curved, briefly, before he schooled them.

"There is s-something I still do not understand, though," I continued. "W-why did the nobles c-compel these women to bear their children in the f-first place?"

The amusement left Duke Thorncrest’s face.

I looked at Duke Valenridge, then at Lucian, hoping one of them might offer an explanation, and the water murmured on behind us, patient and warm, as though the cavern itself were waiting upon the answer.

"It seems a most p-peculiar a-arrangement," I said. "If these m-men wished to have children, surely they might have found s-suitable women amongst their own station. I cannot imagine that they would ordinarily desire a child born b-beyond the bounds of their families, p-particularly when such a child might bear a s-striking resemblance to them."

I paused, then added:

"And if the r-resemblance is so e-evident, do they not fear what might happen should others discover the identities of those r-residing in G-Gallowshill?"