“We’ll get to that,” Lana said, raising a hand. “I’ve got more questions about you.”
“I’m nobody, Your Majesty. Just a thief looking to keep a roof over my head and food on my table for another day.”
“And where exactly is this roof?” The Queen tilted her head thoughtfully. “Between us, my soulmate and I know every person who dwells in this valley. Seth, do you recognize this man? Is there a Cato in your pack?”
The Alpha was still a presence the dragons were getting used to, especially in the Throne Room, which felt like the most private and intimate part of the whole cavern. Wolves had never been allowed here, not even as prisoners, and now one sat beside the Queen? Claiming to rule the valley jointly with her, as an equal? The love between the two of them was undeniably real, but the situation was challenging. The man leaned forward, those bright silver eyes piercing as he made his thoughtful study of Cato.
“This man is no wolf,” he said finally, his quiet voice nevertheless carrying authoritatively through the room.
“Nor is he a dragon,” Prince Conrad said, studying Cato intently himself. “But that’s impossible.”
Lana cleared her throat. “Cato?”
“Yes, my Queen?”
“You’re human?”
“Yes, my Queen.”
That sent up a louder murmur of shock among the gathered audience—even Conrad and Seth looked surprised by the word. Acantha narrowed her eyes a little, staring at Cato with fresh suspicion. She’d heard the word before, after Lana had first arrived—it seemed that in her world, there existed a curious species of shifter that was imprisoned in one body. Humans, they called themselves. Acantha liked both her winged form and her two-legged one… but the prospect of being permanently limited to one or the other was a horror.
But Lana’s keen eyes were still fixed on Cato, not distracted by the hubbub. “Where did you come from, Cato? Earth?”
Another flicker of uncertainty crossed the man’s face, and he shook his head. “Apologies, your Majesty, that’s not an insula I know by name. I live in Isthmus.” He didn’t seem to be expecting the looks of incomprehension on the faces not only of the royal court, but the murmurs of confusion and suspicion in the audience behind him.
“Tell me about this place,” Lana said. Acantha couldn’t help but admire her composure—she clearly had no idea what Cato was talking about either, but she’d gracefully dodged admitting that.
“You’ve not visited?” Acantha could see from Cato’s expression that his mind was racing, too. “It’s a long, narrow insula, protected from Fog encroachment by what used to be a mountain range. There are half a dozen small settlements there.”
“And how did you get here, from this Isthmus?”
“Through the Fog,” Cato said, looking clearly puzzled by the question… and unprepared for the reaction that rippled through the crowd, a mixture of disdain and outright confusion. “Apologies yet again, your Majesty, but I seem to be missing something here?”
“Enough,” Lana said loudly, her voice cutting across the growing hubbub of voices from the crowd assembled here. “We’ll hear more of this later. How, exactly, did you know where to find the valuables you stole?”
Cato looked uncertain still, and as he tried to rally, Acantha was doing everything in her power to work out what was going on behind his eyes. He was misleading them somehow, that much she suspected… but something unexpected had come up for him as well as for the rest of the court. The way he’d spoken about the place he was from… another world, like Lana? But why didn’t Lana know the word he’d used to refer to it? And why did he seem puzzled by the nameshe’dgiven it? Was it possible that he was from some yet-unknownthirdplace? Acantha felt herself gritting her teeth and forced her jaw to loosen for what felt like the tenth time in so many minutes. Lana had been right to move the conversation on from the subject—it was clear from the expressions on people’s faces that Acantha wasn’t alone in feeling utterly overwhelmed by yet more new information about the world.
Not that any of it was probably true, she reminded herself, grasping gratefully at the frustration and resentment she felt about all of the little games and tricks Cato had been trying with her. He was a liar, a trickster, and a thief. Who was to say he hadn’t deliberately come here to spread this kind of confusion? There was definitely something amiss in the story he was telling about being a poor thief who was just trying to feed himself—it had all seemed too practiced, too polished to be true. And besides, she’d seen the satchel of artifacts he’d been stealing. The gemstones might have been valuable, certainly, but what about the worn leather strap with a nearly-broken buckle that had been in there? What kind of a price was something like that likely to fetch?
The queen, to Acantha’s great relief, seemed to be on the same page. She listened to a rambling explanation Cato was giving about how he’d known that dragons liked to hoard treasure, but her expression was unimpressed, and she flicked a hand to silence him mid-sentence.
“Cato, I’ve made a decision,” she said smoothly, and a hush fell over the crowd. “You broke into our Palace and stole from us. As a result, you will be imprisoned until such time as I’m satisfied you’re repentant and will not repeat the crime, or anything like it. As part of this repentance, you will be speaking with us at length and answering our questions. Honestly,” she added, her eyes hard, and Acantha felt herself let out a breath she’d been holding. Queen Lana hadn’t been taken in by his act either. That was a relief.
“Your Majesty, if I could—”
“No, I don’t think so. Captain Acantha will be in charge of … well, let’s not call it an interrogation,” she said, something rather dangerous in her sunny smile. “Let’s call it a series of conversations. But I trust her to get to the bottom of exactly who you are and what you’re doing here—and only when she’s satisfied will you be allowed to leave.”
“I accept the judgment,” Cato said after a momentary hesitation, in which Acantha clearly saw him struggling with frustration. “And of course you’ll keep my weapons. But can I just request that my armor—”
“Enough,” Lana said, holding up a hand imperiously. “This Court has other business this morning. Goodbye, Cato. Thank you, Captain Acantha,” Lana added, making a point of finding Acantha’s eyes. “I trust that the matter is in safe hands with you.”
“Thematter,” she heard Cato mutter under his breath as she stepped to his side again. He was tugging fruitlessly at the rope that was binding his hands behind him, and she felt smugly satisfied that he was feeling a little less confident than he had been that morning.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t alone in that. Acantha had spent her whole life in service to the Palace, and she would do everything in her power to follow her orders. But part of her was worried that this particular task might be beyond her.
There was just something about this Cato that she was finding incredibly difficult to handle.
Chapter 6 - Cato