Shadow War - Deborah Chester [99]
The woman’s eyes darted this way and that, but there was no escape for her. “P-Pelton, of Fountain Street. He does very fine work. He always pleases the—”
“He does not please me. How much did he bribe you to bring this to me?”
The woman gasped, but Elandra held her pinned with a stony gaze.
“No more than the others—” The woman broke off what she was saying and began to cry.”
“Get out,” Elandra said, and turned her back.
Guards took the woman away. Elandra refused to look at her or listen to her pleas for mercy. She stood, opening the other jewel cases and picking through the offerings. Everything was new. She realized they were all from jewelers like Pelton, eager to establish custom with her by making these gifts.
Elandra knew that any or all of them could have pitfalls such as the one she’d just avoided. How was she to know whether these designs were submitted in honor to please her or to trick her or to insult her? The wisest course was to avoid all of them, yet she could not go forth without jewelry. Although she preferred simple adornment, she must not look like anything less than an empress today. She was still on trial. There were still innumerable mistakes she could make.
“Is this all?” she asked finally.
One of the assistants crept forward, eyes down, standing hunched as though in a permanent half-bow. “Yes, Majesty.”
“But all of this is new.”
“All the jewelers in the city have sent their wares for your selection.”
“I don’t want these,” Elandra said.
Everyone gaped at her, but her mind was already shooting over the possibilities. There was only one way to be safe.
“Bring me Fauvina’s jewels,” she said.
Someone gasped; she could not tell who it was. Consternation broke out.
The Mistress of the Bedchamber approached Elandra worriedly. “Majesty, there is not time to send to the vaults for them, even if they could be found.”
Elandra’s head came up. She glared. “There is time, if you do not dally making objections.”
The woman curtsied. “Majesty, forgive me. I do not object. But what if they cannot be found?”
“Why shouldn’t they be found?” Elandra retorted. “The jewels of the first empress? Are they not honored? Are they not revered? Are they not kept in a special place by the order of the emperor, as all of Fauvina’s things have been preserved? Have them brought at once.”
“Yes, Majesty. But the emperor must give permission—”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I—I—”
“Do as I command,” Elandra said, looking the woman in the eye. The mistress curtsied again, giving way, and turned to snap her fingers.
A half-hour ground slowly by before hastening footsteps could be heard outside. Everyone looked up, but it was only a messenger who came to inform the empress that her presence was awaited.
Elandra met everyone’s anxious eyes, and her stubbornness kicked in. When she wanted, she could be as obstinate as her father, who had once stood alone and undaunted against an entire war council’s wishes to attempt a peace treaty. Albain had refused to cooperate, had refused to withdraw his troops, and had single-handedly driven back the invaders without the support of the allied forces. It was this action that had earned him his reputation of loyalty and valor and brought him to the attention of a grateful emperor.
“Majesty,” the Mistress of the Bedchamber said, “your presence is required.”
Elandra’s chin lifted higher. She sat regally in her chair, unable to do much else in her formidable gown. “The empress is not yet ready.”
The messenger left, and everyone sighed. Elandra sat there, refusing to budge no matter how nervous they got, and waited.
Finally they heard footsteps again outside the door. This time it was a chancellor who came to inquire how much longer the empress might be.
Murmurs at the door; nervous explanations. The mistress glanced over her shoulder at Elandra and murmured further.
Then she came to Elandra’s side and curtsied. “Majesty, the chancellor would like to know—”
“Tell him the empress is not yet ready.”
“But, Majesty, any of these pieces