Westrons Pt. 27

But I was pleased that some sort of Legion of Honour would exist. For many officers and soldiers, that bit of ribbon might be the only sign they have of the esteem they deserve.

"Maybe Tudino should be first." I suggested. "Votuda certainly deserves one. Langoret and Neslann, too. And Tallia should get one, while we're at it."

Kanitz held up her hands. "The Queen is taking your suggestion - that doesn't mean that you get to compile the list." She was laughing as she said it.

The question, though, was a little more difficult.

"As for the lands the Queen wants to grant you - what would say to taking over Aneli's estate?"

- "No." I knew right away that that was a terrible idea.

- "Why not?" said Kanitz. "Wouldn't you prefer to have control of them, rather than someone else? A stranger?"

- "No. It would hurt her beyond measure. I understand that she has to pay the price for her choices - but for me to be sitting ... no. Just no."

"She's going to suffer enough as it is."

Kanitz nodded, slowly. "You're right."

She talked to me about a few other options. I had no objections to taking land from General Brune or Countess Marbaud. But I wanted nothing of Iloni's.

- "That can be arranged." said the Queen's Chancellor.

"On a different note - can you stay the night?"

I'd been wondering if she would extend that invitation - and part of me had been dreading it.

Isa had told me, in no uncertain terms, that if Kanitz offered, I had to accept.

- "How do you think she'll feel if you say 'No'?"

Still, I hesitated.

- "I think ... I have to apologize to you, first." I said.

- "For ...?" This was not quite the response Kanitz had been expecting.

- "I was angry. When I realized why you'd really assigned Oshide and Yehla to me. And then Ishana and the others."

Kanitz sat down beside me.

- "I see." she said.

- "I was angry at Koroba." I continued. "She would've been the one to kill me, had it become necessary. Isn't that right?"

- "You're angry because I didn't trust you." said Kanitz. She looked me right in the eye. "How could I?"

"I don't trust anyone. I can't."

"You were an unknown quantity, from a place that doesn't exist. I suspected that you could do great things for the Queen - but I couldn't afford to be wrong."

- "And you told me not to trust you, early on. You were being more than fair with me, by your standards. I know that. But ..."

She reached out, slowly, to touch my cheek.

- "Poor Cook. You really don't belong here." she said.

"You're a Westron, now, for better or worse. It doesn't matter where you came from, or why you ended up here. But you'll never understand us completely."

"I never meant to hurt you ..."

Poor Kanitz. She didn't want to hurt my feelings. Yet she could've ordered my murder - my execution, really - and then gone back to work the next day.

- "I'm not angry anymore." I said. That was only 75% true. "I understand that you were protecting the Queen."

- "Does that mean that you will stay the night - or that you won't?"

She was wearing the same form-fitting sheath dress that she'd had on so many times before when she asked me to stay. It suited her so well. Her nipples were erect, and clearly visible. But it was the expression on her face that decided me.

- "I am at your service, Chancellor."

She led me upstairs, and opened a bottle of wine. We didn't say much. There was no seduction, really. But Wenzla tantalized me by tying back her luxurious, curly hair, and then putting on a bandanna to hold that wonderful hair back from her lovely face.

Kanitz was easily the most beautiful woman I'd ever been with. Her face was exotic, her features alluring. She had flawless skin. Her breasts were ... intoxicating, and her nipples commanded attention.

She had the body of a goddess, and the imagination of a succubus.

She wasn't satisfied with one coupling. We tried out multiple positions, and she did her best to exhaust me completely.

It was a sexual marathon, a contest of endurance, and imagination.

It was also the last time I had sex with Wenzla, Countess Kanitz, the Queen's Chancellor.

***

The Queen convened a new Council of the Blue Chamber.

Many of its members were horrified that three former Councillors - Iloni, Brune, and Countess Marbaud - had been involved in another conspiracy against the Crown, after sitting in judgment on Vis and her accomplices after the wedding plot.

The mood in the capital was dark. People were angry. With the uncertainty of the war against Crolia still hanging over our heads, they were in no mood to forgive self-seeking nobles who used murder to advance their aims.

Langoret, Tudino and Berandot were on the Council. I was not.

Countess Iloni's estate, and all of her property, was confiscated.

Aneli had to give up her title and her property. She was sentenced to be imprisoned - house arrest, as Vis had been.

Countess Marbaud, likewise, lost her title and her lands. She too was imprisoned - but she was allowed to keep her cushion, if ever she was in the presence of the Queen.

General Brune was stripped of her rank, and her property. As a Commanding Officer in wartime, her participation in the plot was clearly nothing short of the highest treason. She was beheaded in the public square.

Two other soldiers, of noble rank, were executed along with Brune.

Vis was no longer a General. Nor was she a noble. Along with 11 common soldiers from Brune's regiment, she was publicly flogged, and then hanged.

*****