The Wizardwar - Elaine Cunningham [96]
"You can be tested, can't you? If you take a single step against me or mine, I'll come after you with witnesses who have credentials the gods might envy."
He stared at her for a moment. "A sword at your throat, a sword at mine."
Tzigone shrugged. "It'll do for now. Now get out of my sight."
She watched him go, then sprinted off toward the public gardens. There were hidden pathways through the giant trees shading the city, and Tzigone knew them all. Such knowledge, combined with her magical resistance, gave her access to any place she cared to go. Not even the king's palace could hold her out. She quickly made her way to Matteo's room and found it empty. Gritting her teeth, she remembered his recent promotion and set a path for the room once occupied by Cassia, the king's last head counselor.
She slipped into the room. Matteo was in earnest conversation with the ghostly jordain. Both men looked up at her approach-at this point, she was too angry to soften her footsteps.
"Is it true?" she demanded.
Matteo studied her face for a long moment. For some reason, he did not have to ask what she meant. "Yes."
Tzigone took a long, calming breath. "How long have you known?"
"A few days. I learned of it the day after your disappearance. I would have told you before this, had I been free to do so." He stopped and considered his words. "No, that's not quite true. I would have told you regardless, before-"
"Before it was too late," Tzigone finished. Before Queen Beatrix, formerly known as Keturah, was executed for treason.
The jordain nodded.
Andris looked from one to another, his translucent face both puzzled and wary. "Perhaps I should go. I’ll call the guard to take me back to my cell."
"No," Matteo said sharply. "You can stay with me until your trial is over or go wherever you like."
He turned to Tzigone. "Shall I take you to her?"
She nodded and fell into step. They passed through a labyrinth of palace halls and climbed the highest tower, one hemmed about with magical wards and accessed only by a narrow, winding stair. Guards-both human and magical-were stationed in small alcoves cut into the walls, hidden places that appeared suddenly, and, Tzigone suspected, changed places randomly. No one who climbed these stairs knew when they would confront a guardian, or what sort.
The queen was well protected-and Halruaa was well protected from the queen.
Finally they paused before an ironbound door. Matteo gestured to the guards, who unchained the locks.
Tzigone leaned against the doorframe and studied the queen. Beatrix sat in a narrow chair, her hands folded in her lap. Incurious brown eyes, deeply rimmed with kohl and enormous in a small, painted faced, gazed back. There was no recognition in them.
Tzigone waited for her thudding heart to slow to a pace that permitted speech. She glanced at the slit of window. The day had passed swiftly, and sunset colors stained the skies.
"It is nearly night, Your Majesty, and time to prepare for sleep."
When the queen made no protest, Tzigone took a basin and filled it with water from a heated cistern. She found a soft cloth and knelt beside the queen.
Playing the part of a handmaid, she gently removed the cosmetics from the queen's face.
Without the white paint, Beatrix looked smaller, younger, and far more beautiful. She did not, however, resemble the mother Tzigone remembered or the woman she had glimpsed in her vision.
"There must be a magical illusion over her," Tzigone said. "I'm going to dispel it."
Matteo began to warn her, but not soon enough. Tzigone's spell quickly stripped away the cloaking magic.
Her eyes filled with tears. The face before her was not recognizable as Keturah-was barely recognizably human. Skin and flesh had been flayed off, and what remained had been deeply burned by fire and acids. The woman had no ears and not much of a nose. On that horrific face, the elaborate white and silver wig was a mockery, like gems on a corpse.
Without thinking Tzigone reached to remove the wig. The queen seized