Aragon places each word like a stepping stone: heavy, yet somehow inevitable.
“We could do nothing.”
At first Howard thinks she must have misheard. But then Cleves laughs scornfully.
“Are you hoping to pick us off one by one, sister?” she says.
“Not at all.” Howard might think that Aragon was bored, if it weren’t for the reddening of her cheeks. “I am not denying that it would be a great blow to lose Queen Seymour. She has provided us with invaluable information these last several moons. But it is naive to imagine that we can wrest Elben from Henry without some sacrifices. Did not Queen Boleyn teach us as much?”
“Boleyn would still be alive but for you,” Howard says impulsively. She is too loud, and looks to the door where Susanna stands guard. Could her voice have carried through the oak?
“Boleyn understood that in a game such as this, sometimes the loss of a queen is the only way to win,” Aragon says.
Howard closes her eyes. She sees that moment as fresh as though it just happened. The way Boleyn stepped into nothingness. Her trailing fall beyond the cliff, and then the open sky and the bruise of the bordweal on the horizon.
“Boleyn chose to die,” Cleves says. “Seymour has not, as far as we know. I am not suggesting that we put ourselves in direct danger for her sake, but if we do nothing then how can we hope to work together in good faith?”
“I agree, sister,” Parr says.
Aragon sneers. “Then offer me a solution that stands a chance of success.”
Howard gasps. “I know—” she begins.
“Could one of your nephew’s warships be conscripted to take Cecilia?” Cleves says. “Or are you only willing to sacrifice your sisters?”
“I might ask you the same of your royal brother in Ezzonid,” Aragon replies.
“I think—” Howard tries again. She dare not speak too loudly for fear of Susanna overhearing. She stamps her foot. Why will they not listen?
“Let us take some time to consult our books and think on a different way,” Parr is saying.
“With what time?” Cleves says.
“Please—” Howard says. Then the other three are talking over each other. It is no use. Howard rises from her stool and goes to the far wall. She presses one hand on the tapestry that covers the panelling. It was a wedding gift from her aunt, and once hung in the chamber sheshared with Legh and the other wards. The thread has been worn and bleached over many decades, but the girls used to run their hands over the embroidery of the qilin with its graceful body and elegant horn and mournful eyes. When they were children, they would spin tales of how they would break the creature free from the wooden cage that surrounded it. Tales of uncommon bravery and magic that could never work in reality.
“Sister? Howard?” Cleves says.
“I am still here,” Howard says. She returns to her seat at the harpsichord.
“You were trying to tell us something and we were babbling,” Cleves says.
“It was nothing. A childish idea.”
“All the more reason for us to hear it, then,” Parr says. “For children can sometimes spy paths that older eyes cannot.”
Howard feels as she did the day Boleyn gifted her that book of poetry. The gift ofmore. The gift ofgreater.But she must earn it.
“We could use the bordweal,” she says. Then, lest she lose her mettle, she continues without watching the queens’ reactions. She works at her gown as she talks, pressing silver silk through trembling fingers.
“I do not know how. Perhaps it is not possible, but the Moon Ball showed us that wecanuse Medren’s power, did it not? If we could find a way of communing with the bordweal, then could we not turn it against Cecilia and her ship?”
Outside the door, footsteps thump. Susanna says a few muffled words to someone, and the footsteps recede. In the distance, the bells of Sweillan’s sanctuaries toll the half hour. If Howard looks up, she will see the queens’ derision.
“Howard,” Cleves says softly. She draws her eyes to thesunscína. Parr is smiling the way a mother might. Aragon’s head is tilted as she watches Howard. And Cleves: Cleves is grinning.
“I do not know how we might make it work either, but it is a good idea, sister,” Cleves says.
“I will consult my library,” Parr says.
