The striking woman had a commanding presence. There was no badge on her uniform to show her rank, but the ladies both knew exactly who she was.
It was the woman who had taken Silver and Ethyn to the dungeon.
"Did something happen? Do you have news for me?" Rose was suddenly alert. Had the men put up a resistance and died? Or better yet, had they already escaped.
Rose had hoped the men would be able to get out somehow. It would buy her time to prove their innocence even if it would temporarily make them look more guilty.
But the woman's confident sneer quickly doused any hope Rose had on that front. "The traitors are safely tucked into their cell. His Majesty sent me for the message you claim to have," she paused to hear a soft coo in the other room, "and the messenger who delivered it.
"That cannot be right!" Rose furrowed her brow. "Father said he would come as soon as he rested."
"He would like to look things over before speaking with you, Your Highness." The soldier bowed.
"Well," Rose held one finger forward.
"Officer Ingrid," the woman responded.
Rose hid her confusion. First the formal uniform which had no indication of rank and now the woman had not given her standing either. Did she not have a title or was she intentionally hiding it? Either answer was suspicious.
"Officer Ingrid, I am inclined to politely decline your request unless you have written orders from His Majesty," the princess saw Ingrid's eyes narrow slightly. She had no such orders.
"His Majesty was in quite a state when I saw him just now. Are you sure you want me to disturb him just to get these orders and then come back a second time?" Ingrid sounded very concerned for her sovereign's well-being.
Rose's heart was pricked. She did not like the idea of making her father suffer extra from her own stubbornness. "Of course I don't want to cause the king any more stress today. Thank you for being so thoughtful."
Ingrid dipped her head. She motioned for a second soldier to come in and take charge of the messenger bird. The man's uniform was ill-fitting and he looked like he had not bathed in quite a while.
Rose tried not to wrinkle her nose in his presence. But she had no desire for the smelly man to come into her room.
Rose took a step back and held up her hands. "Please give me a moment to collect the bird and his food. I must admit I am rather attached to the little fellow. I will need some time to say goodbye."
Her forlorn expression somehow made the second guard more insistent. "We's needs ta gets it now," he said, his accent grating on the princess's ears.
"Fed, this is the princess," Ingrid said through her teeth, "You must respect her."
This was ingrained in every soldier, but for some reason Fed needed reminding. He reluctantly folded his arms in front of him. "Yes'sm."
Relieved, Rose retreated with Caitlyn to her bedroom and shut the door.
"Please tell me you don't believe that nonsense," Caitlyn whispered before clicking her tongue dismissively.
"Of course not. Father wouldn't break his promise to me like that, especially without a note written in his own hand. While this Ingrid certainly had the time to drop Silver in the dungeon and make it to the infirmary to get an order from my father, it seems highly unlikely." Rose's concern for the king had been real, but her suspicions overrode any sense of duty she felt toward Ingrid or Fed.
The former made her wary and the latter made her skin crawl.
"What are you going to do?" Caitlyn could see her mistress was already forming a plan. The color was back in the princess's cheeks as she set her jaw in a determined line.
"Well, I'm not going to give them the bird. That's for sure. The creature won't survive the next hour if I do." Rose picked up the cage and looked at the innocent creature. It had done its duty valiantly, and she did not want to see it killed just because Borit didn't want to be caught in some treachery.
Obviously the Commander was afraid of what he didn't know. She hadn't revealed the notes contents, so he was right to be wary.
If anything, this sealed the man's guilt in her mind. He was the traitor of which Prince Callum spoke. Rose was almost positive.
"That woman soldier...I have seen her before today," Caitlyn said slowly, breaking through Rose's thoughts.
"Oh?" the princess had felt the same when she had seen Ingrid. "Father said she testified to Silver being the leader of the rebellion. If she isn't new, perhaps she left with Borit and returned. It would explain why she was let in the castle when none of the others were."
The lady in waiting ran her fingers through her long chestnut hair. "No, I mean I saw her lurking yesterday in the hall days before Borit returned." Caitlyn shivered slightly.
"Are you sure?" the princess didn't want to doubt her friend.
"I'm positive. She is strikingly beautiful for a soldier. And we have so few women in the service that it caught me off guard." Caitlyn nodded.
Rose shut her eyes for a moment. She hadn't been with Caitlyn, which meant she had seen the woman another time. Was it while the Commander was gone? "Oh!"
"What?" Caitlyn said softly, shushing the princess after her outburst.
"Ingrid. She saw us going to the infirmary to visit Cole. She wasn't in her uniform, but I saw her scoot back against a wall as we passed. Why would she be in the palace when not on duty? What if she is spying on me, or Ethyn...or both?! It would explain how Borit knew what he did..." Rose had been so wrapped up in worry for Cole that the memory had nearly escaped her. But Ingrid's cold look was hard to forget.
Caitlyn voiced the princess's next question. "Why would Borit have Ingrid testify against Silver when he has an entire squadron outside who can speak against your brother?"
"I'm not sure...Surely he could get at least one soldier with him to lie for him. He has so many soldiers at his disposal..." Rose stopped midstream in her thought.
'Soldiers...' The word had stood out only second after 'traitor' in Callum's message. She began to connect the dots.
Rose thought back to the original claim by the farmer at court. She believed his petition to remove squatters on his land to be legitimate. Of that much she was sure.
Yet, Borit had said they were not squatters, but a coup. What if he was telling the truth, but he had listed the wrong leader?
Rose knew that Silver was on his way to the palace to tell her what the Borit's papers meant. If he stumbled on a bunch of Lykilian soldiers, the Guardian surely would have been caught up trying to stop them.
"What did you think of Fed's accent?" The princess suddenly changed the subject.
"It was very strong on the border of being impossible to understand." Caitlyn had noticed the guard's odd manner of speaking.
"And he was filthy. His uniform didn't fit. Almost like it wasn't his..." Rose moved to the window. She leaned out of it as far as she could.
Caitlyn grabbed her mistress around the waist. "What are you doing?"
"I am trying to see the front gate. Oh no!" Rose caught a glimpse of the entrance before being pulled hastily back inside. "It's open and there are a ton of horses and wagons littering the front lawn. Borit went against the kings orders."
"Why would he do that?" Caitlyn released the princess and clutched her hands to her chest.
Rose gulped. "Because those soldiers are not from Birle. They are from Lakyle!"