Throughout this excursion, shades of the dead stood between them. Ambrice and Cressa had always lingered in Cerúlia’s heart, keeping her from committing fully to the foster family that offered her love, and yesterday she had learned that Wilim had joined her birth parents. Desperate for reconciliation before tomorrow’s peril, Cerúlia intertwined her arm around her foster mother’s waist. Stahlia kissed her on the top of the head and intertwined her own arm, each dangling their worthless slippers in her outside hand.
Cerúlia relished her touch, but fear still coursed through her.
She will never forgive me when she learns that Wilim died on account of me. Will she blame me for killing the duchette? Will she love a murderer?
Cerúlia felt overwhelmed and dizzy from the rush of events. But in this instant one need pushed to the fore. Stahlia is my true mother now. This may be the last moment she loves me. I want to hold on to it.
As an invitation, she sang the opening notes of “The Lay of Queen Carmena,” an overture to a duet. Stahlia, smiling, let her carry the melody while she joined in down a third with the harmony. They leaned close to one another, blending their voices. Gaining confidence, they sang louder, and the breeze swept up their ballad.
Scullery maids paused before the tower of wedding china. Footmen counting their tips, stable boys carting clean straw, and guards on patrol heard the music carrying through the twilight. Even those gentry smoking at their windows caught the whisper of the tune. All who heard it were seized with nostalgia and yearning—yearning for the heroic era of the Nargis Queens, when Weirandale lay secure, or at least felt secure, in Nargis’s Blessing.
Evening birds broke out in background accompaniment, and after a moment one particularly enthusiastic participant caught Cerúlia’s eye.
Tanager! There you are. Thank goodness you haven’t retired yet. I would talk to you. Meet me at the window of my chamber. We must make plans for tomorrow.
47
When he returned to his quarters at the end of the exhausting day, Matwyck’s thoughts churned with fury.
After all he’d done for this wedding! All the treasure he’d lavished! The address to the townspeople tonight in the Courtyard of the Star was to have been a crucial capstone.
My son will pay for this insolence when he returns.
Matwyck poured himself another glass of claret.
As for Lolethia … he initially chalked up her absence to childishness, and he had spent the day fuming that she should embarrass him in public this way. Matwyck had decided he would have his guards whip her; then he amended this plan by resolving he would flog her himself.
The image of a horsewhip biting into her soft back or bare backside while she wept and pleaded provided him a pleasant distraction.
But to enact this scenario, he needed the woman in his possession. He summoned his valet.
“I want you to go to the duchette’s suite. Take two guards with you. Bring her—drag her, if necessary—to these rooms immediately.”
In a few minutes, his valet returned with the report that her maids had not seen her since early morning, which was puzzling, but he wouldn’t put it past the sulky minx to hide from him.
He ordered his most trusted personal servants to begin searching the palace discreetly.
While he waited in his chambers, he shrugged off his expensive coat and loosened his cravat. He removed the heavy rings he had recently taken to wearing. He sent a page for a riding whip and paced the room flicking it, enjoying each time it made an audible pop. He opened a window, hoping that the cool evening air would settle his frayed nerves.
Briefly, he wished that Tirinella were still alive to massage his neck with her long fingers, as she sometimes had in the early days of their marriage.
Pouring another glass of claret, a new thought assailed him.
That sister. I don’t trust her at all.
Well, with Marcot gone from the palace, there was no reason why the Lord Regent could not question her firmly. If he detected any prevarication, the Truth Stone would pry out the secrets of her mysterious comings and goings.
Matwyck pulled the bell. At least he could make one of these aggravating women bend to his will.
“Guards, I want you to find Wren of Wyndton, the sister of Marcot’s bride. Once you’ve got her in your possession, take her to my business office, keep her there, and send me word.”
The guards bowed and departed on this errand.
He was pouring more claret when his valet appeared in his doorway. The man was shaking.
“Lord Regent,” he said, neglecting to make obeisance, “the Duchette Lolethia … has been located.”
“Aha! Well, what are you waiting for? Bring her here at once.”
“Lord Regent, I regret—this—this is impossible. She’s been found in Captain Burgn’s chambers.”
In Burgn’s chambers! Matwyck saw spots in front of his eyes. She has gone too far. To cuckold me with Burgn on my son’s wedding day! The whole court will know!
They will be executed. Publicly.
I will have him castrated first.
But his valet’s lips were still moving. “What did you say?” Matwyck asked over the roar in his ears.
“We are unable to bring her here, my lord, because—because she is no longer among the living.” The man blurted out, “Someone has cut her throat!” and then fell to his knee.
Matwyck sucked in a gulp of air and steadied himself with a hand against a table. “Tell me you have apprehended Captain Burgn!”
“Alas, my lord. He is missing from the palace. His carriage left this morning.”
Matwyck realized that he had not seen Burgn at the wedding or the midmeal feast. “Take me to his chambers.”
A small crowd of servants and guards—gossipmongers and telltales—already hovered in the doorway. A murder in the palace would stir people’s base curiosity.
“Disperse!” Matwyck barked.
Maids had not attended the room today. The bed was rumpled, but only on one side. Lolethia lay fully dressed on a couch, gently arranged, with her eyes closed but a bloody gash at her throat and blood pooled on the carpet beside her. Matwyck found the blood distasteful, and he saw nothing appealing in her inanimate body. He wondered why he had ever thought he wanted her.
He knelt by the body and forced himself to grab her dangling hand. It was cold. “He killed her. She came to him this morning with some innocent request, and the brute tried to force himself upon her. When she defended herself, he drew his knife and cut her sweet flesh. Oh, my darling girl—too innocent for this world. So cruel of the Waters to take you from me so soon.”
Matwyck rose to his feet, addressing a nearby soldier. “Go fetch your officer. I want fifty of my men to leave in pursuit of that brute immediately.”
He looked around at the people in the room. “I am cursed. Born to suffer the worst of losses, the worst of solitude. First my beloved Lady Tirinella was taken from me, now my sweet Lolethia.”
As he left the room, he noted several heads hanging in sympathy, and it occurred to him that the situation might well work to his advantage. Indeed, he may have just been spared from another mistake.
Lolethia was a passing fancy, nothing more. I will find a more suitable and less capricious partner. The public will see me as a suffering lover and a bringer of justice.
When he returned to his room he saw the palace guards whom he had sent after the Androvale sister lounging in the corridor.
Seeing him approach, they snapped to attention and then bowed. “The woman is not in her chamber, milord. A footman told us she is touring the gardens with her mother. Do you wish us to apprehend her there?” said a soldier.
“No, not in front of Stahlia! That would be ham-witted. Tarry until you can get her alone.”
The men set off down the hall.
“Guards!” Matwyck called after them. “Wait. I have other things on my mind. Leave it for now. We’ll attend to that tomorrow.”
EPILOGU
E
The four catamounts stalk the Weirandale Throne Room. Sometimes they switch their tails in anger. Sometimes they rub their bodies against the throne’s leg or scratch their faces on its arm. On occasion they roar in vexation.
The dusty throne sits empty. The room shouts its stillness and quiet, locked tight. With long tongues lapping, the catamounts drink from the pool under the Dedication Basin.
These last days the air currents that filter into the room have offered many new scents, but the mountain lions ignored them.
Finally, a waft from the gardens brings them a hint not only of new-grown greenery, but of something long awaited. The catamounts twitch their whiskers and taste the breeze. Their ears twist backward and forward, scanning for a particular quality of voice. All of their ears point east.
They stretch their claws out and knead the hard marble floor.
They purr.
APPENDIX ONE
CHARACTERS AND PLACES IN ENNEA MÓN
The Spirits
‘Chamen, Spirit of Stone
Agent “Mason,” chosen realm, Rortherrod
Ghibli, Spirit of the Wind
Agent “Hunter,” chooses no country
Lautan, Spirit of the Sea, “the Munificent”
Agent “Sailor” (first unnamed, then Mikil), chosen realm, Lortherrod
Mìngyùn, Spirit of Fate
Agent “Spinner” (Destra)
Nargis, Spirit of Fresh Water
Agent “Water Bearer” (first Tiklok, then Nana), chosen realm, Weirandale
Pozhar, Spirit of Fire
Agent “Smithy,” chosen realm, Oromondo
Restaurà, Spirit of Sleep and Health
Agent “Healer” (Myrnah), chosen realm, Wyeland
Saulė, Spirit of the Sun
Agent “Peddler,” (Gunnit is agent-in-waiting), chosen realm, Alpetar
Vertia, Spirit of Growth
Agent “Gardener,” chosen realm, the Green Isles
Weirandale
THE EIGHT WESTERN DUCHIES (WEST TO EAST)
Northvale
Prairyvale
Woodsdale
Lakevale
Maritima—includes city of Queen’s Harbor
Riverine—includes Cascada
Crenovale
Vittorine
THE THREE EASTERN DUCHIES ACROSS THE BAY OF CINDA (WEST TO EAST)
Androvale—contains Gulltown (port city) and Wyndton (country village)
Patenroux
Bailiwick—Barston (major city)
THE FORMER GENERATION ON THE THRONE
Queen Catreena the Strategist (deceased)
Consort: King Nithanil of Lortherrod (abdicated)
THE ROYALS
Queen Cressa the Enchanter (deceased)
Consort: Ambrice, Lord of the Ships (deceased)
Cerúlia, the princella
PEOPLE IN CASCADA
Lord Regent Matwyck
Lady Tirinella, his wife (deceased)
Lordling Marcot, his son
Eyevie, his (lost) favorite sister
Duchette Lolethia, later Matwyck’s betrothed
Heathclaw, his secretary
Gourdo, seamaster currently in port
Gunnit, a goatherd, sent to Cascada
Hiccuth, a stableman
Lemle, Wren’s friend from Wyndton, now in Cascada
Murgn, nephew of Yurgn; leader of Matwyck’s Marauders
Nana, a nursemaid, now Water Bearer
Ryton, Cerúlia’s former tutor
Vilkit, chamberlain, appointed by Matwyck
Whitsury, a Brother of Sorrow
LORD MATWYWCK’S COUNCILORS:
Duke Burgn, second son of General Yurgn
Lady Fanyah, formerly Cressa’s lady-in-waiting
Duchess Latlie
Lordling Marcot, the regent’s son
Prigent, also treasurer of the realm
General Yurgn, also general of the Armed Forces
VISITING WEIRANDALE ARISTOCRACY:
Lady Dinista, former lady-in-waiting to Queen Cressa, now married to younger Lord Retzel
Duke Favian of Maritima
Duchess Gahoa
Duke Inrick of Crenovale
Duchess Pattengale
THE QUEEN’S SHIELD: QUEEN CRESSA
Sergeant Yanath
Branwise
Pontole
WEIR SEAMASTERS
Gourdo
Wilamara
IN OR NEAR WYNDTON
Duke Naven
Duchess Naven
Five unnamed daughters
Captain Walmunt, head of the duchy guard
Stahlia, a weaver
Percia, her daughter
Nettie, friend of Percia
Dewva, friend of Percia
Tilim, her son
Ackerty, a landowner
Carneigh, a blacksmith
Goody Gintie, the midwife
Goddard, a healer
Hecht, peacekeeper who replaced Wilim
Rooks, retired/injured sergeant
Lemle, Rooks’s nephew, Wren’s friend
Nellsapeta, a Sister of Sorrow
Alliance of Free States:
Fígat—contains Latham and the Scoláiríum
Jígat—contains Jutterdam
Vígat—contains Sutterdam
Wígat—contains Yosta
IN SUTTERDAM
Hartling, a potter and owner of a once-thriving pottery business
Jerinda, his wife and business manger (deceased)
Hake, their eldest son
Thalen, their middle son
Harthen, their youngest son (deceased)
Norling, Hartling’s older sister
Ikas, a wheelwright, squad leader of the Defiance
Sansam, a member of Ikas’s squad
Pallia, a candlemaker
IN JUTTERDAM
Bellishia, a leader of the Defiance from Yosta
Dwinny, a healer
Hulia, a fisherwoman
Nothafel, a boatman
Rellia, the overall leader of the Defiance
THE SCOLÁIRÍUM OF THE FREE STATES, LOCATED IN THE TOWN OF LATHAM, REACHED BY FERRY FROM TROUT’S LANDING
Rector Meakey
Andreata, tutor of Ancient Languages
Granilton, tutor of History (deceased)
Graville, his son (deceased)
RAIDERS (SURVIVORS)
Commander Thalen
Cerf, a healer
Dalogun, seventeen-summers-old archer
Eli-anna, an archer from Melladrin
Eldie, her sister who stayed in Melladrin
Fedak, cavalry
Hake, quartermaster, Thalen’s older brother
Jothile, cavalry
Kambey, weapons master
Kran, swordsman
Quinith, quartermaster, originally a reader at the Scoláiríum
Tristo, Thalen’s adjutant, formerly a street orphan from Yosta
Wareth, cavalry scout
ORO OCCUPIERS
Lumrith, fifth-flamer
Murnaut, head of the Occupying Force
Lortherrod
King Nithanil, abdicated
Ilkula, his mistress
King Rikil, the current king
Unnamed wife and two sons
Prince Mikil, the king’s younger brother
Arlettie, Mikil’s wife
Gilboy, Mikil’s adopted son
In the Green Isles
SLAGOS (SECOND-LARGEST ISLAND)
Gardener, Agent to Vertia
Shetdrake, an officer of the Green Isles Bank who travels to Pilagos
Zillie, innkeeper of the Blue Parrot
PILAGOS (LARGEST ISLAND AND CAPITAL)
Magistrar Destra, head of the government, originally from the Free States
Bajets, seamaster of Island Dreamer
Hake, Thalen’s brother, quartermaster to the Raiders
Mikil, prince of Lortherrod
; Arlettie, Queen Cressa’s former maid, now Mikil’s wife
Gilboy, adopted son of Mikil and Arlettie
Olet, owner of Olet’s Olive Oil and Spicery
Quinith, former student at the Scoláiríum, quartermaster to the Raiders
Oromondo
Smithy, Agent to Pozhar
Sumroth, rises from commander to general
Zea, his wife, works for the Library of Reverence
Alpetar
Peddler, Agent of Saulė
Culpepper, a hostler in Tar’s Basin
The Sweetmeadow Refugees
Gunnit, a ten-summers-old shepherd
Linnsie, his mother
Saggeta, Gunnit’s neighbor and friend
Orphans
Aleen, eight summers old
Addigale, a toddler
Alloon, four summers old
Limpett, four summers old
Wyeland
SALUBRITON
Betlyna, an assistant healer
Ciellō, a mercenary from Zellia
Myrnah, a healer, Agent to Restaurà
Hunter, Agent of Ghibli
Tockymora, landlady of the Bread and Balm Recovery House
Damyroth, one-legged amputee
Hope, a melancholic
Jitneye, heart patient
Lymbock, hepatitis sufferer
Phénix
Sezirō, wounded patient from Zellia
APPENDIX TWO
NOTABLE HISTORIC QUEENS OF WEIRANDALE IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
Cayla the Foremother
Carra the Royal
Chista the Builder
A Broken Queen Page 37