“Will you be meeting him at High Hall?” she asks.
“Yes, I think he’ll appreciate that.”
Cleves casts around for something to give Arundell that is just for her; not something her husband can claim. She keeps a small chest on a cabinet in the corner of her bedroom. She unlocks it and surveys the jewels within.
“Have I told you of my country’s superstitions around gems?” she asks, running a hand across the pieces.
“No.”
“It is a remnant of our old religions. It was said that certain powerful creatures, sometimes even gods, lived in jewels, and their divine powers run through them. Protection for topaz, lightning in diamonds, and so on. The brighter the jewel, the stronger the godly power.”
She lands upon a simple, large amethyst, set in a pendant surrounded by diamonds. Perfect.
“You do not believe it?” Arundell says.
“To believe it would be blasphemy against Cernunnos, would it not?” Cleves says. She drapes the necklace around Arundell’s neck so that the pendant rests upon her clavicle.
“What godly power does amethyst have, then?” Arundell says, her hand resting on the jewel.
Cleves smooths her lover’s hair over the chain. This is the last time she will perform such an intimate act with Arundell.
“Healing,” Cleves says. “Healing and good health.”
Arundell half sobs, half laughs. “Does it heal every ailment? Even heartbreak?”
“I hope so,” Cleves says.
Johana is waiting for her in her study, his booted feet resting on her desk.
“Grutzch,” she curses when she sees him.
“Good morning to you too, cousin.”
“No,” she says. She slaps his feet off her desk. “I do not want you here, Johana.”
“That hurts my feelings.”
She pushes him out of her chair, which is no small task given he is so much larger than her.
“I do not care. I did not invite you to Elben. I did not invite you to Cnothan. I do not want this.”
“What do you want, then?”
He is being infuriatingly calm with that little smirk he is so fond of wearing.
“I want to bealone. I just want—” She gestures at her surroundings, her perfectly neat study and the courtyards outside her window, populated by animals and as few servants as she can manage. “I want to be with my pets, and my work, in my castle, by myself.”
Johana considers this. “Very well, cousin. I will give you some peace.”
“Thank you.”
“I merely came to deliver some excellent news,” he says.
Her heart skips a beat. Has Seymour been seized?
“Enlighten me then,” she says.
“Our two countries are to become closer than ever. Your husband and brother have signed a new treaty of enduring friendship between Elben and Ezzonid.”
