Traitor's Moon

starved for lack of trade, if I was like this all the time
.
    He sat down in the chair next to Thero’s neatly made bed; the others remained standing.
    Mercalle entered a few moments later and came to attention in front of Thero, oblivious to the tension in the room. “You sent for me, my lord?”
    â€œIt was me, Sergeant,” Alec told her, and Seregil could see him rubbing a thumb nervously over the fingers of one hand. Alec admired the Urgazhi and had always been a bit in awe of them. To bring such an accusation against them was a difficult duty, and no less so for being self-imposed.
    Once committed, however, he didn’t hesitate. “We have reason to believe that there’s a spy in the household,” he told her. “Someone who’s able to get messages back to Queen Phoria. I’m sorry to say this, but it could be someone in your decuria.”
    The greying sergeant stared at him in shocked silence, and Seregil felt a cold jolt of certainty.
Oh, hell, she does know something
.
    â€œThis is hard, I know,” Alec went on. “The idea of any Urgazhi putting Klia in danger—”
    Mercalle wavered a moment, then sank to her knees in front of Beka. “Forgive me, Captain, I never thought it would come to this!” Eyes averted, she drew the dagger from her belt and offered it hilt foremost.
    Beka made no move to accept the offered weapon. Her face had gone blank, but Seregil recognized the pain in her eyes and fought down the impulse to grab the sergeant by the hair and shake her. Mercalle and Braknil had trained Beka when she’d first joined the regiment. Both had requested to serve under her when she earned her lieutenant’s gorget. Between the three of them, they’d forged Urgazhi Turma.
    That first betrayal—it’s always the worst, the one that never quite heals
.
    â€œStand and explain yourself,” Beka ordered.
    Mercalle rose slowly to attention. “I’m glad it’s come out, Captain. I offer no excuses, but on my honor I hoped it would be for the best. I swear it by Sakor’s Flame.”
    â€œJust get on with it.”
    â€œGeneral Phoria summoned me the night Queen Idrilain gave Klia this mission,” Mercalle said. “She believed her mother wouldn’t survive to see this out. As heir, she wanted her own informant on the scene.”
    â€œBut why
you
?” Beka demanded, and this time there was no mistaking the grief behind the words.
    Mercalle stared at the far wall, not looking at her. “Phoria was the first officer I ever served under. With respect, Captain, I came up through the ranks under her before you were born. We saw dark times together—and good ones, too. She was there when I married both my husbands, and when I buried them. I’m not proud of what she’s asked of me here, but orders are orders and she was in her rights as High Commander. I thought, ‘If not me, then she’ll find someone who doesn’t feel the loyalty I do to Klia,’ and to you, Captain. All I was asked to do was to send observations. That’s all I did. I never opened any letters entrusted to me, or mislaid any. If what I wrote contradicted them, it’s on my head. I only told the truth as I saw it, and tried to put the best light on it that I could for Commander Klia’s sake. If I’d ever thought it would come to this—” A tear rolled slowly down her cheek. “I’d cut off my sword hand before I’d willingly bring harm to any of you.”
    â€œDid you send word that we knew of the queen’s death?” asked Seregil.
    â€œI sent my respects, my lord. I thought you all had.”
    â€œThen it was you, listening outside the door of Klia’s room when we learned of it,” said Alec.
    Mercalle shot him another startled look. “Just for a bit. Those were orders, too.”
    Seregil recalled the bit of stable muck they’d found in the corridor outside and shook his head. Bilairy’s Balls, it was a good thing one of them had retained some sense.
    â€œAre any of the other riders involved?” asked Beka.
    â€œOn my honor, Captain, none of them. How could I order them to do something I found so repugnant myself?”
    â€œHave you sent Phoria word of what’s happened to Klia?” Seregil demanded.
    â€œNo, Lord Thero ordered me not to, the day she fell ill.”
    Seregil snorted. “A spy with honor. I just hope