Mollala is going to have one very loyal page. And one very loyal friend in years to come as Baron of Gervais, she thought. That makes me feel warmer. That’s how the world is supposed to work!

The Regent turned to a quiet woman sitting next to Jehane. “Countess Anne, will you take the girl in ward?”

“Gladly. My sisters will be happy to have a companion close to their age. Yseult comes to us, moreover, with a reputation for fancy stitching. We will look to learn from her.”

The Regent nodded to Yseult, who frantically scanned through her knowledge of the Protectorate’s nobility.

Countess Anne? Tillamook! It’s very remote . . . it’s a poor county on the edge of nowhere, and there are raids from the Haida along the coast, but the Countess won’t be wearing wooden shoes!

She bowed her head; then she met the Regent’s eyes, seeing there a chilly approval.

I don’t envy the Princess, she thought. Not if she’s always on trial like that! Or is it different with those two?

Aloud she said, “Thank you, my lady Countess. I will try to be a good maid-in-waiting to you, and hopefully will learn of cheese making and preserves and perfumery.”

“You must understand,” said the Regent, “you are sent to Tillamook because I believe Countess Anne will detect treason very quickly, having had personal, close experience with one of the agents of CUT, previously.”

Anne, Countess of Tillamook coughed. “My lady Regent! I never said . . .”

This time Sandra smiled openly. “No, you didn’t, my lady Countess, and I admire your discretion, but rest assured that I know a good many things people do not tell me.”

D’Ath spoke from her place by the window. “You didn’t say, but I did ask. I was ten days in your demesne . . . dealing . . . with that treasonous priest.”

Dealing? Yseult asked herself. Priests were supposed to be judged by ecclesiastical courts under canon law. Then: There are things I just don’t want to know.

“I had ample time to hear just what was happening and how you dealt with it.”

“Which was very well,” Sandra said graciously.

“Neat job,” d’Ath confirmed. “Very professional.”

Anne of Tillamook was looking slightly stunned.

Even a coastal castle, far from the center of civilization was preferable to the bleak cell and silent treatment.

“My lady Countess, I understand and I submit myself to this. I also thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for accepting my service. Sharing a prison cell with my mother would not be my choice,” Yseult said.

Sandra came down from the dais, a sign that the session was near its end.