Coronets and Steel

by Sherwood Smith

  I choked on a laugh.

  “That was the only part of the plan that worked. By the time Alec was done with rounding up Tony’s would-be council-nappers, you’d disappeared. The party was called off, people had to be escorted home, and so on. Tony must have told his mother where he’d stashed your corpse when he realized he’d been foiled by Alec, and she took it from there.” Nat nodded soberly. “I hate to have to tell someone a blood relative is a skunk. She apparently had a mega-grudge against you.”

  I sighed. “To tell the truth, I never liked her, though I did try. But what about Ruli? Why’d Aunt Sisi let Tony keep Ruli prisoner?”

  “Well, the plan with Ruli, to put it simplest, was to keep Alec out of the country searching for her until they could pull a coup. But when they heard that Alec had found Ruli and was partying with her—you—up and down the Dalmatian coast, the empress pushed Tony to run his coup early.”

  “Alec was on his cell phone constantly while we were faking the happy couple.” And I’d totally misconstrued the reasons for his tension. But I was not ready to talk about that.

  “Some family retainer who hated this Reithermann and his scum-bags told someone who told someone else about Tony’s posse gathering suspiciously, so from Split or wherever it was, Alec ordered the Vigilzhi out on maneuvers all over the main roads until he could arrive home. This was a few days before you turned up here and threw everyone into a tizzy. The von M gang was already antsy. Some of Duchess Sisi’s European pals swore they’d spoken with Ruli, and of course she couldn’t say no that’s not possible.”

  “So that first day, when I walked around Riev, I was being watched? It sure felt like it.”

  “Both sides. But mostly they were watching each other, while Alec drove hell for leather to get back here under the radar, in case someone was lying in wait for him at the airstrip. Which is down in the valley. He’d maxed out the Vigilzhi watching the roads and guarding the city.”

  “So not all the von Mecklundburgs knew about Ruli being a prisoner?”

  “Nope. That was Tony and Auntie’s little secret until you showed up. By the time she had that party, where it woulda been clear in ten seconds you weren’t Ruli, she’d had to do a lot of fast talking to get them on board.”

  “So Tony was running under his mom’s command? This wasn’t his idea?”

  “That’s what Alec can’t figure out. He thinks Tony was getting her support for his own coup, but she was setting Tony up if he didn’t win, so she could turn him over and be the good guy.”

  “Wow, that sucks.”

  “Last resort was letting Ruli marry Alec long enough to get her pretty paws on that treasure, so she could depose the both of them.” Nat sipped tea, then put it down. “This stuff is good! I’ll have to lay in a case or two before Alec closes us in.”

  I gasped. “So you believe in the Blessing?”

  She grinned. “Sure.” And shrugged. “When I first came up here I had the universe figured out. By the time I’d been here a year, I knew I don’t know anything.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She rolled her head back and forth, cracking her neck. “Need a better pillow! Hey, I’ve seen some seriously weird shit. Like those old Salfmatta ladies praying a spurting wound closed. People living long lives—cancer pretty much unheard of. Stuff you can’t explain away, no matter how hard you try.”

  “I saw ghosts in the Eyrie, and Tony says he knows vampires. I don’t think he was kidding. Or lying. But I guess one never knows.”

  “No, but there are people who insist the Devil’s Mountain dukes have some kind of truce going with ’em.”

  “Truce?” A chill zapped through me.

  “The midwives all insist that the magic those old folks work with their prayers and roses is warding vampires. And when someone dies, they make damn sure they’re either buried and held down under a mighty monument, or else burned and urned.”

  “That’s another thing I don’t get. I thought mixing magic and the church was like the fast track to being burned at the stake. In the old days, I mean.”

  “It did happen, but a lot of that was political, and it didn’t happen here. This is what I understand about magic. They use the forms of prayers to manipulate whatever powers there are—and we’re getting into strange territory here—but by using prayers, they know they’re not doing evil. As for the magic, there’s something going on.”

  “That’s what Alec said. But I’m here to say guns do work.”

  “But they don’t always, especially in the back mountains, higher up even than the Eyrie. Which is why up in those border cliffs and caves Tony’s gang fought the Germans and then the Russians sometimes with rifles, and sometimes with swords and bows. Those who do believe in magic say that this country is one of those places on earth where it’s pooled a whole lot stronger. Because we’re on some kind of liminal border.”

  “Liminal. That’s the word Alec used.”

  “Yeah, well, I guess that’s the latest term they’re trying to fit over some stuff we don’t have the vocabulary for.”

  I sat up, wincing at the tweaks and twinges in my arm. “What I don’t get is why Aunt Sisi would want to rule. Alec told me that when she was a teen, Aunt Sisi came here and was met by cheering crowds. I thought that meant she was, you know, dedicated and loyal and all that. She has to see that Alec is not exactly the Dark Lord of Doom here. The people seem to like him, and he sure works hard.”

  “Try power crazy.” Nat leaned forward and tapped her tea mug on the table. “Alec doesn’t gossip about his royal pop, so I bet you don’t know that from the time she was about sixteen, Empress Sisi was after old Milo, did you? She wanted him to marry her. He wouldn’t. So she’s been sighting her guns on his ass ever since.”

  “All Alec told me was that she married a guy in the other branch of the family. Kept the title and all that.”

  Nat snorted. “Her second cousin, who the title went to when her dad and uncle died. If you ask me, I think she would have married her own brother, if she’d had one, in order to be duchess. Anyway, the duke’s a depressive sort, hiding on his estate somewhere in England. Raising race horses. Hadn’t a chance against Duchess Sisi and her total domination drive.”

  “Midwives told you that?”

  “Nope. I have other sources—in this case another one of Alec’s sweeties, one in High Places.” She wiggled her brows.

  “I met none of Alec’s high rank friends at those parties. It was always the relatives, or their friends.”

  “That’s because Sisi did the invites. Beka is granddaughter of the baron, Shimon Ridotski, the number two man in the country. Hobby is orchids—”

  “The orchid Napoleon? I danced with him! Talked about orchids a lot.”

  “That’s because you were polite to him,” Nat said with a grin. “His family cuts him off without compunction. Anyway, he’s too important for Sisi to mess with, so he ignored her attempt to isolate you at the ball. And Sisi can’t push Beka around like she can her own toadies, so she didn’t invite her—or anyone else Alec likes or trusts. She didn’t want you winning any sympathy. The council pretty much had to be on the guest list, but she turned that to her advantage by spending the whole night keeping those old geezers corralled so that Tony’s gang could grab them.”

  “Tell me more about Beka.”

  “Sure. She teaches history at the temple school, and is on the university committee with me. We usually go out for coffee after hashing out some more ideas on how to build a school of higher education, and she catches me up on the skinny about the nosebleed league.”

  I grinned, then said, “So . . . tell me this. Tony told me once that he thought Alec pokey in his policies, like old Milo. But Alec told me he made mistakes—he tried to pull a Joseph II—and had to back off. He said Tony wasn’t there to see it, but he was surprised Tony hadn’t heard about it.”

  “That’s an easy one.” Nat finished her tea with a sigh. “Beka says when they were all kids, Aunt S
isi did her best to keep Tony and Ruli from teaming up with Alec, even when she had Alec over a lot. She was always running them down to one another—in the nicest way possible. She’d tell Alec how she wished her kids would be as studious and dedicated as he was. Tony, she encouraged to run around chasing Russians in the hills, or else to play around in Europe, and leave the boring old politics to her.”

  “Whoa. That explains a lot.”

  “Beka says the proof is that Tony and Alec got along pretty well when they were on their own, away from the family wolves. They used to harass the Russians together, when they were teens smuggled here for the occasional holiday, and the Russians were helping themselves to the mines. The empress did not like that—as soon as Alec became Stadthalter, she started ragging on Alec behind his back for being as big a stuffed shirt as dear old dad. And that Stadthalter—being king—was Tony’s birthright.”

  I whistled. “So, what now? What’s Alec going to do with her? Exile? He wouldn’t put her in jail.”

  “No, because that’d mean a trial, and that’s the worst thing for the country. But from now on she won’t be able to scratch her ass without someone sending a memo. She knows it, too. Yesterday, in the smoothest and quietest way, he dismissed half her staff and had the French ones put on a train out of the country with cozy hints from the friendly Kilber about what might happen if he saw any of ’em again. So Princess Prissy-Sisi is going to stay right here until Alec decides what to do about her, and she’ll hate every second of it.”

  “Serves her right.” I saluted with my tea mug. “Where’s Ruli?”

  “Oh, she’s at Alec’s place. Everyone in the city knows she’s there and you’re here.”

  “That’s . . . that’s weird. Who spilled the beans the other night?”

  “Ruli did. Alec was over at Vigilzhi HQ setting it all up when your chaperone called him after you and the empress took off. Alec was furious—”

  “Oh, not with Madam Aradyinov!”

  “No, no, he knew Duchess Sisi had done the Royal Decree number on her and the housekeeper, too, who I guess tried to talk Sisi down, to be told to can it and get back in her ‘propah place.’”

  “God, I wish I’d known that.”

  “She’s smooth, that old battle-ax. I’m sure she was on the watch to make sure you didn’t hear any of it. Anyway, when Alec and his go-for-blood gang of Vigilzhi met Sisi and Ruli on their way down the mountain, apparently there was quite a scene. I guess Sisi had been coaching Ruli, who was half in shock, in what to say and do when they got to town, but when Ruli saw the Vigilzhi and the guns and Alec, she started screaming about you being locked by her mother in a horrible secret passage with spiders.”

  I couldn’t help it, I laughed. Though it hurt.

  Nat grinned. “Sisi was shattered. Alec had a couple guys ‘escort’ her home, under guard, and someone else take Ruli to his place. Once they got into the sky suite there were enough of Tony’s rats ready to jump the sinking ship—particularly when it looked like Reithermann was going to come out on top—they all helped him to take the castle. That’s when the Vigilzhi got a load of your exploits with the sword. Guess you did a Cyrano de Bergerac on some of Reithermann’s sleazes.”

  “Yeah, but they were all unarmed. Except one. Two,” I amended, remembering the creep with the poker. And the fact that I’d been shot.

  Nat smiled. “You’re a hero. Get used to it. Look, we’ve been talking a long time, and you need to rest, if they don’t get here with your breakfast. But I have one question, I’ve been burning to ask. Did you actually tell Reithermann he was a horse’s ass?”

  “Yep.” My teeth ached at the memory.

  “Did you have any idea what kind of guy he was?”

  “Yeah, I saw it, all right, a psychopath. But I thought I should get a message to Alec, not to give in. Make the Vigilzhi guy laugh. Uh, it made sense at the time, but when I think back, I want to cluck and scratch for seeds.”

  She snickered.

  “What makes someone turn out like that guy, anyway? Child abuse in early life?”

  Nat jabbed her forefinger in my direction. “Mighta had the nicest parents ever, but some weird gene popped out of some maniac ancestor. We’ve all got ’em.”

  “He was too angry for nice parents, unless he was born angry. I wonder if they will grieve when they find out he is dead?”

  “Dunno. Don’t care.” She shook her head. “About him, I mean. Yeah, that’s mega-depressing, the idea that nobody would give a rat’s ass if a person died. Anyway, the point is, you’ve got guts, and the city of Riev is yours. You could walk into any house or any store, take what you want, and they’d brag about it for years. A hero—except to the von M clan. They and their peeps got a bee in their pants about you, starting with your having made fools of them at that shindig at Sisi’s.”

  “I wish I hadn’t done that. But they were so . . .” I sighed.

  “Before you got there your aunt made you out to be a hustler, showing up to cash in.”

  “I should have thought of that.”

  “Well, you didn’t know what was going on. Ah.” She got up, and swept up the empty tea things. “Here comes Alec’s minion with your breakfast. He told me about your minions. I love that word. Minion! Can I be a minion?” She laughed again as she trod down the hall to the front door. She came back with a tray of fresh, buttered croissants, sliced peaches, a fluffy omelet with spring onions and two cheeses, and two kinds of pastry.

  “Share?” I admired the abundance. “Looks too good to waste, and there’s enough here for three.”

  “I’ll get a plate. I never have tasted the famous Pedro’s offerings.”

  “Pedro? Did Alec take him away?”

  Nat helped herself to half the food. “Nope, but Pedro offered to cooperate on his own. It must piss Sisi off, but Alec wants to foster the happy family routine. His Vigilzhi were encouraged not to speak of Sisi’s little oopsie. I hope they have.” She picked up a croissant. “More tea? You need liquids. How about water?”

  “Okay.”

  “Good. Eat up, then you’re getting a bath. I’m afraid if I don’t get those spider eggs out of your scalp they might hatch.”

  An hour later I was lying on the bed in Nat’s fuzzy bathrobe, feeling human again. She had dealt with me with gentle hands, yet I got the feeling her mind was on something—or that she was about to say something.

  I stretched, careful not to jar my arm. “I’m not taking you away from your practice, am I?”

  “Nope. This is generally the time of year when they start ’em.” She chuckled. “A couple local colleagues are standing in for a day or so. No one will bother us unless it’s an emergency.”

  “The place is being guarded?”

  “Nah. Watched, yes. If you want company, stick your nose out the door.” She saluted me with a fresh mug of tea. “It’ll do wonders for my business.” Then she set the mug down. “I’ve known Alec for ten years, but he never talks about his own affairs. If I want to know what’s going on behind the scenes at the palace, so to speak, I have to find out from Beka, or others.”

  I nodded slowly. She did have something on her mind.

  “He listens to me rattle on about all the details of my practice. Nothing ever too inconsequential or too dull. Perceptive as hell—but his own emotions? For all you’d know he hasn’t any. Or rather, they’re hidden behind that polite wall.”

  “It’s true,” I said. “Talks about everything. Except himself.”

  She laughed again, mirthlessly this time. “You’re like him, I can see it already. Pleasant, funny even, until something personal comes up and then up goes the wall. Look, Kim, I’m forcing the wall because you’ve got some heavy-duty decisions ahead of you, and you’re going to need some straight facts, or at least some perspective.”

  “Decisions,” I repeated.

  She got up and stared out at the street, as she rubbed her fingers along the dusty windowsill. “I hate entanglements. Saw too much drama on
the commune where I was born, and the result is, I have nooooo interest in even living with anyone. So I was good for Alec, for a while. No drama, no expectations.”

  She turned away from the window and studied me. “You okay with this conversation?”

  “Sure,” I said, though it did unsettle me. But I had to take responsibility for my own . . . what? There wasn’t a relationship, not in the way anyone defined that. I said firmly, “Alec’s personal life is none of my business. It’s true I like him, and I know he likes me, but there’s this Ruli mess, and things have gone so fast.”

  “It’s going to get even messier. Faster. Anyway, that was his pattern until you came along. Didn’t talk. But from the first night when I called from London to arrange for tickets back, the day you went missing up on the mountain, he’s been talking about you. Never his feelings. He hasn’t changed that much. What you did, said, your likes and dislikes, your parents, even.” She tapped a fingernail on the table. “I know more about your mom and her cakes than I know about his mother—who he never met. But still.”

  “So,” I said slowly, “you’re telling me what?”

  “I’m telling you what I told you. One more thing, and I didn’t hear this from him.” She was back at the window, looking out. “Jeez. I don’t know if this is giving you the inside scoop or TMI. But you know he grew up knowing what he was going to be. One thing. Zip.”

  I remembered that conversation about vocation and avocation, and said, “He’s mentioned that. He seems to love his work.”

  “True.” Her eyes narrowed. “Okay, one more item. What’s the only thing in that library of his that looks like he’s actually been there? Not the CDs, a thing.”

  I thought rapidly, first of that gaudy platinum lighter, but no, that was the wrong track. “All I can remember is a book, with a bookmark. On the reading table. Milton’s poetry?”

  She brought her chin down. “And which poem?”