I Swore to Kill the Prince I Guard novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: Thaw

They found the Chancellor's grey cloak on the east stair, and nothing else.

The jailer, tied and furious, said a man in the livery of the palace laundry had come at midnight with a tray.

He had not looked up.

Someone in Basil's pay had held on to a key.

"He'll go for the Crowning," said Piers, pacing the guardroom.

"He'd be mad not to.

"Every lord in the realm will be on the cathedral steps."

"He's not mad," said Florian.

"He wants an audience."

He was already dressed in the plum and silver, with the white cape on his shoulders and the circlet in his hand.

He looked at Evander.

"You will stand at my right hand," he said, "and watch the crowd, because you know his walk better than any man alive."

"And you?"

"I shall be crowned," said the Prince of Aurelis, "and look as though I haven't noticed."

The Spring Crowning is held at the Lake Stair, below the cathedral, where the ice meets the shore.

By custom the first thaw is counted when the lake begins to talk.

That morning it groaned from end to end, a long low note.

Water stood in blue puddles on the ice, and the whole city had come down to hear it.

Thousands lined the steps and the wharves.

Peers sat on the tiers in the cold sun in furs and jewels.

The Marshal held the crown of state on its cushion at the top of the stair.

Evander stood on the prince's right in plain steel and a grey cloak, with one hand on his hilt.

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