Mouru addressed Klinack this time. “With that in mind, I had Lord Harabal set a trap, since we had nothing to lose either way. The plan was to incite the culprit to action by having Lord Harabal openly speak of meeting Unen alone on the turret rooftop, and to purposely leave enough time in between so they could prepare an attack. Things started to get a bit dicey when the target decided to take a detour into the city during that critical phase, but…” Mouru glanced back at Unen. “Well, I guess you can say it worked out in our favor, because we got to confirm that she was indeed the target.”
“I knew it—you used me as bait.” Even in the king’s presence, Unen couldn’t resist calling Mouru out. Narrowing her eyes, she glared furiously at him.
But Mouru swiftly sidestepped her fury and flashed his killer grin. “I had to. It was the fastest method.”
“Why did you pretend to be sick?” Irena interrupted, disapproval knitting her brow.
“I couldn’t afford to fall behind the assassin or let them get the upper hand. So, obviously, I had to lie in wait on top of the turret. But any culprit worth their salt would be wary if a mage was conspicuously absent. So we put on a little show to trick them.”
So that’s why Vrba stopped by the grand dining hall without staying to eat. He was trying to figure out the reason for Mouru’s absence, Unen pieced together.
“Does anyone else have any questions?” Mouru asked the room.
After confirming that no one did, he bowed to Klinack and took a step back.
Klinack nodded to Mouru. “Thank you for taking the time to explain.” Loosely shaking his head to clear away his doubts, he shifted eyes gleaming with determination on Unen. “First there was Chelveny, now Vrba—it appears Harabal was correct in his assessment. Your knowledge has the power to drive people to action.”
The grief-stricken, betrayed man who had lost his best friend was nowhere to be seen. Now poised with the majestic grace of a powerful king, Klinack brought the room to respectful silence as he pondered what to do with Unen.
He turned to Harabal. “Harabal, let me confirm the situation with you. When you say her knowledge is dangerous, are you referring to the chance that other kingdoms may misuse her maps?”
“That is the general idea.”
“In that case, there is no problem if we win her over to our side first.”
At that statement, not only Unen, but Mouru froze with wide-open eyes.
Harabal was the only person completely unfazed. Switching into business mode, he commented, “Now that I think about it, I have been inconvenienced ever since my assistant was hired as a scholar for a noble family half a year ago. There is no end to the number of people who will assist with the simple work, but to my great disdain, I have had a remarkably difficult time finding anyone versed in arithmetic. I am not free to teach someone from scratch either.”
“Now, that indeed is a problem,” Klinack responded with a straight face. But it didn’t take long for him to sigh loudly, a frown muddling his brow. “…I’m going to regret asking this, but you planned this from the start, didn’t you?”
“No, sire. I merely had it as one of the cards on the table.”
Unen and her friends could only watch the banter between the king and his aide in mute astonishment.
Returning to a more official expression, Klinack came to stand in front of Unen and looked directly into her eyes. “You heard him. Lady Unen, do you have any interest in becoming Harabal’s assistant?”
Unen stared at Klinack’s face with her mouth agape.
She had a hard time suddenly accepting what His Majesty the King had offered. Had she misheard him? She replayed the memory from a moment ago. Painstakingly repeating each letter in her mind to reform the words, she reconfirmed what they meant.
“You want me to become Lord Harabal’s assistant?”
Klinack answered her with a quiet smile and a firm nod.
“Um, uh…someone like me? Err…well…” Unen couldn’t hide her flustered state of mind.
“It appears you don’t make use of trigonometry during your surveying,” Harabal pointed out.
“I, um,” Unen said, gasping her words, “know it exists…”
Harabal’s expression spread into a wide smile. “Then you will gain much by coming to work with me.”
“My castle’s libraries are stacked with books and documents passed down for generations,” Klinick offered, “The books will rejoice if you become the Witch of the Archives.”
Joy soared inside of Unen’s chest, her excitement pounding against her ribcage the instant she had heard him mention the Witch of the Archives. The waves of happiness crashed against the shores of her conscious mind again and again, until they finally spilled over the shoreline into a gigantic flood.
“Th-Thank…you…very…much! I accept!” Unen somehow mustered a reply despite her trance-like state. She felt like she was dreaming. Not knowing the proper etiquette for the situation, she let her emotion radiate from her as she returned Klinack’s gaze.
“Your Majesty, since Lady Unen has agreed to work for us, why don’t we take this opportunity to conduct an accurate survey of the entire kingdom?” Harabal promptly proposed. “I have repeatedly counseled you to do so, but you have refused to listen to me until now.”
“No, wait. We can’t do it all at once. Yes, we can’t.”
“I have no issue with conducting it territory by territory. You refuse to take action on this matter because you want to finish it all in one go,” Harabal countered.
Klinack started to mutter incoherent excuses about the logistics of budget and timing. At that moment, Mouru put his right hand on his chest and stepped forward from where he had been waiting behind Unen.
“If I may, Your Highness?”
“What is it?” Klinack turned to Mouru with relief, grateful for being rescued from Harabal’s persistence.
“Ori and myself are charged with the duty of protecting Unen on orders from the person you might call her master. As such, won’t you please allow us the privilege of serving as her bodyguard within your presence as well, Your Highness?”
Unen’s eyes darted to Mouru in shock, just as Irena’s shout of, “WHAAAT?!” rose from behind her.
Klinack hadn’t expected this development either. He took a second to assess Mouru with calculating eyes, before breaking into a broad smile. Swinging his arms open, he cheered, “What blessing is this? Master Mage is offering to come to my castle, eh?! I wholeheartedly welcome your presence here!”
“Thank you kindly for your permission,” Mouru replied formally, before turning toward Unen. “You heard it. I look forward to spending more time with you from now on.”
He flashed the most blinding smile yet.
✦ ✦ ✦
THEY were to move to the king’s office in order to discuss the many details of their new arrangement. Irena stayed behind in the bright guest room, while Unen, Ori, and Mouru were temporarily shown to the antechamber on the main residence’s second-floor. They were waiting there until the stewards, clerks, and necessary servants had been gathered.
Unen heaved a heavy sigh once the king and his aide had left the room as she scrutinized the faces of the two men accompanying her.
Ori’s expression was as unreadable as ever. He stood in silence a few steps behind her, and seemed to be examining the suit of armor decorating the wall next to the window. Was he thinking up tactics for how to confront a combatant in full plate armor?
Mouru appeared equally unaffected, traipsing around the room staring at everything with interest. He stopped in front of the large tapestry decorating the wall to their left and muttered “oohs” and “ahhs” at it.
Yet another sigh spilled from Unen’s lips.
“You look fairly unhappy.” Mouru turned toward her with his head cocked.
Reeling in her desire to jump on him and declare him to be at fault, she settled for a crack at sarcasm. “You must have some nerve to smoothly weave those lies about being on a mission to protect me. You’re something else, all right.”
“What I said isn’t necessarily a lie.”
Unen thought Mouru had to be cracking a joke or mocking her, but his eyes were dead serious.
“We were ordered to retrieve the Book of Secrets Hereh escaped with to prevent the knowledge inside from spreading across the world. In other words, not only must we keep an eye on you, but we must also protect you from those after your knowledge.”
As Unen dizzily turned over his words inside her head, she felt as though a hand of ice had taken ahold of her entrails. No matter how many times she swallowed, the taste of bitter saliva continued to fill her mouth.
Mouru watched her stand there in horrified silence with delight before going on to say, “Besides, as far as it comes to telling lies, I think you have me beat there.”
His penetrating ice-blue eyes jabbed at hers.
Unable to wrench her gaze away, she watched as he smirked in triumph.
“Unen, you’re Hereh’s child who supposedly died, aren’t you?”