“Hush.” Miriam cast her eye over the guards with a jaundiced eye. Their camouflage jackets and submachine guns sounded a jarring note. Strip them from the scene and this might merely be some English stately home, taken over for the duration of a rich multinational’s general meeting. “Am I always supposed to travel with this much protection?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Kara said artlessly.

“Make a point of finding out, then,” Miriam said sharply as she climbed the last few steps toward the separate guard detachment outside Angbard’s residence.

Two soldiers came to attention on either side of the door to the royal apartment. Their sergeant strode forward. “Introduce me,” Miriam hissed at the majordomo.

“Ahem! May I present my lady, her excellency the countess Helge Thorold-Hjorth, niece of the duke Angbard of that family, who comes to pay her attendance on the duke?” The man ended on a strangled squeak.

The sergeant checked his clipboard. “Everything is as expected.” He saluted, and Miriam nodded acknowledgment at him. “Ma’am. If you’d like to come this way.” His eyes lingered on Kara. “Your lady-in-waiting may attend. The guards—”

“Very well,” said Miriam. She glanced over her shoulder: “Wait here, I’m not expecting my uncle to try to kill me,” she told her retinue. Yet, she added silently. The doors swung open and she stepped through into a nearly empty audience chamber. The doors slammed shut behind her with a solid thud of latches, and she would have paused to look around but for the sergeant, who was already halfway across the huge expanse of hand-woven carpet.

He paused at the inner door and knocked twice: “Visitor six-two,” he muttered to a peephole, then stood aside. The inner door opened just wide enough to admit Miriam and Kara. “If you please, ma’am.”

“Hmm.” Miriam entered the room, then stopped dead. “Mother!”

“Miriam!” Iris smiled at her from her wheelchair, which stood beside the pair of thrones mounted at one end of the audience room. A pair of crutches leaned against one of them.

Miriam crossed the room quickly and leaned down to hug her mother. “I’ve missed you,” she said quietly, mind whirling with shock. “I was so worried—”

“There, there.” Iris kissed her lightly on the cheek. “I’m alright, as you can see.” Miriam straightened up. “You look as if you’re keeping well!” Then she noticed Kara’s head in the doorway, jaw agape. “Oh dear, another one come to stare at me,” she sighed. “I suppose it can’t be helped. It’ll all be over by this time tomorrow, anyway, isn’t that the case, Angbard?”

“I would not make any assumptions,” said the duke, turning away from the window. His expression was distant. “Helge, Miriam.”

“So, it is true,” said Miriam. She glanced at Iris. “He brought you here?” She rounded on Angbard: “You should be ashamed of yourself!”

“Nonsense.” He looked offended.