43 The Funeral IV (1/2)

By now, the Queen ought to have pieced it together: a man had called her spineless, and nearly everyone who heard him had agreed. Because Hilde did not go into the specifics when she told her sister of it, Queen Heloise must have assumed it was an ordinary man who'd spoken, that those who'd heard and agreed were equally weak and powerless.

They were not. Among the military, it wasn't only the Lord General whom she was up against. One would think she'd have seen this coming, but from how her eyelids fluttered, the realization had caught her by surprise.

It was the strangest thing. Did she perhaps think that, after neutralizing Lord Alfwin – or appearing to, at the very least – the rest of the army would back down as well?

Far more likely, they'd depose them both.

Hilde sighed. 'These men want war, Sister,' she thought – even if she'd said the words out loud, she knew they'd only fall on deaf, overly proud ears. 'As should you. As long as you don't give in… I'M their ticket. If you insist on your own plans and views, eventually, we'll have to get you out of the way. And whatever you try to do to me... I suppose I now have others to help counter it.'

Despite the dubiously optimistic thought and the reassuring presence of Inge, Raban, and two other soldiers nearby, she sighed again.

'That's right,' Hilde insisted, as if trying to convince herself. 'Right now, pride be damned. I need to survive, and there are far, far worse ways to do it.' Before she could stop herself, her gaze slid fearfully towards the bier ahead. 'Far worse ways…'

Queen Heloise just had to choose this moment to retrieve her attention from the soldier to look at Hilde; the younger woman had still been in the process of wrenching her gaze back from where it had strayed. Luckily, she had already schooled her expression to show the kind of worry one might feel when caught in the middle of a conflict one had no control over. As far as everyone else was concerned, Hilde was only a ”pawn” in all this, not a player. Always, she must act the part.

Did her sister notice where she'd been looking? Would she guess at whom, specifically? Most importantly, would she guess why? If the answer to all three was ”yes,” then she'd just handed the Queen the weapons with which to strike down her opponent's figurehead.

For once, Queen Heloise's expression was coldly unreadable.

”So that is what happened,” she said blandly.

Lady Ilse cleared her throat and commented, ”Such a thing…” But even though she tried to act surprised and horrified, the worried frown she threw her elder niece said, 'What were you expecting?'