The Outcast Blade by Jon Courtenay Grimwood Read Free Book Online

reveal…?”
    Giulietta flushed.
    “Not that,” Tycho said hurriedly.
    The flash of breast had been unintentional. Leopold meant to show the scar on Leo’s chest. Proof his adopted son was Leopold’s heir
in all things
. Since Leopold was
krieghund
his son would be, too. A werebeast, tied to the changes of the moon. The child would be dead if Alonzo or Alexa knew.
    Turning his chair, Tycho said, “I’ll look away.”
    “Make sure you do.”
    Saliva flooded Tycho’s mouth as she undid her gown, his dog teeth ached furiously. He could smell sweat and feel heat rise from her flesh. Turning further away he found Duchess Alexa staring.
    “My lady,” Tycho said to Giulietta.
    “
What?
”
    Leo wailed, Tycho caught a glimpse of nipple, people tensed and he lost Giulietta’s attention as she returned the baby to her breast, covering both with Leo’s Maltese shawl. The next time Tycho checked Alexa was talking to Alonzo.
    “My lady, when you were abducted…”
    Giulietta froze.
    “You said men dressed as Mamluks took you and were attacked in their turn, and your new captors held you on an island in the lagoon?”
    “I think so.”
    “You don’t know?”
    “I was blindfold, wrapped in a carpet and carried through streets, locked in a deserted room.” Her voice was rising and Tycho wondered how much she’d drunk. His own body adjusted for wine. Giulietta’s didn’t.
    “And the
krieghund
killed your new captors?”
    “
Yes
,” Giulietta said. “
He…
”
    Her voice died away and she swallowed. The beast that killed her captors became the man who loved her, without ever bedding her. The complex, charming, deadly and now dead Prince Leopold zum Bas Friedland.
    “Sorry,” Tycho said. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
    “
Everything upsets me
. Look at what I’m wearing… My husband is dead. I’m not allowed to feed my child in private. And worst of all…” She waved her hand to where Alonzo and Alexa sat; one drunk and the other watchful. “I’m back here. In the bosom of my loving family.”
    “
Giulietta
.”
    But he’d left it too late.
    Her chair was scraping back.
    This time no guard tried to stop her leaving.
    “May I join you…?”
    Looking up from his cup, Tycho found the Regent standing over him, while half a hundred courtiers pretended not to watch. Alonzo tapped Lady Giulietta’s abandoned chair as if he might need permission to sit.
    “I’d be honoured, my lord.”
    “What’s wrong with her?”
    “She’s tired.”
    “We’re all tired.” Prince Alonzo caught his irritation, reaching for a honeyed almond and sucking it slowly while he let his scowl dissolve. “These have been difficult times for all of us.”
    Tycho waited.
    One almond followed another.
    When the Regent reached for a glass it was Tycho’s own, which Alonzo then emptied in a single gulp, waving away a servant who hurried forward with her jug. “Don’t want women listening when men talk, do we?” Alonzo shrugged. “I know we’ve had our differences…”
    One way of describing his order that Tycho be sent south to be sold in the slave markets of Cyprus.
    Tycho had more sense than to say this and simply nodded, wondering what Alonzo wanted. Because he wanted something. The way the Regent was forcing himself to be polite said he wanted it badly.
    “You and my niece? You’ve become close?”
    “My lord?”
    The Regent sighed. “Enough fencing. I’m a simple man. A soldier. I like those who speak plainly and tell the truth. Did you befriend Lady Giulietta on the return trip?”
    “She needed to talk, my lord.”
    “Of course she did. Women always do. What about?”
    “Her husband’s death.”
    Prince Alonzo stiffened at the words. “You were at this wedding? It was done properly? With a real priest and legitimate witnesses?”
    “Prior Ignacio took the service. King Janus witnessed it. The entire Cypriot court was there. I acted as groom’s man…”
    “You?”
    “I was his choice.”
    Bending