by R. J. Price
“I will find out if she has anyone coming for her.”
“And you will tell me if someone is coming for her.”
Danya gritted her teeth. It hurt to say it, but she managed to lie.
“I will tell you if she has someone coming for her.”
“You will also tell me if she poses any problems for us.”
“She is absolutely no threat to me,” Danya said.
Even in the dim light of the sick room, Danya saw Rewel pale.
“Is she a threat to me?” Rewel asked finally.
“Everyone is a threat to you. Including me.”
Rewel couldn’t hide the shudder, though she knew he tried. The man was silent a moment longer before he turned towards the door.
“Call me when she awakes,” he said over his shoulder.
Chapter Nine
Jer walked into his father’s home and thumped the black ring box in front of Av. “You’re an idiot. Half the staff now knows Aren’s missing because you didn’t bring the rings with you. Think ahead next time.”
“I was distracted,” Av said.
“By what?” he asked, turning when Av motioned.
Anue stood in the hall leading to the bedrooms. The girl was just beginning to mature, her rank not yet obvious, but obviously there. No, that wasn’t true. Anue hid herself the way Aren did. While Anue’s construct had more detail to it, Jer recognized the deception for what it was. Spending time around Aren made it easier to pick out those who used coastal tricks.
Seeing how Van wove his together made it almost impossible to miss Anue.
The girl was quiet, demure. Jer couldn’t recall if those two words meant the same thing. He could detect in Anue an innocence Aren had lacked.
Anue had been too young to remember one of her rank being burned at the stake for speaking to Aren. She had learned from her sister’s mistakes and behaved in a different fashion, avoiding the brunt of her mother’s anger. Anue and Aren, Aren and Anue, the sisters were two different sides of the same coin.
“Para made a stupid choice, naming you Anue,” Jer said.
“It means second chance,” Anue said quietly. “Even as a child my sister was considered unhappy. Mother’s blood believes in using the same letter for all the same gender.”
“But lords meeting you will link you to Aren, will think you take after her,” Jer said, turning to his father for some sort of support.
Ervam shrugged. “Anue, why don’t you go play outside and let the adults speak?”
The girl left without putting on boots for outside. Jer jabbed a finger after her and looked to his father once more. The trainer sighed heavily, shook his head very slowly, and motioned to the chair beside Av. Jer sat as he was bid, trying to judge the mood at the table.
“What’s bothering you?” Av asked, reaching for the ring box.
“A normal amount of items,” he said.
“Good, because normally when you start questioning something as banal as the name of a child, that means you’re about ready to start shouting about spirits and beasties of myth,” his father said.
“Telm did something that worried me,” Jer said quickly. “It’s stupid. Aren, Anue, both girls, who will share looks as they get older, both of the same rank. Both names are four letters long. Why don’t we talk up shortening Anue’s name to An?”
“She will stab a person who orders her about,” Av said, sliding his ring onto his left ring finger. “Went into a rage because she thought we would be stupid enough to pair her with Mie.”
“Rage as in…” Jer trailed off and stared at Av as his brother gave him an exasperated look. “The rage of her rank? She’s too young to rage, perhaps it was a tantrum.”
“A silent one?” Ervam asked. “Which did not involve stomping her feet, holding her breath, throwing things, or making a face? She seems to be developing in that area a bit earlier than we might expect. I’ve plans to make my way to the village in the next few days to pick up other supplies that a young woman might need.”
“That might require one of us to have a conversation with her,” Av said to the table. “Aren isn’t very…” Jer watched his brother struggle for a polite word, “knowledgeable.”
“Father has the most experience,” Jer offered.
“I’m also going to ask the healer to have a discussion with Anue,” Ervam growled. “She’s hesitant about males touching her. If the healer can come speak with Anue, we might be able to arrange a reason for an inspection. We should have had Aren inspected before your brother tossed her into a bed.”
“She was,” Jer and Av said at the same time.
Jer adjusted in his chair, considered moving away from his brother. Having this discussion in front of a warrior who had claimed the one the conversation was about, was uncomfortable. If Av could keep control of his emotions, all would be well. If Av couldn’t keep control, one or both of them would end up hurt.
“When she was stabbed,” Jer said to their father. “Possibly when she had consumption as well. The healer never mentioned anything to us about an altered state.”
“Had Av claimed her by this time?” Ervam asked as a trainer, not as their father.
While Jer had to think hard, Av answered quickly, “No, it was shortly after the incident that I had the papers done up.”
“Which means the healer wouldn’t have alerted the two of you to Aren’s state besides the wound you brought her in for,” Ervam said. “It’s none of your damned business if a lady at court happens to have a pre-existing condition. That is between her and the healer. The only time the healer will divulge that information is if her life is in danger because of the condition. Even then, she wouldn’t go to the master, or to the mate of the throne. She would find someone appropriate.”
“Report it to the steward and the head of house to see the lady’s habits and assign someone who would pair well with her,” Jer said. “It wouldn’t be made public knowledge because of the unknown nature and how our rank likes to stab anyone around those who may have what you’re politely calling a pre-existing condition.”
“That healer still work at the palace?” Av asked Jer.
He sounded haggard. Barely holding on. The desire to protect a loved one was amplified in a warrior. Av would take it as a personal failing, even if the damage had been done before he had met Aren.
“She is, though there’s no promising,” Jer started.
Av cut Jer off with, “She said her speciality was midwifery. Those healers know all about abuse. In the smaller villages a woman goes to a midwife if she’s being abused by her mate, not the healer.”
“How do you know that?” Ervam asked.
“I had to visit the refugees last fall to deal with a mate,” Av said. “The midwife explained it to me. It was either I do it, or the healer was going to. I’d rather not remind them that someone in their midst is capable of rending them tendon from muscle. Could we please change the conversation now?”
“Mie suspects,” Ervam said. “He’s bonded with her, though I suspect it is as a brother, not as a possible future lover. He sees Aren as a brother would, therefore he sees Anue as his sister.”
“Don’t touch Anue,” Jer said to himself. “Got it.”
“Don’t touch Aren,” Av growled at him.
“Until we sort this out, I won’t,” Jer said.
“Aren didn’t appear to be damaged like that, but if one daughter is, typically another is as well,” their father said to Av. “Breathe.”
“Brother?” Av asked.
Ervam shook his head. “More likely the brother’s tutor. There’s always an outside man to come in to teach a boy about honour and tradition. If the brother was doing it, Aren would have noticed. Queens are remarkably able to pick out the darkness in their siblings. Anue might have been able to hide the damage, but her brother wouldn’t.”
“Unless he’s a queen as well,” Jer snorted, trying not to laugh. “I cannot believe that stick of a woman had two queens.”
“She could have seen something,” Av said suddenly. “Anue knows how to use her magic. Mie knows how to see things he shouldn’t be able to, so it’s not too far off to think that someone older than Mie, who has been studying magic, might also know how to see things she’s not present for.”
This information, even though it was coming from Av, made the man relax. Jer frowned at their father, who could only quirk an eyebrow in response.
“I’m still going to arrange for the healer to look Anue over,” Ervam said to Av. “Do you know why?”
“If there are two possibilities, you need to accept both as true until one or the other is proved as impossible,” Av said with a nod. “For my own sanity, given the fact that we’re all here in this small home until spring, I’m going to ignore the other option unless it’s proven to be true.”
“Speaking of possibilities that need to be believed as true…” Jer said.
He waited until the other two turned to him. He needed to make absolutely certain that their attention was on him, that they didn’t mishear.
“Telm did something in the northwest. She also actually owns that amulet she’s been telling us about for so long. It’s red, almost like a ruby. Says it’s not. Kind of stared off for a bit and when I asked what she had done, she said that we all do stupid things sometimes,” Jer said quickly, leaning forward. “Now, when I first became mate to the throne, Father, you gave me specific orders not to upset Telm for fear she would cause me a great deal of damage.”
“Rumour,” Ervam said quietly. “Why do you believe she caused trouble in the northwest?”
“That’s where Aren’s headed,” Jer said, holding up a hand to stop Av from speaking. “We don’t know where in the northwest she’s headed. It’s a big area. Unless Father knows something, we’re right where we were before. Except now we have one general direction.”
There was a moment of silence as Ervam thought. Long and hard, the trainer frowned at the table.
“Red stone, you said?” their father asked finally.
“Unless there’s another magical stone that we need to be concerned about, I don’t see the reason for the question,” Jer said.
“There are several magical stones,” was the growled response. “But when I first came to palace lands, came ahead of your mother and you two, to set up a home, I stayed at an inn where the bard was singing about vengeance wearing a stone of blood and darkness. The victims struggled and nearly broke the curse, causing the stone to crack.”
Jer’s mouth fell open. “Did I say that the stone was cracked?”
“Is it?” Ervam asked.
“It is, yes—I thought that was how the amulet worked. The cracks almost seem to make a pattern or shape,” Jer said.
Ervam put a hand over his mouth and stared at Jer. Av looked between the pair. When the silence continued, Jer stood, scraping his chair across the floor in a manner that he knew irritated his father. Hoping to draw some other reaction out of the trainer.
“Perhaps this is a conversation for after the children are in bed,” Av said carefully, standing.
Av motioned sharply to Jer and left the house. Jer followed only because he didn’t want Av coming back to question why he hadn’t been obedient. Outside on the porch, Av drew in a sharp breath through clenched teeth.
“Give him time,” Av murmured. “He’s probably in there asking himself if Telm is capable of whatever atrocities he’s linked to the red stone. She inherited it from her mother, that’s what she’s always said, correct? That’s all we’ve ever been told about Telm’s mother. It’s not her fault her mother caused harm to the world.”
“But Telm is the sort who would carry the burden as her own,” Jer said, relaxing for the first time in days. “Telm of course isn’t capable of an act of darkness.”
“No, of course not. A bit of violence, certainly, but not darkness. Aren’s probably headed that way because the throne wants to relieve Telm of the burden she carries that her mother brought into the world.”
Chapter Ten
Danya watched the young woman eat. Hunger was getting the better of her. Through the second bowl of stew, she showed no sign of slowing. On the third, the spoon hesitated above the bowl. The woman licked her lips and watched Danya watch her.
“Are you going to eat?” the woman asked.
Almost a command, Danya fought the urge to retrieve a bowl for herself. The young woman might have been a queen, but she hadn’t any idea how to use her magic. A trained queen would only issue such a command when she absolutely needed to. Untrained, she would ask questions that would almost seem a command.
Not a waste of magic, not really, the commands simply made the untrained seem unstable.
“No, I ate, thank you,” Danya said quietly.
She was aware that there was something different about this queen. Besides the fact that the woman was linked to three others. In the past there had been others linked to other queens. Danya hadn’t told Rewel about those ones, the links hadn’t really meant much. In this case those links made the queen stronger, a fact she knew Rewel would leap at, hoping to link the queen to the village.
“It’s your home,” the woman said.
The others hadn’t noticed when Danya slipped into the servant role. They had accepted without question. After all, no rank was above a queen, all alive were meant to serve the queens who, in turn, gave a service to the people that no other could provide.
Different from the others in magic. Vastly different in background as well.
“It is, yes,” Danya said. “Is there something I can call you by? My name is Danya.”
“You said that already,” the woman said, spooning more stew into her mouth. She chewed thoughtfully. “Do you know who sits the throne?”
“No, though your horse carried the mark of the palace,” Danya said.
“The mark of the palace?” The woman stared at Danya, not understanding.
“The raven’s head.” Danya watched the woman’s confusion play over her face. “Raven palace. Where the throne is. Black raven’s head on red. According to rumour, the banner stands behind the throne itself.”
The woman frowned. She thought very hard and made a face. “I missed it every time.”
“You had no idea the name of the palace?” Danya asked.
“Well, you don’t know the name of the one who sits the throne,” the woman countered.
“No, I don’t. Who rules matters little this far out. Queens come and queens go,” Danya said. “If the one who sits the throne is mad, we do not feel it this far out. She does not send soldiers or tax men or merchants or healers our way. I couldn’t care less as to who sits the throne.”
“Aren,” the woman said.
“Sits the throne?” Danya asked.
“Is my name.”
Dread prickled through Danya. Queens tended to tell the truth even when they attempted to lie. Surely, she told herself, if the one who sat the throne came to them, they would recognize her. Everyone recognized the one who sat the throne. The first thing Danya recalled being taught was how to recognize the one who sat the throne, to separate her from others of her rank.
“Do you like the stew?” Danya asked, redirecting the conversation.
“To be honest, it tastes terrible, but I’m hungry,” Aren said. “I’m sorry to be a burden on you. I’ll send word to Av and he’ll come get me. When is the next messenger through?”
Certain that she could get a missive to the palace without gold to pay a messenger? That was interesting.
“Not for some time. Do you have title?” A title might explain how Aren planned to get a missive out.
“Lady, I am inheritor for the Bilgern Vineyards.”
“Oh, I heard they make fantastic wine,” Danya said with a smile.
Aren frowned.
The information was years old. Danya could only assume Bilgern had suffered. Being the heir to the vineyard would make the woman Lady Aren Bilgern. Perhaps Av was her steward.
“A little far for Av to come all the way out here to fetch you,” Danya said smoothly. “He might be better sending a coach.”
“Oh no, Av’s a warrior,” Aren said, pausing to chew a mouthful of stew. “I’m pretty certain he’d insist on coming to get me himself. I don’t quite understand the rank. I understand the claiming and the whole ordering me about because he believes I’m his, but I don’t know how far that is. I’ve never been around a warrior before.”
Fishing for information. Danya had no idea how this could happen. Obviously the reason why Aren hadn’t been trained was because no one else had known, which was why she had never been taught about the other ranks. No point wasting gold to pay a governess to teach an heir of a failing estate what a rank was or how to deal with them.
Why could Aren not ask those at the palace?
She was hiding, that was why she had run. No one at the palace knew she was a queen, or they knew now and that was why Aren had fled.
The possibility didn’t link well with the man named Av. Unless Av had been Aren’s protector, trying to place her near the throne while the rest of the palace believed her to be a commoner.
“When a warrior has claimed a body, he will go to the ends of the world to retrieve them,” Danya said. “Do you like Av? Is he interesting?”
“He’s a warrior,” Aren muttered, scrunching up her nose. “He orders me about and says I need to train to defend myself but won’t teach me how to fight like a man because he only wants me to hold against an enemy until someone else arrives to save me. Like I’m some fragile rose that will crumple the first time someone troddens over me. Which they will, because he hasn’t shown me how to stand and defend!”
“Troddens isn’t a word,” Danya said quietly.
“I don’t care, trod is a word and trods sounds like prods, which is not as dangerous as trod actually should be, so I made a new word and it will forevermore exist,” Aren said stoutly, spooning stew into her mouth to chew defiantly before she growled sternly. “I don’t like warriors.”
“Why not? If Av is doing something inappropriate…” Danya trailed off, aware that women did not always want to talk bluntly about the topic.
