“Then your vacation begins now. Thank you for telling us what happened, and enjoy your sevenday.”
Xanthe stood, bowed deeply to Niniane, inclined her head at Tiago and Aubrey, and left.
Silence fell over the three who remained on the terrace, as Niniane resumed work on her breakfast and Tiago sank deep into his thoughts.
Aubrey finished his tea, his own thoughts turning dark as they always did anymore when he looked inward. He suspected that the most interesting part of his day had just taken her leave.
After Niniane finished her meal, she turned her attention to him and began asking questions. He had breakfast with Niniane a few times every sevenday, so that he could keep her abreast of the latest happenings in the congress and the courts. Sometimes Tiago joined them, and sometimes he didn’t. After listening to their conversation for several minutes, Tiago excused himself.
The rest of Aubrey’s schedule was filled with the never ending administrative part of his duties as Chancellor. He found himself wondering what the young soldier, Xanthe, was doing with the first of her sevenday, and how she was enjoying her time off. While she must have been around before on the extensive palace grounds, she would have been virtually anonymous among all of the black uniformed guards, and he had never noticed her before.
What would that quiet, reserved woman do for pleasure? Did she read, or work with metal, or garden or paint? After having been gone for so long, she must feel quite out of touch with her friends, if she had any. It was hard to maintain friendships when one worked as an agent for the crown.
As the afternoon faded to evening, his thoughts turned to Naida’s family. The Ealdun family were minor nobility and much poorer than Aubrey. Naida’s marriage to Aubrey had been advantageous to them in every way, and now they had not only lost that connection by marriage, but their daughter had been branded a traitor.
Aubrey hadn’t minded either the social and financial differences, or the age difference, as Naida had been much younger than he. He had not loved Naida the way that Niniane and Tiago loved each other. He couldn’t remember if he had ever hoped to find that kind of fierce, passionate love. If he had, it was lost in the distance of his long ago youth.
But he had known long, deeply caring liaisons with many lovers, and he had enjoyed his marriage with Naida, enjoyed having her companionship in the daytime hours and in bed. She had been clever, strong minded, and quick to grasp political and social nuances, and she had been funny, her wit dry and often sardonic. He had loved and respected her, and had considered her a good partner and a friend.
He had trusted her.
What she had done had come as a raw shock. Her attempts to kill Niniane were not only a betrayal of the true heir, but most importantly, they were a betrayal of him. What she had done went against everything that Aubrey stood for and believed in, and if she had succeeded in killing Niniane, he knew that she would have never told him what she had done.
In the aftermath of her death, he doubted himself and his own judgment of people. He might have missed her, except when the shock and guilt eased enough for other feelings to come in, he felt so angry at her for what she had done. He wanted to shout at her and throw her out of house, and he could do none of that of because she was dead.
He had no idea how he would ever grow to trust someone again. He felt so angry all of the time, and bitter. He felt cheated. He understood how the Ealduns might feel angry and cheated too.
How would they react to the news of the Queen’s dismissal? He believed they would take it very badly and he braced himself for the possibility of ugly missives awaiting him when he arrived home, or even a confrontation in public or possible retaliation in another way.
They had already dropped out of social gatherings, and it would be some years before their reputation recovered enough for them to receive invitations again. Prosecuting him had been, among other things, a way for them to try to distance themselves from the stain of what Naida had done. They could have claimed horror and righteous indignation, and they must have hoped to turn censure away by pointing fingers at someone else, but now that avenue had been denied them.
He also understood Niniane’s anger and the reasons for her dismissal of the Ealdun’s lawsuit, but he could not help but wish it had been allowed to run its course.
For one thing, he had been most interested to find out what evidence the Ealdun s might offer up to the court as proof of his undue influence over Naida.
He had wanted to know just how far they would go for money, and for their pride.
Perhaps he could still find out. He sent for one of his junior secretaries, a steady, discreet fellow named Sebrin who had a very sharp mind. Once Sebrin had stepped inside his office, he nodded for the younger male to shut the door.