Shadows: Book One of the Eligia Shala (25 page)

“I have to. Don’t you get it, Raik?” she said softly, almost apologetically. “I have to know, after seeing Albor. If what I saw there was the same as you saw back then, I have to know.”

Reluctantly accepting that he had no choice, he took the chain from his neck and held it out to Phillip. “Here, Majesty. This was in Stephan Couressime’s hand when we reached him. It’s identical to the two you see there.” Raik looked seriously at Phillip. “We couldn’t prove they were really Corros’s men.” He shook his head in disgust. “Now you’re going to have to stop her going after them, or we’ll end up with another Couressime death.”

“I can take care of myself …”

Phillip held his hand up for silence. “I’ll think about it. For now, you both stay in the palace. I don’t want any discussion of this outside this room, are we clear on that?” He turned to Arrilia Neilla who was sitting with her hands over her face. “Did you know any of this, mother?” He asked accusingly. “Did you know there was any suspicion of Corros being involved?”

The Dowager Empress raised her head to her son, dark eyes glittering with unshed tears in a shockingly pale face. “You think I would have left them unavenged?” she hissed. “My own sister?” She stood up slowly, one hand clenched on the table’s edge for support. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me, Raik. You know what those deaths did to me. How could you not tell me?”

“Reiff knew, Neilla. He’s the one who made the decision not to tell you. He’s also the one who told me to keep that button, so we would remember what it looked like if we ever had a chance to confront Corros legitimately. I may have been in love with you, but I was always under my Emperor’s orders. We thought it was for the best. It kept the rest of the family safe.”

“Until now,” Phillip noted. “You,” he jabbed his finger at Jenevra. “Stay in the Palace grounds. No unauthorized outings. I’ll send you word of my decision in the morning, and you
will
obey it.” He looked pointedly at Raik. “Both of you will.”

Phillip left the room with Arrilia Neilla, leaving Raik and Jenevra in an awkward silence.

Raik stared out of the window. “Why now, Jenn?” He didn’t even turn to look at her. “You’ve never seemed bothered by this before. It wasn’t just the village, was it? What else happened?”

Jenevra flopped back onto a chair. “It was the village; in a way. It just seemed to unlock something in me; and then I saw Brogan and Bernardo trying to be furtive about the buttons. They didn’t know I’d seen them, but they’re not terribly good at sneaking.” She gave a fleeting smile. “I think it was seeing the children, though.” She sighed. “And then one thing just led to another. A couple of the men had a fight. Brogan and Bernardo pulled something that forced my hand on an authority thing. It just went on.”

“It’s settled now, though, yes?” Raik tried not to look too concerned.

“Oh yes,” Jenevra opened her eyes wide. “I think we can safely say that. There won’t be any more trouble from that quarter. Anyway,” she stood again, adjusting her swords. “I’d better go make sure everything’s in place for us to leave. As soon as Phillip gives the word, we’re off.” Walking across to him she looked up into his eyes. “I’m sorry, Raik. I know you don’t want me doing this and I’m sorry I involved you. I didn’t mean for it to become an issue between you and Aunt Neilla; I thought she knew.”

“I know.” He shrugged. “And Jenn?”

She turned around with her hand on the door.

“Next time you call me a liar, we’ll be fighting.”

She grinned at him as she slipped out of the room.

Later that evening, after a quiet supper on her own in her rooms, Jenevra wandered along to the Empress’s suite, where Christiana was entertaining the female contingent of the court. Among the clothes that Christiana had ordered for Jenevra was a gown in the looser style that she liked, but made out of the same spring sky blue she had worn for the Imperial wedding. Thinking she might even like this one, the princess was quite comfortable in it as she strolled, barefoot again, into the room. Greeting her sister warmly, she moved around speaking to all the other ladies. Serena smiled at her, as did Lennia. Arrilia Neilla was sitting in a large soft chair near the fireplace, and Jenevra pulled a small ottoman over to sit next to her. “Are you angry with me?” She asked quietly.

“Jenevra, why is that always your first question? Does it seem to you as though I am always angry with you?”

Jenevra tipped her head. “We-ll, no; but whenever I see you there’s usually a good reason why you should be.”

Arrilia Neilla smiled at her niece. “That’s true, isn’t it? But you always do things for what you consider to be the right reasons, so it’s rather difficult to remain angry.”

“That’s what Raik says about you.”

“What? Not that I’m interested.”

“Of course not.” Jenevra smirked. “He always says that I’m like you when I do things he thinks are stupid because I think it’s the right thing to do.”

“So, the Commander thinks we do stupid things, does he?”

“Totally, but only because our hearts are in the right place. That’s reassuring, isn’t it? I mean, will that include you marrying him?”

Arrilia Neilla shot an amused look at her niece. “I’m not sure that’s how he will see it, but yes, I think we should consider me marrying Raik as a stupid thing I’d do because my heart’s in the right place.

“How’s your heart doing?” Christiana joined them, radiant in an ivory gown cut in a similar style to Jenevra’s. “How’s Prince Mikhail? Or Captain Tessier?”

“I haven’t seen either of them since I arrived, and that’s probably for the best. They’re just a distraction, and I don’t need that right now. They’re just annoying.” Jenevra buried her nose in a large goblet of water.

“Well, your Prince and the Captain have been stomping around the Palace glaring at each other like stalking wolves for the last couple of days, so I’d say they’re not quite as indifferent as you claim to be.” Christiana smirked over the rim of her wine cup. “Looks as though I’m finally going to be able to get you back for all those comments you and Richard made before Phillip and I were married.”

The beer had been flowing in the Shadow Flight barracks when the Imperial War Host High Commander and the Emperor arrived. Phillip quickly waved them all to sit back down. “Just an informal visit to see how my newest Flight is doing,” he assured them. “We even brought our own beer.” He gestured to the barrel Raik had balanced on his shoulder. “If you men don’t mind too much, there are a few others who’d like to join us in toasting the new Flight.”

Stephan, Richard and Captains Tessier and Manvi joined them, all dipping out large tankards of foaming brew from the Flight’s open cask.

One of the Flight’s soldiers approached the open barrel with something like fear. As he stretched out a hand with a tankard, his arm began to shake violently, and he backed away, looking at it with longing and terror. Putting his arm out again, tentatively, he heard a steely rasp of metal behind him, dropped the mug and scurried behind a bench.

As the visitors watched this in bewilderment, Gervaise D’Agostino sheathed his dagger, grinning wickedly, and enlightened them. “The Captain is helping Ferris with his drinking problem, Majesty. I think it’s some kind of aversion training.”

“It seems to be working,” Richard noted dryly.

“Yes, the Captain does have a way with her, Your Highness: she tends to get right to the point.”

The Flight groaned throwing whatever was to hand at D’Agostino, who just grinned and dodged the missiles.

“I take it we’re missing something here, Brogan?” Raik queried.

Brogan scowled at D’Agostino. He didn’t want to discuss the Flight’s problems in front of the other Captains. The princess deserved more loyalty than that. But, the Emperor’s command overrode any objections he might have, and Brogan found himself telling the story of the whole journey, including the drugged fruit and subsequent execution of Will Theiss.

“You did what?” Anger was evident on Raik’s face, as Brogan and Bernardo managed to look somewhat ashamed of themselves.

“She actually killed him? Beheaded? She didn’t tell you to do it?” Stephan was astounded; which was a step better than Richard who was truly speechless, sitting with his mouth hanging open.

“All her own work. And beautifully done, too,” noted Bernardo, raising his head, beaming like a proud father. “You haven’t seen a cleaner stroke than that one. That sword must be like a razor though, because it went through his neck like it was going through butter.”

“Thanks for that,” Spider Baudoin dropped the large hunk of buttered bread he’d been chewing.

“I don’t believe it,” Richard found his voice. “Jenevra’s not a killer. You’re just trying to make her look tough.” In honesty, he didn’t sound too convinced of his own argument.

“No, Your Highness. She’s a soldier.” Brogan defended the princess. “She did it because she had to; no other reason. She’d told Theiss that next time he failed to follow an order, she’d take his head off his shoulders herself—so she did. Necessity, that’s all. Although it is good to know we have a commanding officer who isn’t going to faint at the sight of blood.” Brogan hesitated slightly. “She’s hardly spoken to us since the evening at the inn. Just orders. It’s possible the whole thing actually upset her more than she’s letting on.”

“No. She has an honest heart.” Farid Jatar pronounced solemnly. “She is silent because she is angry; with the people who killed the villagers and with having to punish Theiss.” He folded his arms determinedly. “I will follow her wherever she goes; and I will protect her with my life should the need arise.” There was a silence following this. Farid did not waste words unnecessarily, like the similarly reticent Finn Corrigan, so when he spoke, the rest of the men tended to listen. Most of them were nodding, murmuring agreement.

Phillip was trying to stop himself laughing out loud at this point. He was imagining Chancellor Menzetti’s expression if he could hear these men speaking with such devotion of the princess that the Chancellor merely regarded as a nuisance. Almost managing to smother his amusement, he looked around at the men of Shadow Flight. He noticed Blaise Tessier, sitting back in the shadows, looking deeply pensive. Tessier had listened to the conversation without saying a word, which was highly unusual in itself. He was still trying to understand what impulse had driven him to not kiss the princess. Why not? Who wouldn’t want to kiss her? It sounded like most of the Flight would, given the opportunity. But the hurt he had seen in her eyes that night didn’t quite match up with the competent leader he was hearing about this evening. Puzzled, Tessier left quietly.

Phillip’s grin broadened as he watched Tessier depart. Having so recently moved from courtship to marriage himself, he thought it would be highly diverting to watch someone else go through the same pangs; especially if that someone was the previously unquenchable Blaise Tessier.

Raik’s voice intruded into Phillip’s thoughts as he heard the Commander advising the Flight on how to proceed with Jenevra. “You can’t keep ‘mothering’ her, you know, Brogan? You’ve got to get over that. You too, Bernardo. She’s not the little girl who used to follow us round.”

“I think we got that, Commander,” Brogan noted. “Right about when Theiss’s head disappeared into the mist.” He shook his head. “If we hadn’t tried to make sure she rested, she wouldn’t have had to do that.”

“Yes, she would.” Raik contradicted him. “You said so yourself. She’d already warned Theiss what the penalty would be. She had to follow that threat through, or lose the respect of the entire Flight. That’s not the problem. The problem is that you have to stop thinking of her as a girl, and just think of her as your Captain.” Remembering something, Raik glared at Brogan and Bernardo. “And you need to remember that she’s smart too. She knew you two were hiding something about the buttons you found in the village, and brought it up in front of the Emperor here, and the Dowager Empress. Jenevra’s foaming at the mouth about the Diruthians now, and we’re stuck with trying to keep her from causing an incident with Corros. Stop underestimating her. I told you that before.”