Never After

She nodded. “I know you do not like the notion, but—”

“Oh, we’re happy to have you with us,” Darius said. He sounded sincere; after two days in his company, I was pretty certain he was. “But I’m not sure how much more room there is in the wagon.”

“And she brought a maid with her,” Harwin said. He glanced at me as if to say, And if you truly cared about your reputation, you would have brought a maid as well.

“Well, it’ll be a tight fit, but if one sits up front and three ride in back—”

“I have my own coach. And a coachman,” Gisele interposed. “All I require is that you allow me to join your caravan.”

I stopped with another spoonful of oatmeal on the way to my mouth. “The coach,” I breathed. “It’s yours. Oh, Gisele, I want to ride with you!”

“Tell me again how sitting inside the coach with me is helping you become better acquainted with your bridegroom,” Gisele said twenty minutes later.

We were on our way again, a much augmented party from the one I’d started out with a couple of days ago. The coach, with its team of high-spirited horses, led the wagon by an appreciable distance. Harwin had cantered ahead of us but I was sure he would circle back soon to check on our progress. Gisele’s maid was sitting outside with the coachman, probably flirting madly. Da

“You tell me the real reason you came after me in this ridiculous fashion,” I said. “I know it wasn’t because my father asked you to.”

There was a flare of malice in her eyes. “Oh, but he did,” she said. “I could tell how pleased he was when he came up with the idea. Ever since Neville arrived, he’s been trying to get me out of the way.”

I was bewildered. “What does Neville have to do with it?”

“Nothing. His daughter Mellicia? Everything. Your father is infatuated with that simpering, stupid, soulless girl. He wants to court her while I am not on hand to watch.”

“But—what—I mean, you’re his wife. I suppose he could take her as his mistress, but—”

“I am a wife who has failed to produce the son he is determined to have,” Gisele said softly. “I will not be his wife much longer, I guarantee it.”

I simply stared at her.

She met my gaze briefly, then looked out the window. The prospect was not particularly inviting. The treelined hills of the past two days had flattened into grasslands that supported grazing livestock, though the occasional stand of elm and oak shuddered in a brisk wind. The sky was scudding over with clouds, and the air had that damp, overburdened feel that promised a storm.

“So!” she said brightly. “If he’s going to marry again, he needs to review the likely candidates. Naturally, she must be young enough to be fertile, and beautiful enough to catch his fancy. And by now he’s realized that he doesn’t like clever women—or, at least, he doesn’t like me, and I’m clever—so vapidity has become an important attribute—”

It took me this long to find my voice. “Is he going to divorce you?”

She turned to look at me again. I had never seen her face so sad. Then again, I had never paid much attention to the emotions on Gisele’s face. “I hope he is going to divorce me,” she said.

“Why, if he wants to marry again, what else could he…” My voice trailed off. “Surely you’re not suggesting… I mean, I know he is not an admirable man, but…”

She looked out the window once more. “I have been wondering if I should take a ship to Newmirot,” she said. “Da

“Gisele! You can’t be serious!”

“I’m quite serious. I should like to see Newmirot.” I reached across the open space between us and shook her by the shoulder. “You don’t truly believe my father would have you murdered,” I said. “Merely so he could marry again.”

She met my eyes for one long, sober stare. “I don’t know,” she said at last. “Perhaps he wouldn’t.”

But perhaps he would.

I released her, took a deep breath, and leaned back against the cushions. I was on the seat facing backward, which I normally despised, but today I was so happy to be traveling in relative luxury that I didn’t mind at all. “Can you go to your father?” I asked. “Would he take you in if you told him you were afraid for your life?”

She made an inelegant sound. “No.”

“Do you have other relatives who would give you sanctuary?”

“A brother who is so much like my father that he could not be trusted. No one else.”

“Do you have money? How long can you afford to travel like this?” I gestured at the interior of the coach, with its silk-covered walls and leather bound seats.

“Your father is footing the bill for this particular trip,” she said. “The coach is his and I have his vouchers for any i

“I might be able to send you money,” I said. “My allowance is generous enough.”

“That’s kind of you,” she replied. “But don’t forget what I said before.”

I had to think a moment. She had warned me to be safely married before my father managed to get himself a son. At the time, I had scoffed at her, and I still had no proof that anything she said was true, and yet…

And yet I believed her. My father was the kind of man who would get rid of an inconvenience in the most efficient way possible. I remembered the piebald stallion that had been my father’s favorite ride until the horse took a tumble that nearly snapped his right leg. The groom had thought the horse might be succored and saved, and certainly would be able to hobble around well enough to serve at stud, but my father had ordered the stallion destroyed. “If I can’t ride him, I don’t want him,” he’d said. “He’s of no use to me now.” A wife who could not bear him a son was of no use to him.

Was a daughter of any use to him?

Particularly if he had a son?

“So you’re not going back to the palace,” I said.

“That’s my plan.”

I leaned forward, rested my elbow on my knee, and cupped my chin in my hand. After three years of trying to pretend Gisele did not exist, I found myself suddenly wanting to be her champion. I did not stop to puzzle over why it did not seem strange. “I wonder,” I said. “Perhaps you can meet with an accident on the road. Harwin and I can bring back the sad news that you died while we were traveling.”

Gisele looked amused—and a little intrigued. “But wouldn’t you be expected to return with my corpse in tow?”

“Not if you—fell off a cliff and drowned, and the water carried you away,” I said, improvising quickly. “Not if you were mauled by wolves and eaten.”

“Oh, yes, do have me devoured by wild creatures.”

“We could bring back your bloody clothes as proof,” I said. “And maybe your wedding ring—with the finger still in it. Someone else’s finger, of course, but no one else will know that.”

“Where will you find such a thing?” She was trying not to laugh.

I waved a hand. “I don’t know. Maybe we’ll come across a fresh grave while we’re traveling. Maybe Darius will manufacture one for us. He can change things from one shape to another, you know.”

“Yes, so I had heard. Perhaps he will not like to use his magic in such a fashion, however.”

“Oh, if he thinks you’re being abused, he’ll be happy to oblige. He’s very softhearted.”

She studied me a moment. “And perhaps Harwin will not like to lie to your father.”