The Born Queen - J. Gregory Keyes [57]
“Such a large delegation,” she said when the immediate formalities were done. “It’s good to know our cousin Charles takes our troubles seriously.”
“She goes right for it, doesn’t she?” Cape Chavel said.
“I haven’t spoken to you,” Anne snapped. “I’m speaking to the baron.”
“Majesty,” the baron said, “I understand how this looks, but it wasn’t meant as an insult.”
“Well, I can’t imagine what an intended insult must be like, then. But that’s not really the point, Baron. The point is that Virgenya and her monarch are subject to the will of their empress. I requested knights and men in arms, not a delegation, and so I can only imagine you’ve been sent to tell me that Virgenya is in open revolution.”
“That we are not, Majesty,” the baron replied.
“Then you’ve brought the men with you?”
“They will come, madame,” he said.
“I rather need them now, not after the ravens are picking our bones.”
“It is a long march from Virgenya,” Baron Ifwitch said. “And there was difficulty in the levy. Monsters have been swarming out of the Mountains of the Hare, terrorizing the countryside. And since your actions against the Church—”
“What of the Church’s actions toward me? Or the good people of Virgenya?”
“Loyalty to z’Irbina has lately become a fashion in Virgenya, Majesty, especially among the nobility. No one actually refused to send men, but they have found ways to…delay.”
“You’re saying that the trouble isn’t that my dear cousin is insubordinate but that he cannot command his own nobles?”
“There is some truth in that, yes.”
“I see.”
“I’m not sure you do, Majesty. The political situation in Virgenya is very complicated at the moment.”
“Too complicated for me to sort out, you mean?”
“Nothing of the kind, Majesty. I will be happy to explain it to you.”
Anne sat back in her chair. “You will, but not now. Do you have any other bad news for me?”
“No, madame.”
“Very well. Have a rest. I would be pleased if you would meet me at my table tonight.”
“We would be honored, Majesty.”
“Good.”
The two older men turned to go, but the younger stood his ground.
“What?” she asked.
“Is that leave to speak, Majesty?”
Despite herself, she smiled a bit. “I suppose it is. Go ahead.”
“You asked if we had more bad news. I do not. But I hope you will think I have brought a little good news.”
“Delightful if true,” Anne said. “Please say on.”
Ifwitch took a step toward the earl. “Tam, you shouldn’t—”
“Really, Ifwitch, I would like to hear this rumored good news.”
He bowed and didn’t say anything else.
“It’s true, some nobles don’t know where their duties lie. I am not one of them. Majesty, I’ve brought my bodyguard with me, five hundred and fifty of the best horsemen you will ever see. They—and I—are yours.”
“King Charles has released you to me?” She asked.
None of them spoke, although Ifwitch reddened.
“I see,” she replied. “He hasn’t.”
“Charles needs the nobles he trusts in Virgenya,” the earl said. “It’s really that simple. He knows I would never ride against him. But as I am loyal to him, so I am to the empress he serves, so I have come directly to petition you.”
“I didn’t think I would hear much pleasing today,” Anne said. “I was wrong. I accept your loyalty.”
She shot her gaze back at the other two men. “It is a thing in short supply these days.”
CHAPTER TWO
ALONG THE DEEP RIVER
WITCHLIGHTS LED the way as Stephen, Zemlé, Adhrekh, and twenty Aitivar descended into the roots of the mountain. The ethereal globes of iridescence flitted about, casting the otherwise bleak gray walls in shades of gold, silver, ruby, emerald, and sapphire. Stephen had never seen witchlights before entering the Witchhorn, but Aspar had spoken of them as a fixture of Sefry rewns.
Oddly enough, the Aitivar didn’t seem to know anything about them other than what anyone could observe. Were they