The Element of Fire, page 257 by Martha Wells
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be for her to face alone.
They were heading toward the old keep, a rough square tower more than seven stories high. It had been the center of the fortress before the bastionbehind them had been built.
They reached the door into the side of the tower, and two of Ravenna's guards split off to post themselves at it. The others went inside, and Ravenna shivered gratefully. The keep felt warm after the wind. A guard stopped to light a candlelamp with flint and steel, and Ravenna saw that the Albon knights were standing stiffly together as if anticipating an attack they could do nothing to prevent. Roland saw it too and said, "What are we doing here, mother?"
Ravenna didn't answer immediately. She started up the stairs, the guard with the lamp going on ahead, and there was only room for Roland to walk beside her. Finally she said, "I've made allowances for you, where Denzil is concerned."
She could see he was slightly shocked that she brought this up in the presence of her guards, let alone Elaine. In an effort to outdo her effrontery, he said, "Allowances? You've been trying to turn me against him with lies for years."
Ravenna stopped and looked at her son for a moment. As always, it hurt that he found her eyes hard to meet. She said, "My dear child, I didn't think you had noticed."
Roland stared at her. "You admit it?"
"Of course. Recent developments have made it possible."
She continued on up the stairs, and Roland followed her, bewildered. He said, "I don't understand."
"That man has made a fool of you."
"He has been my only friend--"
"He has used you to accumulate power and wealth beyond his reach under ordinary circumstances."
"He's been the only one who cared for me; I gave him all those things--"
"Of course you gave it all to him, Roland; that's the way these people work."
Ravenna stopped on a landing and faced him. Roland was out of breath and must have forgotten that he was King and able to order her to be silen