Kushiel's Chosen - Jacqueline Carey [270]
It was, in fact, a letter from Micheline de Parnasse, the Royal Archivist, who had at last heard a reply from the Prefect of the Cassiline Brotherhood; one Lord Calval, who had inherited the post when Lord Rinforte passed away at the end of a long illness. In accordance with her long-ago promise, she enclosed a list of those Cassiline Brothers who had attended House de la Courcel, the information excised from the ledger in the Royal Archives. "You saw what this is?" I asked Joscelin. He nodded. "You learned as much from Thelesis de Mor-nay's inquiries," he said, shrugging and adding laconically, "I wrote too, you know. Lord Calval never bothered to answer me."
"The Cassiline Brotherhood has not declared the Royal Archivist anathema," I said absently. "You, they have. Joscelin, this list isn't the same as the one Thelesis gathered." "No?" He crouched to peer over my shoulder. "What's different?"
My lord Delaunay used to challenge Alcuin and me to exert our powers of observance and memory, quizzing us at unexpected intervals about the most seemingly innocuous of things. It is a habit that has stuck with me all my life. I daresay I would not have scanned the entire list, had it not been for that. But I did, and I came across a name that made my blood run cold with foreboding, my hand rising of its own volition to cover it.
Your Queen, does she not already have such guards in her service?
"Thelesis' list only had the adoptive names of those taken into Lord Rinforte's household, the names such as the Cassiline Brothers themselves offered to her," I whispered. "This comes direct from the Prefect's archives, and gives their names in full. The ledger in the Royal Archives, the one that was desecrated, must have done the same. Oh, Joscelin! I think I know how they're planning to kill Ysandre." He knew what I was reading. He looked sick. "Let me see.”
I moved my hand to reveal a name: David de Rocaille no Rinforte.
"De Rocaille," Joscelin said aloud, and swallowed. "David de Rocaille."
"You're Siovalese, and a Cassiline," I said softly. "Joscelin, Ysandre's mother Isabel was responsible for the death of Edmée de Rocaille. I ought to know; it's what began Delaunay's feud with her. Did Edmée de Rocaille have a brother who joined the Brethren?"
"I don't know." He pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. "I never followed the genealogies of the Great Houses of Siovale; I knew I was bound for Cassiel's service. And if he was among the Cassilines ... I don't know. He would have left, by the time I began training. Ah, Elua!" He dropped his hands, looking at me with anguish. "That soldier, among the Unforgiven ... he said he saw it, didn't he? A Cassiline Brother, escorting the woman he thought was Persia Shahrizai."
"Svariel of L'Agnace said it," I murmured. "Fortun had it written in his notes."
"Why would he do it?" Joscelin demanded, slightly wild-eyed. "Why now, after so long? Why take revenge on someone for the crimes of her mother? Even if it's true, if he's been attendant on Ysandre, he could have done it at any time! Why now?"
"I don't know." I made my voice gentle. "Melisande blackmailed Percy de Somerville; mayhap he did the same to de Rocaille, or she did. He hid his name a-purpose, to be sure; the timing suits her needs, and the diversion his; the other Cassilines on guard will be distracted. Mayhap he was waiting for the same thing as Prince Benedicte, a true-born D'Angeline heir—and one untainted by L'Envers