Tiara: Part One by Robin Roseau

Author:Robin Roseau [Roseau, Robin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-12-12T05:00:00+00:00

Ministers

I was ready to give it a week from when Mr. Gremish left before I’d next raise a stink. The Minister of Commerce, Mr. Silmarion, beat my deadline by a day. Not that he knew there was a deadline, but he beat it, and I received an invitation to visit with him to discuss “issues of interest for both our countries.” The meeting itself wasn’t for two more days, but we had something on the books.

We arrived at the capitol. I had a full honor guard as well as Mr. Epseen and Ms. Pelonden, Blendost, and Sarlenda. I’d actually tried to go with fewer guards, but Sergeant Felist insisted, and I didn’t argue with her.

We were quite the troop as we marched up the capitol building steps.

Just inside, Talith was waiting for us. I offered a hand clasp. “Good morning, Ms. Leyviel.”

“Good morning, Your Highness,” she replied. “I trust you are well.”

“Quite well, thank you.”

She gestured, and we walked together through the corridors. “How are you getting along in Dennaholst?”

“Fine, thank you. It is a lovely city.”

We kept things formal and innocuous for the walk. And then she gestured us into a large conference room, where six men were waiting for us. I recognized Minister Silmarion, and one other had been in his office the day I’d burst in.

No one rose when we stepped in. I thought that was rude, but I simply sat down in the seat opposite the minister with my immediate staff in the seats beside me. Talith took a seat in back, behind everyone else. “Thank you for inviting me, Minister Silmarion,” I said. “Did you have specific items you wished to discuss? I have my own list.”

“I thought we’d start with a few questions. First, how long will you be in our city?”

“I imagine until Father recalls me,” I replied. “Is that a problem, Minister?”

“Not at all,” he said. “We were fond of Lord Marlish.”

“I imagine you were,” I said. “Father has been trying to find someone suitable. I’m sorry you’ll have to make do with me until such time.”

“Mr. Gremish is not with you.”

“Mr. Gremish is en route back to Barrish,” I replied. “He will brief Father directly. I do not know if he will be reposted here or assigned elsewhere. In the meantime, I have assumed direct oversight of the embassy. My title is not ‘ambassador’. I am simply an envoy from my father. I expect the king will send an appropriate ambassador as soon as he has chosen one.”

“You are young for such a role, and a woman besides.”

I thought both halves of that were calculated to be insults, but I also wasn’t surprised. “Yes, I am young,” I said. “But that gives me agility in my thinking that may not be present in someone older, and it also means I am able to consider a longer future. Does it bother you to sit across from a woman, Minister Silmarion?”

“I would prefer to negotiate with someone who is unlikely to let her emotions cloud her judgment.

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