by Erin Beaty
“Perhaps,” said Sage. “Have you ever heard of Colonel Traysden? I thought I knew all the palace guards, but that name is unfamiliar.”
Sir Francis sat back in his chair, his robes flowing down his thin frame like dusty candlewax. “Colonel Traysden isn’t a guard. He’s the king’s minister of intelligence.”
The spymaster. “Where does his rank come from?” Sage asked.
“He was the last commander of the Norsari Battalion.”
Sage inhaled sharply, but Clare only looked confused. “Norsari used to be Demora’s best fighters,” Sage told her. There was almost no limit to what they could be called upon to do—fight in traditional battles, go on rescue missions, scout in enemy territory, even commit assassinations and sabotage. Or so Father had told her.
“They were disbanded by my father twenty-four years ago,” said Rose from behind them. “As part of the peace in 486. I wrote an essay on the war last month,” she explained to Clare as she held out several pages of the day’s work for Sage’s inspection. “I interviewed Papa for the assignment. He said he wished he’d never agreed to it.”
Sage glanced over Rose’s work. She knew the terms of that treaty well—the Norsari had been broken up, and Kimisara had ceded Tasmet permanently to Demora. If last year’s fighting could be considered an attempt by Kimisara to take the region back, then the agreement was nullified.
That was what was happening—the Norsari was being re-formed. And Alex … Sweet Spirit, Alex had been given command. No wonder he was excited.
Sage glanced up at Rose. “I’ll look this paper over tonight. You can go to lunch; I’ll see you in the classroom later.” Cara looked up from her seat hopefully. “Yes, you can go, too,” Sage called to her. “Leave your work on the table.”
Carinthia was out the door before her sister. Sage turned her sweetest smile on the librarian. “Sir Francis, do you have any books on the Norsari for Lady Clare?”
“Of course, my dear.” The master of books stood and led the way between shelves, needing no cataloging system to guide him. When the old man passed away, his replacement would have a hell of a time finding anything.
“It can’t be just the Norsari, Sage,” Clare whispered as they followed. “Why else would Papa be involved? He’s a diplomat, not a soldier.”
“Maybe they’re anticipating a new treaty when this is over.”
“Perhaps.” Clare didn’t look convinced.
Sir Francis stopped at a shelf of military history and ran a bony finger over the spines until he found the one he wanted. “Here you are, my lady. Birley’s account is the most accurate, I would say. His grandfather was among the first Norsari.”
“Thank you, sir,” said Clare, accepting the book. The librarian nodded and returned to his desk, his mind already back on his previous task. As he walked, he passed a nearly empty shelf.
“What used to be there, Sir Francis?” Sage asked.
The master of books paused to squint where she pointed. “Casmuni history and trade. Ambassador Gramwell took them last night.”
Sage and Clare exchanged glances and followed Sir Francis. “What are you working on here?” Sage asked, gesturing at the parchments scattered across his desk.
“Trade documents,” he said. “They’re all over two hundred years old, and many are in Casmuni, which no one can read anymore. I found them when I was helping the ambassador last night. The previous librarian didn’t store them properly, and they’re mixed up and falling apart.” He settled back into his rickety chair and rubbed his eyes. “The ambassador wants them as well, but I must sort them and have a scribe copy them first. My vision isn’t what it used to be.”
“I can do that,” Sage said eagerly. “Lady Clare can help. She assists Ambassador Gramwell in much of his work already.”
Sir Francis smiled up at her, his faded blue eyes watery from the efforts of the last few hours. “I’d be glad to let you, but it will be terribly boring work. And I still need to sort the ones written in Kimisar.”
“Which Lady Clare and I both speak. We can do it.”
“Well, bless me. You’re more than welcome to it.” He stood again and shuffled to a back room. “Let me get you blank ledgers to copy them into. One for the ambassador, and one for our library records, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course not,” Sage called to his back before smiling at Clare. “Maybe we’ll make one for Her Majesty, too.”
12
SAGE DANCED UP the path to the willow tree. Not only had she and Clare managed to sort the crumbling pages, they’d realized they came in groups of three—different translations of the same document. With the old treaties, Casmuni words and phrases could be worked out—not well, but it was a huge start. As it now appeared obvious the king expected to open talks with Casmun, what she and Clare had discovered could be invaluable.
She also had an idea Alex was bound to like.
Sage swept aside the curtain of willow branches. Alex was right there, and she jumped into his arms and kissed him before he could say anything.
“Well, hello to you, too,” Alex said when she leaned back. “Happy to see you don’t want to waste what little time we have.”
Her grin was almost giddy. “How long do you have now?”
Alex dropped to the soft grass and pulled her down next to him. “Maybe half an hour.” He leaned closer.
“Alex, wait.” She held up a hand to block him. “I wanted to talk first.”
He ducked around and kissed her neck. It was very distracting. “What about?”
“When are the Norsari leaving?” she asked.
Alex froze for a moment, then sat back, eyes wide. “Who told you about the Norsari?”
“No one. I just picked up enough details to figure it out.”
“What kind of details?” He’d drawn his brows down, but he looked more worried than angry. “From whom?”
“Just…” Was it that much of a secret? “Clare said you had command of a new unit, and soldiers have been arriving for weeks, and they’ve all been so skilled, and then you mentioned Colonel Traysden. I know who he is.”
Alex exhaled, though whether in relief or exasperation, she wasn’t sure. “Forget what you know, then. Don’t speak of it with anyone.”
“Of course.” She could keep a secret. “But why is Ambassador Gramwell involved?”
“Bleeding hell, Sage!” Alex pulled away from her completely. “What else do you know?”
“Nothing!”
“Doesn’t sound like nothing to me.”
She reached for his hand. “I promise I haven’t been sneaking around. I only know who’s involved. I asked some questions. It wasn’t hard to draw conclusions.”
“Don’t go around asking any more questions, all right?” Alex said, shaking his head. “People will think I’ve told you more than I should have. Both of us could get in trouble.”
“Well, maybe we can get around that,” she said, excitement rising again. “What if I came with you?”
“Came with me where?”
“To the southern border, where you’re going to train.”
Alex leapt to his feet. “Another piece of information you forgot to mention you had!”
“Alex, calm down!” she said. “Norsari have to be trained first, and all the maps of southern Demora are missing from the library. It’s obvious.” She’d noticed the maps were missing when she’d gone looking for one herself, to coordinate with the places she and Clare were reading in the trade agreements. As for her work with the documents themselves, mentioning them didn’t seem like a good idea now. Nor did the fact that she’d already told the queen everything she’d concluded.
“Obvious to you, maybe.” He crossed his arms. “The answer is no. Absolutely not.”
She’d expected hesitance, but the finality in his voice surprised her. “Alex, women travel with the army all the time.”
“Not this time.”
“I know you’ll be moving fast, but I can keep up,” she s
aid.
“I know you can. That’s not the issue.” Alex didn’t move from where he stood looking down at her.
“Then why not?”
“Don’t you have responsibilities here?”
“Yes, but it’s only for a few weeks.” The queen would be glad to let her go if Sage could serve as her eyes. She sat up on her knees and raised her hands in appeal. “And I can help. You’ll be living mostly off the land. I’m sure your soldiers are already good at hunting, but I could teach trapping—”
“No.”
“—and edible plants—”
“I said no.”
“—and herb medicine. Even fowling if you want to bring—”
“Dammit, Sage. NO!” he yelled.
She shrank back a little. Alex had never raised his voice to her before. Not even the times he was angry with her for snooping around dressed as a maid or for letting Clare leave her alone with Duke D’Amiran for a few minutes. He hadn’t trusted her to know which risks were worth taking. Of course, it had been difficult to know when she’d been left out of so much.
Which meant as much as she’d learned about this mission, there was far more she didn’t know.
“This is my world,” Alex said, drawing a long, shaky breath. “You don’t understand it.”
It was Tegann all over again. “I’ll never understand your world if you keep me out of it!”
“There are some things you don’t need to understand.”
“Alex, just hear me out!”
“Sage.” He knelt in front of her and took her face in his hands. “I’m not discussing this. The answer is no.”
He wouldn’t listen. He didn’t even want to listen. She twisted her head out of his hands, tears rolling unchecked down her cheeks. Alex reached out to wipe them away, but Sage leaned back before he could touch her. He sighed.
“This isn’t about you,” he said softly.
She rubbed her face with her sleeve and refused to look at him. “Don’t you have a meeting?”
A long spell of silence stretched out between them. “Do you want me to leave?” he asked.
No. “Yes.”
Alex sighed again and stood. “All right.” He paused at the wall of leaves. “Will you be here later?”
“I doubt it.”
“I’ll check anyway. Just in case.” He pushed the willow branches aside, letting in a flood of light from the moon and a few torches in the garden. “I love you, Sage.”
Then the light was gone and so was he.
* * *
Sage didn’t know how long she sat there, trying to decide which she hated more: that Alex had refused to even consider letting her come, or that she’d reacted by pouting like a spoiled Concordium bride.
He was lying when he said it wasn’t about her. He’d admitted she could keep up, and the way he cut her off when she pointed out everything she could bring to the mission proved he knew all that, too. By not allowing her to make her case, he didn’t even have to make his—which meant his reasons were weak or inadmissible.
If they were weak, then she’d effectively beaten his argument. If they were inadmissible, it meant the mission was far more than anyone suspected. Either way, she was desperate to go along now, but there was no way in if Alex said no.
Unless.
Sage pushed to her feet and straightened her dress. A few seconds later she was on the garden path, headed for the private quarters of the royal family. The hour was late, but the queen would still be up, waiting for the king to finish his own endless meetings. Sage knocked on the door, and Orianna herself answered.
“Your Majesty,” she said. “I have a proposal for you.”
13
CASSECK GLANCED UP from oiling his boots as Alex barged through the door and slammed it shut behind him. Without a word he turned to his bunk and pulled his jacket open.
Cass went back to the boot. “It’s less than two years, Alex. Just be glad you have it to look forward to.”
Alex’s shoulders tensed, his arms angled up to remove the jacket. Casseck paused again and squinted at him. “Did you two … fight?”
Alex yanked his jacket off. “She’s so damn stubborn.”
Cass started to laugh but smothered it at Alex’s sharp glance. “I thought you liked that about her,” his friend said cautiously. Alex didn’t respond. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Alex tossed the jacket on the bed and turned around. “She wants to come along. Apparently she’s got it in her head that she could teach edible plants and trapping and fowling.”
Casseck looked thoughtful. “That might not be a bad idea. We’re focusing on physical conditioning, but that stuff could be critical. We also have a few recruits who can’t read—she could school them. I bet she could teach Kimisar, too.” He furrowed his brow in confusion. “You don’t look pleased.”
All those things had also occurred to Alex—she had a lot to contribute, and she’d be even happier than she was here, which was why it hurt so badly to tell her no. He’d been counting on Casseck to back him up. “It’s a terrible idea!”
Cass jumped a little. “Alex, no one will rib you about her, especially once they see how much she can contribute and how little trouble she’ll be. And you’ll be too busy for much, um, else.”
Alex scowled. “I can’t have her around. She’s a distraction.”
Casseck raised his eyebrows. “I’ve lived with you for the last nine months, and I daresay she’s a distraction when she’s not around.”
“No.” Alex shook his head. “And she won’t listen to me. She was all upset, and I had to leave before getting it sorted. I couldn’t find her later.”
Cass folded up his rag. “In that case, I think I’m done with this for the night.”
Alex eyed Casseck as he tucked away his kit. “What are you doing?”
“Morning exercises were always hell when you hadn’t heard from her in a while. I expect they’ll be even worse tomorrow.” Cass peeled off his trousers and crawled into his bed. “I might as well get as much rest as possible.”
* * *
Alex clutched the gaping wound in Charlie’s throat. “No! This is all my fault!”
His little brother choked and gurgled as blood leaked around Alex’s fingers, dripping onto the stone floor. There was nothing Alex could do but watch him die.
“Such a shame,” said a familiar voice. “Would you like to try again?”
Again?
Alex looked up from where he knelt. Duke D’Amiran held Sage against him, her clothes torn and bloody. The knife he’d used to cut Charlie’s throat was now pressed to hers.
“Choose,” the duke said.
At his side stood the ratty-eared Captain Geddes, holding up a barely conscious soldier with a dagger to his neck.
Casseck.
* * *
Cass was shaking him by the shoulders. “Alex, wake up!”
Alex flung his arms out, nearly smacking Cass in the face, but his friend jumped out of the way in time. They were in the dark, in their barracks room.
He sat up, reaching for weapons that weren’t there. “What? What’s wrong?”
“You were shouting in your sleep. You woke me up.”
Alex rubbed a hand over his face and pushed sweaty hair out of his eyes. “Sorry.”
He heard Cass plop back on his bed. “Don’t worry about it. Go back to sleep. It’s way too early to run, even for you.”
Alex slowly lowered himself back down on the cot.
But he didn’t sleep.
14
SAGE WENT TO the sitting room before lessons, half hoping the queen hadn’t had a chance to present her idea to the king. Orianna looked up from her desk with a smile, then picked up the parchment she was writing on and waved it back and forth to dry the ink.
“I could’ve done that for you, Your Majesty,” Sage said. She couldn’t remember the queen writing anything since Sage had taken on duties as her secretary, not even personal letters.
“Not this time,” said Orianna smugly. “It’s a royal order designating you as Nicholas’s accompanying tutor. You couldn’t write that yourself.”
Sage’s mouth dropped open in shock. “His Majesty agreed?”
The queen shrugged. “Well, I didn’t specify whom I wanted to send.”
“You don’t think he’ll object when he learns?”
“I think he has weightier matters on his mind. I doubt he’ll notice.” Orianna set the parchment down and peered at her. “Don’t tell me you’re having second thoughts.”
“Well…” Truthfully, the anger that had driven Sage last night was gone, leaving only sorrow at the thought that Alex didn’t want her along. She should’ve returned to the garden and tried to talk to him again. Going behind his back like this was unforgivable. “What about Rose’s and Cara’s studies?” she said.
“Oh posh.” The queen set the note down and signed her name with a flourish. “They’ve advanced so much under you in the past year they can have a break. I’ll take them to Mondelea for a few weeks. We can visit Lady Gramwell—I’m impressed by how much Clare has learned under her. The girls could use some of the same lessons.”
Clare. Everything was nearly settled, and Sage hadn’t said anything to her best friend.
“Besides, I thought the plan was also to keep me informed as to what is really going on with this mission.” Orianna glanced back with raised eyebrows. “Yesterday we agreed that keeping me out of everything was both insulting and dangerous, didn’t we? You were particularly passionate about it last night.”
Sage nodded, but now the idea of working actively against Alex made her sick. Why hadn’t she thought this through?
Why hadn’t Alex just listened?
The queen pursed her lips at Sage’s silence. “If you’re thinking you’ve changed your mind, I’ll wait to send this order, but the girls and Nicholas already know. I told them at breakfast.” She rose and walked to stand in front of Sage, taking her shoulders in her hands. “But I’ve gotten very used to the idea of having your full and honest account of what is happening. Both Nicholas and Rose are old enough to be promised in marriage. I wasn’t concerned before, as there seemed to be no candidates or urgency, but opening talks with Casmun could change that.” Orianna’s blue-green eyes were pleading. “Don’t let this take me by surprise, Sage.”
