Through Wolf's Eyes (39 page)

"The king has sworn us to silence about what occurred at the meeting," Kestrel said, "but Lady Blysse, you must be prepared."

Firekeeper cocked an eyebrow at him, "For silence?"

"No, to act!" Earl Kestrel calmed himself with
visible effort. "Bright Bay has sent an emissary escorted by a
considerable armed force to our southern border, into the contested
area near the twin towns of Hope and Good Crossing. King Tedric is
resolved to meet with this emissary himself. Since this action will put
him in great danger, the king has submitted to the request of the Great
Houses that he settle the matter of his heir before he departs. From
the way he kept glancing at me as he spoke, Blysse, I believe he means
to choose you!"

Firekeeper flushed, her heart suddenly pounding. She
thought of all she had learned to do, how much more she had learned
that she could not do. And over it all, seductive as the scent of a hot
game trail, was the realization that the power of a queen was all she
needed to make what she could and could not do moot.

"But I cannot . . ." she began.

Earl Kestrel cut her off. "Of course you can. You
must! If the king wishes you to be his heir, you have no choice in the
matter. I shall continue to advise you, as I have ever since I rescued
you from the wilderness. You will not be
alone in
your great responsibilities. Indeed, since you are but fifteen you must
have a regent until you are nineteen. I am likely to be that person,
since I am your guardian . . ."

He was rattling on in this fashion, Firekeeper
ignoring most of his words, when Ox thumped on the door. Valet glided
over and opened it.

"Someone is here with a message," Ox announced loudly. "Says it's not written."

"Let the messenger enter," Earl Kestrel said grandly.

A man in castle livery came through the door, bowed
deeply, and announced: "King Tedric and Queen Elexa request that Lady
Blysse Norwood come to their chambers one hour from now. She may be
escorted as far as the door, but they wish to meet with her in private."

Earl Kestrel was so keyed up that a fascinating
mixture of emotions—delight, annoyance, fear, and finally smug
satisfaction—glided unguarded across his hawk-nosed face. Firekeeper
took advantage of his distraction to reply:

"Tell the king and queen that I will be there."

Any momentary annoyance Earl Kestrel might have felt about his privilege being usurped vanished in his greater elation.

"Wonderful!" he crowed as soon as the messenger had departed and the door was secured.

He was about to say more, but Firekeeper held up a hand.

"I must get cleaned and dressed," she said, her tones haughty. "This is most certainly a formal occasion."

"Yes!" Earl Kestrel slapped his palms together
smartly. "Absolutely. Valet! Ring for hot water. Prepare my best jacket
and trousers. Ox! Find Cousin Jared. Tell him I wish him to be part of
Lady Blysse's escort. He should put on his uniform and order of
knighthood . . ."

Firekeeper escaped while Earl Kestrel was still shouting orders.

"He do," she said to Derian, "everything but sing and spread his tail feathers."

"This," Derian replied, clearly a bit stunned, "is the culmination of all his plans."

"I wonder," Firekeeper said softly, "if it is the coming together of all of mine as well?"

G
RAND DUCHESS ROSENE
summoned her son and daughter to her, along with their spouses. As a
matter of course, Ivon brought Elise and Zorana brought Purcel. The
younger children were kept away lest they inadvertently carry gossip.

When Jet Shield arrived at the door of Rosene's
suite, his demeanor that of one who expects to take part in a family
conference, even the acid-tongued grand duchess could not turn him
away, no matter that her expression showed that she thought he was
there more likely as a spy for his grandfather than out of a desire to
be near Elise at this crucial time.

Elise was glad to have Jet there, no matter how of
late she had doubted the sincerity of his affection. The glitter in her
grandmother's washed-out old eyes frightened her a bit. She imagined
that Grand Duke Gadman wore the same expression and wondered how King
Tedric had survived to such a ripe age while the focus of so much
malicious ambition.

"Tedric refused," Rosene began snappishly, "to read
us the full text of the letters borne to him by the army messenger. He
said they were too long and too filled with repetition."

Her dry sniff was commentary enough on how much she believed
that
! She continued:

"In essence, Bright Bay wishes to meet with someone
in authority to discuss a matter that will be to the benefit of the
mutual peace of our nations."

"I thought," commented scholarly Aksel Trueheart, "that we
were
at peace."

"Only technically," Rosene replied with a glance at her daughter as if to say, "How do you stand him!"

Aunt Zorana, however, seemed very calm, almost unnaturally
so.
From a woman who had been infuriated by the reduction of her hopes for
the throne, she had become so self-contained that some had wondered
aloud if she was indulging heavily in drink or one of the exotic drugs
the New Kelvinese cultivated beneath green glass within steam-heated
greenhouses hidden in the valleys of their mountainous realm.

"Although we do not have a declared state of war,"
Grand Duchess Rosene continued when Zorana remained silent, "our
interests continue to clash. There have been numerous skirmishes over
contested territories, robberies by bandits who may well be Bright Bay
raiders, and blockades of our sea-lanes by their fleet. Now, suddenly,
though war is undeclared, we are being offered a means to peace. What
might that be?"

Elise heard her voice speaking as if it were separate from herself. "A marriage alliance—like Jet and mine."

"That is correct," Rosene agreed with an approving
nod. "That is also the only thing that I can see drawing Tedric out of
the security of his castle. Allister Seagleam is wed and has children
of his own. Doubtless, the alliance would be between one of his
children and one of Tedric's grandnieces or nephews."

Elise wondered if she was imagining the calculating
look in Jet's eyes, as if he was recalling how easily Sapphire's
engagements to various scions of Great Houses were broken when some
more promising liaison became available.

His next words, the first he had spoken since making his greetings to his prospective in-laws, did nothing to reassure her.

"How old are Allister Seagleam's children?"

Aunt Zorana answered, her tone oddly caressing, "His
eldest two are sons—one just your age, dear Jet, the other the same age
as my Purcel. His twin daughters are quite young, younger even than my
Deste."

Elise was quite certain she didn't imagine the
malicious glance Aunt Zorana shot at her brother as if to say: "See, if
you hadn't been so eager to use Elise within our own kingdom,
you would have had the perfect offering for King Tedric."

If Jet felt any disappointment at this news, he
didn't show it. Instead he commented blandly, "My sister Opal would be
just the age for either of these sons. She's three years my junior."

To Elise's surprise—for she hadn't needed a dance
card to see that Aunt Zorana's own children, if a bit young for
betrothal under usual circumstances, meshed quite well with those of
Allister Seagleam—Aunt Zorana only smiled blandly.

"I'm certain that Uncle Tedric will not overlook that point."

At that moment, a sharp rap sounded on the door.
Before any could rise to answer it, the heavy door flew open and Grand
Duke Gadman, followed closely by Lord Redbriar, burst into the room,
shoving his way past protesting guards.

"I don't suppose you've heard," Gadman almost shouted at his sister, "closeted in here with your minions, plotting . . ."

"Heard what?" Rosene replied, her tones more moderated but no less forceful.

"While you have been plotting, Tedric has stolen a
march. He summoned that girl Blysse Norwood to his chambers. They are
to meet in less than an hour!"

Feeling curiously outside all of this, as if her own
prospects and those of her father were unconcerned, Elise noted that
the rivals had been united for this brief moment by an even greater
threat. Only one person's expression was less than shocked—Aunt
Zorana's. She actually looked pleased, though that pleasure was mingled
with a trace of apprehension.

"He can't name that foundling his heir!" Grand Duchess Rosene proclaimed. "We must protest!"

"I've already demanded to see him," Gadman said bitterly. "He refused me."

"Perhaps if both of us . . ." Rosene suggested.

"I can't see how it will hurt to try," Gadman agreed.

The two bent figures stalked forth, their heirs trailing them
like an agitated flock of ducklings. Elise moved more slowly, unable to remove Aunt Zorana's strange expression from her mind.

A
N HOUR WAS BARELY ENOUGH
time for Firekeeper to bathe—a thing made necessary by her usual
morning romp with Blind Seer—and don a gown hastily pressed by Valet.

Escorted by Elation, who soared overhead screeching
loud commentary, Derian dashed out to find Holly Gardener. The old
woman asked no questions as she provided flowers for Firekeeper's hair
and girdle, but something in her ancient eyes told Derian that rumors
had already reached the gardens.

"Wish her luck," Holly said as she pressed the cut flowers into his hand.

"I will," he promised. "Whatever luck is."

There was a brief argument when Earl Kestrel,
resplendently garbed in frock coat, waistcoat, and knee-breeches of the
Kestrel red and blue, learned that Firekeeper planned to bring Blind
Seer with her.

"He comes," she insisted. "The king know of him and give him freedom of the castle."

Earl Kestrel relented, muttering, "If the king wishes
the wolf kept without the door, doubtless he will have left orders to
that effect. Ancestors preserve me, but by now everyone in the castle
must know that she won't leave the beast behind!"

Derian resisted adding,
Just as everyone knows that the real issue here is whether or not you can dominate Firekeeper!

When they set off for the king's private chambers,
the party encountered an unexpected obstacle. A milling throng of the
king's relatives blocked the corridor—less intentionally than by their
mere presence. Their mood was ugly. Clearly, the king had refused to
meet with them.

Upon seeing Earl Kestrel, Grand Duke Gadman snarled,
"There is no way we will allow this foundling to be named heir! No
matter what you say, there is no proof that you didn't just pick this
girl up in some gutter, stuff her in a gown, and teach her the basic
rudiments of table manners!"

Firekeeper said nothing in response, studying the
grand duke as if he were merely some curious species of beetle who had
crossed her path. Not all of her companions were so silent.

"Our word is not proof enough?" Sir Jared asked with
dangerous dryness; his Order of the White Eagle gleamed on the breast
of his Army dress uniform.

Even in his self-righteous fury, Grand Duke Gadman was reminded that Jared Surcliffe's honesty was not open to question.

"I suppose . . ." he hedged, fumbling for an apology
that would not admit that he was ever really in the wrong. "You must
agree that the girl, the circumstances . . . most unusual . . ."

"I do agree to that." Sir Jared filled the gap
followed by this weak attempt. "Certainly we can open this matter of
Lady Blysse's finding to question when you find another gutter brat who
lists among her peculiar assets being attended by a wolf. Now, will you
let us through?"

This reminder of Blind Seer's presence parted the crowd. They filtered past in a thin stream as the Kestrel party moved forward.

Derian reflected that it was a measure of the
gathered nobles' anxiety that they had overlooked the wolf at all, for
Blind Seer had grown no smaller, nor had the fangs he showed in a
deliberately sarcastic yawn grown any less sharp.