Kushiel's Chosen (27 page)

"My lady," I said, "that may all be true, but from what Severio told me, La Serenissima is a knot of intrigue. Even Prince Benedicte didn't know his own daughter and son-in- law were guilty of poisoning your mother."

The Queen's eyebrows rose again. "And did Severio Stregazza tell you Melisande Shahrizai was in La Serenissima?" she asked with deceptive mildness. It made my blood run

Drustan kept his silence, watching us both.

"Yes." I had to admit, it sounded insane to my own ears. "My lady..." I said reluctantly. "I cannot ask you to be lieve me. But I
know
Melisande. If she wanted me to think she is in La Serenissima, it is because she is in La Serenissima. I have come to a blind alley, here. It is there I need to go."

I nodded.

Ysandre looked dourly at me. "Last time, you brought me a heap of stinking hides, a Skaldi dagger and a Tsingani fortune-teller. This time, a velvet cloak and a dream. What next? A kerchief and a worrisome feeling?" I bit my tongue and did not answer. "Very well. It is my profound hope that you're wrong this time, but I'm not fool enough to wager on it, nor to try and stop you. What do you want of us?"

I told them my plan. Drustan looked amused, although Ysandre did not. Nonetheless, she agreed to it.

"And if they did it for blackmail's sake, like as not they pray every day to Elua that I never find it out," Ysandre said grimly. "I am telling you, it is not worth the risk. There is enough blood spilled at the doorstep of House Courcel. I don't want yours added to it."

"Good." Ysandre settled back, and added one last codicil. "If you will not let me give you an honor guard, you will at least take your men-at-arms, and that stubborn Cassiline."

I opened my mouth, and closed it, swallowing. "I ... am not sure if Joscelin will go."

Drustan started at that, but Ysandre's look turned flinty. "He swore his sword unto my service when he renounced Cassiel's. He will go, or be forsworn. And I do not hold lightly with oath-breakers."

"I will tell him," I murmured, wondering how he would take it.

With that, I was dismissed.

"I asked." As the Queen's Poet, Thelesis could ask nearly anything without being questioned; it would be presumed research for some work of poesy. "Orphans taken in by the Cassiline Brotherhood always take on the Prefect's name. Rinforte's been Prefect for a long time." She turned her head away to cough, and looked back apologetically. "He's had a wasting sickness these past months, one of the Brothers told me. That's likely why neither Joscelin nor Micheline de Parnasse received a reply."

"Ah." I finished reading the list and set it down.

I shook my head. "No. Or if there is, I don't see it."

"I'm sorry." She rose to embrace me, and her bones felt light and frail; it unnerved me, on the heels of the news of the Prefect's health. "Kushiel is not gentle with his chosen," Thelesis whispered. "Have a care, Phèdre, and come home safe." She drew back and smiled gently at me. "Blessed Elua keep you."

"And you," I murmured, gripping her hands. "And you."

On the night the first part of it was to be implemented, I told my chevaliers of my plan. Would that Joscelin had been there, too, but I had played my game too closely; he had gone out that afternoon and not yet returned. I had no choice but to tell them, first dismissing my servants for the evening and swearing Phèdre's Boys to secrecy.

I chose Fortun to escort me to the natal festivities of the Duchese de Chalasse that night, and left the others with two cautions. "Whatever you hear said of me," I said, looking especially at Ti-Philippe, "do
not
bely the underlying truth of it, mind? And when Joscelin returns, do not tell him. Let him know I would speak to him first thing, and leave it to me."

Of that night, I will say little, save that it went as planned. Vivianne de Chalasse held great sway in L'Agnace; indeed, hers had been the sovereign duchy in the province until Ysandre had raised Percy de Somerville to the rank of Duc, and granted him ascendance. There was little ill-feeling over it—no one questioned that de Somerville had earned it, for commanding the defense against the Skaldic invasion—but enough that the Queen and Cruarch were impelled to attend the fête, smoothing any feathers that might remain ruffled.

Behind us, I could hear the eternal murmurs rising.

"I can't believe Ysandre agreed to it," he muttered.

I looked down at my plate and toyed with a quartered pear. "It does not please her," I admitted, "but she agreed. Joscelin, I won't compel you. Will you go or not?"

He rose without answering, and paced the dining hall to gaze out a window that overlooked my tiny rear courtyard, where Eugenie had planted the beginnings of an herb gar den. I sat watching him, his tall figure drenched in sunlight. "And if I say no?" he asked, not turning around. "What then?"

I ached for him, and yearned to go to him; since I dared not, I closed my eyes instead. "If that is your choice, then tell the Rebbe that I did as I promised. The Queen will treat them as lightly as she dares, but if they break the law, they will be punished under it." I had spoken to Ysandre of it, before we were done laying our plans. She had agreed, bemusedly, to take my words under advisement.

Joscelin was staring at me when I opened my eyes. "What else does Ysandre say?"

It seemed he cared more for the Yeshuites than for me, and it turned my pain to anger, making me reply sharply. "That you are sworn into her service, and she orders you to accompany me to La Serenissima. And that she does not hold lightly with oath-breakers."

It is perhaps the worst thing one could say to a former Cassiline. His head jerked back as if I had slapped him, nostrils flaring, white lines etching themselves on his face. "Then it seems I must go," he said, biting off the words, "unless I am to break faith all at once with Cassiel, you and the Queen."

"Yeshua's forgiveness is absolute," I retorted. "If you seek it for one oath broken, why not three?"

"Fine," I said grimly, rising from the table and tossing down my linen napkin. "Speak to Remy about the travel arrangements. He will tell you all that is needful. You re mind me, I have an obligation yet to fulfill."