Chapter 4: Friends and Enemies of Friends
Alistair was waiting for her at the palace gates, grinning from ear to ear. Elissa practically leapt from the carriage and bounded up the steps to meet his outstretched arms. He picked her up and swung her around, and laid a kiss on her cheek that would have been much less chaste were it not observed by a few hundred cheering citizens of Denerim.
"Let's go back to my rooms immediately," he whispered in her ear, "let them unpack in yours."
She peered up at him with guilty eyes. "Can you wait a few more hours, darling? There's something I have to do, and then I'm yours for as long as you want me."
He was disappointed, but something in her eyes told him this was important, so he nodded. "I'm holding you to that!"
He clasped his hand over hers, and together they walked to the door of their home.
Elissa sorted the letters carefully, removing anything that might be painful or scandalous. When she got to Eamon's letter, she considered tossing it into the fire, but something told her to hang on to it, so she placed it gingerly in her desk drawer.
Yet again, she was interrupted by a rap on the door.
"Eamon," she said, evenly, as the door opened to reveal the Lord Chancellor.
How easily she steps into this role, Eamon mused, calling me by my given name, underlining her authority. Alistair had thus far been unable to drop the honorifics.
He entered and bowed. "I hope I'm not disturbing you, Your Highness."
"Not at all, I was just,...tying up some loose ends."
"How fortuitous, since I have another loose end I believe we need to discuss again."
Her face grew stern. "No, Eamon."
"Your Highness?"
"The king has spoken on the matter. There is nothing to discuss. He wishes her to live."
"He wishes not to have to kill her. I cannot agree."
"He is your king; you must agree."
Eamon was silent, his frustration all but palpable. Elissa broke the silence.
"You can't make a habit of this, Eamon."
"Of what, Your Highness?"
"Of coming to me when when you want to change his mind."
"We are both counselors to the sovereign. Our job is to counsel."
"Then counsel him, Eamon."
"Your Highness-"
"Can't you see this undermines him?" she interrupted. "More than his illegitimacy, more than Anora's continued existence, this," she said, pointing between herself and the Arl, "undermines his authority."
She was silent for a moment, and then, more quietly, "I won't become her, Eamon."
"Your Highness, you could never-"
"Oh, but I could, Eamon, I surely could. And we've seen where that leads. I don't want to repeat the mistakes we set out to correct."
Eamon sighed. "There is another matter, in much the same vein, that I had hoped to discuss with Your Highness, one that concerns you particularly."
Her eyebrows rose in suspicion now. "Oh?"
"It's come to my attention that Delilah Howe is still living in Amaranthine…."
Elissa could take no more. "Absolutely not!" she cried, her voice higher and more girlish than she would have wished, but the instinct to protect Delilah Howe came from a place much older than the Blight and the war, a place she was grateful to find still inside her after all.
"Your Highness, I understand that Nathaniel Howe has proven his loyalty. He was in the Free Marches for the whole of the war after all. But Delilah Howe was here, in her father's house, at his side, while he-"
"He was her father," Elissa almost hissed. "Enough," she said firmly. "The King is waiting for me and I have much to do. Please excuse me, Eamon. We won't be speaking of this again."
She strode past a flabbergasted Lord Chancellor toward the door, before turning on her heel to face him.
"Eamon," she began slowly, careful to choose her words , "I wonder, what happens to me if I turn out to be as disappointing as Anora?"
"Your Highness?"
"How long before you to 'counsel' Alistair to put me aside?"
Eamon looked about to protest, but she turned and left without waiting for an answer.