Master of the Dance (8 page)

"Then why is Dravis being accused of it?" Jovan demanded.

"Because it was made to look like he did it, so he would be imprisoned. Dravis plotted against me with Trelath and Endor, so he is lucky to be alive. If he causes any more trouble, he could be the next target. The assassin has been hired by an anonymous benefactor, who wishes to see changes made in Cotti. I would also like to see those changes made, and this person has now made it possible, with the threat of this assassin. You see, I require your support to pass various laws that I have in mind, and you are going to give it to me."

A shocked silence followed his statement, then the princes erupted with shouts of anger and defiance. Kerrion waited for the tumult to subside, and Jovan emerged as the spokesman.

He glared at Kerrion. "In other words, you have hired this Jashimari assassin to kill anyone who does not do as you want."

"That would be treason. He does not work for me. He will not work for a Cotti."

"Then why is he interfering in Cotti affairs?"

"Because his former queen is my wife, as you all know."

Jovan growled, "So it is she who -"

"No. Let me make this quite clear. As you have seen from Chaymin and Trelath's deaths, the Queen's Blade can kill any of you at any time. He will not, if you do as I instruct. You will support all the laws and changes I put before the courts, and you will tell no one of this conversation, nor will you accuse anyone apart from Dravis. If you fail to heed me in this, you will die."

"That is blackmail!" Jovan shouted.

"That is right. Just as Trelath and Endor blackmailed me."

"We had nothing to do with that!"

"I do not care whether or not you did. None of you have ever supported me in anything, or tried to extend a hand of friendship. Those of you who have plotted against me have paid the price, except for Dravis and Endor. The rest of you were content to merely oppose every proposal I put forward, without taking the slightest interest in whether or not it would be good for the kingdom. Shandor got rid of his brothers by sending them to war, but I do not have that luxury. I am tired of you all sitting back in the galleries and waving limp hands whenever the nay vote is called. All you have to do is vote yes in future, and you will be safe."

"What about Dravis?" Jovan demanded.

"He will be banished for treason. He may not have killed Trelath, but he helped to plan my wife's kidnapping."

"Is this how you plan to elevate the status of your Jashimari tart?" a new voice demanded, and Kerrion's eyes found the speaker, Prince Marek.

Marek was the third son of Shandor's fourth wife, brother of Armin and Trelath. A mop of dark blond hair framed his scowling, square-jawed face, and his well-built physique owed much to his active lifestyle. His familiar was a massive grey stallion, and he ran the palace stables and stud farm, breeding and training the finest horses for the army and royal family. His devotion to this duty gave him no time to plot against the throne, although he had the potential to be devious, if not dangerous.

"Yes," Kerrion replied. "I intend to make my wife the Cotti Queen, as she was once the Queen of Jashimari, until she stepped down in favour of our daughter, Queen Kerra-Manu. I also mean to improve the lives of women by giving them more freedom. No longer will they be chattel and slaves. They will have the right to decide their fates, and crimes against them will be punishable."

"That is ridiculous," Jovan scoffed. "They do not have the brains to decide their fates."

"They do. I have been to Jashimari, and seen how a woman can run a kingdom as well as a man. They own businesses there, and land. Some of them are as powerful as their male counterparts, and a queen rules them. They walk with their heads high and their faces exposed. They are educated and proud."

"They will make our lives a misery," Marek cried, scowling.

"Only if you treat them badly. I am not going to argue with you, Marek, you have no choice but to do as I say, if you wish to live."

"This is treason!" Jovan growled.

"I am not the one who is threatening you, and you cannot prove anything if you go to the courts, which I do not advise."

"This is just a ruse, to hide your culpability," Jovan retorted, glancing at his brothers for support. Only Marek nodded, the rest just listened, their expressions neutral.

"It is the truth," Kerrion said. "If you choose to disbelieve me, ask the assassin when he visits you."

Jovan paled and turned away, pushed past his brothers and headed for the door.

"I have given you no permission to leave, Jovan," Kerrion called, and his brother swung around.

"You have spoken your piece and we have listened. I have no further wish for your company."

"Then you will do as I say?"

"Do I have a choice?"

Kerrion shook his head. "Not if you want to live."

"Then consider it done. I have no wish to die. If you want to pass a lot of useless, stupid laws, then so be it. May you rot in Damnation for it." Jovan yanked open the door and marched out, leaving a heavy silence behind him.

Kerrion raised his brows and scanned the hostile faces of his remaining brothers, who glared at him with hard, angry eyes, their mouths tight-lipped. Marek snorted and followed Jovan. Kerrion dismissed the rest with a wave of his hand before he rose and left through the door that only the King used.

Back in Minna's chambers, he found his wife entertaining Kerra and Blade. The assassin lounged on the cushions, picked at a bowl of grapes and looked exceedingly bored. Minna and Kerra clearly waited to hear the King's news, and he dismissed the hovering handmaidens as he settled on a cushion and returned their expectant smiles. The assassin ignored him after a cursory glance, returning to the tedious and delicate task of peeling a grape with one of his daggers. The King noticed the tray of tea and sweet cakes the women shared, and the absence of wine in the room. Evidently Minna had decided to cut down on Blade's consumption of alcohol, which had undoubtedly contributed to the assassin's foul mood.

Minna raised her brows. "Well? Do not keep us on tenterhooks, Kerrion."

His triumphant smile widened with amusement at Blade's disgruntlement. "They reacted as I expected. They are angry, but they can see that they have no choice."

"When will you put the new laws to the court?"

"Tomorrow."

"Excellent." Minna poured another cup of tea and handed it to him.

Kerra nibbled a cake. "I am glad Blade will not have to do any more killing, father."

Kerrion glanced at the assassin, glimpsing the surprised look Blade shot the girl, and the slight smile that curled his lips.

"Why is that, my dear?"

"It is dangerous, and I do not want anything to happen to him."

Minna smiled. "Have you grown fond of him?"

"I have realised what an important asset he is, mother. We need him here, unharmed."

"Indeed we do," Kerrion agreed. "For several more moons, I would venture to say."

The grape Blade was peeling shot from his fingers and skittered across the floor, coming to rest against Shista's flank. She raised her head to sniff it, then flopped back with a sigh. The assassin turned his head to fix Kerrion with an arctic stare.

"If you think I am staying in this viper's nest for several moons, you are sadly mistaken."

"You must. Should one of my brothers become difficult, we need you here to deal with him."

Blade glanced at Minna. "My part is done. The princes are brought to heel and I am free to leave."

"Unfortunately, Kerrion is right, My Lord. If one of them should go to the courts..."

The assassin turned the dagger, making it flash in the sunlight that streamed through the window. Kerrion was reminded of how proficient he was with the weapon, and fought the urge to tell him to put it away. As the only person in the room whom Blade would dearly like to kill, he found himself imagining how easily the assassin could snuff out his life with a flick of his hand.

Blade looked at Minna. "The longer I stay here, the greater the risk that I may be discovered. The princes will know that if they can find and kill me, Kerrion's plan will fail."

"True, but that is a risk we will have to take. I must ask you to stay until the new laws are passed."

"And this will take several moons?"

Kerrion shrugged. "Well, I could try to rush them through."

"Then I advise you to do so." Blade glared at him. "You cannot keep me here, should I choose to leave, unless you throw me in your dungeons again. My tolerance for this loathsome country already grows thin."

"You are needed here, My Lord," Minna murmured. "Would you desert me now?"

He picked another grape and began to peel it. "Now that Trelath is dead, you are no longer in danger, My Queen."

"There is no need for you to rush back to Jashimari," Kerrion commented. "Endor has fled and your wife is safe. In fact, I received word that she has sent your apprentice after him. Unfortunately, Endor has her familiar, but I am sure your apprentice will free it."

"I am not concerned about my wife." Blade flicked a shred of grape peel from his dagger. "My former apprentice will deal with Endor."

"Then you will stay?"

The assassin shrugged and popped the grape into his mouth. "For a while."

"I do not wish to go back just yet, Blade," Kerra stated.

He glanced at her. "What makes you think you are coming back with me?"

"I must return -"

"You will, with a company of your father's men, I have no doubt."

Kerra looked at Kerrion, then back at the assassin. "I would prefer to return with you."

The King shook his head. "Blade is right, you will have an escort of soldiers, as befits a queen."

Kerra's brow furrowed. "You call me a queen, yet you have no respect for my wishes."

"You are still young."

Kerra pouted and picked up her teacup, shooting her mother a look of appeal, which she ignored.

Blade plucked another grape. "Did Chiana mention the name of the assassin in her letter?"

"Yes, she said he was called Bolt."

The grape shot from the assassin's fingers again, landing on the tray this time. He stared at his empty hand. "Bolt?"

"Yes."

Blade frowned. "That is the wrong one."

"Surely you told her his name?"

"No. I was expecting to be in Jashimari, close enough to return to the palace before she sent him. It was not Bolt I wanted her to hire."

Kerrion sipped his tea. "Is one not as good as the other? He was your apprentice too, after all."

"Bolt is a bloody idiot. It was Lance she should have hired. He is the Master of the Dance." Blade grimaced and shook his head. "To send a bungling fool like Bolt after a Cotti Prince is inviting disaster. He will fail. His name should have been Dolt. He is an arrogant, egotistical bastard."

"But if you trained him..."

Blade snorted. "A man with no talent will never be good, no matter who trains him. I did not choose him, he was foisted upon me by the guild, the son of an elder whom they claimed would make an excellent assassin. They were wrong. He likes to kill. He is a murderer at heart, so he is in the right profession, but he is a moron. He failed the test of the Dance twice before he passed, and even then, I would have failed him. The elder who judged him evidently did not wish to embarrass me with another failure, but I would not have cared if they had never passed him. The man is an oaf."

Kerrion put his cup back on the tray. "I will write to Chiana and tell her to send Lance, then."

"It will be too late. When Bolt fails, Endor will kill her familiar."

Kerra gasped, raised a hand to her mouth and cast a wide-eyed look of horror at Minna-Satu. The Elder Queen frowned. "If that happens, Chiana will fall into the death sleep for as long as a tenday. Jashimari will be without a ruler."

"He may not," Kerrion argued. "He may keep the bird hostage to prevent her from sending another assassin. "

"Why would he do that, since it did not prevent her from sending the first?" Blade enquired.

"Well, if Bolt fails, Endor may think he is safe, since he will assume that the Regent would hire the best man available. He would not expect her to try again with the second best."

"He plans to kill the bird anyway, that is why he took it. He knows Jashimari will be thrown into turmoil if the Regent falls into a coma and the Queen is not in the palace."

"Surely her advisors will keep her condition a secret?"

"They will try," Minna murmured, looking concerned.

Kerrion frowned at his wife. "I will write to Chiana anyway. Perhaps if she despatches Lance now, he will reach Endor before he kills the bird."

Blade shook his head. "I doubt that."

The next day, Kerrion presented his proposal for new laws regarding women to the court, including the elevation of his wife to Queen. Low mutters of amazement and discontent came from the galleries occupied by lords, while the judges raised their eyebrows and smiled. Clearly they expected Kerrion's brothers to vote against him, and a glance at the princes' sullen faces assured Kerrion that they would dearly have liked to do so.

When the vote was called for, Kerrion turned hard eyes upon his brothers, and they raised their hands to accept his proposals. The judges stared at the princes in amazement before counting the votes. The lords sat in stunned silence, some appearing quite bemused by this unheard of turn of events.

Kerrion left the court well pleased with the morning's events, and returned to his study with a spring in his step. The laws would take at least three tendays to be ratified and written up, then another tenday to be made public through notices and criers, messengers carrying them to the furthest corners of the land.

It pleased Kerrion most of all that Minna would become his queen. After her coronation, she would enjoy the same privileges as he, and even some of his powers. Once ratified, the laws could not be revoked without the consent of the King, but until then, the princes could withdraw their support and stop them from going through. For that reason, Blade had to stay in the palace, on hand should he be needed to ensure the princes' continued co-operation.