Let us be clear, the Dowager said. It is necessary that this girl should die, both to undo the insult to you, and because of the difficulties she could represent.
With a marriage between Sebastian and an unsuitable girl, Rupert said. How embarrassing.
The Dowager plucked one of the flowers nearby. Embarrassment is like this rose. It looks innocuous enough. It draws the eye. Yet it still has cutting thorns. Our power is an illusion, kept alive because people believe in us. If they embarrass us, that faith could falter. She closed her hand, ignoring the pain as she crushed it. These things must be dealt with, whatever the cost.
It was better to let Rupert think that this was about maintaining the prestige of their family. It was better than acknowledging the real danger the girl represented. When the Dowager had realized who she really was well, the world had turned into a crystal-sharp thing, clear and full of cutting edges. She could not allow that danger to continue.
Ill kill her, Rupert said.
Quietly, the Dowager added. Without fuss. I dont want you creating more trouble than you solve.
I will deal with it, Rupert insisted.
The Dowager wasnt sure if he would, but she had other pieces in play when it came to the girl. The trick was to only use the ones who had their own reasons to act. Give commands, and she would simply draw attention to the fact that this girl was someone worth watching.
It had taken all her strength of will not to react the first time she had seen Sophia, at dinner. Not to betray what she felt at the sight of that face, or at the news that Sebastian planned to marry her.
That her younger son had left in pursuit of her made things more complicated. Ordinarily, Sebastian was the stable one, the clever one, the dutiful one. In a lot of ways, he would make a better king than his brother, but that wasnt the way these things worked. No, his role was to live his life quietly, doing as he was commanded, not to run off, doing what he wished.
I have another thing for you to do as well, the Dowager said. She set off on a slow circuit of the garden, forcing Rupert to follow after her the way a dog followed after its master. In this case, though, Rupert was a hunting dog, and she was about to provide the scent.
Havent you given me enough tasks, Mother? he demanded. Sebastian wouldnt have argued. Hadnt argued with anything, except on the one matter where it counted.
You cause less trouble when youre busy, the Dowager said. In any case, this is the kind of task where your presence might actually be useful. Your brother has acted out of emotion, running off like this. I think it will take a brothers touch to bring him back.
Rupert laughed at that. Judging by the way he set off, it will take a regiment to bring him back.
Then take one, the Dowager snapped back. You have a commission, so use it. Take the men you need. Find your brother and bring him back.
In pristine condition, no doubt? Rupert said.
The Dowagers eyes narrowed at that. He is your brother, Rupert. You will not hurt him any more than is necessary to bring him home safely.
Rupert looked down. Of course, Mother. While Im at all this, would you like me to do a third thing?
There was something about the way he said it that made the Dowager pause, turning to face her son.
What did you have in mind? she asked.
Rupert smiled and waved a hand. From the far end of the garden, a figure in the robes of a priest started to approach. When he got within a few paces, he swept into a deep bow.
Mother, Rupert said, may I introduce Kirkus, second secretary to the high priestess of the Masked Goddess?
Justina sent you? the Dowager asked, deliberately using the high priestesss name to remind the man of the company he was now in.
No, your majesty, the priest said, but there is a matter of the utmost importance.
The Dowager sighed at that. In her experience, matters of the utmost importance to priests mostly involved donations to their temples, the need to punish the sinful who apparently werent being sufficiently afflicted by the law, or requests to interfere in the affairs of their brethren across the Knifewater. Justina had learned to keep those matters to herself, but her underlings sometimes buzzed around, irritating her like black-clad wasps.
Hes worth listening to, Mother, Rupert said. Hes been spending his time around the court, trying to gain an audience. You asked where I was before? I was finding Kirkus here, because I guessed that you might want to hear what he had to say.
That was enough to make the Dowager reconsider the priest. Anything that was enough to make Rupert pull his mind away from the women of the court was worthy of her attention, at least for a short while.
Very well, she said. What do you have to say, second secretary?
Your Majesty, the man said, there has been a most callous assault on our House of the Unclaimed, and then on the rights of the priesthood.
You think I havent heard about it? the Dowager countered. She looked over to Rupert. This is your news?
Your majesty, the priest insisted, the girl who killed our nuns suffered no justice. Instead, she found sanctuary in one of the Free Companies. With Lord Cranstons men.
The name of the company caught the Dowagers interest, a little.
Lord Cranstons company has been most helpful in the recent past, the Dowager said. They assisted in fighting off a force of raiders from our shores.
Does that
Be silent, the Dowager snapped, cutting the man off in mid-rebuttal. If Justina really cared about this, she would raise the issue. Rupert, why have you brought this to me?
Her son smiled like a shark. Because I have been asking questions, Mother. I have been very thorough.
Meaning that he tortured someone. Was it really the only way her son knew to do things?
I believe the girl Kirkus seeks to be the sister of Sophia, Rupert said. Some of the survivors from the House of the Unclaimed spoke about two sisters, one of whom was trying to save the other.
Two sisters. The Dowager swallowed. Yes, that would fit, wouldnt it? Her information had concentrated on Sophia, but if the other was alive as well, then she could be just as much of a danger. Perhaps more, judging by what shed managed to do so far.
Thank you, Kirkus, she managed. I will deal with this situation. Please leave me to discuss it with my son.
She managed to turn it into a dismissal, and the man hurried from her sight. She tried to think this through. It was obvious what needed to happen next. The question was simply how. She thought for a moment yes, that might work.
So, Rupert said, do you want me to kill this sister of hers as well? I take it we dont want something like that seeking revenge?
Of course he would think it was about that. He didnt know the real danger they represented, or the problems that could result if anyone found out the truth.
What do you propose to do? the Dowager said. March in and take on Peter Cranstons regiment? Im likely to lose a son if you do that, Rupert.
You think I couldnt beat them? he shot back.
The Dowager waved that away. I think theres an easier way. The New Army is gathering, so we will send Lord Cranstons regiment against them. If I choose the battle wisely, our enemies will be harmed, while the girl will die, and it will look like no more than another unmarked grave in a war.
Rupert looked at her then with a kind of admiration. Why, Mother, I never knew that you could be so cold-blooded.
No, he didnt, because he hadnt seen the things shed done to keep the scraps of her power she had. Hed fought rebels, but he hadnt seen the civil wars, or the things that had been necessary in their wake. Rupert probably thought that he was a man without limits, but the Dowager had found out the hard way that she would do whatever was necessary to secure the throne for her family.
Still, it wasnt worth thinking about. This would be over soon. Sebastian would be safely back with his family, Rupert would have avenged his humiliation, and two girls who should have been long dead would go to the grave without a trace.
CHAPTER SIX
Its a test, Kate whispered to herself as she stalked her victim. Its a test.
She kept saying it to herself, perhaps in the hope that repetition would make it true, perhaps because it was the only way to keep herself following after Gertrude Illiard, keeping to the shadows while she sat on the balcony of her home for breakfast, slipping silently through the crowds of the city while the merchants daughter walked with friends through the early morning markets.
Savis Illiard kept dogs and guards to protect his property and his daughter both, but the guards had been at their posts too long and relied on the dogs, while the dogs were easy to quiet with a flicker of power.
Kate watched the woman she was supposed to kill, and the truth was that she could have done it a dozen times over by now. She could have run up in the crowd and slid a knife between her ribs. She could have fired a crossbow bolt or even thrown a stone with lethal force. She could even have taken advantage of the environment of the city, startling a horse at the wrong moment or cutting the rope that held a barrel as her target walked beneath.
Kate did none of those things. She watched Gertrude Illiard instead.
It would have been easier if she had been an obviously evil person. If she had struck out at her fathers servants in pique, or treated the people of the city like scum, Kate might have been able to see her as just a step away from the nuns who had tormented her, or the people who had looked down on her on the street. Instead, she was kind, in the small ways that people could be when they didnt think too much about it. She gave money to a beggar boy as she passed. She asked after the children of a shopkeeper she barely knew.
She seemed like a kind, gentle person, and Kate couldnt believe that even Siobhan would want someone like that dead.
Its a test, Kate told herself again. It has to be.
She tried to tell herself that the kindness had to be a façade masking some deeper, darker side. Perhaps this young woman showed a kind face to the world to hide murders or blackmail, cruelty or deception. Yet while someone else might be able to tell themselves that, Kate could see Gertrude Illiards thoughts, and none of them pointed to a predator lurking beneath the surface. She was a normal enough young woman for her place in the world, made wealthy by her fathers business, perhaps a little unconcerned about it, but genuinely innocent in every respect Kate could see.
It was hard not to feel disgusted at what Siobhan had commanded her to do then, and at what Kate had become under her tutelage. How could Siobhan want her dead? How could she demand that Kate do this thing? Was she really asking it just to see if Kate had it in her to kill on command? Kate hated that thought. She couldnt, she wouldnt, do such a thing.
But she had no choice, and she hated that even more.
She had to be sure, though, so she slipped back to the merchants house ahead of her prey, slipping over the wall in a moment when she could feel that the guards werent watching and sprinting to the shadows of the wall. She waited another few heartbeats, making sure that everything was still, then clambered up to the balcony to Gertrude Illiards room. There was a latch on the balcony, but that was an easy thing to lift using a slender knife, letting her pad inside.
The room was empty, and Kate couldnt sense anyone nearby, so she quickly searched it. She didnt know what she was hoping to find. A vial of poison saved for a rival, perhaps. A diary detailing all the tortures she planned to inflict on someone. There was a diary, but even at a glance, Kate could see that it simply detailed the other young womans dreams and hopes for the future, her meetings with friends, her brief flash of feelings for a young player shed met in the market.
The truth was that Kate couldnt find a single reason why Gertrude Illiard deserved to die, and even though shed killed before, Kate found the thought of murdering someone for no reason abhorrent. It made her sick just to think about doing it.
She felt the flicker of an approaching mind and swiftly hid under the bed, trying to think, trying to decide what she would do. It wasnt that this young woman reminded Kate of herself, because Kate couldnt imagine this merchants daughter ever truly knowing suffering, or wanting to pick up a blade. She wasnt even like Sophia, because Kates sister had a deceptive streak when she needed it, and the kind of hard practicality that came from having to live with nothing. This girl would never have spent weeks pretending to be something she wasnt, and would never have seduced a prince.
While a servant went around the room, tidying it in preparation for her mistresss return, Kate put her hand to the locket at her neck, thinking of the picture of a woman inside. Maybe that was it. Maybe Gertrude Illiard fit with the picture of well-born innocence Kate had when it came to her parents. What did that mean, though? Did it mean that she couldnt kill her? She touched the ring that sat beside the locket, intended for Sophia. She knew what her sister would say, but this wasnt a choice that Sophia would ever be in a position to have to make.
Then Gertrude came into the room, and Kate knew that she would have to make her choice soon. Siobhan was waiting, and Kate doubted that her teachers patience would last forever.
Thank you, Milly, Gertrude said. Is my father home?
He isnt expected back for a couple of hours, miss.
In that case, I think I will take a nap. I woke too early today.
Of course, miss. Ill see that you arent disturbed.
The servant walked off, shutting the door to the room behind her with a click. Kate saw embroidered boots pulled off and set down next to her hiding place, felt the shifting of the bed above her as Gertrude Illiard sat down on it. The timbers creaked as she lay down, and still Kate waited.
She had to do this. Shed seen what would happen to her if she didnt. Siobhan had made it clear: Kate was hers now, to do with as she wished. Kate was as tightly bound to her as she would have been if her debt had been sold to another. More tightly, because now it wasnt just the law of the land giving Siobhan power over Kate, but the magic of her fountain.
If she failed Siobhan in this, at best, she would find herself sent off into some living hell, forced to endure things that would make the House of the Unclaimed look like a palace. At worst Kate had seen the ghosts of those who had betrayed Siobhan. She had seen what they suffered. Kate wouldnt join them, whatever it took.
She just had to keep reminding herself that this was a test.
She watched Gertrudes thoughts as she fell asleep, noting their changing rhythms as she slid into slumber. There was silence around the room now, as servants kept away to let their mistress get her rest. It was the perfect moment. Kate knew she had to act now, or not at all.