Queen Delphine smiled warmly as Cassandra rose from her chair, getting ready to leave.
"I shall expect to see you at court tomorrow." Queen Delphine said.
"Yes, your majesty." Cassandra replied.
The Queen reached out and squeezed her hand one final time. "Do try and get some rest."
Her fussing was relentless and Cassandra could only nod, grateful she had someone like that who genuinely cared for her.
She offered a curtsy before turning towards the door.
"Oh, and it’s a pity I won’t be there for your engagement banquet. I would have loved to come." It was a case of conflicting schedules. On the day of the banquet, Delphine was scheduled to meet with important foreign dignitaries.
Cassandra paused mid-stride.
"Yes, indeed. A true pity." She didn’t want to tell anyone what she planned yet until she was certain it would work. She couldn’t risk anyone trying to talk her out of it.
A palace attendant opened the door for her and she walked out a moment later.
Sunlight still poured through the windows illuminating polished marble beneath her feet.
She had only taken a few steps away from the queen’s quarters when the murmur of voices reached her.
Instinctively she slowed.
Just beyond the bend in the corridor stood two people engaged in quiet conversation.
The first was Lord Chancellor Thomas Fairmont. He was tall and broad-shouldered. Handsome despite the silver beginning to streak his hair.
Lord Chancellor Thomas Fairmont carried himself with the authority of a man accustomed to having the final word.
His sharp features rarely showed emotion and his steel-grey eyes possessed a habit of studying people as though measuring every thought they failed to voice.
Beside him stood Baroness Eliza Marwood.
She was perhaps a few years older than Cassandra with chestnut hair stylishly arranged in an elegant coiffure. She also had intelligent hazel eyes that seldom missed anything occurring around her.
As one of Queen Delphine’s ladies-in-waiting, Lady Eliza Marwood had served Queen Delphine faithfully for years and was considered one of the few women permitted almost unrestricted access to Queen Delphine’s private chambers.
"...the revised reports should reach Queen Delphine before tomorrow’s council meeting." Lady Eliza Marwood was saying.
Lord Chancellor Thomas Fairmont gave a nod.
"I’ll see that they’re reviewed before then," he said.
It sounded perfectly ordinary. Routine business. The sort of conversation one overheard daily within the palace.
Then Lord Chancellor Thomas Fairmont noticed Cassandra approaching and their discussion fizzled out almost instantly.
Lady Eliza Marwood dipped into a curtsy.
"Lady Cassandra " she said cheerfully, eyes briefly lighting up.
"Lady Marwood, " Cassandra acknowledged.
Lord Fairmont inclined his head politely.
"Lady Cassandra, " he said.
"Lord Chancellor, " Cassandra replied.
For a moment silence settled between them.
Lord Fairmont was the first to speak.
"I understand congratulations are in order, Lady Cassandra, " he commented. "Your engagement seems to have become the capital’s preferred topic of conversation."
His voice was smooth. Each word he uttered was courteous and impeccably mannered.
Had she not known better, Cassandra might have believed he was genuinely pleased for her.
But throughout the years she had served at Queen Delphine’s side, Lord Chancellor Thomas Fairmont had never shown her anything that could be mistaken for friendship. If anything, he simply tolerated her.
She could still feel his distaste through his stare now even as he wore a calm veneer.
It was the song and dance they did each time they met, bombarding each other with fake meaningless pleasantries.
She offered a smile that never reached her eyes.
"So I’ve heard, " she said.
Lord Chancellor Thomas Fairmont observed her for a moment longer than was strictly proper.
"I trust Lord Ravenshire is treating you well." He added, almost like an afterthought.
It was a question. One she had answered times before. In another life she would have. Assured others that Lord Ravenshire was everything a woman could hope for.
Now all she could manage was, "well as can be expected."
"I see " came his reply.
Cassandra had always found conversations with Lord Chancellor Thomas Fairmont strangely exhausting.
He was never rude yet speaking with him always felt like standing across a chessboard from an opponent contemplating five moves ahead.
She had never managed to decide whether she simply disliked the man or whether years spent navigating court politics had taught them both to conceal more than they revealed.
Lady Eliza Marwood glanced between them, a crease appearing between her brows before she addressed Cassandra.
"You ought to come to the palace more often, Lady Cassandra, " she said. "Queen Delphine is always in better spirits after your visits. Queen Delphine values your counsel greatly."
"I’m pleased to hear it. I value Queen Delphine’s counsel more " Cassandra replied.
Lord Chancellor Thomas Fairmont clasped his hands behind his back.
"If you’ll excuse us, Lady Cassandra, Lady Marwood and I have preparations to complete before tomorrow’s council meeting."
"Of course." She bowed her head politely. "If you’ll excuse me."
Lord Chancellor Thomas Fairmont returned the gesture, bidding her farewell.
He stepped aside allowing her to pass.
As Cassandra continued down the corridor, she tried resisting the urge to look back but failed.
Lord Chancellor Thomas Fairmont and Lady Eliza Marwood had already resumed walking in the opposite direction.
Their conversation remained too quiet for her to make out a word.
She frowned.
Nothing about the encounter had been improper. Nothing either of them had said warranted suspicion.
If anything both had behaved exactly as they always did.
But something inside her had turned restless the moment she laid eyes on Lord Chancellor Thomas Fairmont again.
Her reaction to him was normal. He was, after all, the man who sentenced her to death.
Perhaps she was allowing memories of her past life to cloud her judgment.
The corridor gradually became busier as she neared the Chancellery.
Clerks hurried past carrying bundles of correspondence, ledgers and official decrees between government offices.
A young clerk rounded the corner quickly and collided with another servant.
"Pardon me!" he exclaimed as a stack of documents in his arms slipped free, scattering across the floor.
"Oh dear..." he said.
Without thinking Cassandra knelt to help.
"It’s all right " she said as she gathered several fallen items.
One immediately caught her attention. The wax seal bore the crest of House Ravenshire.
She turned it over and it read, ’to the Office of the Lord Chancellor’.
It was perfectly ordinary. The great noble houses regularly petitioned the Crown through the Lord Chancellor’s office.
She placed it atop the growing stack before reaching for a leather-bound ledger that had fallen open nearby.
Her eyes caught a page before she could close it.
The Lord Chancellors list of appointments for today:
Duke Hartwell,
Baron Loxley,
The Archbishop of Caldor
Lord John Ravenshire.
Cassandra’s frown deepened.
Lord John Ravenshire?
It wasn’t unusual for House Ravenshire to petition the Crown. What struck her as odd was that the appointment belonged to John himself rather than his father. The Marquess typically handled matters of state.
Why would Lord John Ravenshire be meeting with Lord Chancellor Thomas Fairmont?
"My lady?" the flustered clerk asked, accepting the ledger from her with a smile. "My deepest apologies. I wasn’t watching where I was going."
"It’s alright." Cassandra said.
He quickly gathered the remaining papers.
"We’ve been terribly busy all day. Half the nobility seems determined to see Lord Chancellor Thomas Fairmont before tomorrow’s council. " he said.
Cassandra offered a nod.
"I can see that, " she noted.
She watched the young man hurry away before continuing towards the grand double doors that served as the palace’s main entrance.
It was probably nothing, she reasoned.
An official errand or a family matter. There were reasonable explanations for Lord John Ravenshire’s name appearing in the appointment ledger.
So, she quietly committed it to memory before stepping outside, glancing briefly at the darkening sky before hurrying towards her waiting carriage.