Read Online Naamah's Blessing by Jacqueline Carey - Free Book Online Page B

warm, masculine room with a great deal of polished wood. It was tidier, though. There were nopapers cluttering his gleaming desk, as there had been in the Lord Minister’s study.
    At his majesty’s urging, I took one of the high-backed chairs before the fireplace. He stirred the coals with a poker. “You paid a second visit to the princess. I thought you would stay longer.”
    “She was at her studies,” I said. “Bao stayed. Unless you disapprove, he will learn to read alongside her.”
    The King looked startled. “He will?”
    “Unless you disapprove,” I repeated. “It is not that he cannot
read
,” I added. “The Ch’in use a very, very different form of writing.” The memory of my Ch’in princess Snow Tiger tracing characters on my bare skin with the end of her braid and laughing at my struggles came to me, and I cleared my throat. “It is actually quite difficult to learn.”
    “Ah… yes.” Daniel blinked. “I recall seeing Master Lo Feng’s poetry. Lovely, but incomprehensible. Tell me, Moirin… how do you find my daughter?”
    I met his gaze. “Much like her mother, my lord. Willful, with moods that switch like the wind. Charming, despite her temper. Clever and quick-witted.”
    “Is that all?”
    His gaze was steady. I drew a deep breath. “No, my lord. I find her lonely and neglected.”
    “Ah.”
    “Desirée is a tempestuous child,” I said. “But she
is
a child nonetheless. If you are asking, your majesty, I think she would be better served by nursemaids more inclined to patience and tolerance of a child’s foibles.” I frowned in thought. “I am not sure, yet, about her tutor. That is one of the reasons I suggested Bao stay and study with her. He will be able to provide a better gauge.”
    The King raised his brows. “Was that your true purpose in suggesting such an unorthodox arrangement, then?”
    I shrugged. “It was a convenient confluence of purposes.”
    “I see.”
    “Do I overstep my bounds, my lord?” I asked him honestly.
    “No more than I had hoped.” Daniel de la Courcel poked at the fire a second time, then settled into the chair opposite me, gazing into the shifting embers in the grate. “Moirin, do you know of the Montrèvan Oath?”
    I shook my head. “No, my lord.”
    He gave a faint smile. “It began when Anafiel Delaunay de Montrève… Have you heard of him?” I nodded. “Ah, good. When Anafiel Delaunay, for he was disinherited at the time, swore an oath to Rolande de la Courcel”—the King counted on his fingers—“my thrice-times great-grandfather… swore an oath to protect the interests of Rolande’s infant daughter Ysandre.”
    “I know the story,” I murmured.
    He nodded. “That oath was sworn in secret. But it formed the basis for a new tradition begun by Sidonie and Imriel de la Courcel, who openly invited their kinsman Barquiel L’Envers to be the oath-sworn protector of their firstborn child.”
    “Your grandmother Anielle?”
    “Even so.” Daniel de la Courcel sighed. “And if I read the histories rightly, it was meant to acknowledge the healing of a rift between House Courcel and House L’Envers. Since then, it has become something of a political prize to be won.”
    “Oh?” I inquired.
    The King leveled his gaze at me. “When Thierry was born, I appointed my kinsman Rogier Courcel, the Duc de Barthelme, to be the oath-sworn protector of my firstborn son. This charge, he accepted with grace and gratitude. He swore the Montrèvan Oath.”
    “Do you doubt him?” I asked softly.
    “No.” He leaned forward, hands braced on his knees. “Not his loyalty, no. I would never have appointed him Lord Minister if I did. But my daughter, Jehanne’s daughter…” His fingers clenched, bunching the fabric of his breeches. His voice broke. “She should have an oath-sworn protector who
cares
for her happiness. Someone like you, Moirin.”
    I saw the picture he was painting.
    “My lord!” I said in protest. “Oh, my lord! It is a