She pressed down on his shoulder, the faintest grip. “Keep walking,” she repeated, and pushed him gently. Felix walked forward, slowly, toward a tall chair at the end of the table opposite where Lady Heath stood. Lady Heath wore a neutral expression. What did she think, when she looked at Felix? That he would make a good tool? Well, Willow was sworn not to let that happen.
She regarded Lady Heath in turn. The woman was in her late forties and as fond of jewelry as a harem sister; she wore several bracelets, a necklace of pearls Willow itched to get her hands on, three or four rings, and a brooch with a diamond easily fifteen carats in size. Her blond head was bare, however, making Willow wonder what statement she was making. She wouldn’t wear her Countess’s coronet to this meeting. Did she think any diadem might look like she was challenging Felix for the real Crown? An interesting notion to pursue.
Willow followed Felix and was grateful to be shown a seat rather than have to figure out where she ranked. Her chair was next to Felix at the end of the table, and the middle-aged man from Lady Heath’s retinue stood next to her. He smiled at her in a friendly way and held her seat for her. Just as if she were noble.
All around them, people took their seats, their attention now on Lady Heath rather than Felix. Willow recognized the rest of Lady Heath’s escort; the young woman sat at the Countess’s right hand, while the dowser Lord Carrington and the other elderly man had seats along the left side of the table. The Countess was still staring at Felix, who looked back at her without a trace of fear. Good for him.
“Your Majesty,” Lady Heath said when the shuffling and movement had stilled, “do you have a plan for retaking the Crown?”
“Once I have the loyalty of the Counts and Barons, I’ll tell Uncle Terence to step down,” Felix said. “And if he doesn’t, we’ll fight him.”
“With those strange weapons.”
“Yes. They’re very powerful.”
“And you think that will be enough?”
“I don’t understand all of the strategy. That’s what Willow and Takjashi Soltighan are for, to plan the attack.”
“You are skilled in military strategy?” Lady Heath asked Willow.
“I’m not, but I understand the basics, and I know enough to appreciate sound strategy when I see it. And we intend to bring in the expertise of the provincial military forces.”
“I don’t think you realize how outnumbered we are by the Ascendants,” said a woman whose smooth dark skin was marred by a long scar down her right temple and cheek. “Tremontane hasn’t gone to war with anyone in seventy years. The provincial forces aren’t much more than local police.”
“So long as they’re capable of fighting Terence’s army, they don’t have to be. The King’s people will fight the Ascendants.”
“And that’s another thing,” the woman continued. “The Tremontanan army is small these days, but they’re well-trained. I’m not so sure our militia is up to the challenge.”
Willow leaned forward to fix the woman with her gaze. “I take it you’re their captain.”
“Cerise Nolanger. Captain of the Huddersfield militia.”
“Captain Nolanger, King Felix commands the loyalty of all his subjects, not just here in Huddersfield. He anticipates joining the military forces of several counties and baronies. We will have the advantage of numbers. He doesn’t expect you to fight alone.” She wanted to say Don’t you have faith in your people? but decided not to be openly antagonistic. But what kind of captain denigrated her soldiers’ capabilities? Willow made a note not to include Nolanger in their military plans unless she had no other choice.
“Why not offer Terence Valant the regency?” said the elderly man who’d been in Lady Heath’s escort, the one whose name Willow didn’t know. “Does it have to come to bloodshed?”
“Terence has already tried to have Felix killed. That’s not the action of a man who’d be satisfied with a regency. And he murdered his way to the throne, so it’s already come to bloodshed.”
“Then who will be your regent, your Majesty?” said a man sitting on Lady Heath’s left.
Felix glanced at Willow. “I don’t know,” he said. “Someone who understands government.”
“Someone who can be trusted to give up power at the end of seven years when Felix comes of age,” Willow said. “I intend to choose a regent for him when I have more information.”
“You?” the same man said. “No one’s ever heard of you before, Lady North. What makes you qualified to hand someone control of the Crown?”
“I made Willow a Lady, because she protected me when no one else would,” Felix said. “You have to respect her or it’s like disrespecting me.”
That was a good point. “You’ll notice I haven’t claimed the regency for myself,” Willow said. “I have the experience to know who will best fill that role. The vojenta mahaut of Eskandel recognized me as the King’s political adviser. I’m impartial in every way except for my desire to see Felix cared for and guided properly. Or are you suggesting you ought to make the decision?”
A murmur went around the table. The man smiled, surprising Willow. “I’m just the agricultural adviser to the Countess. But I’m as entitled as anyone to ask these questions. I want a strong King wearing the Crown, not someone weakened by an ineffectual or too-powerful regent. And I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask for your qualifications.”
“And your history,” said the young woman seated next to Lady Heath. She had her chin propped on one hand and was playing with the gold chain around her neck with the other.
“Not relevant,” Willow said.
“That suggests you have something to hide.”
“No, it means my history has nothing to do with whether I’m suited to be Felix’s guardian and political adviser. It’s true, I wasn’t noble until Felix granted me my title, but given that plenty of nobles sided with Terence, I don’t think nobility is a guarantee of character.”
The young woman nodded once, slowly, and continued to toy with her necklace. “You’ve been silent for all of this, my lady,” Willow said to Lady Heath. “Don’t you have any questions?”
“I’m interested in the opinions of my advisers.” Lady Heath looked at the man sitting next to Willow. “Your opinion, my lord?”
“We are headed for civil war, if we take this route,” the man said. “Your Majesty, do you want to see this country torn apart?”
“Willow told me the Count of Waxwold plans to attack Uncle Terence. Isn’t that also civil war?” Felix had his hands on the armrests of his chair, but loosely, and Willow felt relieved that he wasn’t afraid. “Uncle Terence wants to be King, and he doesn’t care who he hurts so long as he gets what he wants. You have to support the true King, or the war won’t have a point.”
“Interesting,” the man said. “So you believe war is inevitable.”
Felix looked at Willow in some confusion. “He means it can’t be stopped,” Willow said.
“Oh. The only way for war to not be…inevitable…is for everyone to do what Uncle Terence says. But he shouldn’t be King even if he hadn’t murdered my father. I don’t think he’ll be a good King for Tremontane. And that means war.”
“Hmm,” the man said, and was silent for a moment. “Philippa, this means approaching Alric.”
“I know,” Lady Heath said, wrinkling her nose as if she smelled something bad. “Anyone else?”
“We could go west instead,” the young woman said. “Speak to the Count of Harroden. If his Majesty has more support than just us, the Count of Waxwold might be more amenable.”
“Or he’ll be insulted that we didn’t go to him first,” the man said.
“Or imagine we’re trying to manipulate him,” Carrington said.
“Lady North, what is your opinion?” Heath said.
“Ah…Alric is Lord Alric Quinn, Count of Waxwold?” Lady Heath nodded. “If he’s already making a play for the Crown, we should go to him as quickly as possible. If he attacks before we can speak to
him, we’ll be fighting him as well as Terence’s forces. He needs the opportunity to pledge fealty to Felix before he does anything drastic.”
“That’s my assessment as well,” said the elderly man. “I can draft a letter to Alric, letting him know how things stand, but his Majesty ought to send one as well.”
“Of course,” Willow said. “And you are…?”
“Want to know my credentials as well?” The man smiled. “I’m Howard Ragland, the Countess’s chief political adviser. Your counterpart, my lady.”
Willow tried not to blush. He’d made it sound like being her counterpart gave them some kind of connection, but she’d been a political adviser for something like two months and he’d probably been doing it for years, decades even. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“And you, Lady North? We’ve been asking all the questions. What questions have you?” Lady Heath rested her chin on her palm, mimicking, maybe unconsciously, the young woman on her right. In that pose, both of them regarding Willow soberly, Willow realized the two had to be mother and daughter. Her heir, perhaps?
“What happened to the Ascendants here?” she said. “You spoke earlier as if they were all gone from Huddersfield.”
“There were three Ascendants living in my court. All three chose to join Lord Valant in Aurilien.” The Countess looked sour, contemplating a nasty memory. “There are others living within County Huddersfield, but they keep to themselves. None of them have broken any laws. Yet.”
“What do you mean?”
“We have had word of Ascendants abusing their privileges, placing huge demands on ordinary folk and striking them down when they fail to obey. With the governments of the counties and baronies in turmoil, few of these Ascendants have faced justice, and Lord Valant is slow to punish them. We’re already seeing the results of an Ascendant wearing the Crown, your Majesty. Those weapons you have…they will be a tremendous boon when it comes to facing the Ascendants down.”
“They only drain an Ascendant’s magical reserves. We still have to face them with ordinary weapons, since they probably won’t give up without a fight.”
“Nevertheless.”
“Then…I suppose the only thing left to ask is, what form will your assistance take? It sounds like Felix needs to approach Lord Quinn immediately.”
“I’ll send a detachment of the militia under Captain Nolanger’s command east with you, as military support.” Lady Heath sat back in her chair, tangling her fingers in her rope of pearls. “And I’ll write an official missive to the Count, expressing Huddersfield’s support for King Felix.”
“You won’t come with us? My lady,” Willow added, aware she’d sounded accusatory.
“Alric’s a proud man,” Lady Heath said, “and he and I don’t get along. My presence in your company will only irritate him. Time enough for me to join you once you have his fealty. But I’ll send my consort.” She nodded at the man sitting on Willow’s left, who once again smiled pleasantly at her. Willow kept her astonishment from showing. He looked so ordinary!
“Dexter Heath, my lady,” he said, inclining his head to Willow. “I’m honored to travel with the King.”
“Thank you, my lord.” Willow turned her attention back to Lady Heath. “How soon can your militia be ready?”
Lady Heath turned an eye on Nolanger. “Three days,” the woman said, though she looked like she wanted to object. Willow’s irritation rose. If Nolanger continued resistant to the idea of putting her troops in harm’s way, she would be more a liability than an asset. Not that Willow could object in any meaningful way.
“That will give my message runner time to reach Kingsport and meet you on the road as she returns, if she leaves this afternoon.” Lady Heath rose, prompting everyone else to rise as well, Willow and Felix belatedly. “She can carry your Majesty’s message as well.”
“Thank you, my lady,” Willow said, inclining her head politely. Probably she should bow instead, but she figured as Felix’s adviser she was also his stand-in, in a way, and he wouldn’t bow. If it was the wrong decision, Lady Heath made no sign of it. This was all going far too well. She hadn’t had to argue with anyone, hadn’t had to force Lady Heath to support Felix, hadn’t gotten any resistance from anyone but Nolanger—
“Lord Quinn will want you to make him Regent,” said the young woman at Lady Heath’s right. “You should turn him down.”
“Why is that?” Willow said.
“He’s power-hungry and ruthless. He won’t want to give up power when the King reaches his majority.”
“I’ll make that decision when I come to it. But thank you for your advice.” She didn’t feel grateful. The young woman had a casual air about her that suggested she knew more than Willow and looked down on her for it. Willow quashed an impulse to do the opposite of what the young woman suggested and returned her look for steely-eyed look.
“You’ll have the King stay here,” Nolanger said. “I don’t think I can guarantee his safety.”
“Captain Nolanger, between the Huddersfield militia and his Majesty’s Eskandelic troops, I think we can keep the King safe. And Lord Quinn will certainly demand to see him.” Willow’s irritation grew. Could they even hope to count on this woman in time of attack?
“Cerise, I have faith in your troops,” Lady Heath said. “You’ll be under Lady North’s command and I expect you to give her good counsel.”
Willow opened her mouth to protest, but managed to keep silent. Her, Willow North the midnighter, commanding troops? But someone had to give the orders, and if they went into battle, the Eskandelic and Tremontanan forces had to act as one. She’d have to depend on Soltighan’s advice.
Lady Heath said, “Now, Lady North, if you’ll write that letter, and then I invite his Majesty to join me for supper—his Majesty and his retinue, of course. Nothing fancy, just a private meal with my family.”
“We would be honored, my lady.” Willow nodded to her again and gestured to Felix to follow her out of the room, feeling the pressure of dozens of eyes on her back. They couldn’t tell she was a thief just by looking, she was sure. She hoped.
“Willow, did I do all right?” Felix asked as they retraced their steps to their suites.
“You were perfect. Lady Heath will support you all the way to Aurilien.”
“I’m worried about Lord Quinn. He sounds like Uncle Terence.”
That had been Willow’s thought as well. “If he thinks he can be a good King, it’s going to be hard to convince him to support you. But I’m sure he doesn’t want Tremontane to dissolve into civil war, and if he’s at all honorable, he’ll withdraw his claim to the Crown.”
“But we don’t know if he’s honorable.”
“No, we don’t. But don’t worry. We’ll discover that first.” Possibly when he sends his troops to attack us.
“Hilarion says honor is prince among virtues. But I’m not sure other people believe that.”
“I think you’re right. Unfortunately. Let’s hope for the best, all right?” And plan for the worst. If only they could leave immediately! Three days of inactivity, waiting for Nolanger to get her military ducks in a row, and Willow not allowed to go midnighting across the roofs of Rannis. It was going to be a long three days.
Chapter Four
Willow lay on her camp bed, staring up at the dark gray roof of the tent. Their “servants”—really a couple of soldiers assigned to them by Soltighan—had aired it out that morning, and now it smelled of fresh, sun-warmed grass and the cool air of an early autumn evening. It felt more like home than anywhere she’d lived since her mother died, which told her home was people, not a place.
Beside her, Kerish took her hand, startling her. “I thought you were asleep.”
“Some nights I feel restless. It doesn’t help that this bed keeps me from taking you in my arms.”
“We tried sharing a camp bed, remember? They’re too narrow, and when we—”
“I remember. The soldiers still give us looks when they think we d
on’t notice. You’d think no one had ever broken a camp bed before.”
“Still, it’s a beautiful night, don’t you think? So peaceful.”
Kerish rolled on his side to face her. “And yet it’s an illusion.”
“I know. I’m worried about meeting Lord Quinn tomorrow.” Willow sighed. “If we can’t convince him to support Felix, we might be fighting a war outside Kingsport the day after that.”
“I know.”
They fell silent. Willow waited for Kerish to say something reassuring and felt downcast when he didn’t. Though—what could he say that would bring her success? He knew as well as she did that empty platitudes meant nothing.
“Are you afraid?” Felix’s voice piped up from across the tent.
“Felix! Did you hear that?”
“I woke up when you started talking.”
“I’m sorry. Go back to sleep.”
“I’m not tired anymore.”
“You need sleep,” Kerish said, “because tomorrow’s meeting is important, and you need to be well-rested for it.”
“Lord Quinn and my father didn’t like each other. They argued. I don’t know what about. But I heard them yelling at each other. Do you think that means Lord Quinn won’t like me?”
“He doesn’t have to like you, he just has to pledge loyalty to you.” Willow immediately felt this was the wrong thing to say. But she couldn’t tell him Of course he’ll like you when she knew full well this was not a given. “Respect is more important than liking sometimes.”
“Hilarion says respect is a gift that gives itself in turn,” Felix said. “Do I have to respect Lord Quinn?”
“Unless he proves himself unworthy of it,” Kerish said, in a tone of voice that suggested he thought this was a probable outcome.
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