Because they’re Eandi and you’re Qirsi. She couldn’t say it, of course. She couldn’t even believe she was thinking it. But there it was. With the conspiracy killing nobles throughout the seven realms, she realized that she would have been more willing to trust Eandi assassins than her mother’s first minister.
Kreazur seemed to sense the truth that lay behind her silence. He turned to Sertio.
“And you, my lord. Do you believe me a traitor as well?”
“I don’t want to, First Minister. Please believe that. But the men who attacked Diani used Brugaosan arrows and had their heads shaved like-”
“Father!”
He stared at her briefly, until Diani finally lowered her gaze.
“They had their heads shaved as Brugaosan warriors do.”
Kreazur shook his head. “The Brugaosans wouldn’t risk a war by killing the duchess. They have too much to lose.”
“Precisely,” the duke said. “Which leaves us with the conspiracy.”
“I see. But there are other Qirsi in Castle Curlinte. Why assume that I’m the traitor?”
“Because no other Qirsi in Curlinte wields as much influence,” she said, rounding on him. “Because no one else knows as much about my habits. Because no other Qirsi is paid so well, or is more likely to have allies throughout the Forelands.”
“So it’s precisely because I’m first minister. My reward for serving your mother so well is to be the most suspect in your eyes?” He shook his head. “That makes no sense at all!”
“Perhaps not to you. It seems perfectly reasonable to me. To whom else would the leaders of this conspiracy turn?”
“Even if they had turned to me, my lady, I would have refused them. If you can’t see that, then you’re far less wise than your mother believed.”
She felt her face color. “How dare you!”
“First Minister,” her father broke in, “perhaps you should leave us for a time so that I might speak with the duchess alone. We’ll summon you again shortly.”
“No!” Diani said, her wounds throbbing. Had that healer done anything more than close her skin? “He’s not to leave, at least not alone.”
“Diani!”
“I’m duchess now, Father-such matters fall to my discretion. Under Sanbiri law an attempt on my life is tantamount to an assault on our castle; it is, in essence, a declaration of war, and I intend to treat it as such.”
“A declaration by whom?” the minister asked.
“By the conspiracy. You yourself said that the Brugaosans wouldn’t have done this-and I came to the same conclusion while their arrows were still in my flesh.” She turned toward the door. “Guards!” she called.
An instant later the door opened and two guards entered the chamber.
“Yes, my lady?”
“I want the first minister taken to the prison tower.”
The Qirsi gaped at her. “What?”
She ignored him, keeping her gaze on the guards, who were eyeing the minister with manifest unease. As large and powerful as these men appeared, she knew that they feared Qirsi magic. She also knew, however, that Kreazur posed no real danger to them. Like most Qirsi, he was weak, and though he wielded powerful magic’s gleaning, mists and winds, language of beasts-they were not of a type to harm the soldiers.
“He can’t hurt you,” she said. “He wears a dagger on his belt, but I doubt you’ll have any trouble taking it from him.”
“You can’t do this!” the minister said, a plea in his golden eyes.
Her father took a step toward her. “He’s right, Diani. You mustn’t go through with this. We don’t know for certain that any Qirsi was involved. Imprisoning Kreazur won’t accomplish anything. Indeed, for all we know, you’re punishing an innocent man. That isn’t the Curlinte way.”
“What am I supposed to do, Father? Pretend that nothing happened today? Wait for them to try again?”
“The men who attacked you are lying, my lady,” Kreazur said. “I had nothing to do with this. Don’t you see? They’re trying to weaken House Curlinte by sowing distrust between us.”
Diani and her father exchanged a look.
“You should at least tell him the truth,” Sertio said, his voice flat.
She cast a quick look at the Qirsi.
His entire body appeared to sag. “You were lying. You haven’t captured the men. You’re acting on your mistrust and nothing more.”
She stepped to the hearth, her back to the soldiers and her minister. “Take him to the tower. He’s to be treated well. Fresh food from the kitchens, as many blankets as he needs, and whatever else he requests, within reason.”
“Yes, my lady.”
“You’re making a terrible mistake, Duchess. Even if these men were paid with Qirsi gold, it didn’t come from me. Imprisoning me will only deny you a faithful servant and make you that much more vulnerable when they make their next attempt on your life. I could help you find the traitor in your castle, if only you’d let me. But like a willful child you heed no counsel but your own. I fear for you, my lady. But mostly, I fear for Curlinte.”
“Take him now!” she said, steel in her voice.
“Yes, my lady.”
She heard the minister turn, the rustling of his robes like dried leaves in a chill wind. A moment later the door closed, and she and her father were alone once more.
Diani turned to him, allowing her anger to show on her features. “You shouldn’t contradict me like that, Father. Certainly not in front of my men. Mother is gone and I’m duchess now.”
“No one knows that better than I, Diani. And I’ll show you as much deference as I did her. But when your mother acted the fool, I was always the first person to tell her so. And I’ll do no less with you.”
“Kreazur is a traitor.”
“You don’t know that! You don’t know anything for certain!”
“I know that I nearly died today!”
He grimaced. “Yes. And I know how frightened you are. To be honest, I am as well.”
She wanted to deny it, to tell him that she wasn’t afraid, that she truly believed this the best way to meet the Qirsi threat. But the words wouldn’t come, and he probably wouldn’t have believed them anyway.
“But fear doesn’t justify this,” he went on. “A leader who acts out of fear and suspicion is far more likely to make mistakes. Kreazur is right: there may be a traitor in the castle. And who better to find the real renegade among your Qirsi than the first minister?”
Listening to her father, she suddenly knew what she would do to fight her enemies. She wouldn’t have considered such a thing before today, but as long as she lived she would remember the sensation of that first arrow piercing her flesh. She was not the same woman she had been yesterday.
“I don’t need Kreazur’s help,” she said.
Sertio raised an eyebrow. “No?”
“Are there any shapers among the healers and other ministers?”
Her father hesitated. “I don’t believe so. Why?”
“Because I intend to confine all the Qirsi to the prison tower until I find the traitor, and I don’t want any of them shattering the walls that hold them.”
Sertio stared at her for so long without responding that Diani began to wonder if he had even heard her. At last, though, he shook his head and looked away, his brow creased.
“I had wondered when it would come to this, when Eandi nobles would begin imprisoning Qirsi for no more reason than the color of their eyes. But I never believed that Curlinte would be first. I certainly never thought it would be you who started it.”
Chapter Four
Even after walked Diani back to her own chamber, urging her to sleep and silently hoping that a night’s rest would clear her mind, so that she might recognize the danger of what she had done, Sertio did not return to his bed. There would be no sleeping this night, certainly not until he had received word from the soldiers searching Curlinte Moor.
First Cyro, then Dalvia. And today someone-the Brugaosans, or the Qirsi, or some enemy they didn’t know-had tried to take Diani from him as well. He should have been enraged, but all he felt was afraid. Losing his son had scored his heart. Losing his wife had left him empty and joyless. Sometimes he wondered if he would ever find a way to laugh again. But losing Diani. . He shook his head as if to rid himself of the very notion. Losing his daughter would kill him.