The Kingmakers(127)
“No, Baudoin. You don't understand her. I'm the one who is killing Greyfriar. It's time. I can't live inside storybooks any longer. My father is dead. I have to take his place. I owe that to him.” He studied his old friend keenly. “I'm surprised. You most of all had no love of this…game I played.”
Baudoin straightened and stared into Gareth's gaze. “It was no game, my lord. I have watched you over the many centuries. After your father faded, you lost heart. If this”—he touched the wool reverently—“gave you solace, then who am I to deny you? I want only for you to be content in this world.”
Gareth clasped his friend by the forearm. “I am content with the people at my side. Loyal friends, trustworthy souls. You and Adele have been that. You more than make up for my brother's and my people's perfidy.”
“Then you truly love the human woman?”
“Yes.”
Baudoin nodded, as if he had known it all along. He drew in a deep breath before asking his next question. “Once you are king of Britain, won't that make you a target for the Equatorians?”
“Not so long as Adele remains ruler. We will try to stop the war before it claims one species over the other.”
“How can there be any other solution?”
“I have faith.” Gareth became grim. “In North America, Senator Clark is striking the clans by destroying their herds. Killing humans in order to starve us to death. He would have done the same here if Adele had allowed the union between Equatoria and the Americans to go forward.”
Baudoin's face grew angry and then slack with stunned understanding. “Adele refused to marry him?”
“Yes, she wouldn't sanction genocide, even if it had been the best solution for her people.”
“But against humans, not vampires.” Baudoin's voice was harsh.
“Both. She knows, like I, that genocide is not the solution.” He still believed that despite the fact that he remembered the taste of her blood and the promise of death he had found there.
Baudoin bowed his head. “Perhaps I have misjudged the woman.”
“Most do. It's her greatest asset.”
Baudoin smiled. “Adele will always be welcome in this house.”
A FIRE ROARED in the hearth of the great hall in Edinburgh Castle, and lanterns hung down from the hammer-beam roof timbers. Gareth was relaxed, despite the heat, as he sat at the head of the table and listened to Adele discussing details for the immediate future of the people of Edinburgh. She was excellent at details. Two of the Harmattan stood outside the door, the only members of her guard who were not out with Captain Shirazi combing the city for the elusive assassin.
Gareth had begun the difficult process of evacuating Edinburgh. Over the last week, he had announced several times to his people that they should move out of the city. He had to hurriedly explain to their worried faces and shouted questions that it was only temporary, and they would all soon be home again. Ultimately, a majority of the townsfolk had been willing to leave. Already some had packed up and departed, dispersing into the countryside, journeying to relatives' farms or abandoned villages in the Highlands. Still, many remained stubbornly behind. Gareth and Adele had just returned to the castle after hours of meeting with some of the city's elders to entreat them to push for further evacuations.
Morgana entered the great hall carrying a tray of food, followed by a smiling Captain Hariri. They chatted amiably with the pirate slathering great doses of compliments on the lovely serving woman. She accepted his attention, but maintained a studious distance.
Hariri seized a hunk of warm bread and announced, “We will be taking another journey north with more of the sick and elderly later today. I believe it may be our last before His Highness leaves for London.”
Adele chuckled at the couple. “Morgana, are you taking that flight out of the city?”
Morgana laid the tray on the table and wiped her hands officiously on her apron. “Oh, I won't be leaving. There's no need for me to go.”
“There's as much need as anyone,” Adele replied. “We want everyone out of Edinburgh.”
Hariri leaned on his elbows. “There's plenty of room, Miss Morgana. I'd welcome your delightful company.”
The woman smiled. “My place is here.”
“No,” Adele said. “I want you to go.”
Morgana looked a bit more disturbed. “But why? Nothing will happen, miss. It's just a precaution, but there'll be no problems surely. So why go?”
The empress looked at Gareth for support, then back to Morgana. “We don't believe anything will happen, you're right. But we must prepare for every possibility.”