Chapter Twenty-Six:

They had been served coffee and dessert when Atemu returned. Yuugi and Seto both stood as he entered and sat after he had settled himself back into his chair.

"Ah, it is very late," Atemu said. "And snowing. Going home now would be out of the question, Seto. No matter. We have already established a room and a change of clothes in your favor before now, haven't we?"

Seto nodded slowly. Yuugi was looking into space and sipping another glass of wine without expression.

"Katsuya, too, will remain," Atemu said to Yuugi. "It is so dreadfully dark and cold. Even the short distance to Scotland Yard might be treacherous."

"How kind of you," Yuugi said tonelessly.

Seto didn't know where Katsuya had been all this time, but he was sure having him still here was a trap. Yuugi undoubtedly thought so, too.

"Yes, of course, dear cousin. I know how fond you are of him. How pleased you were when he made constable."

Yuugi said nothing.

"Quite the feat, when he is but one-and-twenty."

"He is a motivated person," Yuugi said. "He had to be. Not born into circumstances that would place one as prince or king at one-and-twenty and three-and-twenty, respectively, after all. I can respect such drive."

"Yes, I quite agree. Seto, have you had your fill?"

Surprised that the conversation had suddenly turned back to him, Seto agreed that he had. Atemu stood, which made Seto and Yuugi stand as well.

"Come along then, Seto," Atemu said. "I suppose you will indulge me in a game of chess. I have not had a capable opposite since Thirtieth January, you see."

The day Lady Helen had died. Atemu was baiting hard.

"Despite our questions as to whether he was involved at all, Cousin," Yuugi said, "he still is a suspect. Is it quite proper to…?"

"To play a game? But, Yuugi, you know how much I love impropriety. And I have not the slightest belief he is of any danger to me. But, if you are so worried, fear not. Imperial Guard Dobbs is never far from me lately."

Meaning another attempt on his life was almost out of the question. At least for now.

"Be careful," Yuugi said.

"Your concern is as always most appreciated."

With that, Atemu swept from the dining hall with Seto on his heels. As he had said, Imperial Guard Dobbs was right there: he and two other guards were right inside the doors to the dining hall. They followed Atemu and Seto through to the hallway without a word, another two guards standing right outside as they passed through the doors.

Seto was almost bursting to ask Atemu what he was up to, but he knew better than to say anything even around Atemu's guard. And Atemu was silent as well, merely leading the way calmly to a parlor on the other side of the palace. He passed through the doors and settled himself without fanfare on one of the plush seats. There was a small table there and on that table there actually was a chess set. Seto realized this was the same parlor, and probably the same chess set, Lady Helen had used to entertain Mokuba.

"Leave Seto and myself," Atemu said to Imperial Guard Dobbs.

"But Your Majesty-"

"I said out," Atemu repeated icily.

For a moment, Imperial Guard Dobbs didn't move. He looked like he was about to have a stroke. Then he turned with his two compatriots and left the parlor. Seto was sure it was no accident that the doors remained open. Atemu said nothing to that. Instead, he gestured to the other chair. Seto sat and, without preamble, Atemu moved a white pawn.

"Your Maj-"

"Don't call me that," Atemu said. "If you think they can hear you from there, you're mistaken." He looked up at Seto, then back at the chessboard.

Seto slowly moved a black pawn.

"You must wonder why I had you brought here," Atemu said as he moved a second white pawn. "When last we were together, I told you we were through. Would you forgive me if I said I had had my doubts, if only for a moment?"

Doubts as to Seto's innocence, whatever he'd said. Seto moved another black pawn. "You'd be stupid not to. And of all the adjectives used to describe you, stupid isn't one of them."

For the first time, a faint smile ticked Atemu's mouth. He moved another white pawn. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised you would take the sensible viewpoint. Sentimental is also not an adjective used to describe you from all your peers."

Seto moved his bishop. "So you suspected me. And now?"

"Now I know there can be no doubt of your innocence." Atemu moved a third pawn. "The business with the letter opener has left no doubt in my mind. And I mean that. Yuugi's attempt to make it sound as if you would do such a thing, in the hope I would find it so wildly implausible as to immediately absolve you and invite myself for another attack is just-"

"Not as stupid as you think," Seto said as slid his first pawn up a slot. "Such a move is risky, but possible."

Atemu frowned at the chessboard. He moved a knight into play. "Why would you tell me that?"

Seto moved his second pawn up its second space. "To make you realize that my innocence is not proven yet."

Atemu drew the second knight into the game. "No, but with no motive-"

Seto moved his own knight. "What motive would I need if I were mad? As you said in the dining hall."

Atemu moved his second knight into play. "I was trying to make Yuugi see I don't believe you're a killer."

Seto took a pawn with his knight. "Would that matter as much as you think?"

Atemu copied him. "What do you mean by that? If I push him, Yuugi might get reckless."

Seto took his knight with his own. "It was you who's reckless. Back then and now, too. If Yuugi suspects, truly suspects, that you think he did it, he'll just hunker down and do nothing."

Atemu moved his bishop with a growl. "Everything that has happened to this point has been a stupid, thoughtless move."

Seto moved his knight and checked Atemu's king. "Yes, it has."

Atemu jerked his king to the side. "Don't insult me. You haven't won yet."

"I didn't mean only the game." Seto moved his second knight.

Atemu moved his queen between Seto's knight and his own king. "I know."

Seto promptly used his first knight to take one of Atemu's bishops. Atemu grabbed his knight with his rook. Seto moved his bishop and took a pawn. "Yuugi is too calm. All that you said in there didn't mean anything to him, except to tell him you suspect him. Even if you didn't say it outright."

Atemu moved a pawn up. "You still haven't seen my point. My father, Lady Helen, McDonnell, they were stupid, impulsive moves. He's desperate to be rid of us all."

Seto moved his knight. "I do see your point, Atemu. I'm telling you that even if Yuugi did do those things, now he'll know better and won't make another mistake like that."

Atemu moved his queen out of the path of the knight. "Maybe not. He did them to begin with. He's unhinged."

Seto sighed and moved his third pawn of the game. "If Yuugi is mental, it is not in any brash way."

Atemu scowled and moved his second rook to the left next to his king. Seto moved his bishop back to where it had been, poised to take the rook should it slide down the board after his helpless pawn. Atemu instead moved his seventh pawn in front of Seto's knight, where it couldn't be taken. Seto moved his queen.

"Then why would he do these things in the first place?" Atemu moved his queen forward a pace.

Seto moved his rook up behind a pawn. "Don't forget Katsuya."

"I haven't." Atemu moved his last pawn up a step. "Why do you think he's here?"

Seto moved a fourth pawn. "Why is he here?"

Atemu moved his knight behind Seto's. "To bring them together. All of us together."

Seto frowned and moved his fifth pawn a single step. "You think they plan on trying to kill us both tonight?"

Atemu took Seto's queen with his knight. "I don't know."

Seto took the knight with his bishop. "Would stupid describe either Yuugi or Katsuya?"

Atemu moved his rook now, but only up to line with his pawns. "No."

Seto moved his king to the side. "So we have a stalemate."

Atemu moved a pawn, watching Seto copy him. "Not necessarily. I was not simply saying that panic might make someone do something foolish. Perhaps McDonnell was intending to say something. Something he remembered." Atemu took Seto's moved pawn.

Seto moved another pawn in front of Atemu's rook. "Such as?"

Atemu took his pawn with one of his. "I am not a detective."

Seto moved his knight and took a pawn. "No, but you must have an idea."

Atemu took his knight with a pawn. "It could have been any number of things. Maybe McDonnell recognized a voice. Maybe Yuugi or Katsuya simply decided to frame you as blatantly as possible, hoping stupid would describe me."

Seto moved a pawn. "Yuugi would know better."

Atemu took a different pawn. "Katsuya should too," he admitted. "Whatever else he thinks of me."

Seto moved his rook back to base. "Maybe it's not you they need to convince."

Atemu used his second rook to take Seto's pawn. "Meaning?"

Seto took the rook with his bishop. "Meaning, that for all your influence, Your Majesty, you are not law as in days of old."

Atemu angrily moved a pawn. "Don't call me that."

He was clearly trying to trick Seto into taking the pawn with his bishop so that he could then take the bishop with a knight. Seto instead moved a remaining pawn. Atemu jerked his rook back out of harm's way and to base.

Seto slid his bishop calmly to the far side of the board. "Why do you hate that so much?"

Atemu marched a pawn forward and said, "Tell me what you meant."

Seto moved his bishop back a space. "Meaning that the law is the law of the land. It's Magistrate Miller they need to convince."

Atemu took a pawn with a bishop, missing Seto setting up to use his own bishop to take his queen. A soft oath left his mouth. "Magistrate Miller will listen to me, regardless."

Seto watched him move a pawn, then took another with his bishop. "Katsuya said as much at the manor when he showed up to escort me. He also didn't arrest me when I shoved him into the wall."

Atemu moved a pawn. "Why would you do that?"

Seto moved his bishop to the middle of the board. "Temper. I did what I'm sure Yuugi won't, but which I know you do: act on your emotions."

Atemu looked at him coldly over the chessboard and saved his rook from danger. Seto smiled and took another pawn. Atemu ran his rook down the board in preparation to take a bishop. Seto checked his king with his second bishop. Atemu growled and moved it. Seto checked with his rook. Atemu defended again and Seto chased with his rook. Atemu desperately moved his king and Seto moved his second rook and checkmated. Atemu cursed rather unbecomingly for a royal.

"You are a master chess player, aren't you?"

"Yes," Seto said.

"And I shall never improve because they took my master from me!" Atemu was hissing over the board, eyes bright with anger. "You want to know why Katsuya didn't arrest you? Because if he did, I would know he would go against my orders. My orders were to bring you to me, no matter what. I may have no say over the police, even if it's His Majesty's Police-" Atemu said this with cold disgust. "-but I am King, and Miller is very interested in my opinion. Why else do you think he remanded you as I pleased? Katsuya knows this, as you said. Bringing you to me was his only choice."

"Why did you bring me here? Not just to try to lay a trap."

"How easy would it be for a prime suspect home alone to be killed? Perhaps by a patriot unconcerned with waiting for a guilty verdict before acting." As Seto opened his mouth, Atemu waved his hand. "Having guardsmen at your doorstep would have solved that problem, yes, but as I said, I want Yuugi, Katsuya, you, and me all here at the same time."

Seto shook his head slowly. "Atemu, they will not make a move in the castle."

"My father was in the castle! Lady Helen on the grounds!"

Atemu was red in the face. Seto reached across the chessboard and clapped his hand over his mouth. Atemu looked comically shocked. Speaking gently, Seto said, "Calm down. I know you want justice for Lady Helen and King Aknamkanon, but you are too emotional. As angry as this is sure to make you, I'll say it anyway. Act more like Yuugi. He barely twitched a muscle that whole conversation."

Atemu glared at him over his hand. Seto flashed on the last time he'd covered Atemu's mouth and removed his hand. Atemu stood.

"Then thank me for bringing you here instead of leaving you in the open."

Atemu stormed away. Seto sighed and watched one of the guards enter the room, telling him to come on to the chambers that were his for the night. Seto did so, finding himself in the one he'd stayed at previously both times. The fire had warmed the bedroom and laid out was a set of pajamas that might have been the ones previously. Seto changed and then laid down in bed.

He stared at the ceiling, unable to sleep. Unlike before, when Atemu was sick with pneumonia, Seto didn't think he needed to go guard him. Unlike before, Atemu was wary and also his Imperial Guard probably had guards stationed outside his chamber doors with orders not to let anyone at all disturb him.

But he couldn't sleep. The bed was soft, but the room was oppressively warm and he couldn't stop thinking about Yuugi's endgame. The letter opener was stupid, but the lake had been, too, and it not only had nearly worked, but if Yuugi was simply attempting to start an Irish Rebellion, this could be an attempt at two birds with one stone. Have Seto accused of the plot with evidence that his own letter opener was the murder weapon, the only item in Seto's possession that was both engraved and dangerous, and let Ireland hear about a kinsman killed by an Englishman, whatever McDonnell had said about being unable to go home. That could be the spark that blew the powder keg.

Seto climbed from bed and started pacing.

Whatever Atemu's influence on his kingdom was, his power ended at court. If Magistrate Miller thought that Seto was guilty and could not be swayed, Atemu might only be able to save Seto from a death sentence. Life imprisonment or banishment to a penal colony might be the best he could do. Undoubtedly, Yuugi had almost as much influence as Atemu. Unlike his cousin, as far as Seto knew, he'd presented himself as an upstanding royal, and he could possibly persuade Miller into believing that Atemu was too inside the situation to see Seto was guilty.

Once Seto was behind bars, he could easily meet the same fate as McDonnell. In fact, Atemu had been concerned about that in Seto's own manor, which was why Seto was here.

What could Seto do? Yuugi would not do something so stupid as to try to hurt him here.

But maybe Katsuya would.

Katsuya had a temper, the same as Seto, the same as Atemu. He was cold and calculated, but what if that was only when he had time to prepare? Maybe he'd set up the ice markers, on Yuugi's orders or under his own plot, and then panicked when McDonnell's conscience got the better of him. The letter opener had gone missing before McDonnell was on anyone's horizon, but it was possible Katsuya had planned on sticking it in Atemu instead and had rushed to put it in McDonnell the minute he could do so without making it obvious the man had died as soon as Katsuya had returned from France.

Maybe he could be goaded into making a wrong move.

Seto put on his dressing gown, then went to the doors. A guard looked over at him as he moved out into the hall.

"Can I assist you with something, Mr. Kaiba?" he asked politely.

Seto wasn't sure if he was on house arrest here in this suite. "I can't sleep. I was hoping for some fresh air that wasn't in the negatives."

The guard stared at him for several minutes, then said, "King Atemu says you may go as you please." The way he said it indicated he had as much to think about that as Imperial Dobbs had, but wouldn't question his orders.

Atemu really was trying to provoke Yuugi or Katsuya into something. "I might like a glass of warm milk," Seto added. "The kitchens…?"

"First floor, behind the grand stair case on the left. Head cook's quarters behind the grand stair case on the right. Shall I accompany?"

This was it. "No, thank you, I can manage."

The guard narrowed his eyes, but didn't protest. Seto went down the hall to its intersecting big brother that connected all of the floor, then considered. Atemu's room was in the South wing. He hadn't moved into his father's suite of rooms after his ascension despite the fact that they were likely to be the grandest of them all. Yuugi was almost surely on the third floor as well, and it would only make sense in the layout of the palace for his rooms to be opposite Atemu's, another princely suite. The guest suite was in the East wing, which meant Yuugi was likely to the North. The West, which overlooked the best view of the back gardens and the lake, was probably the royal suite. So where was Katsuya? Some other guest suite on the second floor, perhaps. Nowhere to see Seto moving around.

On impulse, Seto headed to the North. He didn't know the layout, but there had been stairs just to the side of Atemu's suite in the South, and just about everything involving the palace seemed to be based on mirror images. There were likely stairs in the North, so if there were guards in front of Yuugi's suite, he could take those stairs down to the kitchens or simply say he got lost looking for the stairs. It was risky, but hadn't he already established that risky moves were paying off?

There were no guards. Frowning, Seto crept up to the North suite, but hesitated to do anything else until he had established an escape route. He found the stairs to the left, exactly mirroring the South, as he had expected. Satisfied, he moved up to the North suite doors and tried the handle. The door was unlocked and he very slowly opened it, finding a sitting room that looked exactly like Atemu's, only done in different colors.

There was firelight coming from the ajar door to the bedroom. And also voices. Wondering if Katsuya had come up to Yuugi's suite to plot, Seto snuck across the dark sitting room to the doorway, then peered in cautiously.

"How could you be so stupid?!" Yuugi snarled. He was facing away Seto, sitting on the edge of his bed and appearing to be glaring out of the French doors leading to his suite's balcony.

"Yuugi-" Katsuya started. Seto couldn't see him from his position.

"First you start that idiotic plan to kill Atemu at the lake, then you kill that Irish arsehole and sloppily try to frame Kaiba! I thought you were the constable? You're barely smart enough to write your own name, aren't you?"

"Yuugi, please." Katsuya sounded wounded and desperate. "The Rebellion-"

"The Rebellion he says." Yuugi's voice was cuttingly sarcastic. "Yes, let's start an uprising against Britain! With a starving mass of potato gulpers on a whole 'nother isle! Who is going to suffer if they rebel? They're already pushing for Sovereignty! They're Britain's!" Yuugi snarled this furiously. "Atemu is already considering giving them what they want, the spineless coward."

"So, start a Rebellion," Katsuya said. He suddenly appeared in Seto's line of sight, and Seto nearly jerked back, but Katsuya wasn't paying attention to anything but Yuugi and he settled himself on the edge of the bed next to him. "Turn them against him. He'll have to go to war with them-"

"And it'll be British soldiers dying to quell it, you pillock! If it even starts. And what were you thinking, stabbing McDonnell with that letter opener? Kill him, fine, but with *that*?"

"I made it look like McDonnell was going to finger Kaiba-"

"Then why would Kaiba kill him with his own letter opener? Why would he just shout to the world he did it?"

"You said it yourself Atemu would think that was ridiculous and let Kaiba off. Then we kill him and frame Kaiba again-"

"Oh, as if you thought of something that clever." Yuugi sneered. "You did something stupid and in your panic to fix it, you made it worse. Now you listen to me. You do nothing else unless I tell you to do it. Do you understand me? "

"Yes," Katsuya said softly. Resentfully.

Yuugi sighed heavily. He turned to Katsuya and reached up, stroking his fingers through Katsuya's hair. Katsuya leaned into his touch. "I know what you were trying to do," he said. "But forget the Irish angle. I will not have Britain's citizens dying at the hands of those drunks."

Pure British nationalism. Ireland was part of the commonwealth, but the two islands were largely acrimonious, and it was no state secret that many Irish wanted independence of their neighbors. The Rebellion had sounded like a good idea, as Seto had thought previously, but it was Yuugi's haughty ethnic snobbery that would put the stop to that.

"I'm sorry, Yuugi," Katsuya said with a whine.

"I know. Forgiven. Now I told you not to do anything unless I tell you. That includes stopping me from ravishing you."

Katsuya looked up just as Yuugi rose up on one leg, the other kneeling on the bed, and kissed him. He moaned and immediately wound his arms around Yuugi's waist. Yuugi's hand in his hair pulled his head back, and then his mouth went to his neck. He must have bit because Katsuya whined in pain, but didn't push him off. Yuugi shoved him down roughly onto his back and moved astride his hips.

Seto drew back slowly, then tiptoed across the sitting room and left.

Seto didn't stop until he was on the ground floor of the palace. Once there, he meandered through the halls, openly asking the few guards who were up to direct him to the kitchens. He had to get the milk he didn't want, evidence to show the original guard that he'd gone where he'd said he was going to, if the guard hadn't already come down to see if he had.

The head cook didn't seem the least bit surprised or upset at being rousted near midnight for a cup of warm milk. Serving a palace full of royalty and nobility, he was probably used to it. Though it was still an underling who actually got the milk.

Taking the warm milk laced with honey back up to his suite, Seto didn't even glance at the guard who was still at his post and keeping watch. He went into the rooms, set the cup down on the table before the couch, then settled himself down to think by the dying light of the fire.

He now had knowledge that Yuugi really was the true mastermind behind all of this, as well as knowledge that Yuugi hadn't implicated himself at all. He'd drawn Katsuya into his plot, then put everything on the policeman's head. Eager to please Yuugi, Katsuya had started a clever, if risky, plan that had nearly worked, even if Yuugi didn't see it that way. Two plans, if Seto was being truthful. Because as he'd told Atemu in the parlor, it ultimately didn't matter what Atemu thought, only the Magistrate. Katsuya probably had always intended to simply kill Atemu with Seto's letter opener and frame him as crazy. McDonnell had thrown a wrench in his plans, but killing him with Seto's letter opener could just have easily appeared as that Seto had gone to threaten his co-conspirator, panicked, and killed him with the first thing at hand. There were holes in the theory, of course, but with nothing else to present, and Katsuya filing the evidence as he saw fit, it could be enough.

Yuugi. Seto tried to fully understand him. Katsuya was obvious; he was head over heels and would do anything for Yuugi. But Yuugi himself was more complex. He hated his cousin for whatever reason, saw Atemu as unfit, and wanted the throne for himself. Whether it was simply to keep himself secure or to influence policy in Britain's favor as much as possible with little to no great interference didn't matter. But what did Yuugi care about?

He was courting Catherine publicly. Did he care about her or was he using her to keep attention off his relationship with Katsuya? Did he care about Katsuya at all, or was he merely seducing him to keep him infatuated and set him up to take the fall if things really went bad? He could even truly care about both-such a thing was far from unheard of-or neither and be all about himself.

Truly, Yuugi treated Katsuya poorly. He insulted and berated him, hurt him without care, and probably would set him adrift to save his own skin if it came down to it. But Seto didn't think there could be any good out of trying to turn Katsuya against Yuugi. He was utterly lost to the prince, and even if he could be prevailed on to betray Yuugi, there was nothing to prove it. It was Yuugi's word against Katsuya's. Yuugi had carefully engineered the whole thing to keep himself clean.

The only way out of this was to get rid of Yuugi and Katsuya both. But how to do that? Atemu could send them away permanently, but how would he justify it? As Seto had said, they were beyond the time when Atemu could do whatever he wanted and not be questioned. Seto had paid very little attention to the royal family growing up, but he didn't doubt that if he asked around, favor for Yuugi would exceed that of favor for Atemu. Therefore, if Atemu exiled his cousin without good reason, without proof, he could tank his own popularity, inviting Yuugi to try that coup. An act of Parliament could remove Atemu and give Yuugi what he wanted.

And what could Seto do? Yuugi could, and probably would, bide his time now, even up to years, assuming Atemu didn't try to remove him. Seto couldn't stay forever at the palace, protected though he might be. He had his own life and his own affairs.

Maybe Seto could be the bait Atemu wanted. Atemu could be concealed somewhere and Seto goad Katsuya into confessing. It hadn't happened yet, but Katsuya had come close on several occasions. If Atemu heard a direct confession, he could send Yuugi to the Tower and have Katsuya arrested.

tbc...