The following morning, Blade walked into the city. He declined the horse that the grooms offered, for he had ever been more comfortable on foot, and found it less conspicuous. Clad in his dark clothes, he strolled along the broad streets that ran through the centre of Jondar. The metropolis bustled with people, mostly well-dressed merchants and nobles, in this more affluent area.
Carriages rumbled past on the cobbled streets, and sweaty servants carried ladies in sedan chairs. Street cleaners collected dung to fill the little carts they pulled, which they would add to the vast compost heaps on the city's outskirts. When it was sufficiently mature, they would sell it to farmers and gardeners to enrich their soil.
Noblemen rode in gossiping groups, or sprawled on benches outside drinking establishments and sipped ale or wine. An occasional park afforded a place for the children of nobles and merchants to play when the schools closed. Officers of the Watch patrolled, on hand to chase away urchins or pickpockets who strayed from the slums. Most of the buildings were constructed from dressed stone, their steep grey slate roofs designed slough off the winter snow.
Merchants displayed their wares under tarpaulins outside their shops, and women examined bolts of cloth or haggled over ornaments, jewellery and leather goods. Many of the nobles watched Blade pass with narrow eyes, but while his garb hinted at his profession, it did not reveal it sufficiently to evoke any spitting or rude comments.
Blade was more at home when he reached the narrow, filthy back alleys in which he had spent so much of his life. Beggars rattled tin cups at passers-by, and pickpockets moved amongst the pedestrians with busy hands. Men stepped from his path with furtive glances, while harridans nudged their fellows and cast him knowing looks. A few thin horses pulled rickety carts, and rising damp stained the white-washed buildings. The stench of garbage mingled with the sickly scent of incense and stale ale. Drunkards lay in the gutter or slumped in doorways, their pockets doubtless picked clean.
Raucous singing emanated from taprooms, and housewives threw buckets of slops into the gutter. Urchins picked through the garbage and fought with dogs for scraps of bread. Threading his way through the whores and beggars, Blade headed for a familiar building tucked away in a dead end street. He entered a dingy taproom populated by a few drunken men and several dishevelled harlots. Rough-hewn tables and benches cluttered the soot-stained taproom, and mildewed rushes covered the floor. A glance into the darkest corners ascertained that the one he sought was not there, and he gripped the arm of a passing trollop. She leered up at him, but he ignored her gap-toothed invitation.
"Where's Lilu?" he asked, using the common speech.
Her smile vanished. "Her again! She's in the back, but she's busy. I'm not though."
He pushed her away. "I can see why."
The whore cursed him vilely as he walked away, heading for the dirty curtain that separated the rooms at the back from the taproom. Making his way to Lilu's room, he became aware, as he neared it, of the thuds and shrieks coming from within. Not caring if he interrupted her client, he thrust open the sagging door and walked in.
Lilu knelt before a brawny man, whose hand gripped her tangled brown hair. Blade stopped and eyed them, and at the sight of him Lilu cried, "Blade! Help me! He's trying to kill me!"
The man shook her. "Liar! I want my money back, you filthy whore! You stole from me!"
Lilu wailed, "Help me, Blade!"
The assassin stepped back, leant against the wall and folded his arms. "If you stole from the man, give it back."
"I can't! I don't have it any more!"
The man growled and slapped her. "You'd better find it, you damned whore!"
Lilu clutched her torn dress and wailed again, clawing at the big man's beefy hands. "Let me go, you bastard! Don't you know what he is?"
The man glanced at Blade, but the assassin spread his hands and shrugged. His throat was covered, so no outward token of his trade showed. He recognised the man as a local armourer, a towering giant covered with muscles earned from years spent at the forge. He had no intention of tangling with such a brute.
"I'll not interfere," he assured the armourer.
"Damn you, Blade!" Lilu shrieked. "You owe me!"
"Be quiet, bitch!" the armourer roared, dragging her towards the lumpy, rumpled bed. "I'll take it out of your hide until you give me back my money!"
"No!" Lilu grabbed at passing furniture, but could not wriggle free of his painful hold. "He'll kill you! He's my friend!"
Blade's brows rose a fraction at this assertion, but Lilu's threats did not seem to worry the man, who snarled, "That little runt won't lift a finger to help you, trollop!"
Lilu grabbed a candle-holder and beat the man about the head with it. He yanked it from her grasp and flung it across the room, narrowly missing the assassin. Lilu's beating further enraged the man, who pinned her to the bed and slapped her. She clawed at his eyes, making him roar with pain, then kicked him in the shins. He grabbed her throat and throttled her.
"Blade!" she squeaked, "He's killing me!"
He frowned. "Why don't you two sort this out in a decent manner? Whatever she stole from you, she can pay back in kind."
The man turned his head to glare at the assassin. "Twenty goldens! She'll be on her back for the next three years."
Blade shrugged. "I'm sure you'll require her services."
"I have to pay my rent!"
The assassin sighed. "Don't you have any money, Lilu?"
"No!" she growled, glowering at him. "Just get rid of him, don't waste your time talking."
"It seems that he's in the right, if you stole his money."
"He won't get it back if he kills me!"
The man squeezed, silencing her, and banged her head against the headboard. "I want my money now!"
"She can't give it to you if she hasn't got it," Blade pointed out.
"You stay out of this!" the armourer roared.
"I'm only trying to help."
"Why don't you get lost, you little fop?"
Blade shook his head. "I need to speak to Lilu."
The armourer straightened, his bloodshot eyes glaring. "Bugger off!"
"No."
The man swung with a roar, releasing the hapless harlot, and charged Blade. The assassin stepped aside, and the armourer buried his fist in the wooden wall where Blade's head had been an instant before. The giant's hand was trapped in the broken timbers, and he struggled to pull it out. Lilu coughed and rubbed her throat, sitting up.
"Kill him, Blade! I'll pay you!"
He shot her an angry glance. "You don't have any money."
The armourer jerked his hand free and swung on the assassin again, bearing down on him like a charging bear. Blade stepped aside and headed for the door, unwilling to become embroiled in a fight. The man lunged at him, grabbed Blade's shoulder and spun him around with a powerful jerk. The assassin stumbled, lost his footing and fell backwards into the narrow hall, where he landed with a grunt, banging his head on the wall. The armourer came after him, raising a boot to stamp on his belly. Blade rolled away and leapt to his feet, heading for the taproom.
"Come back here, you coward!" the man bellowed, following.
Lithe as a cat, Blade turned and jumped up to grab the lintel of the taproom door, jerked up his legs and smashed his boots into the armourer's face. The big man reeled back, blood spurting from his nose. Blade trotted into the taproom, making good his escape. The armourer, however, was made of sterner stuff, and his head from solid bone it seemed, for within seconds he came after the fleeing assassin. Blade vaulted a table just ahead of his pursuer, and the men in the taproom, seeing a fight, shouted and blocked the exit.
Blade turned to face his attacker, glancing about for a way out of the situation. The armourer swung a punch, which, had it connected, might have ripped Blade's head off. The assassin ducked and dived for the door, but two bystanders caught him and flung him back. He cursed as he almost fell into his foe's grasping hands, twisting aside to roll under a table. The armourer kicked the table out of the way, and one of its legs caught the assassin a glancing blow on the temple.
Stars flashed in his eyes, and he glimpsed Lilu's grinning face amongst the crowd, shouting encouragement with the rest. At least, if nothing else, she seemed to be on his side. A beefy arm snaked around his neck and dragged him to his feet, choking. He rammed an elbow into his opponent's ribs, making him grunt, but he hung on. Gripping the man's arm, Blade heaved him over his shoulder, breaking his grip as the armourer crashed onto his back, splintering a table. Blade headed for the door, but the man leapt up and charged after him, unaffected by his fall.
The assassin found several men blocking his way and turned, dodging the giant's charge. The armourer hooked his fingers into Blade's collar, the only place he could gain purchase. Blade was spun around with tremendous force and smashed into the wall, turning his head at the last moment to save his nose. Again stars sparkled in his eyes, and he became aware of his danger just as the big man lunged at him, trying to crush him against the wall. With an agile twist, he sprang away, leaping onto a table. The armourer swung around with a growl and rushed at him, smashing the table aside like a child's toy. Blade, balanced atop it, lost his footing and was forced to dive through the window.
Landing in the street in a shower of glass, he rolled in the mud, leaping up in time to meet the giant's charge as the armourer followed him through the window. Blade was lifted off his feet and thrown backwards, the man on top of him, his weight punching the air from Blade's lungs. The armourer glared down at him, a gap-toothed leer splitting his bullish visage. He raised a fist to punch Blade's face, but the assassin yanked a dagger from his belt and pressed it to the man's throat. The armourer froze.
Blade snarled, "Get off me, you great oaf."
The giant's eyes narrowed with cunning calculation. "You're not going to use that little pig sticker, runt."
Unable to hide his trade any longer without being severely beaten, the assassin tugged open his collar with his other hand, revealing his tattoo. The armourer's eyes widened, and he lowered his fist, lifting himself off the prone assassin. Blade kept the dagger pressed to the man's throat until he moved out of reach, whereupon the armourer regained his bravado and spat blood on the muddy street.
"Damned assassin! I beat you fair and square, killer!"
Blade sat up, gasping a little. "That's hardly surprising."
"Little runts like you shouldn't go around picking fights!"
The assassin glanced at their audience. "I didn't start it."
"You shouldn't stick your nose in where it don't belong," the armourer snarled, still trying to pretend that he had won the fight.
Blade was quite prepared to allow him that satisfaction. He did not care who claimed victory, only that he was still in one piece. Climbing to his feet, he clutched his stomach, then rubbed his bruised cheek. Sheathing the dagger, he tugged his collar closed, ignoring the armourer's sneer as the big man sidled away with his cronies.
Lilu rushed up, her face aglow, and grabbed his arm. "You did it! You beat him! You should have killed him."
He shoved her away, breaking her hold. "I didn't want to fight him, and I certainly wasn't going to kill him. Also, don't imagine that I did it for you. I'm sure you deserved the beating you were getting."
Lilu pulled a face and shot a venomous glare at the armourer's back. Her fading looks were vanishing under a layer of puffy flesh. Bitterness lined the skin around her mouth and between her brows, and matronly plumpness ruined a once slender form. She had never been beautiful, but now, with several missing teeth and a broken nose from angry clients, she was quite ugly. Still, she had taken in a half dead man and nursed him back to health with such tenderness and diligence that Blade, no matter how he hated to owe any favours, had to admit that he owed her something.
That did not include, he vowed to himself, taking on enraged clients the size of the armourer. Lilu had a penchant for filching money from her clients while they slept, a reason for her frequent beatings. She always survived, however. She seemed as indestructible as the earth itself, and was probably in less pain at this moment than he was. He fingered his jaw, making sure none of his teeth were loose. Lilu clicked her tongue and renewed her hold on his arm, tugging him back into the brothel. "I'll see to your hurts, my love."
Blade shot her an angry look, but allowed her to lead him to her room, where she pushed him down on the creaky bed with rumpled grey sheets and a tatty patchwork quilt. She left to fetch a bowl of water and a cloth, and when she returned, angry shouts from the brothel keeper, who demanded recompense for his broken window, followed her. Lilu paused to shout an insult from the doorway, then forced the sagging door closed to shut out the stream of vitriol from the taproom. Casting Blade a weary smile, she sat beside him and put the bowl on a rickety table, dipping the cloth in it. When she dabbed at the mud on his cheeks, he jerked his head aside and snatched the cloth from her to wipe his face.
"You always were a big baby," she remonstrated. "How you moaned and groaned when I was tending your hurts after I found you lying in the gutter, more dead than alive."
"How you love to keep reminding me of that."
"I saved your life."
"And you'll never let me forget it."
She pouted. "They do say that when you save a person's life, it belongs to you."
Blade grimaced and rubbed his face, finding a lump on his temple. Picking up a cracked mirror, he examined himself in it. "Wonderful, I look like I've been in a taproom brawl."
"You have."
"Because of you. Why must you always rob your clients? You know it only gets you into trouble."
Lilu scowled. "They pay me next to nothing, and I've got five children to feed. How am I supposed to do that? Most times they don't notice the missing money, they're so drunk, and even when they do, they don't know I took it."
"But when they do figure it out, they beat the stuffing out of you."
She fingered her bruises with a shrug. "It's worth it. Twenty goldens will feed my children for three moons."
"Lucky for you that you had already sent it to them."
"It's right here." She pulled open a drawer in the cupboard and took out a pouch that clinked. "I only took it last night, I haven't had a chance to see my little ones."
Blade groaned, flexing his aching jaw. "You astound me. The bravest warrior would have given it back before taking a beating like that."
She snorted. "Then I'm tougher than them. Why should I give it back? He wouldn't have killed me."
"That's not what you said when I walked in."
"I wanted you to stop him."
"That great mountain of brawn? What do you take me for?"
"Certainly not a gentleman."
Blade finished wiping his face and tossed the rag aside, leaning back against the wall with a sigh. For a moment he frowned at her, then he smiled. "No, I'm not that."
Lilu pounced on him and hugged him, burying her face in his neck. "I've missed you. Where have you been?"
The assassin pushed her off. "Away."
Lilu gazed at him, clearly hurt by his rejection, then made an ineffectual attempt to tidy herself, sitting up to brush her hair and tug her ragged clothes into some semblance of order before facing him again. "I know I'm ugly, but you don't have to be so cold. Even whores need a hug now and then, you know, and you are my friend."
He pulled a face, turning away from her smell of stale sweat and sour wine. "I'm not your friend, and I didn't come here to see you."
"Why not?" She grinned. "I wouldn't charge you, you know that."
Blade sat up, moving out of her reach. "I didn't come here to argue with you about that again, either."
"So why did you come?"
"I need you to buy some things for me. Here's a list." He pulled a piece of paper from his tunic and handed it to her. "Can you read?"
Lilu pouted. "Of course I can read." She glanced at the paper. "Perfume? Another wig? What do you need this for?"
"None of your business." He handed her a bag of coins. "Pay for it out of this, whatever's left, you can keep."
Her face lighted as she hefted the bag, and she grinned at him. "When do you want it?"
"Now. I'll wait here."
Lilu pulled a face, then rose and rummaged in her wardrobe, producing a dress almost as tattered as the one she was wearing. Blade closed his eyes while she changed, opening them as the door closed behind her. He yawned, then stretched out and settled down to wait.
The door opening woke him, and he sat up as Lilu entered, dropping a bag on the floor. She unpinned her cheap bonnet and bounced onto the bed beside him, flinging her arms around him again.
"I'm back!"
Blade fended her off. "I noticed. Did you get everything?"
"Sure." She frowned. "What do you need the lovers' potion for?"
"Never you mind." He rose and picked up the bag.
"Wait!" Lilu jumped up and grabbed his arm. "You can't leave now. Stay and have a glass of wine with me."
The assassin scowled down at her. "I haven't the time."
"You do! Please, don't leave yet." Her eyes filled with tears, startling him, and he hesitated, still frowning.
"What is it?"
"I…" She brushed at her cheeks. "I'm lonely. I have no one to talk to. I've done what you asked, won't you just stay a little while, please?" Her brown eyes pleaded, bright with tears.
Blade sighed and put down the bag. "I don't know why I listen to you. You're a nuisance."
"Because you know that you owe me your life, and even you're not so cold-hearted as to forget that."
"How could I, with you to remind me?" He sat on the bed, tolerating her possessive hold on his arm.
She stroked his hair, and he jerked away in annoyance. "My assassin, that's what you are, Blade. When I found you in that gutter, I thought you were dead. I paid that healer good money to set your bones and stitch up your wounds."
"I paid you back."
"The money, yes, but I spent long time-glasses nursing you, feeding you, cooling your fevered brow."
Blade frowned, barely able to remember the blurred images of that time, when fever had fogged his mind and pain had racked him. Vaguely he recalled gentle hands washing his wounds, pressing a cup to his lips and wiping away what spilt from them.
She stroked his arm, smiling. "I washed every inch of this beautiful body of yours."
He glanced at her, startled. "You did?"
"Who else?" She looked at him coyly through her lashes.
"And you never noticed…?"
"'Course I did, what kind of fool do you take me for?"
"Then why do you keep flirting with me?"
"Just teasing you! You shouldn't be so touchy about it."
He eyed her. "So why are you telling me this now?"
She shrugged. "I don't know, I guess I just needed something to talk about, and nothing else sprang to mind."
Lilu rose and poured him a cup of wine from a bottle in the cupboard across the room, ignoring the bottle beside the bed. He took a gulp as she sat beside him again, slipping her arm through his.
"You know, I heard a story from one of my customers the other day. He told me that those men the Queen sent to kill King Shandor all failed, and she sent one man to do the job. Would you believe, he succeeded, and he brought back the Cotti Prince." Lilu's eyes narrowed. "I hope the Queen will flay him alive, one little strip of skin at a time. The man she sent, she's made a lord now, given him lands and riches, which he deserves of course." She glanced at him coyly again. "They call him the Queen's Blade."
"Do they?"
"They do. And they say that he's an assassin, and he now has the Queen's favour."
"Lucky man."
"Yes." She squeezed his arm. "And he's not married."
Blade disentangled himself and stood up. "It's time I was going."
"You owe me, Blade!"
He swung on her. "I didn't ask to be saved! Maybe you should have left me to die."
"No." She rose and stood before him. "You're a good man, and if I hadn't saved you, King Shandor would still be alive to wage the Endless War."
"You think his son won't carry on with it?"
"His son's a prisoner of the Queen."
"He has fifteen brothers." Blade banged the wine cup down on the table.
Lilu shook her head, gazing up at him. "I don't care about that. You could make me very happy. Don't I deserve it?"
"You're asking to be my wife?"
She nodded. "I know what you are, and I don't care. I've had my fill of it. All I ask is a home for my children and money to live on. You can afford it now. No one else would have saved you. I did it out of the goodness of my heart, because you looked like a kind man. You have a noble face. I didn't expect anything in return, and you had nothing then. But you do now, and all I'm asking is a little share in it, not much. I know you'd be ashamed of me, I'd never expect you to acknowledge me publicly, I mean, with your new friends. You could send me to your estate, and I'd stay there, raise my children, that's all I ask."
"No."
"Please, Blade!" Fresh tears filled her eyes, and she clung to his arm. "I can't bear this life anymore! Have you no pity?"
"No, I don't." He regarded her coldly. "You did what you did for your own selfish reasons, whatever they were."
"I couldn't let you die!"
"You thought I might be a meal ticket."
"No!" She hung on when he tried to free himself. "I didn't, I swear! Don't leave me in this dump, I'm begging you. You have no reason to marry, surely you can do it to save me, as I saved you? If you leave me here, I'll die."
"I doubt that," he growled, trying to pry her hands from his arm, but she clung to him like a limpet and sank to her knees, almost dragging him down with her. "Stop this, Lilu!"
"Don't, oh God, don't leave me here!" She buried her face in his thigh, transferring her hold to it and shaking with the storm of wailing sobs that his refusal had unleashed.
Blade stared down at her, annoyed and confused. A vision flashed before his eyes. A little girl knelt in the burning sand, her eyes filled with tears, her hands raised in pleading. A girl with grey eyes and midnight hair, skin that had been as pale as milk until the fierce sun had reddened it. Her eyes were his own, and she wept before a laughing Cotti officer, begging. She had died a few days later. He had wept then, but not since. Somewhere he had lost his pity. He opened his eyes. Lilu raised a tear-stained face, ugly, beaten and abused, her eyes filled with despair.
"All right, Lilu." He raised a hand to stem her leap of joy. "I'll not marry you, but you may go to my estate and live there with your children."
She flung her arms around his neck and hugged him fiercely, ignoring his attempts to pry her free. "Thank you, Blade! Oh, thank you, thank you!"
Lilu rained kisses on his face until he put a hand over her mouth and pushed her away. His rejection did not dampen her joy, she bounced around the room, throwing tattered dresses onto the floor and flinging pots of powder and paint at the walls.
"No more of this! I'm free! I can be with my children."
He glanced around, longing to leave. "Have you a pen and paper?"
She leapt to the dresser and yanked open a drawer. "Yes."
Blade took them and bent to scribble a note, ordering whoever was in charge of his estate to provide Lilu and her children with board and lodging, money for clothes and schooling. It was the first time he had used his newly acquired rank, and signed his name ‘Lord Conash’. Lilu snatched the paper and read it with a huge smile. Blade grabbed the bag and headed for the door.
Lilu reach it first and barred it.
"Now what?" he demanded.
"If only you could know the joy I'm feeling now."
"I'll try to imagine it."
"I was right, you are a good man. It's all there inside of you, hidden away, buried under ice." She tapped his chest. "I wish I could reach it."
"You're wrong; I did it to put an end to your carping. Now I must go."
She tried to stroke his cheek, but he evaded her caress. "My children will know who saved them from the gutter; my sons will honour your name. You're going to be a legend."
"Leave the predictions to Shamsara, Lilu. You've got what you wanted; now get out of my way."
She stood aside, her eyes bright with joy she could not share with him. "Goodbye, Blade. God be with you."
"I doubt that," he retorted, brushing past her into the hall.
On the walk back to the palace, he wondered at his generosity and the momentary weakness that had prompted it. Perhaps she deserved some reward for saving his life. At least now he no longer had to be burdened with the sense of owing her something. He tried to imagine the shock and horror of his undoubtedly well-bred retainers when a broken-nosed whore arrived with five bastards in tow and a letter from their new lord ordering them to care for her. The thought brought a little amusement to brighten his day and compensate for his face's throbbing.
At the palace, he went to his rooms and ordered a bath, forced to don some of his new finery afterwards. The manservant grimaced at the state of his clothes and took them away to be cleaned, his expression making it clear that he would rather have burnt them. Blade sent the vial of potion to the Queen with a letter that told her how to use it, then settled down to wait, playing a game of peeress with himself.
The Queen arrived in his chamber at the allotted time, and her eyes widened at the sight of his bruised face.
"My Lord Conash. What happened?"
He bowed. "My Queen. A minor altercation, nothing serious."
Minna-Satu smiled. "Who won?"
"He did."
Her brows rose. "You surprise me. You, who are so deadly?"
"I am not a taproom brawler, My Queen. In my profession, there is seldom a call to fight, I am no expert at it."
"Then you should have run away."
"I tried."
"I see." She settled on a pile of cushions. "Did you get what you need?"
He nodded.
"Good, then let us proceed."
Over the next time-glass, Blade worked his magic on the Queen, transforming her, with the aid of paint and powder, into a sultry handmaiden even he barely recognised. During the times when he was forced to come into close contact with her in order to paint her eyes and don the wig, he avoided her gaze. When he was finished, she donned the cheap, but alluring gown and perfume, and he stood back to study her, nodding in satisfaction.
As he was putting away the pots of paint and powder, he said, "What of your safety, My Queen? Should Kerrion grow violent for any reason, what protection do you have?"
"Shista will come with me, unobserved, of course."
He nodded. "Good."
"Do you really think Prince Kerrion is a violent man?"
"I know him little, but I feel that he is unpredictable. He resents his captivity more than he shows, his politeness towards you is studied. You gave him the potion?"
"As you instructed."
"That will help."
Minna brushed at the silken gown. The red wig framed her face and fell about her shoulders in coiled, gleaming tresses. It was pinned to her luxuriant mane, making it seem amazingly thick. He moved closer to tug at it, ensuring its security, and she gazed up at him, turning away when he had finished. At the door she paused, her eyes pools of sorrow in the darkness.
"Thank you."
He bowed. "My Queen."
After she left, he lay awake for some time, staring at the ceiling. The Queen's sadness seemed strange. He had expected nervousness, and the excitement of a maid going to her first lover, not the solemnity and sorrow that hung about her. Her mood was better suited to a woman facing the gallows than a Queen encountering her chosen consort. He tried to puzzle out the meaning of it, but failed, drifting into the dark arms of sleep.
The next day, a sealed package arrived, containing the wig and clothes, but Blade did not see the Queen for three more days after that.
At a supper party in the Queen's apartments, which several other lords and Kerrion attended, Queen Minna-Satu appeared distant, her attitude stiff and her expression guarded. She forced a brief smile when Blade arrived, but did not speak to him. Kerrion seemed morose, and picked at his food with an uncharacteristic lack of appetite, ignoring Blade's presence. The nobles also ignored the assassin, who ate his meal in silence, too far from the Queen to speak to her.
Kerrion no longer sat at her side either, but was placed further down the table between two lords. Blade watched the stilted interaction between the Prince and Queen, gleaning little from it. Their conversation was curtly polite, though this seemed to be Kerrion's doing more than the Queen's. The Prince's eyes, however, rested upon her often whenever she glanced elsewhere, and when he was not looking, she gazed at him. Several times, Blade caught Minna looking at him when he glanced up from his food, and wondered at this also.
Queen Minna-Satu found her gaze drawn to the Prince, the memory of their encounter still fresh in her mind. Since that night, she had hardly seen him, and her invitations to dine together had been declined. When she had visited him, he had been aloof and asked her to leave. The invitation to this party had been a formal one, which he had been obliged to accept, or appear rude. As she had hoped, he had accepted rather than insult her and her other guests, but his behaviour puzzled her.
Certainly he had not seen through her disguise, yet now he seemed to want nothing to do with her. She longed to admit her guilt and tell him that their encounter had meant so much more to her than merely conceiving a child, but could not. The sorrow of that concealment ate at her, and their cold politeness towards each other brought fresh pain with each occasion, yet she longed to share his company as often as she could. She also watched the assassin, wondering what thoughts hid behind his bland expression and cold eyes.
Trouble was brewing in her court, she could sense it even here at the supper table, though Blade seemed oblivious to it. Kerrion was too sunk in his thoughts to notice or care, but she noted sly glances amongst some of her senior lords, which disturbed her, and she watched their interaction with wary eyes.
After the dinner she ordered extra guards to be stationed at the doors and windows of Kerrion's rooms, a strange intuition warning her of his danger. The next day she sent four spies to the lords who had aroused her suspicions, and decided to dine with them more often in future, so she could monitor their collaboration. Usually her lords spent most of their time scheming against each other and vying for her favour, now some of them seemed to be joining forces.