Naamah's Blessing - Jacqueline Carey [48]
“Why?” Bao asked succinctly.
“We are not ungrateful,” I added. “But… aye. Why?”
Celestine Shahrizai beckoned impatiently to the hovering servants. “Come, come! Let us have the final course.”
I rubbed my overfull belly. “I am not sure it is necessary, my lady.”
She bent her gimlet gaze on me. “Trust me, child, you will find it worthwhile.”
The white-aproned attendants brought forth silver trays containing goblets and various accoutrements. They poured boiling water into the goblets, frothing the contents with whisks, judiciously adding honey and spices, grating a sprinkling of cinnamon into each cup, and then scraping out the tiny seeds of a long, slender pod I didn’t recognize. One by one, a frothy, foaming goblet was set before each of us.
I tasted mine.
Heaven.
Ah, gods help me! It was heaven in a cup. It sang on my tongue, all at once bitter and sweet. Dark and divine; light and scrumptious and filled with promise. The spices in it warmed my belly, and set Naamah’s gift to stirring within me.
I made an involuntary sound.
“Chocolatl,” Balthasar said. “It’s made from a bean that comes from Terra Nova. It’s good, isn’t it?”
“Gods!” Bao uttered in a reverent whisper. “It’s very good!”
“And very, very costly.” Gamaliel steepled his fingers. “We went to considerable lengths to purchase chocolatl beans from Aragonia.”
“But oh, so worthwhile,” Josephine said in a sultry tone. “We Shahrizai do savor life’s rarest pleasures.”
I lifted my goblet to her. “I cannot disagree on this count. But I fail to see what it has to do with giving Bao and me a house.”
“Nothing, really.” Balthasar smiled. “But it was a good excuse to serve chocolatl, and set the stage for sharing our thoughts.” He dismissed the attendants before continuing. “You’re aware that Prince Thierry hopes to establish a direct line of trade between Terra Nova and Terre d’Ange?”
I took another sip. “Yes, of course.”
“And that his majesty was reluctant to allow him to lead the expedition after Jehanne’s death?” His tone was surprisingly gentle. I nodded. “Well, Thierry held his father to his word. While the King eventually agreed to issue a letter of decree authorizing the mission, he refused to fund it from the royal treasury.”
“That, I didn’t know.”
“It was kept quiet,” Gamaliel said. “Neither wanted the realm to know how acrimonious their dispute had become. Thierry was forced to seek funds for the expedition elsewhere—discreetly, of course.”
“House Shahrizai is one of the major backers of the venture,” Balthasar informed me.
“Along with a few lesser investors to spread the blame around should the venture fail,” his uncle added.
I inhaled the aroma of the chocolatl and took another sip, letting it linger on my tongue. “I trust it was more than a love of chocolatl that motivated you.”
“It might be enough,” Bao commented, his nose deep in his goblet.
Balthasar laughed. “Oh, there’s more! More exotic foods and spices; jade, feathers, gold. If Thierry can succeed in breaking the Aragonian monopoly on trade with the Nahuatl Empire, there’s a world of profit to be made.”
“But House Shahrizai is already wealthy,” I said, thinking out loud. “And I still cannot see what this has to do with giving us a house, which is a gesture quite contrary to acquiring profit.”
He shrugged. “As I said, it’s a modest house. It was used for private entertainment.”
“They’re courting the prince’s favor, Moirin,” Bao said, lifting his head from his goblet and glancing around the table. “That’s why you backed the venture in the first place, isn’t it? And you haven’t forgotten that the prince was more than passing fond of Moirin. You think he’s likely to side