Land's End, Part 6
Gilbetron shut the door behind them to make sure nobody was listening in. Knowing the sort of advice Telematrice was getting lately, there was always the possibility that she was having him tailed all the way back to the Western Territories. He felt a sudden pang in his chest as he thought about her and how poorly their last meeting had gone.
I simply have to accept that our marriage could be beyond repair, he told himself. But no matter how soothingly he said those words to himself, the sting of the breakup remained.
“My name is Nieka,” she said once they were sitting. “Nieka Arynel. I’m on my way to Lystria to see the Lady Telematrice.”
“She is very difficult to get an audience with these days,” he noted. He felt uncomfortable saying any more on the subject, such as the fact that he, her husband, could hardly get face time with her.
She cleared her throat, looking up defiantly. “She must see me. By law, I have the right to declare a Question with the Royal Clerk.”
A Question, hmm? he mused. Why didn’t I think of that? Perhaps I yet will, after she’s had some more time to cool down and think things through.
“If you don’t mind discussing it, what Question do you intend to ask?”
“I will demand she explain why she killed my father, Sir Babcock, in cold blood.”
The young woman’s declaration sent shivers cascading down his spine. “Killed him? In cold blood, you say? I suppose you mean that she had him killed.”
“No,” she corrected. “She did it personally, with the help of her coachman. I was held back while she beheaded his corpse on the floor of the audience chamber of Nabon.”
Gilbetron paused, wrinkling his forehead in thought. Undoubtedly, she passionately believed what she was saying, and yet her story didn’t quite check out. Certainly Telematrice had ordered the twelve executions, but she had remained in Lystria while they were carried out. I was with her when the report was issued that the men had all been accounted for. The four days preceding were all spent in the castle. There must be some mistake.
“What was the date?” Gilbetron asked.
She frowned. “Excuse me, the date?”
“Yes, Nieka, the date of the incident. What day was it that Lady Telematrice arrived in Nabon?”
“It was eleven days ago, Lord,” Nieka said. “I remember quite clearly, since a state funeral was held two days after, time enough to make the body presentable. Or so the coroner informed me. I left the day after the funeral, and have been on the road ever since. It is a seven-day ride from Nabon to Lystria.”
The timeframe certainly checks out, Gilbetron admitted. Yet it could not have been Telematrice who carried out the crime.
“Are you absolutely certain it was the Lady Telematrice.”
She cocked her head to the side and looked at him as though he had grown a second head. “I have been called flightly by more than one man, but I could not have been mistaken. As I’m certain you will agree, the Lady Telematrice is quite striking.”
He couldn’t argue with her there. But perhaps it was merely one who looked like Telematrice. Surely there could be found some…
He trailed off, his breath catching suddenly in his throat. There was an explanation, though it was impossible to accept. Just considering it made him want to scream in anguish. Reining himself, he did not.