The Quartered Sea Read Online Free PDF Page A

apologetically at the waiting ex-assassin. "Do you want me?"
     
    While golden-haired young men with that pouty just-smacked-in-the-mouth vulnerability weren't exactly his type, Bannon flashed him a predator smile on principle. "Maybe later. Right now, I need you to show me tomorrow's pattern."
     
    A thick Imperial accent added strange emphasis to the words. "Pattern?"
     
    "Where Her Majesty will be, where His Highness will be, where everyone else will be." When Prince Otavas had contracted to join with the Heir of Shkoder, Bannon had added the Princess Jelena to his responsibilities. No one had asked him to, but since his prince had thought it an excellent idea, no one had been able to stop him either.
     
    Benedikt frowned. Kovar had told him he'd be attending the ceremony at the forts before his last Walk, almost as he was on his way out the Citadel gates. He'd had no time to read the recall of his immediate predecessor, but some things were a given. "You accompanied His Highness here in Second Quarter."
     
    "I did."
     
    "It'll be the same ceremony."
     
    "Not quite. Her Majesty wasn't here in Second Quarter." Gripping the bard's shoulder a little harder than was strictly necessary, he turned him in a slow circle. "Those barrels weren't here in Second Quarter; two of the flagstones by the gate are cracked, there's a new half door on the stable, and there's evidence of repair on the rim of the well."
     
    Benedikt whistled softly in amazement and remembered some of the stories floating around the Citadel concerning the ex-assassin. Apparently, those involving his obsessive attention to detail were true. Remembering other stories, a chill spread out from under the pressure of the gripping fingers and lapped against the bard's spine. If some were true, then all could be, and many weren't particularly pleasant. Although some were. An unexpected heat followed the chill, and Benedikt had to swallow before he could ask, "Is there any danger?"
     
    "Always. But if you're asking if Her Majesty is in any danger…" Bannon grinned ferally. "Not when I'm around."
     
    Benedikt didn't doubt that for a moment.
     
    And as he pointed out the places the queen and her consort would stand, as he waited while Bannon calculated lines of sight, he couldn't stop thinking of how he was now one of the details the ex-assassin noted.
     
    * * *
     
    "You're looking solemn," Kovar commented quietly as he and Magda picked their way down a spiral staircase to the floor below the royal suite. "Is there a problem?"
     
    "Not exactly. A couple of the guards are still carrying a lot of guilt about the late queen's death but I feel that escorting Her Majesty here safely should help them work through it and move on."
     
    "Since we're speaking of Her Majesty…" Conscious of the way the stone bounced sound all around them, Kovar dropped his voice until the words were little more than a soft buzz against the healer's ear. "Shouldn't you be with her?"
     
    "No. Otavas can do more for her right now than I can."
     
    "You believe that His Highness can fill the emptiness?"
     
    "I believe love will fill the emptiness," Magda told him, her tone leaving little room for argument.
     
    Kovar nodded thoughtfully. "Ah, yes, an heir would help."
     
    "That wasn't what I meant." Stepping out into the corridor, she turned and favored him with a disapproving scowl. "And they don't need you repeating the opinion of every other old fusspot in the country."
     
    "Every other old fusspot?"
     
    His indignant protest banished the scowl and drew a laugh. "Kovar, you're a year older than my father."
     
    "And that makes me incredibly decrepit, I'm sure." He sighed, wondering, not for the first time, when the children had taken over. "And as I am so decrepit, I'd best have the room closest to the garderobe." When Magda indicated he should go ahead, he pushed open the door and glanced into the small rectangle. "All the comforts of home."
     
    "And exactly like this one," Magda