Free The Dark Citadel (The Green Woman) by Jane Dougherty

wheeling round smartly on his heels to face
the principal. “But was it absolutely necessary to lock her in the House of
Correction? Would a good whipping not have sufficed?”
    The principal put his hands together in an
ecclesiastical pose, and an expression of serene superiority settled on his
hawk-like features. “The city is already rife with sedition, Excellency,
treason, and heresy among the Ignorant population. The girl is just one example
of how evil has wormed its way into the population, picking out the most
susceptible and turning them into champions of the Serpent Witch. In your own
household, Excellency, the Lady Selene—”
    “Leave my wife out of this, Principal! She is my
problem and mine alone. A single headstrong female with delusions of grandeur
hardly amounts to a threat to State security.”  
    The principal bent his head in the briefest of
bows. “As you wish, Excellency. You know the Lady Selene’s capacity for
meddling better than anyone. You must decide how best to curb it.”
    “Thank you, Principal Anastasias, for according me
the right to act as master in my own home,” the Protector said with a facetious
curl of his lip. “Now, this girl. She has, of course, rebellious
tendencies—it’s in the blood and to be expected. But she must not be
allowed to go too far. It is your job to stop her, to nip these notions in the
bud. Imagine if her rebellious instinct drove her to commit an unpardonable
crime. How could she be executed? How could we execute our only, most precious
hostage?”
    “Perhaps, Your Excellency, it would be better to
crush the venomous serpent now, before she has a chance to contaminate other
young minds. It could be done…discreetly. Now that she is safely locked away,
who would know?” The principal spoke softly, suavely. “Remember Eve, the bane
of Mankind? The Book says—”
    “Don’t quote the Book at me!” His Excellency the
Lord High Protector stamped his glossy-booted foot. “Have you not listened to a
thing I’ve been saying? You seem to forget that the vermin who spawned this
child is loose in the desert. Of course, you could easily hide the murder of an
anonymous schoolgirl from the population. What would they care anyway? But you
could never hide it from her mother. And if, in her wrath, the green whore
decided to throw her army of demons and monsters at Providence, then what? What
defence have we ever had but the Serpent’s own daughter? And you want to cut
the little bitch’s throat? Talk sense, man!”
    “The hostage is not our only defence, Excellency,”
the principal corrected. “The Lord Abaddon, they say, is assembling a
formidable host in the desert. He desires the destruction of the Witch as much
as we do—”
    “Because he desires her power,” the Protector
interrupted.
    “And once he has destroyed her,” the principal
carried on unperturbed, “think what an ally he would be. His army could rid us
of all the traitors and partisans of the Witch and turn Providence into the
most impregnable citadel, the hub of the greatest power the world has ever
known.” The principal’s eyes glittered; his voice was loud and exalted.
    The Protector eyed him coldly. “So, you would have
me open the gates of Providence to Abaddon and his demons?”
    “Demons, Excellency?” the principal objected in the
smoothest, most diplomatic way. “The Ignorants have certainly spread lies about
the Iron Horde, as they have about their filthy Serpent Witch, to create fear
and unrest among the population. But who has seen these demons? Of course The
Book makes great mention of the evil spirits that inhabit the desert, but
surely this can be taken in a, let us say, metaphorical sense, suitable to the
understanding of, how shall I put it, unformed minds?”
    The Lord High Protector’s expression hardened.
“Stick to what you know, school-teacher. Go back to your maidens, give orders
to your matrons, timetable your sewing classes. But leave the defence of