The True Confessions of a Nine-Tailed Fox

Chapter 151: Solving Anthea's Problems for Her, As Usual

In the throne room:

"You put your personal seamstress in charge of the Temple to the Kitchen God?"

In the hush that fell over the throne room, a courtier tittered and was quickly hushed. Standing at the foot of the dais, Anthea looked a long way up into Jullie's impassive face.

"Your Majesty," she replied steadily, "I placed the granddaughter of the Mage-Architect of Lychee Grove in charge of the Temple."

She'd only meant to bolster Lodia's credentials by pointing out that the girl, shrinking and terrified though she was, did come from a family that wielded some amount of political power. But as soon as the words left her tongue, she knew that she'd misstepped.

Jullie didn't need to comment. Her uncle did it for her.

"Lychee Grove," snarled the Earl of Black Crag. "The fief whose Lady has never acknowledged the Crown's authority? The fief that is a poison at the heart of this kingdom? The fief that should have been crushed and burned to the ground long before now? And you thought that the granddaughter of its Mage-Architect would be the best person to ensure that the Temple acknowledges the authority of the Crown?"

When he put it that way....

Ugh, this was why Anthea hated getting mixed up in politics! All she'd wanted to do was construct a replica of her long-ago, lost-forever home and live a facsimile of her long-ago, lost-forever life. From the start, she'd told Piri that she didn't get involved in politics. So what was she doing here in the throne room, pushing for her choice for the Matriarch of the Temple that Piri had established?

She should have remembered that her long-ago, lost-forever life had featured Piri's machinations very prominently indeed.

"In terms of personality, Koh Lodia is as unlike her grandmother as you can imagine, Your Grace," Anthea told the Earl of Black Crag, wishing it didn't come out quite so much like a protest. Protesting meant that you believed you were in the wrong. It was Piri who had said that, long, long ago. "Lodia has a sweet, docile personality – "

"Meaning that she will be the ideal vessel through which her grandmother and the Lady of Lychee Grove can wield their influence," finished Jullie's cousin. The Earl of Yellow Flame curled his lip, obviously irked to find himself on the same side as his uncle.

This was not going well. On the rare occasions that the two earls actually agreed on something, Jullie usually followed their advice.

I wish Piri were here. The thought slid into Anthea's mind like a dagger.

She jolted. She wished Piri were here? No. Absolutely not. She was not Koh Lodia. She did not need a demon mind to puppet her actions. She was well over six hundred years old (if she counted her mortal years, which she did), and she could win her own battles, thank you very much.

Anthea bared her teeth, letting their points go sharp. "Or – she will make the ideal vessel through which Her Majesty may exert her influence over the future of the Temple. Lodia is a member of my household." She stared straight up at Jullie, silently reminding the Queen that when all her other courtiers had fled, even her cousin and her uncle, Anthea alone had stayed. Anthea alone had tried to get her to safety.

Jullie's cool eyes studied her for a long moment, weighing the likelihood that Anthea might one day turn against her and leverage the Temple against her and her successors. That was a legitimate risk that a ruler had to consider. Anthea acknowledged it, even if it stung.