Lady Shilton seized Maia’s wrist, her look desperate. “I have confessed all of this without torture. I deserve to perish and will gladly face the headsman’s axe. I implore you to spare my granddaughter. She was corrupted and twisted as a youth. She was never even given the chance to study at an abbey or become a maston. She has not been hardened by suffering as you have. Please spare her life, Your Highness. I beg of you!”
Maia felt the strain on her wrist from the old woman’s fingers. She glanced up at Richard and saw the displeasure rife in his face.
“There is a saying from Ovidius,” Maia said, wresting her hand away from Lady Shilton’s grip. “What is allowed us is disagreeable, what is denied us creates intense desire. You were a maston and you knew you sought a forbidden path.” Maia slowly rose from her chair. “Your daughter was executed because of what she learned from your example. And now your granddaughter seeks to destroy the kingdom—nay, the realm—because of her ambition.” Maia tried to feel compassion, but it had withered away. “What did Corriveaux promise, I wonder? That he would spare the kingdom if you succeeded in killing me?”
Lady Shilton’s tears trickled down her cheeks. She shook her head. “He will not spare Comoros,” she said, grieving. “Only the lives of my Family. Everyone else will be destroyed. Including you.”
“I am sorry for the choices you have made,” Maia said, folding her arms. “But you made them willingly. You knew exactly what you were doing. Richard, have her sent to the dungeon. Her servants must be questioned as well. If any knew and did not tell, they will share her fate.” Maia stared down at the woman, her enemy. The door opened and in walked Suzenne, her face gray with pallor. She looked on the verge of despair.
“Take her away,” Maia whispered.
“Your Majesty, I beg you!” Lady Shilton shrieked.
Maia shook her head. “You could have come to me sooner, Lady Shilton. You could have exposed this threat to my kingdom, and I would have pardoned you. An earlier confession would have saved you, and it would have saved your granddaughter.” She repressed a shudder. “Do you know what Corriveaux has done to my grandmother?”
Lady Shilton’s face crumbled. “They have brought her in chains to Naess. She will be executed.”
At that, Maia nodded to Richard to have the woman removed. Lady Shilton began choking down sobs as the guardsmen took her away.
From the expression on Suzenne’s face, Maia feared the worst. She closed the distance and hugged her friend fiercely, smoothing back her golden tresses and feeling her repressed sobs in the movement of her back.
“Billerbeck Abbey has burned,” Suzenne whispered in a quavering voice.
“No!” Maia groaned, shaking her head and feeling tears threaten her. So many years had been poured into rebuilding it. Now it was gone . . . like Cruix Abbey. And it was the signal that the armada would strike her realm. The flames would summon the fleet like vicious moths. She remembered her dream from the previous night. A dream about an abbey burning and the joy and delight felt while watching it.
And she knew in an instant that Murer had done it. Maia could feel the connection between them. She knew that if she delved into that buried part of herself, she would be linked to Murer’s mind. She could learn about her enemies, know their plans. But it would require her to sink back into that terrible abyss. It would allow her to be sucked into the Myriad Ones’ web.
Maia pulled away, cupping Suzenne’s cheek. She rubbed one of her friend’s tears away with her thumb. “What else did you learn?” she asked.
Jon Tayt rose from the bench and came forward, his expression intense and furious.
Stifling a sob, Suzenne folded her arms across her bosom. “I thought it was my fault, at first. That the Medium would not work for me because I was too anxious. I could not cross the Apse Veil myself. But the Aldermaston sent for his steward, and he could not cross it either. So both of us traveled to Muirwood, and it worked. They have also been unable to contact Billerbeck Abbey today. The nearest abbey to that location is Sempringfall. I crossed with several others and discovered they had just heard of the abbey’s destruction. A short while later, word arrived of the armada’s landing at Billerbeck. There are riders coming to warn you, Maia, but the Apse Veils were faster.” She wiped her eyes. “Forshee Hundred has been invaded. I have no word from my husband. I do not know if he is even alive. Or where he is right now.”
Suzenne’s face crumbled and she started weeping violently. Maia hugged her close, feeling her own heart breaking.
Maia sent for Jayn Sexton to help comfort Suzenne and take her to bed. Soon Jon Tayt and Maia were left alone in the solar again. The night was dark and oppressive, and Maia found herself staring at her own reflection in the glass window. A panel in the wall opened in the reflection, and she whirled around to look. A moment later the kishion stepped through a gap.
Jon Tayt’s neck muscles tensed as he saw the other man enter the room.
The kishion sauntered over to a tray of leftover food and began nibbling on a piece of meat. He fetched himself a goblet and poured some cider.