by R. J. Price
“Are you still hungry, was my question and I asked you first,” Av said.
“I will eat more only if you eat with me,” Aren responded.
“Very well.” Av went about making more food in a larger quantity than he had before.
He served Aren then himself again and sat to a second meal. Aren picked at her food, watching Av do the same. She peered at him. Av felt as if his mother were sitting across from him, waiting for him to finish his meal. Setting down his utensil, Av folded his hands and set them on the table.
“What, Aren?”
“You aren't eating like a man of your size should, I've seen you eat,” she said pointedly, stabbing at him with her utensil. “What's eating at you?”
“You sound like my mother,” Av said.
“Oh, good, you'll let me go then. Eat your vegetables and clean behind your ears,” Aren said quickly. “Also, have you done your tutoring work today? It is very important for a growing boy.”
“I—I didn't mean like that,” Av said, holding up his hands to stop her. “I mean, how did you know? That something was bothering me? Jer and I grew up together, and he can barely tell when things are nagging at the back of my mind.”
“I've seen that look before, when something was bothering me and I couldn't quite say what.” Aren poked at her food, then brought some to her mouth to chew thoughtfully. “The last time I had that look my father had offered to send me to court and I felt poorly about it. Nagged at me and I picked at my food and my mother said I was becoming a lady.”
“That's a terrible thing to say to a young woman about food,” Av responded.
Aren looked at Av, her hand poised halfway to her mouth. Gritting his teeth, Av picked up his utensil and brought some food to his mouth, chewing and swallowing before Aren was satisfied and began eating once more.
“My sister came to me later with a bowl of hash, what the servants were fed,” Aren said, chewing a mouthful before she spoke once more. “I told her my fears and my worries, I told her that I felt as if leaving for court was a finality, that if I came to the palace I would never return.”
“What did she say to that?” Av asked.
“She said, with all the brevity a ten-year-old could muster, that I was afraid of making a future for myself and afraid that by leaving I would somehow make everything wrong for her. Not that I was afraid of failure but I was afraid of doing what I was brought into the world to do. She finished by calling me a dung-head and insulting our mother, but the insult seemed pretty accurate.”
“Did she know about you?” Av said, bringing more food to his mouth as Aren watched him.
“No, Av,” Aren said. “She's ten years old. There's no way I could tell a ten-year-old my deepest, darkest secret.”
“Do you think she suspected?”
“No, and you are avoiding the question—why are you upset?” Aren said.
Av poked at the food before him. “I don't know. I feel as if you are far away from me.”
“We are not lovers,” Aren said.
“Not like that,” Av said quickly, though he did feel a keen pain at Aren making that statement so quickly. “I feel as if you could be gone tomorrow, but not because I'm attached to you. Instead it's more as if. I don't know. I don't know how to describe the feeling.”
“Could you be worried that I might be in danger?” Aren asked.
“Yes!”
“Welcome to the palace, Av,” Aren said blandly. “Since coming here I've been abandoned, taken ill, started an outbreak, been stabbed, almost killed a man, was almost killed myself not once, but twice, and then claimed by some random man.”
“To be fair, I don't think Em would have been able to kill you,” Av said. “She hasn't a violent bone in her body. Em will banish a rival, not slaughter them. Though she has killed commoners and several ladies have disappeared after questioning her. Still, queens have little to fear from her.”
“I doubt that would be your view, had you had her atop you, trying to beat you into the ground,” Aren said. “No matter how weak the beating was.”
Av ate a little more. Aren cleared her plate and went about cleaning the dishes that Av had dirtied making both meals. When the hearth area was clean once more, Aren returned to the bed, pulled the blankets back and climbed under them, content.
He watched until he was certain she was asleep. Only then did he stand, placing the items that were left near enough to the hearth to keep warm. Sometime in the night, Av knew, he would be hungry and there would be food for him to eat. Av cleaned his plate, set it where it belonged in the dish cupboard and climbed into bed beside Aren.
Wondering all the while what it was about this woman that drove him to keep her around, and yet deny every reason to do so at the same time.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Av and Aren stood in the yard, watching the new ladies who had just come to court. Aren was certain that four of them would be abandoned, though one was from a family that had recently gone broke. Her becoming a ward of the throne would promise her a future, perhaps even a lord of title and lands who could care for her and her family in their time of need.
The ladies all glowered at Aren, who did not participate in training at that time, and smiled at Av whenever he turned towards them. Each lady was hoping to catch Av's eye, and that irritated Aren to no end. As those ladies watched, Aren reached out and set a hand on the side of Av's face, finding satisfaction as the ladies went suddenly quiet.
Av blushed, red colouring his cheeks as he looked down at Aren, hands drifting around her. It felt comfortable. This was a man who would protect her, who was kind and was best-looking of all the lords, at least in Aren's opinion.
The man looked up suddenly, frowning in confusion as he watched someone walk in front of his yard, headed for the palace. Aren turned to where Av was looking, to see a man simply walking. The man stopped suddenly, looked to Av and Aren, a mix of fear and caution playing over his features as he shifted towards the palace.
“Don't you do it,” Av said in the man's direction, though the words were spoken too low for the man to hear, surely. “Don't do it.”
The man bolted and Av ran after him, giving Aren a push towards the porch. Confused, Aren called after Av and watched the two men race towards the palace. She turned on the ladies, marching up to the closest one to snatch the training stick from her hands. Considering what she knew about the palace, she decided it was safest to assume the worse.
“If a man approaches you who is not in guard dress, or is Lord Av, you are to smack him with your sticks, do you understand me?” Aren said to them.
She spun, not stopping to see if anyone heeded her advice. Aren was out of the yard and running to Av, who had the man by the throat, giving him a light shake. Stick in hand, the last thing Aren expected was a man stepping out from seemingly nowhere. She caught the flash of a blade and raised her voice to warn Av.
At the sound of his name Av dropped the man and turned to Aren. She pulled back, set her weight before she realized that the man was headed straight for her, not Av. The knife slid in front of her and Aren skittered farther back, reaching out with the stick to attempt to hit the man, to stop him. She was not some frilly lady who was unable to hold her own, Aren told herself—she could defend.
The man was trained however. He was a fighting man and had counted on Aren attempting to defend herself. He ducked under Aren's attack and weaved closer, coming in for the final blow. The man made the most startled sound, surprise coming over his features as Av slammed into him, tackling him to the ground. Av had the blade in an instant and turned it round, using the hilt to hit the man over the temple.
Aren stood with the stick in her hands, shivering as she watched Av stand. She gripped the stick harder as Av turned to her.
“Easy, Aren, give me that.” Av motioned to the stick. “You did good.”
She caught herself, came back to the present. “Good?” she snapped at him, swinging the stick in an attempt to catch Av. The
master simply grabbed the stick and twisted it out of her hands, tossing it away as he frowned at her. “Good! I thought you were teaching me to defend myself! That was terrible, if you hadn't arrived, I'd be gutted right now you moronic fool. What is the point of training if you can't even teach me how to defend myself against an armed man?”
Av's eyebrows went up, and he leaned back slightly. “He's likely been trained for many years, whereas you have had, what? Ten months of training? Learning to take a trained man takes years and a good deal of skill. If you haven't the talent for it, at the very least you will learn to defend yourself long enough for myself or a guard to end the dispute.”
“Yes, that is exactly what I want, to weep and wring my hands, waiting to be saved by a man!”
“We can discuss training you properly another day,” Av said sternly to Aren. “But right now, someone has made an attempt on your life. I need to find out who did it and why.”
“What's that mean, exactly?” Aren asked as guards approached, as Jer marched at the head of the group, shirt stripped off and an annoyed look on his face. The guards had weapons in hand, not the training sort but the ones used in actual fighting.
“Aren, I want you to go,” Av said, pointing to his home. “Tell those ladies to go into the palace immediately. Anyone who disobeys will receive a switch to the bottom, do I make myself clear?”
“What are you going to do to him?” Aren asked.
“That's not for you to hear,” Av said.
“Not for me to hear? You mean you will torture him?” Aren demanded.
“Aren, go.”
“I will not go, not if you will torture a man for making an attempt on my life. If you spent even a moment thinking you would know, without hurting him, who sent him, and who would want me dead,” Aren said.
“We don't know for certain.”
“And a man under torture will say anything to make it stop,” Aren said back, raising her voice. “Literature can tell one a great deal about the nature of man, Av. It was Em, who did it. Obviously. Him and that other one are probably working together. What exactly did you think that other was going to do? Steal a chicken?”
“No, he was going to make an attempt on Em's life, he was a threat to the throne,” Av said sternly to Aren. “I can tell, after years on palace grounds, I can tell the difference.”
“He was a distraction,” Aren said.
“He was not a distraction.”
“I am telling you, like I told you the other morning, he is a distraction,” Aren shouted, jabbing a finger at Av. “If you need to torture a man to prove me right then so be it, but you can sleep on the porch tonight.”
“As master, it is my place to deal with issues in the palace,” Av said.
“You said he was going to attack the one who sits the throne,” Aren said. “I believe the dealing with of such a man would fall under the rights of the mate who sits the throne. Not you.”
“Only one of these men is thought to have been after Em,” Jer said, stepping between Aren and Av. “The other, Lady Aren, made an attempt on your life. Whether you want him to go unpunished or not is beside the point. We have laws that are very clear about attempted murder. Especially the attempted murder of one such as yourself.”
“Why? Because of my rank, I mean more?” Aren asked Jer, then looked to Av, who closed his eyes.
“No,” Jer said. “Because you were claimed by a man capable of gutting me, if I do not see that this man is punished. If anything, as far as I'm concerned, you mean less because of your rank. Ranks are here to protect the commoners, not be above them. Kindly remove yourself from my sight and return to your allotted home, Lady Aren.”
Aren clenched her fists. The sudden formality was a slap in the face, after spending so many days together. She didn't bother looking to Av for help, knew there was going to be none. Somehow, in this instance, Jer had the upper hand. Av would back Jer, not Aren.
She had no idea why this would change suddenly? She could ask later, would ask later when Jer and Av were separated, and she had a better chance of getting an answer out of one of them.
Turning on her heel, Aren marched back to the yard where the ladies were, having watched the group gathered. As she approached, the ladies stopped talking, one by one falling silent, their heads lowering, eyes on the ground. Aren pulled to a stop just off the yard, watching them.
They stood how ladies stood around Em, when afraid of what the queen would do.
“What?” Aren asked them.
“Nothing, we didn't realize,” one of them said to the ground.
“Realize what, that I had rank?” Aren asked, stepping onto the yard.
The ladies stepped back, moved away from Aren as if she would lash out at the first one to come close enough. Aren was used to having people step into her way, not out of it. She didn't like this sudden reverence, the fear of her because of the rank she had been born to.
“Ranked or not, you should treat everyone kindly and without disdain,” Aren said to the ladies. “If you do otherwise then you have good reason to fear me.”
She felt better for that, for the slow nods from the ladies, the murmured. “Yes, Lady Aren.”
For that moment, for those ladies, Aren was in control.
“Lords Av and Jer request that you return immediately to the palace, do not stop at the group—straight to the palace, is that understood?”
“Yes, Lady Aren,” came the uniform response.
The ladies returned the sticks, then filtered off the yard, following the trail to the palace, past the group of men collected around the two criminals without so much as a glance sideways. Aren watched them go, made certain that they were past the group, before she huffed out an annoyed breath and stepped onto the porch, then into the house.
Resolutely, Aren sat at the table and glowered at the wood, waiting for Av to return. Once he did, she would give him a piece of her mind.
It would be an evening that Av would never forget.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Av washed his hands again, making absolutely certain all the blood was gone. He was certain that the hands were clean, but he felt he absolutely had to be sure. Av knew he couldn't go to Aren with blood on his hands, he would never hear the end of it, and she was already going to be upset as it was.
Drying his hands, Av returned to the living area of Jer's set of rooms. His brother lounged, a content smile on his face as a servant set out food for them by the hearth. Av remained silent until the servant left, until the door clicked shut.
“You need to watch that,” Av said to Jer.
“I like bloodshed,” Jer said in a giddy tone.
“So do I,” Av said, walking past the daybed Jer lounged on. He gave his brother's leg a smack. “We were bred for bloodshed. If there were a war instead of this political nonsense, we'd be having the time of our lives.”
Jer climbed off the daybed and strode to the food, picking up a cold cut. “I feel as if a burden has lifted. Like, I could do anything. I'm not afraid of having to face Em, of asking her the difficult questions.”
“Unfortunately, there are no laws saying one queen cannot attempt to assassinate another queen,” Av said. “But I do need to speak with your mate, Jer. She crossed a line and she needs to know that if she does it again, I will knock you out and kill her anyhow.”
“I'll let her know, but it's only a few more months—hardly long enough to keep calling her my mate. It's probably about time I announce that I've no intention of mating her for life,” Jer said calmly, biting the cold cut.
“I'm sorry,” Av said, almost asked. “But you...”
He paused looking over his brother. There had been a change, one that went deeper than taking aggression out on a criminal. Something else was going on, underneath it all.
“I bet if you asked around, you'd discover both those men liked their own,” Jer said, shaking the remainder of the cold cut at Av. “Or if we had bothered giving them time to speak.”
&nbs
p; When Jer chuckled to himself, Av knew something was wrong. Fear clawed at his chest as Av wondered what was going on. Their father had gone through something similar, as their mother lay dying. The one mated to the throne must have some kind of link to the throne, just as the one sat the throne did.
Av sat at the table and picked up a piece of food, spreading his awareness to the room. It was not the same as using magic, but spread far enough that Av was certain he'd know the moment the throne moved to someone else. He ate a little, watching Jer go through much of the food. The giddiness remained through the meal and did not fade.
Having finished eating, Jer sat back, still smiling at Av as he said. “What did Lady Aren mean when she said today was like the other day?”
“What?” Av asked.
“What did you mean the other day?” Jer asked. “We never had a chance to talk about that. You knew what was going to happen hours in advance, how?”
“I didn't,” Av said.
“Father said queens can sort of see what is going on at the moment, but they can't tell the future,” Jer said. “Only witches can tell the future.”
Av swore, sitting back in his own seat. He had several choices. He could honour his brother and bring Aren to the throne to be tried as a witch, to which Em would immediately find her guilty.
He could choose Aren and run. There was nowhere in the palace lands that he could run, however, where Jer and Em could not find them. They would have the final say and Av would be put to death alongside Aren, having disgraced his family. As terrible as that sounded, Av was still very tempted to take that route.
“Bring her to the throne room,” Jer said, rapping his knuckles on the table.
“And you'll what, bring Em?” Av asked.
“Telm, any queen can rule on a witch, as long as it is before the throne. We can both agree on Telm, yes?” Jer asked. “She will do what is right, not rule in favour of Aren because she likes Aren, or in favour of Em because she sits the throne.”
Av frowned. “The laws state—”
