I swallowed the end of my drink and left the study, and walked down the corridor to the library to look it up. The most recent copy of Peerage of the Realm I could find had been printed five years ago, but according to that there was a husband by the name of Wilhelm who was father to the Princess Crown Royal. He was styled Prince Consort, apparently. Assuming he was still alive, that meant he would become regent until his daughter was of age. The princess had been the royal couple’s only offspring at the time the book was written, I noted, and as our late queen had been past her fortieth year at the time of the birth I suspected there had been no more children after her.
I may not know much about such things, but that the royal house had only a single direct heir seemed troubling to me. Perhaps the queen had married late in life or their majesties had struggled to conceive, I really wouldn’t know, but I knew it made that little girl’s life the most precious thing in the country right then. I could only hope Lord Vogel and his organisation would protect her better than they had the queen.
I was angry, I realised. Not angry that the queen was dead, as such, for I’d had no great love for this royal woman I had never set eyes on. She had condemned me and nearly everyone I knew to the Hell that was Abingon, after all, and that was a hard thing to forgive. No, it was more the simple fact that it had happened when the organisation I served, the Queen’s Men, existed primarily to ensure that such a thing was impossible. Someone, I thought, had fucked up very badly.
That, or there were traitors in the royal palace.
I stood in the library and thought on that for a moment, and I remembered how Borys had betrayed me and the Pious Men the previous year. I remembered what I had done to Borys, and I could only wonder what Vogel would do to any traitors he uncovered in Dannsburg.
That was a thought to keep a man awake at night and no mistake.
I pushed the notion away and returned to my study to pen a reply to Vogel’s letter.
My esteemed uncle,
I am greatly saddened to learn of Mother’s death. I shall inform those younger members of the family who are closest to me, and as soon as my seat here is in safe hands we will make haste to join you at home.
Your loyal nephew,
Tomas
That looked about right, as far as I understood how such things were supposed to be phrased. Rosie would have known better than I did, but she was away in the house on Chandler’s Narrow and the hour was late by then. She would probably be with Anne, and I didn’t want to disturb them that night. I heated wax over the flame of the lamp and closed the letter with the governor’s seal, then rang for a footman to take it to Caelyn. She would be gone by first light, I was sure.
I was surprised to find Billy still in the drawing room when I returned to get another brandy before retiring for the night. Mina had presumably gone to bed, but the lad was sitting there waiting up for me.
‘Something’s happened,’ he said at once. ‘What is it? Is it word of Mama?’
I sighed.
‘No, lad,’ I said. ‘No, it’s not that. I’m sure your ma’s well, wherever she may be.’
It was hard to keep the bitterness out of my voice, but I tried for Billy’s sake. He still loved Ailsa as a mother, I knew that, and it would be ill done of me to speak badly of her to him.
‘There’s something, though,’ he said, and I could tell he wasn’t going to let it pass.
‘Aye, there is,’ I said.
I crossed to the side table and refilled my glass, then sat in a chair across from him and fixed him with a look.
‘What is it, Papa?’ he asked again.
‘It’s business, Billy,’ I said after a moment. ‘The other sort, I mean.’
‘Dannsburg business.’
‘Aye, lad, it’s that.’
I made a decision then, one that I will remember for the rest of my life. I told him, and thus included him in those closest, and in what that would mean in the times to come.
I may never forgive myself for that.
‘You’re my son, Billy. You’re my family. I know I can trust you with this. You know what I do, don’t you? Aside from the governorship, I mean. Aside from the Pious Men.’
‘You work for the queen,’ Billy said at once.
‘That I do,’ I said. ‘It’s . . . more complicated than that, but aye, I work for the queen. Well, here’s the lay of things. The queen is dead, Billy. That’s what the messenger came to tell me, but you can’t breathe a word of that to anyone. Do you understand me? No one, not even Mina. Tomorrow I’ll tell Bloody Anne and Fat Luka, and in a week or two someone will come to Ellinburg from the capital and then they’ll be governor here instead of me. I won’t be governor any more because I have to go back to Dannsburg, and I’ll be taking Anne and Luka and Rosie with me. Do you want to come with us?’
‘Yes, Papa,’ he said at once, and never for a moment did he hesitate in his answer. ‘Me and Mina, we’ll both come.’
‘You can’t tell Mina,’ I said again. ‘I’m sorry, lad, but she can’t come, and there it is.’
‘But Papa, she’s got nowhere else
