Neral sat in her study to the left of the cracking fire, light reflecting not only in her brown eyes, but from the dagger before her. Usually sheathed to her hip, she let the light dance as she contemplated what to do with it. "If it is him, I can't kill him. I want to. Under other circumstances I could, but not like this."
"You have more than enough evidence, my love," Bryana answered, her disdain for the people they were discussing crystal clear.
"Evidence that I can't use publicly," she said, fighting the urge to groan in frustration. "Ordinarily I could lay the claim, Lord Vesik would be tried based on my evidence, and could either accept the verdict or challenge me. He would never accept the verdict, so he'd take the challenge, and then I kill him." She said it with the certainty that another would in claiming that the sun would rise in the morning. As Commander of Erette's armed forces who had seen more than her share of battle in her still young life, she could afford that certainty.
She stretched her legs as she contemplated her position. She wore a simple gray gown, preferring simple when at home compared to the body armor or formal dress required for the day. The long skirt was slit up the side to afford freedom of movement, and one of her few eccentricities was that boots were a near constant part of her attire. From regulation uniform boots to every other style she possessed, she simply felt more comfortable and secure in them, probably from having spent most of her life trudging about in them. The soft leather of her black ankle boots was a bit of a balm just then.
"I cannot go to the queen with what I know because, what do I tell her? It all comes to me from my husband the Healer and his apprentice, but they are not simply healers. They used forbidden magic and manipulated minds so that I can know what I know. Whether or not *he* is tried would be the least of my worries."
Bryana paced in front of the bookcase on the other side of the room in her white-sleeved burgundy gown. It was simple, but gold trim gave it a touch of class. Her blonde hair moved with her in such a way that it seemed to share her agitation. She stopped, turning toward Neral, crossing her arms, "Let me kill him. No one will be able to trace it to you. No one will be able to trace it at all. He would simply not wake up one morning. It would be more peaceful than the end he plotted for you and the queen."
"No."
She was incredulous as she approached the table. "How can you say that so quickly and firmly? He was going to use you to kill the queen. He was going to kill you." Her tone softened just slightly, pushing back guilt and shame that came with remembering, "I almost succeeded in making that a reality. You cannot just ask me to sit idle and let what he's done go unanswered. We've already ended people in this."
Deres watched them go back and forth, saying nothing until now, marveling over how things had turned and twisted to reach the point where they could live as lovers and squabble like marrieds. And that it had become the three of them together was glorious. His wife had chosen to bond with him irrevocably, and, while Bryana hadn't chosen the changes to her, she was happy and was precisely where she wished to be. "Middlemen," he said smoothly and casually. "Ending them makes such plots more difficult to employ in the short and long run. We didn't kill Prince Kudan and, for many of the same reasons, we shouldn't kill Vesik."
"We're not even completely sure he's responsible yet." She set her blade down and ran her fingers through her brown hair, fighting off a wave of mental fatigue. "So Kudan saw Vesik's house mistress pick up a money drop. It certainly suggests that she is involved, but not him." In her heart though, she knew it was likely true. The House of Vesik and the House of Jaye had sparred for generations, and within the last few, Vesik had fallen slightly as Jaye had ascended. Such was likely to continue to be the case with her family's close ties to the royal family. Any one of those reasons was enough to attempt to eliminate the queen and the Jayes in one action.
"We'll know soon," Deres told her.
She turned to him, marveling at the light in those dark blue eyes and the strength in that body that belied his true skills. "We will?"
He nodded. "Things are already in motion on that front. We'll know in a few days. I'll handle it myself."
Bryana almost rolled her eyes and Neral smirked knowingly, "You will, will you?"
"It has to be done quickly and correctly, so I'll be the one to handle it."
"And it has nothing to do with said house mistress being comely in the extreme, of course?"
He looked correctly appalled at the idea. "Certainly not, Neral. I am a married man."
"And, as we all know, marriage prevents dalliance," she nipped, enjoying the rest from the back and forth up until this point.
"You would know," he jabbed back.
"That my activities happen at all are things *you* made part of me, I will point out."
He shrugged, "You and Bryana are happy. I suspect if I called in your other bedpet and asked her, she would be most pleased as well, so...you're welcome?"
"I am so," Bryana said, her voice sweetness.
Neral looked at her, "I am, too."
The sorceress leaned forward, propping herself up on the table with her palms, "Then let us accept as a given that the comely house mistress will likely be cumming, and let's move on." Her tone turned more serious. "If the dear Lord is involved, let me end him."
"No," she said again, more firmly, as if speaking to a subordinate, and, in some ways she was. "Others may choose to connect it to me because they heard whispers second or third hand of Vesik's plot. That such would put my family in danger anyway is intolerable enough, but what if someone decided to believe or act on the wrong whisper? One of his allies acts against a family otherwise oblivious to this in his name? Or they simply take advantage of the turmoil to gain position? The result is potentially the same. If there were a clear path of evidence..."
"That a man like him would never allow to exist to start with," Deres added.
Neral ignored it, but it was true enough. "If there were a clear path of evidence, I could act and the fallout would be limited and such that the queen's skill could control it. I am the protector of the people and I won't risk unleashing Goddess knows what mess by killing him without law and tradition at my back."
Deres finally rose from his chair, "Then, if he does have responsibility in this, and he cannot be killed, he has to be ruined. He has to be so publicly shamed that, not only does he lose position, everyone around him will distance themselves from him like rats from a burning house and no one would *want* to retaliate in his name."
Bryana contemplated his words, "Also, if it's outlandish enough, those close to him that might know or suspect he employed those versed in forbidden magics would be too paralyzed to act even if they wanted to out of fear of...equal reprisal."
