The ride back to the mansion was uneventful and they passed through the great gates into the courtyard just over an hour later. Tamberline arranged a light lunch for them, which they ate in an awkward silence, and then she suggested that they go out into the gardens to pass the time with a game of croquet. It was a clear attempt to placate the other woman, to try to repair relations between them, but Penmark agreed none the less. It was either that or sit there and glare at each other for however long it was before Lord Born finally showed up.

     Neither of the two women could really focus on the game, though. They both had too much on their minds, and after a few minutes, by unspoken consent, they both put down their mallets and sat on a long bench by the edge of the cliff to watch the sunlight dancing and sparkling on the ocean waves far below. Lothby stood by one side, a few feet away, and Tamberline’s new bodyguard stood a few feet away in the other direction. The two men watched each other warily while the grikon watched them both from its perch in a nearby cherry tree.

 
   “Did your brother say when in the afternoon he would be returning?” asked Penmark.

     “To tell the truth, I was expecting him to be here by now,” replied Tamberline. “Maybe some other business came up to delay him.”

 
   Or maybe you’re still lying to me, thought Penmark. But where else might Lord Born be? What else could he possibly be doing? Could he be manoeuvering against her? Making some move designed to be the undoing of House Penmark? She couldn’t believe it. It made no sense. The elimination of Penmark as a rival would leave House Born far stronger and more confident. Strong enough to be a threat to the throne itself, and the King would not be able to ignore such a threat. Lord Born was ruthless and merciless, as were all aristocrats, but he wasn't stupid. Penmark was more useful to him as a powerful ally than as a conquered rival. Together they could take down the King himself, and only when that had been accomplished would they decide matters between themselves. Or, at least, that was what she had always believed. Could events have taken an unexpected turn? Could something have happened of which she was unaware?

     She sensed Tamberline growing more tense beside her, as if she were working her way up to something. As if she were gathering her courage for some kind of desperate gamble. Lothby sensed it too and he came to full alertness, fixing his full attention on the young woman and her deadly bodyguard. Tamberline's new bodyguard seemed relaxed, though. He was staring out across the ocean as if he had not a care in the world. Something tickled in the back of Penmark's mind. The sense that something was wrong, but what?

     She was so focused on this feeling that she was startled when Tamberline spoke again. “You said earlier,” she said, “that I could make a very good guess regarding your business with my brother. It has to do with the King, doesn’t it?”

     “I told you earlier that my business is with your brother,” Penmark reminder her. “Not with you.”

     “Anything that concerns my brother concerns me. If the two of you are about to make a move against the King and you fail, my ignorance of the plot will be no protection. I will be executed along with the two of you. On the other hand, if you are successful, I will gain power and wealth along with you. I don't have to tell you how much the prospect excites me. To be a member of the ruling family. To be next in line to the throne if something, er, unfortunate were to happen to my brother.”

     “You assume that he will be the one sitting on the throne, then?” Penmark regretted her words immediately. It sounded far too much like an admission. “If that were what we were plotting,” she added hastily.

     “Of course it is. What else could it be?” Tamberline leaned forward in the bench and twisted around to look at the older woman. “I could help you. I have assets, contacts in the palace. I could acquire useful information. Information on the King’s movements, his vulnerabilities. I could even help you to remove my brother, when the King has been dealt with. Help you attain the throne. All I ask in return is a position of power in your administration.”

     “You expect me to believe that you would be complicit in the murder of your own brother?”

     “Why not? You were. You had an older brother, Philip. Everyone knows he would have recovered from the hunting accident...”

     “That's what it was. An accident.”

 
   “Of course it was, but he would have recovered from it. The doctors all agreed. How did the wound become infected? It would only have taken a tiny speck of diseased tissue introduced into the wound, and you insisted on changing his dressings yourself.”

     “Because he was my brother and I loved him.”

     Tamberline flapped a hand dismissively. “Everyone knows, Emelia. The whole kingdom knows. All they lack is proof. Why do you think you've been so successful in business? It's because everyone knows how ruthless you are. So why do you doubt my own willingness to do the same? You killed your brother and I will kill mine, when the King has been removed. You will be Queen and I will be the Treasurer, or the Minister of State or something of that kind. Something with power and status. More status than I will ever have as the sister to a mere landowner.”

     “You could kill Lord Born, become the landowner yourself.”

 
   “As you did, but then I would have to take a direct role in the removal of the King himself. Better to let my brother take the risk while I stand ready to make a hasty departure overseas if things go wrong. Come, Emelia. You were ready to risk discussing such things with my brother. Why not with me? Would you rather take the risk of him eliminating you, instead of you eliminating him? Having me as your ally might be what makes the difference.”

     Penmark sat for a few moments in silent thought. What she said made a lot of sense, but the risk... But there was no-one present to hear their words except their bodyguards, who were sworn not to reveal any private conversation they overheard on pain of death. She could say anything here and deny it later, should Tamberline decide to tell anyone else. “You say you have assets in the palace,” she said carefully. “What assets?”

     “So it's true? You really do intend to assassinate the King?”

     “Yes, it is true. Your brother and I have been discussing it for a long time. The King's recent reforms have only accelerates our plans...”

     “That was all I needed to hear,” said a deep, male voice.

     It was Tamberline's bodyguard, his words accompanied by the sound of a sword being drawn from a scabbard. Lothby didn't wait for him to complete the action but leapt across at him, his own blade already in his hand. Penmark threw herself forward out of the bench, just in time as the grikon flew past over her head, its sting missing her neck by a fraction of an inch. Penmark rolled on the floor, bracing herself before she could fall over the cliff, and scrambled back to her feet, pulling her own blade from its scabbard on her belt. The grikon was already banking around for another pass, and as it flew at her she raised the blade high over her head. In the wild, the animal used its weapon against unsuspecting mice and rabbits. It had no instincts to help it defeat an armed opponent who was on guard and waiting for it. As it flew towards the elderly woman, therefore, her blade opened a gash in its side and blood sprayed across her arm and face. Its sting, curved under its body, drew a thin line of blood on her wrist, though. A scratch that Penmark barely felt but which filled her with dread nonetheless. There was no antidote to grikon venom. She would be dead within the hour.

     The two men were fighting with every ounce of skill they possessed, a display that would have thrilled the crowds had it been taking place in the gladitorial arena of the capital. The two women ignored them, though, each of them focused entirely on the other. Tamberline had drawn her own knife, but she made no move to attack with it. She knew there was grikon venom flowing through the veins of her opponent. All she had to do was wait.

     Penmark was determined to avenge her own death, though. If she was going to die today, she was going to take her enemy to Hell with her. The launched herself at Tamberline, therefore, her poisoned knife outstretched before her. Total attack with no attempt at defence. It was a gamble, and if her wild lunge had managed to scratch the skin of the younger woman the poison on the blade would have killed her, and a lot faster than the grikon venom was killing Penmark. Tamberline dodged to the side, though, and although the blade tore through the thin fabric of her dress, it missed drawing blood and a moment later her own blade plunged into the older woman's side, going deep into her heart.

☆☆☆

     Emelia Penmark fell dead at her feet, and for a moment Tamberline could only stare down at her, hardly daring to believe that her greatest rival was dead. Gradually, though, she became aware that there was a battle still going on a short distance away, and that she was still in great danger. Lothby, totally intent on the fight, had yet to notice that his mistress was dead, but the sounds of battle had alerted the mansion staff and there were guards pouring from the nearest doorway, running towards them, drawn swords in their hands. Lothby saw them, knew that he had only seconds before he was surrounded and killed, and he made the same decision Penmark had made. To kill his killer while he could.

     He threw himself at Tamberline's bodyguard, therefore, redoubling the fury of his attack, and the other man was pushed to the limit of his ability to stay alive. Sparks flew as their swords clashed again and again. Sprays of sweat flew from their heads as they spun and twisted, gasping with effort and crying out as their opponent’s weapon repeatedly drew blood. Tamberline watched with horror as her man was pushed step by step towards the cliff edge, close behind him. Her other guards were still more than fifty yards away. If Lothby killed her bodyguard, he would undoubtedly try to kill her next, and she doubted she would be able to get to safety in time. Even if she reached her other guards and they formed a protective wall around her, they wouldn't last long against the kind of fighting prowess she was witnessing now. He would carve his way through them, and through the entire rest of the mansion staff if that was what it took, until she was cornered and had nowhere else to run.

     Penmark's poisoned knife was lying on the ground next to her open hand. Tamberline snatched it up and threw it at Lothby. She had never thrown a knife before and it spun end over end as it flew through the air. It was an even chance whether it would be the blade or the hilt that hit the fighting man, but fortune was with her that day and it glanced off the bare skin of his upper arm with a small spray of blood.

     Lothby felt it, but his attention never wavered from his opponent. The poison acted fast, though, and Tamberline saw his face reddening and his movements slow by the very tiniest amount. The other man’s skill with the blade was great enough that his opponent only had to be slowed a little for him to claim the victory. He drew back his arm, therefore, thrust forward with all his strength and his sword plunged through Lothby's leather vest, his rib cage and his heart.

      The castle guards arrived to find Tamberline and her bodyguard both panting heavily and staring at each other with eyes shining in the aftermath of the adrenalin rush. “Are you alright, My Lady?” asked the Captain.

     “I am unhurt,” replied Tamberline. “Have the men who accompanied Lady Penmark rounded up and killed.” He saluted and sent some of his men off to obey. “Will the King he satisfied?” she then asked her bodyguard.

     The bodyguard, who was not, in fact, a bodyguard at all but King Boris's spymaster, nodded. “I heard Lady Penmark confess to treason, and I will be able to testify to that effect. The King wants aristocrats accused of crimes to have a fair trial from now on. She had one.”

     “As did my brother.”

     “Indeed. You have earned the trust of the King by bringing this conspiracy to our attention. Boris will confiscate all Penmark lands and properties and give them to you for administration, along with your brother's lands and properties. You will be the wealthiest, most powerful landowner in the Kingdom outside the royal family itself.”

     “I will not betray the trust he is placing in me,” said Tamberline, bowing her head in humility and gratitude. And that trust will allow me to get close to the King himself, she thought. He will no doubt want to meet me, to get the measure of this new power in his kingdom. I will astonish him with my beauty. I will steal his heart. I will dispose of any other woman who dares try to take my place. And then, when we are married, it will be his turn to meet an early end. The throne itself will be mine. The throne itself!

     She turned her head to keep him from seeing the smile on her face and then, with one last look back at the two corpses lying on the grass behind them, she led the way back to the mansion.