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“If it’s the truth, it isn’t an insult. I don’t see you hurrying to risk your hide for Her Ladyship’s hopeless campaign.”
“Enough!”
Cassia’s tone silenced every man in the room and fetched their gazes to her.
“For shame!” she cried. “The warriors of Tenebra bicker like children while the fate of the kingdom is in their hands. And yet I know you are not cowards. You proved that when you willingly set foot in Orthros. Prove it again! Treat with the Hesperines in spite of Dexion Chrysanthos! And when Cordium retaliates? Prove it again! Stand fast and do not allow them to set foot upon your fields. When you feel the heat of Cordian magefire, rely on the strength of our Tenebran mages’ wards.”
“What is this disturbance?” came a voice from the doorway. Master Gorgos marched in.
Cassia turned upon him. “Will you let the likes of Dexion Chrysanthos march throughyourtemple? Will you tolerate his insults to the ancient skills of Tenebra’s mages? Will you, who sets the example of Tenebran discipline and virtue, let that perfumed drunkard from Corona lead Anthros’s obedient astray?”
The mage hesitated. “I cannot see how treating with heretics will win our god’s favor.”
“I am but a woman. Far be it from me to take it upon myself to speak for Anthros. I can only repeat the teachings I have received in his temple since I was but a tiny child. Cowardice is not pleasing to the god of war. He demands that we face any foe and defend the godly from the godsforsaken. When our bravery calls us to face the Hesperines, is not peace a mighty sword?”
She could see it in the mage’s eyes. By throwing his own principles back at him, she had stirred him. All around her, she could feel the men’s strings at her fingertips, and she knew how best to pull them.
But she must pull carefully. If they felt the tug from a woman and a bastard, they would tear away.
“What will you risk?” Lord Adrogan sneered. “You’ll go home to Tenebra to sit in the weaving room where the king puts you. You’ll go on wearing your fine gowns, which men of noble birth cannot afford for their wives. You’ll pamper your purebred liegehound with better meat than Severin’s peasants will ever see in their lives.”
Cassia’s fury came to her hand, its edge sharp and ready, and she turned it upon Lord Adrogan with a precise stroke. “If you would like to see the price I risk paying, visit my sister’s crypt when next you are in Tenebra.”
The room fell silent.
“Do you wonder why I have never set foot there?” she asked. “Because the king forbade me. He denies me the most basic opportunity to honor the memory of my sister, who was the only mother I ever had. Our princess, who nurtured us, her people.”
“Kyria bless her,” murmured the Semna.
“And Anthros laud her in his Hall,” said Lord Gaius.
No one asked Cassia why the king banned her from her sister’s sacred place of burial. They must all believe it was because of her shameful birth.
“You might well ask why I am here, such as I am,” Cassia said to them all. “As the Dexion has done, you might demand to know what I have to gain from the Summit. I could give you the same answer I gave him. I want only the best for Tenebra. That is true. But men of the world such as yourselves will be just as unsatisfied as the Dexion if I wax poetic about the common good.
“So I will give you another answer, which is even truer, a reality no man here can deny. I owe my sister my life. She persuaded my father not to expose me, his castoff out of his concubine. For seven years, she treated her bastard half-sister as tenderly as her own child. Even the most hardened among you understand life debts. You know one season of brave deeds in her memory is worth more than a lifetime of kneeling in a crypt.”
“No man here can deny she would be proud of you,” Lord Gaius said.
“Thank you, my lord. I take Hadria’s testimony on this matter to heart.”
“But she would be ashamed of the rest of us,” said Benedict.
All the eyes in the room went to him. Standing beside him, Cassia could see the tide of censure rising around him. How well she knew it.
He faced down their stares. “Princess Solia was worthy of the throne. A fine future awaited all of us under her reign. She cared for the common folk and respected the rights of the lords. And see how those very lords repaid her. They squandered her. They bickered for her hand and coveted a place at her side until they destroyed her. My father gave the order, but who among us has no blood on his hands?”
Lord Adrogan let out a huff. “Yes, yes, the sad story of our sweet little princess. She’s just bones now, in case you hadn’t noticed. What does she have to do with this Summit?”
At the sound of Lord Gaius’s footfall behind his chair, Lord Adrogan jumped. Lord Gaius grasped Lord Adrogan’s arm and hauled him out of the chair with such force that the young lord let out a howl.
The old warrior spun Lord Adrogan to face him. “The moment we set foot over the border, have your sword ready. I shall not allow Sir Benedict the first crack at you. I will give you a lesson in respect.”
Lord Adrogan’s only reply was a wheeze.
“If you sit again while Lady Cassia is still on her feet, I will help you stand once more.” Lord Gaius twisted the young man’s arm one more time for emphasis, then released Lord Adrogan and turned his back.
The young lord stumbled and caught himself on his chair with one hand, his face ashen, his other arm hanging from his shoulder at an unnatural angle.
