"Then we'll find it." He'd tear apart the palace, branch by branch. "We'll wring it out of whoever did this to you-" He cut himself off. "Who would do this? It can't be someone rational. Anyone would know that killing you without an heir would destroy Aratay. We're after a madman."
"Or someone subsumed by grief. I've sent investigators to the families of the heirs, with instructions to pry without compounding their grief. But it could also be someone who privately hates me-either with reason or without. A caretaker. A courtier. A guard. A cook."
"Then we interview everyone."
"Everyone in Aratay?"
"Everyone who has had contact with you in the past month. Your seneschal will have a list. Call them to the palace one at a time-"
"It could be a champion."
She was watching him, looking for his reaction, and so he didn't react, not at first. He considered it. His first and obvious reaction was no, impossible, and ridiculous. Champions were sworn to protect the Crown. "It couldn't."
"It could."
"We are sworn to protect the Crown."
"The Crown, not the woman who wears it."
"Sophistry."
Her eyes were still on him as he paced back and forth. He wanted to punch something-a wall, an enemy, the throne. "We killed a queen for the sake of the country," she said. "What if someone else wanted to do the same?"
He knew all the other champions. Hated a few of them. Still didn't believe any of them were guilty of regicide. But then, he'd never have expected it of Hamon and Headmistress Hanna either, nor his Daleina. "There's no heir. No champion would endanger Aratay." None of them were madmen, or so subsumed by grief as to be so irrational.
"It's a slow-acting poison," Daleina pointed out. "A champion could think he or she would have time to train a new heir. He could have realized how I'd react: that I'd push forward faster with the training and the trials. He could have known that I'd name an heir sooner."
It was nonsense. But he couldn't entirely dismiss the idea. The champions had unfettered access to Daleina and the palace. Everyone trusted them. And she was right about the choice of slow-acting poison: anyone who didn't care about consequences could have simply stabbed her. Poison was the choice of someone who wanted additional time. "It's very, very, very unlikely."
"But not impossible." Her shoulders drooped, as if she'd been hoping he would argue with her and convince her she was wrong.
He wished he could, but once the seed of doubt was planted, it took root. "Good people can do the wrong thing for the right reasons," Ven said slowly. Plenty of champions were upset when their heirs died and Daleina emerged. Many thought she was unqualified and unworthy. He'd heard rumblings . . . Nothing to suggest that anyone meant her harm, but enough to know she had few fans among the champions. They'd yet to be impressed with her. She'd been careful with her power ever since being crowned and very careful after falling ill, and while the people might have seen her as cautious, there were those who saw her as weak. "Still, these are your champions we're talking about. You shouldn't doubt us. I can. But I'm a bitter, jaded old man, and you're the fresh face of hope and light." He shook his head. Now that she'd introduced the idea, he couldn't help but cycle through each of the champions, evaluating them: Piriandra, Cabe, Ambir . . . No, it was unbelievable that he was even considering this.
"It's not a likely enough possibility for me to spare an investigator," Daleina conceded. "But I thought perhaps you could question them, if only to lay our worries to rest."
"I can't approach them in the middle of training. They'd think I was there to poach their candidate, or at least disrupt their training. You need a neutral party." Ven paced harder, his feet grinding into the amber floor. He knew the other champions. He'd never succeed in cracking through their secrets. "Not neutral. Someone who is loyal to you alone. Captain Alet."
She sank into her throne. "Yes. Of course, yes. She's perfect."
"Tell them she's there to assist, in the interest of fairness. All of them know she assisted me. Or that she's there to evaluate them, to determine if their candidates are ready for the trials. Either way, they won't suspect the truth." And if, however unlikely it was, Alet were to uncover the killer, at least she could defend herself, unlike an ordinary investigator. She was one of the few who stood a chance to survive such a discovery. She'd be able to report, even subdue the guilty party and secure the poison. He'd seen enough of her skills to know she could bring down a champion. He felt a chill, thinking of anyone taking down a champion, revealing them as a traitor and a murderer . . . "Daleina, you realize we're grasping at straws here. The poisoner is far more likely to be a disgruntled political enemy or some heartbroken citizen than a hero of the realm."