There was talk of erratic behavior, though Hecht never faced it during his visits. He did see the harsh consequences suffered by some who managed to displease their Empress.
The same period saw the Princess Apparent growing ever more frightened. She told Hecht, “She’s worse than she was when she sent me off to die in exile. It’s only a matter of time before she turns on me. On all of us, eventually. Nothing we do will change that.”
Hecht wished he could reassure her. But the Empress he saw in meetings was not the Empress others saw when he was not around. There was plenty of smoke to give that fire away.
“Piper, she’s clever at covering it, but my sister is quite mad.”
“Maybe. You should be less melodramatic, though. The walls have ears.” Katrin kept setting up situations where they might think they were alone. But someone was watching. Possibly Katrin herself.
There were ugly whispers about the Empress ordering persons from the court to couple while she watched.
That, Hecht suspected, was enemy talk. Somebody wanted to paint Katrin in a repulsive array of colors. But caution would not hurt.
Helspeth whispered, “We need an exorcist. Something dark got into Katrin that night. It’s taking over.”
“Which night?”
“When she had the baby. Don’t be an idiot.”
“The night she… But… I thought…”
“What?”
“That you took a dead baby and made the whole business up. To stop her self-delusion.”
“You really did?”
“Of course I did. That’s what a lot of people think. While admiring how well all of you in the conspiracy have held your tongues.”
“Understand this, Lord Commander of the Righteous. One last time. It was real. Katrin’s pregnancy, Katrin’s delivery, Katrin’s baby. All real. I was there. I saw that thing come out. It was awful. The midwives made it look a lot better before they put it in the coffin. They were terrified. They kept babbling about sorcery and the Night.”
“Hold on.” Even now Hecht had trouble believing in Katrin’s pregnancy. “Any chance somebody besides Jaime could have been the father?”
“Piper! None! How dare you…”
“It’s a process. Seduction of the truth. Save your indignation. So. Before, your sister was rude, self-centered, uncaring, and bullheaded. Everything we admire in a monarch once they’re safely dead. But now she’s more of all that, and crazy religious besides.”
“Yes. She lives according to her faith. As she sees it. But what she sees keeps changing and getting uglier.”
“If she’s devout, then she didn’t have knowing congress with the Night. That she birthed a monster wouldn’t be her doing.”
“Wrong! Of course it’s her fault. She let that animal Jaime spill his seed inside her. She wanted him to. She begged him to.”
“It wasn’t a match ordained in Heaven.” Hecht looked around hard. Where would an eavesdropper be lurking? Along with what else?
He tried to caution Helspeth with a hand sign.
She forged on. “For Katrin it was. It still is. She’s blind about Jaime. Say something against him and you’re on her bad side for sure. I loathe myself for it, but I feed her fantasy.”
Hecht had trouble staying with the discussion. Just sitting there, frightened, Helspeth distracted him. She stumbled over her words. “It’s different when something really could happen. Consequences start rattling around inside my head.”
“It’s not naughty letters to somebody hundreds of miles away anymore.”
“The consequences…”
“Could be awful. Could be deadly.”
“Katrin talks about it every time I see her.”
Hecht frowned. And stared. And could think of no response.
“It’s her new way to torture me. She couldn’t enjoy my misery when she sent me to Runjan. This she can. She asks embarrassing questions in front of people.”
Hecht sighed. An enduring fantasy seemed doomed to a humiliating demise.
“She’s looking for a husband for me again, too.”
“You’d expect that. Now that she isn’t carrying the next Emperor. She’ll feel more insecure.”
“I did expect it. It took her longer than I thought. I did good looking out for her and her interests. She needed time to find some arcane way to think that was all a plot.”
Still concerned about eavesdroppers, Hecht said nothing.
Helspeth understood. “I just wish there was some way to make Katrin understand that I’m not her enemy.”
Her good intentions could be irrelevant. The Princess Apparent was not just a person, she was a symbol. She represented a ready alternative to an unpopular monarch.
Helspeth changed the subject. “How’s your wound? Can you go to the field?”
“Do you know something?” Spring was not far off. Hecht had men training to help with the floods. If they came. They did, three years out of five. “I still have some pain when I’m not careful.”
“Katrin might be thinking about using you against her critics.”
“Not a good idea.”
“Oh?”
“It’d create more problems than it could possibly solve.” Stated for the possible audience.
Using foreign hirelings against her own nobility would enrage the whole class, who resented the central authority already.
“And if she orders you?”
“I’ll carry out my orders. After I do my best to explain why there must be a better way.”
Helspeth winked. “We haven’t gotten much done. But you’d better go. I can’t restrain myself much longer. I don’t want to reduce my market value yet.”
“Nor do I.” Inasmuch as that would be a lapse of trust on a par with outright treason.
Even Titus Consent seemed to be hoping for salacious news. “It was just another meeting, troops. Nothing for any of you. Though I did gather that our employer’s reason is slipping. You all go on to bed. Except you, Titus.” Alone with Consent, he said, “Katrin is thinking about giving us crazy orders once the weather turns.”
“Not good, considering the foreign situation.”
“You’ve had news?” Having no regular contact with Heris or Cloven Februaren left him feeling blind.
“I had two reports today. Just coincidence, that. One came from Arnhand, the other out of the Eastern Empire.”
“Bad news?”
“It could be. In Arnhand they’re preparing a massive invasion of the Connec. Anne of Menand bought a truce with Santerin by giving King Brill most of what he claims is his.”
“Guaranteeing bigger trouble there, someday. And it doesn’t bode well for our friends down south, now.”
“I’m sure Anne had her fingers crossed. She’ll turn on Santerin as soon as Arnhand controls the wealth of the Connec.”
“Probably. And King Brill deserves it if he lets her get away with it.”
“Anne hasn’t bought the Empress off, though.”
“Uhn.” Hecht thought he might suggest that Katrin just overlook whatever her frontier barons did to take advantage of Anne’s Connecten preoccupation.
“But the other report is the real bad news. Krulik and Sneigon have begun offering their weapons and firepowder. The Eastern Emperor and Indala al-Sul Halaladin have shown a lot of interest.”
“Not good from our point of view.”
