“You might have heard the news by now,” he said. “The Queen has dismissed the Ealduns’ lawsuit against me.”
“Oh, very good, sir,” said Sebrin, which did not happen to confirm whether he had heard already or not.
Aubrey suppressed a smile. Discreet, indeed. He was pleased with his choice in hiring Sebrin. He said, “I want you to dig quietly into the details of that lawsuit. See if you discover what sort of evidence they claimed to have. I don’t expect they would have had time to file anything detailed, so this will probably not be in court records. You may have to travel to the Ealdun’s home seat.” He paused. “Do you understand what I am asking you to do?”
He could see in the other man’s intelligent expression that Sebrin understood him perfectly. “Yes, my lord.”
“Do you have any problem with the assignment?”
“Not at all, my lord.” Sebrin added emphasis to each word, his eyes sparkling. “I think it will be quite interesting.”
“Very good. Be careful and keep your head down. That will be all.” He sat back in his chair, his hands steepled together as he watched Sebrin bow and take his leave.
He wasn’t sure what he would do with the answers when he received them, but it still felt good to take at least some kind of action. He hoped he would be wrong, but he fully expected to be incensed at whatever Sebrin might find. After all, the Ealduns would not have filed a lawsuit if they hadn’t believed they could argue a case against him.
In the meantime, he would get nothing else accomplished at work that day. As the sun dipped below the horizon, he finally sent his secretaries off. Then as was his habit, he walked the short distance along torch lit streets to the stylish neighborhood near the palace where his house was located.
It was an old and gracious building, and despite the triads of servants it held to fulfill his every whim, somehow it was still quite empty.
Chapter Three
Death
“It’s the Queen, isn’t it?” Xanthe asked Inanna’s card that night.
The love of one’s country could certainly be personified as the love of one’s Queen. This possibility fit even better than the kitten had.
The card, of course, made no comment. Divination came through Elder Tarot decks in ways other than outright language, depending on which card spread one laid. All the Major Arcana were the seven Elder gods, the primal Powers that moved and sustained the universe. Love, Death, Will, Law, The Depths, The Hearth. And the god who was god over all the others, The Dance.
All the Minor Arcana were the various aspects of each god. The nuances were in the combinations. Love and Death could mean grief or loss. Love and Will, which was sometimes known as The Gift, could mean sacrifice. The most accurate and comprehensive messages were found in a complete spread.
At least, that was true of a normal Tarot deck.
When she had traveled back from Devil’s Gate to Chicago with Duncan Turner, Seremela Telemar and her niece, Xanthe had cheated.
Because Seremela was a physician with highly trained magical skills, the others had assumed that she was the expert when she examined the mysterious Tarot deck that her niece had stolen. And she was, mostly. All Xanthe had to do was remain silent while she watched and listened. She learned that despite Seremela’s expertise, the physician couldn’t identify what kind of Power infused the cards, or what the Power might mean, or how it might exert influence on the world around it.
Xanthe never told them that she knew how to lay a Tarot spread. She also never told them of the tiny suspicion that had been born as she listened to Seremela speculate. She simply took the opportunity to gain possession of the cards when it presented itself.
The others expected her to take the deck to Dark Fae elders and experts.
She might do that, eventually.
There were ancient shrines dotted throughout Adriyel, dedicated to each of the Elder gods. She might also take the deck to each of the shrines to see if something happened, although she had not decided about that. For now Seremela had said the Power in the deck had pulled to Xanthe, and so she honored the deck’s wishes by keeping it.
The oldest of the old Dark Fae legends spoke of Powerful things that existed, put into the world by the gods to enact their will. If this was such an incredibly rare item, and if Xanthe had the knowledge, Power and skill with which to use it, she could come to rule the Dark Fae if she so wished.
If and if. For all their vast power, the gods could not take away a person’s free will, and Xanthe did not so wish. Nor did she have the knowledge, Power or skill. She hadn’t even gotten up the courage to actually lay out a complete spread, although she would one day soon.
For now she held the cards and shuffled them. She enjoyed the gentle, mellow feel of the Power that soaked into her hands as she handled them, and she liked to study the lovely hand-painted images while quiet whispers and vague images brushed along the edges of her mind.