CHAPTER TWO

Pelemere, Central Kingdoms

I shbel’s status changed the instant she signed the marriage contract. Suddenly no longer the Lady Ishbel Brunelle, orphan of the Outlands and potential wife to King Maximilian of Escator, now she was the affianced wife of Escator, due all the respect and honor that position commanded.

As soon as Ishbel laid down the pen, Maximilian was standing, requesting Egalion to send a member of the Emerald Guard back to Sirus’ palace and inform him of the upcoming marriage. King Sirus, who had happily ignored Ishbel to this point, would now allocate Ishbel quarters within the palace for her use over the next two days, and would prepare to regally welcome her as if she were only newly arrived into Pelemere.

“You don’t have much to pack, do you?” Maximilian asked Ishbel. “Perhaps we can depart for the palace before noon and have you settle in.”

“I can be ready soon,” said Ishbel, turning for the door.

“Ishbel.”

She turned back, looking at Maximilian.

“Sirus has no idea of your association with the Coil,” he said. “No one outside this room does. I would prefer it stay that way. You are the Lady Ishbel Brunelle of Margalit. Not Ishbel of the Coil. Your association with them ends as of this moment.”

Garth Baxtor, watching, saw Ishbel’s face mottle with emotion, and he had his first intimation of how much loyalty she owed the Coil. He sympathized with that—they had, after all, taken her in when no one else would—but he also thought she must surely understand Maximilian’s request. A Queen of Escator—a queen of anywhere—simply could not have any ties at all with something as controversial and abhorrent as the Coil.

“You know how much I owe the—” Ishbel began.

“I know it,” said Maximilian, “but you must also know full well how reviled the Coil are beyond its front gates. For good reason. You are now my affianced wife, and soon to be queen. Your association with the Coil ends here and now.”

Garth looked between them, intrigued by this clash of wills.

Ishbel was by now very pale, and holding herself absolutely rigid. Garth thought she was very close to losing her composure completely. He wondered if this was why Maximilian had chosen this very public time to have this conversation with Ishbel—she would likely be more circumspect in public than she would in private.

“Turn your eyes forward, Ishbel,” Maximilian said very quietly, holding her furious gaze. “Look forward now to your new life. Forget the Coil. You’ll never go back.”

At that moment Garth saw something flare deep in Ishbel’s eyes. She struggled with herself, managed to control her temper with a supreme effort, gave a jerk of her head, and left the room.

There was a silence, broken eventually by Baron Lixel huffing in embarrassment and gathering up the papers. “I’ll, um, get these in order then,” he said, and hurried from the room.

Maximilian looked over to Garth.

“Are you sure you want to marry this woman, Maxel?” Garth asked gently.

“I need a wife,” Maximilian said, “and Escator needs wealth. I want children and she is pregnant. She will do.”

Then he, too, left the room, leaving Garth staring after him.

Ishbel sat on her bed in her chamber, clothes scattered about her, trembling in absolute fury. She had never been so angry and so humiliated in all her life.

Who was he to tell her to forget the Coil?

She couldn’t stop shaking, and she hated that. She beat her fists slowly on the bed, despising herself for capitulating to him.

Again.

What Ishbel hated most, though, was that she understood why Maximilian had said what he had. She was going to have to come to terms with the outside world’s revulsion of the way of the Coil.

Slowly she managed to relax. She would never mention the Coil to Maximilian again. She would not defend it, nor allude to it. She would, to all intents and purposes, turn her eyes forward as he had commanded.

“But I will not turn my back on you, Great One,” Ishbel whispered, and made the sign of the Coil over her belly with her right fist.

What Maximilian did not understand was that the Coil lay as much in her future as it did in her past.

She was the Coil.