Off Armageddon Reef (33 page)

Haarahld VII's face was hard and grim, a mask of angry discipline over grief. His son sat beside him at the huge table in the lamp-lit council chamber, and Cayleb's expression was even more mask-like than his father's. Both of them watched, silent and hard-eyed, as Merlin and the Earl of Gray Harbor stepped through the chamber's door.

Bynzhamyn Raice also sat at the table, accompanied by Sir Rhyzhard Seafarmer. Neither Bishop Maikel, nor any of the Privy Council's other members were present, and Merlin wondered whether that was a good sign or a bad one. At least the king seemed prepared to maintain Merlin's low profile for the moment.

The Royal Guards had been courteous when they'd followed Gray Harbor's coachman back to Tirian's mansion in obedience to the earl's urgent summons, but they'd also been very, very firm. It was hard to blame them, really, considering the blood-spattered and body-littered scene which had greeted them in the recently deceased Duke of Tirian's library. Being found standing over the bodies of the king's first cousin and fifteen of his personal guardsmen had to come under the heading of suspicious conduct, after all.

At least they
had
been summoned by the earl, and Lieutenant Huntyr, the youthful officer who'd accompanied the squad which had responded, had been willing to at least tentatively assume the first councillor knew what he was doing. That willingness had taken a hit when Huntyr discovered just exactly whose dagger was planted in the duke's back. But it had been sufficient to at least ensure that the house would be sealed and that the entire matter would be kept secret until the king himself had been informed.

That was as far as the lieutenant had been willing to go, however, and first councillor or not, Gray Harbor had found himself placed ever so politely under arrest. To Merlin's amusement—as much as anything could be amusing, under the circumstances—the young guardsman had been almost as courteous to him as to the earl. Both of them, however, had been relieved of all weapons before they were “escorted” to the council chamber.

“Owl,” Merlin subvocalized now. “Communications and telemetry check.”

“Communications link confirmed in normal operation, Lieutenant Commander,” the AI replied. “All skimmer telemetry links are nominal,” it added, and Merlin nodded mentally. He hoped things weren't going to turn out badly, but that didn't mean they weren't. It was always possible, however unlikely, that Haarahld might order their immediate execution, and Merlin couldn't let that happen. Not only would it be very inconvenient for him personally, but it would also mean the complete failure of Nimue Alban's mission on Safehold.

That was why the recon skimmer was hovering directly above the Royal Palace despite the rumbling thunderstorm. And it was also the reason the skimmer's weapons were fully online under Owl's control.

“Your Majesty,” Lieutenant Huntyr said quietly, “Earl Gray Harbor and Lieutenant Athrawes.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant.” Haarahld's voice was harsh-edged, the courtesy automatic, and he never so much as glanced at the Guardsman. “Leave us, please. And see to it we're not disturbed.”

“As you command, Your Majesty,” Huntyr murmured.

He withdrew, and the massive council-chamber door closed quietly behind him. The metallic clack of the latch was loud in the stillness, and then, as if on cue, another thunderous rumble of thunder shook the Palace.

“So,” Haarahld said after a long, still moment. “I've spoken to Bynzhamyn. I've spoken to Lieutenant Huntyr. I've spoken to the most senior of Kahlvyn's guardsmen we could find. Now I want to know what in Shan-wei's name happened.”

His voice was hard, colder than Merlin had ever heard it, in person or through one of his SNARCs, and his eyes were chips of brown ice.

“Your Majesty.” Gray Harbor went down on one knee and bent his head before his monarch. Merlin saw Cayleb's eyes widen, but Haarahld's expression didn't even flicker.

“Whatever happened was my fault,” the first councillor said, his voice low-pitched and sad, but firm.

“
I
will determine who was at fault,” Haarahld told him, “not you.”

“Your Majesty—” Wave Thunder began, but Haarahld held up a hand abruptly.

“No, Bynzhamyn,” he said coldly. “I'm not exactly pleased with
you
at this moment, either, you know. But I want to hear what Rayjhis and
Seijin
Merlin have to say for themselves without any excuses from you.”

Wave Thunder settled unhappily back in his chair, mouth shut, and the king's eyes bored into the kneeling Gray Harbor.

“Why do you say it was your fault?” he demanded.

“Because it was my stupidity which created the situation from which
Seijin
Merlin was forced to rescue me,” Gray Harbor said unflinchingly. “The
seijin
warned Bynzhamyn and me that Kahlvyn was a traitor. I refused to believe it. Indeed, I went so far as to believe—to insist—that Merlin was lying for purposes of his own. Even when Bynzhamyn came to me, told me what Sir Rhyzhard had already discovered, I refused to believe. And because I did, I violated my oath as First Councillor. Instead of maintaining the secrecy of the information Bynzhamyn had shared with me, I went to Kahlvyn to tell him he was under suspicion. That he had to disassociate himself from the men we knew were Emerald agents. That he had to come to you, Your Majesty—tell you everything,
prove Seijin
Merlin's accusations were lies. But—” He looked up at last, his face wrung with pain and his eyes glistening with unshed tears. “—they weren't lies.”

The chamber was still, a frozen tableau, as the kneeling father-in-law met the cousin's eyes. The silence stretched out for several seconds, almost a full minute, and more distant thunder grumbled quietly in the background. Then, finally, Haarahld's nostrils flared as he inhaled deeply.

“How do you know they weren't?” he asked very, very softly.

“Because Kahlvyn admitted it to me, Your Majesty.” Gray Harbor's voice wavered at last, frayed by remembered pain.

“He
admitted
it?” Haarahld repeated as if even now he simply could not believe his own ears.

“Your Majesty, he admitted that the attempt to assassinate Cayleb was
his
idea originally, not Nahrmahn's. He told me
he
should have been King, not you. And because I'd revealed that he was under suspicion, he planned to murder you and Cayleb this very night rather than face the disgrace and dishonor his crimes had earned. He actually believed he could steal the throne for himself, if only you, Cayleb, and Bynzhamyn and his senior investigators were dead, and he invited me to join him in his treason.”

“I don't believe it,” Haarahld said flatly, but Merlin heard the tiny tremor in that hard voice's depths.

“Your Majesty, I'm talking about my
son-in-law
,” Gray Harbor said, his own voice and eyes wretched. “My daughter's husband, the father of my grandchildren. I loved him as if he'd been the son of my own body. Loved him so much I violated my oath to you to warn him he was under suspicion. Do you think I would
lie
about something like this? Something which will hurt Zhenyfyr so terribly? Do you think I would kill my own grandchildren's
father
if I'd had any choice at all?”

Haarahld stared down at him, and the king's frozen expression began to change. His jaw muscles clenched into hard-defined lumps, then relaxed as his cheeks sagged and he closed his eyes at last. A single tear trickled down his right cheek, and the hard, angry shoulders sagged.

“Why, Rayjhis?” he asked hoarsely. “Why didn't you and Bynzhamyn come to me as soon as
Seijin
Merlin spoke?”

“Bynzhamyn because he didn't want to hurt you, Your Majesty,” Gray Harbor said softly. “And I because I refused to believe.”

“And now this.” Haarahld opened his eyes once more and shook his head. “Now
this
, Rayjhis. You're right, it
is
your fault, and you did violate your oath when you went to warn a possible traitor he was suspected. If you hadn't, if you'd waited—as you should have—Kahlvyn would still be alive. We might yet have learned a great deal from him, and he would have been
alive
. My cousin, almost my brother, would have been alive.”

The earl bent his head once more, and his shoulders shook, but he said nothing in his own defense.

“May I speak, Your Majesty?” Merlin asked quietly, and the king's eyes darted to his face. For a moment, they flashed with fiery anger, but then Haarahld made himself stand back from that instant, automatic rage.

“Speak,” he said curtly.

“Your Majesty, I told Baron Wave Thunder and Earl Gray Harbor I had no positive proof of my suspicion of the Duke. Yet had I possessed that proof, I would have laid it in their hands. I would not have laid it in yours.”

Haarahld's eyes glittered dangerously, but Merlin continued steadily, meeting the king's angry glare.

“He was your cousin, Your Majesty. You loved him, and I knew it. It wasn't my place to tell you something which would cause you so much pain, and even if it had been, I had no idea of the true depth of his treason. I told your ministers what I knew, what I suspected, but even I suspected only a fraction of the full truth, and I had no proof even of that. If they erred in the fashion in which they responded to what I told them, they did so out of concern and out of love of their own. Neither of them was prepared to shirk his duty to the Crown to investigate any charge, however absurd, and both of them acted as they did out of their love for you and their desire to spare you pain.

“Baron Wave Thunder initiated that investigation without telling you because he knew how much it would hurt you if the charges proved well-founded, and because he wanted to spare you that pain until and unless he knew they were. And also, at least in part, to protect your relationship with your cousin, should those charges
not
prove valid, by arranging things so that you could blame him for proceeding without your authority if the Duke proved innocent and learned he'd been suspected. And while the Earl flatly refused to believe the Duke could possibly be a traitor, he agreed with Baron Wave Thunder, out of his duty to you, that the charges must be investigated. If he acted…unwisely in other ways, that, too, was out of love—love for you, and for his own son-in-law.

“Perhaps they should have told you immediately. Perhaps
I
should have. But if we had, how would you have reacted? Would you have believed it? Or would you have done precisely what the Earl did? Given the cousin you loved the opportunity to disprove the ridiculous allegations being made against him by a foreigner about whom you truly know almost nothing?”

The king continued to glare at him for a few moments, but then the fire in his eyes ebbed once again.

“Precisely, Your Majesty,” Merlin said softly. “You did love him, as did the Earl. Neither of you would have wanted to believe. And because the Earl refused to believe, he was nearly killed by his own son-in-law—
would
have been killed, if the Duke had decided his death was necessary to advance his own plans. Do not deceive yourself, Haarahld of Charis; the cousin you loved planned your son's murder, and yours. Had he become regent for Zhan, he would undoubtedly have arranged his death, as well, and possibly even Zhanayt's, if it had proven necessary to secure his own claim to the throne. If you'd given him the opportunity to clear his name, he would have responded in precisely the same way he responded to Earl Gray Harbor's offer, and quite possibly have succeeded.”

Silence hovered once again, and then the king shook himself. He looked away from Merlin, away from the still-kneeling Gray Harbor.

“What have you discovered so far, Bynzhamyn?” he asked harshly.

“I fear everything
Seijin
Merlin's told us about the Duke was true, Sire,” Wave Thunder said heavily. “His majordomo and at least twenty-three more of his personal guardsmen managed to disappear before Lieutenant Huntyr and his men arrived at the Duke's mansion. The only reason I can think of for them to have done that was because they
knew
the Duke was a traitor and they were implicated in his treason. And I fear that at least one of them may have served two masters, and not just the Duke, alone.”

“What do you mean?” Haarahld demanded, and Wave Thunder nodded to Seafarmer.

“I received a report from one of my agents just before
Seijin
Merlin and the Earl arrived here at the Palace, Your Majesty,” Sir Rhyzhard said. “A man who
may
have matched the description of the Duke's majordomo, Marhys Wyllyms, went to Braidee Lahang's lodgings this evening. The weather is so bad tonight my man couldn't make a positive identification, but because it's so bad, he was also suspicious about why someone might be out in the storm. So after the visitor left, he decided he should quietly check to be sure Lahang was still there, that he hadn't crept out a back way as the first step in disappearing. What he discovered instead was that Lahang had been murdered.”

“Murdered?” Haarahld repeated, and there was an almost bemused note in his voice. As if even someone as tough-minded as the King of Charis was beginning to feel overloaded.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Seafarmer nodded.

“I don't believe the Duke ordered his execution, Sire,” Wave Thunder said. “I suspect that just as the Duke had inserted his own guardsman into Rayjhis' service, Nahrmahn had inserted this Wyllyms into the Duke's. He was probably the hidden dagger waiting to remove the Duke at a time of Nahrmahn's choosing, but it would seem he was also charged with removing the one man who could have given us complete details on Nahrmahn's network of spies here in the Kingdom. Especially if it appeared the Duke's downfall might lead us to Lahang in turn.”