She welcomed her daughter with a smile verging on the blissful. "Come and sit by me, dear. Would you like to read something? How are your Italian lessons proceeding?" Embroidery lay forgotten on the table nearby.
"Slowly, I fear." Most of the trouble, although Lisa was not about to say so, was that her Italian coach had an abrasive Scottish accent and restricted her studies to poetry with a vocabulary consisting largely of amore, bella, carina, appassionato, and similar terms. She brought a stool and set it near. "Mother, it is time you and I had a serious discussion."
"Oh, no!"
"Oh, yes. What do you mean?"
"Nothing, dearest. I was afraid you meant… never mind. What do you wish to discuss?"
Giving her mother a puzzled glance, Lisa folded her hands and began. "Every day we hear new rumors about the huge army the Fiend is gathering."
"Yes, dear."
"Everyone agrees that, having been balked once, Nevil will make absolutely certain of success this time. Panic will ensue, as it always does. And there is a limit to how far a coach can travel southward in Italy, you must agree. Consequently, I believe it would be prudent for us to take ship while the going is good." She had not yet discussed this with Hamish, but if he meant a tenth of all the lovely things he whispered in her ear, then he would jump at the chance of escorting the two ladies. He would make a wonderful bodyguard and likely much more than that in the near future.
The countess pursed her lips. "And where exactly are we to sail to?"
"Malta," Lisa said. "Or Crete. Malta belongs to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and Crete belongs to Venice. I don't like the sound of Egypt or Algeria or any of those Moorish lands."
"Nor I. We should both of us end up on an auction block."
"Mother!" That outrageous remark caused Lisa to lose control of her prepared speech, which threw her off and galloped out of sight. She dithered, at a loss for words.
Worse, her mother seemed not at all repentant. There was a rare gleam in her sapphire eyes. "Nor do I fancy an island. I should feel trapped, confined."
"You mean you are just going to wait until the Fiend arrives?"
"No, I am waiting for the Fiend to be defeated. I believe he is heading for his downfall. I think the scourge will soon be lifted from the back of Europe, and the clouds will lift before a new dawn."
Mothers could make speeches also, however muddled, and reverse previously unquestioned behavior patterns. Lisa stared at her in bewilderment. "What reason can you possibly have for thinking that?" It was an idea at variance with her entire life experience.
Maud smiled serenely at the blue sky twinkling through the olive branches above her. "Nothing goes on forever, dear, although we mortals often forget that and behave as if it will. The demon that possessed your father managed to turn the world upside down, but the world has a habit of rolling back again in its own good time. I am convinced that Rhym has met its match at last."
"Are you referring to that horrible Longdirk?"
Maud flashed a glance of maternal amusement at her daughter. "You don't usually take such dislikes to people, dearest. Yes, I am referring to that truly remarkable young man. I have met kings and dukes and lords aplenty, and at best they were merely stars. Sir Tobias is a rising sun."
"He is a boor! A great ox with no culture or breeding or manners whatsoever."
Her mother took no offense at being so blatantly contradicted. Indeed, she positively smirked. "Not an ox," she murmured. "A doughty warrior, yes. A splendid figure of a man, certainly. His background is undistinguished, I admit, so we must make allowances for his lack of polish, but his accomplishments to date are worthy of note. Think of the truly great shapers of history — Julius Caesar, Genghis, Charlemagne, Alexander the Great. Had you met any one of those men at Longdirk's age, could you possibly have predicted his future greatness?"
"At twenty-three Alexander had conquered the Persian Empire."
Maud dismissed Alexander with a wave of the hand. "He was born to the purple. All those men I mentioned were of much higher rank than Sir Tobias's."
"There is certainly none lower."
"He has promised that you will take your rightful place on the throne of your ancestors. No, we shall not go to Malta, Lisa. We shall follow the triumphant armies of a Europe reborn as they roll the Fiend back into the darkness, as they reestablish the ancient freedoms under a suzerain rightfully appointed by the glorious Khan. There has never been a female suzerain, of course, but who knows? Since you will be one of the very few monarchs with an undisputed right to—"
"Mother! You are dreaming moonbeams! You are hallucinating!"
"Not very much, dearest. Once the Fiend is exorcised, everything will return to normal very quickly. Wait and see! We must find you a husband."
"Husband?" Lisa's squeal came out at least an octave higher than she had intended. Hamish! Hamish! Hamish!
"It is tricky, because there are so few princes left. Ah, Lisa! When you were born I made a list of all the eligible royal bachelors of Europe younger than ten. Of course, I assumed that your father would summon me to court eventually, or at least visit me from time to time, so we should have other children; I never guessed you would be the heir. Alas, all those boys — there were seventeen of them, I recall, although only five or six were credible contenders — I fear they are all dead now. You will need a strong man at your side, dear. England is in a state of ruin and anarchy. All Europe is in a state of ruin and anarchy!"
Lisa could hardly believe her ears. Maud had never raved like this before.
"So I may have to wed a mere noble, you mean? Even, perhaps, a commoner?"
Her mother favored her with a very knowing smile. "I did say the Fiend had turned the world upside down, dear, didn't I? Yes, I do believe that I could even see my way to arranging your marriage with a commoner. He would, of course, have to be a very outstanding and accomplished foreigner."
Not Hamish. She didn't mean Hamish. Oh, demons! She couldn't possibly mean… could she?…
"Longdirk? That oaf? You are seriously thinking—"
Lisa sprang to her feet and spoke three words that she had never spoken before and had heard only rarely. She was not at all clear what two of them meant; they just sounded appropriate. Apparently her mother did not know them at all, for she merely frowned at the tone.
"Do sit down, dear. You said you wanted a serious discussion, so a serious discussion you shall have. Listen carefully. I have given the matter much thought. If Sir Tobias drives the Fiend's armies back over the Alps, as I am confident he will, then there is no doubt at all that Europe will rise against the monster and rally to the Khan's banner he bears. He may be a commoner now, my darling, but he will not be one for long under those circumstances. The Khan will—"
"I wouldn't touch Toby Long—"
"…at least a duke and probably a sovereign prince. He is, of course, greatly smitten with you!"
Lisa almost fell off her stool, having to grab at the edge of the stone table for balance. "He is what? Mother, he is the most insulting man I have ever met. He snaps at me, treats me like a child, orders me around. I assure you he likes me no better than I like him, which means utter revulsion. Repugnance!"