Queen Madin took an armchair near the fire. Geraden and Terisa seated themselves on a couch between the Queen and her daughter. Promptly, the servant brought around goblets of wine on a tray, then set the wine down near Torrent and withdrew.
“You are tired from your journey,” Queen Madin said after she had tasted her wine. “We will bathe and feed you shortly. You will be given all the rest you can allow yourselves. But you must understand that we are hungry for news. In Vale House, we do not hear even rumors from Romish, not to mention truth from Orison. How are Elega and Myste?” Just for an instant, her throat closed. “How is the King?”
Now Geraden hesitated; the change Queen Madin had observed seemed to desert him momentarily. Which made perfect sense to Terisa. Her heart was suddenly thick, and she felt an ache gathering around her. It was possible that the Queen and Torrent would take the news of King Joyse gladly: possible, but very unlikely.
“This is difficult,” Geraden murmured awkwardly. “I can’t really tell you anything without telling you everything – and I don’t know where to start. I can’t think of any way to say this that won’t be hurtful.”
Torrent studied her hands, but Terisa could see that she was breathing deeply to steady herself. Queen Madin, on the other hand, faced Geraden’s uncertainty without blinking.
“Tell us the truth,” she said bluntly. “Speculation will be more hurtful to us than any news.”
Still Geraden faltered.
Grimly, because the only thing worse than knowledge was ignorance, Terisa said, “The King knows what he’s doing. He’s doing it on purpose.”
Torrent didn’t raise her eyes; she seemed to freeze in her seat.
“ ‘On purpose,’ ” Queen Madin echoed slowly. “My lady, you must explain that observation.”
“Unfortunately, it’s true,” Geraden rushed in. “Terisa knows more about King Joyse’s reasons and intentions than anybody else. She’s had several talks with him – he answered questions for her. He’s gone out of his way to give her explanations. I think it’s because of the way she came to Orison. An impossible translation – or we all thought it was impossible until I realized I can do it anytime I want. She was so obviously important. She’s involved in the Congery’s augury. We didn’t know what her talent is, but it was obvious she had to have some kind of unprecedented power.”
Abruptly, he made himself stop. Speaking distinctly, he said, “The last we heard, Elega is fine. We don’t know about Myste.”
“It’s a trap, my lady Queen,” Terisa tried to explain. “He’s setting a trap for his enemies, for Mordant’s enemies. They were too powerful – and he didn’t know who they were. And he was afraid that they would keep getting stronger – that they might swallow Alend or Cadwal or both – and leave him alone while they got stronger and stronger, until they were too strong for him, too strong for anyone. He was afraid that if he didn’t find out who his enemies were and stop them he would lose everything.”
“That was true,” the Queen put in crisply. “Any fool could see it.”
“So,” Terisa went on with an inward groan, “he made himself weak.”
Queen Madin stared at her. “I do not believe you. What nonsense! What good is weakness? How is it used against Imagers and armies?”
She might have said more, but Geraden intervened. The unexpected authority in the way he raised his hand stopped her. “Listen to us, my lady Queen,” he breathed gently. “Please listen.”
“I’m sorry,” Terisa murmured. “It’s the truth. It’s all we have.
“He paralyzed his own strength. He made it impossible for the Congery to do anything effectively. He undercut the Castellan. He abandoned the Perdon without reinforcements. He insulted Prince Kragen – the Fayle probably told you that. He made himself look like a fool. He” – her voice caught briefly – “he did his best to drive his family away.” She thought she ought to mention the Tor’s son, but she didn’t have the heart for it. “He practically punished people like Geraden for being loyal.”
Queen Madin sat without moving a muscle, listened without any reaction except a slow reddening of her cheeks. Torrent was breathing so hard she was almost panting.
“My lady Queen, he made himself a target. So that his enemies would attack him, instead of chewing Alend and Cadwal and Mordant up slowly until they were too strong to be beaten. It was all a ruse, a trick to make his enemies try to destroy him before they became strong enough to be safe.”
The Domne had put his finger on it. King Joyse wanted to save the world. He hurt all the people he loved best because saving the world was more important to him than anything else.
That was a terrible burden for him to bear.
On the other hand, it wasn’t exactly easy for the people he loved.
Without warning – and almost without transition, as if she had been secretly standing all along – Queen Madin swept to her feet. “Why?” she demanded in a voice that made Terisa want to hide under the couch. “If this is true, why did he not tell me?” She didn’t shout, but her tone had the impact of a yell. “Did he not trust me? Did he believe that I would not understand? – that I would not approve?“
Geraden stood to face her. “My lady Queen,” he asked softly, intently, “what would you have done if he told you?”
“I would not have come here.” The Queen might as well have been shouting. “I would have stood by him, instead of allowing all the world to think that I have lost my love for him and his ideals and the realm.”
Geraden gave Terisa a look full of pain and sorrow, a look that brought her to her feet at his side, but he didn’t back down. “That’s the problem, my lady Queen. You would have stood by him. And as long as you were there, no one would believe he was collapsing. Not really. Or if they did believe it, they would know you were there to make decisions for him, Queen Madin, daughter of the Fayle, the most formidable woman in Orison. His trap would have failed. No one would fall into it.
“And if he had asked you to leave?” Geraden went on. “If he had explained his trap and asked you to cooperate by abandoning him? Could you have borne it? Could you have sat on your hands here for – what is it, two years now? – while he risked his life and everything you both believe in?”
He was right: this was hurtful with a vengeance. Nevertheless Terisa was certain these things had to be said. She was just grateful that she wasn’t the one saying them.
And Queen Madin was hurt: that was unmistakable. She had been dealt a blow which shook her to the bone.
“My lady Queen,” Geraden concluded in a voice thick with regret, “if this policy is to succeed – if there’s any chance to save Mordant – what else could he have done?”
“Oh, Father.” Torrent was so distressed that she watched Geraden’s face openly, without shyness, without self-consciousness. “What have I done? I should have stayed with you. Like Myste and Elega. “
“No, Torrent.” Queen Madin tried to speak as if she had no tears spilling down her cheeks, no grief in her chest. “We would have broken his heart. It was a hard thing for him to drive us away. It would have been terrible to try to drive us away and fail – and so lose the chance to save his kingdom.”
“But he’s caused all this pain” – sitting, Torrent looked small and helpless, too little to understand or be consoled – “and we left him to endure it alone. I left him. He has no wish to cause pain. His heart is broken already, or he wouldn’t have done something so desperate—”
Despite her own hurt, the Queen gave her daughter a comforting response. “Hush, child. Do not be in a hurry to call him desperate. Your father has always been given to risks. We must not believe the worst until it is proven.”
Then she wiped her eyes and faced Geraden and Terisa squarely. “Now,” she said in a tone of barely concealed ferocity, “you must tell us what the outcome of the King’s weakness has been.”