The Queen's Bastard Part 20

Unless she could convince him it was the only way. Dismissive laughter rose in her even as the idea formed. It was, perhaps, the only way for her, but she was a child of another realm, both in country and in heart. The few moments she would spend at Javier's side in the eyes of all Echon would fade and disappear beneath a lifetime of duty serving Aulun. Beatrice Irvine might briefly be remembered; Belinda Primrose would never exist.

Irritation surged through stillness, an unexpected rise of emotion. Belinda clamped it down, thoughts half bent to scolding the witchpower within her. Identifying the ambition that using power woke in her made it easier to draw back from it, though it rose more quickly each time she drew heavily on the gift Javier had teased to life. Its fire was only semi-welcome: Belinda craved the skills it brought, the ability to hide and influence, but s.h.i.+ed from the raw sense of injustice it carried with it. She had accepted with open eyes and a clear mind her place in the world as Lorraine's natural child, and to find a part of herself boiling with resentment and striving for a place among the stars was uncomfortable and distressing. It made her wonder at her own beliefs, whether she was content with the lot she'd been handed, when a lifetime of knowing who and what she was had never troubled her before.

"It's still too early." Dmitri's voice, heard through a child's pretense at sleep. She had been nine then, truly no more than a child. Perhaps now, at twenty-two, she was still come too early to her gifts; perhaps that was why Robert had never removed the barriers in her mind. But the witchpower that pooled in her mind told her otherwise: it had wakened her to Dmitri's arrival in Khazan, and overwhelmed her at the tavern in Aria Magli. Robert might yet believe that her magic should go untested and untrained, but that was a rare mistake on her father's part. True power would not be forever contained, and it had broken free outside of his influence and in its own time. Dmitri's voice, heard through a child's pretense at sleep. She had been nine then, truly no more than a child. Perhaps now, at twenty-two, she was still come too early to her gifts; perhaps that was why Robert had never removed the barriers in her mind. But the witchpower that pooled in her mind told her otherwise: it had wakened her to Dmitri's arrival in Khazan, and overwhelmed her at the tavern in Aria Magli. Robert might yet believe that her magic should go untested and untrained, but that was a rare mistake on her father's part. True power would not be forever contained, and it had broken free outside of his influence and in its own time.

And so, too, Belinda thought, would she, if it were necessary in shaping Gallin's fall and Aulun's rise.

Skirts gathered, she finally stepped free of shadow and slipped down the hall to her lover's chambers.

AKILINA PANKEJEFF, DVORYANIN

14 November 1587 Lutetia

There is something wrong with the guardsman.

Akilina chose him at random out of Gregori's ranks, once the death services were attended to. She chose him for his rough-hewn good-looks and a tendency toward cleanliness that most of his brethren didn't seem to share, and that, she realises now, is what's wrong. His thick hair looks greasy, his brown eyes bright with fever. Sweat stands against swarthy skin and trickles into his beard, and she thinks she can smell him, even from half a room away. It's not like him, and a combination of curiosity and disgust compels her to snap her fingers and gesture him toward her. "Lutetia doesn't agree with you...?"

"Viktor, my lady," he supplies without resentment, though she's sure she's asked before. His gaze flickers to the side, unwilling to meet hers. That would be proper, except for the skittishness she sees in him.

"Look at me, Viktor." Command suits her voice well. Viktor draws his shoulders back, coming to full attention and bringing his eyes to hers. "Lutetia disagrees with you?" she asks again. "You've kept close to me since we've arrived, and you look ill." It's only as she says it that Akilina realises it's true. In the handful of days she's been at Sandalia's court, of all the guards, Viktor has never been far from her side. Even when weariness must have had him wanting his rest, he's been nearby. Delight curves her mouth and she considers him again, this time as a cat might a morsel. He needs bathing-G.o.d, he needs bathing!-but he's broad of shoulder and if there's a thickness to him through the hips, all the better; fragile men have never been to her taste.

That thought, inevitably, brings the pale, ginger-haired Javier to mind. He is beautifully shaped, though his slender body makes Akilina think of a boy not yet grown to a man's form. She has little doubt of his male a.s.sets, but now isn't the time to explore that road. Not with news of his engagement coming so quickly on the heels of Akilina's arrival that she might think it deliberate if she didn't know better. As it is, an alliance with the little Lanyarchan girl strikes Akilina as enormously funny, and she has every intention of remaining in the Gallic court long enough to watch the romance play out. There will, after all, be pieces to pick up afterward, and Akilina fancies herself something of an expert at puzzles.

Which brings her back to Viktor's attentiveness. It seems a simple puzzle, to be sure, but pleasing to unravel regardless. "Are you unwell?" Heartsick? she wants to ask, but it's far more entertaining to play it out and see if the man condemns himself with his own tongue. A guard ought not look so high as a n.o.blewoman, though should her eye fall so low he dares not turn away. Such is the narrow path offered to the lower cla.s.ses, and Akilina enjoys making a man walk its balance.

"Not ill, my lady," Viktor replies, but he sounds uncertain of himself. Akilina c.o.c.ks an eyebrow and leans forward, arching her throat as she smiles up at him. His gaze falls to her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and then jerks away again, more caution in him than many a man bothers to show.

"Too little sleep, then." She traces a finger along her jaw, then down the line of her throat, watching Viktor struggle with where to put his eyes. "You've been near me my every waking hour, Viktor. Do you watch over me while I sleep, as well?"

"Yes, my lady." Viktor's voice has gone hoa.r.s.e and he struggles not to watch as Akilina idly follows the curve of her own breast, mounded against corsets. The attempt is valiant, and she would admire him for it if it didn't amuse her so much.

"And why do you watch me so closely, guardsman?" Viktor's erection is plain to see against his pants. It's a shame he's so badly in need of a bath, or the afternoon might take a far more entertaining turn than Akilina had antic.i.p.ated.

Viktor, thickly, says, "She told me to," and Akilina's hands grow chilly, ceasing their exploration of her body. The afternoon, it seems, will yet provide some entertainment.

"She?" That Sandalia would put a spy on her is to be expected. That she'd choose one of Akilina's own people is both audacious and foolish: the strain of surveillance is a thing to be worked up to, to be taught, not dropped into the lap of an amateur. It explains Viktor's failing health and his sharp scent; he is absolutely unprepared for this kind of work.

"Rosa," he answers, then draws his eyebrows down heavily and pa.s.ses a hand over his face. "Rosa," he says again, but there's uncertainty in his voice. Akilina stands, moving closer to him even though doing so causes her to hold her breath.

"Who is Rosa, Viktor?" The command is gone from her voice, leaving gentleness. He seems close to breaking, this strong Khazarian guard, and it would be a shame for him to shatter before she understands the game he's been drawn into.

"Prince Javier's woman," he responds, and Akilina's astonishment blooms into laughter.

"Javier's woman, as you so crudely put it, is Beatrice Irvine, some ign.o.ble gentry from Northern Aulun. She She set you to spying on me?" set you to spying on me?"

"Rosa told me to," Viktor says stubbornly, and something in his gaze clears, fever pitch fading as he turns a glower on Akilina. It's a moment before he seems to realise whom he's scowling at, and then he shakes himself and drops his gaze. "I'm sorry, my lady."

"Viktor." Akilina puts a fingertip beneath his chin and forces his head up again. "Lady Irvine reminds you of a Rosa?" This is fine stuff: a guardsman in l.u.s.t with a lady. Better yet, the prince's woman. Akilina could have his head for it, and make it a gift to Gallin.

Viktor, it seems, ceases to care that Akilina is his mistress, and turns the full force of frustrated anger on her, black eyebrows drawn low over dark eyes. There's desperation in him, a broken understanding that bleeds from his gaze. The fever is back, burning in him. "I've swivved the b.i.t.c.h, my lady," he snaps, and even as he speaks it's clear he doesn't know how what he says can be, but that he believes it with every fibre of his being. "She more than reminds me. I'd swear on my own grave that she's the same bit that warmed my bed and Count Gregori's in the days before he died."

Heat and cold slip over Akilina's body like a lover, raising queasiness instead of pa.s.sion. It fades in seconds, leaving heart-palpitating excitement in its place. "Viktor, Viktor, Viktor." Akilina covers his lips with her fingertip and steps closer still, risking staining her gown with his sweat. "If you are not right, darling Viktor, it will indeed be your grave you swear on. Now tell me," she breathes. "Tell me everything."

BELINDA PRIMROSE / BEATRICE IRVINE

14 November 1587 Lutetia

"Eliza can't be gone." Javier's petulance astounded Belinda, his hurt that of a child whose world had been so badly shaken he could only stand and rail against it. "Where would she go? Why would she go?"

"Lord a.s.selin tells me she is, my lord," Belinda said unhappily. "And I haven't seen her since Tuesday morning." Javier hadn't noticed, or had not, at least, commented on, the bruise that marked Belinda's jaw. That was as well: she discovered that she genuinely preferred not to lay its blame at Eliza's feet-or fist-and she doubted Javier would accept clumsiness as an excuse. "Are there any childhood hideaways she might be able to make her way to?"

"Not without me." Casual arrogance filled the reply, making impossible the suggestion that Eliza had somewhere to go outside of Javier's personal haunts. Belinda held her tongue, waiting for a chance to propose the idea without insulting the prince. "Beatrice, she can't leave. I need her."

"Did you ever tell her that, my lord?" The part of the devil's advocate was an unfamiliar one, and Belinda took no relish in playing it. Javier alone was no doubt easier to manipulate than Javier surrounded by his lifetime friends, but the raw misery pulsing off him made Belinda want to throw her characteristic behavior away and gather him close in sympathy.

Javier made a noise of exasperation. "Why would I? We've been together all our lives." Again, the emotion that poured off him showed no indication that he could be in the wrong. It was a powerful thing, Belinda thought, supreme confidence in oneself. Powerful and dangerous, perhaps most especially to those who never had it challenged. Belinda believed in her own growing magic and in her skills, but not with Javier's royal conviction. Understanding how people might react was a survival trait for her; for the prince, it was something to be advised on by councilors and generals.

"You've been together all your lives, but still you've become engaged without warning her," Belinda pointed out. "You've been together all your lives, Javier, and she loves you. She's in in love with you. Did it not strike you that such news might come most kindly from your own lips?" love with you. Did it not strike you that such news might come most kindly from your own lips?"

"I told Marius!"

"Oh, G.o.d help me." Belinda let herself fall into Aulunian for the one phrase, endowing it with a Lanyarchan burr and all the impatience she could muster. "Yes, and that was well done, but those three are your friends, friends, Javier. Marius isn't the only one who deserved to hear it from you. They all did, maybe Eliza most of all." Pride was as dangerous as Javier's boundless confidence, and even Javier had grasped the idea that the poor might be even more terribly proud than the wealthy. Javier. Marius isn't the only one who deserved to hear it from you. They all did, maybe Eliza most of all." Pride was as dangerous as Javier's boundless confidence, and even Javier had grasped the idea that the poor might be even more terribly proud than the wealthy.

"Well, then, I've got to get her back." Javier threw off his sulk in a fit of action, stalking across his chambers to fling open the wardrobe and root through it. Belinda watched, bemused.

"Shall you humiliate me by announcing an engagement and then riding after another woman, stopping to ask all the pa.s.sersby if they've seen a beauty filled with rage come this way, my lord?"

Javier went still, so sudden and profound Belinda imagined for a moment that he had learned her trick of letting nothing touch him. She sighed and crossed to him, putting her fingers at the small of her back, where she herself wore a tiny dagger. "I want her gone no more than you do, Javier. If we're to find her, let's put a practical plan into place, rather than chasing hares across Echon. She's a woman alone, without money. She can't have gone terribly far in four days."

"She does have money," Javier said thickly. "I can't count how much she's stolen off me over the years. She..." He drew his hands from the wardrobe, rippling his knuckles as though a coin danced over them. "Practised," he murmured. "On me, I suppose, so she could steal from others without being caught. Oh, Liza, you fool."

It was not, Belinda thought, Eliza who was the fool. "Send men, my lord. Send them to wherever you can think she might be. Make it known that you're doing so, if you want. I can stand the embarra.s.sment." She smiled faintly. "And Eliza will like that you've put up the fuss. It may bring her home."

Javier turned to look down at her, hope burning bright in his gaze. "Would it bring you home?"

"Yes," Belinda said gently, and smiled to seal the lie. Eliza would be found only if she wanted to be; Javier, Belinda suspected, simply had no understanding of where to seek the gutter-born woman. But relief turned the prince's eyes to slate and he nodded, drawing her close. Against her will she put her arms around him, feeling his sigh and brief tremble before he spoke against her hair.

"And what of Sacha? Is he as angry as all that, too?"

"Sacha has strictly forbidden me to marry you." Belinda made her voice light and tipped her chin up to give Javier another smile, this one intending to mask nothing but the truth. "I expect he'll denounce me as a harlot eager to spread my legs for anyone willing to move toward freeing Lanyarch from Reformation rule if I don't break it off with all due haste."

"Really?" A hint of welcome laughter warmed Javier's question. "And is that true, Beatrice?"

Belinda widened her eyes in a too-broad semblance of innocence. "Of course not, my lord. I'll only spread my legs for the prince's friends, and complain bitterly when they're coa.r.s.e and inattentive lovers."

Javier's laughter turned full, a bark of sound over Belinda's head. She lowered her gaze, taking momentary satisfaction in the truth turned against a.s.selin, then looked back up to smile at Javier's teasing remark: "Splendid. I'll tell Sacha he's dreadful in bed when he comes to me with imprecations about your reputation." His humour faded. "And Marius?"

"Believes you'll put me aside, my lord." Belinda sighed, more genuine regret in the sound than she was comfortable owning to. "The same story you told your mother. A mother might eventually forgive, but a friends.h.i.+p like Marius's is a precious thing to waste."

"He'll forgive me, in time." Javier's unflaggable confidence rang false. "It would help if I had a sister to marry him off to. Marius is inconsistent in love. You were-" Discomfort wrote itself over his face. "You were the first he bothered introducing to us."

"If I'd known about the witchbreed power," Belinda murmured, "I might have come straight to you, and we might have spared Marius's heart." Again, there was more truth in her words than she liked, and Javier drew her closer, sensing her melancholy.

"We two are alone," he said into her hair. "You couldn't know. Nor, I think, would you dare introduce yourself to a prince. You fail to watch your tongue often enough, Beatrice, but that boldness might have been beyond your ken." He chuckled without humour and moved away from her, tension in the lines of his body. "Or did you choose Marius so you might meet me?"

"What a horrible burden to always walk beneath," Belinda said after a moment, letting raw sorrow touch her voice. "It is lonely to be a prince, isn't it, my lord? Rumour said that Marius Poulin was your friend," she admitted cautiously. "I did not imagine he would bring me to meet you so readily." Truth lay in fine shards beneath her words, Javier seeming too delicate, in the moment, to ease with soothing falsehoods. "I could not have imagined what has happened." That, at least, was truth unvarnished, so much so that Belinda uttered an unnaturally rough laugh. "Who could?" she added, unable to help the question. To her relief Javier turned back with a wry smile.

"Not I. And I think that even if you had deliberately sought Marius out and used him to reach me, that I might forgive you for it, Beatrice. I have been alone with G.o.d and my power all my life, and whatever means brought you to me are means that I am thankful for."

"Then be thankful for a strong Lanyarchan oak, and the clever hands of s.h.i.+pwrights," Belinda quipped, and Javier smiled again. "Come, my lord," she said more quietly, and then amus.e.m.e.nt slid into her voice despite herself. "We have other things to think about, do we not? A wedding to plan, a throne to topple, and Lanyarch to frame for it."

14

ROBERT, LORD DRAKE

19 November 1587 Alunaer

"We are un.o.bserved?" The question is a matter of ritual, and that is the only only thing that brings it to Robert's lips tonight. He stands in the queen's private meeting room with a letter clenched in his fist, a letter that has made its way by s.h.i.+p from Lutetia to a miserable hovel in Northern Aulun, then by horse, of which it smells, to his estates to the west, and finally by his own harried courier to Aulun's capital city, where it has come to end its days as a smear of ink in Robert Drake's large fist. thing that brings it to Robert's lips tonight. He stands in the queen's private meeting room with a letter clenched in his fist, a letter that has made its way by s.h.i.+p from Lutetia to a miserable hovel in Northern Aulun, then by horse, of which it smells, to his estates to the west, and finally by his own harried courier to Aulun's capital city, where it has come to end its days as a smear of ink in Robert Drake's large fist.

"We are," Lorraine answers, and for a rarity she sounds amused at the question. It's because of his own agitation, he knows, and yet he finds himself too piqued to present even a semblance of calm. "What on earth has happened, Robert?" Lorraine is in fine form, indeed; perhaps he should remember that his distress improves her humour. He is accustomed to being level-headed, and Lorraine has always thrived on the temerity offered by her red-gold hair. It's believed redheads are more p.r.o.ne to temper fits than others, and if Lorraine is to be taken as an example, superst.i.tion is right.

"It's Belinda," he manages to grate, and for a startling moment both of them cease all motion, the weight of that girl's name heavy in the air between them. Robert refers to her as Primrose Primrose when he must discuss her at all with Lorraine, but their daughter is a topic he prefers to avoid. It's a matter of practicality, not sensitivity; a queen ought not know the details of those doing murder in her name. when he must discuss her at all with Lorraine, but their daughter is a topic he prefers to avoid. It's a matter of practicality, not sensitivity; a queen ought not know the details of those doing murder in her name.

"You have our attention, Robert," Lorraine says archly, when silence has gone on too long. "Pray, share your news with us."

"She has-She's-" Robert splutters and thrusts the bedraggled letter toward his queen. Her finely plucked eyebrows elevate and she takes it as if it were diseased, which may not be far from true. She unwrinkles it between long white fingers-even in her age, Lorraine's hands are lovely-and scans the travel-stained contents of the paper. Her eyebrows inch fractionally higher as she reads, until wrinkles appear in her forehead; she is not given to allowing herself such expressions, for they leave marks in skin that's no longer as resilient as it once was. When she looks up her expression is hugely amused, and that, Robert fears, is deadly.

"Congratulations, Robert. Your silent weapon is silent no longer." Lorraine hands him the letter and he crumples it again as she lounges in her chair, tapping a fingertip against scarlet-painted lips. A smile hovers behind her mouth, playing at the muscles of her face but not permitted to burst forth. "Has ambition proved too much for her? A queen's ba-"

Robert silences her with a slice of his hand through the air, abrupt motion that he would never dare in public. Lorraine's eyebrows shoot up again, more than enough commentary, but of all things, he will not permit her to say the words she nearly has, not even in the privacy of her un.o.bserved meeting room. There are no ears to hear it, but it remains far better if there are no words to be heard. "A queen's b.a.s.t.a.r.d" is a condemning phrase, and not to the child, not in this age, not in this world. "If she were working from ambition," and this he believes, "she wouldn't have warned us of Javier's plot. It's enough, Lorraine." He uses her name deliberately, something he doesn't often do; he hopes to sway her with its importance. "It's proof of movement against you. It's time to act."

He can see before she speaks that she'll reject his insistence. Lorraine's greatest weakness is her caution, though it may also be her greatest strength. That caution has let her hold a throne for nearly thirty years without losing it to a marriage bed or a battle. But it has also kept her from acting when she should, especially against Sandalia, who holds ambition like a flare against the night. The men of her court call it feminine sentiment, and still, after three decades, name it proof that Lorraine should not be permitted to rule alone. Robert knows that sentiment sways his queen less than a too-precise understanding: revolution and regicide are dangerous tools, and once broached, catch imagination far too easily.

Frustration rises, dark and hot within him as he's proven right with Lorraine's slight shake of her head. "An ambitious boy doesn't lay the grounds for action taken against another crowned head, Robert. Your Primrose says Sandalia approves, but words aren't proof. I will move." Her voice sharpens, as does her cool grey gaze, and for a moment Robert recalls that he is indeed in the presence of royalty. Lorraine expects her will to be obeyed, and in the end, he knows he won't go against her. To do so is not in his nature, no more than it is in Belinda's.

"I will move," Lorraine repeats, "when no other crowned head of Echon would hold it against me for doing so. We demand proof, Robert, unquestionable proof. We demand words written with treacherous intent and signed in Sandalia's name before we will call our sister-queen a pretender with ambitions to our throne and strike her down for it."

"My lady." Robert bows his head, unwilling to argue. Lorraine holds a hard gaze on him for long moments, establis.h.i.+ng that her will is as supreme here, in her private chambers, as it is everywhere in Aulun. Only when he has held the submissive posture long enough does she relent with a quick gesture of her long fingers.

"We will, however, play your Primrose's game," she says more softly. "We will agitate and rumble and smell of fear, as if we are so uncertain of ourselves and our throne as to quaver at the idea of a Lanyarchan uprising. Perhaps we ourselves will lure young Javier into a trap, and hold his mother at bay that way."

She relaxes suddenly, regality fleeing from her stance and weariness greying her eyes. "Am I such a wicked queen? Robert," she says, and he's uncertain if she wishes him to answer. He thinks not, but Lorraine's lapses into ordinary humanity are as unpredictable as her temper, and she never questions herself, not in public, not in private. "My sister held the throne through a reign of bloodshed; my brother for so few days he is all but forgotten." She stands, crossing the room to where a window once was; now its only mark is stone of a lighter shade than the surrounding walls. She puts her hand against the seam, gaze turned outward, as though she sees things he can't. He is more certain now that she does not want an answer of him, only for his ears and silence.

"It's been a half century and more since my father split the Church and laid down Reformation law." Lorraine's voice holds a note of wryness: in confessing those years she confesses to her own age, for her mother was the woman Henry split from Cordula over. It's not an acknowledgment she cares to make; in fact, Robert often wonders if she quite realises how many years have pa.s.sed. He knows she's too intelligent to deny the pa.s.sage of time, and yet the determination with which she plays at youth and teases fresh marriage proposals on the proposition of child-bearing is so deep-set that it seems impossible she could maintain the facade without believing in it herself.

But now regret hollows Robert's heart to hear her admit to the years. It's an unexpected weakness to find inside himself, the hope and bizarre belief that Lorraine Walter can hold off age through denial, even when his eyes and intellect tell him it's a battle she, like everyone, must lose. "Lanyarch chafes under Reformation rule where Aulun has bowed its head to it. I don't want Constance's legacy, Robert. I don't want my name to be whispered as a butcher's-Oh, stop it," she says impatiently, and he startles, then curls an apologetic smile toward the floor. Her thoughts may be turned to things beyond the palace walls, but her attention is crisp enough inside the spy-hole room, and she saw his grimace that said she wasn't supposed to know the names laid at her dead sister's feet. "I'm neither deaf nor a fool, and Constance's name was drowned in blood long before I took the throne. A country does not easily sway between one faith and another. Surely it was right to hold with Father's religion, when a return to Cordula's brought such bitter bloodshed during Constance's years on the throne."

Now she hesitates, and Robert takes it as a cue to speak, though he keeps his voice quiet and diffident. "You have been right." There's no other answer he can give, but he also believes it's true: Aulun's tender new religion has drawn scars deeply across the whole of the island nation. But those that run deepest are the ones left from Constance's reign. Lorraine's older sister, daughter of Henry's first and only, in Ec.u.menic eyes, legitimate wife, Constance had been faithful to her mother's religion, and tried to turn the tide back to Cordula's church. Hundreds of Reformation believers had burned during her short reign, and in the end, she had paid for her faith with her life. For stability, for expansion, for practicality in moving forward, Lorraine chose wisely in choosing her father's religion.

And Robert wants nothing more than for Aulun to move forward. "You have been right," he says again. "I have no answers for contentious Lanyarch, save to cut them free and make them their own country, no longer subject to the Aulunian crown."

Lorraine turns a look so incredulous it borders on offense toward him, and Robert laughs. "Well, it's an idea," he protests, and Lorraine's expression becomes that much more appalled. Robert lifts his hands in apology and bows deeply at the same time, though he's still smiling as he rises again. "Forgive me, my queen. It was a terrible idea."

"Your humour sometimes bewilders us, Robert." Lorraine falls into formality, but there's a twitch in her voice that says she might give herself over to laughter as well, were she not a queen. But she is, and Robert wonders if she can can laugh at such a j.a.pe, or if it's physically beyond her capability. He sighs, still smiling, and now turns his palms up. laugh at such a j.a.pe, or if it's physically beyond her capability. He sighs, still smiling, and now turns his palms up.

"If I didn't occasionally befuddle you, my queen, you might grow bored of me and put me aside. My life would be meaningless." It's meant as a quip, but his voice softens, betraying too much. Lorraine lowers her eyes as if she were still a girl and uncertain of how to respond to truth disguised as flattery. It was an embarra.s.sment, Robert thought, to actually fall in love with his queen. At least Dmitri would never know, and Seolfor; well, Seolfor.

"Let them play their game with Lanyarch," he says before silence grows too heavy. "Let Gallin think we tremble. We have Irina's treaty all but in hand, and with Khazarian troops we can quell that troublesome land if necessary. You must admit," he adds, suddenly thoughtful, "it's not a bad plot."

"Not if I were eighteen and uncertain of my throne," Lorraine says tartly, but she relents with a nod. "Better, perhaps, for stirring up Lanyarch than for threatening me, but even that can be trouble enough. Are you sure it's Javier's plot, Robert, and not your Primrose's? You taught her to be clever."

"No," he says, startling himself into another smile with the recollection of Belinda's innocent gaze all the times she made the amused claim that he now offers for her: "Her nurse did."

Lorraine's eyes narrow and he shrugs it off, briefly and inordinately pleased with the child he fathered. "I believe she'll press it forward to the point of the hard proof that you require, but not that she would instigate a plot against you, Lorraine. She's loyal, and if she is not, there is someone there who watches her, and who will tell me if she should falter." Robert spreads one hand, admission of his own weakness. "I trust her, but I wouldn't be your spymaster if I didn't distrust my own certainty. She's watched."

"She's young," Lorraine says, "and he's a prince. Loyalty can be bought. We'll play her game, Robert, but we wish her to be extracted from the situation. Fetch her yourself, or send your man who watches her to do so." It's not a mother's concern behind the command, but a regent's self-interest.

Robert inclines his head, a promise, then lifts his eyes again to say, mildly, "It will be done, my lady." He cannot help himself, though: he believes in his daughter, and so adds, "If I'm wrong about her, my head for it."

It's careless, meant to show loyalty, but something cool comes into Lorraine's eyes again, and Robert is once more reminded that he stands in the presence of royalty. She doesn't need words to remind him that it could well be his head for it, nor that favouritism can fade. Well and truly scolded, Robert bows again, and in the hidden places of that obsequience rues the heart that loves a queen.