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spell-beleaguered Queen, who had insisted on pressing for her ladyship s execution. Her ladyship s own
son, who, until Carthage struck and he desperately needed her help, had seemed perfectly willing to see
her executed if it meant he got to wed his princess.
Yet her ladyship and Solon were aiding him.
Love makes fools of us all, I supposed. Solon loved her ladyship. And she loved her son Imriel,
and bore a strong measure of guilt in the bargain. I d heard the tales of what he d suffered as a child, and
I had to own, it sounded awful.
One had to wonder about him.
I knew what slavery had done to Sunjata. It had made him bitter. And as much as I loved his
caustic wit, there were times when I wondered what he would have been like if he d not been taken.
He d come from a line of warriors. He remembered his father dressing for battle, tall and strong, laughing
deep in his chest. Teaching him to throw a spear, to lift his heavy shield. I knew how much it hurt Sunjata
that that had been taken from him. One skirmish gone awry, and his father was dead and he d become
chattel.
Imriel . . . Imriel was different.
Well, of course he hadn t been gelded. Two quick cuts of a slaver s knife, and good-bye to the
ballocks. Small wonder Sunjata was bitter. He d been eleven years old. But from what I d heard about
the mad ruler of Drujan, Imriel had cause of his own to harbor soul-twisting bitterness, ballocks or no.
And I hadn t sensed that in him.
Anger, yes. Of course he was angry. Either Astegal of Carthage had stolen his beloved, or he d
been unexpectedly thwarted in playing a very, very deep game to place himself on the throne of Terre
d Ange. I wondered which was true. If it was the latter, he played it very well.
But then, he was her ladyship s son.
Such were the intriguing puzzles that occupied my mind during my voyage to Carthage.
I pored over the manifest, making notes in my mind about which items were suitable for what
purpose. Good hard coin was always suitable for a bribe, and I d need a fair bit of it to set myself up
with a decent household. There were various baubles and trinkets that might suffice for lesser
personages. I might need them to gain access. Access to the Dauphine Sidonie, access to the magus
Bodeshmun. Access, in time, to Astegal himself. I went over the things that Solon had told me.
So much to be done.
There was a very fine chess set listed in the manifest, with jeweled pieces of onyx and ivory.
That, I decided, was meant for the princess. It was an excellent opening gambit. Once the opportunity to
present it was established, I could offer to match wits with her and enjoy a game together.
Sidonie.
My thoughts kept returning to her. I couldn t help but wonder what she was like. Weak-minded,
I thought. Surely, to fall so thoroughly under the influence of her ladyship s son and then to abandon
him for Astegal she must be weak-minded.
Well and good.
Weakness could be plied, most especially when it failed to know itself. In Astegal s absence, I
would ply her. I would woo her. I would find her fault-lines and break her wide open, gently turning her
against herself or at least against Bodeshmun s spell. After all, it was for her own good, more or less.
Gods, that was an intoxicating thought.
And Imriel deserved it.
That was another thought I d never dare voice in his presence nor her ladyship s. It was true,
though. What manner of son sought his own mother s life? Oh, I knew what she d done, or at least what
the world claimed she had done. They didn t grasp the scope of her vision. And Melisande Shahrizai had
kept her word, at least to the Maignard clan. The rest of the world couldn t claim as much. When her
ladyship gave her word, she meant it.
Always.
I will make you proud, my lady, I vowed aloud.
And to myself, I vowed silently that I would succeed on my own terms. I liked, very much, the
idea of being the lynch-pin of this mad scheme. The thought of bringing down Carthage single-handedly
made me shiver to the marrow of my bones. But too, I relished the thought of cuckolding Imriel de la
Courcel. Of exposing him as a hypocrite, mayhap even excising her ladyship s single weakness. Him.
Once I had ensconced myself betwixt the Dauphine s thighs, that would do it. I d strip her bare
of Astegal s token. I d claim her, albeit temporarily, for my own. I d plunder her to the core and make
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