Page 138 of Play of Shadows

I doubt I’d ever seen anyone look quite so relieved as the new Duchess of Pertine did then. She hadn’t been lying about her devotion to her nephew; she truly believed that taking Monsegino’s crown was the only way to save his life. There might have been something noble about that, were this not a world infested by the Court of Flowers.

‘Knights of Pertine,’ she commanded, ‘escort the prisoner to the city’s boundary. Give him a good horse and a full purse and let him bring four companions to keep him safe as he journeys out of Pertine to wherever the gods wish him to go.’

To Monsegino she added, ‘I suggest you take Captain Terine with you. She, at least, appears to be loyal.’

At his nod, she said, ‘Captain?’

The ducal guards standing below the stage were flanked by the brightly coloured knights of the noble Houses. Captain Terine began to select from among her meagre troops an honour guard for the duke.

She never finished.

At a cue from the nobles assembled on the stage, the knights below turned on the captain and her guards. Before she could even cry out, a hundred swords had risen up high, the steel catching the light from the stars above before they came down in a rain of blows.

Monsegino screamed and tried to run to Captain Terine’s side, but she was already beyond saving. I grabbed one arm, Shariza the other, to stop him from throwing himself at the murderers.

The heavy-bellied nobleman in burgundy silk who’d been whispering what had surely been lies in Kareija’s ears moments before now stepped forward, at last bringing the game to a close. ‘Firan Monsegino, for violation of the Orchid Laws, you are sentenced to suffer the fate of all tyrants.’ He turned to thegrey-clad thugs in the courtyard, but whatever he said next was lost in the thunderous cheers when they saw the nobleman turn up the collar of his coat, revealing a brooch made of iron in the shape of an orchid.

‘Traitor!’ Kareija screamed, her outrage paired with a backhand that sent the man reeling. ‘Seize him at once,’ she demanded of the knights climbing the stairs to the stage.

Instead, gauntleted hands pulled her away from her nephew and formed a protective guard around both her and the arrogant fools who believed they had conceived and executed this coup. When she tried to push her way past, the other nobles held onto her.

‘Duchess, you must not interfere,’ said a foppish young courtier sporting large emeralds in his ears. ‘The safety of the sovereign is paramount. You have a duty to your people.’

‘Are you mad? Our soldiers outnumber the Iron Orchids ten to one—’

‘With respect,’ said the nobleman holding her against her will, in his grin a gleeful anticipation no longer restrained, ‘both the Orchids and the soldiers areoursnow,your Grace, united by our noble cause. The Court of Flowers sees no reason to risk their lives to rescue a traitor from the justice of his people.’

A conspiracy that recruits its own conspirators, I thought, watching the end unfold just as Ajelaine feared it would. Then her earlier admonition came suddenly to my mind: ‘The Veristor’s gift is meant to be shared.’

I tried, I thought bitterly,but what good is revealing the truth when those with the power to fight for their city have no love in their hearts for it?

A contingent of Iron Orchids strode onto the stage and took hold of Monsegino’s arms and legs. The duke’s earlier courage fled him when he saw six of their comrades wheeling forward a wooden gibbet, and a fifth standing by with a hammer and seveniron spikes. He struggled frantically, like a rabbit caught in a snare.

‘Fucking Hells!’ Abastrini swore with an uncustomary brevity. ‘They’re going to crown the duke– right here in front of the whole city!’

Shariza was trying to find a way to get to him, but the knights had a trio of crossbows trained on her.

‘We’ve got to run,’ Teo said between gritted teeth. ‘We can’t save the duke, but we can take advantage of all this chaos, disappear into the crowds and—’

‘No,’ I said.

I hadn’t spoken loudly, but the coldness in my voice had sliced through all the noise around us, even as it cut through my own doubts.

This rabbit doesn’t run any more.

‘What do we do?’ Ornella asked, nearing sixty years of age yet still brandishing her shield and spear like a warrior woman of legend.

I wished her bravery could wash over me, over this entire city, and cleanse our streets of doubt and fear. Beretto had been right: what the people of Jereste needed wasn’t more soldiers in pretty liveries and shiny armour. They needed spirits like Ornella’s.

‘Oh, saints,’ Teo groaned, staring at me as all the others were doing now. ‘He’s losing it again. He’s drifting into that Veristor nonsense of his.’

As it happened, Teo was right.

One last time, I thought, feeling a pressure in my skull worse than any I’d experienced in all my trips into Corbier’s memories before.

‘Damelas?’ Beretto asked. ‘Now’s not the time to leave us, brother.’

‘I’m not going anywhere,’ I said, gritting my teeth from the pain. ‘I’m staying right here. Get ready, all of you.’

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