Naamah's Kiss (54 page)

I frowned. "I beg your pardon, your majesty?"

"She didn't tell you?" he asked. "We agreed to certain terms before we wed. Thierry is my heir and I love him dearly, but a monarch with a sole heir is ever fearful. I want Jehanne to bear my children. She begged me to wait. We settled on a period of three years. It ends on the Longest Night. On the first day of the new year, Jehanne will light a candle to Eisheth and beseech her to open the gates of her womb."

"Oh," I whispered.

Daniel clasped his hands behind his back and stared into the fire. "She's afraid."

"Of what?" I remembered Thierry accusing her of being too vain to bear children, but I thought it must be something more.

"Her mother nearly died giving birth to her," Daniel said. "And, too, I suspect Jehanne is afraid of herself." His mouth quirked. "She brought joy into my life when it was empty of all meaning. For that alone, I'm willing to forgive her any betrayal save one: Bearing another man's child."

"Oh," I repeated.

He gave me a wry look. "You can see why I was pleased she chose you over him."

"Aye." I had the urge to comfort him. "Your majesty I do believe the Queen is distraught over her own actions. She wants your forgiveness."

King Daniel's clasped hands tightened. "Yet she confessed to you !"

"She's afraid to face you," I said. "And she didn't confess. I accused her."

His lips quirked again. "That must have gone over well."

"She threw things," I admitted. "But afterward, she wept and said she wanted your forgiveness." It wasn't exactly true, but I thought it was true enough. And he didn't need to know about the other part.

He gazed at the dancing fire. "You may tell her she has it."

"I will," I promised. "Thank you."

Daniel gave me a sharp look. "Tell her also that I'll be less forgiving after the Longest Night. If she consorts with Raphael de Mereliot while we're trying to get with child, I will dissolve our vows and set her aside."

I bowed my head. "Aye, your majesty."

His face softened. "They say you're good for her. I do believe it. Few folk would have had the courage to accuse her, and fewer still to come here to speak to me in person." He cocked his head. "I'm curious. I have men assigned to keep watch over de Mereliot. How did you know Jehanne had been with him?"

"Ohh" I shrugged. "I know his scent."

The King blinked. "His scent."

I nodded.

"Elua have mercy!" He laughed shortly. "My wife and her bear-witch." He waved a dismissive hand at me. "Go, go to her. Take care of her. Tell her I'll see her on the morrow."

I headed for the door, grateful.

"Moirin." King Daniel's voice halted me. I turned. He picked up a sheaf of papers from his desk and let them fall, scattering. "These are petitions," he said. "Petitions from various members of Parliament urging me to send an embassy to Terra Nova. You're an outsider. Objective. And yet you're a descendant of House Courcel. I know Thierry's spoken to you. What are your thoughts on the matter?"

I hesitated. "I don't know, your majesty. I'm a child of the Maghuin Dhonn. I would have been content to spend my life in a cave if She hadn't willed otherwise. But since you ask, I will say that I think the peers of Terre d'Ange could use a better pastime than wagering on how many days will pass before the Queen makes a chambermaid cry."

He stirred the strewn papers with his fingertips. "Thirty-seven days and counting. Thank you for your honesty." He tilted his head at the door. "Now go."

I went.

In my chamber, I found Jehanne lying on her belly on my bed, still unclad, reading the treatise on apple propagation. She glanced up when I entered. I'd never seen her naked by lamplight before. In the dusky plant shadows, she looked like a creature spun of gossamer and starlight.

"Well?" she asked.

I closed the door softly behind me. "He was having Raphael watched. He knows, Jehanne."

She turned paleor more pale. "Is he furious?"

"No." I sat on the bed. "He said you have his forgiveness. But he also said to tell you that if you consort with Raphael de Mereliot while you're trying to get with child, he'll set you aside. Why didn't you tell me?"

Jehanne shrugged and didn't answer.

I traced the lines of her marque idly. Her skin was as fine and silken as a child's. "His majesty thinks you're afraid."

"He knows me well," she murmured. "I wish I were stronger. I'm not a very good Queen, am I?"

I drew my finger down the lovely curve of her spine. "You are the scandal and delight of the realm, my lady. Did I ever tell you about the good ladies Florette and Lydia with whom I shared a coach?"

"No." She smiled a little. "Tell me."

I told her the whole tale, how I'd slept in the stables and bedded the coach-driver Theo, how I'd had to listen to the good ladies' eternal gossip as they rehashed every detail of Jehanne's exploits with gleeful relish. How I'd escaped it to ride beside Theo, only to be driven back into the coach to endure further gossip after the bandits attacked us.

Jehanne's eyes widened. "You shot a man?"

"Only in the thigh."

She caught my hand and cradled it against her cheek. "You're brave. I wish I were brave like you."

"You're the one who rescued me," I reminded her.

"I did, didn't I?" She kissed my palm. "Mayhap I won't let you leave me, Moirin. Mayhap I'll run away with you instead."

"Oh?" I stroked her hair with my free hand. "Where exactly am I going, anyway?"

"I don't know." Her voice turned cross. "You're the one with a destiny to follow. Ask your stupid diadh-anam ." Jehanne uncoiled and sat upright in one seamless motion, her unbound hair spilling over her shoulders. "Elua bids us to love as we will. And I do. Why isn't that enough? Why does it have to be so damned complicated?"

I remembered something the good lady Lydia had said in her cups. "We're the ones who make it that way. Blessed Elua cared naught for crowns or thrones."

Jehanne laughed. "Do you know who said that?"

"No," I admitted.

"One of the realm's greatest traitors." She took both my hands in hers. "I don't want to betray Daniel. Help me?"

"I'll try." I squeezed her hands. "Jehanne, my father told me a bit of what it means to be a royal companion. And I'm all wrong for it. It's meant to be someone close enough in age to be a friend to the peer they serve, but older and wiseror at least more experienced. It's meant to be an acolyte skilled in Naamah's arts. You and I, we have our roles backward."

Her eyes sparkled briefly. "Oh, I've got you well on your way to possessing an adept's skills."

"Well." I smiled. "But he told me, too, why the practice began. At the time, the idea was that the Dauphine should have one person in her life whose loyalty she could trust without question. That, I do believe I could offer you."

Jehanne's expression turned grave. "And are you making me that offer?"

I nodded. "I am."

"You left off part of their thinking," she observed. "The idea that having one loyal confidante would help the Dauphine grow into a wiser, kinder ruler one day." Jehanne raised her brows at me. "Did you really think you had aught to tell one of Naamah's Servants about the history of royal companions?"

I laughed. "No."

"So you'd listen to my deepest fears and desires and keep all my confidences?" she asked. "Tolerate my whims and forgive my weaknesses?"

"I already do," I pointed out to her. "But if you were to trust me to do it and be honest with me, I'd be able to serve you better."

"And in turn, you expect to make me a wiser, kinder ruler," Jehanne said wryly.

I shrugged. "My lady, you are a great deal wiser and kinder than you pretend to be. On the eve of embarking on a voyage toward motherhood, there are worse things you could do than demonstrate it."

She regarded me from beneath her lashes, her face unreadable.

"Are you angry?" I asked her. With her mercurial temper, one could never be sure.

"No." Jehanne sank both hands into my hair, leaned forward, and kissed me. "I'm not angry, my beautiful girl." She brushed my lower lip with one fingertip, then kissed me again, deep and lingering. "Not angry at all."

I sighed with relief. "Oh, good."

"Mmm." She toyed with the bodice of my gown. "Moirin, why are you in my bed and still clothed?"

"It's my bed," I noted. "And you sent me on an errand that very much required clothing."

Her hands glided over my breasts, cupping and caressing them. "That's the wrong answer to the wrong question."

"What's the right question?" I asked, half-breathless.

Jehanne smiled at me, unlacing the ties of my bodice. "Oh, I don't know. There are so many questions one could ask, aren't there? But I'm quite sure that your answer is yes . Don't you think so?"

It struck me that despite her tantrums and tears earlier, I'd managed to get Jehanne in a good moodand her good moods were infectious. I'd won a measure of trust from her. I could no longer smell Raphael's scent lingering on her skin.

And she was mine for the whole night.

All these things made me happy.

"Oh, yes." I put my arms around her neck and kissed her. "Yes, and yes, and yes!"

The Longest Night came and went without seeing my father's ü return.

That was the only shadow that dimmed my enjoyment of the festivities and the weeks leading up to them. Noemie d'Etoile gave me repeated assurances and told me not to worry, and I tried not to.

I kept up my lessons with Master Lo Feng and I tended to his Camaeline snowdrops, keeping their frail song alive.

I had the first test of my service as a royal companion when Jehanne informed me that she wanted to see Raphael again before the Longest Night.

"Just once," she said calmly. "That's all I'm asking. I swear to Elua, just once. I want a chance to tell him why I can't see him again. I want to enjoy the last time knowing it's the last time. At least until" She shrugged. "Who knows how long?"

"Did you discuss it with his majesty?" I asked.

Jehanne shook her head. "I was hoping you would. If you believe me, he's more likely to believe it, too." She searched my face. "You do believe me, don't you?"