The Queen's Necklace (42 page)

White-faced and haggard in his gold brocade dressing-gown, Jarred threw himself down on his bed. “If I am to exist in a state of perpetual bereavement, and be forever putting things off—” With a nervous gesture, he lifted the damp hair off of his forehead. “What am I saying? Of course, you are right. Out of respect for my uncle's memory, we will delay the announcement until the end of summer.”

Lord Wittlesbeck was unable to conceal his surprise. “So soon? But I need not tell you that the traditional period of mourning for so near a relation—”

“—is a good deal longer than I am willing to wait!” Jarred gave a short, bitter laugh, embarrassed by his own behavior. It was hard to believe that an hour of love making could enslave a man so completely: rob him of every natural feeling, make him an object of revulsion and wonder to himself, a stranger to all who knew him. But so it was.

“The announcement at the end of the summer, and the wedding as soon after that as we can decently arrange it,” said the king. “I mean to be married before winter sets in.”

Mountfalcon—6 Germenal, 6538

T
he rain poured down in sheets and the sky was a dismal grey overhead, as a cumbersome old coach painted with a gentleman's arms splashed through the mud on the road to Hawkesbridge.

Inside, Sir Bastian Mather glanced across at his young companion, who was trying to keep up a brave front but had only succeeded, so far, in looking cold and miserable. The lumbering vehicle was only Lord Brakeburn's second-best coach, which leaked, and creaked, and was generally wretched—as Sir Bastian and Lili had learned as soon as the rain came down. But the selfish Lord Brakeburn had considered it good enough for his daughter's journey to Hawkesbridge.

Sir Bastian smiled encouragingly. “Captain Blackheart is expecting you to arrive today?”

“He has rented a very fine house near the Volary, and he has written to say that he'll wait for me there. But knowing Wilrowan, how impatient he is, I would hardly be surprised if he rode out to meet us.”

Sir Bastian frowned under his soft black hat. “Then I must stop off at Wellburn and travel by post from there. It is far better if Captain
Blackheart and I never meet in your company. We don't want him to suspect that you are visiting the city for a double purpose.”

Lili moved her fingers inside her fox-fur muff. They were cold and stiff. “It seems—it seems a great inconvenience to travel by post in such dirty weather. And why should Will think anything if he sees us together?”

“He would not think anything at first. But he may meet me later, when I am staying at Marlowe's, and there is no telling what he might think then.”

Lili drew a deep breath. “Of course. How stupid of me not to realize.” She laughed softly at her own mistake. “
That
is why Will left Brakeburn in such a hurry. He is searching for the Chaos Machine, the same as we are!”

“He was—while it still seemed possible the Jewel was in Mountfalcon.” The coach hit a series of ruts, and the old gentleman raised his voice in order to be heard over the rattling of the windows, the creaking of the ancient panels. Among its other deficiencies, the coach lacked springs and was hung on leather straps. “But having returned to his ordinary duties guarding the queen, he is unlikely to present a problem—or to guess what you are doing in Hawkesbridge yourself.”

Lili felt a sharp twinge of guilt. “Sir Bastian, I don't know what Aunt Allora has said to you, but Wilrowan is not a bad man. And if the king and queen are willing to put their faith in him, I don't see why we can't do the same.”

“I am far from doubting young Blackheart's good intentions. I am sure, Lilliana, you would never bestow your friendship on a truly wicked man. But it is his lack of discretion and self-regulation that could be absolutely fatal in this delicate matter.”

“Perhaps,” said Lili, still feeling troubled. Her teeth rattled as the coach passed over a large bump. “But it seems very odd to be working at cross-purposes with my own husband.” She sat staring out the
window, watching the wet grey countryside passing by. There was a certain irony in the fact that everyone kept saying she should not trust Will—who, whatever he had done, had never lied to her—while assuring her all along that it was perfectly proper to go on deceiving
him
.

“Lilliana,” said Sir Bastian, drawing her attention back from the window, “I understand this is going to be exceedingly awkward, that you will often feel torn by conflicting loyalties. It cannot be helped. You must simply regard this as another test.”

“Yes,” said Lili softly. “Another test.” But that put her in mind of something which had been troubling her for quite some time.

“Sir, perhaps it's not proper that I should ask this. But during my initiation, when I was in the underground temple, did I really do all those remarkable things? Or was it merely that the drugs in the wine made me
think
I was doing them?”

Sir Bastian smiled at her across the coach. “Did you walk on air, pass through solid wood, place your hand in the heart of a flame and emerge unscathed, drink deadly poison and survive?”

“Yes. Though I expect the poison was real enough. At least there I had my training as a healer to aid me.”

“Everything was exactly as you perceived it. You were in a state of extraordinary mental excitement and your powers were very great. But I would not, if I were you, attempt to do any of those things under
other
circumstances. The least distraction, even a momentary twinge of self-doubt, would cause you to fail, and that failure could cause your death.”

Lili sat up a little straighter in the leather seat, studied her companion with greater interest, realizing that he, too, had passed the very same tests.

He guessed what she was thinking. “Yes, my child, I have walked on air, done all of those things and many more besides. But never again after the first time. To try to do so, merely to prove that I still
could, would be exalting myself beyond what is right.”

Lili hesitated. “But then—I am not wrong in supposing that my initiation changed me? I feel as though all my senses have sharpened, as though I am more
aware
of things.” She stroked the squirrel-skin lap robe, which Sir Bastian had spread across her skirts earlier. “The way the fur feels under my fingers, the scent of wood smoke when we pass by a farmhouse.” She gave a deep sigh. “Even the dampness and discomfort of this interminable ride.”

“You are not wrong. The entire ordeal was meant to refine and sharpen your abilities, as well as to test you. And believe me, Lilliana, you are going to need all of the strength and the courage you demonstrated that night.” Drawing his hands out of his coat pockets, he leaned forward, caught up her hands in a warm, reassuring clasp, and spoke to her very earnestly. “Do you remember the moment of ecstatic surrender to magic and mystery? From this day on, you will be called on to surrender again and again, though never again in such a thrilling fashion, and never to be so pleasantly rewarded.

“More often than not,” he added, releasing his hold on her, “the only reward will be the necessity for further sacrifice. Do you think you can bear it? I must warn you that the tests you passed at your initiation were comparatively easy ones.”

Lili thought about that for a long time, sitting with her head bowed and her hands inside the fox-fur muff. “I will bear it, sir,” she answered at last, “because I must.”

The coach finally creaked to a halt outside the rented house in Hawkesbridge. Sir Bastian had stopped off at Wellburn as planned, and the last ten miles of the journey had been lonely and disheartening. Lili was glad to be home, even if home was this strange tall house on a narrow, climbing street, in an unfamiliar part of the town.

But when Will came out on the steps to meet her and escort her
inside, when his face lit up at the sight of her and her heart gave an unexpected leap at the sight of him, she realized, with a pang, that the task before her was going to be harder than she had imagined.

Will looked very well in his green uniform: trim and active, disturbingly masculine. As he pressed a kiss into the palm of her hand, as he kissed each of her fingers in turn, Lili felt her knees begin to tremble under her skirts.

“I have missed you,” he said under his breath. “And you look like a breath of spring though the weather's so foul!”

They paused inside a crowded entry hall, at the foot of a rosewood staircase gleaming with wax. Though they were surrounded by servants, Wilrowan slid a strong arm around Lili's waist and planted a kiss firmly on her lips.

Oh dear
, thought Lili, much too keenly aware of his lean, hard body, wonderfully and terribly aware of the taste of his mouth as it touched hers. The change inside her, the new way of
noticing
things was affecting her in a wholly unexpected way.

To cover her confusion, she looked around her. “It—it appears to be a charming house.”

Will laughed and released his hold on her waist, though he still retained his grip on her hand.

“I trust,” he said, leading her up four short steps and into the next room, “that I know your tastes. But if you find you don't like it, if you think there are too many stairs, we will look for another house. I want you to be happy and make a long visit.” Then, inexplicably, his face clouded. “Unfortunately, I won't be here as much as I hoped.”

“No?” It was ridiculous, Lili knew, to feel so disappointed. “I thought—”

“I asked for leave and I expected to receive it. At the time we first agreed on this visit, there was no reason I knew why I shouldn't get it. But things have changed. I am needed elsewhere and can't be spared.”

Lili felt her stomach twist into a hard knot. Did Will know something about the missing Jewel that she and the Specularii did not? If so, in addition to deceiving him, she was going to be expected to spy on him as well. “Something—something has come up?”

“It is only that the queen is so delicate. She must be shielded from every shock, spared every discomfort and inconvenience. Of course, much of this falls on me.”

“Of course,” said Lili, in a doubtful voice. Though she did wonder why Will, of all people, should nursemaid Dionee. “At least, I suppose it must, since you say so.”

They sat down together on a tapestry-work sofa. “Lili,” he said, pressing her hand, “if you want to go home and try this again in the autumn, I will understand. But I really must tell you: I am excessively glad to see you.”

Lili wished fervently that she might believe that. Yet she had come too far to turn back now. “I don't think that I will go home. I believe I can keep myself—tolerably well amused when you're not with me. I'm accustomed to making the effort, at least.”

She saw Will cringe at the unintended bitterness in her voice. “This wasn't how I—” He stopped and shook his head. “There is no use in making excuses, and very little time for it, anyway. I return to the Volary within the hour. If you would like to come with me, you are welcome to do so, though I should think after such a long day—”

But
would
I be welcome?
she wondered. Despite the warmth of his greeting, despite that moment in the hall, Lili found herself doubting that Will really wanted her. And it was true enough what he implied: she was tired and dirty and cold, after two days of travel in filthy weather, after a miserable night spent at a drafty inn. While she had business of her own at the Volary, that business could wait. “No thank you,” she said, with a weary shake of her head. “I think I had rather stay here by the fire and go to bed early.”

It was a strange old house, as Lili discovered the next morning, when she set out to explore it immediately after breakfast. Built halfway up the side of a hill, it was made up of no less than thirteen different levels—one it would seem for each of its major rooms. As a result, she could not go
anywhere
without first going up, or else going down, at least four or five steps—though there was also, of course, the great rosewood staircase which began in the entry hall and led all the way up, for five long flights, to the very top of the house.

Up under the eaves, she eventually discovered a tiny sitting room, evidently meant for her own use. It was an odd little room, all angles and nooks, a sort of after-thought tucked away in a corner, but it was very prettily and curiously furnished—with lacquer cabinets and teakwood chairs, and an ostrich egg in a golden stand up on the mantle—and it boasted as well a tall dormer window where the roof peaked, which offered a breathtaking view of the city below.

Drawn to that view from the very moment she walked in, Lili was still sitting, an hour or two later, curled up on the window-seat, gazing down and down at a jumbled vista of slates, tiles, gables, chimneys, cats, and rusty iron stove pipes, when the butler came in and announced Trefallon.

Abandoning her vantage point, she rose immediately and awkwardly to her feet, trying to think what her rôle as hostess must be. It was one she had never been called on to play before, as Allora always did the honors at Brakeburn Hall.

“You will forgive me, I hope, for such a late visit,” said Blaise, bowing over the hand she belatedly offered him. His breath came quickly after his climb, but he looked cool and elegant, the very picture of a worldly young gentleman.

Taking in the magnificence of a deer-colored coat and embroidered waistcoat, an intricate neckcloth with a dragonfly stickpin, the
diamond and topaz rings that he wore on his very white hands, Lili was astonished and just a bit daunted. As their previous meetings had all taken place in the country, she had never imagined that Will's best friend cut such a fashionable figure in the city. “Not at all,” she managed to reply. “Will you take a seat—Mr. Trefallon?”

He tilted his head, raised a shapely eyebrow. “With the greatest of pleasure—my dear Mrs. Blackheart. But the last time we met it was ‘Blaise' and ‘Lili.' May I venture to ask what has changed in the meantime?”