“A pregnancy would have been noticed,” Joseph said cynically.
“Well it clearly was not. Perhaps Druids have ways of concealing such things, I don’t know?”
“But you didn’t ask?”
“I was somewhat overwhelmed,”
“And Eden? You truly believe your mother would deceive your father so? Threaten the de Brie name? She loved your father deeply.”
“She did it for me. Eden is to be my shield. How I don’t know. Cargius said he’ll come to know his role in his own time. And when this is done, he’ll be the keeper of the way.”
“I see. And what of you? What did he say would become of you?”
“Cargius didn’t say.”
“Well that’s convenient isn’t it?”
“You don’t know if what you fear has any merit,” she shot back.
“Nor do you. Danielle, if all this was true, why did your mother not do anything about Kane when he was born, hmmm? Despite the antagonism between the two of you, she loved him as much as she loved you. How could that be so if she knew what he was to become?”
“I don’t know! It could not be an easy thing for a mother to kill her child. It is bad enough that I must do it as a sister.”
He seemed to accept that at least to some degree and sat back in his seat. “Did they kill her?” he asked after a moment pause.
“What?”
“The White Druids. Did they kill her?”
Danielle was appalled by the suggestion. “Why would they?”
“She failed did she not? The assassin who took your mother’s life could have as easily been in the pay of the White Druids and not the Archbishop as we have long thought. It would account for the lack of closure and justice on the matter.”
“Absolutely not. Cargius said I was the target. They don’t know about mother or Eden, or my sister. They don’t know how the path of enlightenment works; O’Brook’s account is evidence of that I would think. And if mother was the target, why did she have to throw herself in front of me and father?”
“More convenience.”
“Then test Eden’s blood with silver fire and you’ll know the truth.”
“Like Vellum. You know what will happen to the de Brie dynasty if a hint of this gets out.”
She did and she liked it no more than him. Her suggestion was foolish and they both knew it.
Joseph calmed himself and said, “I want you to be a great deal less trusting of these people, Dee. The gods alone can know what else they’re not telling us. Or what lies they’re telling us to make us do as they please.”
She nodded grudgingly. “I guess that’s prudent.” It was hard to forget how unfeeling Cargius had been about the attack on the Arkaelyus. And she really didn’t want all that he had told her to be true. She didn’t need her mother’s memory sallied.
“I also think it might be equally prudent to find out what happened to this first born child. It’ll give us a better understanding of what Cargius and his colleagues have planned for you and how much truth there is to O’Brook’s account of this ceremony. At the moment I’m not sure who we should believe or if we should believe any of them. Certainly not completely.”
“How are we going to find her?”
“You leave that to me.”
***
James expected a frosty reception as he approached the door to his chambers. There hadn’t been an opportunity for Danielle and him to talk since returning to the palace; with her immediate summons to her father’s quarters, and Bastion taking him to the royal physicians to have his shoulder examined and redressed. What he had learned though, was that Kimberly and Jennifer Fairfax had spent the morning turning his chambers into a new sanctuary for Dee, while her apartment was being rebuilt. His things had been moved one door down the hallway to another chamber. He hadn’t remained in his new chambers any longer than it took to wash and change into fresh clothes, before making this walk up the passageway to her vestibule.
A knock on his old door was answered by stony silence, so he tried again, striking the timber and iron a little harder.
“She asked not to be disturbed, Milord,” the duty sergeant said, as he drew a key from his belt to unlock the door. They both knew that a protector’s warrant over rode such requests from their lady.
James understood the look of confusion and worry in the man’s eye as he stepped inside. He’d seen the same expression on nearly every face in the palace. He suspected it wasn’t confined to the palace either for word of the attack on the Lady de Brie’s chambers and the Arkaelyus had reached the city even before their return and now wild speculation was rife. Some of the stories he’d overheard made his hair curl.
James thanked the guard and slipped inside, closing the door after him. The day room was unoccupied. “Danielle?” She didn’t reply, but he heard water splash in the bedchamber down the hall. “Can we talk?”
“What is there to talk about? You’ve made your position quite clear I would think.”
He walked down the hall and opened the door and stepped into what had been his bedchamber for all of a few days. Danielle was in the copper bath by the fireplace. Her loose hair hung over the side in a curtain of gold as she lay there staring at the ceiling
James looked away as much from the tears on her cheeks than for modesty’s sake. “I’m sorry I forced you to speak to Joseph. But can’t you see there is reason to be worried?” he looked out through the balcony door at the garden beyond. He knew he should have handled this better and it pained him greatly that he had not.
“You’re not sorry at all. If you had to, you’d do it again. Say that I am wrong?”
Her angry words hit him like a barbed spear.
“What should I have done? I worry about you. You try and carry everything yourself when there are plenty of hands willing to help.”
She climbed out of the bath and he averted his gaze as she picked up a towel and padded over to him.
“I’m too angry with you right now to discuss this.” Standing there, dripping wet, she slipped the ring from her finger and dumped it in his hand. “Please, just leave.”
He looked at the ring in his hand as she walked away.
“You have to marry, Dee, you can’t do this.”
“You needn’t worry about that. If I become the monster Joseph suspects, it would be folly to give me the title and responsibilities of madam protector or allow me to continue as a member of my father’s councils. So what does it matter?”
Her pig headiness annoyed him. “What about the child? Would you have her called bastard for all her days?”
“James, please just go. I need to think.”
His anger flared and he blurted out the first think that came to his mind. “Was he that good that you now just pander to his every whim and need?” It was a foolish thing to say, but part of him did wonder.
She turned on him, furious. “You bastard. It was you I was thinking of as he took me. It’s you I want, James. But how can I trust you? Your promises are meaningless. You turn on me at every opportunity.”
He put up his hands, palms open, furious with his stupid comment. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. But, Dee, this thing with your mother and brother; it had to be said.”
Her eyes closed, she shook her head calming down a little as she disappeared behind her wicker screen. “Yes, in hindsight it did. But you should have let me come to that decision in my own good time. That’s where you err, James. You ambush me, every time, like I’m some stupid child. Well I am not. And until you realise that, I don’t want to see you. Now please, just get out.”
“I am your protector.”
“Then protect me from a distance.”
He nodded regretfully. “You’re right. I should have come to you first. But I fear losing you, Dee, can’t you see that?”
She choked back a bitter laugh. “And you very well may if Arkaelyon is to be saved or I am the monster Joseph fears I may be!” The fact that she feared that might be h
er end was obvious and it stung him deeply. “But for the sake of all that is merciful, James, be the ally you promised to be, not a bloody enemy. I have enough of those already. Now, please, I have enough to worry about, so show me at least an ounce of respect and leave me alone for a time. We’ll talk after dinner tonight.”
“Of course. But I’m not having this ring back. Like my heart, it belongs to you and always will.”
She didn’t reply so he put the ring on the dresser and left.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“Milord, Lord Kane is here to see you,” Bianca said from the doorway to the Archbishop’s drawing room.
The Archbishop tossed the message he’d been reading onto his desk and sat back in his gilded chair with an audible sigh. He had the urge to throttle the bloody fool. “Send him in.” He was so angry his hands trembled so he got up to refill his goblet with wine. He’d consumed far too much of the stuff over the course of the day—a good Corenbald red—but it was the only thing that had kept the panic at bay. With word that there had been some sort of attack on the Lady de Brie’s chambers, as well as the royal barge, and then an attempted abduction of the princess, birds had come and gone from this chamber in flocks and none of them bearing good tidings.
As he poured wine into his cup the Archbishop saw Kane’s reflection in the polished brass mirror in front of him. “Where in the name of all that is holy, have you been? I sent word to the tavern more than five hours ago.”
“What, your lovely whore lose track of me again?”
Bianca was standing by the door attired in a blood red gown. It was a fitting colour given what the day had brought them.
“Perhaps we would be wise to be rid of this one, Milord, and put Lord Dunston in his place?” Bianca said.
Kane chuckled. Not that the Archbishop found anything amusing as he turned to consider the disowned prince. “You have no reason to be amused, Kane. Look at the stack of messages on my bureau, perhaps you’ll find that amusing, too. Every one of those messages urges me to break the agreement I made with you yesterday and install your uncle in your stead. Half go so far as to suggest we be rid of you altogether.”
Kane grinned at that. Yes, he bloody knew what this was about, the Archbishop thought.
“Do you really think I would be stupid enough or sufficiently resourced to murder my sister? Or be idiotic enough to make an attempt as brazen as this?”
“You have a temper, young sir, which has proved itself to be less than reasonable on occasion. And yesterday, it seemed ripe for just such foolery.”
“And we know you have friends with resources at their disposal,” Bianca added. “Fren, for instance? There is also word that you have been seen in the company of Lord Henry Cameron. A rather secretive fellow who normally goes out of his way for no one. And certainly he has sufficient wealth to hire a small army of mercenaries.”
This development had been discussed intensely over the course of the day and the Archbishop watched for any hint of unease in Kane’s face or deportment as Bianca spoke, but the young prince merely shook his head as if they were children and sat down in a soft chair by the fire that was crackling in the hearth.
“You received a bird from one of your men at Renwick court today, I understand,” Kane said, “something about my dear father secretly arranging for Bishop Marple and his brown robed fellows to help with the search of the Helidon estate?”
Bianca looked ready to call the guards, but the Archbishop stopped her with a look. “And how would you know about this?”
“I think we should be more concerned about what you and Helidon have decided upon, without my agreement I might add, rather than who has been whispering in my ear.”
“Or you could answer the questions in hand,” the Archbishop said as he gave Kane a goblet and then sat in a chair opposite.”
“As far as I’m concerned we had an agreement yesterday, and nothing has changed.” He cast an annoyed look in Bianca’s direction, adding, “I am not responsible for what took place at the palace and on the river last night. Gods, why would I suddenly throw away the chance to be king on some inane attack on my sister? And how could I have had the time to organise such an attack? The palace is saying it was bandits, that the whole thing was an elaborate attempt to abduct my sister? Not even they suspect me. So why should you?”
“They don’t suspect you yet, Milord,” Bianca said.
The Archbishop was inclined to believe Kane was telling the truth, and when Bianca began to argue further, he silenced her with a request that she fetch the jug of wine.
The Archbishop took a sip from his goblet. “So you know about Bishop Marple, then?”
“I do.”
“Then I’m sure you’ll understand that we have no choice. We must kill the slaves and destroy the keep or your father will have our necks and a great deal more. We’ll just have to rebuild once you are installed as king. Frankly, the Lord Protector has out-smarted us on this one. Or at least your sister has. I admit that freely.”
Bianca placed the jug of wine on a small table, her gaze icy as she watched the prince.
Kane didn’t argue the point as the Archbishop thought he would so he continued. “So you had nothing to do with this attack.” In truth the attack didn’t look like Kane at all. But it did look like someone else. “Is it possible that your pet witch might have planned this? We all know about Danielle’s dream and her outlandish fears.”
Kane snorted as if such a thing was almost as absurd as the allegation made against him. “She mixes tonics and worships the moon, and when she’s not doing that, she’s generally occupied with keeping out of the clutches of your black robed enforcers, and the reformist’s spies. I wasn’t aware the church feared hapless old women so much.”
“Do you know who her associates are?” Bianca asked as she settled into a chair.
“No idea. I don’t ask and she doesn’t tell and despite her dark ways, I trust her. What she gets up to under a full moon is as much a concern of mine as the religious bigotry that passes for sanctity around this god forsaken place.”
The Archbishop felt his hackles rise but kept his voice level and a smile on his face. “I would think that an atheist is not well placed to speak on such things, Kane.”
“Perhaps an atheist is the only one well placed to speak, for at least he doesn’t have his head stuck so far up his own arse he can’t see past delusion and deception. And as for Fren, you and your lords are going to have to get used to her because she is going to be part of my Inner Council, along with several other notable lords including Lord Henry Cameron.”
It was the Archbishop’s turn to chuckle. “You think I’ll just accept that, do you?”
“If you want Amthenium, you will.”
“I can have Amthenium with your uncle as king, and be happier for it.”
“Uncle Dunston might be a favourite with church men, but you know as well as any, he has little favour elsewhere. You elect him over Eden or me on my father’s death, and you’ll throw the realm into civil war. Or I will simply cast my vote for Eden.”
“I’m well aware of the risk, Kane.”
“I’m not sure that you are old man. You see; if you cross me, civil war will be the least of your worries for I have a certain letter, which will find its way into the Lord Protector’s hands if anything happens to me. Its contents are more than sufficient to see that you and your elders and many of your lords see the executioner’s noose. And that includes you, Lady Winters. Or conversely, we could be civil about this?”
“My lords are going to take a considerable amount of convincing, Kane. Particularly when they hear you intend to appoint a witch to your Inner Council.”
“I think that when you tell them that their next king with the aid of his witch has happened upon a way to save the slaves, and all of us fifty thousand gold sovereigns, they’ll see things differently.”
The Archbishop shifted slightly in his chair. “Save, how? The search begins tomorrow at dawn. There’s
barely enough time to destroy the evidence.”
Kane drained his goblet of wine and put it aside. “Let’s just say that Fren introduced me to a smuggler this morning. He knows the Renwick coastline better than we it seems, for he spoke of a cave a mere five miles south of the cove. Its entrance is well concealed, obviously, but he assures me there is sufficient room within its main chambers to house five thousand slaves. There’s also fresh water.”
“That’s impossible,” Bianca said. “The coastline was searched and no such cave was found.”
“Is your man sure of this?” The Archbishop ignored his high steward. To his mind at least, Renwick’s coastline was most inhospitable, and such a thing might have been missed. All the more reason why a smuggler might use it.
“The man was so certain he has agreed to help, for a pretty sum of course. Five thousand gold sovereigns have bought us a guide. A Captain Martin will be arriving at the cove tomorrow to show the way. I took the liberty of sending a message to the keep with instructions to give the man our full co-operation and to waylay your instructions to dispose of the slaves.”
“The search starts tomorrow, there won’t be enough time,” Bianca said.
Her alarm, the Archbishop knew, was more for the slaves than them.
Kane’s smile, as he stood to go, suggested she had over spoken herself. “Let’s just say there’s going to be a delay to the search. An act of the gods, you’ll be pleased to know. You’ll be receiving a message from the keep explaining all in a few hours. For now, I must leave.”
“And you are sure we can trust these men?”
“Like I said, I trust Fren. Oh, and you can also tell our supporters that the poisoning has been arranged and will commence as agreed. In short, everything is as it should be.”
The Archbishop nodded and rose to see Kane to the door. He was certainly feeling more at ease now than he had all day. “I’ll have Samuel begin the task of putting minds at ease and you’ll be pleased to know that all goes well with garnering support for the petition against your sister. You needn’t worry about her, Kane. She is going to lose her rights to sit on the High and General Council. That I can assure you.”
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