Scent of Magic Read Online Free PDF Page B

slight frown, Zuta shook her head. ‘ ‘That is not the way, Your Grace. Should you wish to know more of what the Herbmistress has to offer, summon her and ask that she bring samples—if His Highness will approve. After all, he has always allowed you to select from Master Gorgias the best material for your gowns, and did he not give you last name day the moss lily scent you liked so well? Remind him of that when you ask to meet the Herbmistress, for it, too, came from her distilling. Now—what is your will?”

    She stood waiting by the door. Mahart denied herself a last glance in the mirror as she answered.
    “His Highness desires my presence in his cabinet before Second Bell. I shall have to wait to break my fast this morning, Zuta.”
    For a moment she thought she saw Zuta's lips begin to form a question. If the lady-companion wanted to know why this out-of-custom demand had been ordered, she was trained well enough in etiquette not to ask.
    So Mahart went alone down the staircase into the busier section of the castle. Guardsmen she was hardly aware of snapped to attention as she passed until she reached the door she sought. There the guardsman thudded the butt of his spear of ceremony on the floor loud as any fist against that portal.
    There was a muffled answer from within and the guardsman unbent enough from his statue pose to open the door and announce: “Her Grace, the High Lady Mahart, Your Highness.”
    Mahart took a deep breath and stepped forward. The heavy draperies at all the windows had been pulled open, and there was a measure of daylight added to by candles on the wide desk. He was not alone; standing to one side and curving forward in a formal bow was Vazul.
    Mahart's eyes widened, but she swept the deep, formal court curtsey to her father. Why the Chancellor should be present was an added puzzle.
    “Give you a fair day, Father, and may fortune favor you.” She was glad that her voice sounded steady enough.
    “Yes, yes—” The Duke waved an impatient hand, and his aspect was certainly not welcoming. But he stared at her strangely. His eyes actually seemed to open the wider, as if she were some curiosity being presented to his notice.
    “Sit—” He jerked his hand again, this time toward a chair which the Chancellor had drawn forward.
    Sit she did, but now uneasiness was fully awake in her.What did they want of her? That Vazul was a part of her being here she did not doubt.
    “You are of age.” Uttobric was now shuffling papers back and forth on the desktop as if he were discovering that he was finding it difficult to select the proper words. “Of age,” he repeated quickly, “to be betrothed.”
    Mahart's folded hands tightened on each other. She knew well that in this subject she had no choice at all.
    He paused and was looking at her expectantly.
    “Yes, Father.” She pinched out the answer he seemed to have been waiting for as he now continued.
    “As a woman matters of statecraft are beyond your judgment. But this is something which you must understand, for it means the safety of the duchy. As you well know, I was not in the direct line of descent but was elevated to serve Kronen by fate when my second cousin and the other male heirs died in the plague.
    “By law the rule could not pass to the High Lady Saylana, as no woman ever rules, nor could it go to that son of hers"—his mouth twisted as if he could have added a few scathing words to describe Barbric—"as I lived. But though fortune favored me in one way, it scanted me in another. Your mother bore me only a daughter.”
    He made that sound, Mahart thought, as if in some way her only faintly remembered mother had deliberately arranged such a mishap.
    “Now listen closely, girl, to what our good Chancellor has found in his lengthy search of the laws—for there are sometimes twists and turns in old decrees which can bring proper solutions.”
    Vazul moved into the full light of the window as if he needed to capture her