Read Online No Quarter by Tanya Huff - Free Book Online

other sketching an apology in the air. "Please forgive me for disturbing you at your meal, Majesty, but I have just been given news I thought you should know immediately."
    "I trust your judgment, Chancellor." Theron settled onto the tapestry cushion his younger daughter had worked to soften the uncompromising seat of the carved rosewood throne and indicated that the page following him should set her tray on the round table by his elbow.
    Under other circumstances, fully aware that neither sausage rolls nor ale were on the diet the healers had drawn up for the king, Rozele would have faced royal disapproval and pointed it out. This morning, she was far too distracted. She fidgeted until the heavily paneled door closed behind the page, then stepped forward and began.
    "Majesty, this morning I met for breakfast with Imrich i'lduska a'Krisus, a diplomatic courier from your ambassador in the Havakeen Empire."
    The king wiped grease off his fingertips. "You met him for breakfast?" he asked, brows lifting slightly.
    "Yes, Sire. I thought as we both had to eat we might as well combine the meeting with food and save time."
    "The day isn't long enough?"
    The chancellor looked confused. It was midway through Second Quarter; of course the days were long. "Majesty?"
    "Never mind." Years of practice hid his sigh. While Shkoder appreciated the zeal with which Rozele fulfilled the duties of her position, Shkoder's king occasionally thought she ought to get a life. "Please, continue."
    "Yes, Majesty. The report out of the Empire will be on your desk this afternoon, but Lord Imrich gained additional information during the journey home." She paused, gathering her thoughts.
    Theron put down his mug and straightened. In the seven years they'd worked together, the chancellor had never needed to gather her thoughts. In seven years, she'd always known exactly what she'd intended to say. This didn't look good…
    "Majesty, the Empire has sent an assassin into Shkoder."
    "Majesty, the Empire has not sent an assassin into Shkoder."
    Eyes narrowed, Theron tapped an index finger against the arm of the throne.

    "Then perhaps you would be good enough to tell me just what is going on."
    The Bardic Captain shifted position slightly, the hem of her robe whispering caution against the polished parquet floor. In her younger days, she'd walked through blizzards warmer than the king's tone. "Chancellor Rozele has upset you unnecessarily, Majesty. Vireyda Magaly is an ex-assassin…"
    "As I understand their training," the chancellor interrupted indignantly from her position to the right of the throne, "there is no such thing as an ex-assassin. Or did your bard in Pitesti not inform you of the pirate she killed?"
    "She killed the pirate, Majesty," Liene made it very clear to whom she spoke, "to protect the ship she traveled on."
    "She killed the pirate, Captain, by leaping between two moving vessels, making her way through an armed and bloodthirsty crew, and slitting the woman's throat."
    Theron leaned forward. "This does not indicate ex-anything to me."
    Liene spread her hands. "Should she not use her skills to protect herself, Majesty? If we had thought she was a danger to the realm, we would not have allowed her to enter the country."
    " You would not have allowed her to enter the country?" the king repeated incredulously, half rising.
    "Since when do the bards make those decisions? You gather the information,"
    he snarled as he sat down again. "I decide what to do with it."
    "Yes, Sire. However, if you received every detail the bards gather without some sort of filtering process, you'd have no time to deal with anything else, and as this was a bardic matter…"
    "A bardic matter? An Imperial assassin entering Shkoder is a bardic matter?"
    Theron leaned back and smiled tightly. "I think I'd like to hear your reasoning."
    I think I should have retired a year ago . Liene considered and discarded the option of telling the king only that Vree had acquired a second