The Fall of The Kings (Riverside) (62 page)

Galing had read Henry’s lecture notes. By St Cloud’s own evidence, a wizard needed a king to help him realize his full power, a king who was his lover. How fortunate for the good doctor that he had just such a lover ready to hand!

Nicholas turned over a page headed “
Notes on the Spring
Festival
,” and read, “
Northern kings were consecrated to the
Land every year at the Festival of Sowing. For a new king,
the consecration served as his formal induction as Servant of the
Land—his coronation, as it were; although the Northern kings
wore no crowns
.”

As far as Nicholas could tell, Theron Campion was likely to be made king at the debate whether he’d plotted for it or not.

Having reached this point in his cogitations, Nicholas rang for his manservant. He had to ring three times, and when the man turned up at last, his nightshirt showed under his unbuttoned livery.

“What time is it?” Galing demanded.

“Five, sir, or thereabouts. Not quite dawn.”

“Damn.” Galing rubbed his eyes. “Go get me something to eat, will you? I’m ravenous.”

When the manservant returned with toast and jam, his master had fallen asleep in his chair, his curly head cocked back at an uncomfortable angle and his legs stretched out before him. The manservant contemplated his sleeping master for a moment, then spread a rug over him, laid another log on the fire, extinguished the lamp, and left him to it.

THE DISSOLUTION OF THE BETROTHAL CONTRACT BETWEEN Alexander Theron Campion of Tremontaine and Genevieve Beatrice Halliday Randall was quickly and easily achieved. The young lady, her mother said, had given certain indications that she was not yet ready for the solemn duties of marriage. Since it would be rude for Theron’s family to seem not to mind, Tremontaine’s lawyers put up a token fuss, which allowed the Randall lawyers to point out an irregularity in the contract’s provision for the return of dowry in case of death without issue, which they had somehow previously overlooked. This, the Tremontaine side said, was unfortunately a point not open to discussion. And so, to the satisfaction of all parties, the contract was declared null and void. Corollary papers were signed, including the old-fashioned statutory agreement that all had been settled with honor, and thus no swordsmen were to be employed. Theron’s necklace, however, was not returned; clearly the Randalls considered it just recompense for all the trouble and embarrassment he had subjected them to.

His family considered the necklace a small price to pay. Sophia in particular was nothing if not relieved. And it freed the Duchess Katherine to turn her attention to the fuss everyone was now making about Jessica’s announcement. The duchess had written to Sophia:

In typical fashion, Jessica has managed to turn this whole
affair into a masquerade ball. As people are watching all of
us to see which way the wind blows, it follows that you
must be seen visiting me at Tremontaine House, to show
that I continue to support Theron’s claim to Tremontaine.
I shall not, however, be allowed to go and see what J. has
made of Lady Caroline’s Folly—although the friends of
mine who were there tell me it is quite something. And, of
course, Jessica cannot be seen to be speaking to either of
us; which means, in this case, that she will visit me in disguise, probably this afternoon.

Theron is in hiding at the Folly (how appropriate!);
probably the best place for him. I hope you will not mind
too much, but there with his sister is the last place anyone
will look for him. Of course I think it would be best for him
to go to the country until it has all blown over, but in view
of his recent illness, Jessica says we should wait before he
makes the journey. I do think it advisable, however, that he
go soon. People will be talking for a while, and you know
how he suffered over the Ysaud gossip the first time around.
This will be much worse. It will die down when J. leaves
and the Randall girl finds another fiancé. But we have all
been worried about his health. The summer heat is bound
to be bad. Will you go with him? I thought to Highcombe,
which did him so much good when he was a child. And
everyone there loves him. Perhaps you can leave soon after
this absurd debate, which both Arlen and the University
Governors assure me I must attend. I suppose you will be
there, too, looking official in your robes.

Sophia was used to allowing Katherine to judge what was best for public displays of Tremontaine policy. But the physician could wish that she had gotten a letter from her son herself.

Theron had in fact written to Sophia, but his sister had not sent the letter. She did not think it would reassure his mother to be invited to witness the ceremony of his union with his wizard and lover, on the steps of the Great Hall, at the Festival of the Spring Sowing.

HAVING DECIDED THAT HE MUST, AT ALL COSTS, PREVENT Theron Campion and Basil St Cloud from coming together on the steps of the Great Hall, Nicholas Galing was not as pleased as he might be to hear that Theron had been bundled off to the country by his cousin. Perhaps it was because the rumor was only one of the half-dozen or so speculations concerning the Tremontaine scandal making the rounds of Hill gatherings.

“Wasn’t it delicious, my dear?” inquired Lord Condell, resplendent in rose brocade and opals at Lady Horn’s musical evening. “One suspected that she was painting him all that time, but one didn’t actually
know
. And the poses! I hardly knew where to look.” His fan, his wickedly sparkling eyes, said he’d known very well where to look, and how much he’d enjoyed the view. “I’ve been at the point of challenge with Tyrone, whether those leaves were actually painted on young Campion’s body or a charming invention of the artist’s imagination. What do you think, my dear?”

“That I prefer leaves on trees, Condell, and a human head on my lover’s shoulders. It’s no wonder he’s slunk off to the country.”

“Oh, no, my dear,” Condell said. “He’s not in the country at all. I’m sure of it. The redoubtable dowager would certainly have accompanied him to the country, and she’s very much in evidence, I hear, doing good as usual. No, they’ve got him locked up somewhere he won’t do any harm.”

The Duke of Karleigh wandered up, wanting to know if anyone could find something else to talk about other than the Tremontaine affair.

“What else is there to talk about?” Lord Condell asked rhetorically. “The Great Wizard Debate at the University?”

“I don’t know what the world is coming to,” said Karleigh. “Not that the Tremontaines ever were any good. Bad blood, is what I think. And bringing a foreigner into it didn’t help. Perhaps we’re better off with the bastard chit after all—at least she’s pure native blood on both sides.”

“Pure?” Lord Condell was amused. “The Black Rose was an actress, Karleigh.”

“From Riverside. Not from some island no one’s ever heard of. No reason the bastard chit shouldn’t inherit, if she’s legitimate after all.”

“Now, Karleigh, you don’t believe in those marriage lines, do you?” asked Condell. “You couldn’t. She was amusing herself at our expense, the minx. Just look at what she was wearing!”

That conversation, or the gist of it, echoed through the salons and dinners and card parties. Theron Campion was ill; he was mad. He was in the country; he was locked up in Riverside; he was confined to Tremontaine House for trying to murder Ysaud. Jessica Campion was a legitimate contender for heir of Tremontaine; she was an upstart, or even a foreigner who had killed the real Jessica on board her ship and was trying to claim her inheritance. The Duchess Katherine would recognize her claim and step down; she would call blood challenge on her and fight the challenge herself. Unless Lord Theron did so. He was, after all, known to have run as a boy with killers in Riverside, in one of those gangs that required three dead bodies as an entrance fee. Also, it was entirely possible that Jessica was the legitimate heir in more ways than one; there had been talk of the young Katherine Talbert being with child when she first came into the duchy, either by a family servant or by her uncle himself. Why else would the old duke have left everything to an underage girl, unless it was to make it up to her? Stories of the Mad Duke’s habits and proclivities were brought out of storage and aired anew.

Nicholas Galing listened to it all, exclaiming, wondering, doubting volubly that there was anything in it, whatever it was. He’d have given his sapphire neck-pin for hard information on Theron’s whereabouts and state of mind, but the troublesome young noble seemed to have stepped from his half-sister’s house into oblivion. There was nothing for it, Galing decided, but to turn up at the debate and see what came up. If nothing else, he told himself, he’d be able to follow the arguments.

JESSICA APPEARED IN KATHERINE’S STUDY DISGUISED AS A gardener, her straw hat pulled low over her face. When her cousin greeted her she took off the hat and shook out her hair and gratefully accepted a drink. Handing her a glass of wine, the duchess said, “Aren’t you going to check to see if it’s poisoned?”

“Alas,” said Jessica, “I left my Authentic Guaranteed Unicorn’s Horn back on the ship. Along with my fortified Blood Stone. I’ll just have to trust you.”

“It’s mutual,” said the duchess. “For, God help me, Jessica, if you are using my money and family to pull off the greatest scam of your career, you’d better hope that horn is authentic.”

Jessica flicked an imaginary bug from the rim of her glass. “Don’t be melodramatic. Haven’t I worked miracles in barely a week for Theron and Sophia?”

“Sophia!” Katherine exclaimed. “Sophia hasn’t heard what they’re saying out there. I have. It’s every piece of scandal we’ve worked to bury for the past twenty years, trotted out for an airing. It’s her worst nightmare. All she cares about is Theron—”

“And sick people. And poor people.”

Katherine looked impatient. “Yes, I know, but she’d do all that anyway.”

“Because she cares about people,” Jessica said doggedly. “Admit it, Katherine—just because your whole life is Tremontaine doesn’t mean that hers is.”

Katherine breathed deeply through her narrowed nostrils. She hated the way Jessica could make her lose her temper. She was not going to do it this time. She said evenly, “Sophia gave up a lot to come here.”

“That is the myth, isn’t it?” Jess said coolly. “But you know what? I’ve been to Kyros. It’s nothing, Katherine. It’s an island with some goats and some rocks and some honey bees. Sophia was a village healer, a midwife. Here she’s a duchess, a trained surgeon. Just what is it she’s supposed to have given up?”

Katherine looked steadily at her flamboyant kinswoman. “You don’t care even about Sophia? I thought she was the one of us you loved.”

It was Jessica’s turn to look impatient. “Stop trying to get at my feelings, Duchess. That’s not how I do business. You want to pull on levers labeled
Love
and
Loyalty
and get me to do what you want—but I’m not fitted with them. All I want to do is tell you the truth, but you’d rather not hear it. Well, now I’m going to tell you an important truth, and you’d better listen.” She leaned across Katherine’s desk, her scarred hands spread on the bright wood. “You’re going to have to start looking for another heir. Because Theron is mad.”

Katherine’s voice shook with fury. “What have you done?”

“What have
I
done?” Jessica threw back her head and laughed. “That’s rich! I’m the only one who
hasn’t
done! He’s been stark staring bonkers since I got here, and probably before, and not a single blessed one of you has noticed a thing. Not you, not Marcus, not even Sophia. He’s been fighting knife duels down by the docks. He’s been having visions. He doesn’t know where he is half the time. And now he thinks his University lover is going to make him king.”

“
What?
” Appalled, Katherine remembered Arlen’s visits. “That’s not madness, that’s treason.”

“Now I have your attention. Treason touches Tremontaine.”

“
Stop it!
” Katherine shouted, temper irrevocably lost. “You want me to leave your heart out of it? Then you leave mine, Jessica, and stop goading me. You have your ship, your people—I assume you care well for them, or you wouldn’t have them still. I have the duchy. If you’re not going to help me care for it, then get out of my house.”

“I’ve got Theron,” Jessica said softly.

“So you have,” Katherine snapped. “But if he’s mad, I don’t want him.”

Jessica watched her for a long minute. “You’re bluffing.” Katherine nodded slowly. “I am. How perceptive of you. I do want him. Now: are you bargaining or threatening?”

Jessica Campion removed her hands from the desk and went to the window. “Neither.” She spoke to the view outside, the long green lawns of her childhood. “I’m telling you he’s safe with me at the Folly. He’s locked up, and he’s angry, but he’s not going anywhere. If I can keep him from the debate this week, he might calm down. If he does, then maybe he can go home. If he doesn’t, he’s all yours.” Her back still to her cousin, she asked. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”