Danielle stood quickly to help him up. “I’ll see you to your chambers.”
“That’s not necessary. You have a banquet to grace with your lovely self.”
“Nonsense. Come along.”
They talked as they walked through the torch lit passageways and up the various staircases to Joseph’s personal chambers in the east tower. Unable to find James to accompany her, four guards followed at a polite distance in his place, and she had sent word letting him know of her whereabouts.
“Eden, Michael and Kimberley are not back yet. I thought they were going to return for the banquet?” Danielle said after outlining her discussion with Bastion about the Vafusolum proposal and listening to Joseph’s thoughts. He had also commented on her idea to redistribute coin to the populous of Illandia as a way of apologising for her actions in the tourney ring and thought it a good idea.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you. They were delayed. Seemed one of their guests brought down a black bear and is determined to take the skin. Kimberley was not at all impressed. She even politely asked in the letter if it might be possible to outlaw the shooting of tusked bear.”
Danielle smiled at that. Kimberley and she were a kindred spirit on that account. “Much to Eden’s chagrin, no doubt. She’s going to make a wonderful queen.”
“Yes, well, despite the flurry of letters between you lot of late, your father is still a long way from giving his consent.”
“If I am to wed a man of common heritage, then surely that should help Eden and Kimberley?”
“A protector in waiting is not a King in waiting, Dee, you know that. The nobles will not be pleased when they hear about James’ birth, but they’ll tolerate it, even expect it from their errant princess and certainly since he is a Sidney. But Kimberley’s lowly station will not be so quickly forgiven …”
“That’s ridiculous, everyone knows of Eden’s love for the red-haired serving girl.”
“Yes, but a lover is a far cry from a wife and future queen, at least to the vast majority of our nobles.”
“But it was acceptable for their king to wed a woman from the Lunwraithian nobility and a staunch reformist Goddian to boot?”
Joseph smiled. “I know a few of our own nobles who would say that you are proof enough that such a union was ill conceived as well.”
“Oh, very amusing.” She squeezed his arm. “What a tremendous example it would be and how appropriate that the first common born queen should oversee the formation of a free Arkaelyon republic.”
The thought never failed to excite her. Joseph meanwhile looked slightly pained.
“You know I agree with you, lass, but the immediate politics makes things a little more complex, you understand that better than most.”
She couldn’t argue, though it frustrated her immensely.
They’d reach the door to his tower refuge. Danielle said her good nights and arranged to begin their early morning meeting again, starting tomorrow, and then began back the way she’d come, her guards following behind for company.
A royal messenger met her at the doors to the Summer Hall. “Forgive the interruption, Milady, but I have a message from your protector. May we speak in private?”
She dismissed her guards with a smile and stepped into a doorway. The music from the ballroom would hide their talk.
“James requests that you return to your chambers at once. He’s in the company of a woman who says she has some news of the utmost importance concerning Lord Kane and the council meeting tomorrow.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The train of her gown in her hand, Danielle took the quickest route back to her chambers. The very mention of Kane and tomorrow’s council meeting in the same sentence had put her in a cold sweet. James’ message had said; something of utmost importance—what could that possibly mean? And who was this woman?
Reaching the vestibule outside her chambers she slowed to a quick walk to catch her breath and compose herself a little. Sergeant Belich was in command of the guardsman stationed at her door for the night watch. He offered her a polite smile as he opened the door for her.
James was waiting inside, leaning against her bureau and staring out the window. He turned quickly to meet her and the grave expression on his face made her fear the worst. He nodded across the room.
“You have a visitor.”
Over by the fireplace a woman was rising from one of the comfortable chairs. She was attired in a low cut gown that revealed a comely bosom and a lean shapely frame. She had a leather satchel in her lace-gloved hands. James made the introductions.
“This is Miss Katherine, Milady. She has knowledge of a certain matter I think you and your father will want to know about.”
Eager to know what that might be, Danielle bid the woman approach. The woman did as she was bid and then curtseyed.
Even in the dimly lit chamber it was impossible not to see the physical and facial similarity between this woman and herself. Danielle raised an eyebrow ever so slightly and glanced at James, who’s thought appeared to be elsewhere, for he was frowning heavily.
“I am told that you have information regarding my brother and the council meeting tomorrow?” Danielle asked.
“Yes, Milady, I’m afraid I bring terrible tidings from an anonymous party. My lord wishes you to have this.” She offered the satchel. “I was told to give it to no-one else.”
Danielle nodded at James who took it and checked inside and found a wad of parchment pages.
“That is a copy of a bill written by Lord Kane. He intends to present it to the council tomorrow morning. You should also know that he has sufficient support among the nobility to see that it’s passed into law.”
Danielle felt the tiny hairs at the back of her neck stand on end and her pulse quicken. “And what is this bill about?”
“Its intent is to address Arkaelyon’s labour shortage by reforming present legislation in such a way that slavery would be legal throughout the territory of your father’s realm.”
Danielle’s jaw went slack. Slavery! No wonder Kane had been so agitated on the highway, even willing to kill me.
She realised she was staring at the poor woman, making her uncomfortable. She took the satchel from James’ hand and retreated to her desk. Her thoughts were reeling. “Why bring this to me? What am I supposed to do with it?” She was angry, at least inwardly. How was this a bloody diversion!
“According to my employer, its passage can be stopped.”
That caught Danielle’s attention. “Go on.”
“In brokering support for the legislation, Lord Kane offered monetary bribes, putting the bill in breach of several council protocols and making it possible to have the whole thing brought down on technicalities.”
Danielle understood what this lord was suggesting. “You have proof?”
“Yes, Milady. You need only take that to the Lord Protector. It will be sufficient grounds to have him issue a warrant allowing the immediate search of your brother’s premises in the southeastern quarter of the city. The soldiers will find a list of names and the bribes taken in a scroll presently hidden in your brother’s bureau. You will need to search it thoroughly though. It’s more than sufficient grounds to arrest him and stop the bill going before the council tomorrow.”
This seemed just a little too well concocted and this woman clearly knew more than a servant would about the matter; something was off, Danielle could feel it. “Why would your benefactor send this to me, and why did he delay?”
“It is no small thing to cross the church or your brother, Milady. You know that as well as any. And I was sent to you because it seemed the safest and quickest way of getting the document into your father’s hands.”
That seemed logical enough at least. Not sure what to think, let alone what to do, Danielle said, “James, I need to read this, so please see Miss Katherine to a seat and furnished with a glass of wine then send for my father and all the members of the Inner Council.”
“Milady.
May I be excused? I have nothing more to relay and I am watched. If I am missed, the Archbishop’s spies may suspect my lord has betrayed him.”
“Your lord will be quite safe.”
“Milady, please …”
“I said take a seat. My father will want to talk to you himself.”
Lady Katherine looked half petrified by that prospect, but she said no more and by the time James had made their guest comfortable and strode for the door, Danielle had already read the first five pages of the bill and concluded that it was her brother’s work and likely genuine insofar as the argument and cognation was sound. In fact the technicality he had exploited to get around present legislation was cleverly done. Yet, it was that he and likely the Archbishop had actually convinced a majority of the nobles to support it, and that her father and their supporters, including herself, had failed to hear even a whisper of this monstrosity that left her sickened. It also left her impatient to put an end to it.
“You say my brother gave bribes to garner a majority, and the scroll proving this is in his bureau?” Danielle asked as she finished the last page and slipped the papers back into the satchel.
“Yes, Milady,” the woman replied, her voice strained. Danielle looked up and realised the woman was silently weeping. The prospect of facing the king had clearly upset her.
“You shouldn’t worry. My father will protect your lord and you. I promise you that.”
“If you say so, Milady.”
Too agitated to remain at her desk Danielle got up and went to the balcony window. She drew back a curtain and stared out into the torch lit garden. Not that she noticed much beyond the windowpane. Her thoughts were already running amok on how best to secure the evidence. Kane would likely be at home, and if they weren’t careful, he’d destroy the incriminating document before they could get to it. He was also a formidable swordsman. And how strong would his retainer be? And would they surrender to a royal warrant?
She thought on this for a time and decided stealth was the best approach. Whether her father and the inner council would agree, she wasn’t sure.
“Do you know my brother?” Danielle asked.
The woman was looking at her hands, her head down. “A little, Milady.”
“Well enough to call at this hour and not be suspected?”
Miss Katherine frowned at her. “You wish to use me a bait?”
“No. You would simply be making a call on behalf of your master. We will need to get my brother away from his dayroom, preferably to the door, so he can’t destroy this evidence you speak of before we have a chance to get our hands on it.”
“He will suspect my presence is not simply a coincidence.”
“He will hang for this, so you should not fear him.”
Before Danielle could say more the door burst open and crashed again the wall with such force she jumped with shock, as did her guest. James rushed back in his sword drawn and a look on his face like he was ready to commit murder. He crossed the chamber and grabbed the startled woman by the arm and dragged her into the centre of the chamber and forced her to her knees with the point of his sword. “Show me your arm,” he demanded.
“James! What are you doing? Danielle was at a loss as to what was going on, and when she went forward, James told her to stay back in a tone that was as unbending as steel. Sergeant Belich had appeared in the doorway, his amicable smile of a short while ago had been replaced with an expression as dark as that of her protector.
“Up by the elbow, Mr Sydney.”
“What is going on?” Danielle demanded again, firmer this time. She did not appreciate a guest being treated so poorly in her chambers.
Miss Katherine was moving slowly, her hands trembling as she tried to roll up her ruffled sleeve and to Danielle’s horror, James grabbed the poor woman by the hair and forced her to lie face down on the floor. He then pinned her with a knee between her shoulder blades, tossed the sword at the toes of Danielle’s shoes, and worked to tear the left sleeve off the woman’s gown.
“James! What is this about?”
He looked back at the sergeant. “Your man had the right of it. She has a witch’s brand on her arm.”
“And the scar?”
James rolled the woman over and drew her skirts up so he could see the front of her right thigh. She didn’t resist just lay there resigned to her fate, bitter tears in her eyes.
“Will someone please explain to me…”
“This woman is the Archbishop’s whore,” James barked at her.
Danielle was dumbstruck. “And you know this how?” She wasn’t aware anyone loyal to her father knew what the infamous Lady Winters looked like, though her reputation as a fair-haired beauty and heartless killer were well entrenched in folklore. The peasantry called her the night reaper, and many believed that if you set eyes on her, death would shortly follow. And it usually did.
“A new fellow on guard here at the palace, Milady, suspected her when she passed with Mr Sydney, on their way to your chambers,” the sergeant offered. “He saw her two years back when he was still indentured on Lord Galmont’s estate. She came to his village with a number of the church’s black cloaks to take away an old woman thought to be dabbling in the dark arts, but in a scuffle he saw her get cut on the leg. The lad was made to help her to the manor house and even with a veil over her face just now, he suspected it was her. He also said they smell the same, this woman and the Lady Winters.”
Danielle picked up the sword and motioned for James to get the woman to her feet. That this vile enemy would dare enter their house and play with them infuriated her. “What did you hope to gain with this little deception?”
“It’s not a deception!” Piercing blue eyes blazed at her.
Danielle grinned coldly. The meek Miss Katherine had vanished that was clear. “Not a deception, you say, madam. Yet your master is as thick as thieves with my brother of late, and this will indict him as much as my wayward sibling and you know it. So what are you playing at?”
“If you assume I’m in his lordship’s employment in this matter, you’re wrong.” The words were spoken with bridled annoyance. But there was no mistaking the honest to god sentiment in the woman’s eyes.
Danielle considered that a moment then lowered the sword. “So why would the infamous Lady Winters bite the hand that feeds her?”
“The same reason a poorly treated animal would snap at the hand of its keeper. You know the Archbishop; you know what sort of man he is. And as one who has little choice but to share his bed, you can no doubt understand that I detest him far more than you ever could.”
That was likely true too. “Who do you work for then?”
“I’ve told you, I cannot say. He fears reprisal and with good cause, if anyone knows what my master is capable of it’s me.” She took a settling breath and added more calmly, “All I’m asking is that you trust your own judgment, Milady. You know your brother’s hand. You know how he thinks, and you know that bill is his work. I also ask that you let me go. If you arrest me, my master and your brother will know something is afoot and any chance you have of indicting him will be lost.”
Danielle wasn’t about to be convinced so easily. “It could be a forgery—a diversion. The High Church is well resourced.” Danielle nodded to James that he should let the woman go and then handed him the sword. She wasn’t quite sure what to make of this woman. She certainly wasn’t what she had expected and she felt no threat.
“Then what am I doing here? What could I possibly hope to gain by propagating an untruth such as this?”
“I have no idea. Your master has always been a strange enigma to me. Perhaps you hope to embarrass my father? I take this to the Lord Protector; he sends soldiers to my brother’s chambers in the southeastern quarter of the city. They knock down the door, search his house, and find nothing. It would be a most embarrassing situation—and, I suspect, a costly one as well. For I’m sure you would agree that under those circumstances my brother would do everything in hi
s power to show that the whole affair was manufactured by my father and me on a cruel whimsy and seek redress. The nobles would not be impressed and certainly side with him. What a wonderful diversion to obscure whatever he’s truly up to. I mean this is outrageous. Slavery? You must think me naive. Not even Kane is bold enough to conjure up something so cruel, at least not with the intent of actually carrying it out.”
Or is he, she wondered.
“Milady, I do not blame you for mistrusting me, but I only ask that you use your own judgment in this matter. There is nothing else I can say to convince you.”
Danielle sat down in one of the comfortable chairs by the fire. Part of her was tempted to have the sergeant send for chains, but the monstrous nature of the alleged bill, and a nagging fear that this woman might actually be speaking the truth, made her think twice.
“Sergeant,” There was impatience in James’ tone and Danielle could feel his eyes on her. “Send for the king and the members of the Inner Council.”
Danielle had thought this had already been done. Now knowing that it had not she saw an opportunity and snatched at it with both hands. “No, wait,” she said, coming to her feet in a rush. She had decided how to handle this, or at least, she was beginning to decide. The details were still a little fuzzy round the edges. Everyone was looking at her, puzzled or worried.
“Sergeant Belich, see the lady to the palace gates and inform the captain of the watch that she is to be given access to the palace readying yard during the hour before dawn. And you, madam, will make sure you are there and on horse back. If you are not, I will take your absence as proof that your visit tonight intended mischief, and a warrant will be issued for your arrest, a warrant that will prevent you finding safety anywhere in the realm. Do we understand each other?”
“Yes, Milady. But may I ask what you intend?”
“No you may not. Sergeant, if you will.”
Even before the door closed, Danielle had returned to her bureau and pulled a parchment sheet from a drawer to compose a letter to Joseph. James brought her a drink she really didn’t need before removing his outer coat and unbuckling his sword belt. He sat in the chair on the other side of her desk. She felt his worried gaze settle on her and was conscious he was flexing and unflexing his left hand. After a short while he said, “Are you going to talk to me?”
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