Lucia novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: The Chancellor Falls

For one breath the hall was a painting.

Four hundred faces turned toward me, mouths open, forks held in the air.

The blade at my throat was cold and very steady.

Montalban was not shaking at all.

"Back away from the table," he said to the guards. "The princess and I will leave by the garden door."

"Orlo," my father said, and his voice was hoarse.

"Stay in your chair, Anselm."

"Let her go."

"I will let her go when I am on a horse at the gate," Montalban said.

"The princess will ride with me as far as the river."

I saw Tobin over the rim of the table.

He had gone white to the lips, and his hands hung open at his sides.

He did not look at the knife.

He looked straight into my eyes.

Look up, I thought. Look at every one of them.

I lifted my chin and looked at Tobin, and then, slowly, at the ceiling.

Then I dropped my whole weight.

Montalban's arm was around my neck, but he was a man of fifty-five who had never carried anything heavier than a quill.

My knees buckled, and he lurched forward with me, and for half a second the blade slid wide of my throat.

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