The duchess blinked, then glanced at the master of arms. Ohan was blushing to the tips of his ears, his dark eyes fixed on the ground. He was tall and lean, with the shoulders and chest of a warrior, but at that moment he resembled nothing so much as a shy boy. Quite suddenly Diani understood that Ohan and the queen were in love, or close to it. The young duchess, her own cheeks growing hot, stared at the queen, who gazed back at her placidly.
“But, Your Highness, it could be dangerous.” She wasn’t quite sure what she was warning Olesya against, but still she forged on. “I believe it would be best if I accompanied you-”
“Diani, think for a moment. Don’t you think that Ohan is capable of protecting me? He is, after all, the finest swordsman in the land.”
“With the possible exception of your father,” the master of arms added hastily.
“Of course, but-”
“Rest, Diani. Go find Naditia. She’s been riding with Edamo and Alao all day. I’m sure she’d be grateful for your company.”
The duchess looked away, feeling foolish. “Yes, Your Highness. Enjoy your walk.”
“Thank you. We will.”
The two of them strolled off, leaving Diani alone with her embarrassment. After standing there for several moments, she decided that she would seek out the duchess of Macharzo as Olesya had suggested. She and Naditia had never been close, but if Diani had been forced to spend the entire day with the dukes of Norinde and Brugaosa, she would have been grateful for any companionship at all. She had just started walking in Naditia’s direction, however, when she saw Abeni speaking with one of the other Qirsi. As she drew nearer to them, she realized that it was Macharzo’s first minister. It was perfect-just the excuse she needed to intrude.
She walked to where they stood, noting that they fell silent at her approach.
“Forgive the interruption, Archminister, but I was wondering if the first minister could tell me where I might find her duchess.”
“You’re not interrupting at all, my lady,” Abeni said pleasantly.
But the other woman regarded her cautiously, overlarge yellow eyes staring out from a small, thin face, so that she looked more like a waif than a minister.
“I believe she’s down beside the river, my lady,” the first minister said at last. “That’s where I saw her last.”
“Thank you.” Diani faced Abeni again, scouring her mind for anything that she might say to prolong their conversation and learn what the two women had been discussing.
“Is there anything else, my lady?” the archminister asked, eyeing Diani as if she thought the duchess simple.
“Actually,” she said, “I’ve been wondering if you’ve given any more thought to the questions my father and I asked you while we were still in Yserne.”
She sensed the woman’s annoyance. “You mean about traitors in the queen’s court?”
“Yes.”
“I’m afraid, my lady, that I have little more to tell you than I did the last time we spoke of this. After Kreazur’s death, I tried to think of who in Yserne might have been working with him, but I hadn’t cause to suspect any of the Qirsi in our court. That hasn’t changed.”
“A pity.” She glanced at the other woman. “And you, First Minister?”
“My lady?”
“Well, surely you’ve heard of the attacks on me, and the death of my first minister.”
The minister nodded, her expression revealing little. “Yes, I did, my lady. I was horrified, as was all of Macharzo.”
“I’m sure. And since then, has anything happened to make you question the loyalty of the Qirsi in your duchess’s castle?”
“No, my lady. But then, that’s not my way.”
Diani narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?”
The woman faltered. “Nothing, my lady,” she said, shaking her head. “Forgive me. I should have simply answered your question and left it at that.”
“But you didn’t. And I want to know what you meant.”
The minister glanced at Abeni, but the archminister was staring at the ground, her lips pursed. “It just seems to me that you’ve allowed the treachery of one minister to color your perceptions of all Qirsi. I wouldn’t do that.”
Diani knew that she should have been enraged. This might not have been her own Qirsi speaking to her so, but the woman was just a minister and Diani was a duchess. Instead she felt like crying. The criticism stung too much for her to respond at all. Hadn’t her father said the same thing to her before she left Yserne with Olesya’s army? Hadn’t the queen herself done so as well? Here she had thought to trick these women into revealing something of themselves, and all she had done was give them cause to hate her and question her motives.
“Yes, well, you shouldn’t presume to judge me, First Minister. If the attempt had been made on your life, you might feel differently.”
She knew that this made little sense, but she didn’t care. She only wished to be away from them, and without another word, she stalked off toward the river, her face flushed with shame. Diani no longer felt much like speaking with Naditia, but she had asked the minister where to look for the duchess, and she couldn’t very well walk in the opposite direction.
She found Naditia sitting on a large stone by the water’s edge, staring up at the rim of the steppe, a large hand raised to her brow to shield her eyes from the sun. Seeing Diani approach, she stood, looking uncomfortable, as though she wished to be alone.
“Forgive the intrusion, Lady Macharzo.”
“Not at all. Has something happened?”
“No. The queen told me you might like some company after spending the day with the dukes.”
Naditia smiled at that. She was a large woman, built more like a man, and a powerful one at that. Her features were blunt, her yellow hair cropped short. It was said that she favored her father, and that this was unfortunate, for her mother, the old duchess of Macharzo, had been quite beautiful. But her smile softened her face, even made her pretty, in a coarse way.
“If I’m disturbing you, I’ll go.”
Naditia sat again, shaking her head. “It’s all right.”
Diani found a stone on which to sit, and gazed up at the steppe. Much of the cliff face was shrouded in shadow, but she could make out the rocky crags and gnarled old trees that lined the top. Swifts darted along the edge of the bluff, chasing one another in tight circles and veering so suddenly that it took her breath away just to watch them.
“The dukes weren’t that bad,” the duchess said after a long silence, her eyes still fixed on the ridge. “They mostly just talked to each other and ignored me.”
Others might have been offended by this, but Naditia, Diani knew, was so painfully shy that she probably was grateful.
“Well, I’m glad to hear that. But I’m certain that if you wanted to ride with the queen tomorrow, she’d be pleased to have you join us. I know I would.”
The woman smiled again, glancing at Diani just for an instant, then shaking her head. “Thanks, but I should ride with my warriors.”
It was custom for the army of a lesser house to ride or march behind that of the queen. Because Macharzo was considered a weaker house than either Brugaosa or Norinde, Naditia’s warriors rode last in the column.
“I understand,” Diani said. “But I couldn’t do it. I’d rather ride alone than with Edamo and Alao.”
“If I was in your position I’d feel the same.”
“I’m not certain I know what you mean.”
Naditia looked panicked, as if she wished she hadn’t spoken. Why did everyone around her seem so afraid of making her angry?
“I shouldn’t have said that. I just was … I meant that with your brother … and then the attempt on your life. It’s no secret that Curlinte and Brugaosa have been enemies for a long time.”
