“I take it you will not support me in the lawsuit brought by Tyla Dorrina,” Megara said dully.
“If you do as I say, the lawsuit will be thrown out,” said Andromache, her tone kind. “I will pay you a good allowance. It will enable you to rent a flat in a nice area like Lumin Hills. I will give you one of my speeders to use. When the time comes, I will give you a tutor for Iantha to make sure she reaches her full potential and has the best chance of becoming an electra. You can retain the comforts you have grown used to. Just give up your claims on Caitlin’s residence and fortune. And on her daughter.”
By now Megara had gotten over her shock and recovered her poise. She looked at Andromache steadily, till the High Priestess grew self-conscious.
“Why are you doing this, ma’am?” she asked.
“I love Caitlin!” Andromache burst out. “I watched her grow up, she is my darling girl! I am heartsick at what has happened to her. I want the best for her daughter. I am a Royal Princess; I can teach Asgara to be one! How can you possibly do that?”
Megara took a deep breath before responding.
“There is more to being a Royal Princess than fine manners and a beautiful accent,” she said quietly. “Caitlin may not be worldly, but she will always be a princess because of what she has in here.”
She pounded her chest as she spoke the last two words.
“I am not a highborn aristocrat,” she continued. “And I do not know how to raise a child to negotiate the corridors of power. But I know I can teach her to follow her heart. That may not make her a queen, but it will make her righteous like her mother. In the end, isn’t that the greater achievement?”
AS SHE WAS being tucked in for the night, Asgara looked straight into Megara’s eyes in her direct way.
“You don’t look happy, Mother,” she said softly.
Megara put her hand on the child’s cheek.
“Oh, I am fine, my sweets. Just lots of things to do at work, that’s all. Nothing to worry you.”
“But you were so happy when you picked us up from the nursery after work,” Asgara persisted. “You took us for cream ice in the park and told us all those funny stories. We laughed and rolled in the grass, and I picked flowers for your lovely hair. Then we had to go to the house of those horrid ladies and you got sad.”
“What house do you mean?”
“The house where Iantha and I played on the terrace. I watched you through the viewport. I could see that they were being nasty to you. I hate them!”
Megara leaned down and hugged Asgara.
“What a treasure you are,” she said. “But you mustn’t hate anyone. It only hurts you in the end.”
Then she raised her head and, still hugging Asgara, asked her, “Do you like Princess Andromache?”
Asgara considered before replying.
“She’s a nice lady,” she said judiciously.
“Would you like to live with her?”
Asgara caught the serious undercurrent in Megara’s tone and grew worried.
“Why would I do that?” She clung to Megara more tightly. “I don’t want to live with anyone but you, Mother! You won’t leave me, will you?”
Megara hugged her back.
“No, my sweets,” she whispered. “As long as you want me, I don’t want to be anywhere else.”
THE MESSAGE FROM Cornelle Diana Tragina was so unexpected that Megara played it again to be sure. She was being invited to a personal one-on-one meeting with the commander of the Palace Guardians! Diana had never invited her to such a meeting before. So as she waited with Diana’s handmaiden outside the cornelle’s spacious corner office, she wondered if it could have anything to do with her recent conversations with the Sheels and Princess Andromache.
As the portal slid open, the handmaiden stood aside and indicated that she should enter. Megara entered and saluted stiffly, hand on heart. Diana returned her salute and waved her to a club chair by a viewport, rather than an upright chair in front of her desk.
“A tot of clove wine?” she asked. “The queen herself gave me this bottle at the last New Moons Rite at the Great Temple.”
“Too tempting to resist, Cornelle,” said Megara.
Diana brought over the two stems and sat down.
“You know that you have been short-listed for promotion, I take it,” she said, tapping her wrist bracer and bringing up a document.
“Yes, Cornelle,” said Megara, holding her breath.
“Do you know who else is on the short list?”
“My friend Jena Saracenina told me that she was on it,” replied Megara cautiously.
“Yes, there are only the two of you.” Diana paused and looked at Megara intently. “Your files have come up to me. From me they will go to the queen, but if the military has approved a promotion, her signature is usually just a formality.”
Megara said nothing but took a sip of her wine and waited.
“Even among the Guardians, you are an exceptional warrior,” said Diana, seeming to change the subject. “I have observed you in training exercises. You lead your squad very well, your officiae trust you. During the Great Insurrection, you led daring raids into Dreslin Center. Into the bowels of the Great Stony Keep itself, extracting our ally King Harald from the notorious Dripping Dungeon. For all practical purposes, you commanded our forces in the Brigon Residency during the siege—Lady Selene mentions in her report that even the Centuria of the Residency huntresses deferred to you.”
Diana paused, as though waiting for a response.
“I did my duty,” said Megara uncertainly. She had never seen Diana bestowing such fulsome praise on anyone before.
“You wear the Order of Motherhood,” said Diana, ignoring Megara’s response. “And you have taken over legal motherhood for your disgraced friend, Princess Caitlin d’Orr.”
She tapped her wrist bracer and pulled up another document.
“The reports from Temple Heights Nursery are flattering—your girls are among the best adjusted. It says here that they are in the foyer waiting to go home with you every day, and that you never let them down. You seem to spend every free moment with them. You even missed the Academy Graduation Ball last month, the biggest social event of the year for us huntresses, just to be with them—I checked with the nursery.”
Megara was now completely at a loss and just stared at Diana wordlessly. Diana did not seem to want an answer.
“It is no secret, at least among the Guardians, that Jena is fond of drugs. It is also no secret that she has applied for motherhood twice and been turned down as unfit.”
Megara sat straighter and took another sip of her wine. She felt she should defend her friend, so she said, “She has achieved the highest rating on barbarian weapons and served with distinction in the Great Insurrection.”
“Under your command,” said Diana, looking her straight in the eye.
Diana’s pale colorless eyes were intimidating, but Megara did not look away.
“Yes, I rated her very highly,” she said.
Diana let a pause grow into a silence.
“What has Centuria Lady Alexandra got against you?” she asked suddenly.
The question was so unexpected that Megara’s mouth dropped open and she covered it with her hand.
“I…I …I don’t know,” she stammered. “I served under her as an officia. We were both with you in the action at Upper Thal during the Great Insurrection. She is an excellent senior officer who provides a fine example for all her juniors to follow.”
“I see,” said Diana, thoughtfully. They sipped their wine and Diana changed the subject to Megara’s girls, eliciting a much more voluble response. Soon after they finished their wine, she dismissed her.
The portal had barely hissed shut behind Megara when Diana opened a comm channel to Alex and summoned her. Diana’s tone caused Alex to drop what she was doing and come immediately. She found Diana seated in the same club chair by the viewport. Her commander acknowledged her salute and motioned her to t
he chair vacated by Megara.
“I have the promotion short list here, Alex,” she said without preamble. “How in Ma’s name can you rate Jena Saracenina above Megara Paurina? Megara should have been promoted years ago and I am not even sure how Jena got to be a seignora.”
Alex had been expecting this from Diana, so she was prepared.
“Seignora Megara’s fitness for command is suspect, Cornelle,” she said. “She aided and abetted Seignora Lady Caitlin in the actions that led to her disgrace. It is quite clear to me that she is not to be trusted. I am even concerned about allowing her to retain her rank of seignora.”
“I see you have a strong opinion in this case, Centuria,” said Diana dryly. “I wonder why you did not see fit to put these comments down in your assessment.”
“I saw no reason to blacken her name further,” said Alex rigidly.
“Yet you know that if the file goes up to the queen with your assessment, she will reject Seignora Megara, no matter what I write. And if that happens, it will go into her permanent record and she will never be promoted. She is a young officer, she could serve another hundred years with no hope of advancement.”
Diana tapped her wrist bracer and closed all the documents.
“The queen trusts you, Alex,” she said mildly. “That is a heavy responsibility. I never had reason to doubt your judgment in the past. But this case makes me wonder.”
“I believe in my assessment,” said Alex firmly.
“I see,” said Diana. “Are you sure that this is not about Megara’s taking up residence in Palace d’Orr? About her being Lady Asgara’s legal mother and using Princess Caitlin’s wealth?”
“I made my position clear, Cornelle,” Alex said. But she did not meet Diana’s pale gaze. “My assessment has nothing to do with Seignora Megara’s actions over the last several years.”
“But do you approve of her actions?”
“Seignora Megara is within the letter of the law in implementing Princess Caitlin’s wishes,” said Alex, still not looking directly at Diana. “Ill-conceived as they are.”
“You aristocrats don’t like her living on Temple Heights, do you?”
“Cornelle, I will not lie to you,” said Alex with spirit. “You know as well as I that Queen Simran marked out Temple Heights for the aristocracy over a thousand years ago. This tradition is part of our heritage and harms no one. So no, it does not delight me to have Seignora Megara living in Palace d’Orr. But that has nothing to do with my assessment.”
Diana leaned back in her club chair. Again she allowed a pause to extend into a silence. Even as the seconds ticked away, Alex would not look her in the eye.
“I’ll tell you what I am going to do, Alex,” she said finally. “I will not allow you to destroy Seignora Megara’s career. I am going to take her off the short list with retrospective effect. That will erase your assessment, since she was never on the list for you to assess. She will remain a seignora for now, but in the future under a different First Handmaiden, she is certain to be promoted.”
“As for Jena, I am going to assess her as unfit for command. It was a mistake to promote her to seignora, but at least we can avoid compounding that error.”
“Cornelle, that is harsh and unfair,” said Alex, a bit too quickly. “If you preserve Seignora Megara’s option of a future promotion, surely you owe Seignora Jena that same consideration.”
“My mind is made up, Alex,” said Diana.
VIVIA PRAGARINA DELICATELY dabbed her lips with her linen napkin and looked fondly at Darbeni, her younger daughter and Chief Counsel. They were dining in Vivia’s suite in the Pragarina Palace in the luxurious Lumin Hills district of Atlantic City.
“I just read your quarterly assessment my dear,” she said. “Very precise and insightful, as usual. I am pleased to see that you have exceeded my expectations in the day-to-day operations of our enterprises. You are young, but—” here Vivia paused and put a hand on her daughter’s wrist. “—I was just about your age when I bought my first Trading License and became a Guild Mistress. The other Guild Mistresses had no idea how deeply in debt I was, since I had borrowed a little from each of them. Then I took such risks! I traveled incessantly and traded with anyone that would talk to me. I had to in order to pay the Guild’s usurious interest rates.”
Vivia paused and smiled as she reminisced. “Why, I even went into the Chitgar Ravines to trade with the wild hill tribes—in the midst of their annual rampages! Alone in the tent of Grand Sab Ghaz Ib Makhtoom, the Chekaliga chieftain, I had nothing to protect me but the toss of my scarf. One misstep and he would have forced me into his dissolute harem.”
“The shoe is on the other foot now,” responded Darbeni. “Now we are the ones making the loans and charging the usurious rates. Even the government is in our debt.”
“Well, it is not our fault that they insist on running deficits.”
One of the kitchen maids appeared and rapidly cleared away their dinner dishes. Then Naorina Wilkina, Vivia’s gorgeous personal maid, came in bearing two steaming cups of katsch on a silver tray.
“I have some bad news, I’m afraid,” said Darbeni, sipping her hot drink. “Those wild Chekaligas are on the rampage again this year. They managed to break into one of our smaller Guild forts in the Daksin Borderlands. Unfortunately, we were unable to remove our property in time. Our losses amount to almost ten thousand gold talents.”
Vivia’s good mood evaporated in an instant, for there was little she liked less than to lose money.
“That will take a big bite out of last quarter’s profits in our Daksin operations,” she snapped. “Why were we not given advance warning? It is the Daksin Resident’s job to know what is going on in her jurisdiction. This would never happen in Briga. Lady Selene is always on top of things.”
She picked up her katsch and blew on it. “Bodil Axessina, our Resident in Daksin is just not up to the job. I noticed that she was slipping on my last trip to Sampore. We must get her replaced. Do you have anyone in mind?”
“The Under Resident, Jordis Invarina is excellent,” replied Darbeni. “I know her well. She would make a great Resident.”
“She is too young,” sniffed Vivia. “The queen would never accept her. We must find someone who has more experience.”
She drummed her fingers on the armrest of her chair for a while.
“Send freighter airboats down to the bigger Daksin Guild forts,” continued Vivia, making up her mind. She counted locations off on her fingers. “Sampore, Limpore, Siggar. Let us ship our most valuable assets back to Atlantic City and reduce our exposure.”
“I’ll see to it,” said Darbeni.
“And contact Lady Alexandra, the queen’s First Handmaiden, and get me an appointment to see the queen. If the current deployments are insufficient to protect our operations, we must get the government to transfer some more military units down there.”
“I’ll contact her first thing in the morning.”
Darbeni could see that the news had put Vivia in a bad mood and did not linger long after finishing her katsch.
THREE
ESTRANS CASTLE
BARON BRADAR NIBELLUS walked the sea-facing battlements of Estrans Castle with his cousin, Greghar. He proudly pointed to the various improvements he had carried out and clearly sought his cousin’s approval. Greghar was glad to give it. He had been overwhelmed by Bradar’s hospitality, for he had been received as royalty, with no hint of his base birth. There had been a flurry of banquets with all the highborn members of Bradar’s retinue and the local Sward nobility. Even Bradar’s coolly elegant wife Esgrin, had been polite. Greghar had always been good with children and his cousin’s young daughters took to him immediately, clambering into his lap and dragging him into their nursery to play.
Now Greghar stopped, leaned on a crenel, and looked out to sea. The wind ruffled his ash-blond ringlets, and he ran his hand through them. Bradar surveyed his cousin’s profile admiringly.
“By the One God,
Greghar,” he said spontaneously. “You have the mien of a king! Both Pinnar and I agree—you have more ability and right than either one of us. You should be in Nordberg, not banished to the provincial barony of Rocness. A pox on the rules which prevent you from succeeding to the throne!”
“Whoa, hold your horses, cousin!” cried Greghar in surprise. “I am a loyal servant of your father, and I will carry out his wishes. Pinnar is his named heir—so when the time comes, I will be Pinnar’s most loyal servant. I would not accept the crown if you offered it to me.”
Bradar looked obstinate for a moment, but then he smiled as one with a pleasing secret.
“Well, hopefully such decisions are far in the future,” he said, rubbing his hands. “For now, I suggest that we repair to the Sea Parlor for some afternoon refreshment. I have asked my chef to create a pastry fit for a king!”
“Lead the way, cousin,” said Greghar, smiling.
They returned along the battlements, nodding at the salutes of the sentries as they passed. Bradar led the way to the Sea Parlor, a circular chamber toward the fore of the rocky promontory on which the castle was built. It had relatively large windows, no doubt because this aspect of the castle was considered impossible to attack. The castle walls here rose almost directly from a cliff edge that dropped a great way down to the sea. The cove at the foot of the cliff was itself protected by an impassable ring of rocks that made a seaward attack a virtual impossibility.
They entered the Sea Parlor to find Esgrin reclined in a regal, high-backed armchair, with her personal maid standing behind her. There was a striking young woman seated on chair beside her. She wore a crimson gown of fine musk-lace and her dark hair was piled on top of her head. Her gown went well with her skin that was the color of old ivory. Although she wore little jewelry, her green-hazel cat’s eyes animated her face and sparkled brighter than any gems. She was sitting with her legs primly crossed and then stood with Esgrin as they entered, smiling at them.
The Eclipse of the Zon - First Tremors (The New Eartha Chronicles Book 2) Page 6
