Seeds of Betrayal by David B. Coe Read Free Book Online

trusted each other. It almost seemed to Brail that the god had granted him an extra gift this turn: for this one night, he was surrounded by friends.
    “It was a good service,” Ansis said, his pale eyes fixed on the fire.
    Bertin shook his head. “It was a load of dung, just as I knew it would be from the start. Maybe if Carden had allowed Chago’s prelate to preside, there would have been a measure of truth in it. But with the king’s prelate controlling everything…” He shook his head a second time, a look of disgust on his square face. A moment later he drained his wine, then held out his goblet so that one of Brail’s servants could pour him more.
    Ansis frowned, looking even younger than usual. “I just meant that it seemed to do Ria and Silbron some good to hear so many people speak of Chago so fondly.” He glanced at Brail and then at Tebeo, as if pleading with them to agree.
    “I was surprised that the king allowed me to speak,” Tebeo said. “I didn’t expect that, not after I sided with Chago in their dispute over the road fees.”
    “He wouldn’t allow me to speak,” Bertin said, raising his cup again. He had consumed a good deal of wine this day. “And he refused Tounstrel’s request, too. He couldn’t very well keep all of us silent.”
    Brail cast a look at the duke of Noltierre. “I’m sure he was tempted to try.”
    Bertin grinned and nodded. “I wouldn’t doubt it.”
    “Even Carden wouldn’t have gone that far,” Tebeo said. “He might have considered it, but he knows better.”
    “He didn’t hesitate to have poor Chago killed,” Bertin said. “Why would he care about the rest?”
    Ansis sat forward. “Precisely because he had Chago killed. He couldn’t silence all of us without making himself look guilty.”
    “Don’t be an idiot! ” Bertin said, rolling his eyes. “He had the man garroted. He wanted us to know who was responsible. It was intended as a warning to others who’d be as bold in opposing him as Chago was.”
    Ansis chewed his lip briefly. “Is that what you think, Tebeo?”
    The duke of Dantrielle looked at Brail before answering. With Chago gone, the two of them represented the greatest threat to Carden’s rule. Bertin hated the king more than either of them, as did Vidor of Tounstrel, but neither Noltierre nor Tounstrel was counted among the kingdom’s more powerful houses. Kett, like Noltierre, was at best a middle-tier house, and even had it been more, Ansis’s youth would have kept him from exerting much influence within the court. Until recently Mertesse had wielded a good deal of power. Its army was considered one of the finest in the land, and its treasury rivaled that of Bistari and Orvinti. But the dukes of Mertesse had allied themselves with House Solkara long ago, and with Rouel’s death during the siege at Kentigern several turns back, the dukedom had passed to Rowan, an unproven and unimpressive youth.
    Among the great houses, only Solkara, Orvinti, and Dantrielle were still led by men of experience. Surely it had not escaped the king’s notice that both Brail and Tebeo had, at one time or another, sided with Chago in taking issue with his decrees.
    All of which made Tebeo’s answer to Ansis’s question that much more significant. Though he was among friends in the privacy of Brail’s quarters, the duke would have to choose his words with care. Still, even knowing this, Brail was surprised by Tebeo’s reply.
    “I might have seen it as a warning,” he said, “had I believed that Carden was responsible.”
    Bertin nearly choked on a mouthful of wine. “
What
? ‘Had you believed-’? You mean you don’t?”
    “I’m not as certain of it as you are.”
    “You saw his body before they lit the pyre! Good as he was, the embalmer couldn’t hide the marks on Chago’s neck. And as if that wasn’t enough, the captain of Bistari’s guard told me that they found a broken strap in Chago’s hand bearing the Solkaran crest.”
    “I