Elesbed saw Anne just then. She sprang, blushing, to her feet.
Anne smiled at them both. “You were very brave, Elesbed. But I think everyone ought to go to bed.” Her head swam from the wine; she wished greatly to lie quiet and think.
“I should like to see a castle in the Lost Lands,” said Isabeau, standing too. She was glowing with enthusiasm. She spun with an imaginary sword. “And to dare all things in the deathless wastes.”
Anne said wryly, “First things first, Belle. We must solve the problem of the besieging French.”
But when Isabeau was asleep, Anne, who had been desperate to sleep, lay awake, holding herself rigid, with all the doors of their bed flung open against the sticky heat, thinking,Be damned to you, Orléans, you did make everything harder.Her skin was hot; her body wouldn’t settle. Her mind was a scramble of hope and fear and endless planning.
The moonlight poured in.
Finally she slipped softly out of bed, lifting her hair to cool her neck, and stepped through the door into the solar, thinking she would sit quiet in the coolness of the deep window embrasure. Better than lying sweating in her shift.
It was only with her first step that her sleep-addled brain thought,What is this light,it is not yet the full moon.She stopped short and a dark figure unfolded itself from the window and stood.
Her throat and belly went cold.
“Please don’t be afraid of me,” said Julien Moreau. “Highness, I beg you.” The moonlight behind him put all his face in shadow.
Anne opened her mouth on a cry. Closed it again. He had stood but not come nearer. There was too much moonlight. It wrapped them like a wall, shone in his eyes. The room outside looked hardly real. What had happened? Would they hear her if she shouted?
She wished for a gown, feeling naked in her shift, with loosely plaited hair. “How did you get in?”
“I travel by shadows,” he said. “I never meant to hurt you, Highness. The sea-drake was my mistake, but it was none of my doing.” His eyes asked for understanding.
She didn’t move. “You lied. We helped you and you lied.”
“I was then loyal to France, and a French lady came to Nantes, the descendant of my sovereign. You understand loyalty.”
“You took Elesbed away.”
“Did I have a choice? I had my loyalties, and she would have ruined everything. I regret it now. More than I can say.”
“Thenloyal?” she said. “Why are you here now?” To kill her? France could not want that. To kidnap her? Perhaps. He hesitated, frowning. She stood well out of his reach. Should she scream? But shewanted to know why he’d come in secret. Why this talk if he was bent on kidnapping? She watched him warily.
He turned to look into the moonlight. His eyes had a lovely tilt in the angles of his face. “I have been a fool.”
She said nothing.
“It was the sea-drake’s blood, wasn’t it, that got you out of Nantes?”
She still didn’t answer.
He sighed. “I have rarely been so full of regret. I should have swornyoumy oath from the beginning. Then I would not be coming suppliant now.”
“Are you here to swear loyalty to me?” said Anne, incredulous. “Why?”
He took a step nearer. She caught a flicker of lust in his gaze, a devouring thing. It was not about her. He wanted something she could do for him. Her mistrust deepened. “No nearer,” she said.
Softly, he said, “I know what you want above all, Highness. You want to stay in your own land and rule it.” She didn’t answer. He went on. “That is impossible now. Brittany is too weak. But what if it were strong?”
She was taken aback enough to reply. “And what, according to you, will make it strong? You yourself? You were certainly not eager to put yourself in my service before.”
“No,” he said. “Not me. Keris.” He said the name with reverence.
It was unexpected. “The lost city? What are you saying?”
“Yes, lost. It is in the Lost Lands.” His words tripped over his tongue, so fervent was he. “I had a prophecy from the lady in the mere—long ago. She told me that a woman to whom I offered my hand would find this lost city of Keris and free it from its darkness. So for years I sought her, this wife of my prophecy. I found women in plenty, but none had the gift. The moment I saw the silver blood on your face, I knew. It was you whom I’d been waiting for. Think of it, Highness. You can see the shadows, can’t you? You are the sanctified sovereign of this land of Brittany. It is you. The way to Keris would open for you.” His eyes had a wild glitter, an obsession laid bare.“Keris. With dragons in its bay and gold laid into its seawalls. The master of Keris would be the master of all Christendom. Come with me to Keris and I can save you. I can save your whole realm. Maximilien of Austria cannot. But I can.”
