The Name in the Gate Book

The palace gate captain had been given a list of what could leave Selbrun. It named wagons, trunks, letters, and sealed parcels. Every item was to be opened or weighed against its manifest.

Adelais stood in the cathedral treasury while the chapter treasurer read the list aloud. The crown rested in a cedar chest between them, locked and sealed. Its three keys had been brought by their separate keepers. The chapter's record of custody lay open on the table, bearing Adelais's signature.

“His order covers the palace,” the treasurer said. “It does not name the chapter.”

“It names sealed parcels,” Ortwin said.

The treasurer touched the record. “This is not a parcel. It is the chapter's charge, transferred to the Empress by its own hand. If the Arch-Steward wants to dispute the transfer, he can send a clerk here and put his name to the objection.”

Adelais looked at the chest. She had thought signing the record would make the crown hers to use. It had made her responsible for every person who handled it. The treasurer would carry that responsibility with her only as far as the city gate.

“Will you come?” she asked.

“To the gate. My duty ends when the custody changes again, or when you leave the city.” He shut the record. “I will not travel south with you.”

“Then the record travels.”

He nodded once. “A copy.”

Ortwin had arranged a small chapter cart for the chest. No curtains, no false bottom, no driver paid to forget what he had seen. The treasurer would ride beside it. Adelais and Lambert would walk with two of her household guards. The route passed through the palace's eastern court, the cathedral close, and then the South Gate. It was the route anyone could watch.

Lambert's nurse waited by the door with a bundle of his clothes. He had refused breakfast and was holding a wooden horse by one leg. When Adelais crouched to fasten his cloak, he pushed the horse into her palm.

“Keep it,” he said.

She tucked it into the fold of her sleeve. “You can ask for it back when we stop.”

He studied her face, then took her hand. They left by the public stair.

At the palace's eastern court, two of Wierach's inspectors stood beside a trestle table. A pair of servants waited there while their baskets were searched. One inspector recognized Adelais and bowed. The other glanced at the chapter cart.

“Your Highness, the Arch-Steward's order requires all departures to be examined.”

“The cart bears the cathedral chapter's custody seal,” said the treasurer. “Here is the record of transfer.”