Kushiel's Scion - Jacqueline Carey [66]
There, I breathed easier in the fresh, cool air. The royal gardens were filled with a riot of autumn blooms. We strolled along its paths, and I taught Alais the commands with which Celeste had been trained. She learned them quickly, her small, dark face intense with concentration.
"I do love her, Imri," Alais said to me as we sat side by side on a garden bench, Celeste sitting obediently at her feet. The guards waited at a respectful distance. "I truly, truly do. I wish Father were here to see her."
"He's gone back to Alba?" I asked.
She nodded. "They argued a lot this summer. About the succession there."
"Has anything"—I hesitated—"been determined?"
"No." Alais shook her head, bending to pet Celeste. "Why don't you like the Lady Nicola?"
I pulled a face. "Was it that obvious?"
"Yes," she said, reflecting. "She's nice, I think, I like her."
I shrugged. "Mayhap."
"Well, I do." Alais scratched behind Celeste's ears the same way Nicola had. The wolfhound laid her lean jaw on my young cousin's knee, rolling her brown eyes at her new mistress. "Is it because of what happened in Amílcar?"
"No," I said, and sighed. "Oh, Alais! It doesn't matter."
"That's where they sold you, isn't it?" Her voice was low. "The Carthaginians?"
Alais knew the story. She had been there, although I had not known her for my cousin and a Princess of the Blood, when we told it to Thelesis de Mornay, who was the Queen's Poet. Thelesis is gone now. She died of a long wasting illness, not so very long after Phèdre broke Rahab's curse. I was sorry I had not known her better.
"Yes," I said to Alais. "That's where they sold me."
"Celeste would have protected you," Alais said to the pup. "Wouldn't you?"
Celeste beat the hairy whip of her tail in agreement, stirring the dried leaves that littered the paving-stones.
"She would have tried," I said fondly. "Alais, why is the Lady Nicola here?"
"I don't know, not for sure." She stuck out her legs and frowned at her shoes. "I heard Mother say there is a chance her son Serafin might inherit. A long chance, though."
"Inherit?" I felt stupid.
"The throne of Aragon." Alais glanced at me. "The King doesn't have an heir of his own get. But it's a long chance. So I don't know." She knocked the heels of her shoes together, contemplating them. "Mayhap they are courting Sidonie for Serafin. Or mayhap they want me to wed Raul. I don't know."
I felt strange and sick. "Oh, Alais! What do you want?"
She shrugged. "I don't know, Imri. Do you?"
"No." I regarded her bent head, the spring of her black curls. The sight filled me with tenderness. "We'll figure it out together, shall we?"
"All right." Alais frowned in thought. "What about Sidonie?"
"What about her?" I asked.
"Will you help her, too?"
I laughed. "Alais, I don't think Sidonie needs my help, or anyone's, in that regard."
Alais looked at me out of the corner of one eye. "You don't know her very well, do you?"
"No," I said. "I suppose not."
I felt a bit guilty at it; it was true, although I spared a sympathetic thought for the young Dauphine's plight, I had not gotten to know my cousin Sidonie well. Perhaps if I had, she would not have reacted as she did that day last winter, with distrust and horror. But then we returned to the Queen's drawing room, where the adults were laughing and chatting like old friends, and the young people were making quiet conversation. When Alais and I entered with Celeste, Sidonie raked me over once with her cool, measuring gaze, and any feelings of guilt vanished.
Thus I returned to the City, and found myself once more treading warily amidst the coils of intrigue. I had learned more than I reckoned from my Shahrizai kin. They had returned to Kusheth for a time, but the summer's lessons stayed with me. At Court, I bethought myself of Mavros' counsel. I was pleasant and polite to everyone I encountered, but I remained mindful of my own status. Let them think me aloof; it did not matter. As a Prince of the Blood, I held an edge of power over almost every peer of the realm.
To use it would be unwise; but it did not hurt