Demon Angel

gluttony.
    But no, that did not fit. He could not imagine her hiding any sin. She flaunted her faults.
    He might as well flaunt his. In a low voice, he said, "I thought they should have dragged Lackland to a platform and hanged him."
    Her head jerked up, and she stared at him in surprise. "You said such to her?"
    "Nay." He glanced up at the dais, where Lady Isabel sat next to her husband, smiling sweetly at him. D'Aulnoy appeared utterly enraptured by his young bride. "But his tyranny should have been halted with more than a document that he had no intention of honoring."
    "He was forced into signing," Lilith said. "By barons who had only their own interests at heart."
    "Better the interests of many be served than the selfishness of one. His wars would have taken all, from all."
    Lilith lifted a shoulder. "He was king. The barons' duty was to serve him." She slid a sliver of capon into her mouth.
    "He was king. His duty was to serve and protect his subjects."
    Licking a trail of almond milk from her bottom lip, she raised an eyebrow, her expression one of obvious doubt. "So, if a ruler is selfish his subjects may remove him from his throne?"
    "Aye," he said. "And if there is no other course to remove a tyrant, then what other option but death?"
    She smiled. "You are bloodthirsty, demanding the head of a king whose offenses are not truly terrible. I think you must carry the opinions of your liege, for were you older, you would know what Lackland did was not truly tyranny."
    He flushed. Had he not thought the same thing of Lady Isabel a moment ago—that she was too young for understanding? True, the countess was a woman and should not have a head for such things, but he was only two years her senior.
    "And who determines his selfishness? Those who benefit from his removal?" She waved a hand at the dais. "A boy rules now," she continued. "There can be no more selfish creature than a child. And he is hardly competent but for those around him… who happened to advise the return of Essex's holdings. Do you approve of his leadership because you benefit from it as well?"
    His color deepened. Did she twist his words to suggest that he would execute a boy king? That his acceptance of an incompetent ruler was only because he'd been able to return to Fordham Castle? "If a ruler is just, whether it be due to advisors or no, then all benefit, and his removal will not be necessary or called for."
    Her laugh took on a brittle edge, as if echoing against something hard and hollow within her. "The Morningstar and his followers are a primary example contrary to that statement, I think."
    "That was their evil, not His," he said.
    "Ah, but who created them?" She pushed her trencher forward. Her dark gaze seemed lit with inner fire. "He must have known what would happen and allowed it. Is the evil theirs, or His? Why give the individual free will, then punish them for the wrong decisions, when He must know the wrong decisions will be made? Is everything a test?" Lilith's eyelids lowered. "We all fail."
    Hugh stared at her, his stomach twisting into a knot at such blasphemy. "The mother who has lost her babe asks the same question. Why allow such a thing to happen, and innocence to be lost? 'Tis not a new question, but one we do not need to ask. If He planned it, it must be right. There are many questions I could ask, many laments: why was I not born into a noble family, but a foundling? Why are those without honor or piety rewarded now? I don't question, but accept what I've been given and make the best of it, and trust that we receive our due in time."
    "Then you shall sing with the angels in no time at all," Lilith said.
    He frowned at her sarcasm. "I don't pretend to be without flaw. None of us are."
    "Except, of course, your Lady Isabel."
    How had the conversation delved into this? He ran his hand through his hair, strove for something lighter. "She snores in her sleep." She pursed her lips, and he hastily added, "I know because I was guarding her, not because I made a habit of sleeping near her."
    "She desired otherwise."
    He shook his head, rejecting her claim.
    "Aye," Lilith said. "And how could she not? Look at her husband: powerful, but thrice her age and nothing to desire."
    "He is a good man," Hugh protested.
    "You think that matters to a girl such as she? In ten years, she will become a powerful woman in her own right. She is not a silly girl, but she is a fanciful one at times. Tell me, Sir Hugh: in the Angevin court, did