Igniting Darkness (Courting Darkness Duology #2) - Robin LaFevers Page 0,112

feel a need within yourself, but because it needs to be done. I do not know how the Dark Mother works, only that when she offers us hope, we do well to take it.” Her eyes glow with both ferocity and love, and it is like nothing I have ever seen.

Still not fully understanding, I take hold of her hand and rise to my feet.

 Chapter 61

“You sent for me, Your Majesty?” He is as agitated as I have ever seen him, pacing back and forth before the enormous fireplace. In truth, it is so large he could pace inside it.

He whirls on me then, nearly shaking with rage. “Have you learned what happened yesterday? Do you know that your queen has been operating behind my back? Lying to me? All of them—the queen, Lady Sybella, my sister, even General Cassel—lying to me.”

I open my mouth to answer, but he has no interest in hearing whatever I have to say.

“My council was right. The queen cannot serve two masters. As long as the queen honors the Nine, her devotion to them puts her at odds with me. We must be rid of them. Not just have the queen renounce them, but eliminate them all.” He pins me with a scathing glare, wanting the words to hurt, as well as shock. I say nothing and allow his anger to wash over me like a sudden storm. Once it passes, I can hope to restore order.

“Do the other Nine have convents like yours? Are they all fostering traitors and rebels inside their walls?”

“Not to my knowledge, Your Majesty. There are the Brigantian convents, with which France is already intimately acquainted. Indeed, I believe there are one or two here, as well as in Brittany. And the convent of Saint Mortain, of which there is only one, and our numbers are small. Saint Amourna and Saint Camulos are removed from this world, their followers simply honoring them, as they do the Church’s other saints. Saint Salonius and Saint Cissonius have few followers, all of them old men.”

“That is only six,” he says.

“There is one other small convent, the convent of Saint Mer, but they are concerned only with the sea. Those who serve Arduinna have no convent, choosing instead to live in the forest in small groups. As for the followers of Dea Matrona . . .” I frown. “There are no convents, but crones, I believe, who live at the edges of the forest and villages. But other than blessing the fields before planting, I do not know what they do.”

The king gives a noncommittal grunt.

“As you can see, sire, not much of a threat to anyone, let alone the power of the Church. Or yourself.”

“The power does not lie in them, but in what your queen will do in their name.”

“Do you not see that most of the queen’s actions would not have been needed if not for the regent and her scheming? Can you not see how hard your sister has worked to discredit the queen? Drive a wedge between the two of you?”

“The regent didn’t force the queen to go behind my back and send men to Brittany.”

“Are you so very certain of that? Who intercepted all her correspondence, leaving her no choice but to use messengers? Who brought d’Albret’s lawyer to court and allowed him immediate access to you? If you look closely enough, every time the queen has moved in a way you didn’t like, it is because Madame—and occasionally yourself—gave her no other choice.”

“How do you know all this?”

I shrug. “I have spoken with both the queen and Sybella, Your Majesty. That is no secret.”

“They lie.”

“While it is possible they may lie to you—out of fear—they would have no reason to lie to me.”

He is quiet then, pondering my words. “The regent did not force Sybella to lie to me about her sisters.” He takes a step toward me. “Did you know she had them sent away from here? That they were not abducted?”

“She did not tell me that, no. But it is good news. Surely you think so as well. Better to have them safe, even if a lie was required to keep them so.”

“I would have protected them.”

“I know you would have, if you had believed there was a threat against them. But you did not believe Sybella until I revealed that Monsieur Fremin appeared in her room carrying a blade and a length of rope.”

My words discomfit him, and he turns to face the