Javier, never swarthy to begin with, paled visibly. Belinda felt his will flex, injury strengthening his witchpower as he said, "Tell me, Marius, how badly I have lied to myself. Are you and Beatrice lovers?" The air seemed weighted with his question, so heavy that Belinda herself wanted to blurt out an answer, any answer, to appease royal anger. She no more allowed herself to speak than she allowed her hands to curl in fear, or her colour to change as she antic.i.p.ated Marius's response.

Marius laughed again, another sharp and ugly sound. "Would it be a relief to you if I said yes, Jav? Would that intimacy be enough to forgive my behavior? Would you then understand my rage and hurt at having her taken from me?" He turned his head, lip curled as if he might spit, then looked back at Javier, stood beneath the weight of Javier's will, and said, bitterly, "Beatrice and I have never shared physical love."

Bewilderment edging on disappointment shattered Javier's expression, even as Belinda held stillness close, refusing her stance a waver. She understood with vicious clarity the fine line Marius walked with his answer, understood his bitterness was not for losing her, or even pointed at Javier, but for what had pa.s.sed between them in the name of pa.s.sion. It had not been love. It had been something else, something darker and hungrier, l.u.s.t and power marked by submission and domination.

She caught, for an instant, a glint of humour in Akilina's eyes, and knew that the Khazarian dvoryanin dvoryanin understood the game Marius played as well. Among them all, only Javier heard what he wished to hear, and Belinda thought how terribly right Marius was: no one would tell him when he lied, even to himself. understood the game Marius played as well. Among them all, only Javier heard what he wished to hear, and Belinda thought how terribly right Marius was: no one would tell him when he lied, even to himself.

"I don't understand." Javier's whisper came though the busy silence of things unsaid. "I don't understand, Marius."

"It doesn't matter, does it, Jav? Whether you understand or not, Beatrice is yours. I'm a merchant, and you're a prince. It could never be any other way." Marius drew himself up, a startling amount of mocking in his sudden grace. He bowed first to Belinda, then to Akilina, murmuring, "Forgive us for airing such unpleasantries in front of you, my lady," and then turned to his prince. "Duty calls me elsewhere, my lord. I hope you'll attend my wedding."

He bowed far more deeply than he had to the women, then stepped past Javier and Akilina to exit the garden bower, never looking back.

AKILINA PANKEJEFF, DVORYANIN

4 January 1588 Lutetia

Akilina watches Marius go, then turns to Beatrice Irvine again, finding herself awash with admiration. Beatrice, or Rosa, or whatever her name truly is, is cooler than the winters in Akilina's homeland. The confrontation with Javier should have destroyed their relationship; instead it seems to have shattered a friendship much older and deeper than anything the young woman could possibly share with the prince. It suggests Sandalia was right not to bring Javier into the attempt to unmask Beatrice's true ident.i.ty; if he can be swayed in the sight of one of his oldest friends, then mere words are unlikely to change his mind. It would be wrong to say Akilina is antic.i.p.ating Beatrice's downfall with delight, but she would be telling herself false if she didn't admit to a certain enthusiasm for the project. Not for the hurt that it will bring Javier; despite what they say about her, Akilina takes no particular pleasure in causing others pain. She simply loves both puzzles and secrets, and understands that both have power.

Akilina Pankejeff is very fond of power.

Nearly all the pieces are in place to expose Beatrice. Akilina considers, briefly, sparing the prince his lover's expose, but there's a part of her wedded to drama, if not cruelty. Her search for Viktor's Rosa has led her to fascinating discoveries; discoveries she has not yet shared with even Sandalia. Javier will regret, too late, being swayed by Beatrice's spell rather than standing at Marius's side. He's fortunate he's the prince; a lesser man would lose all status at the coup d'etat that Akilina intends to present. If Javier is wise he'll accept that he has, indeed, been under a spell, and that Beatrice Irvine is a witch best meant for the burning.

Akilina meets Beatrice's eyes just briefly, and for a wonder, the young woman neither curtseys nor so much as inclines her head in acknowledgment. Her gaze is steady, cool hazel as she dares, at least for a moment, to hold herself equal to a countess.

Akilina likes this girl.

She'll like bringing her down even more.

A smile curving her lips, she graces Beatrice with one small nod, an admission of challenge, and then she gathers her skirts and slips away from the garden, eager to deepen the game.

BELINDA PRIMROSE / BEATRICE IRVINE

4 January 1588 Lutetia

"You look at me as if you're no longer certain of me, my lord." Beatrice kept her voice soft, putting sorrow into it instead of accusation. Javier twitched, the first movement save breathing he'd made since Marius's departure. He hadn't so much as watched Akilina go, his gaze fixed wholly on Belinda.

"Marius has never spoken to me so," he said roughly, when another moment had pa.s.sed. "How is it that you've lain a barrier between us all, Beatrice? Eliza is gone and Sacha will barely speak to me when he's not searching for her. Marius, my gentle Marius, has become brittle as ice. We four, who have been together since childhood, disrupted by one woman. How have you done this?"

"It was your own power that persuaded them to stay away from the opera." Belinda spoke carefully, wanting only reminder in the words, not blame. "Perhaps..." She hesitated, not for effect but out of genuine uncertainty, then exhaled a sigh. "Perhaps it was, or is, time for childhood to be left behind, my lord. They-"

"I will never give them up," Javier snapped. Belinda lifted her hands in apology, shaking her head.

"I meant no such thing. But friendships change, don't they? Nothing remains the same. I don't at all mean that you should lose them, Javier, but a reckoning, a redefining, may be at hand. It's inevitable, isn't it? You'll all marry, one way or another. You'll all have families and duties and responsibilities beyond those to one another. Perhaps I'm a harbinger." Belinda smiled faintly. "An ill omen."

"No." Javier sounded desperate as he stepped forward to take Belinda's hands, squeezing them until her bones ached from it. "You're the only one like me," he all but whispered. "You're not, you can't be, an ill omen. Marius is-" Desperation broke his words a second time and Belinda shifted his grip, so they held each other's hands.

"Marius fell in love with me, Javier, and you took me from him. His mother might have agreed to me marrying him, but she's neither privy to your plans nor a fool. I'm no longer a viable interest, and she thinks it's time he's wed, so Sarah a.s.selin it shall be. He's hurt and angry and I hope he'll forgive you. I hope you'll forgive him," she added more quietly. "I did not mean for any of this to happen."

That it had, and that it increased Javier's reliance on her, was a gift she hadn't looked for. Without his childhood friends at hand, Belinda thought the prince more likely to buck Sandalia's whim, and seek Belinda herself out when he was supposed to be otherwise occupied. It might lead him to share secrets that weren't his to share; Belinda would try to work that from him. Flat acknowledgment rose in her: she had been avoiding moving too abruptly within the court as much to keep eyes off her as to steal moments with Javier; it wouldn't be long before what time they had together came inevitably to an end. It was shocking sentiment to want to stretch that time out, and as well that neither Robert nor she dared communication while she was so publicly in the court's eye; Robert would be thoroughly displeased with her reticence, and Belinda would have no legitimate grounds on which to defend herself.

"I know you didn't." Forgiveness lightened Javier's voice, before reluctance deepened it again. "I should see Mother before the countess does. G.o.d knows what she'll tell her."

"That I'm a harlot not good enough for the royal house, so she should marry you herself," Belinda said drily. "Go. I'll take myself back to embroidering."

Javier quirked a brief, unhappy smile, then stepped closer to kiss her. "Don't abandon me, Beatrice," he murmured against her mouth. "I'm bereft on all sides. Without you, I lose hope."

"Never lose hope, my lord prince," Belinda replied. Javier broke from her, touching his knuckles to her cheek, then spun and strode away, sodden earth marking his pa.s.sage through the garden.

Belinda exhaled, standing alone in the wind and chill, then made fists of her hands and called stillness to herself. Witchpower flared, golden light drawing shadows close until she felt the freedom of invisibility.

Thus wrapped, she threw caution to the side and went to seek out the secrets shared by Countess Akilina Pankejeff and Sandalia de Costa, queen and regent.

16

Anger propelled Belinda through the palace halls. Anger at herself for dallying with Javier, for luxuriating in the life of n.o.bility; for allowing herself to lose focus. Anger, too, at Javier, for playing Marius so clumsily; as a prince he should have more ability with people than that, though perhaps inevitably royalty failed to understand its effect on the common man.

Anger, most exquisite anger, at Akilina Pankejeff. If her purpose were to split Belinda from Javier, she'd failed, but that she was willing to make such a blatant attempt at it rang caution through Belinda's soul. That very blatancy might have helped Belinda in defusing Javier's anger, though Marius's careful play with words had gone much further in doing that than anything Belinda had or hadn't said. Still Javier was no fool, and Akilina arranging for him to catch Belinda and Marius together smacked of a deliberation that the prince might have resented, had that card been necessary to play. Belinda didn't know the raven-haired countess well, but such an obvious hand seemed unlike her. And if it was, then she'd had a greater plan in bringing Javier to the young lovers in the bower, and not knowing that plan angered Belinda, too.

It was easy to stalk through the palace, hidden in plain sight, with anger to fuel the witchpower. It burned away the usual heady wash of s.e.xual desire that using her magic carried; that, beyond anything else, was useful to know. If the impulsive, idiotic actions brought on by too much use of power could be headed off by focusing on rage instead of want, it was much the better for Belinda.

Tempestuous emotion allowed her to walk through Sandalia's audience chambers a few steps behind Javier, slipping through the doors before the guards closed them again without anyone being the wiser. It let her follow the prince, unseen, into the private dayrooms beyond the formal courtroom, where she had the presence of mind to stop just inside the doors, while Javier walked ahead. He didn't seem to share her gift for recognizing when witchpower was being used around him, unless it stood directly in conflict with what he wanted. But angry or not, there was no use in pushing the boundaries further than she had. A few feet of distance felt safer, even through the turmoil of frustration, and both prince and queen were well within viewing and hearing range.

Sandalia, in fact, lounged on a divan before a half-banked fire, her hair loose and informal; she clearly had no plans to be seen in public again that day. She quirked an eyebrow as Javier came to an abrupt halt and bowed without his customary grace, and a wave of amused curiosity splashed off her. "I won't like this, will I?"

"Only if you dislike me condemning your favourites," Javier snapped. Sandalia's eyebrows went higher and she sat up, making a small imperious gesture toward a chair opposite her. Javier flung himself into it, making its feet b.u.mp off a thrown rug and squeak dully against the cold tile beneath it. "Akilina is trying to destroy Beatrice, and she may well have already ruined my friendship with Marius."

Even consigned to shadows, Belinda put a hand over her mouth to hide the slightest hint of laughter from visible expression. Javier's easy arrogance appealed to her much of the time, but it could also be both appalling and amusing. Perhaps it was the near-G.o.dhood of princedom, but she had thought him able to accept his own failing when it came to the situation with Marius. To hear him place the blame elsewhere was a dreadful sort of delight. Hurt and anger pinged off him in sharp sparks, almost audible, like a rain of needles falling against a hard floor. In marked contrast, fresh humour rolled around his mother. "Do tell, Javier. What's happened?"

He sketched out the events in the garden, giving Belinda more innocence than she deserved and lingering over Marius's rejection and hurt. Sandalia listened silently, her laughter at first contained and then slipping away, until her response was as grave as Javier might wish it to be. "And you believe Akilina is at fault, for making more of their meeting than it was? What if she was right, Javier? What if your Beatrice and Marius were lovers?"

Javier snorted, derisive sound that barely touched the bleak disbelief Belinda could feel from him. "He said they weren't, and Marius couldn't tell a lie if his life depended on it. You know him, Mother. I'm not wrong."

Sandalia pursed her mouth, brief thoughtful expression. For an instant Belinda wrestled with the temptation to cross the room and touch the regent's smooth cheek, to steal her thoughts from her and understand what idea it was that held her for that moment. She held her ground, wisdom greater than curiosity: her experiments hadn't determined whether she could touch someone while hidden in shadow and still remain unnoticed. The queen's private chambers would be a disastrous place to discover the limits of her power did not stretch so far.

"It is true," Sandalia murmured after a few seconds. "Marius couldn't lie to save his own life." She watched Javier, who nodded agreement, and the corner of her mouth curled as her son read nothing further into her statement. Belinda breathed a silent exhalation, understanding quite clearly what Sandalia implied and Javier failed to read. Marius might not tell a convincing lie to save his own life, but his known inability to dissemble might well save another's. Javier, Belinda thought, would have to learn more about the way what was unspoken said as much as what was voiced aloud, or how careful truths could be infallible lies, before he would make a worthy king. She wouldn't have imagined Marius to have that double-speech within him, but then, he was a merchant's son. A reputation for honesty and a skill for using the truth to tell lies would do him very well, were he to follow his father's trade.

And unless Javier learned to not trust those around him to employ such tactics, he, unlike his merchant friend, would never follow well in his father's trade.

Belinda allowed herself a quick smile at the floor, expression hidden by habit even when shadows concealed her. Not in his reputed father's trade, at least; she was still curious as to his true heritage, but in the weeks she'd been half-imprisoned in the palace, she'd not yet found a way to direct Sandalia's thoughts to a lie told a lifetime ago when she could touch the queen's hand and steal the truth from her. It would come in time; truth always did.

"What would you have me do, Javier? Take Akilina aside and explain I can no longer listen to her counsel, because my son's jealous heart has taken a dislike to her?" Belinda heard teasing in Sandalia's voice, though Javier's tight expression said he was having none of it.

"You're the queen," he said petulantly. "You don't have to explain anything."

Sandalia laughed aloud, a thing rare enough that Belinda couldn't remember having heard her do so before. She had a much deeper laugh than expected, in contrast to her sweet soprano voice. It coloured Belinda's viewpoint of her, enriching her into sudden humanity as her smile carved lines around her mouth and bent her toward likability. It was a striking thought: Belinda had never conceived of queens as being likable or not; that was a thing reserved for ordinary human affairs. Lorraine was a creature for veneration, and Sandalia was her rival and therefore the enemy; that was all that mattered.

Unexpectedly, unpleasantly, Belinda wondered if she wanted wanted Sandalia to die, and the idea rained chaos in her mind, breaking cold sweat on her skin. Within an instant she drew stillness to her, beyond the witchpower she used to hide herself from the room's other occupants. This was her childhood game, the one of not hurting and not fearing; it could be used as well to not think. Duty and desire lay on opposite sides of a vast divide; it was not her blessing or her curse to consider her own wishes as she served her queen. Duty made her the queen's secret blade; desire, as she lifted her eyes to look at Sandalia again, seemed a foreign conceit, and as quickly as she'd wondered whether she wanted the pet.i.te Gallic queen dead, she wondered why she would Sandalia to die, and the idea rained chaos in her mind, breaking cold sweat on her skin. Within an instant she drew stillness to her, beyond the witchpower she used to hide herself from the room's other occupants. This was her childhood game, the one of not hurting and not fearing; it could be used as well to not think. Duty and desire lay on opposite sides of a vast divide; it was not her blessing or her curse to consider her own wishes as she served her queen. Duty made her the queen's secret blade; desire, as she lifted her eyes to look at Sandalia again, seemed a foreign conceit, and as quickly as she'd wondered whether she wanted the pet.i.te Gallic queen dead, she wondered why she would not not want her dead. want her dead.

Javier's sullenness had grown in the instant Belinda's thoughts were turned aside. He cared for being laughed at no more than anyone, and perhaps less: his royal mantle saved him from it often enough. "A queen," Sandalia told him, "can do far less as she likes than you might imagine. I will not put Akilina aside, Javier, so draw in your lip and cease your pouting. It ill becomes anyone over the age of three, especially a prince."

Javier did as he was told, though the emotions that pooled around him and crept toward Belinda were still black. "Why won't you rid us of her? We asked for no Khazarian contingent."

"Nor," Sandalia said after long moments, "did we ask for the support of Khazarian troops that Akilina and I have negotiated, to be ratified by Irina's own hand."

Javier's sulk fell away as abruptly as Belinda's interest piqued. Impulse again edged her forward, as though she might miss something if she remained more safely sequestered by the door, and she made her hands into fists, leaning toward the royal pair by the fire, but not moving further. "Mother?" Belinda could all but taste the leap of Javier's heart, excitement suddenly pounding through him where a breath earlier there had been a childish whinge. Sandalia regarded her son another long moment before standing and gesturing for him to follow. Belinda bit her lower lip and pursued them, matching her steps to Javier's and moving close enough to pa.s.s through the door Sandalia opened.

Sandalia paused, holding the door, forehead wrinkled at Javier as he pa.s.sed in front of her and Belinda stepped to the side, holding her breath and keeping well out of the way. Javier turned back to his mother when he realised she was still at the door, curiosity tilting an eyebrow. "Perhaps you should consider rubbing up to Beatrice only at night, Javier," Sandalia said drily. "You smell of her perfume."

Red scalded Javier's cheeks and Belinda pressed a hand against her stomach, caught between horrified laughter and nausea. She had thought to trick the eye, but never to try fooling the nose. She would pour out her perfumes the instant she returned to her rooms. Javier mumbled an apology that Sandalia brushed off, closing the door behind her and locking it before crossing to a writing desk that dominated the private chamber. The rest of the room was equally businesslike, the windows too small to be looked through from the outside, the chairs arranged in such a fashion as to focus on the desk; here, Sandalia could hold court among counselors, herself sitting amidst the scribes as they scribbled and sketched out treaties as voiced by the men who advised a queen.

It took more than one key to open a heavy drawer within the desk. Sandalia tucked the keys back into her bodice, a location sufficiently secure that Belinda briefly despaired of acquiring them herself, and withdrew a stack of parchment, spreading the top pages out as Javier joined her behind the desk. Belinda held herself still again, heart crashing against her ribs while Javier traced a fingertip down one sheet of parchment, murmuring written words aloud: "'...commitment of troops toward the administration of open water pa.s.sages from Khazar's port town of Nvskya to the Essandian Straits.' 'Administration,'" he repeated. "A delicate word for indelicate intentions. This has your signature already, Mother. Yours and Akilina's. Can you be certain you ally yourself with Irina, and not her d.u.c.h.ess?"

"Would you have me use seizure and control? We tread dangerous enough waters as it is," Sandalia said shortly. "The details of ratification are at the top. Read carefully, Javier. Akilina acts in Irina's name or not at all."

"Does my uncle Rodrigo know?"

A lance of guilt spiked from Sandalia, though her words didn't betray it: "Irina still dances with him on a treaty. Their s.e.xes suggest treaties should be made by marriage, and Irina wants that no more than any of us." Belinda knew she spoke of the reigning queens of Echon, an unusual sisterhood endlessly threatened by the men around them. Javier allowed himself a brief laugh.

"Does something make the imperatrix think that Rodrigo's eager for marriage? He's managed to avoid it for thirty years."

"My brother prefers to make his conquests peacefully," Sandalia said. "It's why he still treats with Lorraine, and why Irina should be cautious."

"Lorraine will die before she gives her hand and throne in marriage," Javier said. Sandalia lifted her eyes, pretty face carved with an animal smile.

"Yes. She will."

The threat's weight settled over Belinda's skin like a cloak, wrapping her tightly in it. Her fingers drifted to the small of her back, where her tiny dagger lay hidden beneath clothes and corsets. It would be very easy to end it now, to slip forward unseen and drive the blade into Sandalia's throat. Javier would not be able to save her, or raise an alarm quickly enough to save his own life. There was no other choice, if she were to kill the queen now: it must be both of them, so no one was left for a pretender's crown. She could take the papers that Sandalia and Javier now gloated over and return to Aulun; the treaty would prove her right to have acted as she did. Lorraine's reluctance to put another regent to death would be mitigated by proof positive of plots against her, and with the witchpower helping her, no one would ever know Belinda had done the deed that saved her queen.

She found her skirts already gathered high, a hand twisted behind her back to snake its way beneath her corset in search of the blade she was never without.

"Akilina came as an amba.s.sador in truth, then," Javier half-asked, still studying the treaty. "A woman."

Sandalia let a shoulder rise and fall. "Who better to trust than another woman, rather than the men who insist we are too weak to rule in our own right? There's a price, Javier." She turned a page, parchment whispering against itself. "This treaty has a price."

"They all do," Javier said mildly. His fingertips stopped their wandering, pressed against the sheet Sandalia had uncovered, and he read for a few seconds before breathing, "Ah. This cannot be what Akilina wanted, Mother. She came to Gallin in search of a throne." He chuckled, another soft sound, as Sandalia glanced at him in surprise. "I'm not that blind to reality, Mother, even with this match made to Beatrice."

"I'm glad to hear it." Steel crept into the queen's voice, then faded again as she touched the papers above Javier's hand. "And you're right, it isn't. But she cannot protest overmuch, or she'll lose her standing as an amba.s.sador. And it benefits her, if not as thoroughly as she might like."

"She wants public adoration. But failing that, yes, standing behind the throne might do." Javier took a breath. "So you'll wed me to the Khazarian heir after all."

Cold sluiced through Belinda, chilling her fingers against the small of her back. Ivanova Durova, Irina's daughter. Dmitri's daughter. Belinda clenched her hand and let her skirts fall again, heart hammering once more. Neither Dmitri nor Robert would allow the engagement of Khazar to Gallin if they did not tacitly approve; Belinda's hasty action in taking Javier's life along with his mother's could easily disrupt Robert's plans. She set her teeth together, a new flush of anger running over her. Hers had been a lifetime of servitude, never asking why, but this once, set loose in the Lutetian court, understanding her father's ultimate purpose might have been useful. Securing Lorraine's throne was the obvious end game, but allying the ma.s.sive eastern country of Khazar to tiny Gallin had to go beyond that. Perhaps that alliance might end in a victory for Aulun that Belinda couldn't yet see. She would have to risk a letter to Robert, seek his guidance. Nothing else could clear her way.

"How will you secure the troops?" Javier asked softly. Sandalia dimpled at him, suddenly youthful.

"Your plot with Beatrice is proving to be the perfect foil. Troubles stir on Lanyarch's border. We need only push it far enough for Lorraine to risk invading, and then Lanyarch, under my banner, can call to Cordula for help in repelling the Reformation soldiers."

"Khazan is a long way from Cordula, Mother. We don't so much as share a religion with them."

"Irina treats with Cordula as well." Sandalia's voice was full of the same casual arrogance that her son's often carried. "The Pappas Pappas and his patriarchs see her overtures as a softening toward the Ec.u.menic faith, and intend, in time, to use them to convert Khazan. Until missionaries are sent, though, Cordula is happy to accept troops willing to fight where Cordula decrees." and his patriarchs see her overtures as a softening toward the Ec.u.menic faith, and intend, in time, to use them to convert Khazan. Until missionaries are sent, though, Cordula is happy to accept troops willing to fight where Cordula decrees."

"In Lanyarch and Aulun."

"And Alunaer," Sandalia finished, savage light of fanaticism suddenly bright in her voice. "We'll take the battle to the t.i.tian b.i.t.c.h's doorstep, Javier, and when it's done you'll sit on the island throne with a queen at your side."

"And what of Beatrice?" Javier's voice softened, deceptive in comparison to the resolve Belinda felt stiffening within him. "She and I have spoken of the need to put her aside, but we both believed there would be a match waiting for her. Marius is...no longer available. What of Beatrice?"

Sandalia touched his arm, a mother's rea.s.suring gesture, and smiled. "She's come to mean a great deal to you, hasn't she, Javier? You spoke of giving her lands; I'll have papers drawn up for some small holding in Brittany. Marius may be consigned to another's wedding bed, but your Beatrice is young and pretty enough. Another man will come along. I promise to take care of her," she said, and Belinda could see in her eyes, and in Javier's, that once more, they both took what they wanted from her words. Sandalia felt of honey-coated steel, and Javier struggled with shards of hope and belief fighting against his determination to not release the witchbreed woman he'd found. It was he who acquiesced, though, lowering his gaze and his head to murmur, "Thank you, Mother," as a dutiful son should.

Belinda, slipping out behind them many long minutes later, wondered if such promises were what a noose tightening around a slender neck felt like.

BELINDA PRIMROSE / BEATRICE IRVINE

11 January 1588 Lutetia

Five long days of watching had not managed to provide Belinda with the opportunity to steal the keys that Sandalia kept on her person. She had, once, made her way back into Sandalia's private chambers with lock-picks in hand, only to narrowly avoid a tiny, vicious needle, its tip stained dark, popping out from the lock. Belinda had sworn under her breath, searching her skin for marks, and used a blotter to press the needle back into place. The lock required keys: they needed, it seemed, to be turned simultaneously, and two hands were simply not enough to hold in place two separate locks and turn them together. The witchlight couldn't be formed into something solid enough to manipulate the locks with her will, and after over an hour of attempting the job, she had reluctantly given up and let herself back out of Sandalia's rooms.