Reaching the door he sought, he rapped hard on the oak and pushed the door open in response to the summons from within.
He was careful to close the door before saying anything. But once it was shut, he whirled toward the figure standing by the open window, leveling a rigid finger at him.
“You’re a fool!”
Henthas grinned, though his eyes blazed angrily. “No, Archminister. I’m a Jackal, remember. I believe you’ve just come from the Fool.”
“This is no joke!”
“ ‘This is no joke, my lord.’ Isn’t that what you mean?”
“You told him he had enemies in the castle?” Pronjed said, ignoring comment. “You told him that he was destined to fail?”
Henthas eyed him keenly. “How do you know what I said to him?”
“I have my sources. I’ve lived in this castle, and among these people, far longer than you have.”
“You had someone listening to our conversation?”
“Why would you tell him these things? Are you so childish that you just have to gloat, or is it more than that?” He took a step toward the man. “Are you planning to betray me to him? Is that it? Are you playing both sides of this?”
He knew, of course, that Henthas was doing just that, but he needed to give the duke an opportunity to deny it. Which the man did, quite convincingly.
“Calm yourself, Archminister. I’m not planning to betray you, and I’ve done far less damage than you seem to think. Numar has never trusted you-you’ve been Chofya’s ally from the very beginning, at least that’s how it seemed to Numar, and to Grigor as well. He’s thought of you as his enemy for so long that I’d imagine he’s looking elsewhere trying to decide who I meant. All I’ve done is confuse him.”
Pronjed exhaled through his teeth and straightened. The duke was probably right, though that did little to ease the minister’s frustration with the man. He shouldn’t have spoken to the regent of enemies, nor should he have been encouraging the man to kill the girl-queen. Of course he could say nothing about that part of their discussion, not without making Henthas even more curious about the sources of his information.
Apparently the duke’s thoughts had wandered in a similar direction.
“What else do you know about what Numar and I said to one another?”
“Very little. Perhaps you’d care to tell me more.”
He shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
“You still think he means to do harm to the queen?”
“I believe it’s possible. Numar wants to be king, and the girl stands in his path.”
“You want to be king, too.”
His face colored. “Yes, I do. But I know that the dukes will never allow such a thing. They’d overthrow the Supremacy before they accepted me as their ruler. That’s why Numar is so dangerous for the girl. They’d believe him innocent of any crime against her. I doubt Chofya will ever believe this, but I’m far more suited to be regent than my brother.”
“Because your reputation is so poor that you could never get away with murdering the child.”
“Precisely.”
Pronjed gave a thin smile. “Such reasoning hardly flatters you, my lord.”
“No,” the man said, “I don’t suppose it does. But you can’t deny that it makes sense.”
It was hard to know just what Henthas had in mind to accomplish with all his machinations. The minister could have used magic to divine his thoughts, just as he had with Numar, but he thought it safer to employ such tactics against only one of them. And though the regent had made the mistake of taking his brother too lightly, Pronjed still considered Numar the more intelligent of the two brothers, and therefore the more dangerous. Thus he had to content himself with gleaning what he could of Henthas’s intentions from his conversations with the man, and from his probing of Numar’s mind.
It seemed that the duke hoped to raise Pronjed’s fears of Numar, claiming that he did so out of concern for the queen, and as a secret ally of Chofya. At the same time, he plotted with the regent, urging him to kill the girl. No doubt he hoped that any attempt on Kalyi’s life would confirm all he had said to Pronjed of Numar’s dark ambitions. If the girl survived, Numar’s disgrace would hand him the regency. If she died, Numar would be executed, and he would claim the throne.
The role he envisioned for Pronjed in all of this was even less apparent. Clearly he needed to have someone else calling Numar a murderer, since no one would trust him to tell the truth. But more than that, he had probably guessed that Numar would attempt to blame him for Kalyi’s death. He needed Pronjed to protect him from his brother.
“So,” Henthas began after a long silence, “do you intend to speak to Chofya of this?”
“She should probably know that the queen’s life is in danger,” Pronjed said. “But if you’d prefer to tell her yourself, I’ll keep silent.”
The duke shook his head. “That won’t be necessary. I. . I don’t think she’d believe any of this coming from me. And then the danger to Kalyi would remain. You should tell her.”
“What if I don’t believe you?”
Henthas frowned. “Why wouldn’t you?”
“Any number of reasons. Your reputation, all that you have to gain from destroying your brother, all that you could gain from killing the queen yourself and making it seem that the regent was responsible. You came to me some time ago, indicating that you would help me keep the girl alive, and telling me that Numar was my enemy. But I’ve seen no evidence of any of this beyond your word.” He opened his hands. “And I’m afraid that doesn’t count for very much.”
Henthas gave that same thin smile again. “What is it you want?”
This had to be handled delicately. The Weaver wanted Solkara weakened as war with Eibithar drew nearer, but Henthas would resist any action that was too obvious. And with relations between the brothers deteriorating, there was no guarantee that Numar would listen to him anyway. Still, Pronjed had to try.
“What do you think of this war your brother is planning with the emperor?”
“If it succeeds, it will strengthen the realm and our house for generations. If it fails, it will probably mean the end of the Supremacy.”
“Do you think it will fail?”
Henthas stared at him, his eyes narrowing. “Perhaps I should ask the same of you, Archminister.”
“I’m not certain I know what you mean.”
“Then allow me to be more explicit. For some time now I’ve wondered when this conspiracy of which we’ve heard so much might strike at House Solkara. Ours is the leading house in the realm, after all, and if the rumors reaching Aneira from throughout the Forelands are to be believed, the Qirsi have been more than willing to strike at other royal houses. I find it impossible to fathom that the conspiracy would ignore us. Which leads to a most obvious question: who is the traitor in our midst?”
Pronjed stood motionless, struggling to ease the pounding of his pulse. He had anticipated such an accusation from Numar-not because he thought the regent knew anything for certain but because it would have served the man’s purposes to raise doubts about Pronjed’s loyalty. But for Henthas to have reasoned it through. . This was the last thing he had expected.
“Are you asking me if I am this traitor?”
“Would that surprise you?”
“Yes, my lord, it would. I’ve served House Solkara for many years, and no one has ever questioned my loyalty.”
“Nevertheless, I must ask. Are you a traitor?”
The minister let out a short laugh. “How am I to answer? Would you believe me if I said I wasn’t?”
“Probably not. But neither would I have you hanged if you said you were. At least not right away.”
“I don’t understand.”
“We’re both traitors, Archminister.”
“I never said-”