Kushiel's Scion - Jacqueline Carey [280]
Quentin LeClerc shook his head. "I couldn't say, your highness. All I know is that she received an urgent dispatch and sent us posthaste." He paused. "We? There are others with you?"
"Friends," I said. "Eamonn mac Grainne of the Dalriada and his wife, and Senator Deccus Fulvius of Tiberium and his wife. I'd like safe passage for all five of us. And there is the matter of my man-at-arms, Gilot, who was slain during the fighting. I promised to bring him home."
"Of course." He nodded. "May we be confident that the Prince of Lucca will honor his word? I thought…" He hesitated again. "Forgive me, highness, but I understood Gaetano Correggio was the Prince of Lucca, or so Lady Denise told me. And it seems to me… as a student of military history, it seems to me that Gallus Tadius is… was…"
"Dead?" I lowered my voice. " 'Tis a long story, messire. Get me out of here, and I'll tell you. But yes, I think he'll honor his word. And anyway, he's right. It's Valpetra we need to worry about." I gazed at the calvalrymen watching us from the smoldering wreck of Lucca's fields, and my last trace of gladness ebbed away. "I don't suppose he'll be in a good mood."
"No." Quentin LeClerc followed my gaze. "I don't imagine so." He squared his shoulders. "Still, he's no cause to blame you, has he?"
"Ah, well." I smiled ruefully. "He might."
I told him about cutting off the Duke's hand, and watched his face turn grave. When I finished, he gave me a resolute bow. "Sensible men understand the vicissitudes of war. I will beg an audience with him and pray I find him reasonable. I will return, your highness."
They rode back across the barren landscape, vivid banners bobbing in the grey air, carrying all my hope with them. I watched them join Valpetra's cavalrymen and head toward the river. I offered a silent prayer to Blessed Elua for their success, then descended back through the gate tower and went to report on the latest doings.
At the Tadeii villa, I found Claudia. Deccus Fulvius hadn't risen yet, nor had Eamonn and Brigitta, though I daresay for different reasons. Claudia listened intently, requesting that I repeat our conversation in its entirety.
"There was no other news?" she asked when I was done. "No promise of aid from other quarters?"
"No." I frowned. "Should there have been?"
She sighed. "Not necessarily."
"The Unseen Guild?"
Although the two of us were alone, her nod was almost imperceptible. "If word has reached the D'Angeline ambassadress' ears, then surely the Guild knows, too. Such news spreads swiftly. There would have been word if they meant to act. They don't."
"I'm sorry." I took her hand. "But what could they have done?"
"Oh, plenty of things." She smiled, but her eyes were red-rimmed and weary. "They could have prevailed on the Duke of Firezia to intervene. He's a vested interest in Lucca's trade and a considerable standing army. Or they could have dispatched an assassin to take out Valpetra, though I suppose it wouldn't be easy under the circumstances." She shrugged. "Perhaps they have. We can hope, I suppose."
"The Guild employs assassins?"
"The Heptarchs do, or at least so it's rumored. Possibly the epopts." Claudia rubbed her eyes. "I told you, Imriel, I'm only a journeyman." She gave me another wry smile. "And a failed one at that."
I held her hand tighter. "I won't leave without you. I swear it."
"Don't be stupid." Her gaze sharpened. "If you have a chance, take it. This is no time for foolish heroics. Speaking of which…" She withdrew a letter from her bodice. "This arrived."
It was another letter from Helena Correggio. I walked away to read it. Although there was nothing in it Claudia couldn't have guessed, the words were naked and vulnerable on the page, and it didn't seem right to expose them to other eyes. Despite my denials, she believed I was the belated answer to her prayers; the Bella Donna's son, sent to rescue her in a time of need. As she had before, she begged me in fulsome terms to call upon her.
If I'd thought it would do any good,