The Apprentice Sorceress

by E. D. Walker

  Ned cleared his throat and glanced downward. “I’ve been begging Lady Violette to teach me my letters, Your Highness.”

  The princess blinked, and Violette barely managed to keep her own startled gasp in check. Oh, Ned was a master liar.

  Violette composed her own face and settled back in her chair with her hands knit together. “I won’t agree to the scheme if it displeases you, though, my lady.”

  Princess Aliénor tapped her chin with one finger, thinking deeply. The wrinkles on her brow did not seem promising.

  “Oh, I think that’s a fine idea, my lady,” Noémi said, just entering the garden from the receiving room. “Squire Ned is a good lad. And they can practice here in the garden. No impropriety in that.”

  Princess Aliénor voiced a short sigh then shook her head. “But of course you can come here for lessons, Ned. I’m sorry I didn’t think to offer earlier.”

  And just like that, Ned had not only managed to explain his odd presence here today, he’d managed to secure them the ability to practice more magic together in the future. Clever boy. Violette shot him a smile.

  His eyelid shivered in a wink, so fast she couldn’t even be sure she’d seen it. He bowed in a quick, graceful sweep to the princess. “I’ll return tomorrow then, Your Highness.”

  She chuckled. “Ned, you must wait to see if I have any response to your lord’s letter. Mustn’t you?”

  Red stained Ned’s cheeks. “Right. Of course. Did you have any response, Your Highness?”

  Violette caught her lip between her teeth to keep from laughing out loud.

  Princess Aliénor’s cheeks twitched. “I do not. Violette will see you out.” She nodded at him in parting then swept away to her own chambers, taking Noémi with her.

  Violette pressed both hands to her own hot cheeks and stepped up to Ned. “You are a marvel.”

  “So the ladies say.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Oh. Here.” Swiftly, she dug out the princess’s note that she’d failed to deliver earlier and shoved it into his hands.

  “Love notes, sweetness? You spoil me.”

  Violette ignored his jibe. “When can you come tomorrow? I’ll make sure to be at home.”

  Ned glanced down, scuffing one toe against the tile. “So…I know you’re all fired up about learning to control your magic but…would you…well. Um.”

  “Ned, what is it?”

  “Would you teach me to read? I mean, if there’s any time for it with magic practice and all.”

  “Oh.” Her heart shivered at the vulnerability she saw on his face. The tentative hope. That strange fluttering connection she felt to him plucked at her again like a physical tug on her heart. “Of course, Ned.”

  Chapter Seven

  That night, after dinner, Violette asked to be excused from their usual social chatter. She claimed a headache and went back to the bedchamber she shared with Noémi.

  In truth, Violette wanted to practice that spell again. They had a stone washbasin in their room, and Violette planned to use it to repeat the heating spell again until she could do it with utmost precision.

  On the first attempt, she overheated the water and it started boiling. But on the second, she managed to warm the water to a pleasant sting, just the heat she liked for her bath. She eased off, rubbing her hot fingers together to try and soothe the burn. She had that light bouncy feeling all along her arms again. For a fleeting moment she thought to try really floating, to see if her magic could handle it. But she’d never heard of any flying magicians, and anyway, what if her powers failed while she was ten feet high in the air? She shivered at the thought and refocused on the wash basin, ready to make her third attempt at the heating spell. Let’s see if I can get this right twice in a row—

  Before she could start, though, the door clicked and Noémi slid into the room.

  Violette smiled a greeting and wiped her hands on the towel by the washbasin, trying to look as if she’d just been using it.

  “Headache feeling better?” Noémi asked.

  Violette blinked, momentarily confused, then she cleared her throat. “Yes. Much.”

  Noémi nodded distractedly and went to the basin to wash her face.

  Violette flinched. Could magicked wash water hurt anyone?

  “It’s warm.”

  They didn’t usually warm their wash water. Violette ran her hand over the embroidery on her quilt as her mind raced. “I, uh, I had Yonca heat it. I thought it might help my head.” Violette stifled her natural urge to fidget and locked her hands in her lap to sit perfectly still.

  A grin flashed and vanished on Noémi’s face. “Lovey, has anyone ever told you that freezing is just as much of a giveaway as fidgeting?”

  Violette laughed and unfolded her limbs on the bed, stretching. “Did the princess dispatch you to drop a discreet word in my ear? I’m guessing Yonca spoke to the princess about Ned and I?”

  “Possibly.” Noémi combed out her long sheathe of wheat-blond hair. She had baby-fine hair like the princess, long and silky, and when it was down, she looked very beautiful despite her scarred face. But, of course, a proper woman could never go about in public with her hair down.

  Just like a proper woman would never practice magic? That voice in Violette’s head sounded very like her waspish aunt. She curled her fingers in so her nails made little half-moon crescents in her palm. I’m only learning the magic so I can control it and never use it again. Her practice tonight hadn’t been for fun. She just wanted to master these powers quickly so something like the beach could never happen again.

  “Are you and Ned lovers, Violette?”

  The question was so mild and from such a divergent direction that it took Violette a long moment to even comprehend it. Once the words had sunk in, her face and neck flamed with embarrassment. “No. We kissed in the market, but it was only so he could deliver his king’s letter. He feels nothing for me.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Noémi muttered.

  “And I feel nothing for him.” Nothing but annoyance. Well, and a little bit of gratitude now. He’d been so kind, so helpful since the beach. But lovers? The thought was laughable. Absolutely laughable. She pressed the back of her hand to her still-warm cheeks.

  Noémi set her comb down with a precise click on their dressing table. “Vio, I don’t care what you do. I truly don’t as long as you’re not doing anything dangerous. I only want you to be discreet, my girl. Ned is a fine lad, but he’s a poor choice for discretion.”

  Violette gritted her back teeth. For one aching moment, she longed to tell Noémi everything. About the magic, the lessons, how anxious and knotted up she felt inside.

  A flare of anxiety-magic started, and she caught her breath. Her urge to confide in Noémi died a quick death. But the magic was more muted than it had been even that morning. And with a quick, slow breath, she managed to tame the heat of it down to a low glow. “How was dinner?” Violette tossed the question out.

  Noémi cast a quick look over her shoulder at their closed door. “Oh, the same as ever. The princess is full of grand schemes for when she and King Thomas can finally be together. The usual extravagant promises about how well you and I will be treated in Lyond.” Noémi’s shoulders rolled down in defeat.

  “Noémi, should…should we tell the princess we don’t want to go to Lyond? She’d understand, wouldn’t she?”

  Noémi scrubbed fingers through her hair, mussing it a little. “Oh, she’d understand, but it would hurt her, I know.” Noémi sat beside Violette and took her hand in a gentle, comforting grip. “The trouble is, lovey, what do you and I do if we don’t go with the princess? I spent all my wealth going on this grand adventure. I have no property of my own, no family to speak of.”

  “And I’d rather not speak of mine.”

  Noémi snorted. “Ay. The sad thing is I’d follow our brash, brave princess to the ends of the earth if only I knew I could return to Jerdun at the end of it. The journey is not quite so sweet when you don’
t know if you’ll ever see home again.”

  Violette swallowed, her eyes stinging with sudden tears. During the day she was busy enough she didn’t fret, but at night she found herself pining for the chill evening air of Jerdun, the crisp scent of wood smoke and pine. These warm southern lands were beautiful, different, exciting, but after nearly a year away from home, she longed for a good, gloomy Jerdic rainstorm, the water droplets pinging against solid Jerdic stone. Or some nights she longed for a pleasant spring day where the cool breeze brought the scent of wild flowers and the brook’s tinkling babble to her ears. She knew exactly what Noémi meant. “Yes.”

  Noémi squeezed her hand. “We’ll find our way yet, my girl, and if we stick together, you and I, then I’m sure all will be right, eh?”

  A rush of affection surged in Violette, and she threw her arms around Noémi’s plump form, hugging her friend hard. “Yes.”

  Noémi gave her a brisk hug in return and patted her arm before sitting back. “But no more kissing squires, yes?”

  Violette’s stomach did an unhappy flip, but she nodded, keeping her gaze locked with Noémi’s. “Of course not.”

  Chapter Eight

  The next day, Lord Guillaume paid an early visit to the princess. They’d arranged a few days ago to go for a ride on the beach together. Violette couldn’t help but wonder if Lord Guillaume had heard of Princess Aliénor’s last ride on the well-used trail.

  The princess had two riding habits at her disposal. Violette had only the one. It had been cleaned and dried in the sun the day before, but there were still wet patches in her pockets and at the seams. Violette twitched at the uncomfortable dampness and felt another pang for home. Although it was an ache for the home she’d used to have. For she’d brought all of her wardrobe with her on this quest and lost it all in the Tiochene raid that had destroyed the Jerdic army. For weeks, all of them in the party had had only one change of clothes to their names.

  So how silly are you to fret over a recently laundered riding habit? Violette scolded herself as she mounted her horse. She fell into her familiar position behind Princess Aliénor as she rode side by side with her cousin down the busy street. Violette was close enough she could hear their conversation.

  “The market is busy today,” the princess remarked.

  “This city is stuffed to the rafters now,” Lord Guillaume replied. “I hope you and your ladies are taking extra caution when you leave home.”

  The princess’s eyelids fluttered as she glanced over at her cousin. “Of course. Especially when you’ve been so kind as to fit my household with so many of your own servants.”

  Lord Guillaume might have sensed the slightly barbed nature of that remark, for he cleared his throat. “Cousin, I received troubling word that someone observed you and the Lyondi king together again.”

  “Oh?” Princess Aliénor tilted her head as if trying to remember. “Oh yes. He invited me riding, and it was a pleasant day, so I went. You know I crave exercise. It’s the only thing to take my mind off things as we wait for proper weather to sail away from here.”

  “Cousin.” Lord Guillaume gritted the word out between his teeth.

  Violette went still and tried to be as unexceptionable, as nearly invisible as she could manage. Being a lady of quality, she didn’t even need magic to do this. Noémi on her own mount beside her had similarly gone still, each of them hoping Lord Guillaume wouldn’t notice and order them to ride farther back. After all the three ladies had been through together, they liked to stay within sight of each other.

  Fortunately, all Lord Guillaume’s focus seemed set on Princess Aliénor. “You should not go out and about with King Thomas.”

  The princess chuckled. “Whyever not? King Thomas is a friend of mine.”

  Her cousin’s face had twisted with a dislike he grew less and less careful about hiding. “That seems a bad idea to me. With the city in such chaos, I’m not sure we can trust a Lyondi man to protect you as he should.”

  Violette admired the way her princess’s face remained impassive. “King Thomas is a thoughtful and entertaining companion. Surely you don’t doubt he will keep me safe. He has nearly as many men at his command now as you do.”

  “Cousin, I…” Lord Guillaume cleared his throat.

  “Yes?”

  “People are beginning to talk.”

  “Oh?” The princess raised an eyebrow, keeping her voice light, but a notch had appeared between her brows.

  Violette felt an answering flare of alarm in her own stomach. People linking the princess and King Thomas together was just what they had been worried about, just what they had been trying to avoid.

  Lord Guillaume’s voice grew tight, his posture tense. “You are the princess of Jerdun, and he…he is the King of Lyond!”

  Princess Aliénor took a long moment to answer, and when she did, her voice was flat and tense. “Our country is no longer at war with Lyond and hasn’t been for several years now.”

  “Tell that to the widows the Lyondi left behind. The orphans. Tell that to my men who still carry scars from their weapons.” Lord Guillaume spat the words out as he traced a shallow white line that marked his own brow.

  The princess scoffed. “That goes both ways, cousin. How many Lyondi men have you killed?”

  Violette fidgeted with her reins, listening to the squeak of her leather gloves as she tightened her hands over and over. Too late, she wished she had moved away from their horses so she would not be able to eavesdrop. She was sympathetic to the princess’s love for King Thomas. But Lord Guillaume made fair points as well. The war between Jerdun and Lyond had only ended a few years ago after decades of fighting and death. Wounds like that didn’t heal quickly. Noémi had nearly been killed in a Lyondi siege only a few years ago, after all. Violette’s grandpapa on her father’s side had lost an ear to a Lyondi swordsman.

  Princess Aliénor pinched her eyes closed. “Anyway, Jerdun started the damned war when my father-in-law tried to invade Lyond and take the throne all those decades ago.”

  “He had a legitimate claim—”

  The princess fisted her hands against her thighs. “I don’t want to have this fight, cousin. Our countries have made peace.”

  Lord Guillaume rubbed his brow, as if he had a sudden headache. “Your tender heart is to be admired, cousin, but you shouldn’t be seen with him. Shouldn’t go about with him. It’ll cause trouble and gossip.”

  “He saved my life. He saved your life if it comes to that.”

  Lord Guillaume grimaced. “My city was under attack. I would have taken assistance from a demon if it meant I could see you to safety. That doesn’t mean all is suddenly well between Jerdun and Lyond.”

  The princess shook her head. “King Thomas is our ally, and I cannot snub him. But I will remember what you have said.”

  And utterly ignore it. Violette restrained a snort. Oh, her princess walked a dangerous tightrope.

  The princess flicked her cousin’s arm lightly with her hand. “Come, let’s speak of something else. Tell me about the preparations for the ball.”

  Lord Guillaume shot her an irritated glance then smoothed his face out. “Of course, cousin.”

  Violette let her horse lag so she was farther back in the group. After a moment, she noticed Noémi’s mount had also slowed so they rode side by side.

  The knot in Violette’s stomach felt tight and hot, her limbs tingly with residual tension. She glanced over at Noémi. “The princess should be more discreet.”

  Noémi rolled her eyes and kept her voice low. “You think I don’t tell her that? The princess can’t bear to let him speak ill of King Thomas.”

  “I think Lord Guillaume suspects. And I believe he has an interest in the princess himself.”

  Noémi clucked her tongue, staring ahead. Lord Guillaume laughed at something the princess said and leaned over to playfully tap her cheek with one finger. “Oh yes. Our princess is the fairest catch in all of Jerdun now. Rich, young, beautiful, and with ties
to the crown. Her island is practically its own kingdom within Jerdun. Many a man will want all that for himself.” Noémi pinched her nose. “Why couldn’t our princess fall in love with a nice Jerdic man, make all our lives easier?”

  Violette glumly swallowed her own sigh. “Yes.”

  ***

  The next morning, Ned showed up for his first official reading lesson. Violette was actually a little nervous. Her mother had taught her to read as a child, following along as they read books together, but she had no idea if that would work with Ned, if he’d even have the patience for it. Still, she’d combed the library looking for likely books to read and laid the stack by the tea table.

  Yonca escorted Ned in. He looked nervous too for some reason, tugging at the hem of his sleeves, smoothing his hair back. He’d put some effort into his appearance today. His tunic was pressed and clean, with all the frogs properly done up, and he’d washed his face and combed his hair. He had lovely dark-brown hair with a slight wave to it, and a cluster of tempting soft curls fanned the back of his neck. His skin was freckled all across his nose and cheeks and very pale, making the dark brown of his eyes stand out. She found herself smiling just to look at him. Ned gave her a crooked smile in return. He nodded thanks to Yonca then sat down. “I figured if I was actually entering the princess’s house, I ought to look the part of a respectable squire.”

  Violette pressed her lips together, trying to stifle her grin. “Hmmm. Very wise.”

  Yonca had lingered beside them. “Forgive me, my lady. Is it all right if I get the shopping done without you today? I’d like to get there early before the crowds.”

  “Oh. Of course. I have the coins right here.” Violette fished the purse out of her pocket. Ostensibly, she accompanied Yonca to the market to keep track of the money, but the princess had never really thought that necessary. Violette had only gone to market to trade the letters with Ned. Now that the ruse was no longer necessary, Yonca would be fine at the market herself. She’ll probably get the shopping done faster without me anyway.