The Sleeping King (32 page)

Leland went on, “I guarantee the High Matriarch will grasp instantly how extraordinary you are and why you need the extra protection. Besides. She owes me a favor or two.”

Raina frowned.
What sorts of favors?
She sensed hints of political forces at work that he was not admitting to. She could understand his wish for her not to fall into the hands of brigands or slavers. But why not the Mage's Guild or even the governor himself? Surely Leland would garner great favor in the eyes of the governor if he delivered a mage of her talent into Anton's hands.

Only one logical conclusion followed from the fact that he had not handed her over to Anton. Leland was no great fan of the governor and did not wish for the man to have her power at his disposal.

What was this? A hint of rebellion? Was Leland maneuvering her into a position to help with his own political agenda? If so, why then was he shoving her into the White Heart? Was the Heart itself preparing to oppose the Emperor in some way? The thought was staggering. Was the Eternal Empire showing signs of weakness from within?

“You're thinking so hard I can all but hear it, child. What goes on in that pretty little head of yours?”

She glanced up at Leland, startled, then pointedly across the room at his guard. “Nothing that bears repeating aloud, I assure you.”

Leland looked first alarmed and then thunderstruck. “Who are you?” he half-whispered.

She was tempted to leave him hanging, but she sensed he truly did have her best interests at heart. “I am your friend, Sir Leland. You need have no fear of me.”

He let out a snort of rueful laughter. “I think if I knew what was good for me I would be terrified of you.”

Of her? Why? Because she saw too much? She said quietly, “I am my mother's daughter.”

He nodded slowly. “Aye, you are at that. And yet you would forge your own path, free of her influence.” He recited under his breath quietly enough that she didn't think he meant for her to hear it, “The son shall accept the father's fate, but the daughter shall refuse the mother's fate.”

What did he mean by that? She frowned, but then he continued in a normal voice, “Allow me to tell you a little more of the White Heart.”

“Are you so set on forcing that life upon me, then?”

He shrugged. “I merely offer you food for thought.”

She made a silent gesture for him to continue.

“Members of the White Heart sometimes find themselves in a unique position to act as mediators between opposing parties.”

Expecting another lecture, she was startled when he said no more. But then, her own analytical mind took over.
Of course.
They would be trusted by both sides in disputes because the White Heart would try to preserve the lives of everyone, no matter who the aggrieved parties were. The White Heart's goal in any dispute would be a peaceful resolution. To achieve that, they would have to push for a fair settlement for both sides.

Leland commented, “Mind you, only a few within the White Heart have the subtlety to take on this additional role. But you, my dear girl, were born to it.”

It was her turn to snort. He had no idea how true that was. She leaned forward, pitching her voice low for his ears alone. “Tell me this, then. Does the White Heart dare to stand between the Empire and its foes?”

He jerked and went rigid in his seat, then relaxed only by slow and forced degrees. He sounded genuinely horrified when he finally choked out, “The Voice himself would not presume to openly defy the Emperor.”

Openly?
Did that mean the Heart would do so covertly, however? Aloud, she echoed, “The Voice?” The title sounded familiar, but she could not place it. Her studies had not focused overly much on the current Empire.

Regaining his breath a bit, Leland answered, “The Voice is leader of the entire Heart. The Light is the title of he who leads the Royal Order of the Sun, and The Pure leads your order.”

“It is not my order, sir!”

“Not yet,” Leland replied lightly.

A servant interrupted just then to remind the landsgrave of his upcoming council meeting. Leland nodded impatiently and turned back to her. “I dare not leave you alone, even in my own home.”

“Surely I am not in that much danger,” she blurted.

He grinned briefly. “Not at all. I simply consider you that big a flight risk.”

Chagrin flooded her. She had indeed been planning to bolt at the first opportunity. Although, she had to admit, Leland's line of reasoning had her intrigued. Where was he going with all this hyperbole?

She reasoned aloud, “The Heart at large does not openly defy the Emperor. But the White Heart … it holds the deep affection of all the common people in every land, does it not? Out of gratitude for its long and peaceful service to them, it is in a unique position to draw together many traditional enemies to a single cause, is it not?”

Leland sucked his breath in sharply between his teeth. “Enough, girl. Say no more. Do not even think it. The Emperor's hounds are everywhere.”

So.
He begged for her silence not because he disagreed with her, but because he feared the Empire would catch wind of her ideas. She was on the right track to sniff rebellion in the offing. Leaning forward, she studied him intently. “This is the real reason you would force me into this tabard, is it not?”

His answer was hoarse. Heartfelt. “For love of the Lady, do not make me answer that, child.”

*   *   *

Will was not reassured when Captain Krugar dragged him and Rosana to a sprawling, ornate pile of stone that looked exactly as he imagined the Emperor's palace to be. Krugar strode under the giant raised portcullis, and Will glanced up at its huge iron-clad teeth in dismay. It looked as if they walked into the jaws of a mighty beast. Mayhap that was not so far from the truth.

Krugar did not stop, nor turn either of them loose, even when a few troopers saluted him here and there. He strode into the great stone edifice situated in the middle of the broad bailey, through a shockingly extravagent anteroom of some kind, and into a huge hall.

“Sit. Stay.” Krugar shoved the two of them down onto a bench along one of the walls. He flagged down a soldier and ordered tersely, “Watch those two. Do not let them go anywhere.”

Rosana threw Will a chagrined look sidelong. She'd been thinking about making a break for it, too, had she? Smart girl.

She leaned close and whispered, “Say nothing. We both fall under the
Kaer
's protection. The governor would not dare do anything to us without permission from the High Matriarch.”

“Why would she protect us?”

“I am Heart, of course. And you guard me.”

She might be safe, but he was not the least bit confident that some stranger would gainsay the governor for him. His apprehension climbed as important-looking personages began filing to the hall and taking seats at an enormous table in the middle of the room.

He recognized various guild colors, and based upon the gray hair and aged visages of the men and women at the table, he surmised he was looking at the masters and mistresses of the Imperial guilds for the colonies.

People in other colors arrived, too. Rosana murmured identifications of a few of them—the Landsgrave of Delphi, Landsgrave Hyland. Landsgrave Talyn, a nulvari, dark elf. His holding, Talyn, was named after him as he was its first and only holder. His race's life spans were such that Talyn could expect to rule his holding for centuries to come.

A fourth man outfitted as a landsgrave sat down at the table. “Who is that?” Will whispered to Rosana.

“Gregor Beltane,” she replied promptly. “Landsgrave of Lochnar.” A gypsy landsgrave? Will had heard that a few gypsies remained loyal to the Empire, but he'd never seen one in person.

Over the next few minutes, Rosana identified a Heart adept who temporarily ran the Dupree Heart, adding a murmured comment about the Dupree Patriarch dying recently under unexplained circumstances. Apparently, the Heart had its suspicions as to who was behind it given how she threw a dirty look at the governor's empty seat, which was more throne than chair.

Alarmed, Will pondered the ugly ramifications of the governor assassinating a high-ranking Heart member until she pointed out a handsome solinari just coming in. The shining golden skin of the sun elf was hard to miss.

“The yellow elf with pointy ears is the Mage's Guildmaster Aurelius,” she murmured.

Will caught his breath sharply at that. Aurelius was the
guildmaster
? Will's father had sent him to speak to the highest-ranking Mage's Guild member in all of Dupree? He studied the elf closely and was stunned to realize that nearly all the blazons on the guildmaster's chest were identical to the ones he'd seen on his father's chest on that fateful night in Hickory Hollow.

Every chair at the table was filled, but for the grand one at the head of the table, and the people seated in them fidgeted. Until a tall door at the far end of the hall swung open, that was. Then everyone at the table stood and the commoners around the edges of the room knelt. Will followed suit clumsily and slid off the bench to the floor.

A herald loudly announced the arrival of Governor Anton Constantine.

Will peeked up from his kneeling position and was startled to see a richly dressed man wearing green trimmed with gold, balding and approaching middle age, step into the room. His chest was loaded with a gaudy array of blazons, most of which Will did not recognize.

But one of them caught his eye. His father had worn an identical one that night in Hickory Hollow when Ty had donned all his old armor and weapons. It was round, with a turquoise-blue background with an irregular brown shape in the middle. It looked like a map of an island to him.

The man strode down the long hall toward the council table, checking when another man stepped forward without warning and blocked his path.

Will could not hear what the fellow spoke of with the governor, but it looked like a heated exchange. The man was well dressed, mayhap a craftsman or merchant.

“Get out of my way!” Anton snapped.

The man ignored him, continuing to press his point obstinately. His discourse was cut off by the
schwing
of a blade clearing its sheath. Anton whipped out a golden short sword and struck, fast as a snake, running the man through the heart.

The unlucky fellow and his unfinished speech dropped to the floor as shocked silence fell over the room. Anton yanked his blade free, the gold covered with blood. The Heart adept started to lurch out of his seat, but Anton swung the tip of the bloody sword in the fellow's direction.

“Sit.” Anton bit out the order as if the Heart man were no more than a dog to be commanded.

The adept sat.

Anton casually wiped his blade on the dead man's trousers. A large pool of blood was spreading rapidly underneath the man's torso, forcing Anton to step back from the bright red pool. The governor gestured a pair of soldiers over to dispose of the body. “When he resurrects—if he resurrects—fine him five gold.”

“For what offense, my lord?” one of the soldiers asked.

“For bleeding on my floor,” Anton replied dismissively.

Will stared, appalled to the core of his being, as the governor strolled the remainder of the distance to the head of the table. Not one person at the table moved or spoke. Anton had just
killed
a man in front of them all, and they'd
let
him.

As Anton settled upon his throne-like seat, a nulvari woman slid out from behind it and emotionlessly ordered servants to mop up the pool of blood.

“What crime did that man commit?” Will whispered frantically to Rosana.

She shrugged. “He got in the governor's way.”

“By the Lady,” he breathed. “And that was enough to warrant killing a man and fining him so much?”

“Welcome to Governor Anton Constantine,” she muttered back.

The man's death cast a pall over the proceedings as the business meeting commenced. Eventually, however, the subject of a rich vein of recently discovered minerals in the Ice Wall, apparently a great mountain range somewhere far away from Dupree, came up. The parties at the table commenced haggling vigorously over it.

The Forester's Guild claimed the surface lumber, and the Miner's Guild claimed the minable ore. But then the branch of the Forester's Guild that regulated hunters and trappers weighed in and wanted a portion of the forest set aside for them to ply their trade. The Mage's Guild accused the miners of wanting to keep any magical crystals they found for themselves. The Merchant's Guild protested at having to pay for road construction to the region. In response, the landsgraves declared that the merchants should bear the expense unless the landsgraves were cut in for a share of the revenue.

It was at that point Will began to develop a headache. Rosana seemed fascinated by the exchange, but his gaze roamed the hall. He spied an incongruous face across the hall from where he sat—a striking blond girl of nearly an age with him, maybe a few years younger. She looked on the verge of bolting at any moment. He knew the feeling. She glanced over at him, and he nodded at her in commiseration.

“You know her?” Rosana whispered.

“No. But she looks nearly as uncomfortable as me.”

“Relax. I will not let any harm come to you.”

He smiled a little at that. Rosana seemed fiercely protective of those she cared about and he supposed the trait made her a fine Heart healer. His attention was yanked back to the council table as the governor's voice cut sharply across the bickering.

“Enough. Since none of you can agree on anything, I declare that these mines will fall directly under my purview. All of you will surrender to me the usual percentages of your proceeds from the region, plus taxes of course. You shall share the costs of road building equally, and those, too, shall be subject to the usual tolls payable to me. Are there any questions?” The governor sounded well pleased with the proceeding. As he should be, Will supposed. He'd just taken a huge chunk of income for himself.