The Blood Knight - J. Gregory Keyes [40]
“Then she doesn’t.”
“Of course not,” Alis said. “How could I tell her? She needs to trust me.”
“At this moment,” the shade of Erren murmured, “it is I who must trust you.”
“I might have killed her many times,” Alis said. “Yet I have not.”
“You wait for the daughter, perhaps.”
“No,” Alis said, desperately now. “You do not understand the Veren so well as you think if you suggest that we might harm Anne.”
“Perhaps you wish to control her, though,” Erren said. “Control the true queen.”
“That is nearer the truth, at least as far as the coven was concerned,” Alis admitted. “But I was not of the inner circle. I never fully understood the goals of the Veren, and now I do not care.”
“You say the sisters are all dead. What of the brothers?”
Alis felt her heart trip. “You know of them?”
“Not before now. I guessed. The Order of Saint Cer has its male counterpart. The Veren must as well. But do you understand how dangerous it is if only the males remain? If only their voices are raised in council?”
“No,” Alis said, “I don’t. I wish only to serve Muriele, to bring her to safety, to help her preserve her country.”
“Is this true?”
Alis felt something pinch someplace inside her. It didn’t hurt, but she felt suddenly very faint, and her pulse beat weirdly, as if trying to escape her body.
“I swear to you it is true,” she gasped. “I swear it on the saint we swear by.”
“Name her.”
“Virgenya.”
After a pause, the pressure eased a bit but did not vanish.
“It’s so hard to hang on,” Erren said. “We forget, the dead.”
“You seem to remember quite a lot,” Alis observed, recovering her composure.
“I cling to what I must. I do not remember my parents or being a little girl. I do not recall if I ever loved a man or a woman. I cannot imagine the shape of my living face. But I remember my duty.
“I remember that. And I remember her. Can you protect her? Will you?”
“Yes,” Alis said weakly. “I swear it.”
“And what if the men of the Veren remain and come to you? What then? What if they come to you and ask you to do harm to her or her daughter?”
“I am the queen’s now,” Alis insisted. “Hers, not theirs.”
“I find that difficult to believe.”
“You were coven-trained. If the Church had asked you to kill Muriele, would you have done it?”
Erren’s laughter was soft and without humor. “I was asked,” she said.
The hairs pricked up on Alis’ neck. “Who?” she asked. “Who gave you that order? Hespero?”
“Hespero?” Her voice seemed more distant. “I do not remember that name. Perhaps he is not important. No, I don’t remember who sent the word. But it must have been someone very highly placed, or I would never have considered it.”
“You considered it?” Alis asked, shocked.
“I think that I did.”
“Then there must have been a reason,” Alis said.
“Not reason enough to do it.”
“What is happening, Erren? The world is coming apart. The law of death is broken. Who is my enemy?”
“I died, Alis,” the shade said. “If I had known these things, if I had known what to watch for, do you imagine I would be dead?”
“Oh.”
“Your enemies are her enemies. That is all you need to know. It makes it simple.”
“Simple,” Alis agreed, though she knew it could not be simple.
“You will live,” Erren said. “Everyone thinks you are dead. What will you do?”
“Anne is alive,” Alis said.
“Anne?”
“Muriele’s youngest daughter.”
“Ah, yes. I told her that.”
“She lives, and so does Fail de Liery and many others loyal to the queen. Robert fears that an army will gather behind Anne, and not without reason.”
“An army,” Erren mused. “The daughter leading an army. I wonder how that will work out.”
“I think I can help,” Alis said. “The queen is watched too closely, and she is kept in the Wolfcoat Tower, far from any of the hidden passages. I think her only hope for freedom is if Anne prevails, but that must happen soon, before Hansa and the Church can become involved.”
“How will you help, then? By murdering Robert?”
“I’ve thought of that, of course,” Alis said. “But I’m not certain he can be killed.