Starbride nearly stamped her foot. Be useful but not too useful?
“Aim higher,” Yanchasa said.
“I’ve got the lesser nobles and the courtiers pretty well organized,” Jacintha said. “Some weren’t happy about helping put the palace back in order, but I told them we’ve all got to lend a hand. If the queen were with us she’d be doing the same.” She bit her lip. “I’m so sorry, Majesty. If I had known she was coming to meet us in the servants’ quarters, perhaps I could have—”
Einrich touched her shoulder. “You could have done nothing, Baroness, but thank you for your condolences. Perhaps we can all speak again when I convene the council of nobles.”
An uncomfortable silence descended. The others bowed and said their good-byes. “Starbride, stay a moment,” Einrich said. He gestured for her to sit beside him. “Wine?”
She nodded graciously. He waited until after he’d poured to nod to the reports. “Why did you keep these from me until now?”
“I thought you might be tired.”
He smiled kindly. “How considerate of you.”
It was, wasn’t it? She returned the smile for Yanchasa’s benefit.
“I hope you don’t think me a doddering old man just yet.”
“I’ve always respected and admired you.” She blurted the words without thinking but realized how right they were. Einrich had been her supporter from the beginning, or so Katya had told her. And he’d been willing to keep her as his family even after Katya had…died.
That was a mistake, she told herself as the wine threatened to come back up, a bad dream.
Einrich’s light touch on her shoulder made her start. “That’s kind of you to say. I try to do well at my job, all parts of it.”
“You don’t think I should have kept those reports from you.”
“Running this city and this kingdom is my responsibility, no matter that I haven’t been able to do it lately.”
“I can help you.”
“I know you can. That’s why I asked the others to leave.”
She clenched her fists, wondering if he was going to ask her to get rid of the nobles who were slowing him down.
“I need you to undertake a mission, one you’re uniquely suited to. I want you to take these remnants and Fiends and go north to clean out the last of Roland’s troops.”
Starbride narrowed her eyes, teetering between intrigued and insulted. “What troops?”
“Countess Nadia has had word from some of the survivors in the north. Roland wasn’t dragging people all the way back here to be hypnotized. He had a camp up there, where his minions were taking live victims so that they could fall under the influence of a pyramid. I need a pyradisté who can fight to seek this pyramid out, destroy it, free those who are simply under its sway, and eliminate those who’ve been warped to the point where they cannot be saved.”
It did sound uniquely suited to her. None of the other pyradistés knew how to fight like she did. None of them had the power of the remnants or the children. And Einrich probably didn’t want to haggle with the adsnazi or have them poking randomly around his kingdom.
Starbride waited for Yanchasa to speak, but she just stood there.
“What will Katya think?” Starbride asked.
Einrich seemed a little taken aback. She was, too. The words popped out without her permission. “She’ll miss you, but she’ll understand,” he said. “I don’t think she’s quite ready for another fight.”
Yes, Katya had been through a lot that day. “I’ll do it.”
“Splendid. You’ll need some messengers.”
But who? Not Dawnmother. The image of her face captured in Starbride’s hand hovered in the front of Starbride’s mind, and even the adsna couldn’t banish it. From the depths of her memory, she pulled one of Horsestrong’s tales, where his servant Birdfaithful said, “There are deeds one can never come back from.”
Einrich cleared his throat.
“I’m sorry?” Starbride said.
“I said I’ll find a few people for you. You didn’t seem able to think of anyone.”
“Thank you, Majesty.”
“Thank you for taking this weight off my mind. Hard to start putting the city to rights if you’ve got another force massing outside your walls.”
“True.” And so much easier to think about than moldy old Horsestrong tales. “I’ll be ready to go at first light.”
He nodded, and she left, Yanchasa striding by her side down the hall.
“Well?” she asked.
Yanchasa flickered back to male with a shrug. “It’s a start.”
“I expected you to say whether you thought it was a good or bad idea.”
“What do you think?”
“I’m the only one who can do what Einrich wants.”
Yanchasa cocked his head and waited.
“Or it’s a fool’s errand.”
“Or it’s neither.”
Starbride sagged against the wall. “Perfect.”
“Did the king send you into the country as a clever ploy to get you out of the way, or does he genuinely need your assistance? Or is it both? You’ll have to figure it out. Since Roland and I could not speak directly, I know nothing of his schemes. His mind is closed to us and prying into the minds of heads of state—especially Einrich’s—will net you more trouble than you can handle at this point.”
“But one can never be too accommodating?”
“Not at first, no. I would wait a bit to flex my muscles.”
“I’ll clear out his country problem, then,” she said. “I’ll build more of a reputation with him and with the people.”
“And then those like Viscount Snotty won’t dare oppose you.”
She liked that plan. Now all she had to do was find something to keep her occupied until it was time to go. She could return to her apartment, but Katya and Maia would still be there.
“Best get some rest, daughter. You’re being sustained by the adsna, but it can’t keep you nourished forever. Find food and drink and somewhere to sleep.”
Katya’s apartment wasn’t being used. Starbride headed in that direction, her heart already lighter.
Edette’s slender fingers glided over the parchment. “More horns?” he asked.
Starbride studied the drawing of the beast, admiring Edette’s handiwork. His skill in art was almost as perfect as his body. Starbride had to prevent her eyes from caressing that very shape as his brown skin glistened against Starbride’s wine-colored sheets.
“Focus,” Edette said, slapping her lightly with the parchment.
“It’s fearsome. I like it.”
“Like it?” He stuck his bottom lip out. “I was hoping for bouts of ecstasy.”
Starbride slipped an arm around his waist, pressing their bare flesh together. “I can show you ecstasy.”
“Dearest Chas, you’ve shown me twice today already. If I’d known you simply wanted to languish in bed all day, I wouldn’t have brought my art box.”
Laughing, Starbride rolled off the bed. She let the morning air cool her naked body, prickling her with gooseflesh before she called the adsna. It carried warmth up through her long legs to her buttocks and balls and on through her chest until she felt the heat creep up her neck like a warm bath.
“Look again,” Edette said, “and tell me what you really think.”
The creature on the parchment had four feathered wings, two sets of horns, spikes on the chin and cheeks, and a giant curved jaw filled with fangs. Starbride scrubbed through her short hair. “It’s going to make Wallux shit himself.”
Edette laughed and propped his chin on both hands. “I’m so glad you like it.”
“Can I use a weapon with these claws?”
“You mean you need a weapon more impressive than the one you’re already wielding?” He brushed the inside of Starbride’s thigh.
Starbride chuckled deep in her throat. “I thought we brought our art box. Didn’t want to languish in bed all day.”
> “I can’t help myself around you. Are you going to meet this fearsome general as a man or a woman?”
“Who could tell past all this?” Starbride said, waving at the parchment and trying to picture her body in its fearsome form.
“Darling, no, no. Start out as human and change in front of him. Do you know if he fancies one sex over the other?”
“No idea.”
Edette sprang up on his knees and put his arms around Starbride’s shoulders. He was always so warm. “Then be both, darling, just to catch him by surprise. He’ll spy a tantalizing pair of breasts and follow the line of your body down to a massive c—”
From behind them, someone cleared her throat. Starbride didn’t have to turn to know it was Layess, clothed today in her scholar’s robe of sky blue silk.
“I should have known I’d find you still abed,” she said. “You called the war council, Yanchasa. I would have thought you’d be on time.”
“You should have known better,” Edette said.
“With you around, I suppose I should have.” Layess stared at them, arms crossed. “Are you going to get some clothes on, or should I delay the meeting?”
“Let’s all go to the meeting naked,” Edette said. “It’ll make it more interesting,”
Starbride chuckled and pulled her trousers on. Edette wrapped a simple kilt around his hips, the only clothing they could ever talk him into besides the translucent silk ribbon he sometimes tied across his breasts.
Starbride slipped on a shirt and long coat and regarded the drawing again.
Edette moved the parchment away and stretched his body against Starbride’s; he wasn’t quite tall enough for them to fit together perfectly. “If the claws don’t suit you, Chas, change them as you go.” His full lips were so inviting. She had to taste them once more.
Layess cleared her throat again.
“Oh, master of patience,” Edette said, “if you’re not going to join in, go away!”
“No.” Starbride started for the door, leading Edette. “We should all go before we’re truly late.”
Starbride opened her eyes with a gasp. She could still feel the gentle heat sliding through her body and Edette’s lithe form draped around her own. Desire ran through her in rivulets, stemming from anatomy she’d never imagined she’d possess.
“All things are possible with the flesh.”
Yanchasa stood at the foot of the bed. Her helmet had gone missing, showing off her short, spiky black hair. Starbride didn’t know what to say. She’d never been a man in her dreams, though she’d sometimes wondered what it would feel like. She stopped the thought as her cheeks flamed. “What happened to your helmet?”
Yanchasa felt her own brow as if surprised to find it missing. “I’m not sure. Maybe you’ve made me feel more comfortable in your head.” She flashed a winning smile.
Starbride frowned. She was grateful, but she didn’t know how she felt about Yanchasa taking up residence.
“That was the first time I saw what you’d come to know as a Fiend,” Yanchasa said. “Edette was a talented artist. I miss him so.”
“Why am I dreaming your memories?”
“Oh.” He shrugged, but those devious brown eyes held answers. “I guess I was remembering too loudly. I am only in your head, you know. It’s not as if I can wander off and find something else to do.”
That made sense, but she still didn’t like it. “I like to dream my own dreams.”
“I don’t know if I should be hurt or not. Didn’t you find it interesting?”
Starbride felt her face burn again. She wouldn’t trade her own body for anything, but Yanchasa was right. It had been interesting to exist in another skin for a while.
Chapter Twenty-five
Katya
Someone was shaking her shoulder. “Princess?”
“Perhaps if we threw some water in her face,” someone else said.
Katya heard a sputtered laugh. She knew the voices, but she couldn’t quite place them. Spirits above, her head was full of sand.
“What about this other one?”
“Be gentle with her!”
“Darkstrong took gentleness when he decided to poison Starbride’s mind. Katya, wake up!”
A shot of pain rolled down Katya’s arm. Someone had pinched her, hard. She was betting on the impatient, imperious voice. Only one person did imperious like that.
“Redtrue?” Katya tried to say. Her eyes wouldn’t open, held by lead weights.
“See? A little force is all that’s needed.”
“If you pinch her again, you’ll feel my palm across your cheek!” That had to be Dawnmother.
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“Ladies, please, allow me.” Castelle’s voice, that. “Katya, can you hear me?”
“Mmm.” Her eyelashes could flutter, but it was so hard to get them to do more. “Up, up.” The world tilted, and she knew she was upright, but she barely felt the pressure that kept her from toppling over. She’d never been so tired. Was she drunk?
Katya tried to control her flapping lids and saw a pair of brown hands lifting her head. “Try to stay awake, Princess. Can you not use a pyramid to help her?”
“This is precisely why we do not practice mind magic.”
“I brought you here to help!”
“Then let me pinch her again.”
“Katya,” Castelle said sternly, “you have to wake up now. I need backup.”
Katya tried to laugh. She tried to say, “You should try being buried alive with them,” but it only came out as a long slur.
“What was that?” Castelle said. Her scarred face hovered in and out of Katya’s vision.
Katya pushed Castelle back and tried to stand, but her feet wouldn’t obey her. They all yelled at her to sit down. She couldn’t remember drinking.
No, she’d been doing something important, speaking to someone. Starbride. Something was wrong with Starbride. Katya willed her eyes to stay open and saw Dawnmother, Redtrue, and Castelle kneeling before her. Maia was passed out on the settee behind them.
“What happened?” She licked her lips and worked her mouth, anything to try to stay awake.
“Tell her,” Redtrue said.
“Starbride used magic on you, but she is not to blame,” Dawnmother said. “It is that thing controlling her.”
“She has surrendered to it,” Redtrue said. “As I said must always happen.”
“My Star is in there somewhere, and we must help her escape,” Dawnmother cried.
Katya agreed, but she couldn’t help the betrayal that burned inside. Starbride had used a pyramid on her, but there’d been no warning, no sign. She’d reached out and put Katya and Maia to sleep with frightful ease.
“Where is she?”
They were silent for a few moments. “I could not wake you,” Dawnmother said at last.
“How long?”
“It’s morning again. You slept the rest of the day and all night. I could do nothing to rouse you, and I had to wait until morning to fetch Redtrue.”
“To ask Redtrue to come,” Redtrue said.
“I thought, since she knew about Fiend magic…”
“We were happy to help,” Castelle added.
Redtrue snorted, but she bent and peered into Katya’s face. “I could only help wake you using non-magical means. I will help Starbride if I can, but I do not know what to do if she will not surrender this power willingly.”
“Can you cleanse her?” Katya’s head still felt as if it might float free from her body, but it was easier to keep her eyes open if she kept moving.
Redtrue shook her head. “Only the pyramids she bears. But you saw how she cancelled my pyramid in the hallway before. Could I even get close to her?”
“She’s using the pyramids in some new way,” Katya said.
Redtrue shrugged. “All your ways are new to me.”
Perhaps the answers lay below. The ancient Allusians had worshipped the ten spirits, but their descendants migh
t have been seeking the Fiend. They knew something about it, maybe about how the Farradains had summoned it.
She had no one else to ask about Fiend magic. Crowe was lost to her, and the adsnazi were reluctant to even discuss it. Maybe it was time to let Master Bernard into Crowe’s office. Starbride had worked with him during the rebellion; she must trust him. Maybe he could figure out a way to shut off Yanchasa’s connection to Starbride.
“I need to speak with my father.”
“He can tell you where Starbride went,” Dawnmother said.
Katya began to stand and had to sit again. “She’s not here?”
“No, the king sent her on some mission. His servants told me not to worry. I thought perhaps Castelle could get answers where I couldn’t, but now we have you.”
“Can someone help me to my father’s apartment?” She gestured toward where Maia rested. “And can someone else look after her?”
Castelle helped her down the hallway. Redtrue took the opportunity to rest in Katya’s place, and Dawnmother looked after them both. Katya took deep breaths as Castelle guided her by the elbow. She tried to clear her mind of fog, but it felt as if Starbride had hit her with a hammer rather than magic. She’d had easier times recovering from concussions.
Luckily, it was early morning, and her father was still in his apartment. She knew he’d be meeting with the nobles’ council soon, and she’d hoped to be there with him, but she didn’t think it would look good if she kept falling asleep over his shoulder.
His aide admitted her, and Castelle waited in the hall. Katya told her father what she knew. Da rubbed his chin as he listened. He seemed even grayer than when they’d marched on Marienne. “I sent her away precisely because I couldn’t predict what she was going to do, though I didn’t know at the time that she’d put you to sleep.”
Katya fought the black mood that fatigue had put her in. She was just happy her mother’s body had been removed. She couldn’t have coped with it just then. “Why else did you send her away?”
“We need room to think, Katya. She’s taken it on herself to police the city. She took reports meant for me. No matter what else this connection with Yanchasa is doing to her, it’s making her think she’s in charge. Now, I am grateful for her help and am quite willing to reward her—”
The Fiend Queen Page 22
