Evanthya straightened, removing her hand from the wall and taking a long breath. Then she went in search of her duke.
She found him near the north barbican, speaking with the master mason. Seeing her approach, he said something else to the man before walking toward her. “First Minister! I’m glad to see you. I was about to have you summoned.”
“Has something happened, my lord?”
He shook his head, looking grim. “No. But I believe the time has come for me to pay a visit to Numar and Grestos. I’d like you with me.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“I thought we might wish to speak with the archminister as well, but I wanted to ask your opinion before we did.”
Her first thought was that Pronjed might know something of Fetnalla’s whereabouts. She and her love had long wondered if the archminister was a traitor; Fetnalla and Brall had even speculated that Pronjed was behind the strange death of King Carden the Third, though this would have meant that the man possessed mind-bending magic, one of the rarest and deepest Qirsi powers.
In the next moment, however, she realized that no matter what the archminister might know, they would find it nearly impossible to pry the truth from him. If he did, in fact, possess delusion magic, he would be able to lie to them without detection.
“I doubt there’s much to be gained by speaking with him, my lord.”
“You fear him.”
“I do. But it’s more than that.” She faltered. Even a duke as tolerant of Qirsi as Tebeo would be horrified to hear of mind-bending power. It was not a magic most Qirsi discussed freely, for it exemplified all that the nobles of the Forelands feared about her people. It facilitated deception and allowed sorcerers to control the thoughts and actions of unwitting Eandi. “He might tell us a great deal, but determining what to believe and what to dismiss will be next to impossible.”
The duke smiled. “Come now, First Minister. I think that between the two of us, we can discern most of his lies.”
“No, my lord, we can’t. Pronjed may have delusion magic. Brall and Fetnalla both thought so, and I’ve wondered for some time now.”
“Delusion?”
“Mind-bending. Delusion is what we Qirsi call it, because it makes it possible for one Qirsi to lie convincingly to another.”
“Ah, yes. I remember now. They thought he had killed Carden.”
“Yes, my lord. And I’ve thought it possible that he used his magic to get information from me when he and the regent came to Dantrielle a few turns back.”
His eyes widened slightly. “You never told me that.”
“I didn’t know for certain, my lord. I still don’t. I told you all that I could about the conversation itself, but I was afraid to say more.”
Tebeo pressed his lips into a thin line, eyeing her grimly. After a few moments he shook his head. “I don’t care what powers the man possesses. I want to speak with him. Brall and Fetnalla also believed he might be with the conspiracy-as I rememberit, you did as well. I need to learn what I can from him.”
She knew better than to argue the point further. “Yes, my lord.”
He started toward the prison tower, walking so swiftly that Evanthya nearly had to run to keep pace. The tower was brightly lit with torches and well guarded; Tebeo had stationed three times the normal number of men there since Numar’s capture. The men let Tebeo and Evanthya pass, of course, and four of them began to follow the duke up the stairs.
“No,” Tebeo said. “We’ll speak with the regent in private.”
One of the men, a captain, shook his head. “But, my lord-”
“He’s in chains, isn’t he?”
“Well, yes, but-”
“Then we have nothing to fear from him.” The man’s brow remained creased. “I’m armed, Captain,” the duke said, putting a hand to the hilt of his blade. “And I’ll have the first minister with me.”
Not that my powers will do us any good. She kept this thought to herself, and a moment later the captain relented, leaving Tebeo and Evanthya to climb the tower stairs on their own.
The guard outside the regent’s chamber unlocked the door for the duke and the first minister, but remained in the corridor when they entered. Numar stood at the far end of the round chamber, shackled to the stone wall, his uniform torn and soiled, his hair, normally the color of wheat, now matted and dark. Yet even amid the filth, a prisoner in his enemy’s castle, the regent held himself straight and tall, with the regal bearing of a man who thought himself king.
“Come to gloat, Tebeo?” Numar said, a sardonic smile springing to his lips and then vanishing just as quickly.
“I didn’t want this war, Lord Rembrere, and I take no satisfaction in its ending. Too many men were lost on both sides.”
“A fine sentiment, Tebeo, but you don’t fool me. You and your friends have been hoping for an end to the Solkaran Supremacy for some time now. I can’t believe you aren’t celebrating its downfall.”
The duke glared at him, his eyes glittering like dark crystal in the torch fire. “Believe what you will. I don’t give a damn. I’ve come to inform you that messengers have been dispatched to the other houses informing them of your defeat and imprisonment and asking the other dukes to Dantrielle for a meeting of the council.”
“You intend to claim the throne for yourself and your sons.”
“Actually, I don’t. I’m not certain who will be chosen as the next king. But I know it won’t be you or your brother.”
“And what about Kalyi? Are you willing to deny her the throne as well? Where is the justice in that, Tebeo? She’s but a child. She had nothing to do with this.”
The duke shook his head, disbelief and disgust mingling on his round features. “You bastard. You wage war on my house in her name, using your power as regent to tear apart our realm. And you have the gall to blame me for the end of your damned supremacy?”
“You’re the one who defied me, Tebeo. You’re a traitor, and before this is over, I’ll do everything in my power to see that you hang for your betrayal.”
The duke smiled, the cruelest, most terrible smile Evanthya had ever seen on his lips. “You’d need the council behind you to do that, Lord Rembrere, and I already have five votes out of nine. Six if you count the new duke of Bistari-surely you can’t think that he’ll vote with you on anything of substance.” He shook his head again. “No, if one of us is going to hang, it will be you. The second Renbrere to hang in less than a year. Poor Henthas is going to be rather lonely.”
The regent had paled, though he stood just as tall, his eyes narrowed. “You’re weakening us. You know that, don’t you? We have an opportunity to destroy Eibithar, to make our kingdom stronger than it’s ever been. And you’re choosing this moment to end the supremacy. It almost seems that you want us to fail, Tebeo. That won’t be lost on the others.”
“You weakened us, Numar, not I. You entered into this foolish alliance with the empire-”
“The alliance is the source of our strength!”
“The alliance is a mistake! Eibithar isn’t our enemy, at least not the one that matters! Neither is Caerisse, nor Sanbira, nor Wethyrn! The Qirsi renegades are the real threat, and anything that distracts us from fighting them puts all the realm at risk. A wiser leader would have realized this. But you’re besotted with the idea of making war on the Eibitharians. And in pursuit of this folly, you’ve divided our army and set house against house.”
“I don’t have to listen to this!” The regent turned his head to the side. Evanthya had the feeling that he would have turned his back on them were it not for his shackles. “Leave me! Leave me at once!”
Evanthya thought that her duke would refuse, that he would continue to berate the man. That was what she would have done. But Tebeo merely stared at the regent for a few moments, watching as Numar’s jaw clenched and his chest rose and fell. Then he turned and stepped to the door, gesturing for the first minister to do the same. The guard opened the door, allowing them back into the corridor before closing it again and turning the latch key.