The Exiled Blade (The Assassini) - By Jon Courtenay Grimwood Page 0,56

who would wake their lieutenant, who would wake Captain Weimer, who now commanded the palace guard. That would take time, which was good because she needed time. Only a little of it to be sure, because that was all she had left anyway. Just enough to do what needed to be done. Knocking harder, Alexa heard sudden silence and imagined Giulietta was wondering if she dared tell her aunt to go away a third time.

Alexa was the duchess. Sole Regent now Alonzo was gone.

When the bolt on the door shot back, Alexa felt almost sorry that her niece had surrendered so easily. Childhood obedience was a hard habit to break and one she would need to break if she was to rule well. Being impressed because people were older, because they were male, because they were impressed with themselves made a bad foundation for choosing friends and a worse one for choosing advisers. Her niece would be surrounded with flatterers. Alexa just wished there was a way to make the next few days easier for the young woman now opening her door, the scowl on her face sulky enough to suit a twelve-year-old.

“May I come in?”

Giulietta looked surprised.

So Alexa waited until her niece stepped back, opened the door a little further and waved her aunt inside. A brazier burnt in the corner, and one window was wide open. She knew she should say something about wasting coal but couldn’t bring herself to. Giulietta would discover how little was left in her own time.

“Are you all right?” Giulietta said.

Alexa smiled sadly. “I should be asking you that but I already know the answer.” Reaching forward, she wiped a half-dried tear from Giulietta’s face. “What did Frederick say to you?”

“How do you know it was Frederick?”

“Who else would it be?”

“He said that Tycho had offered his loyalty to Uncle Alonzo. To Uncle Alonzo. How could Frederick even imagine . . . He said he’d offered him the Blade.”

“It’s true.”

Lady Giulietta froze.

“I’ve had those reports, too.” The duchess hesitated, torn between being lying and the truth, between being harsh and being kind. She was happy to lie on matters of state but tried not to lie to her own family unless necessary. Who knew what was kind where Giulietta was concerned? Her pretty if vapid mother killed, her father a monster. Her late husband only happy to bed boys. As for her would-be second husband, he was another problem altogether. And then there was Frederick.

She saw no problem with Giulietta being in love with two people at once. Men did that all the time. She’d loved Marco, and loved Lord Atilo. The Regent had been a mistake. Her going to his bed a simple attempt to protect her son. Looking up, the duchess realised her niece was still waiting for her to speak. “Your uncle and Tycho met in a forest near the Red Cathedral.”

“You knew?” Giulietta looked as if she’d been slapped.

“Look at strange objects from all sides before deciding what they are.”

“That was one of my uncle’s sayings.” She meant Marco the Just.

“Exactly. Tycho might have his reasons.”

“Oh, he’s got his reasons all right. He leaves without telling me and then I discover he’s changed sides. I’m never going to get Leo back.”

“Listen to me . . .” Alexa’s voice was so sharp Giulietta stiffened and Alexa sighed. This is impossible . . . I’ve made her too like me, Alexa realised. Saying goodbye to Marco had been simple. A kiss, a sorry, he’d know she’d loved him. In the red-haired girl standing in front of her, Alexa saw herself. Her hair was the wrong colour, her skin too olive, her eyes had those strange Western folds. She was scrawny where Alexa had been lithe, her hips sharp against her nightgown, but staring from those pale eyes . . . She’d proved, to her own satisfaction, it was who brought the child up, not who the parents were, that mattered.

“I have always loved you,” Alexa said.

Giulietta looked stunned.

“As much as if you were my own daughter. If I could have made you my daughter I would have done. Marco wouldn’t allow it.” She smiled sourly. “He said it would turn the Arsenalotti and the Nicoletti against you. They would say it was because I wanted to train you in poisons and witchcraft.”

Wide eyes watched Alexa.

Oh, you’ll remember this night. For the wrong reasons at first, and later, if Alexa was lucky, for the right ones. That would make a difference in