The room is a sumptuous receiving chamber with several ornately carved chairs, thick velvet tapestries covering the stone walls, and a fire burning in the fireplace. "Why have you brought me here?” Duval lets go of my arm and prowls around the room. He looks behind the tapestries at the window, then strides to the small door in the far corner and confirms that it is locked. “Because I would have you meet our duchess face to face and see who precisely it is that you are serving.”
The main door opens just then and the duchess herself comes into the room. She is very young, but she holds herself with pride and not a little arrogance. Her forehead is high and noble; her cheeks still bear the slight fullness of her youth. Her brown eyes are keen with intelligence. It would be a mistake to underestimate her, yet because of her youth, I am certain many do.
She is followed by an older noblewoman whom I can only assume is her governess, Madame Dinan. She was strikingly beautiful once, and her bones still hold the truth of that beauty even with her hair gone white. It is hard to believe she shares any blood with Count d’Albret.
Duval bows low and I sink into a deep curtsy. “Your Grace; Madame Dinan,” he says.
“You may rise.” The young duchess’s voice is as clear and true as a bell. She turns to the other woman. “And you may leave us.”
Madame Dinan glances at Duval. “Your Grace, I think I should stay. It is not fitting that you are alone, with no chaperone.”
“You would keep me from speaking with my own brother?” the duchess asks sharply.
“I would keep you from nothing, Your Grace, only suggest you should have a chaperone, as is fitting.”
The duchess glances at Duval, who gives the tiniest shake of his head. "We have a chaperone,” she says, indicating me. “You may leave.”
The command in her tone is unmistakable, and Madame Dinan rears her head back slightly, nostrils flaring. “Very well, Your Grace. I will wait outside.” Her unhappiness with this arrangement is palpable, but whether it is because she resents being left out or because she is truly worried to leave the duchess with her own brother, I cannot tell.
The room is quiet until she leaves, then the duchess crosses over to the fireplace and holds her hands out to the flames. "Was that necessary, Gavriel?” she says. “It is hard for her to take orders from me.”
“I understand, Your Grace.” even though he is her brother, Duval remains formal with her, and I wonder if it is for my benefit. “But I wanted you to meet Demoiselle Rienne and learn from her own mouth who and what she is. It is knowledge best kept to ourselves for a while.”
The duchess tilts her head, curiosity shining in her eyes. “You do not trust Madame Dinan?”
“Someone called this estate meeting, Your Grace, and d’Albret is her half brother.”
The duchess wrinkles her nose. “Do not remind me! She presses his suit at every turn until I fear I shall scream.”
"We will find you a better marriage, I promise,” Duval says.
She dimples prettily at this, making her look impossibly young, and her affection for Duval is plain on her face. In that moment, I am fiercely glad she has a brother to protect her from this marriage they have planned for her. It is unthinkable that she has been promised to d’Albret. Surely it cannot be Mortain’s desire to see the duchess wed to such a foul man.
Duval grabs my hand and pulls me forward. “Ismae Rienne is sent from the abbess at the convent of St. Mortain.”
The duchess’s eyebrows shoot up. “Mortain? The patron saint of death?”
“The very one, Your Grace. It is but another thing your advisors would keep from you.” Duval quickly explains the convent and its purpose.
when he is done with his explanation, she turns to me. “You are truly trained in death?”
It feels too bold to meet her gaze, so I look down at the floor. “Yes, Your Grace.”
“Sit, sit.” She waves her hand and chooses a chair for herself. After an uncertain glance at Duval, who nods, I sit also.
“How do you kill a man, demoiselle?”
I am certain her advisors would be shocked if they could see the hungry curiosity in her eyes. "With a knife. Or poison. Or by strangling. There are many ways. Hundreds of them. It depends on the circumstances and Mortain’s wishes.”
She leans forward slightly in her chair, her brow furrowed. “How do you decide who to kill?”
“Yes,” Duval drawls from where he stands by the fireplace. “How do you decide who to kill?”
And there he has me, for while the rites of Mortain are closely held, if Chancellor Crunard can know of them, so can the duchess. Just as I must know what weapons I have in my arsenal in order to do Mortain’s work, so must the duchess know what tools are available to her in her struggle to maintain her country’s independence. “Your Grace, I would tell you of our mysteries, but our knowledge is sacred and revealed only to a chosen few.” I glance at Duval, indicating that he is not one of the chosen few.