Naamah's Blessing - Jacqueline Carey [238]
I leaned over to kiss him. “And you look… messy. Come, time to prepare. We’re escorting Desirée; you don’t want to be late.”
“They’ll wait for us. We’re heroes of the realm, Moirin.” He yawned, then grinned. “Not bad for a peasant-boy and a girl who grew up in a cave, huh?”
“No.” I kissed him again, then sat back on my heels. “Not bad at all, my magpie. Are you feeling better today?”
“Much better.” Bao met my gaze, his expression softening. “Thank you.”
Rising, I yanked the linens off him. “You’re welcome. And you can thank me by not making us late.”
Within an hour’s time, we presented ourselves at Court, where the mood was glad but harried. Having passed the night in vigil, Thierry was already at the Temple of Elua where the coronation was to take place, but an ill-considered breakfast of honey-drizzled oatcakes had resulted in a sticky smear on Desirée’s gown and delayed her departure. She stood wide-eyed and fearful, clad in a thin silk shift, while Sister Gemma scrubbed at the stain.
“I didn’t mean to, Moirin!” Desirée said anxiously. “I’m sorry, I was trying to be careful. Have I ruined everything?”
“No, of course not.” I glanced at Sister Gemma, now blowing assiduously on the damp spot. The priestess gave me a quick shake of her head, assuring me it wasn’t she who had fed the child’s fears. That was a legacy courtesy of Claudine de Barthelme and Jehanne’s despised mother. “A hot iron will dry it in a trice.”
“Of course it will,” Sister Gemma murmured half to herself. “A hot iron. Forgive me, my lady, I wasn’t thinking.”
“It’s a big day,” Bao said cheerfully, perching on a child-sized chair beside Desirée’s miniature desk. “Come, young highness, and give me a lesson to refresh my memory. I fear I’ve forgotten my D’Angeline letters. Don’t worry,” he added to Desirée in a confidential tone. “They’ll wait for us. We’re heroes of the realm, you know.”
A quicksilver smile graced her exquisite face, a hint of mischief in it evoking a memory of her mother. “I know!”
I watched them with their heads bent together over a slate, Bao’s half-tamed shock of black hair contrasting with Desirée’s white-gold curls as she solemnly traced the letters of the alphabet and repeated them to him, the fellow student turned teacher.
“A pretty picture,” Sister Gemma said quietly, applying a warm iron to the damp stain on the child’s white satin gown.
I smiled. “Aye.”
“Have you—?”
I shook my head. “No. But soon. In Alba, I hope.”
She plied her iron. “That seems fitting.”
In short order, the gown was rendered suitable for wearing. Desirée suffered herself to be dressed with a dignified patience that was new to her, and a coronet of white rose-buds was woven into her hair.
There was an escort of royal guardsmen awaiting us under the command of Brice de Bretel. I had always liked the steady-natured young L’Agnacite lord, who had been a loyal and reliable companion on our journey. I was pleased by his appointment, and pleased to see the unassuming deference with which he treated the little Dauphine.
Jehanne would have been pleased, too, I thought.
We rode through the streets of the City of Elua in a royal carriage, surrounded by a score of outriders, Brice de Bretel and his men clad in the livery of House Courcel. Folks lined the streets, watching the spectacle.
There was a hunger in their gazes; and a sense of waiting, too.
I understood it.
Stone and sea! So much sorrow had plagued House Courcel in recent generations. It was time and more for a measure of joy.
And we received it that day in the Temple of Elua. Only a formality, Balthasar had called the coronation. In a sense, it was true. Thierry de la Courcel was the rightful heir. From the moment he had sat in the throne and claimed it for his own, he had been the undisputed ruler of the realm. But this was Terre d’Ange, and formalities mattered.
It had been Thierry’s choice to hold the coronation in the Temple rather than the Palace, to give thanks to Blessed Elua