Kushiel's Justice - Jacqueline Carey [64]
A clean death in the snows of Skaldia might have been preferable to this.
Instead of Eamonn, the spring heralded the return of some of the last people on earth I wanted to see. There was Bernadette de Trevalion, of course, and my erstwhile friend Bertran. That, at least, I had expected. I'd made my choice and I was reconciled to living with it.
The other one was worse: Maslin of Lombelon, back from his period of disgrace among the Unforgiven of Camlach.
Oh, I hated him!
I hated him because I'd admired him, once. He was the bastard son of Duc Isidore d'Aiglemort, traitor and hero, gotten on the daughter of the Master Gardener of Lombelon, a tiny estate with a peculiar history. It had been my mother's, once. She had deeded it to d'Aiglemort, no doubt in thanks for conspiring there with her. And d'Aiglemort had died ere he could acknowledge his son, slain on the fields of Troyes-le-Mont, avenging my mother's betrayal of him. Lombelon fell into the Queen's purview, and she deeded it to my father as a gift on his wedding day, when he wed my traitorous mother with all the world unwitting. And then he died as a result of her treachery.
Thus, it fell to me.
I'd met Maslin there. I'd seen his love for the place, his fierce pride. I'd thought I had a chance to right a wrong, to make a friend, and so I did. I did the thing I thought right and best, and I deeded Lombelon to him.
Phèdre had warned me he might resent me for it, but I did it anyway. And I understood, with sorrow, when her words proved true. Maslin left Lombelon to enlist in the Queen's Guard. We spoke of it once. He told me with bitterness that I'd made it small in his eyes. It hurt, but I understood. If it was only that…
It wasn't, though.
Sidonie liked him.
I saw her brighten at his return. There were rumors; there were always rumors. I knew the truth of them. She hadn't taken him as a lover, though she'd considered it. Was still considering it, or would after I left. She didn't say it, but I knew. And it was true that she'd promised to appoint him as the Captain of her Guard within a few years of reaching her majority, provided he acquitted himself well after being restored to his lieutenancy.
Maslin loved her.
I knew it, knew it. I'd seen it in his face the day of the boar hunt, and I saw on his return nothing had changed. He watched Sidonie with what passed for dedicated attentiveness, but there was more in it. A tender surety, a possessiveness. I knew, I saw it.
To her credit, Sidonie did naught to encourage it, beyond making it clear that she was pleased to see him. I daresay she'd no more heart for the Game of Courtship in those days than I did, and although I was forced to play it with my bride, Sidonie wasn't one to do the same out of spite. She knew too well what I was feeling. Still, in a few months, I would be gone and Maslin would be there, a handy balm to soothe an aching heart.
The knowledge grated on me, and I half wished he'd do somewhat to offend me. I would have welcomed a chance to challenge him. Whether or not I could have defeated him, I couldn't say for sure, but I would have been glad to try. But no; Maslin had learned a measure of discipline from his time in Camlach. He was polite and contained, and even made a gracious apology to Raul.
Preparations progressed apace and still no Eamonn.
No time to see Sidonie alone, even for a moment.
On the eve of my wedding, my Shahrizai kindred threw a bridegroom's fête. It was a gorgeous affair hosted by Duc Faragon himself, although Mavros and Roshana had planned it. Suffice to say it was splendid and opulent, and a centerpiece of the festivities was a Kusheline game played with blindfolds. As the musicians began to play a merry tune, the Shahrizai mingled among their laughing, blindfolded guests, directing them to exchange partners and dance until they guessed their identities, forfeiting a kiss for each wrong guess. I was tying my blindfold in place when I felt a hand on my elbow, steering me