The Born Queen

"Enough," she said faintly. "Enough, Cape Chavel."

"Is something wrong?" he whispered.

"Yes," she replied. "I want you. That's what's wrong."

"Nothing wrong with that," he replied. "I want you, too. You've no idea."

"No," she said. "I think I have some idea. But we can't. I can't. I'm queen. I have to be responsible. What if I got pregnant, for saints' sake?"

She was surprised to hear herself say it, but there it was.

"I understand," he said. "It doesn't make me want you any less."

She stroked his face. "You're dangerous," she said. "Another few moments and you might have convinced me."

He smiled halfheartedly. "I'm sorry," he said. "I would not make a mistress of you."

She nodded.

"I would make you wife, though, if you would say yes."

She started to make a joke of that, but then, with a bit of a shock, she understood the look in his eyes.

"Let's not get in a hurry, Cape Chavel," she said.

"I love you."

"There's no need to say that," she whispered. "Just hush."

He nodded but looked a little hurt.

Saints, he's serious, she realized.

Things felt turned around all of a sudden. She hadn't understood until this moment that she was the one in control of the situation.

"I'm not closing the door," she said. "When I was younger, it was my dream to marry for love. My mother, my sister-everyone-tried to make me understand that a princess didn't have that option, but I refused to believe it. Now I am queen, and I begin to understand. Marriage isn't something I can choose because my heart or body wants it. You have become dear to me in a very short time, and I am tempted to rush. I can't. Please bear with me, court me, be my friend. I never took you for a man easily discouraged. I hope I wasn't wrong about that."

He smiled, and this time it looked more sincere. "You weren't."

"Good." She kissed him again, lightly this time. "And now I'm afraid I must return to the castle. Thank you for a pleasant morning. And welcome back. I'm very well pleased you didn't get yourself killed."

The morning left her with a pleasant tingle that lasted well into the evening. Emily seemed to be gri

That afternoon she prepared to meet Hespero. After a little consideration, she chose to wear the habit and wimple of a sister of Saint Cer. Then she went to the Red Hall. They were to meet late, after the di

She made him wait until the eleventh.

He didn't seem particularly disturbed when she entered alone. He was dressed in the simple black robe and square hat she was accustomed to seeing him in as praifec. He still had the mustache and barb, too.

"Majesty," he said, bowing.

"I didn't know your grace accepted me as queen," A

She couldn't let that show.

"It has been difficult for me, I admit," he said. "But I thought to start on a note of conciliation."

"Well, that's promising," A

"News has spread of your rather impressive powers. Would you be surprised to learn that it was not unexpected?"

"No," A

"You can't mean that," Hespero replied. "Why would you think that?"

A

"To make an offer."

"And that offer is…?"

"Your Majesty, I can train you. I can school you in the use of energies which, I assure you, are not done revealing themselves. You will soon face others whose gifts are a match for yours, who also wish to control the emerging sedos throne. Do you know what I mean?"

"I do," A

"I have power," he admitted. "I am the Fratrex Prismo of the holy Church, and the faneway one walks to ascend to that position carries…authority. But it isn't me you should be concerned about. It's the other. The one they used to call the Black Jester."

"The Black Jester? You mean from the histories?"

"Yes-and no. It's complicated. Suffice to say that he wouldn't be the most pleasant fellow to sit the sedos throne."

"You'd rather have me, then."

He pursed his lips. "When I was quite a young man, I had an attish in the Bairghs, and there I discovered some very ancient prophecies that led me to very strange places. One of the strangest was here, below Eslen castle, where a certain prisoner was once kept. I think you know which one I mean."

"Yes."

"Those of us steeped in the sedos power have difficulty seeing one another, as you mentioned. But the Kept has no such constraints; the source of his power is not the same. And I extracted a vision or visions from him. He showed me, in effect, some of the results of what will soon happen. Now, as you also know, the future feeds back to the present. The thing each of us is to become beckons us to become it. You had a guide, a tutor, did you not?"

"Yes," she said.

"She is in part what was you in the past, but she is also A

"That's absurd," A

"Not at all."

"So you're saying I will take the throne, then?"

"Maybe. Or maybe he will."

"And that would be bad."

"I'm not sure. That's not what I saw, but I imagine that yes, it would be bad. But what I've seen is you."

"Really? And what did you see?"

"A demon queen, bruising the world beneath her heel for the thousand years it will take it to utterly die."

A

No.

"That's the most insane thing I've ever heard," she said.

"Without my help, that's what will happen."

"And what sort of help are you prepared to give me? The kind you gave my father and sisters? The kind you gave the sisters of Saint Cer? Will you help me as you helped those at the sedos in Dunmrogh? Be aware I have a letter in your own hand implicating you."

"A

"No," she snapped. "No, I don't. I can't imagine what is behind your contemptible lie or why you chose to deliver yourself to me, but hear me now: Fratrex Prismo or not, you will answer for your crimes."

"Do not make an unwise decision here," Hespero said. "Don't you understand? We must mend matters between us and move forward."

"I'll hear no more of this. You're a murderer, a torturer, and worse." She nodded at her guards.

"Take him."

"I'm sorry," Hespero said. "Sleep, everyone."

A

"What are you doing?" A

"What I must," he replied. "What I probably would have had to do in the end, anyway." He stepped toward her.

"Stop," she said.

He shook his head.

Her fury boiled up, and she sent her will at him. His step faltered, but he came on. She couldn't quite feel him, couldn't boil his blood. Anxiously she pushed deeper, finally sensing something softer, something she could attack. And at least his gifts didn't seem to affect her; she could feel them flailing uselessly about her like butterfly wings.

But he was standing right next to her. She felt a sharp blow just under her ribs.