‘I see,’ I said.
I left the question unspoken, and Ailsa chose not to answer it.
It didn’t take a great deal of intellect to see who would be providing that guidance.
Chapter 11
‘I want to see Mama.’
I looked at Billy, and sighed.
‘Aye, lad, I know you do,’ I said.
It was late afternoon, and the sounds floating in from the streets outside the Bountiful Harvest were frankly astonishing. I’d been trying to sleep but I’d had to give it up for a bad job, and now I was back downstairs in the private dining room with Fat Luka and the lad. Anne was somehow asleep in her room despite the noise outside. I could hear wailing and keening, a public outpouring of shock and grief that was nothing short of ridiculous.
The queen herself led a full military triumph through the city when victory in the south was announced, and the cheers all but reached heaven itself. Everyone rejoiced in the streets, and do you know why? There were agents of the crown spread throughout the crowd to lead those cheers, and Queen’s Men to note the names of any who did not join in.
I remembered Ailsa’s father telling me that the previous year, in hushed tones that said he was fearful of his own servants overhearing him, perhaps informing on him.
In Dannsburg, you show respect to the crown. You show your love for the queen publicly and loudly and often, or you disappear and are never seen again.
It seemed you showed grief the same way, if you knew what was good for you.
‘So can I come? To the palace, I mean?’
‘Aye, I suppose so,’ I said. ‘Half the city will be there, mind, and I don’t know we’ll get anywhere near her, but aye. You can come if you want.’
‘Thanks, Papa,’ he said, and showed me a grin that I hadn’t seen on his face for far too long.
A thought struck me just then.
‘Billy,’ I said, ‘listen to me for a moment. I don’t know exactly how it will be, at the palace. I might just be out in the crowd with everyone else but I might not, you understand. If I have to go inside and talk to some people, people that I work with, then you keep absolutely quiet, do you understand me? Luka will be coming as well, and if we get separated then you stick with Luka and you come back here and wait for me. Will you do that for me?’
‘Yes, Papa,’ he said. ‘Is there going to be trouble?’
I thought of Iagin, and how he must have spent his day.
There will be no unrest.
‘No,’ I said. ‘No, I don’t think so, but there’s going to be a fuck of a lot of people and that’s always a danger in itself. You stick with Luka, you both hear me?’
‘Aye, boss,’ Luka said.
‘Yes, Papa,’ Billy said again, and I nodded.
I was probably worrying about nothing, of course, but then parents do that where their children are concerned and Billy was my son in every way that mattered. Luka would look after him, I knew that. Anne would be coming as well, but I wanted her with me.
If there was trouble, I definitely wanted Anne with me. The right person for the right job, always, and Bloody Anne was a fucking force of nature in a close-quarters fight.
That was how she had earned her name in the first place, back in Messia.
*
Sunset saw us standing in the parade ground before the palace, along with half of fucking Dannsburg. If Ailsa was there then I had no idea where, but no doubt she was. Inside the palace somewhere, I could only assume. I could have got in there myself, of course, but not with Billy and probably not with Anne or Luka, either. The crush of the crowd was overpowering, and Billy and Anne and me were actually holding hands to keep together as the surge of humanity moved around us like a living thing. Luka just was, beside me, his bulk like an immovable rock in the swirling tide of people.
The keening and wailing of the afternoon had died away to a low murmur of expectation, but the great banners that flew all across the city were standing at half-staff and there wasn’t a man, woman or child in that crowd without a black sash or armband of mourning. The death of a queen was a serious thing, and even more so when no one could ever be sure who was watching them.
‘What’s happening, Papa?’ Billy asked beside me, having to raise his voice to make himself heard.
‘The Prince Regent is about to show himself, to assure us everything will be all right,’ I said, as much for the benefit of those around me as anything else.
The Queen’s Men have no uniform or insignia, and as far as those around me were concerned I was just another reasonably wealthy-looking member of the general public. No one gave me a second look, standing there holding hands with my son. If Anne drew any stares, and perhaps she did in her men’s coat and britches, then the long scar on her face and the daggers at her belt were enough to tell folk to be wise and hold their peace about it. My bodyguard, perhaps they thought, some mercenary from the war years. Those were common enough among the middle classes in those days.
‘When?’ Billy said, obviously growing bored and restless.
I glanced up towards the balcony just as a great number of footmen with lanterns in their hands emerged
