David Eddings - The Sapphire Rose

He carried Ehlana into the other room and tucked her into a very large bed. ‘You’ve changed a great deal, My Queen,’ he said gravely. ‘You’re not the same person I left ten years ago.’ It was time to get that out into the open so that they could both stop tiptoeing around it.

‘You’ve noticed,’ she said archly.

‘That’s part of it right there,’ he told her, reverting to his professorial tone. ‘You’re still only eighteen years old, Ehlana. It’s not becoming for you to assume the worldly airs of a woman of thirty-five. I strongly recommend a more innocent public pose.’

She squirmed around in the bed until she was lying on her stomach with her head at the foot. She rested her chin in her hands, wide-eyed and ingenuous, her lashes fluttering and with one foot coyly kicking at her pillow. ‘Like this?’ she asked.

‘Stop that.’

‘I’m just trying to please you, my betrothed. Was there anything else about me you’d like to change?’

‘You’ve grown hard, child.’

‘Now it’s your turn to stop something,’ she said firmly. ‘Don’t call me “child” any more, Sparhawk. I stopped being a child the day Aldreas sent you to Rendor. I could be a child as long as you were here to protect me, but once you were gone, I couldn’t afford that any more.’ She sat up cross-legged on the bed. ‘My father’s court was a very unfriendly place for me, Sparhawk,’ she told him gravely. ‘I was dressed up and displayed at court functions where I could watch Aldreas and his sister covertly fondling each other and Annias smirking in the background. Any friends I had were immediately sent away – or killed – so I was forced to entertain myself by eavesdropping on the empty-headed gossip of the chambermaids. As a group, chambermaids tend to be quite wanton. I drew up a chart once – you taught me to be methodical, you’ll remember. You wouldn’t believe what goes on below stairs. My chart indicated that one aggressive little minx had very nearly outstripped Arissa herself in her conquests. Her availability was almost legendary. If I sometimes seem “worldly” – wasn’t that your term? – you can blame it on the tutors who took up my education when you left. After a few years – since any friendship I displayed for the lords and ladies of the court was an immediate cause for their exile or worse – I came to rely on the servants. Servants expect you to give them orders, so I give orders. It’s a habit now. It worked out rather well for me, though. Nothing happens in the palace that the servants don’t know about, and before long, they were telling me everything. I was able to use that information to protect myself from my enemies, and everybody at court except Lenda was my enemy. It wasn’t much of a childhood, Sparhawk, but it prepared me far better than empty hours spent rolling hoops or wasting affection on rag dolls or puppies. If I seem hard, it’s because I grew up in hostile territory. It may take you some years to soften those sharp edges, but I’m sure I’ll enjoy your efforts in that direction.’ She smiled winsomely, but there was still a kind of pained defensiveness in her grey eyes.

‘My poor Ehlana,’ he said, his heart in his throat.

‘Hardly poor, dear Sparhawk. I have you now, and that makes me the richest woman in the world.’

‘We’ve got a problem, Ehlana,’ he said seriously.

‘I don’t see any problems. Not now.’

‘I think you misunderstood when I gave you my ring by mistake.’ He regretted that instantly. Her eyes opened as wide as they might have had he slapped her in the face. ‘Please don’t take what I just said wrong,’ he rushed on. ‘I’m just too old for you, that’s all.’

‘I don’t care how old you are,’ she said defiantly. ‘You’re mine, Sparhawk, and I’ll never let you go.’ Her voice was so filled with steel that he almost shrank from her.

‘I was sort of obliged to point it out,’ he backstepped. He had to ease her past that dreadful moment of injury. ‘Duty, you understand.’

She stuck her tongue out at that. ‘All right, now that you’ve made your genuflection in duty’s direction, we won’t ever mention it again. When do you think we should have the wedding – before or after you and Vanion go to Chyrellos and kill Annias? I’m rather in favour of getting right on with it, personally. I’ve heard all sorts of things about what goes on between a husband and wife when they’re alone, and I’m really very, very curious.’

Sparhawk turned bright red at that.

‘Is she asleep?’ Vanion asked when Sparhawk emerged from Ehlana’s bedroom.

Sparhawk nodded. ‘Did Lycheas tell you anything useful?’ he asked.

‘A number of things – mostly verification of things we’ve already guessed,’ Vanion replied. The Preceptor’s face was troubled, and the strain of bearing the swords of the fallen knights still showed on him, although he looked more vigorous now. ‘My Lord of Lenda,’ he said, ‘is the queen’s apartment here secure? I’d rather not have some of the things Lycheas told us becoming general knowledge.’

‘The rooms are quite secure, My Lord,’ Lenda assured him, ‘and the presence of your knights in the corridors will probably discourage anyone who’s afflicted with a burning curiosity.’

Kalten and Ulath entered, and they both had vicious grins on their faces. ‘Lycheas is having a very bad day,’ Kalten smirked. ‘Ulath and I were recalling a number of lurid executions we’d seen in the past while we were escorting him back to his cell. He found the notion of being burned at the stake particularly distressing.’

‘And he almost fainted when we raised the possibility of racking him to death,’ Ulath chuckled. ‘Oh, by the way, we stopped by the palace gate on our way back here. The church soldiers we captured are repairing it.’ The towering Genidian Knight set his axe in the corner. ‘Some of your Pandions have been out in the streets, Lord Vanion. It seems that quite a number of the citizens of Cimmura have dropped out of sight.’

Vanion gave him a puzzled look.

‘They seem a bit nervous for some reason,’ Kalten explained. ‘Annias has been in control of the city for quite a while now, and some people, nobles and commons alike, always have their eyes open for the main chance. They went out of their way to accommodate the good Primate. Their neighbours know who they are, though, and there have been a few incidents, I understand. When there’s a sudden change of power, many people want to demonstrate their loyalty to the new regime in some visible way. There appear to have been several spontaneous hangings and a fair number of houses are on fire. Ulath and I suggested to the knights that they put a stop to that at least. Fires do tend to spread, you know.’

‘I just love politics, don’t you?’ Tynian grinned.

‘Mob rule should always be suppressed,’ the Earl of Lenda said critically. ‘The mob is the enemy of any government.’

‘By the way,’ Kalten said curiously to Sparhawk, ‘did you really propose to the queen?’

‘It’s a misunderstanding.’

‘I was fairly sure it was. You’ve never struck me as the marrying kind. She’s going to hold you to it anyway, though, isn’t she?’

‘I’m working on that.’

‘I wish you all the luck in the world, but quite frankly, I don’t hold out much hope for you. I saw some of the looks she used to throw your way when she was a little girl. You’re in for an interesting time, I think.’ Kalten was grinning.

‘It’s such a comfort to have friends.’

‘It’s time you settled down anyway, Sparhawk. You’re getting to be too old to be running around the world picking fights with people.’