Court intrigue is a bit different from magic, and all of it is, quite unfortunately, very predictable.

small>[And very second nature to him, that is true.]

There was definitely something going on here and it appears that it was centered on magic... and Bessis magic, it looks like. Did Taravast conscript people from here to fight the undead, leaving them defenseless when they were attacked? But if that is the case, would we have not met more Ellethia survivors in Taravast?