Naamah's Kiss - Jacqueline Carey [80]
Relieved, I curtsied again. "Thank you, your majesty. The honor is mine."
"But not the pleasure?" the Queen inquired. Her lovely face was perfectly composed, but there was a note of subtle malice in her voice.
"Jehanne," her husband murmured.
She glanced sidelong at him. Whatever was between them, it was deeper and more complicated than it appeared on the surface. "She seeks to learn the ways of the Court. Shall we not do her the courtesy of hearing her reply?" Without waiting for his answer, she looked back at me with those sparkling eyes. "Well?"
"Pleasure," I echoed. "As to that, it is yet to be determined, your majesty."
Her laughter rang out again. "Well said!" The fluttering fan gestured.
"Go forth and see if you might manage to enjoy yourself." She inclined her head at Raphael, the edge returning to her voice. "I trust that's your purview, my lord."
He smiled at her, showing his teeth. "I'll do my best."
I was grateful to be dismissed. Raphael steered me to an unoccupied corner of the hall near a balcony window.
"You acquitted yourself very well," he said in a low voice. "Wait here. I'll fetch you a glass of wine."
I leaned against the archway onto the balcony. Across the hall, I could see the Queen leaning forward to greet the next set of guests. She had been an adept in the Service of Naamah. Even if the good ladies hadn't told me, I would have known it. Naamah's gift lay over her like a glittering cloak. "Was it everything you'd hoped?"
Raphael followed my gaze. "Yes."
I closed my eyes. "Good."
A few moments passed, not a long time. I let the cool wind from the balcony play over my skin. It felt good.
"My lady… Moirin?" an unfamiliar voice said.
I opened my eyes. A young man near my own age stood before me. He had dark, waving hair caught back in a ribbon and deep blue eyes. Aye?
He grinned. "You look like you'd rather be well away from this crush. I'm told you're distant kin. Would you care to see the Hall of Portraits? Meet your ancestors, as it were?"
I looked for Raphael and spotted him some distance away. He had two goblets in his hands, but he'd been waylaid by Denis de Toluard and a couple other men, and was deep in animated conversation, gesticulating and spilling wine. "Is that permitted?"
"It is if I say so." The young man's grin spread. "I'm Thierry. Thierry de la Courcel. And anyone who discomfits Jehanne, I'd like to know better."
The good ladies' gossip came back to me. King Daniel had a son and heir born of his first marriage. "You're the Dauphin."
Thierry bowed. "Guilty as charged."
I smiled at him. "I'd love to."
We slipped out of the great hall, followed only by the gazes of a hundred pairs of watching eyes, none of which were Raphael's. Thierry escorted me up a flight of marble stairs and down a corridor. A lone guard attended the door to the Hall of Portraits. He bowed and admitted us without question. Slanting golden light illuminated the portraits that hung the length of the hall.
"Here." Thierry led me to the far end. He pointed. "That's my father as a young man. And there, my mother."
"She has a kind face," I offered.
"She was a kind woman." He touched the frame with lingering gentleness, then moved onward. "My grandmother, Josephine." A striking, sorrow-stricken face. He pointed out portraits of two men alongside her. "This was my grandfather, Gautier. And my great-uncle, Jean-Philippe. The ones who vanished along with their entire fleet and crew."
"Vanished?" I repeated.
He nodded. "Seeking the Master of the Straits' secrets. You know the story of how he hid the pages of the Book of Raziel?"
"I do." It was said the missing pages held the secrets to controlling the very elements themselves.
Thierry sighed. "They say he hid his secrets too well, or at least his accomplices did. Pity. I suspect my father's fear of change and exploration comes from the effects of that ill-fated expedition. Mayhap the Book of Raziel was meant to stay hidden, but it doesn't mean