David Coe - Bonds of Vengeance

“You’re terribly young to have such a grim view of the world.”

I haven’t been young since Aindreas threw me in his dungeon . “Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Perhaps this woman will surprise you, Lord Tavis. The love of a mother for her child can be quite powerful. I believe that’s a lesson your own mother taught Aindreas at the Battle of the Heneagh just a few turns ago.”

Tavis had to smile, remembering the sight of his mother in full battle garb, riding toward him as the armies of Curgh and Kentigern did battle on the broad plain west of the Heneagh River. “I pray that you’re right, Your Majesty.”

There was a knock at the door, and all of them turned at the sound.

“Come,” the king called.

The door opened, revealing the two Qirsi women standing side by side. Cresenne looked small, though she was nearly the same height as the archminister. She still held her baby close, and her face was so white that Tavis wondered for a moment if she was ill.

But Keziah was smiling, a hand resting lightly on the other woman’s shoulder, and she whispered something to her.

Cresenne stepped into the chamber, the archminister following.

“We’re sorry to have kept you waiting, Your Majesty,” Keziah said. “Please sit, all of you. Cresenne has much to tell you.”

Orvinti, Aneira, Elhir’s Moon waning

The arguments with Evanthya began almost as soon as Numar left his castle, forcing Tebeo to wonder what had passed between his first minister and the regent’s Qirsi during their conversation in the gardens of Castle Dantrielle. He asked the minister about it, but of course she told him nothing, saying only that she and the archminister had spoken of the coming war. Tebeo didn’t believe her. He had long been opposed to engaging the Eibitharians in battle; without going so far as to advocate war, Evanthya had often made clear her belief that a war, properly fought, could benefit the kingdom.

But abruptly they had reversed roles. After his disastrous encounter with the regent, Tebeo felt that he had little choice but to support Numar in whatever course the regent followed. He had come dangerously close to making an enemy of the man during the Solkaran’s visit. He risked being hanged as a traitor if he even spoke against the war again, much less withheld Dantrielle’s army from the effort as Evanthya now counseled.

Back and forth they went for the entire day after Numar’s departure and into the night. Their debate took them nowhere, and when Evanthya finally left him as the midnight bells tolled in the city, Tebeo was exhausted, but too frustrated to sleep. He avoided her the next day, even going so far as to deny her entry to his chamber when she came to speak with him.

During the course of that morning it occurred to him that Pronjed may have prevailed upon her to argue as she now did. At the time of Carden’s death, Brall and his first minister had speculated that the archminister was a traitor who had the power to control people’s minds. Tebeo knew far less of Qirsi magic than he should have, since he relied on Qirsi ministers for counsel nearly every day, but he knew enough to suspect that the first minister had fallen victim to one of her own. That was the only explanation that made any sense to him.

He said as much to her the following day when they resumed their dialogue. Naturally she denied it, and the more she made her case, the more the duke wavered. It didn’t help that he continued to question the wisdom of this war, or that he disliked Braedon’s emperor, or even that he was, at heart, a man of peace. But there was one other factor that he could not ignore, one that lent great strength to Evanthya’s argument.

Numar frightened him, perhaps not as much as Carden had or Grigor would have had he lived, but enough. He had the full force of the royal army behind him and if he chose to turn its might on Dantrielle the dukedom would be crushed in a matter of days. But it wasn’t just the power of Solkara’s army that frightened the duke. Numar, it seemed, was both more and less than he had appeared to be when Aneira’s dukes chose him as regent for Kalyi, the young queen. Tebeo, Brall, and many of the others had thought him a benign alternative to his older brother, intelligent enough to lead the kingdom until Kalyi was of Fating age, but lacking his brother’s ambition. Having faced his wrath, however, having heard him speak of war and the growing alliance with Braedon, Tebeo realized that he and his fellow dukes had seen only what they wanted to see. The regent was keenly intelligent, far more so even than Carden had been, and the duke feared that Numar harbored dark ambitions for Aneira and for himself.

The more Tebeo and his first minister spoke of the regent and his war, the more uncertain the duke grew, until he found himself advocating points of view with which he did not agree.

Evanthya, who knew him too well, seemed to sense her advantage, for after a time, she began to smile. When Tebeo stated that Aneira’s alliance with Braedon outweighed all other concerns, even his desire for peace, she actually laughed.

“Forgive me, my lord,” she said, shaking her head. “But I know that you don’t truly believe that, not unless you received word during the night that Harel has died and been replaced by a new emperor.”

He winced. “You shouldn’t jest about such things, First Minister.”

“My apologies, my lord. But the fact remains that you think Harel a poor leader and a dangerous ally for the kingdom. You’ve said as much to me several times in the past.”

“You’re right, I have. And I suppose I still feel that way.”

“Then why do you argue as you do?”

“Because I have no desire to stand alone against Numar. As it is, after what I said to him while he was here, I’m fortunate that he’s a generous man. He could easily have taken offense and he might still decide to punish Dantrielle for my impudence. I can’t risk angering him further.”

The minister regarded him in silence briefly, her brow furrowed, as if she were struggling with something. Then, appearing to come to a decision, she asked, “What if you didn’t have to stand against him alone?”

“What?”

She licked her lips. “When I spoke with the archminister, he asked me if I thought you could prevail upon the southern houses to support the war if they proved reluctant.”

He gaped at her, not quite believing that Pronjed would think to ask her such a question. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

She lowered her gaze. “I was afraid to, my lord. Just as you fear Numar, I fear the archminister. Fetnalla and Lord Orvinti suspect that he may be a traitor, that he may even have used mind-bending magic to kill the king. If he learned that I had revealed to you anything of our conversation, he. . he might seek to do me harm.”

“How?” Tebeo asked, eyes narrowing. “Do you think he’d try to kill you?”

“Not directly, my lord. But he might accuse me of treason. These are difficult days for Qirsi and Eandi alike. It requires only a well-placed word to destroy the reputation of a minister.”

The duke nodded. That much at least he could understand. “Do you think he expects the southern houses to resist the war?”

“He told me he was merely preparing himself for all possibilities. But I don’t think he would have asked the question unless he thought it likely.” She hesitated, her bright gaze dropping once more. “He asked as well if I thought you would resist”

“That doesn’t surprise me at all, not after my conversation with Numar.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“What did you tell him?”

“I told him that I thought you would send however many men Numar requested, that you were Aneiran before all else.”