and there with marble benches meant for enjoying the view.
“D’Angelines do love a scandal,” Balthasar said presently. “And you do seem to enjoy providing them, Moirin.”
“The King is aware that his choice will be controversial,” I said. “He reckoned it worth the risk.”
“As did you?”
“She’s Jehanne’s daughter,” I said simply.
He blew on his fingers to warm them. “Beastly cold! So you and his majesty made a choice of the heart rather than the head.”
“Is that not the D’Angeline way?” Bao inquired with deceptive innocence.
Balthasar gave him an astute glance. “Ideally, yes. In practice, love and politics often make bad bedfellows.”
“There have been great political love-matches in the history of Terre d’Ange,” I said.
He nodded. “So there have. And each and every one of them has been accompanied by controversy. If you would hear my counsel, I will tell you this. Many members of the Great Houses will be angered by this appointment, having hoped the honor would fall to one of their own.”
“I am not a fool, my lord,” I said dryly. “The Lord Minister hinted at as much yesterday.”
“So you know your potential enemies,” Balthasar said shrewdly. “But do you know who your potential allies are?”
I shook my head. “To be sure, I didn’t expect you to be one.”
At that, he laughed. “We Shahrizai often surprise! From time to time, it is in a good way.”
“I like this fellow,” Bao remarked to me.
“You would,” I commented.
Balthasar smiled sideways at both of us. “The priesthoods,” he said, ticking off the point on his fingers. “And by extension, the Servants of Naamah. They will always err on the side of love. If you gain their support, it will fire the imagination of the commonfolk, who will raise their voices on your behalf. Your father’s a Priest of Naamah, that will help. Have you any ties to the Night Court?”
“No—” I remembered Lianne Tremaine’s calling card. “Ah, well. Mayhap.”
“Eglantine House,” Bao supplied helpfully.
“The poetess?”
I nodded.
“Good, very good.” Balthasar blew on his fingers again, then shivered and wrapped his fur-lined cloak around him. “Never underestimate the power of a poet, even a disgraced one. After all, Anafiel Delaunay’s verses were banned once upon a time. Use whatever resources are available to you, Moirin.”
“Why are you aiding me?” I asked him.
“I’m not sure,” he said in a thoughtful manner. “Except that we do share one thing in common.”
“Reviled ancestors?”
“Yes.” He touched my cheek briefly with cold, cold fingertips. “I wish you luck, Moirin.”
With that, he took his leave of us.
“So!” Bao put his arm over my shoulders and breathed the Breath of Embers Glowing, generating heat throughout his body. Fire had always been the element he favored most. I leaned in to his strength and warmth. “Eglantine House?”
“Aye,” I agreed. “Eglantine House.”
TEN
Eglantine House.
It sat midway upon the slope of Mont Nuit, where the Thirteen Houses of the Court of Night-Blooming Flowers, commonly known as the Night Court, was situated. I had only ever visited one of them before—Cereus House, oldest of the thirteen, renowned for celebrating the ephemeral nature of beauty.
It was where Jehanne had been born and raised, trained to become the foremost courtesan of her age—and also where she had first seduced me. It was an elegant, gracious place.
Eglantine House was different, very different. There they celebrated artistic genius in all its forms, and even the architecture itself reflected the nature of the House. It was an exuberant mixture of styles, with soaring arches and cunningly wrought turrets, built with stone of subtly contrasting hues that somehow managed to achieve a pleasing and harmonious whole.
A handsome young adept with red-gold hair and a dancer’s slim muscles opened the door. The sound of music spilled out, and somewhere a lone woman’s voice rose above it in an exquisite cadence.
The adept took one look at us, and grinned. “Lady Moirin mac Fainche, and Messire… Bao, is it?”
I smiled at the welcome. “It is.”
“Come in, come in!” He gave us both the kiss of greeting, ushering us inside. “Welcome to Eglantine House! How may we delight you today? Song? Poetry? Tumbling?”
“Tumbling?” Bao looked interested.
“Oh, yes!” The adept nodded enthusiastically. “The finest acrobats in Terre d’Ange are trained here. Are you an afficionado?”
“Ah…”
“Are you fond of it,” I clarified for Bao’s sake, adding to the young fellow, “Bao was trained as an acrobat.”
“In Ch’in?” The adept widened his hazel eyes.
“It was a long time ago,” Bao said in an offhand manner. “But we are not here to see tumbling. We are here to see the lady