David Coe - Bonds of Vengeance

Diani dropped herself into a chair, her eyes closed. She should have waited for leave from the queen to sit, but Olesya was not about to remark on it now.

“There was an attempt on my life.”

“There were two,” her father corrected.

“During your journey here?”

The young woman shook her head. “Near the end of the waning. This is why we came to see you.”

“You were wounded?”

“Yes, but the wounds have healed.”

“They’re not bleeding anymore,” Sertio broke in. “That doesn’t mean that you’re whole again. Three arrows,” he said to the queen. “One in the leg, one in the chest, one in the back. The healer told her to rest.” This last came out as a plea, as if he wanted Olesya to tell Diani to get herself to bed.

“I did rest, Father.”

“Not nearly enough. We shouldn’t have ridden so soon.”

“Her Highness had to know, and we agreed that sending a messenger presented too many risks.”

“Who did this?” the queen asked.

Diani opened her eyes, her gaze clear. “It was made to seem that Edamo ordered the assassination. The archers had their heads shaved, and their arrows were marked blue and yellow.”

“But you don’t believe this.”

“Edamo isn’t that bold.”

“Have you captured the assassins? Have you questioned them?”

“They were murdered themselves,” Sertio said, “by another man who made the second attempt on Diani’s life the following day. He’s dead as well.”

They didn’t believe the Brugaosans were responsible, which left only one other choice. A lioness wasn’t supposed to show fear, but Olesya had to struggle to keep her voice steady as she said, “Your first minister isn’t with you. Is he responsible?”

Diani nodded. “We believe it’s possible.”

“We know nothing for certain.” There could be no mistaking the anger in Sertio’s voice. There was far more to this than they had told her.

“But you suspect the conspiracy.”

“Yes,” Sertio said, though even this he offered with some reluctance.

“It had to have been the conspiracy,” Diani said, more to her father than to the queen.

“Do you have any evidence of Qirsi involvement?” Olesya asked.

Diani twisted her mouth, looking like a child caught in a lie. “No, Your Highness. Not yet.”

The queen nodded. “I agree that it makes little sense for the Brugaosans to have done this. They’d have little to gain, and for all his bluster, Edamo is not ready to test his army against mine.” She nearly said something about Cyro’s murder, but quickly thought better of it. Neither the duchess nor her father had raised the matter, and there seemed little point in doing so herself. “Still,” she said instead, “I can’t do much without proof that the conspiracy has come to Sanbira.” She pressed her fingertips together, fearing their answer to her next question. “Where is your first minister now?”

Olesya sensed that Sertio wanted to respond, but was holding his tongue. It seemed this was Diani’s tale to tell.

“He’s in the prison tower of Castle Curlinte, Your Highness. Even without the evidence of which you speak, I have little doubt of his complicity in this matter. I felt it most prudent to confine him to the tower. He won’t be able to strike at me again from there.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Nobles of the other realms imprisoned men without cause as a matter of course. Perhaps the dukes of Brugaosa and Norinde did as well. But the duchesses of Sanbira did not do such things. It was not their way. “And what if he’s innocent?” she demanded. “Kreazur served your mother loyally for years. If he had betrayed House Curlinte, she would have known.”

“She was ill for a long time, Your Highness. She wasn’t the same woman at the end. She might not have known.”

“Nevertheless, child. To treat a trusted advisor in such a way. .” She shook her head. “What if one of your other Qirsi is the traitor? Don’t you think that Kreazur could help you discover the truth?”

Diani shifted uncomfortably in her chair, her eyes darting toward Sertio.

“Go on,” he said. “Tell her the rest.”

The duchess took a breath, as if gathering herself for a fight. “I’ve imprisoned all the Qirsi who serve our house.”

“What?” Olesya felt as if she’d been kicked in the stomach. “Diani, how could you do this?”

“Until I know which of them have betrayed me, I feel safest with them in the tower.”

“You allowed her to do this?” she asked of Sertio.

“It wasn’t my father’s place to give or deny me permission, Your Highness. You know that as well as anyone.”

The queen shook her head again. “This is wrong.” She stepped to her window. I’ve imprisoned all the Qirsi . . “How long have they been held?”

“A bit more than half a turn.” Sertio. Clearly he didn’t approve of this either. Diani had done it all on her own.

“You must release them at once,” Olesya said, turning to face them both. “This can’t be allowed to continue.”

“But, Your Highness-”

“Release them, Diani. Send a message to Curlinte instructing whoever you left in charge to free them all.”

The young woman stood. “You would dictate to one of your nobles how she must govern her duchy?”

“If she acts the fool, yes.”

Diani’s cheeks burned crimson and Olesya had to remind herself that despite the ducal robes, this was still but a girl standing before her, new to her power, still grieving for Dalvia, and still recovering from an assassination attempt. It was so easy to forget with Diani, for she had always been wise beyond her years and so like her mother in many ways. Dalvia and Olesya had often spoken of how the girl seemed to have been born to rule, but really this wasn’t true of anyone, not even a queen. Statecraft couldn’t be bred into a child. It had to be taught, and Diani had lost her tutor at far too tender an age. Too late, the queen realized that she had approached this matter in the wrong way.

“Surely you see the danger in what you’ve done,” she began again, her tone far more gentle than it had been a moment before. “To imprison people solely because they’re Qirsi is to make yourself no different from those in the conspiracy who kill nobles simply because they’re Eandi. It’s not our way, Diani.”

“With all respect, Your Highness, I don’t know what our way is. Sanbira has never before faced a threat like the conspiracy. No realm in the Forelands has. All of us are journeying in unknown lands. I don’t know what nobles elsewhere are doing, but clearly it’s not working.”

“And this is your answer?”

“It’s an imperfect solution, Your Highness. I realize that. But it’s not without merits. This traitor, whoever he or she may be, can’t plot against us from the prison, nor can he flee before we learn his identity.” She faltered, though only for an instant. “And he can’t find another assassin either. I know you think I’ve done wrong, but you don’t know what it’s like to feel afraid in your own castle.”

“You don’t even know if there is a traitor,” Olesya said, trying to keep her voice even. “If you had proof even of that I might understand-”

“There is a traitor. Of that much, I’m certain. These men knew just where to find me though I was on the headlands, at a place my mother had shared with me and Father and few others.”

Olesya couldn’t help but smile. Dalvia’s promontory. She and the old duchess had visited the headlands together several times. One only needed to go once, to hear the roar of the breakers and watch the tide advance and ebb, to understand the allure of the place. “I was one of the fortunate few,” she murmured.