“Devon, I am sorry about the delay in tracking down your mother’s killer.” I addressed him directly, after the first general comment. “And even now, the coronation is higher priority. After that, I will…”
He waved a hand in dismissal. “Uncle Lom, it’s okay. I trust you, and I know that you will not forget. Right now, I’m more worried with the living than the dead.”
I raised my brow at him. “Specifically?”
Corwin cleared his throat, and Devon nodded at him to go ahead. “Well, the aftermath of the non-coronation was a lengthy Council meeting, which might still be going on, with contentions, if we hadn’t been interrupted by an invasion.”
My king has a small gift of storytelling. I leaned back and let him tell the tale.
“As soon as your party left, I ordered the Council into emergency session. Laenven objected, as I had expected her to. She was playing far too obvious a ploy, but that’s precisely why I ordered the session. She’d been lying doggo right up until the coronation… there had to be a reason.”
“Did you figure it out?” I knew better than to think she’d slipped and blurted it out. Confessions are a rare bird.
“I think she wants more power. She’s clung to her position since the death of the Queen.”
Even after all these years of close association, he couldn’t bear to say her name. I chose never to think of it. She was dead and buried, let her stay that way.
“You think Dionaea has made promises.” I filled in for him.
“Oh, absolutely.” He responded almost cheerfully. “It’s our job to make sure she reneges on them.”
“The invasion?” The disorganized army had never been a big concern, but even a sloppy cricket pitch bowls a hit from time to time.
“Dean sent me daily reports. It was a party on legs. They would meander a mile or two, stop, raid the countryside, roast a few sheep or a cow, and drink around a bonfire.”
“Sound like fun.” I cracked.
He laughed. “Maybe without the ogres and goblins, but then when I was ready to call in the troops, Dean said to wait.”
He leaned back and smiled. “He raided the camp, after everyone fell asleep. Him, a passel of wood elves, and I don’t want to know how many of my men. I didn’t ask. That, and when he arrived in person to report that they had bagged a troll with a massive hangover, and two dead goblins, I didn’t have the heart to tweak his nose. The goblins, I gathered, were dead when they found them. The troll didn’t recover from his binge until the next night, and he didn’t know anything clear. Somehow, she’d gotten the bulk of her little army out of there, and we don’t know where to.”
“Bubbled?”
He shrugged. “Had to have been. Outside the interdiction zone of Court, but that’s a lot of power. I sent scouting parties out, but they found nothing. It’s been quiet ever since you left.”
I thought about this for a few minutes. “Maybe she’s after me. And Bella, for revenge. So she aborted the raid when we dropped off the radar.”
“Radar? Oh, that’s right, you explained that.” He waved off my attempted explanation. “This could be, but why so sloppy? She has been very stealthy in her whole plan up until this point. An orgy in the countryside would have been more subtle.”
I didn’t laugh, he was absolutely right. “I said from the beginning it was a decoy.”
“A decoy for what?” Devon asked. He’d been sitting and listening intently during the conversation.
“That’s a very good question.” Corwin answered him. “The trouble is, we don’t know the answer. Lucia says there is nothing coming out of Low Court. It’s gone dark, and silent, like night falling.”
“That’s a little scary.” Devon looked troubled.
“It’s frightening.” Alger filled in. “I’ve been spying longer than any of you have been alive, and that kind of silence just doesn’t happen. There is always some drunk fool in a pub. Or a spurned lover. Or…”
I cut him off. “What is the plan?”
I had been looking at Corwin when I asked this. “Special session of the Council, to begin with. As soon as they are all on the same page again, forty eight hours to the coronation. I would do it immediately, but I don’t want to sully the beginning of her reign.”
“I don’t think she cares.” I pointed out.
“Lom, she’s going to be doing this for longer than she has any concept of. She still thinks in human terms. A lifespan of three-score and ten years, and she’s about a third of the way through that.”
His eyes were dark, and I knew he was feeling guilty.
“She knows what she is committing to. She has doubts…”
He raised a hand in a signal to stop. “I’m glad of it. That, as much as anything, is why I lobbied for her. She didn’t want this.”
“Then why put it off?”
“Trust me?” He asked.
I subsided. “How long will the Council take?”
He and Alger exchanged glances, with a fierce look of glee. “Not long.” Alger said. “I will need to take Bella along, however.”
“I’ll go see if she’s feeling up to it.” There were limits to what I would allow these two vultures to drag her into. She had been through things in the Library I knew we were going to have to deal with, but there was no time. No time to savor our children’s arrival into the world. No time to heal. No time to mourn…
I opened the bedroom door and saw her sitting with a child in each arm. She looked up at me, smiling, and my heart constricted.
“They are asleep. Oh, Lom…”
I crossed the room to her. I’d never seen anything more beautiful than her, holding our babies. Her hair was falling down, and she was wearing a robe, with a blanket wrapped around the three of them.
“How are you feeling?”
She bit her lip and looked down at the babies. “Conflicted. I know I need to go finish what we started. But I don’t want to leave them, and I don’t know that I’m ready to tell the Council I’m a monster. What if they turn me over to the Hunt?”
“What?” I didn’t know where this was coming from. She was crying, silently, no sobs just crystal tears rolling down her face.
“I’m a monster.” She repeated in almost a whisper. “I can’t possibly serve as queen, and what happens to the babies if I am thrown to the Hunt?”
A Most Regal Monster
“You are not a monster.” I tried to keep my voice even and low. “And you know I would never let you be thrown to the Hunt. Beloved…”
She shook her head. “The Council would welcome any reason to be rid of me.”
“No, only a few bad apples show that tendency.” I was beginning to wonder where my serenely confident Bella had gone. “My dear sweet wife, we have a lot in common.” I knelt in front of her, leaning over the babies, feeling their warmth. They smelled sweet and fresh. “I have been a monster, and you redeemed me. Ennobled me, even, and you know I’m not talking about a dukedom. You have been through so much.”
I stroked the soft baby fuzz on our daughter’s scalp, and listened to her breathe. She was so little. Bella looked down at me, and then bent forward to kiss my head, since she couldn’t bend further. “You make me feel better.”
“Can you stand a little more? Corwin would like to have you with him in Council while the Charter is read.” I was fully prepared to defy my king if she said no, or even hesitated too long.
“I can. I must. It is my duty.” She sighed. “I will have to leave the babies here.”
“I’ll get… Landon?” I couldn’t remember the girl’s name.
Bella giggled a little. It was good to hear. “Luned. And no…” she freed one hand from the sleeping baby, and flicked a message spell. “Help me with the little man.”
“Are we going to name them?” I carefully scooped him up, blankie and all, and was pleased that I’d managed it without waking him.
“Of course we are.” Bella got up with the little girl. “When we have two minutes to think�
�”
“In other words, about the time they take their first steps.” I chuckled as I laid him down in the bassinet that had been set up by our bed. Bella cuddled his sister up next to him. Luned slipped through the door quietly.
“I have to go to Court,” Bella told her. “I don’t know how long I will be. But if they get hungry, I want you to send me a message. I will come.”
“She could bring them to court.” I suggested. Both women glared at me, and I raised my hands in surrender. “Or not. And it will be a much-needed break, I am sure.”
Bella followed me down the stairs, and I reflected that had she gone the traditional route to motherhood, she would still be as big as a house. Or more time would have gone by, and she would be half-incapacitated by the trauma of birth. But she was physically unchanged to the eye, and if melancholy, had energy and strength. I hoped she didn’t need it for the upcoming confrontation.
Corwin and Alger stood up as we entered the kitchen. Corwin asked, his voice unwontedly gentle, “Are you up to this?”
“I want to get it done,” she told him. “But when the babies need me, I come back here.”
He nodded. “Then we will hurry.”
The four of us walked out into the library, and I opened the front door onto a gust of rain. Spring was coming, but it hadn’t arrived yet. Alger, behind me, made an impatient noise and bubbled us. The trip to Court was made in silence.
The big room where long meetings were held was full of people. King Trytion simply walked up onto the dais, where now two thrones rather than the single one I’d seen there for so long, stood. He was making a statement. As the late Queen had fallen into her decline, he’d removed the throne, symbolically removing her from the Council’s meetings. Now, it was back, if empty. Bella stood with me, facing into the U of tables and the Council, now taking their seats around it.
Trytion had put on his alter persona, and the jovial Corwin was not in evidence as he raised his hands to get their attention. He was frowning, and it was easy to imagine thunderclouds gathering around him. I suppressed a smile. He did theatrical very well.
“Be seated. We will review the Charter and in two days, we will reconvene the coronation.”
Lady Laenven looked up sharply from the stack of papers in front of her. “My liege, that is not a certain outcome.”
He ignored her. “Duke Mulvaney, the Charter?”
I reached into the nospace and retrieved the two books I had taken from the Library. I placed them on the table in front of Lord Byrne with a slight flourish. Trytion wasn’t the only one who could play at that game.
He looked down at them and touched the Charter reverently. The smaller book he set to one side. Then he looked up, directly at Lady Laenven. The quick movement surprised me. I had anticipated him losing himself in the old script right away.
“What, precisely, do you anticipate I will find in this document, Lady Laenven?” He put glasses on, and then gloves. Carefully, he opened the book, wincing a little at the broken cover.
When she didn’t answer, he looked back up and crossed his hands gently on the open book.
“Unless you would like me to read the entire thing.” He said. “It could take a considerable amount of time.”
She looked at Bella and me, still standing before the council. I didn’t plan to remain standing through the whole thing. I knew how hard it was to read that book. The ink was faded with time, and the scribe hadn’t been the neatest writer. Which of course was why we had copies.
She opened her mouth, still looking at us. Then she closed it, and looked at Byrne. “The section regarding the ascension of a queen is sufficient, thank you.”
Her tone was chilly enough, but I thought I detected a slight tremble in her voice. Fear, or anger? They could be very closely related.
“Mmm...”Byrne looked thoughtful, then began to carefully and rapidly flip through the book. He would, of course, know where that was located. The Charter was not a particularly thick book. Our forefathers had more brevity than some who had come after them. “Aha,” he said. “The selection of a suitable candidate for a ruler is to be a lengthy process, enabling the accurate assessment of their suitability in situations diverse. The candidate should not be callow, but with sufficient experience to garner wisdom…”
He looked up. “Could I get a glass of water?”
Bella started to reach for the pitcher that was near her, and I put a hand on her arm, stopping her. I took Bryne his water.
“Thank you,” he hissed under his breath, “What the devil is her problem?”
“Just read it,” I told him quietly, and returned to Bella’s side. This whole thing was beginning to feel not quite right, like there were undercurrents I wasn’t aware of. I started to study faces. Trytion was behind me, and anyway, had a poker face I could rarely read. But Alger looked bored, Laeven looked quietly triumphant, and my mother looked faintly smug. Buckingham looked sulky. Byrne’s voice droned on. I scanned the rest of the group, and saw mostly boredom, some interest…
“The Queen shall be possessed of sufficient magic to activate the Crown, of sound mind and body, but no other considerations shall be allowed…” Byrne’s voice broke into my consciousness. What was this about activating the Crown?
Laenven stood up, creating a stir in the room. “Read that again!” she demanded, her voice high and cracking. “No other considerations?” She didn’t give him a chance to say anything.
Byrne looked up at her. “That is what it says, quite clearly. Would you like to take a look?”
I shifted, uncomfortable with allowing her so close to the old document, but held my peace. Lady Laenven marched around the table, her skirts rustling. She went the long way, to avoid passing by Bella and I. I was mildly amused.
My amusement fell away as she produced a pair of spectacles from her purse and leaned over Byrne’s shoulder. I was watching her face, and this was not a happy woman. Had she really thought the founding Fae would discriminate? Those had been black times, when those who fought for civilization were huddled together in what little light could be found. Wood elf, fairy, even humans had all been in this enclave. The pixie clan had still be counted as part of fairy, back then.
“Why, that means even an, an ogre could sit on the throne!” She shrilled, standing up straight and flinging one arm out dramatically. She wasn’t pointing straight at Bella, but the implication was there.
“Come now,” my mother rapped out, standing. “The Duchess Mulvaney is hardly an ogre. Nor would the Council select a monster to sit on the throne.”
Bella flinched, just a hair, at that word. I resisted the urge to put an arm around her and draw her close. My wife was able to stand her own ground. For myself, I was raging inside. Bella had enough fear on that point without this evil bitch fueling the fire. I maintained my stoic face. Bella would not want a scene.
“On the contrary, dear Lucia,” Laenven said sweetly, advancing toward my mother. “I am asserting this is exactly what you have facilitated.”
Mother looked down at the other woman, a feat since Lady Laenven was a half-head taller than she was. “You claim that Belladonna Traycroft Mulvaney is a monster?”
I looked around. The whole room seemed to be riveted onto the unlikely combatants. As for me, I’d put my money on my mother. I looked at her.
“Pray, enlighten us.” Lucia crossed her hands at her waist and smiled. “We are all waiting.”
Laenven spluttered faintly, then recovered. “You are aware that her lineage is human and fairy, mingled.”
“Certainly. As are most of us present. Your point?”
Laenven swelled up. Or just took a deep breath, which had the unfortunate effect of making her look like a frog about to croak. “Are you aware that she is also dragon?”
If she expected gasps of horror, and from her flickering glance round the room, I thought she had been, she was disappointed. Other than one murmured ‘how interesting’ from the far side of the table, there was no real
reaction. I felt, more than saw, Bella relax, just a little. She had been standing very straight and still. I was having more trouble restraining myself from just bringing this whole charade to a sudden and violent end. Crashing through the doors with my sister’s body in my arms was the least of the memories I could leave here.
Lucia smiled. “Certainly I am aware. However, she was herself not aware prior to coming Underhill. She was raised wholly human, and that, my dear, is the influence you perhaps should be more afraid of. Have you ever been Above?”
“What?” Laenven sounded confused at the change of subject. “No, of course not. How vulgar.”
“Then you are unaware that the most successful polity is a democratic republic.” Lucia was in full cry now, delivering her little lecture in crisp, clipped tones. “Where there is no aristocracy, and the reverence of the public is reserved for those who make good of their own volition. This is what Belladonna was raised to. As she is about to be crowned, you have attempted to make this about lineage, when perhaps you ought to be more concerned with a reluctant, egalitarian Queen.”
Now I was beginning to wonder if Mother wanted Bella on the throne.
“Reluctant?” Laenven pounced on one word. She gave an affected sniff and turned to look straight at Bella. “Hardly. She has pushed herself forward from the very beginning, inveigling her way into our society and now, even to the highest honor we can offer. Far from reluctant, Lucia.”
Belle looked at her, then spoke coolly, “Lady Laenven, I would gladly walk out of this room with no other commitments than to my husband and children. I cannot say that I would rather be back in my humble cabin in the woods, because I love my husband and I have made a new life here. Accepting the offer of the Crown was the last thing I ever intended to do.”
“So you say. And what about your dragonish heritage?” The old woman moved toward us, and I felt my body stiffen. I forced myself to relax. No point in alarming her until it was too late. In my head, I was playing it all out. She would threaten Bella, and I would incinerate her. Tearing her limb from limb was a tempting thought, but messy, and Bella wouldn’t like it.
Dragon Noir (Pixie for Hire Book 3) Page 19