Royal Assassin

Before leaving, Verity asks Fitz to protect Kettricken and to maintain their Skill-link so he can monitor events at Buckkeep. Burrich insists on joining the quest. As the party departs, Fitz is startled to sense Kettricken using the Wit to follow Verity. Soon after, Fitz learns through kitchen gossip that the town of Ferry was raided five days prior, with 70 people Forged, and its calls for help went unanswered. Regal publicly declares it too late to send aid, blaming the empty treasury on Verity’s expedition.

Fitz discovers that Verity’s study has been searched, but he retrieves an emerald necklace Verity had hidden for emergencies. Fitz finds it suspicious that multiple channels of communication all failed simultaneously; Kettricken realizes that Regal is intercepting messages to discredit Verity and isolate the coastal duchies. Kettricken tells Fitz that she asked Verity who she should trust as an adviser and he told her to rely on Fitz. Later, a man arrives from the Duchy of Ram to take several horses he claims have been sold to his Duke. When Fitz and the acting stablemaster, Hands, intervene, he presents a bill of sale signed by Regal. Fitz stops the sale, pointing out that Regal lacks the authority to authorize such a transaction without approval from the King. When Kettricken confronts Regal about the raid on Ferry, he lies and claims that Verity had decided to cede the Near Islands to the Raiders. Meeting privately with Kettricken, Fitz promises to uncover Regal’s deception.

An excerpt from Chade’s journal describes Kebal Rawbread, a ruthless Outislander leader who rose to power by conscripting men for his ships and Forging (or escralling, in the Outisland language) the families of those who defy him. At Buckkeep, Fitz visits King Shrewd and finds him disoriented and drinking an addictive “merrybud” tea. Regal arrives and verbally abuses Fitz, insisting that he lacks any authority in matters of state. Fitz confronts his mentor, Chade, about the King being “poisoned,” but Chade cryptically admits he supplies some of the herbs Shrewd takes for pain, citing his oath to keep the King’s secrets and refusing to explain further, implying Fitz could deduce the purpose if he used his training.

Duke Brawndy of Bearns arrives with his daughters, Celerity and Faith, and their retinue. Soon after, the Fool appears in Fitz’s room, badly beaten by men who accused him of spying for “Verity the pretender” (421). The Fool reveals his certainty that a Farseer heir has been conceived. Alarmed, Fitz asks Molly if she is pregnant; she is not, as she takes herbs to prevent it. Molly then tells Fitz that Lady Patience once loved Burrich, but he rejected her out of duty to Prince Chivalry, and she accuses Fitz of making the same mistake by prioritizing his king over their love.

After being forced to wait for days, Duke Brawndy finally has an audience with King Shrewd, but Kettricken is excluded. Brawndy emerges furious, declaring that House Farseer offers no aid. In the privacy of the storm-swept Queen’s Garden, Kettricken gives Brawndy her valuable opal arm bracelets as a personal gift to help Ferry. Later, Fitz touches the King’s hand and is pulled into an uncontrolled Skill-link, through which he experiences the agonizing pain of Shrewd’s hidden disease. Shrewd then relays to Verity what he sincerely believes to be true—information Regal has fed him—that Brawndy is a traitor and Kettricken is plotting against the throne. Verity forcefully denies the accusations through the link, urging his father not to trust Regal. The Skilling effort leaves Fitz and the King exhausted.

Weakened from the experience, Fitz is confronted in his room by Serene and Justin. Justin attempts a Skill-attack, but Fitz’s wolf-companion, Nighteyes, retaliates using a hybrid of Wit and Skill, attacking Justin from within Justin’s own mind and producing visible physical effects on his body. The Fool interrupts, creating a public scene that forces the coterie members to retreat. To recover from the ordeal, Fitz relinquishes control of his body to Nighteyes.

Fitz awakens to find Molly in his room, with no memory of her arrival; Nighteyes implies he brought her. Fitz reports the recent events to Chade, who notes that Regal’s cousin Lord Bright has been placed in an adjacent chamber and has been tapping the walls and asking servants about spirits, raising suspicion that Chade’s secret chambers may be compromised. Burrich returns to Buckkeep alone and seriously injured. With Fitz in attendance, Burrich reports to a nearly unresponsive King Shrewd that Verity’s party was ambushed on the way to the Mountain Kingdom. Verity sent the wounded back with written messages, but this second group was ambushed again. Everyone but Burrich was killed, and Verity’s messages were stolen. Lady Patience and her maid Lacey tend to Burrich’s infected arrow wound. Kettricken joins them and, while discussing herbal remedies, quietly reveals to the women that she is pregnant. Fitz overhears and realizes that Verity’s unborn heir is now in extreme danger from Regal.

After Kettricken’s messengers to Bearns disappear, all communication is severed. Burrich discovers that Regal has sold off most of Buckkeep’s prize horses and breeding stock. Realizing the pregnant queen is a target, Burrich insists on standing guard outside her door despite his severe leg injury. Fitz catches Justin and Serene leaving his room, having surreptitiously searched it, likely looking for a secret passage to Chade’s chambers. When he confronts them, a terrified Justin angrily accuses Fitz of practicing “beast magic”—the Wit, stigmatized and outlawed in the kingdom. Later, when Fitz tries to leave the keep, a guard stops him, stating he is forbidden to go out.

Molly runs to the gate in terror, reporting that two unidentified horsemen chased her down, called her the “Bastard’s whore,” and threatened that she would be hanged if she did not stop associating with Fitz. Believing he is protecting her, Fitz tells Molly they must stay apart for her safety. Enraged by what she sees as his cowardice and abandonment, Molly punches him and walks away.