‘I believe it was you and your entourage,’ Ruumi said with a gesture toward Rennic and Foss, but not Chel, who flushed with injured pride, ‘who despoiled the attempt in question. Perhaps you should have kept out of the way then, no?’

‘We didn’t know that he was … We couldn’t have known …’ Tarfel’s brows lowered, water trickling down his pale face. Chel watched through narrowed eyes, the steam tickling his nose. Ruumi had sent Brecki and her war-band to kill Tarfel’s brother when few in the kingdom would have considered him anything more than a jolly simpleton. Had they known what everyone else hadn’t?

Ruumi had one hand on her chin, her gaze lost somewhere in the drifting haze of the rafters. ‘It will be different now: he is not living as before. He sits at the heart of a great and growing force. To reach him directly with a war-band will be near impossible.’

Tarfel stood defiant in the water, his shoulders breaking the surface. ‘I realize this. I have no intention of making such an attempt.’

‘What is your plan?’

Chel leaned forward. What indeed?

‘My brother pretends to empire. He will consolidate his forces over winter, then come the thaw he will march his armies to each corner of the kingdom that resists central rule. There are plenty of Names, minor lords, and free cities who chafe at the thought of consolidation, but without a signal to rally they will simply capitulate, one by one.’

‘You mean to unite them? Replace one crown with another?’

‘He can only sweep the board if he can concentrate his forces. Give him too many enemies, no matter how small … If the scales tip, he will be pulled in too many directions.’

‘You wish for me to be one of these small enemies?’

‘I do, yes – the signal to rally. And I wish to know your price.’

Ruumi stood, her hand still at her chin. The smile was still there, as if applied and forgotten like war-paint. ‘You may have less time than you realize. Already your brother has begun disbanding and absorbing the mercenary companies of the north, drawing them into his great church army. He may not wait until the thaw.’

Rennic stirred at this, half-rising from the water. ‘He’s doing what?’

Tarfel, too, seemed taken aback. ‘That’s … How is he going to hold the disputed territories without the free companies?’

‘I know only what my spies report, Tarfel Merimonsun. Perhaps another for your list of small enemies.’

‘Perhaps …’ Tarfel was quiet for a moment. ‘Do I have your interest, Queen Ruumi?’

‘Only nearly, you remember. We will come to that. You have my interest.’

‘What do you offer?’