Chapter 6 - A Distraction

It only takes five minutes for Auden to leave the palace and cross the grounds to the Beta barracks, where he throws open the door. Everyone inside immediately goes still, caught in the middle of a card game that absolutely should not be happening.

Or at least, almost everyone goes still. One person lounges carelessly in her chair, draping an arm over the back.

“Should I deal you in, Prince?” she drawls, her black eyes sparking as she brushes her silky curtain of black hair away from her face.

Auden narrows his eyes at Margot, the most notorious woman at court and certainly not an enlisted member of his military. “No, Margot,” Auden replies evenly, hiding his surprise as he takes a few slow steps into the room. He slips his hands into his pockets. “Though I wonder if there’s any way I could convince you to close out.”

Auden’s eyes flick to the two dozen still-frozen Betas who watch him warily, trying to figure out precisely how much trouble they’re in. “I’m sure that by now you’ve taken enough of my men’s money to buy yourself something pretty, after all.”

“Something very pretty,” Margot murmurs, her lips quirking into a feline smile. She slowly stands from the table, turning that little smile on the men still seated there and holding out her hand. A young red-haired Beta named Stephen, seated closest to her, scoops up the majority of the coins on the table and places them in her palm.

“Enough,” Auden snaps, making his men flinch. “Clean this up,” he orders, and the men jump to work, clearing the game and hurrying to hide any other illicit materials. As they work Margot stands perfectly still, her eyes on Auden even as the table in front of her is whisked away.

Auden considers Margot, honestly surprised to see her here – he would have assumed that she would be at the feast with one or another of her Alpha benefactors. However, she’s precisely the person he intended to find next. Auden narrows his eyes at this woman, his father’s favorite courtesan, and considers that he perhaps shouldn’t be surprised at all.

Margot makes her living, after all, by showing up precisely when she’s wanted and being conveniently absent when she’s not.

“Richard, Joshua,” Auden barks, keeping his eyes fixed on Margot. The two men drop what they’re doing and come forward, giving Auden a sharp salute. Auden takes a moment to look them over, trying to assess whether they’ve been drinking. But they look sober enough. “Head to the stables,” Auden orders. “Prepare three horses. I’ll meet you there.”

Joshua and Richard move out of the barracks without question. When they’re gone, Auden offers his arm to Margot and inclines his head towards the door, silently asking her to accompany him outside. With a little purr of pleasure, Margot closes the distance between them, gently wrapping her hand around Auden’s elbow as he escorts her out the door.

Auden leads Margot to a dark area beneath a little willow tree, sighing to think that if anyone saw him walking with Margot to a shadowy alcove in the dark of the night…well, that they’d get the wrong idea. And, considering the little smile that curls the edges of Margot’s lips as they walk, Auden thinks she knows it too, and finds it funny.

Margot moves away from her place at Auden’s side as they move beneath the branches of the willow, turning to face him and folding her arms over her chest. “So,” she says, her face lit with a dark glee, “where’s the girl?”

“What?” Auden asks, his stomach dropping as he realizes that Margot also noticed Everleigh’s failure to appear at the feast tonight. God, who else noticed it? But Auden does his best to play it cool, watching Margot’s every move.

Margot laughs, shaking her head at him. “The little Queen has barely shown her face, Prince,” she says quietly, “somethings up. And you need my help.”

Auden twists his lips, shaking his head at her. “Why are you always two steps ahead, Margot?” He clenches his jaw, angry to have been so easily read but impressed regardless. Honestly, Margot is a polarizing figure at court - with Lunas hating her and Alphas liking her perhaps a little too much - but he always found her dark, ready wit clever and charming. But then again, he’s not fucking her and has no wife to wonder jealously if he is.

“Someone’s got to keep up with you,” Margot replies, shrugging a shoulder.

“The Queen,” Auden says slowly to measure Margot’s reaction, “is ill. She’ll be in her room all night with her sister. She is so ill that she’s not to be disturbed at all. By anyone.”

“Anyone?” Margot asks, raising one eyebrow.

“No one is to disturb her,” Auden says slowly, sticking to the story and leaning forward to stare Margot straight in the eyes, ensuring that she takes his meaning. “And it would be helpful if that story were to spread, subtly, through the banquet.” The sly smile on Margot’s face grows minutely, letting him know that she understands.

“Your father will be disappointed,” she murmurs.

“My father,” Auden replies, cocking his head to the side. “Is going to be very drunk. So drunk that he doesn’t notice whether Everleigh is there or not. So drunk that he’ll be pleasantly preoccupied by the pretty girl pouring his drinks.”

“Sounds like a very nice evening,” Margot purrs, smiling fully now, understanding precisely what he’s asking her. “If not…an expensive one.”

“Can you do it, Margot?” Auden asks softly, dropping the pretense but also asking, below his words, can I trust you?

“I can,” she replies, flicking her hair back over her shoulder. “But you will be in my debt, Prince. Monetarily and…personally.”

Auden takes a minute to consider the offer and then bows to her, just slightly - the kind of formality a woman in Margot’s position rarely receives. “I will be in your debt, Margot,” he says, holding her gaze, “and grateful to be there if this works.”

“Leave it to me,” Margot replies lightly, reaching out and tapping Auden’s arm with the edge of her fingers, sending a cool chill up his arm. But then she gives him a wink and heads off towards the palace.

Auden takes a deep breath, hoping to hell that Margot’s confidence in herself isn’t false. And then, after tilting his head up to send a quick prayer up to the stars, Auden turns and heads towards the soft orange glow of the stables in the distance.

When Auden bangs through the door the young stable boys are already in action.

“Here he is, sir!” one boy calls, his voice breaking in the throes of puberty as he leads Auden’s horse around the corner. “All ready, sir!” 

“Good,” Auden replies, taking his horse’s reins, but as the boy moves to hurry away Auden reaches out and grabs his arm. 

“Who else came here tonight looking for a horse?” Auden demands, studying the boy’s face.

The boy hesitates, realizing that he could be in trouble. Auden, losing his patience, shakes the boy’s arm a little - nothing to hurt him, just to loosen his tongue.

The boy speaks quickly now, eager to get away. “A woman – a Celestial, I think – at least, she was finely dressed –“

“Blonde?” Auden snaps, “Young? Alone, in a hurry?”

The boy nods eagerly, his eyes going wide.

“And you let her go?!”