‘Don’t take it personally,’ Brasti told her. ‘Ever since Falcio figured out the country’s going down the toilet he’s convinced it’s all his fault.’
‘We have to make peace with the nobles,’ I said, ‘at least until Aline is crowned and gets the economy working again.’
That didn’t appear to satisfy Chalmers, so Kest added, ‘Luth is a major agricultural provider and one of the few Duchies whose support we may be able to secure for Aline.’
Brasti snorted. ‘So is that why these arseholes get to sleep in the nice rooms with proper beds and I’m supposed to sleep outside in tents?’
‘Yes, Brasti,’ I replied, ‘that’s exactly why you’ll be sleeping on the cold, hard ground tonight and why I’m letting venal old men slap me in the face and call me names.’ It was also the reason why I hadn’t already gone to find Pastien to beat him senseless for having abandoned Valiana in the midst of an adoracia attack.
I suddenly stumbled forward as the door behind me opened and Ethalia stepped out.
The glow was gone, but her eyes burned white.
‘Ethalia?’
She ignored me and turned to the few remaining stragglers in the hall. ‘Go back to bed. Now.’ To the soldiers she said, ‘You can fulfil your duties just as easily at the end of the hallway.’
A couple of them didn’t look pleased to be addressed in such a fashion, but she said, ‘Now!’ and whatever they saw in her eyes was enough to make them reconsider any potential obstinacy.
‘What is it?’ I asked her urgently. ‘Is Valiana—?’
‘Bide,’ she said.
To anyone else, Ethalia would have looked calm, fully in control of herself. To me, she might as well have been on fire.
Once the guards had made their way to the end of the hall, she said, ‘Valiana is fine.’
‘Fine?’ Brasti asked. ‘She attacked the bloody Ducal Protector of Luth. Not that I mind, given what a twat he is, but still, it can’t be good for business to go about—’
‘You should be silent now.’
He shut his mouth. For about a second. Then the essential nature of Brasti Goodbow reasserted itself. ‘Listen, Ethalia, since I haven’t had the pleasure of your company in bed, I’d as soon you not play the shrewish wife with me—’
It’s true, he’s rude and offensive, but you really have to admire someone who can stand in the presence of a Saint and still be an arrogant twit.
‘Let’s focus on Valiana,’ I said. ‘How can she be fine if—?’
‘It’s not the adoracia poisoning,’ Ethalia said.
‘Then what?’
‘I prefer not to say.’
That threw me for a moment. ‘Ethalia, if there’s some danger to Valiana or to those—?’
‘There is no danger. I told you, it’s not the adoracia.’
‘Then—’
‘Aha!’ Brasti said, his mouth breaking into a wide grin. ‘I figured it out.’ He looked from me to Kest as if to ascertain that we didn’t know what was going on. ‘It appears our little Valiana has something of the vixen in her. Who would’ve thought she—?’
He stumbled backwards and fell to his knees. At first I thought it was Ethalia’s power, but then I saw blood spout from Brasti’s nose. Kest had just punched him in the face.
‘You shouldn’t speak of Valiana that way,’ Kest said, his voice perfectly calm.
‘Thanks,’ I said.
‘Oh, that’s just great,’ Brasti said, checking his nose to make sure it wasn’t broken. ‘Falcio gets slapped in the face and won’t retaliate, but I make one innocent comment and get a bloody nose for it!’
‘I guess you don’t have any important agricultural holdings,’ Chalmers said.
‘Also, you’re behaving like an idiot,’ Kest added.
I turned to Ethalia. ‘So this . . . thing with Pastien – the scratches on his back? This was all just . . .’
‘It was her first time,’ Ethalia said. ‘Not all women are delicate flowers during lovemaking. Some have an . . . especially strong ardour. That is what overtook her, not adoracia poisoning.’
‘So Pastien just—’
‘He was scared,’ she said. Her eyes narrowed. ‘Which is no crime. He too is young. However, he has chosen to deal with the embarrassment caused by his overreaction by claiming that Valiana has lost her mind, and I suspect word is spreading quickly.’
Brasti got to his feet and looked at me, still holding his nose. ‘Right, so, simple then: Valiana was a little rowdy, Pastien got scared and now he’s trying to cover up having run naked into the hallway by telling everyone she’s nuts. So which one of us is going to pay him a visit first?’
‘Weren’t you mocking Valiana just a few seconds ago?’ Kest asked.
‘First of all, you celibate barbarian, I wasn’t mocking her. I consider sexual passion to be an outstanding quality in an individual. Second, Valiana’s family: we’re allowed to mock her. It’s practically a law.’
‘It really isn’t,’ Kest said.
‘Well, it should be, along with an attendant penalty that says anyone who does what Pastien did gets his arse kicked up and down the stairs a few times until he fully appreciates the consequences of his actions.’
The door swung open again, this time revealing Valiana herself. She was dressed now, thank whatever Gods or Saints remain, and had cleaned herself up. ‘No,’ she said.
Brasti nodded. ‘Quite right. You should get to beat him up first.’ He looked thoughtfully at the rest of us. ‘Then Falcio.’ He tapped his nose and turned to Kest. ‘Then Chalmers. You go last because you already got your aggression out tonight.’
‘That’s fair,’ Kest replied.
‘No!’ Valiana’s voice was a mixture of frustration and heartache. ‘No one goes near Pastien. Regardless of my personal relationship with him, Aline needs him on her side. We can’t risk the chance that—’
‘I’m sorry,’ I said.
She turned to me. ‘It’s not your fault, Falcio. I’m a grown woman and—’
‘No, I mean, I’m sorry, but if you think I’m going to allow that primping fop of a man to wander around masking his own inadequacies by telling lies about you, then you really are suffering from adoracia poisoning.’
She shook her head, closing her eyes to stop the tears. ‘I don’t want this – don’t you understand? I don’t want you running off fighting my battles for me. I’m trying to do what’s right for the country and you’re just making it worse.’ When she opened her eyes she looked straight into mine. ‘You’re not my real father. Don’t pretend to be.’
‘I’m not trying to—’
She cut me off, and in that voice she had perfected for just these occasions said, ‘Until a new monarch sits the throne, I am Realm’s Protector of Tristia, First Cantor. You may not give that title the respect it warrants, but rest assured, the soldiers who guard this castle do. Touch one hair on Lord Pastien’s head and I will have you arrested.’
She turned and left me feeling like twice the fool I usually am.
‘Give her time,’ Ethalia said, watching as Valiana strode down the hall away from us. ‘For a brief moment she saw a future that might be hers, one that might not be governed by the toxin in her veins or the circumstances of her birth.’