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She sat in the window of their main parlor, holding her robe closed around her, shivering in spite of the sunrise. “Oh, gods,” she thought. “This is so bad. I have fucked up so completely, and there is no way I’m ever, ever going to fix it.”
In her mind, she kept seeing that moment, turning over to find Queen Rohesia watching them. And poor Elwyn had been left to face that woman’s wrath alone.
“I’ve failed Elwyn,” thought Lily. “And I’ve failed Prefect Moira, too.”
She put her head in her hands, and she was about to let herself break down, when there was a knock at the outer door, and the guard ushered in the diplomatic legate.
“Sorry to be here so early,” said the legate, “but I’ve got excellent news, and it wouldn’t wait. Is Senator Pellus still in bed, then?”
“Um, I think so,” said Lily, wiping her eyes and going into the bedroom. Pellus was, indeed, still asleep, stinking of stale wine, and it took her the better part of a minute to get him upright.
“Is there some reason why you people are waking me up so godsdamned early?” he moaned.
“Marvelous news,” said the legate. “The foreign ministry authorized me to make an offer for your release. A fair amount of money—not that it matters. Last night, I spoke to Baron Broderick about it, and just now he sent me a message saying that he’s agreed to let you go.”
“Oh, thank the gods,” said Pellus, rubbing his eyes. “We can finally leave this shithole and go home.”
A half-dozen housemaids trooped into the apartment and started helping them pack, while Pellus went into the bathroom, belting out Immani marching songs in a strong, but resolutely flat, baritone.
“There’s one more thing,” said the legate. He pulled a letter out of his cloak and handed it to Lily. “This is for you. It will be marvelous not to have to be your damned messenger service anymore.”
Since when had he been her “messenger service”? He’d barely done anything at all to help her. Lily glared at the man, but she took the letter. She saw the handwriting, and for half a second, her heart leapt, as it always did at any news from Moira. But then she thought how badly she had failed, and she almost started crying.
Scriptora LS,
You and Pellus are to be released. It took some doing, but F and I managed it. Meet me at Hamstowe. Looking forward to seeing you. Pellus, not so much.
Yours,
Prefect M
Lily let herself weep for a few minutes in the bath, once Pellus had vacated it. But by the time they were in the legate’s carriage, heading to the ferry and the north road, she was calm and pleasant and all smiles.
“Gods, it’s so hot,” said Pellus, fanning himself with his hand. “I can’t wait to get back to a decent country with decent weather.”
“Have some more wine, dear,” said Lily, handing him the skin.
She hoped he would be fast asleep by Hamstowe, and though he didn’t quite make it, he was still drunk enough that he needed help walking into the common room of the Oxcart Inn.
Moira, in her servant’s garb as “Miss Molly Oakley,” rushed over immediately to lead them into a private parlor, where more wine and a massive table of cold meat and cheese was waiting. Lily deposited Pellus in a chair near the wine, said farewell to the legate, and then went into the next room with Moira.
“I’m glad to see you’re safe,” said the beautiful hillichmagnar, pulling Lily in for a tight hug, and then leading her over to the window seat. “You’ve done a marvelous job, but...wait, Lily, why are you crying?”
She hadn’t meant to cry. She had been struggling not to, in fact. But seeing Moira now, happy and confident and supportive, and thinking of how badly everything had gone wrong, she couldn’t help but cry.
She bent over at the waist, head in her hands and wailed, “I’ve done everything wrong, ma’am. I’ve fucked up so badly, and you have no idea the trouble I’ve caused.”
Moira fetched her a glass of wine and sat down again with an arm around her shoulders. “Why don’t you tell me what you did? I’m pretty sure it can’t be as bad as you imagine it is.”
Better to have it all out at once. “I’ve had sex with Princess Elwyn. And I don’t mean one time when we were drunk. I mean, we’re having an affair, and the queen caught us in bed. But Elwyn wants to run away with me. And, ma’am...,” Lily covered her face in her hands again, “I want to be with her, too.”
“Ah, ha.” Moira patted her shoulder several times. Then she cleared her throat. “So, Princess Elwyn likes girls?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“How curious. I knew her quite well when I was at court, but I never had any sense that.... Well, I suppose you’re better suited to spotting those signs than I am. How odd that she never made a pass at me.” Moira levitated the bottle over and poured herself a glass. “Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t have taken her up on it. I don’t have those particular inclinations. But a girl does have her pride, you know.”
Lily looked at her, mouth agape, then she let out a snort of tearful laughter. “Aren’t you mad at me, ma’am?”
“Well, fucking the princess is rather different from what I asked you to do, but on the other hand, I suppose I didn’t specifically order you not to do it.”
“But ma’am, don’t you see how this complicates things? Didn’t you hear me when I said the queen caught us in bed together?”
Moira shook her head and lounged back. “That was probably mortifying for all three of you, but the queen spent a fair amount of time in the Empire and understands these things. From now on, it’s just an amusing story we can tell our friends once we get back to Albus Magnus.”
“I can’t go yet,” said Lily, sitting up and wiping her eyes. “I’ve made promises, ma’am. And I’ve got to keep them. There are people who are counting on me to get out of Formacaster.”
“Oh, dear,” Moira sighed. “Let’s get it over with. Who are these people I’m expected to save?”
Lily decided to start with the easier problem first. “Sir William Aitken’s wife and son, to begin with.” She described the deal she had made with William, trading their safety for the safety of Edwin Sigor.
“I suppose that’s simple enough,” said Moira. “We need to get the legate to send his personal carriage to pick them up. And then we can take them somewhere in the countryside.”
“I don’t think the legate is going to be very happy about loaning us his carriage. He hasn’t been very helpful.”
“Oh, he’ll do it when I ask,” said Moira, batting her eyelashes. “I’m irresistible. Very good, then. I’ll start looking for a spot to keep the Aitkens. A little farm or something like that. Now who else are we getting out of Formacaster?”
“Well...I’d like to save Princess Elwyn and her family, ma’am.”
Moira blinked a few times. Then she turned away, looked back again, and said, “I’m sorry, but did you say you wanted to rescue the royal family?”
“Yes, ma’am. I know it’s rather a lot to ask.”
“A lot to ask? Oh, no, it’s nothing. Is there anything else you’d like to bring? Maybe pick up Wealdan Castle and take it with us in a cart?”
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but I promised Elwyn I would try.”
Moira drummed her fingers on her wineglass. “Look, it’s not that I don’t want to save them. I quite like Elwyn and Rohesia. And Rohesia and Empress Vita have been friends for years and years, so I know she’d want me to do everything I can. But it’s going to be very dangerous, both for them and for us.”
“Let me go back, ma’am,” said Lily, taking Moira’s hands. “Let me go alone. I’ll see if I can find a way to get them out.”
“Very well. I wouldn’t want you to break your word to your lady love. You’ve got a week, and then I want you out of there.”
After a few minutes’ debate, they settled on the village of Cramstone as their rendezvous point, twelve miles east of Formacaster on the Pinburg road. Lily embraced Moira and thanked her again and again for letting her take the risk.
“Don’t mention it,” said Moira. “Believe me, if anyone knows about doing something dumb and dangerous for love, it’s me.”
At Moira’s direction, Lily then went and fetched Pellus. Somehow the stupid man had entirely failed to notice Moira when they first arrived, seeing only her servant’s clothes. But now, when she took off her embroidered headscarf, he practically fainted from surprise.
“But...but you’re Prefect Darrow!” he said. “What on earth are you doing here, dressed like that?”
Pellus only knew Moira from parties in Albus Magnus and Presidium. He knew she was a sorceress and the mistress of the great Legate Faustinus. But in his mind, apparently, she was nothing more than a very pretty ornament of the imperial court. The notion that she might go on intelligence missions in foreign countries was entirely beyond his imagination.
“I like to get out and about once in a while,” Moira said. “Now step over here, if you wouldn’t mind. Yes, there.” She held out one slim, smooth little hand and touched his cheek. Looking straight into his eyes, she said, “You’re going to come with me now, Linus. Lily is going to stay here for a little while longer. But you’re not going to worry about that. You’re going to come with me, right this minute, and not ask any questions.”
Even though the spell wasn’t aimed at her, Lily still caught a whiff of it, and a strange sense of unearthly calm washed over her. For a few seconds, she stood wobbling on her feet, staring off vaguely into the distance and wondering when all the colors in the world had become so startlingly vivid. Then Moira snapped her fingers in front of Lily’s face, and she came back to herself.
“I sometimes overdo it a bit with that spell,” the sorceress admitted.
Pellus had a look of childlike wonder on his face and was mumbling something about flowers and “pretty lights.” Lily had seen the effects of the spell, and she knew they would wear off sooner or later, but only when he was long gone. She helped him into the carriage while Moira went in to give her notice to the innkeepers.
“I’ll see you later,” Lily said, giving Pellus a kiss on the cheek.
She had no idea if she would ever see him again, though, and she found herself curiously sad about that. Yes, he was rude and unpleasant much of the time, but he had been the instrument Moira had used to save Lily from her old life, and despite all his faults, she still felt she owed him something for that.
Moira came out of the inn, smiling and dancing a little Kenedalic jig as she walked. “Look at this,” she said, holding up a small purse. “The innkeeper gave me a bonus! Apparently I’m the best bar wench he’s ever had.” She got in next to Pellus and shook Lily’s hand. “See you in a week at Cramstone.”
“One week. Yes, ma’am.”
“Don’t be late. I’ve never been especially punctual, but I admire punctuality in others.”
They rode off, and Lily watched them go. Then she went down to the docks and got a boat back to Formacaster.