Night Angel Complete Trilogy Part 119

"Terah?" Jenine was incredulous.

"Will the people welcome back young Jenine with a Khalidoran army? Or will they say you're a puppet, so young that I'm manipulating you, perhaps without your knowing it? Will Queen Graesin surrender her power?"

Jenine looked ill. "I thought... I thought it was going to be easy after we won. I mean, we won, right?"

It was a good question. Perhaps it was the only question that mattered.

"We won," Dorian said after a long moment. "But the victory cost us. I can never go south again. All of my friends besides you are in the south. They'll see my reign as a betrayal." That made him think of Solon. Had Solon even made it out of Screaming Winds alive? The thought made him ache. "If you want to a.s.sert your right to Cenaria's throne, I can deliver it, but that would cost you too.

"The price will be that everyone sees that a G.o.dking has given you the throne. Do you think you're ready to rule? Without help? At sixteen, do you know how to pick advisers, how to tell when the chancellor of your exchequer is embezzling, how to deal with generals who see you as a child? Do you have a plan to deal with the Sa'kage? Do you know why the last two Ceuran wars ended and what obligations you have to your neighbors? A plan to deal with the Lae'knaught who occupy your eastern lands? If you don't have all those covered, you'll need help. If you accept help, you'll be seen to be accepting help. If you don't accept help, you'll make mistakes. If you trust the wrong people, you'll be betrayed. If you don't trust the right people, you'll have no one to protect you from your enemies. a.s.sa.s.sination has as long of a history in your kingdom as slaughter does in mine. Do you have an idea of whom you will marry and when? Do you plan to concede rule to your new husband, share it, or keep it?" seen to be accepting help. If you don't accept help, you'll make mistakes. If you trust the wrong people, you'll be betrayed. If you don't trust the right people, you'll have no one to protect you from your enemies. a.s.sa.s.sination has as long of a history in your kingdom as slaughter does in mine. Do you have an idea of whom you will marry and when? Do you plan to concede rule to your new husband, share it, or keep it?"

"I have answers to some of those questions, and I know some people I can trust-"

"-I don't doubt it-"

"-but I hadn't considered all of those." She got very quiet. "I'm not ready."

"I do have... an alternative," Dorian said. His heart pounded. He wanted to use the vir. In his old life, before the One G.o.d found him, he'd learned a glamour to seduce women. Now he could use it, just a little, just to help Jenine get over her fear and disappointment and to see Dorian as a man. He wouldn't make her do anything she didn't want to do.

He quashed the impulse. Not that way. Not that way. If Jenine didn't choose him freely, it was all for nothing. If Jenine didn't choose him freely, it was all for nothing.

"Stay," Dorian said. "Be my queen. I love you, Jenine. You are the reason I came to Khalidor. This throne means nothing to me without you. I do and will always love you. A queen is what you are, what you are meant to be, and there is work for you here. My fathers haven't had queens; they had chattels, harems, playthings. Khalidor's people are no worse than any other, but this culture is sick. I thought once that I could run away. I see now that that's not enough. I've found my life's work: changing reverence for power to reverence for life. You have no idea what your mere presence will do. Our marriage will redefine marriage for this entire country. That's no small feat, and it will bring no small amount of happiness to the women and and the men here." the men here."

"You want me to marry you because I'll help you in your work?"

"Jenine," he said quietly. "Lovers always want to make a private world. Just you and me and nothing else matters. The truth is, everything else does matter. Your family, my family, the different ways we were raised, the obligations we have, the work we do-it all matters. A marriage can be a refuge, but I'd be a fool to ignore what and who I am now, and what and who you are. But the answer is no, I don't want to marry you because I want you to help me. I want you. you. You're worth more than all the rest of it combined. I'd rather serve in a hut with you than rule all the world without you." You're worth more than all the rest of it combined. I'd rather serve in a hut with you than rule all the world without you."

She averted her eyes. "You honor me, my lord."

"I love you."

She met his eyes now, but uncertainty still painted her features. "You are a good man, Dorian Ursuul, and a great man. May I think about it for a few days?"

"Of course," he said. His heart died a little. "Let me think about it" isn't the answer a man wants to his proposal. Of course, most men managed a little romance before asking.

In one way, he was horribly disappointed in himself. In another, he was content. He wanted Jenine's mind to consent to this match, not just her heart. Romantic feelings would come and go. He didn't want her to choose in haste and regret at leisure.

She excused herself and the guards let in Dorian's next appointment. It was Hopper. The man limped in quickly and prostrated himself. Jenine hesitated halfway out the door. She had told Dorian that there was something about Hopper that she wanted to share with him, but they hadn't gotten around to it.

"Your Holiness," Hopper said, "the women have been in an uproar. They begged me to ask if you'll be accepting any of them into your harem."

Jenine turned away, as if embarra.s.sed to be eavesdropping, but she didn't hasten to leave, either.

"Of course not," Dorian said. "Not one of them."

32

Terah Graesin had moved the coronation up. No matter that an army was encamped around the city, and that with their scant supplies already dwindling it was wildly inappropriate to have a party, Terah had decided she couldn't wait two months. Her coronation would be in three days. So Momma K had to come to the castle to meet the new court bard. She knocked on his door.

He opened, squinting, and looked about as pleased as Momma K expected. She'd commissioned a piece from him on their last meeting-for the queen's birthday. She hadn't mentioned the coronation was the same day. In retaliation, he'd gotten himself hired as the court bard, meaning she was paying for a piece he'd have to compose anyway.

"Do you know who I am, Quoglee Mars?" Momma K asked. As she stepped past him into his small apartment, he sniffed to smell her perfume. Quoglee's sense of smell was as good as his eyesight was bad. Her spies said he'd even spent time with Alitaera's royal perfumer.

He hesitated. Then, "You are Madame Kirena, a woman of great power and wealth." Quoglee's voice was a tenor so clear it was a pleasure even to hear him speak.

It was a pity nothing else about the man was beautiful. Quoglee Mars resembled nothing so much as a squashed frog. He had a wide, fleshy mouth that turned down at the edges, no neck, a perpetual squint, and a small round gut like a ball. Rather than trousers, he wore baggy yellow tights on his skinny legs, and he had a tiny tricorn hat with a feather in it. He was one of the ugliest men Momma K had ever seen, save for a few lepers far gone in their disease. "I heard your new tale, "The Fall of the House of Gunder." It was fearless. Beautiful. You should write more," she said.

Quoglee bowed, accepting the praise as his due. "I usually prefer the honesty of instrumentals. The pipe and lyre never lie, nor by their tones do good men die."

"An odd sentiment from a minstrel who's been chased from half the capitals of Midcyru because he can't stop himself from telling the truth." Which was why she'd asked if he knew who she was. At least he was capable of discretion. She smiled.

"May I ask why you're here?" Quoglee asked, squinting at her.

d.a.m.n all artists. Their bribes had to come as introductions to the influential, in gifts of clothing or instruments, in arranging special concerts and making sure they were well received. Of course, a bard rarely minded when some beautiful young music aficionado offered to polish his flute, either. But it all had to be discreet. The only punishment they could think to face for Momma K's displeasure was indifference. Years ago, Momma K had sent a gorgeous little flute case to a newly popular bard called Rowan the Red. The girl had given him some grossly ignorant compliment which she wouldn't have if she were the educated young n.o.blewoman she was pretending to be. Instead of taking her to his room and giving her better things to do with her mouth, Rowan had quizzed her and publicly made her look a fool. It didn't take him long to guess who might have sent her. When Momma K's most gifted wetboy Durzo Blint had arrived a few hours later, the bard was already writing a song mocking her and making wild allegations, some of them true. No one ever heard that catchy tune, or any other tune from Rowan the Red, but it had been a near thing, and since then, Momma K avoided bards when she could.

But bards were too good a resource to abandon. They plied Momma K with every tidbit they knew and lapped up every morsel she dropped. Indeed, they often gave her new information, for bards were always present at parties even if her other spies were not. But Quoglee was different. Quoglee's stories were rare, and the n.o.bles regarded them as absolute truth; other bards often repeated them. He was hard to interest, but once that interest was piqued, he was a bulldog.

"Do you know who I am, Quoglee Mars?" she asked again.

Again, he hesitated. "You're the owner of half the brothels in the city. You're a woman who crawled out of the gutter to climb higher than anyone would have believed. My guess is you're the Sa'kage Mistress of Pleasures."

"One of my girls has a small Talent of foretelling," Momma K said. "She doesn't dream often, but when she does, she's never been wrong. Two years ago she dreamed of you, maestro, though she'd never seen or heard of you and indeed, you hadn't yet come to Cenaria. She described you perfectly. She said a song burst from your mouth like a river. The river was the purest, clearest water she'd ever seen. She said I tried to stop it, but the waters overwhelmed me and I drowned. The next night she dreamed the same dream, but this time I tried to strike you down before you could sing, but the song was unstoppable, and again I drowned. On the third night, I swam. I think the name of your river is Truth, Quoglee Mars, so I ask again: do you know who I am?"

"You're the Shinga of the Sa'kage," he said quietly.

Though she'd been prepared for it, hearing the truth spoken aloud frightened her. But this was why she'd hired Quoglee Mars in the first place. She'd paid him for a flute piece, then had her informants drop hints to him of a much bigger story, the kind of tale Quoglee couldn't resist telling. But the man was incredibly bright, and that made him dangerous. "How'd you learn?" she asked.

"Everyone knew you were Jarl's right hand. When he disappeared, none of the Sa'kage's work was interrupted. Agon's Dogs continued training, the Nocta Hemata happened, and there was no rush of thugs' bodies floating in the Plith. The Sa'kage isn't an organization to put off a struggle for succession just because there's a war. You've been Shinga for more than a month, haven't you?"

Momma K let out a long, slow breath. "Fifteen years," she said. "Always behind puppet Shingas. Shingas don't tend to die of natural causes."

"So what are you buying? I'm guessing you want more than a flute piece."

"I want you to sing a song of Terah Graesin's secrets."

"Do you know what those are?" Quoglee asked.

"Yes."

"Are you going to tell me?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I've made my living telling lies and you know it. Because the truth is d.a.m.ning enough. Because you're renowned for winkling out the truth on your own."

"So if you can't dam the river, you wish to channel it. How do you propose to buy me off?"

"You want more than coin?" she asked, knowing the answer.

"Oh yes."

"Then I'll give you what you wish," she said.

"I want your story. You will answer every question I ask, and if you lie in any particular, I will use your tale to cast you in a devastating light."

"Now you tempt me to take my chances with prophecy and signal the wetboy I have waiting behind that curtain to kill you. A wh.o.r.e's truth has too many sharp edges. I will tell my story and not spare myself, but I will not share the secrets of the men I could destroy with what I know. It would be my death, and some few of them deserve better. I will give you more of my story, and more about the Sa'kage, than you could ever learn alone, but that is all. And you will not tell it for at least a year. I have work to do first."

Quoglee's skin had turned green, making the impression of a frog complete. "You don't really have a wetboy behind that curtain, do you?" he asked.

"Of course not." Quoglee was a coward? Odd. "Do we have a deal?

He inhaled deeply, as if trying to smell the wetboy, and slowly he regained his balance. "If you tell me why you're doing this. I don't believe it's because of some wh.o.r.e's dream."

She nodded. "If Logan Gyre were king, Jarl's dream of a new Cenaria might come to pa.s.s. Things wouldn't have to be how they were for my sister and me growing up, or how they are for the guild rats now."

"Sounds awfully... altruistic," Quoglee said.

Momma K didn't let his tone anger her. "I have a daughter."

"Now that I didn't know."

"I'm the richest, most powerful person in this country, maestro. But a Shinga's power dies with her, and my wealth will be taken by whoever finally murders me. Having a daughter has cost me the man I love and quite nearly my life. But as much as she endangers me, I endanger her much more. I need Logan Gyre to become king because that's the only way I can go legitimate, and going legitimate is the only way I can pa.s.s anything on to my daughter except death." go legitimate, and going legitimate is the only way I can pa.s.s anything on to my daughter except death."

Quoglee's eyes were wide. "You don't just mean to be a merchant or even a merchant queen, do you? You mean to establish a new n.o.ble house. How would you buy such a thing?"

"That's a tale I'll tell after the coronation. Do we have a deal?"

"You want me to learn a queen's darkest secrets and make a song of it... in three days? That's ridiculous. Impossible. There isn't a bard in Midcyru who could do such a thing. But." He paused theatrically, and Momma K had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. "But I am no mere bard. I am a genius. I'll do it."

"Sing fearlessly, maestro. I will make sure your song isn't interrupted."

Quoglee blinked rapidly and he sniffed again. "That's it. Head notes of bergamot and galbanum with a third I can't recall. The heart notes are jasmine and daffodil over base notes of vanilla, iris, amber, and forest. Nuec vin Broemar, the royal Alitaeran perfumer himself showed me that perfume. He said it was his queen's own perfume. No one else ever..." he trailed off, his eyes widening.

Momma K smiled, glad the gesture hadn't been wasted.

A small tongue wet his wide, fleshy lips. "May I just say, Madame Kirena, you frighten and intrigue me in almost equal measures."

She chuckled. "I promise you, maestro, the feeling is mutual."

Scarred Wrable was on time. He always was. This time their meeting was in the castle's statue gardens. Scarred Wrable wore the hundred-colored robe of a hecatonarch, the long sleeves covering his ritually scarred arms and hands, the chasuble covering the lattice of scars across his chest and neck. He smirked at her. "Yes, my child? Do you have sins to confess, or sins to contract?"

Terah Graesin favored him with a contemptuous stare. "You blaspheme, coming as a priest."

"Out of a hundred G.o.ds, there's got to be one with a sense of humor. What's the job, Your Highness? If people see you talking to me too long, they might think you really are confessing. They might wonder why."

"I want you to kill Logan Gyre. Sooner is better." She itched her bandaged arm. It was healing from where that d.a.m.ned shadow had stabbed her, but slowly.

Scarred Wrable spat on the brushed white gravel, forgetting he was supposed to be a priest. "Yah, right."

"I'll pay you twice what I paid you to kill Durzo Blint."

"Funny how you didn't tell me I was killing Blint until afterward."

"It turned out all right, didn't it?"

"Only 'cause I caught him unawares," Wrable said.

"I thought you said you fought him man to man," she said coolly.

He flushed. "I, I did, but it was a near thing. And you didn't pay me half enough."

"Oh, so that's it. Bargaining. How tiresome. Name your price, a.s.sa.s.sin."

"I'm a wetboy, as you should d.a.m.n well know. I killed Durzo Blint. As to bargaining," he shook his head. "This ain't bargaining."

"How much?" Dammit, she'd worn high, thick sleeves to conceal the bandage on her arm, but it hurt, and she didn't dare touch it-not in front of Wrable, who'd tell the Sa'kage.

"It would be a h.e.l.l of a job, wouldn't it? They say Duke Gyre killed an ogre fifty feet tall at Pavvil's Grove. They say he's served by a madman with filed teeth who's ripped men clean in half and a two-legged wolfhound and a thousand sword wh.o.r.es. I even heard tell of a demon that came looking to save Logan, back during the coup. That's a fearful lot of fearful friends that man has, and a fearful lot of fearful enemies a wetboy would make by killing him."

"I'll give you ten times the usual, and I'll make you a baronet, with lands." It was a princely sum, and she could tell Scarred Wrable was stunned at the amount.

"Tempting. But no. The only wetboy who'd take this job would be Hu Gibbet."

"Then send him to me!" Terah snarled.

"Can't. He's feeding the fish for taking jobs Mother Sa'kage didn't approve. And Mother Sa'kage has told all her little chicks, no jobs on Gyre."

"What?" Terah asked. "Don't you know who I am?"

"I will tell the Nine you tried."

Fury washed Terah to her toes. "If the Sa'kage stands against me, so help me, I will destroy you all."

"By the High King's beard, woman!" Scarred Wrable said. "We said no to one job. There's a big difference between turning down a job and being your enemy."

"You will do this, or I will stamp you out," Terah said.

"That is a d.a.m.n fool thing to say to a wetboy. But then you're a d.a.m.n fool woman all round, aren't ya? Do you have any idea what Logan is doing this morning? No? While you're here trying to murder your allies, Logan is saving his."