Page 45 of Play of Shadows
She resumed her long-legged stride through the maze of shops and drug dens. ‘We’re not that different, really. Think of a Bardatti as a more intelligent, dazzling and talented Greatcoat. The Trattari deal with the petty day-to-day disputes over whose sheep shat on whose lawn, while we Bardatti contend with vastly more complex and dangerous matters.’
‘Such as?’
She pulled something from her pocket and flipped it in the air. I caught the coin, but didn’t need to look to know it was a gold jubilant with an orchid stamped on one side.
‘I take it you’ve seen one before?’ she asked, observing my expression.
‘Last night– someone handed out a considerable number of these to hire a mob of actors to beat me senseless.’
‘Actors?’ She laughed. ‘They couldn’t find a litter of kittens to do the deed?’
Ignoring the jibe, I rubbed the coin, wondering, if I wore all the way through the gold, whether I might find the secret hidden within. That wasn’t likely to work, so I flipped the coin up in the air. ‘Why does it feel like everyone is playing for the wrong side?’ I asked aloud.
‘What do you mean?’
I held up the coin, showing the side with the duchy’s crest. ‘Duke Monsegino is a direct descendent of Prince Pierzi. His reign is already fragile, so why would he risk alienating the entire city by having me stand up on stage making it look as if Corbier was the true hero?’ I turned my hand to expose theother side of the coin. ‘And the Iron Orchids have been rebelling against every one of Monsegino’s reforms– so surely they should bebeggingthe Operato Belleza to continue humiliating the duke’s ancestor and undermining his lineage.’
‘Thatdoesrather sound as if everyone is playing for the wrong side. . .’ Rhyleis took the coin back from me, flipped it in the air and caught it, closing her fingers around it. ‘Unless there’s a third side you’re missing.’
‘What do you mean?’
She handed it back to me. At first I thought it was the same gold jubilant as before, but the front no longer bore an orchid, nor Duke Monsegino’s visage, as was legally required on official currency. Instead, Rhyleis had conjured up a coin that displayed a woman’s profile, her elegant features framed by thick curls held in place by a slender crown.
‘Who’s this?’ I asked.
Rhyleis made a tut-tut sound. ‘You don’t recognise Duke Meillard’s darling daughter? Viscountess Kareija would’ve been crowned Duchess of Pertine, had her father not named Monsegino his heir just a couple of months before his death. Didn’t you know?’
‘I’m afraid Duke Meillard failed to consult me on matters of succession, and a poor player is generally concerned only with legendary dead rulers, not mediocre living ones.’
I turned the coin over in my hand. I was pretty sure just being in possession of it could be considered an act of treason. ‘Where did you get this?’
‘When a new ruler is about to ascend the throne, the treasury begins minting new currency to both celebrate their coronation and add legitimacy to their rule.’ She took back the coin. ‘Only a few hundred of these were made before they were melted down to make Monsegino’s.’
‘So why did Duke Meillard change his mind before his death?Isn’t the Viscountess younger, even though she’s Monsegino’s aunt?’
‘Yes, she is, and as to the last minute change of heir, no one knows. Meillard took his reasons to his grave. Wait a hundred years and perhaps you can play him on stage and tell us all what the Hells he was thinking, handing his crown to a weakling foreigner like Monsegino.’
That’s not entirely fair, I thought.It’s not Monsegino’s fault his family kept him away from Pertine most of his life.Did the old duke discover some grave fault with his daughter?
Since his coronation, Monsegino had set out to prove himself a reformer, limiting the use of debtors’ prisons and pushing back against the influx of hard drugs and organised, often brutal forms of prostitution that had infected the city at the end of Meillard’s reign, even though many of these same business enterprises profited Jereste’s great Houses.
I considered the coin in my hand. Perhaps Viscountess Kareija would have been more sympathetic to the interests of the nobility?
‘Do you believe the Viscountess is making a play for the throne, maybe working both sides to destroy her nephew’s reign?’ I asked.
‘I don’t know.’ Rhyleis’ lips pressed into a thin line that suggested she resented the admission. ‘The fate of the Violet Duke is his own problem. Yours is uncovering the truth of Corbier and Ajelaine.’
‘They’ve both been dead for a hundred years. Why should it matter?’
‘The Red-Eyed Raven’s bones may be rotting in his grave, but thanks to you, we might still dig up the truth about him.’ She stopped walking and spun on her heel to face me. ‘I was at the Belleza last night. I saw your performance.’ A gentler, almost admiring tone crept into her words. ‘You might well be a genuineBardatti Veristor, Damelas Chademantaigne. The first we’ve seen in my lifetime.’
Hearing her words made me wary of the throngs passing us by. Might there be agents of the duke or his enemies or even those damned Iron Orchids among them?
‘You speak of it as some kind of saintly gift,’ I said quietly.
Rhyleis snorted. ‘Saints come and go. Veristors are far more rare, my friend. Bardatti legends tell of sacred actors who could, with a single performance, raise an army to fight their enemies.’ She pressed a finger to the swollen bruise on my left cheekbone where I’d caught an elbow from one of the Grim Jesters earlier that night. ‘Though in your case, it seems to work in reverse.’
Her glibness stoked the bitter fire already kindled inside me. I pushed her hand away. ‘All this “gift” has done for me is to get me into deeper trouble by the day! I don’t know how to summon Corbier’s memories, and no one can explain whether I’m just remembering events or actuallylivingthem.’
