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“Now, I realize the Army invested quite a few marks in emplacing modern artillery to protect your waterfront. I also realize that one of the very first things you did as your part in your treasonous conspiracy was to place the Army gun crews under arrest and replace them with men loyal to you. So, I suppose it’s possible you’ll be foolish enough to attempt to prevent Captain Zohannsyn from carrying out his orders. If you do, I’m afraid things will get very . . . messy and there probably won’t be a great deal left of Maryksberg when the smoke clears.”
Her calm tone never wavered, but those unearthly blue eyes — eyes exactly like the ones Black Horse had seen looking out of Merlin Athrawes’ face — were hard and cold.
“I’m a simple woman at heart, Your Grace,” she told him, “and I really don’t like messy solutions to problems. So I thought I’d just come ahead of Captain Zohannsyn and take this opportunity to avoid one here. You see, my instructions from Her Majesty are to take you into custody for treason, and I’m sure she’d prefer for me to arrest you unharmed. But she didn’t specifically say that, and I’m equally sure she’ll forgive me if that turns out to be impossible. So it occurred to me that one way to prevent you from ordering the batteries to open fire and getting quite a lot of your own subjects killed would be to remove your head before you do.”
Steel whispered, and Black Horse swallowed convulsively as the curved blade gleamed under his study’s lamps. The katana was rocksteady in her slim hand, and she raised one eyebrow.
“Are you going to make it necessary for me to disappoint Her Majesty, Your Grace?”
