Naamah's Blessing

those years ago, ill at ease indoors, planning to live on
taisgaidh
land in the City of Elua.”
    Hearing a word of my mother-tongue spoken made me catch my breath and brought unexpected tears to my eyes.
    “Or mayhap not so far after all?” Caroline asked gently, touching my cheek.
    “No.” I laid my hand over hers, smiling through my tears. “In some ways, aye. Not in others.”
    “I’m glad.” She gave me a warm embrace. “I quite liked that half-wild young savage.”
    Although the encounter brought me no closer to resolving the issue of lodging, it heartened me to remember that there were D’Angelines who had lived in Alba and knew its folk, D’Angelines for whom the term Maghuin Dhonn did not automatically evoke shades of oath-breaking, babe-slaughtering bear-witches.
    I also paid a visit to Atelier Favrielle to request an appointment with the famed couturier Benoit Vallon, who had accepted a commission to design a wardrobe for me when I had first come to the City.
    There, I was dismissed summarily by the attendant on duty, who was mortified to learn that I did not possess a calling card.
    “Good day, my lady,” he said in a voice dripping with contempt, ushering me out the door. “If you must return, I pray you do so when you are prepared to observe the proper social protocol.”
    When I complained about the incident to Bao, he merely laughed.
    “That is the exact kind of insufferable fellow that made me dislike D’Angelines the first time,” he said cheerfully. “Luckily, I have found some I like better this time. Look, Moirin.” He showed me a calling card that had arrived for us at the temple, engraved with an insignia of three ornate, interlocking keys. “This is from that nice fellow who was so helpful, isn’t it? I was able to make out the name myself,” he added with pride.
    I glanced at it. “Balthasar Shahrizai?”
    Bao nodded. “There’s a note written on the back. I haven’t quite made out that part yet.”
    “He’s inviting us to dine at a supper-club with a few friends two nights from now,” I said.
    “That should be pleasant.” Bao caught my expression and sobered.“Moirin, I know we’ve a great deal to do. Don’t worry. We’ve been through far worse. All this is just… politics.” He lowered his voice. “Have you spoken to your father yet about the Royal Minister?”
    I shook my head. “No. What if I’m wrong, Bao? I don’t want to drive a wedge between them.”
    “Yes, better your father should serve as a bridge, maybe,” he said philosophically. “Today’s news was bad.”
    “What news?”
    “You hadn’t heard?” Bao winced. “I heard it at Eglantine House. They say gossip flows swiftly to the Night Court.”
    “What?”
I demanded.
    “The Lady of Marsilikos has made a formal complaint protesting your appointment as Desirée’s oath-sworn protector.” He met my gaze. “I’m sorry, I thought you would have heard.”
    “It seems you’re keeping company in more well-informed circles than I these days,” I said wryly. “On what grounds?”
    Bao took a deep breath. “On the grounds that it’s a grave offense against House Mereliot.”
    “Because I ruined Raphael’s reputation?”
    “That, and because Raphael de Mereliot was Jehanne’s other true, great love,” he said. “Not you. And that if anyone deserved the role, it should have been him. That the appointment should have been given him at Desirée’s birth.”
    I was silent.
    “Moirin?”
    “Jehanne
did
love him,” I said slowly. “Very much. Mayhap as much as the King—likely more than me. But that is not what she chose. She chose the future she wanted for herself and her child—to be a good queen, to be a good mother. I was there when she confessed her fears and wept. I was there when she honored her promise to King Daniel and lit a candle to Eisheth, beseeching her to open the gates of her womb. I was the first to see the spark of the child’s life within her.”
    “I know.” Bao took my hands in his. “And you are here, now, for her.”
    “But that’s not why we came,” I whispered.
    He took one hand away, laid it on my chest. My
diadh-anam
pulsed beneath it, flickering in time with his. “Are you sure?”
    “Not entirely.”
    “You are here doing what you have always done, Moirin.” Bao’s tone was firm. “Obeying the call of destiny, no matter how vague. If you are here, it is because you are meant to be here.”
    I exhaled in frustration. “Gods! I