Traitor's Masque Read Online Free Page A

Kingswood, m’lady?” Andrei asked. “You’d have time to ride to the Tree today.” Trystan swiveled slightly to face him with her mouth hanging open.
    “How could you have known about that?” she asked him incredulously. “It was such a long time ago. And I never told anyone.”
    It had been six years. Six interminable years since she and her father had picnicked under the King’s Tree for her birthday. Just the two of them together. The last outing they shared before Malisse had come between them.
    “You were happy that day.” Alexei’s voice brought her out of that train of unpleasant memories. “Perhaps if you went back, you’d remember.” Trystan met his eyes and was staggered by what she saw. Sadness. And compassion. For her, of all people.
    “Thank you,” she whispered. For the third time in one morning. This time, perhaps, she meant it the most deeply.
    Compelled to look away before she broke down completely, Trystan cleared her throat and fumbled with the reins. Both men replaced their caps and Andrei busied himself with checking Theron’s girth. As soon as he nodded that all was ready, Trystan led Theron out of the stable and over to the mounting block in the yard. She had best leave before anyone else contrived to surprise her; she wasn’t sure she could bear any more thoughtfulness.
    It was the work of moments to swing into the saddle, secure her saddlebag, and set her feet in the irons. Glancing back, Trystan saw Andrei standing in the stable doorway. He smiled at her, and touched his cap in farewell as she gathered the reins and trotted off alone into the foggy spring morning.

    The Kingswood was a broad, well-tended forest that stretched miles to the south and east of Colbourne Manor. The forest lay on Crown lands, and was tended by the king’s foresters, but had always been freely used by the nobility for parties and excursions. No one suspected the rich of poaching deer.
    Near the center of the wood, in the midst of a quiet glade, was a vast oak known as the King’s Tree. No one knew how old it was, or how it came to be there, but it was a strangely peaceful place. The way had seemed long, when she was a child, but Trystan's memory placed it well within the reach of a day’s ride. She could eat her lunch at the Tree, and still return before dinner.
    It was strange how swiftly a day’s outlook could be altered. Trystan had begun the morning feeling lost and forgotten, and yet here she was, hacking briskly through the cool, morning air, embarking on an adventure that bore all the markings of a conspiracy. One involving more than just a few people.
    Vianne’s involvement made sense. The cook had always looked out for her welfare to a certain degree. Andrei and Alexei she had thought somewhat fond of her, but only because she loved the horses as much as they did. The few other servants who had known her since childhood reserved more warmth of manner for Trystan than they did for her stepmother, but she had supposed it to be out of habit, rather than any true affection. She had certainly never suspected them of harboring deeper feelings.
    Even Trystan could admit that she had not been an easy person to like.
    She felt a twinge of conscience as she bent to open the last gate, the one that marked the edge of her father's estate. Beyond it lay a rutted lane, which ran between low stone walls. In one direction lay Colbourne village, in the other, the wide Crown road which led all the way to Evenleigh and beyond.
    She was interested in neither. Roads begat traffic, which Trystan studiously avoided. Her path lay a mile or more across the fields, where the edge of the Kingswood butted up against seldom-used pastureland. It was a direction she had taken many times while hunting, during a time when all had been right with her world and no one’s wishes were more important than her own.
    Everything had changed after the wedding. It had all gone so very wrong. Her father’s affections began to grow