4

Ianto spoke softly as he gave instructions to the evening shift and they left with a look of doom, leaving Ianto to stare at the old tapestry hanging on the wall of the Hand's Chambers.

He turned to face Jack, then motioned a passing maid to enter.

"This tapestry, I want it swapped out for something else. Nature, animals. Anything" he demanded and the girl gaped, then bowed.

"That's a royal tapestry" Jack said with surprise, "It carries my crown."

"I do not need to look at it all the time to know what you carry your majesty" Ianto said politely, "Is there something I can do for you?"

"Ianto, I … how did you know the goblet of wine was tainted?" Jack asked, going for the most pressing thing he could think of as he avoided the chasm he had created between them with his foolish words.

"The would-be assassin put it there" Ianto said angrily, swinging to grab at the tapestry and dragging it from the wall, revealing another beneath.

"Wow" Jack whispered, "a Wildercat."

A large black cat lay in repose, the ivy vines as a border and it looked ancient, perhaps as old as the castle and Ianto reached out to feel the old threads with awe.

Two guards returned with the girl and they silently removed the discarded one, a hesitation as Ianto dismissed them, declaring this one adequate. Her violet eyes roamed between the men and the tapestry, then rested on Ianto with a silent question.

He flicked a finger and she bowed politely, retreating.

"But its old" Jack snorted, "I would not wish to look at that!"

"These are my chambers, my king" Ianto said in a deep voice of warning, "I will choose the world I must live in."

Jack winced at the wording, reaching for Ianto but he moved away, stilted angry movements that betrayed his hurt.

"I've ruffled your fur the wrong way" Jack huffed, "Come on, I do not want us to quarrel."

"I did not kill your father, nor did I orchestrate the bind we are now in" Ianto whispered, "There was another assassin in these walls, one not of my training. Clever, stealthy yet ignorant of my training."

"So, trained by another?" Jack asked with surprise. "You have different methods?"

"Yes, different realms train for different things, a good assassin knows more than one method." Ianto agreed, moving around as he stated to open windows and fold back bedding to air the room, "A great assassin knows them all."

"Then, you know them all, right?" Jack smiled, letting it linger and then fade as Ianto opened the closet and started to remove clothing.

He pulled the cord for his servant, pointing to the clothes and ordering them removed as she once again bowed, her strikingly violet eyes seeming to dance with silent mirth at Jack's discomfort.

He kept the assassin robes, wanting to go through hidden pockets later when he had gloves but for now he had the room he needed as he instructed her to fetch his robes to hang here.

"Why?" Jack asked in a small voice.

"I am the King's Hand" Ianto said flatly, "This is my box."

"Stop it" Jack snapped.

"Yes sir" Ianto turned and stopped, seeing the Queen in the doorway, so he bowed politely.

"Ianto?" she stepped into the room, "They were carrying a royal tapestry past and … oh. My. That is ancient."

"I'm keeping it" Ianto said, "If you don't mind your grace. I would like to look upon something that reminds me to hang in there, in the shadows behind the glitz and pageantry of office."

"Is everything OK?" she asked, "And I thought we agreed you would call me River."

"It was deemed inappropriate Majesty" Ianto said politely, turning as his servant girl appeared from nowhere and slid something into his hand. He checked it and grunted softly.

"I will need a bath drawn, once I've gone through these robes I will have to wash thoroughly" he informed her.

"Yes master" she bobbed.

"Thank you Violet" he turned from her and her long dark hair swished over her face as she bowed her head and slid back out.

"That is the first time I have heard her speak in all the years she has lived in these walls" Queen River said with surprise.

"She is shy" Ianto said shortly, then sighed, "Sorry my Queen, I have a long night ahead of me and it grows no shorter with this conversation."

"No. Tell me" she stepped within the space of the two men, her face now grave.

"The assassin is dead. He died the death of a traitor." Ianto began, "Not before taking your husband with him."

She nodded to show that she understood, impatient for what was troubling him to be aired.

"Assassins have one other secret, another back-up in case they are discovered. This is to be the fall guy, if you will. The one to fall on the sword if discovered, in order to protect the assassin. The one who is not only capable of carrying out plans set by the assassin but also of hiding in plain sight to do so. Your Hand had such a familiar. Trained at his hand to do his bidding and was the one also pulling strings."

"His daughter" she whispered.

"Keep up mother" Jack sat on the bed angrily, "She is dead, remember? Tell us. What else?"

Ianto glared at him for his rudeness, and then turned back to the queen, "The assassin's apprentice also learns the craft in order to continue a plan if the master is detained. SO, in this case it continues. The plan to put Gray on the throne with Gwen at his side is still in place, just an apprentice now fumbles with the plan of the assassin who thought he would see it through to the end."

"So, it is someone close to Gwen?" the Queen surmised.

"Yes, you are right" Ianto sighed.

"Really? What do you mean?" she frowned.

"Gwen is the daughter of the apprentice. The plan is still in play" Ianto growled, "And it is going to get nasty."

"The Lord Cooper?" she whispered with horror but Jack spoke overtop with a loud bark

"Wait a minute" Jack stood and faced Ianto with a frown, "All assassins have an apprentice?"

"Yes" Ianto said softly.

"And you?"

"To reveal a familiar is to offer your throat for the sword" he snarled.

Violet chose that movement to enter and bow, "Master. Your bath awaits, pending your …."

She looked at the royals and then at Ianto who was shaking with rage and he snarled at her. She quickly fled the room and Ianto took another breath.

"Please, let me continue my work" he pleaded, "It grows late."

Jack left with his mother, knowing there was more to tell and smarting over the fact Ianto was not about to.

Did he not trust him?

Also, the realization sank in that he would be sleeping alone this night.