Kushiel's Justice - Jacqueline Carey [63]
"How few?" I asked.
"A hundred, perhaps?" Drustan shook his head. "Not many. You asked about dissension. They are a wild, fey folk, and they come and go like the wind. They speak against this wedding and seek to stir trouble, spreading whispers of dire consequences to follow. For the most part, they've gone unheeded. There was one small uprising among the Tarbh Cró in the north after the betrothal was announced, easily ended. Nothing more.”
"And the tribal feuding?" I asked.
"Oh, well." He grinned unexpectedly, teeth white in his woad-marqued face. "Cattle raids and the like. That's to be expected in Alba.”
"I see," I said.
"You will." Drustan leaned over and clasped my forearm. "Imriel, listen. If I could root out the Maghuin Dhonn and destroy them, I would. But as long as they merely speak dissension without taking up arms, I can do nothing. Every man, woman, and child in Alba has a right to speak their mind, even to the Cruarch. Firdha taught you as much, did she not?" I nodded and he squeezed my arm. "'Tis a frustrating rule, but a just one. My father sought to quell voices of dissent and paid a price for it. I will not make his mistake." Drustan looked thoughtful. "Change comes to Alba. Some hunger for it and some fear it. It cannot be forced, nor can it be suppressed. It must come slowly, with wise care and discussion. But I promise you this," he added, giving me a final squeeze and releasing his grip. "If I believed you would be any less safe in Alba than in Terre d'Ange, I would not ask this of you. And of a surety, I'd not allow Alais to go!”
It was a long speech and an honest one; more honest than he knew, since I was carrying on an illicit affair with Sidonie that made me considerably less safe in Terre d'Ange. I nodded in acknowledgment. "Fair enough, my lord.”
Drustan fixed me with a level gaze. "Do you plan on telling Alais this?”
I returned it without flinching. "I do. She's not a child, you know.”
"You think not?" He smiled fondly. "Wait until you have children of your own. They'll always be little girls in my eyes, my daughters.”
At that I looked away and twisted the gold knot of a ring on my finger. It was an uncomfortable time to be reminded that I'd tied his other little girl's wrists to the bedposts and made her squirm with pleasure and beg me for release. I cleared my throat. "My lord, what is it the Maghuin Dhonn fear from Terre d'Ange? Surely, her majesty has given them no cause to believe we desire aught but a continued alliance through marriage. Terre d'Ange doesn't even maintain a garrison in Alba.”
"Conquest comes in many forms," Drustan said quietly. "I do not like the Maghuin Dhonn, but I understand them. It is my responsibility to do so. The Tiberians came with shields and swords and we fought them off. Terre d'Ange comes with merchants and architects, pleasure-houses, bridegrooms and"— he nodded at his desk—"books. Tell me, Imriel, which do you think is more dangerous?”
To that, I had no answer.
Chapter Thirteen
In the days preceding the wedding, all manner of visitors streamed into the City of Elua. Some came from beyond Terre d'Ange, like the Lady Nicola L'Envers y Aragon and her son Raul, who would be celebrating his own nuptials with Colette Trente. Most were D'Angeline, lords and ladies of the realm I barely knew by name. Phèdre, who had spent rather more time during my youthful years training me in the arts of covertcy and allowing me to pursue the study of philosophy than she had teaching me the protocol of the peerage, sought in haste to rectify her oversight. We spent many long hours poring over the list of peers invited to attend.
The one guest I most longed to see, Eamonn mac Grainne, was nowhere in sight.
There was no word from him, no word at all. It worried me when I had time to think on it. I had visions of him lying slain in Skaldia, bright blood staining the snow. And in the midst of my private heartache and the swirl of courtly chaos, betimes I wished I'd gone with him in pursuit of the ill-tempered Skaldic bride he adored for no