She held her right hand out, palm-up, and then slowly closed the long fingers into a fist. Then she reached out for Chenoweth’s dispatch.

“Go find Sir Garrick Betancourt. He’ll be down with the Marchwarden of the South in the situation room. Tell him drop the hammer. Verbal orders only, of course.”

Armand nodded and left at a brisk walk; running would attract the eye and arouse curiosity.

Tiphaine leaned back from the crowded desk and let her fingers trace the pommel of the misericord dagger at her belt.

Thirty miles, give or take, and the rail runs right through Gervais. Betancourt should be there by midafternoon if he pushes it.

Mistress Douglas came in with a new sheaf of papers and searched for the correct docket to file them in.

Tiphaine followed her out to talk to one of the typists.

“Mistress Romero, write and send a message to the Regent. It can go in the clear, as fast as possible. Guelf Mortimer of Loiston has drawn the dotted line.”

Puzzlement, and then she could see everyone assuming that it was some private code. It was; the rest of the phrase was on the back of his neck, which was where the headsman’s ax went—Guelf wouldn’t rate the two-handed sword, not being a tenant-in-chief.

CHARTERED CITY OF GOLDENDALE
COUNTY OF AUREA
PORTLAND PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION
(FORMERLY CENTRAL WASHINGTON)
HIGH KINGDOM OF MONTIVAL
(FORMERLY WESTERN NORTH AMERICA)
AUGUST 5, CHANGE YEAR 25/2023 AD

Mathilda grimaced slightly as Tiphaine halted her narrative.

“There weren’t any palatable choices right there, were there, Tiph?”

“That’s war for you, Matti. Particularly this type; we just couldn’t take any chances on the politics of it. Fortunately I’m not at the ultimate policymaking level. I’m more like a crossbow. You point me and pull the trigger.”

“And I am doing the aiming now, and the only ones I can blame things on if it goes wrong are Rudi and God, which wouldn’t be a good idea. Well, the Liu siblings need to know some of that. That way of dealing with Mary Liu was so Mom, though. Just trying to follow her logic makes my brain hurt, sometimes. It’s always there but it’s . . . twisty.”

“At least you can follow it. Thousands couldn’t, and a lot of them came down with a case of the deads. Not least the late unlamented Dowager Baroness Liu, in the end.”

The man-at-arms came back up the stairs.

“His Reverence Abbot-Bishop Dmwoski, Your Majesty,” he said. “The Honorable Huon Liu, heir to Barony Gervais; the Honorable Yseult Liu.”