“And against whom.”
.IV.
Royal Palace,
City of Cherayth,
and
Braigyr Head,
Duchy of Rock Coast,
Kingdom of Chisholm,
Empire of Charis;
and
Symyn’s Farm,
Duchy of Thorast,
Kingdom of Dohlar.
Rebkah Rohsail sat in the comfortably furnished chamber, staring out the window at the palace gardens, hands folded in her lap, and tried to understand how it could all have gone so wrong.
It’s as if they knew exactly what we planned the entire time, she thought. They were waiting for us. And that bitch Elahnah—!
White-hot rage fisted her hands in her lap as that familiar thought went through her once again. She knew now why Elahnah Waistyn hadn’t promised her support. She’d been back over their correspondence a thousand times in her mind, and her teeth ground together as she went through it yet again. She’d read what she’d wanted to see into Elahnah’s letters—she knew that now—but she also knew Elahnah had realized exactly what she was reading into them. That without ever quite committing perjury, the Dowager Duchess of Halbrook Hollow had encouraged her plans without actually committing to support them in any way. That would have been bad enough, a great enough sin against God, but the traitorous bitch hadn’t stopped there. She must have been passing Rebkah’s letters directly to White Crag and Stoneheart, as well!
She wanted, desperately, to believe Elahnah’s treachery was what had given the entire conspiracy away, but deep inside she knew it couldn’t have been. The Crown’s response had been too devastating, too complete, and far too well planned to have been based solely on the vague hints and suggestions Rebkah had penned to her. No, they’d been betrayed from within—they had to have been … unless.…
She inhaled deeply. No, it couldn’t have been the false seijins. No matter what they might claim, she knew who they truly served, and God would never have permitted Shan-wei’s minions to cast down His champions this way!
But it didn’t really matter what had begun the chain of disasters leading to this palace chamber and its genteel confinement. What mattered was the chain itself, and the totality of the trap which had closed upon her and her allies.
Virtually all of them were in custody now. The speed and decisiveness with which Sir Ahlber Zhustyn’s agents had pounced was almost as breathtaking as the obviously preplanned military movements which had crushed their motley collection of armsmen in less than two five-days. Every one of the senior guildsmen who’d corresponded with her or with Zhonathyn Clyntahn had been arrested in the space of less than twenty-six hours. Brekyn Ainsail, the man she’d trusted to divert weapons to the cause, had not only been arrested, but he’d personally led Zhustyn’s agents to the weapons caches he’d set up for her. Father Zhordyn was in custody, as well, and so were more than two dozen clerics who’d secretly pledged their loyalty to the Temple and promised to bring their congregations with them.
It was disaster, total and complete. A handful of the conspirators had so far eluded arrest, although she couldn’t imagine how. The most prominent was Rock Coast himself, and she found herself torn between the hope that at least one of them would escape the Crown’s net and a vengeful desire for the man who’d obviously botched the entire plan to share his fellows’ fate.
In the meantime, though—
Someone knocked on her chamber door, and the maid assigned to her—not her own maid from Swayleton—opened it. Voices murmured, and then a captain in the uniform of the House of Ahrmahk bowed to her.
“Excuse me, Milady, but your presence is required,” he said courteously.
She gazed at him for a moment, considering a spiteful refusal to accompany him. To make him drag her through the halls, spitting her defiance the entire way. But then she squared her shoulders defiantly, ran her hands over her braided hair, and stood.
“Of course, Captain,” she said in a voice of ice.
* * *
The council chamber was rather more crowded than usual, with half a dozen Imperial Charisian Guardsmen standing respectfully, silently, but very watchfully against the wall. Rebkah glanced around and her mouth tightened as she realized Duke Lantern Walk, Duke Black Horse, Duke Holy Tree, and Duke Black Bottom were already present. And, unlike her, all of them were in chains.
They stood before the council table, facing Sylvyst Mhardyr, the Baron of Stoneheart, across it. Sir Ahlber Zhustyn sat at the Lord Justice’s right elbow, and Stoneheart’s brown eyes were as hard as his barony’s name.
“What’s the meaning of this?!” Lantern Walk raised his manacled hand. “I’m a peer of the realm—a duke! How dare you treat me like a common felon?!”
“Actually,” Stoneheart said coldly, “it’s easy. You are common felons.”
Lantern Walk’s face turned beet-red, but Holy Tree was obviously terrified, hovering on the brink of collapse, and Rebkah felt a deep, searing contempt for her prospective son-in-law. The least he could do was be a man now that they’d been found out! Still, he hadn’t completely collapsed yet, which was more than she could say for some.
“There’s been a terrible misunderstanding!” Black Horse said. “I realize this looks bad—looks terrible—My Lord! But, surely, when you’ve reviewed all of the evidence, you’ll realize I was coerced. This was … this was all Rock Coast’s idea! His and Lady Swayle’s! I wanted nothing to do with it, but they told me all my neighbors were already committed to their treason! That if I didn’t join them, they’d attack me, force me to support them! The first I heard of it was barely a month ago, and by then their plans were already in motion! It was too late for me to tell anyone or do anything except—”
“Save your breath, Your Grace.” Stoneheart’s cold contempt shut Black Horse’s mouth with a snap. “The Crown knows you were one of the two original instigators of this entire plot. It was at least as much of your making as of Duke Rock Coast’s or Lady Swayle’s. And unlike Lady Swayle, neither you nor Rock Coast were inspired by the depth of your faith, whatever you have told her. We have documentary evidence of your involvement at every step, Your Grace, and this time, you—all of you—will face the penalties laid down for treason.”
Rebkah felt her face pale, Holy Tree swayed, and Black Horse stared at Stoneheart as if he couldn’t believe his ears. Black Bottom only shrugged—the thought of any mortal penalties clearly meant little to a man of his age in his health—but Lantern Walk ony laughed scornfully.