Kushiel's Mercy by Jacqueline Carey

Author:Jacqueline Carey
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance, Fantasy, Fiction
ISBN: 0446500046
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2008-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Fourty-Two

“Here you are, my lord.” Kratos dropped the ring into my hand.

I examined it. A simple band, a gold knot. To all intents and purposes, it was identical to the ring Sunjata had created. For all I knew, it was the same ring. I hadn’t dared set any distinguishing mark on the copy. I slid the ring onto the fourth finger of my right hand. It fit very well.

“So Esme succeeded?” I asked.

Kratos chuckled. “Ah, the lass was brilliant! Yon Astegal does love to be cozened and pampered. She oiled him and worked him down to his fingertips.” He kissed the tips of his own fingers. “The ring slid loose like a charm. I could see it all from the caldarium. You remember?”

“I remember,” I said briefly.

“Yes, well.” Kratos smiled broadly. “It fell to the floor and bounced. Ch-chink, ch-chink! Our Esme scrambled after it in a panic. Astegal hadn’t even begun to worry before she shoved the copy on his finger, babbling apologies. I watched. She retrieved his ring later.”

“This?” I raised my right hand.

Kratos nodded. “That. So what happens now, my lord?”

I sighed. “Unfortunately, we wait. I need to speak to Sidonie alone, and that’s the one thing I can’t fathom how to do.”

“That, and getting Bodeshmun’s talisman,” Kratos observed. Over the past days, I’d taken him fully into my confidence and told him everything. “Is he really as dangerous as all that?”

“Ptolemy Solon thought so,” I said, removing the ring and stashing it in the trunk with the false bottom. “And so did Sunjata.”

He shrugged. “Doesn’t seem like it.”

On that score, Kratos was wrong. The following morning, Astegal summoned Roderico de Aragon and his entourage to the great hall. The elderly former king struck a tragic, forlorn figure, standing with the remnants of his court in his former palace while Astegal paced back and forth like an angry lion. Bodeshmun stood behind him, silent.

“My wishes were clear,” Astegal said. “No one was to give audience to my wife without my express permission. You defied me.”

“She is the Dauphine of Terre d’Ange,” Roderico said with dignity. “Was I to refuse her when she was at my doorstep?”

“Yes,” Astegal said. “You told her lies that upset her. Last night, she could find no peace without the aid of a sleeping draught. Even now, she is too ill to rise.”

Roderico’s eyes flashed. “I told her no lies.”

“The truth is what I say it is.” Astegal’s voice hardened. “Carthage and Terre d’Ange have always been allies. Aragonia provoked this war by permitting its fleet to prey unchecked on Carthaginian trade-ships. That is the truth, and from this moment onward, any man or woman who claims otherwise is guilty of treason. Is that understood?”

The former king didn’t answer. One of the members of his entourage, a young man who couldn’t have been much past his majority, muttered an expletive.

“You!” Astegal snapped. “Come here.” After a moment’s hesitation, the young lord obeyed. Astegal surveyed him. “There are rumors circulating that Carthage is capable of wielding dire magics.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.