Read Seize the Fire for Free Online

the disaster thrust upon her. And worse, the niggling fear that rose up in her throat when she looked at him and saw what he was—not the safe, freckled, boy-man here of her dreams, but a man in fact: quietly sanguine, quietly confident, quietly asking real and pointed questions about an all-too-real situation.
    It was that fear she shrank from most: the perverse dread that if he understood, he would be convinced to help—that events would be set in motion which she could not stop. And she would fail. She would find that she was inadequate to the role that destiny had set her.
    "It's very complicated," she mumbled.
    He snorted. "If it's anything to do with that mare's nest they call continental politics, I don't doubt the particulars will reduce my brain to a stupefied wreckage. But I'll endeavor to muddle through."
    Under his steady, slightly impatient gaze, she ran out of evasions. "You know where Oriens is located?" she asked hesitantly.
    "Between France and Savoy, is it not? A splotch on the map about the size of a tea stain." He waved his hand. "That was before Bonaparte, of course. God only knows where they've put it now."
    "It's still where it has always been," she assured him. "The congress at Vienna left it intact, and restored my grandfather to the throne."
    "Fortunate. Ah, but I had forgotten! You are to have a revolution shortly. Was that part of the plan proposed at Vienna, or is it in the nature of an extemporaneous uprising?"
    "It is extemporaneous, as far as I am aware," Olympia said. "Do they plan such things in congress?"
    He looked at her, and went back to studiously stroking the feather. "I daresay a parcel of drunken diplomats is capable of anything. But continue with your own story, please."
    She twisted a fold of her gown around her finger. "Oriens controls the best passes between France and Italy, you see," she said. "They are open all year round, even in the worst of winters. And my grandfather has a treaty with Britain for their use."
    "Mmm. In return for protection from overly friendly neighbors."
    Olympia smoothed her dress and then folded it around her finger again. "I think that is putting it too nicely."
    "Really?" He looked amused. "Then let us say that your country would rather whore for Britain than be raped by France. That's not putting it too nicely, is it?"
    She looked at him, startled, and then felt herself turning crimson. She moistened her lips anxiously; "Is that meant to be a jest? I don't wish to offend you by not laughing," she said hurriedly, "but I don't often understand jokes."
    "That doesn't bother me. I consider it a virtue. And I still know almost nothing of your problem."
    "Well, you see—it—it's always been so with my country," she stammered. "We are small, and in constant danger of losing sovereignty. In some ways Bonaparte's aggression helped us, as it has made the greater states take an active interest in the balance of European power."
    "Ah, yes." He sighed. "The god-awful Balance of Power."
    She frowned at him. "You sound as if you resent it."
    "I rank it slightly below Original Sin in the hierarchy of human ideas. A clever turn of phrase, but bloody hell in actual practice. It nearly blew me to Hades at Navarino." He made her a little bow. "But pardon me. I am a cynic."
    She cleared her throat, wishing for another cup of tea. But Sir Sheridan was watching her so intently that she feared to take the time to pour. Taking a breath, she went on. "I was saying that my grandfather has allied us with your country. But he is very old. I've never met him, but he's written to me saying he has named his heir."
    After a silence, he prompted, "Who is—?"
    She shifted a little in her seat. "My father was the oldest son."
    "And?"
    "Both my parents died when I was an infant. I have one uncle. Prince Claude Nicolas. There is a body of principle which would make him the heir."
    "Salic law." He rested one boot on the fireplace fender, still leaning against the mantel. The fire set a