The Misted Cliffs

by Catherine Asaro

  High-backed chairs stood along one side of the table, each a work of art, made from darkwood and set with blue and white silk cushions. The central chair was a white marble throne inlaid with sapphires and diamonds. The table was also darkwood. A circular mosaic inlaid its center, displaying the insignia of the House of Chamberlight, a blue sphere on a white background.

  Stonebreaker went to stand in front of the throne. He nodded to his family, and they took their places in front of the chairs that flanked him, Dancer and Varqelle to his left, Mel and Cobalt on the right. The six officers in Stonebreaker’s honor guard went to chairs at the ends of the table, three to the left and three to the right.

  They all faced the hall. Below them, about fifty guests stood at the larger table. Stonebreaker lifted his chin and surveyed his men. Then he raised his hand. Immediately, kitchen servers filed up to the dais with platters for the high table and a frozen sculpture of the mythical ice-dragon said to live in the highest reaches of the Misted Cliffs. They set out crystal goblets shaped like orchids and flasks of red wine imported from the lowlands. Mel would have preferred apple juice, but they had none. Although a few of the trees grew up here, they were scraggly and bore little fruit. She had no desire to eat, knowing this feast honored the commander who had gathered one of the largest armies ever seen in the settled lands—and poised it on the border of her country, Harsdown.

  The royal family remained standing while the table was set. After the servers withdrew, Stonebreaker settled into his throne. At Cobalt’s nudge on her elbow, Mel joined the Chamberlight family in taking their seats. Stonebreaker’s honor guards sat next. Only then did the rest of their guests settle into their chairs at the big table. Mel was relieved they all knew what they were doing, because she had no idea. Had she been expected to assign seating, she wouldn’t have known who to put where or when to do it. No one had told her about this meal despite her inquiring in the kitchens both yesterday and earlier today about preparations for the king’s arrival. The castle had a staff of over twenty, plus the stable hands and soldiers, yet she felt completely isolated.

  Her introduction to Stonebreaker only made it worse, and she had little doubt it was intentional on his part. Cobalt’s protective attitude toward his mother and his strange verbal battle with his grandfather caused her to wonder how much he, too, was a victim of Stonebreaker’s control. Mel couldn’t imagine how she would survive up here. Saints, she missed her family.

  No emotion showed on Cobalt’s face, but something flickered in his eyes when he looked at her, an apology maybe. Or perhaps she only wished to see it. She didn’t try a mood spell. Hers always created light and that would draw unwanted attention, possibly even endanger her life if Stonebreaker’s men feared she would harm the Chamberlight king.

  Supper was excruciating. With eleven of them sitting along one side of the table it was difficult to talk to one another. Stonebreaker asked Dancer for news about the castle and listened with patience while she spoke. His officers said nothing. Had Mel been at home and her family invited her father’s officers to dinner, they all would have been talking and laughing around the table. Now she didn’t even know if she could talk to anyone. She had lost track of all the decrees Stonebreaker had for the behavior of his family.

  The officer to Mel’s left was a tall man with hair the color of bronze and a colonel’s ebony ring on his finger. He dined with gusto, but he never broke protocol by eating with his hands or spilling food. The same couldn’t be said of the soldiers at the table below. Mel was glad she wasn’t the one who would clean up after the feast. Though perhaps she shouldn’t be so certain, given the way Stonebreaker had treated her this afternoon. Pah. She shouldn’t let him bother her this way.

  Mel spoke cordially to the colonel. “Is the food to your liking, sir?”

  The man froze. Then he slowly set down his knife and looked at her. “Yes, Your Highness. It is excellent.”

  “I am glad you are enjoying it, Colonel…” She let his title hang as a question. She didn’t expect an answer; when she had tried this technique with Cobalt’s men, they only bowed and went about their work, refusing to talk to her.

  This fellow, however, smiled amiably. “Leo Tumbler, ma’am.”

  Leo Tumbler. Finally! She had a name for someone. She smiled and said, “My pleasure at your acquaintance, Leo Tumbler.” She heard Stonebreaker speak to Cobalt, the first time it had happened during the meal, but she didn’t catch the words.

  Tumbler flushed when she smiled. Then he beamed at her. “The honor is mine, ma’am.”

  A hand touched Mel’s arm. “Your roast grows cold,” Cobalt said.

  Startled, she turned to him, and he shook his head slightly, warning her to silence. Her anger sparked. Beyond him, she saw Stonebreaker cutting his venison. Although the king didn’t seem to be paying attention, she had no doubt he was listening. She gritted her teeth. You want Cobalt and me to argue, don’t you. Stonebreaker knew how isolated she and Dancer were here; he had set it up that way. Of course she wanted to talk to someone. So Stonebreaker manipulated Cobalt into stopping her. It could leave her and her new husband ripe for a spat.

  Mel gave Cobalt her sweetest smile, the one her friends at home had always said made her look angelic. “Why, thank you, love. It is kind of you to notice.”

  Cobalt gaped at her. Suddenly his grin flashed—and lit up his entire face. It vanished immediately, but the sight was enough to warm Mel through ten dinners. Stonebreaker stabbed his fork into his meat, too hard, and the shaft bent.

  Mel couldn’t imagine raising a child in this family. If Stonebreaker was always like this, he would make the child doubt her worth. Or his. Varqelle would teach a boy his unforgiving view of life and probably despise a girl. She had no idea how Dancer would respond. If only she could raise her child with her parents. The likelihood Cobalt would ever agree to such, though, was about as great as that of the Misted Cliffs toppling into the borderlands. The shame of it was, Cobalt could probably be a good father if he had the chance to find that side of himself. But in this place, she didn’t see how that would ever happen.

  With the Chamberlight army gathering, they had room only for thoughts of war.

  14

  The Sphere Tower

  Cobalt disappeared with Varqelle and Stonebreaker after dinner. Left on her own, with no one who wished to talk to her, Mel wandered through the castle. She stood on a bridge between two towers and gazed at the night sky. She thought of the telescope in Cobalt’s library. Perhaps sometime he would come out here with her and look at the stars. It was hard to imagine him taking the time for such a dreamy pastime, though.

  Eventually she returned to Cobalt’s suite. He was in the parlor, practicing at the billiards table. She had never heard of the game before coming here; it was an import brought by a merchant ship from the west. Legends claimed that in the past, the Misted Cliffs had boasted a thriving sea trade. These days, only a few merchants came from across the Blue Ocean, and only a few Chamberlight vessels traveled the world. Ships that ventured out often disappeared or somehow became lost and ended up back on the shores of the Misted Cliffs.

  Mel stood in the doorway. Cobalt was using a polished stick to make balls hit each other and roll into pockets on the edges of the table.

  “I’m sorry about the purple ball I burnt,” she said.

  He jerked the stick and missed the shot. But as he looked up at her, his face relaxed. He set his stick on the table and came over. Then he put his arms around her waist. “Thank you.”

  She blinked. “For ruining your game?”

  He laughed, that full, rumbling sound he so rarely let out. “No. For tonight. Dinner.”

  “Oh.” She had no idea what she had done. “Conversation seemed a bit strained.” To put it mildly.

  “It usually is with my family.” Cobalt led her to a small sofa against one wall and drew her to sit with him on its gold and crimson cushions.

  Mel took his hands. “I would love for you to
visit mine.”

  His grip tensed on her fingers. “What?”

  “Come stay with my family.”

  “I cannot.”

  “But why?” She lifted his hands and pressed her cheek against his knuckles. “I would like them to know you.”

  “Your family hates me.”

  “No.” She wasn’t actually certain he was so far from the truth, but they needed more of a chance to know him. “You were there less than one day.”

  He put his arm around her shoulders. “I have much to do here. I cannot traipse around the countryside.”

  “This is a cold, cruel place. It is bad for us.”

  He shuttered his expression. “It is the best home I have ever known.”

  Mel wanted to weep for him, if this was the best he had known. “Life can be full of laughter and light. Let me show you another way.”

  His gaze darkened. “You would sap my strength.”

  “Oh, bah.” She thumped her palm against his chest. “Your strength is just fine. You should quit worrying about it.”

  He bent his head over hers and brushed his lips over her hair. “My father thinks you weaken me with such talk.”

  “Saints forbid I should weaken you by suggesting you have a right to a happy, contented life.”

  “Happy and contented by whose standards?”

  “Anyone’s.”

  “No. Yours.” Cobalt shook his head. “Perhaps my father is right. But I cannot see the world as he does.”

  It wasn’t exactly a declaration that he would visit, but it wasn’t an outright refusal, either. “Does that mean you will consider my invitation?”

  He paused. “Perhaps.”

  “I miss my family.”

  “You’ve been here less than a month.”

  It had felt like years. “Come visit. You will like them.” Inspiration came to her. “Bring Dancer.”

  Silence.

  “Cobalt?”

  He drew back and regarded her with his forehead furrowed. “You would like my mother to visit your family?”

  “Yes.”

  “It would be odd.”

  “Why? Families do it all the time.”

  “Not us.”

  “It could make her happy.”

  “She is happy here.”

  “She has no friends.” It was heartbreaking if they considered this happiness. “No companions aside from you.”

  He spoke awkwardly. “She doesn’t even have me.”

  “What happened?”

  “I got angry at her.”

  “You didn’t seem angry with each other this afternoon.”

  “That was a truce, because of Grandfather’s arrival. Unspoken, but we both knew. We face him together.” A muscle twitched in his cheek. “But I got angry with her because of him.”

  “What happened?”

  “She let him bring me up.”

  This sounded like an anger several decades in the making. “Surely she had a reason.”

  “She will not tell it.”

  Mel touched his cheek. “Go to her. Make it better.”

  “I don’t know how.”

  “Invite her to Harsdown.”

  He made an exasperated noise. “What makes you think she wants to go?”

  It was a good question. Mel didn’t have a good answer, because she suspected Dancer would rather walk in a swamp than visit her daughter-in-law’s family. “She would go if you asked.” Another idea came to her. “Bring Matthew.” Dancer seemed to like him, too.

  Cobalt regarded her doubtfully. “I don’t know.”

  “Just for a visit.” Even if Cobalt didn’t like it enough to stay, at least she would have tried. “Think on this, too. Suppose your mother and my family get along? If anything ever happened to you, Dancer would have people she could stay with, people who would treat her well.” Guessing at truths he only alluded to but never spoke, she added, “People who would protect her from anyone who would cause her pain.”

  He sighed. “You fight a fierce and difficult battle with your words.”

  I fight it for us—and for the settled lands. Maybe nothing could ever calm his tormented spirit, but the demons that drove him would never stop as long as he stayed here, influenced by Varqelle and Stonebreaker. He had never known any alternative. She could show him one. He might not want it, but she had to try. He deserved a chance to find his own peace.

  Mel had learned enough of her husband to realize he would say no more for a while, until he thought on the matter. She wondered, though, if anything could ever be enough to satisfy his hunger for validation from his family, or if he would bring the world to its knees in his drive to make his grandfather acknowledge him as a man of worth.

  Cobalt walked with Matthew to the West Tower. “The men seem less suspicious of Mel now.”

  “She conducts herself well,” Matthew said.

  “I wish they appreciated it more.”

  Matthew hesitated. “Well, Your Highness…”

  Cobalt recognized his tone. Wary now, he said, “Yes?”

  “You must not get angry.”

  Cobalt scowled at him. “About what?”

  “Some of them believe she has enchanted you.”

  “She has,” Cobalt said dryly.

  “They thought so more at first. They are less certain now. She is kind to everyone, even though they never speak to her.” Matthew chuckled. “And when she smiles that way, like an angel, it melts the hardest heart.” His smile shifted into a frown for Cobalt. “But she is obviously lonely. You must find companions for your wife. Female companions.”

  Even if Stonebreaker would have allowed it, Cobalt couldn’t imagine more women at the keep. “They would talk all the time.”

  “So?”

  “It doesn’t bother you?”

  “Of course not. Their voices are music.”

  Cobalt snorted. “Hardly.” In truth, he liked to listen to Mel. But he had no idea what it would be like with more women here. He hadn’t been around enough to have an opinion on the subject. As long as Dancer refused to live at the Diamond Palace, Stonebreaker wasn’t likely to allow her companions. Cobalt could have brought them anyway, as he had done with Mel. But right now he didn’t want to challenge his grandfather, lest Stonebreaker change his mind about giving him command of the Chamberlight army. In planning campaigns with Varqelle, Cobalt found a satisfaction in his work that his life had never given him before. He was made for this—and his father understood.

  He knew now that nothing would appease the fire that drove him. Except conquest.

  Dancer didn’t smile when she opened the door. She simply stood aside so Cobalt could enter her study. He went to her desk, uncertain of himself. Today she was reading a tome about the tiny country of Blueshire and taking notes with a quill on a parchment. He steeled himself and turned to face her.

  Dancer remained by the open doorway. “It is late. Have your say and be done.”

  “Mother.” He took a deep breath. “I would not be at odds with you.”

  Some of her ice seemed to thaw. “Yet we are.”

  “It troubles me.”

  “I also.” She came over to him. “I wish I could undo the nightmares you endured in your youth. I cannot. But you are the one light in my life. I do not wish to be at odds with you.”

  “I worry for you, staying here.”

  She shuddered, though the room was warm. “I will not return to the Diamond Palace.”

  “Perhaps a place of sun and laughter would be better.”

  “I know of no such place.”

  Neither do I. But he had glimpsed it when he went to fetch his bride. It had hurt to be at that house among the apple trees, and he didn’t know why. When he thought of Dancer there, though, he felt a deep relief.

  “I am sending Mel to her family for a while,” he said.

  “I think it is for the best. She disrupts our lives.” Dancer sounded uncertain, though. Cobalt had noticed that his mother was having trouble disliking
his wife, hard as Dancer might try to be hostile.

  “She has invited you to go with her,” Cobalt said.

  “What?” Dancer stared at him. “No!”

  “Why not?” It was the same question Mel had asked him.

  “It is a trick. They would never accept me there. I am the wife of the man who invaded their country and the mother of the man who took their daughter.”

  “Nevertheless, Mel has invited you.” He rubbed his chin. “My wife is rather formidable. If she insists they accept you, I believe they will do so.”

  “Your wife is a witch.”

  “Well yes, that, too.”

  She blinked. “It doesn’t bother you?”

  “It terrifies me.” But he smiled.

  Dancer studied him. “You are odd tonight.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t know. Calmer.” She thought for a moment. “You seem happy lately.”

  “I don’t know.” He wasn’t sure how “happy” differed from his normal state. He did know, however, that with Mel he felt strong. Happy? Perhaps.

  “I cannot imagine going back to Harsdown,” Dancer said.

  “I would like you to.”

  “Why? Do you not want me here?”

  “I worry for your safety when I am not here.”

  She didn’t look surprised, but her shoulders tensed. “Where are you going?”

  He couldn’t tell her about his counsels with her husband and father. Nothing was certain. He spoke carefully. “I may ride with Grandfather’s army. I haven’t decided yet.” Then he added, “I would have for you a place where you may have other women as friends. Where you may walk among flowering trees. Hear laughter. See happy children. Have a pet.”

  She seemed bewildered. “A pet?”

  “If you want.” Stonebreaker had never allowed Cobalt the hound he had longed for as a boy, and eventually Cobalt had stopped thinking about it. Now he shared his suite with a scrap of gray fur that chased spiders but ran away from anything larger and alive. Oddly enough, it wasn’t unpleasant.