The Orphan Queen Read Online Free Page A

peeling, but we’d given the lower walls a fresh coat of white. It made the chamber seem brighter, especially when the sun shone directly through the east-facing windows. When it got cold, we shuttered all the windows and stuffed rags into the cracks, but these days of early autumn were still fine.
    The others were huddled around a big, round table with papers strewn across the old wood like memories. Seven boys and five girls: we were a small group, all that was left of Aecor’s high nobility.
    Ronald and Oscar Gray—the eighteen- and seventeen-year-old sons of a now-dead duke—waved and went back to discussing whatever medical notion had caught their attention this week. Connor sat beside them, wide-eyed and attentive while words such as arteries and blood clots were used.
    Across the table, Paige Kendall, Theresa Markham, and Kevin Walton, the other older Ospreys, were working with Ezra Bradburn and Carl Darby over a handful of maps, asking the younger boys to point out the locations of various lords’ holdings.
    Melanie and I took seats at the table, both of us restraining relieved groans. Last night’s fight had left bruises.
    Patrick didn’t glance up from the document he was studying. “Now that you’re back, we’ve got a lot to cover and I’ve just received word of a new hunt.” He looked at Quinn. “This one’s yours and your brother’s.”
    Quinn sat up straighter. “What is it?”
    â€œIn a moment.” Patrick stood and Quinn shrank a little, but the excited light didn’t leave her eyes, even as everyone else quieted and looked up. “Now that Wilhelmina has returned, we’ll finish these documents and go over the plan. I want everyone to be absolutely clear on their parts in this, especially Wil and Melanie.”
    I pulled a pile of forged documents closer. “Good job on these,” I muttered to anyone, everyone. The papers still required a few finishing touches to make them appear as authentic as the true residency papers we’d found; that was my job.
    â€œWil and Mel will infiltrate Skyvale Palace as refugee Liadian nobility,” he said. “King Terrell won’t be able to turn them away, not with the Wraith Alliance still in effect. Once they’re in place, we’ll check for their reports at Laurence’s Bakery every three days. If you need supplies delivered to the drop or if there’s an emergency, we’ll check whenever we see the signal. Which will be?” He raised an eyebrow at Melanie.
    â€œA red ribbon in our window.” She pulled the silk length from her hip pouch. “We’ll tie it up the first day, so you know we’re successful and where we’re located.”
    â€œVery good.” Patrick gave a clipped nod. “We’re on a deadline for the ten-year anniversary of the One-Night War, so I want us all to have clear goals for this mission. That way, if anything goes wrong, we know who to blame.”
    His narrowed-eye glance at me meant he counted last night’s encounter with Black Knife as something “going wrong.”
    â€œGoal one: intelligence. We know the Aecorian terrain and we have people willing to fight for us, but we can’t risk them untilwe know where the Indigo Army bases are located in Aecor, how many troops they have, and what kind of weapons they’re using.
    â€œTwo: we suspect King Terrell’s people also have a list of resistance groups in Aecor—groups just waiting for the opportunity to fight back. We need that list, both for our own purposes, and to keep our potential allies out of enemy hands.”
    â€œWe already know of a few resistance groups,” Oscar said. “And our contacts in Aecor have been scouting for more.”
    Patrick gave a brisk nod. “But if we’re to take back an entire kingdom and defend it, we need to overwhelm the Indigo Army. A force of a thousand people won’t be