'Lisa!'
'It's true, Mother. There are men dying out there, so let us not play games in here. You are already wondering who to marry me off to, aren't you, Cousin?'
The prince acknowledged her argument with an amused nod and reached into the fruit bowl. 'Not exactly.'
'You've already decided?' Her heart sank. No, it dived under the table and tried to creep out of the room unnoticed.
'The choice is very limited.' He popped a date in his mouth. 'Fair lady, I would most eagerly marry you myself. That solution creates new problems, though, because I gave my father and certain significant brothers my most solemn oath that I would neither name myself suzerain nor otherwise attempt to seize power. This condition they insisted on before they would approve my meddling in the affairs of Europe. It is written into my accreditation, and I am fairly sure they also hexed me so that I will drop dead or my head will fall off if I break my word. Trust' — he turned his face to spit out the pit—'is not a prominent trait in my family.
'The situation let me explain, Cousin. My mother was my honored father's third wife, one of those chosen for political reasons, and of his sons I am seventh born. I am not sure how many of us there were at last count, but enough for any reputable purpose. In recent centuries it has become customary for the succession to pass to the Khan's eldest son by his principal wife. Eldest surviving, that is, for mortality has always been fairly high among the leading candidates to rule the Golden Horde. Nevertheless a run of six misfortunes — accidents, sudden fevers, or suicides — is not reasonably to be expected. I seemed foredoomed to limit my interests to falconry and camel racing.'
Lisa had not heard him discuss himself or the royal family before. She was not at all sure she wanted to. 'You are being cynical.'
His slit eyes narrowed in what might have been a smile. 'I enjoy the chance to speak freely, Cousin. In Sarois these remarks would be suicidal, even within the family. Especially within the family. Where was I? Oh, yes. We have known for many generations that the Horde is not what it was. The descendants of fanatic steppe warriors have become fat cattle, indolent and timorous, who will one day be conquered and enslaved just as our ancestors enslaved the known world. Nor were we at all surprised to see Europe rise up against our rule. Our claim to overlordship has been largely a fiction for at least a century, although we did provide a useful service by maintaining the balance of power. If any ruler grew too powerful, the Khanate would assign the suzerainship to whomever seemed most likely to bleed him back to health, but such dominion must ultimately rest on the power to enforce it, and Nevil exposed our bluff for all the world to see. We regretfully concluded that our hegemony had ended.
'A confession: In my youth, being somewhat ambitious — within the limits of my loyalty to my dear Brother Kublai, of course — I always harbored a secret dream of striking some dramatic blow to bring the rebel lands back into the fold, and even had hope that such a demonstration of martial prowess might win me advancement.'
Lisa raised a skeptical eyebrow.
'That and a couple of murders,' Sartaq agreed, helping himself to a pastry.
'Including Prince Kublai's?'
'Especially Kublai's, definitely. When news came that Nevil had finally lost a battle, I ventured to write and congratulate the young unknown who had achieved this feat. In my father's name I wrote. He replied, a most interesting message. Over the previous dozen years, appeals have poured into Sarois by the hundred, all of them saying, in effect, 'Send help! Come and fight for us! Send men, guns, horses.' This one was different. It said, 'I can defeat Nevil, but it would be advantageous if Your Majesty would send an envoy.' He did not say very clearly why or how, and he admitted that the man in question should be expendable.' He chuckled. 'My brothers were all in favor of sending me. Especially Kublai. So here I am.'
The general direction of this conversation was highly unsatisfying! Not Longdirk? Surely not marry Longdirk! Lisa's fingers were systematically crumbling a roll to dust. 'I did not realize you came to Italy to assist Sir Tobias.'
He noted her tone and paused. 'I have just explained that my intention was to use him. Why are you surprised?'
'Well…' she said. Not Longdirk! He must not marry her to Longdirk! 'Do please understand that he never discussed such matters in my presence, but the general chitchat around the camp was that he found your actions to be somewhat at cross-purposes with his own.'
Sartaq did not take offense. Indeed, he chuckled and refilled his goblet. 'If that was the worst you heard, then I failed utterly. My first encounter with that human bull came a few nights after my arrival in Naples. He turned up at Castel Capuano in the middle of the night and won admittance to my bedchamber — which was a hair-raising achievement in itself. Having dragged me from my bed, as it were, he explained to me just how he intended to set a trap for King Nevil. You understand, I had come on this wild escapade in the hope of winning renown? Longdirk wanted me for bait. He was setting a trap, right here in Florence, and needed every minnow he could find on his hooks, with the Khan's son as an especially juicy morsel. He also—'
'And a Queen of England as another?'
Sartaq sighed and reached for more dates. He was watching her reaction, though. 'I am afraid so, Cousin. He told me that the Fiend's wife and daughter had fallen into his hands two days earlier, quite unexpectedly, and when the time was ripe, he would… dangle you before the bull, I think was how he put it. He used some curious Spanish imagery.'
'How can this be?' Blanche demanded, her fingers fidgeting nervously on the cloth. 'I admit I was not at my best then, but I am sure Constable Longdirk was never absent from the villa long enough to make a journey to Naples.'
'He did not travel by lawful means, Aunt.'
'It is true, then, that he is possessed by a demon?' Lisa asked. Perhaps she would get a straight answer at last.
Sartaq heaved his big shoulders in a shrug. 'He is possessed by something, certainly. It does not seem to be a demon, not a true demon, or perhaps not yet a demon, but he wields powers honest men do not.'
'Oh, no!' Blanche said. 'We were in the clutches of an incarnate?' She eyed Lisa in alarm, as if wondering what damage she might have overlooked. 'You say it was he who revealed our identities?'
It must be. Sartaq had arranged this entire conversation just so he could make that indictment.
'Absolutely,' he said regretfully. 'He told the Magnificent and me about you early on. Toby planned everything, including your betrothal to Marradi. He persuaded me to name Marradi suzerain, he told Marradi to let slip your existence by deliberate accident during the conclave, when we could be certain Nevil had spies in place. And so on. He brewed his plans with gramarye in secret and in public faked a monstrous disorder.'
'But…' Blanche protested. 'When the Magnificent named him
'No, dear Aunt,' Sartaq said with exaggerated patience. 'He had ordered the Magnificent to do that. He had ordered me to approve it. He is an incredible actor. At Cafaggiolo I had to play court fool by naming the incompetent D'Anjou to the post — absolute idiocy! It was all Longdirk's idea, and he had given me detailed instructions on the matter the previous night, yet when I made the announcement he turned scarlet with anger, as if he had been taken completely by surprise.
'You see now why I so disliked his proposal when he explained it at Castel Capuano? I had come west hoping to be a hero. I could just accept the notion of being bait, for there is a certain cachet in offering one's breast to the sword. But he also required me to play the fool, to act as an incompetent. The more we could make it seem that my intervention had tangled the traces, the more likely Nevil was to swallow the lure. Very few people knew what was happening.'
Hamish had not been one of them! That was something to hold on to in all this terrible litany of deception and betrayal. Hamish had been honest. He would not have tolerated Longdirk's treachery.
'This churl…' The prince's bantering tone was wearing thin. 'The first thing the nursery eunuchs taught me was to recite my ancestry back fourteen generations to Genghis, yet this baseborn serf cast himself in the role of Savior and me as Lord High Bungler! I could hear my brothers' laughter already. When it comes, it will be audible all the way from Sarois.'
'But you did cooperate?' Blanche said. 'You went along with his deception?'
Sartaq spat out another date pit. 'I had no choice, Aunt. There was no other plan in sight, and I was
