The Mizzrym Family... The Seventh Family, propped up by the Ruling Council to curb the Nightwind Family's growth, was actually Quelyn's ally!
This was completely at odds with the rumors circulating through the city. Who would have thought that two High Priestesses with a longstanding grudge, whose family interests even clashed, would form an alliance? For a moment, Renato thought he had misheard, but the smug certainty on Tristana's face did not look like a lie.
No, perhaps their families' interests did not clash after all.
Renato recalled his earlier experiences, quickly sorting through what he knew.
Matron Mother Delina was no longer young, and several decades earlier, she had suffered a coup launched by her daughter. A series of internal struggles had badly weakened the Mizzrym Family. Once an ancient noble house ranked among the foremost, it now had little left but the hollow title of Seventh Family.
Fugitive traitors among the commoner priests, disaffected family vassals, badly depleted ranks of nobles...
It was not hard to imagine that, beset by troubles within and without, Matron Mother Delina had been forced to accept the other ancient families' "aid," effectively becoming the Ruling Matron Mothers' "glove."
The ruling families' "aid" would hardly be as civil as that of human nobles on the Surface. Those Drow Matron Mothers who fancied themselves noble never forgot to attach a price to their favors.
Restrictions on her freedom, verbal humiliation, threats against her life... The full range of distinctively Drow methods of control must have been in place.
Moreover, as Quelyn's longtime rival, Matron Mother Delina surely knew the Nightwind Family's true strength. She would not willingly become cannon fodder under the ruling families' control, sacrificing the Mizzrym Family's future in a direct confrontation with the Nightwind Family.
No wonder the Weapon Master had