Deathstalker 05 - Deathstalker Destiny

plans, were strictly her own. She smoothed down her dress unnecessarily, and called in her best cool, commanding voice for the visitor to enter. She put her shoulders back and held her head high, and then relaxed again almost immediately as Evangeline Shreck came in, carefully shutting the door behind her.
    Constance rose immediately from her chair and went forward to take Evangeline's hands in hers. The two women had a lot in common, both a part of Families that had brought them only heartache. Both had longed for the power to change the world they lived in for the better, and now Constance was to be Queen, while Evangeline headed the clone underground. She was also the head of Clan Shreck these days, with Gregor finally dead, as Toby still adamantly refused to accept the position or the responsibility. It had been Evangeline who first suggested the Unknown Clone as Robert's best man, and Constance who helped push it through. (Though Evangeline hadn't told Constance the real reason. If Constance had known the mysterious Unknown Clone was actually the infamous Finlay Campbell, murderer of Gregor Shreck, she might have felt obliged to do something official about it. So Evangeline never told her, and saved Constance from having to choose between her friend and her duty. Because you never knew.) In the meantime, Evangeline was to stand at Constance's side at the wedding, and officially give her away. Constance's own father had disowned her after she went against his wishes to marry Jacob Wolfe, and all the sea changes in the Empire since hadn't changed his stubborn mind. None of Constance's original Family would be attending the wedding. Constance had nothing to say about that, in
    public or in private. So Evangeline, as a close friend and head of one of the Empire's oldest Families, would give her away. It helped that she was the clone representative too. Such things mattered, in the eyes of the Empire.
    (Evangeline hadn't told Constance that she was just a clone herself, and fighting to avoid a genetest that would reveal her true nature and strip control of Clan Shreck from her. Perhaps later. When things were more… settled.)
    "I'm so glad you're here, Evie," said Constance, as they both sat down, carefully arranging the frills and flounces of their dresses around them.
    (Constance's was pure white, for entirely traditional reasons; Evangeline's was a striking emerald green.) "I had to throw most of my people out; they were driving me crazy with their endless fussing. And I swear if Chantelle sticks her pointed nose round my door one more time, with one more snotty comment or order disguised as advice, I am going to part her hair with something large and heavy and pointed."
    "Relax," said Evangeline, smiling in spite of herself. "Last I saw, she'd run out of people to bully on the floor of the House, and had gone out into the antechamber to make their lives miserable too. I think your choosing her to run things was a stroke of genius. Apart from Kid Death, she's probably the only person that everyone here is afraid of. In fact, she's made herself so universally unpopular that any assassin who might somehow sneak past the Elves would probably be after her rather than you."
    "I never meant for my wedding day to get this out of hand," said Constance, just a little tiredly. "It's more like a circus than a ceremony. But Parliament was determined to make a major occasion out of it, for the obvious reasons. Is there still no news from the Last Standing, or the Excalibur? Do we even know if
    they've made contact with the Shub fleet yet?"
    "Their last communication said they were still closing in, and would we please stop bothering Diana Vertue, as she was trying to concentrate. If I stopped to think that all our fates are in the hands of a woman who was once called Jenny Psycho, with extremely good reason, I'd probably be very worried. So I'm not thinking about it, and I recommend you don't either. Concentrate on your wedding. Do you want to run through the responses one more time?"
    "No! Thank you. I've been through so many rehearsals now I could do it in my sleep. At least we got that honor and obey bit thrown out." Constance stopped and looked at Evangeline very soberly. "I'm glad you're here, Evie. There's something I need to talk about. Something I couldn't discuss with anyone else.
    Maybe not even Robert. I've been thinking about my role as Queen… about all the things I plan to do… and more and more it seems to me