Highest Lord

by R. J. Price

  “My steward will begin going through the debts immediately and you will pay what you owe. Any resistance and—” The lights went out. For a blessed moment Aren felt relief. Then she felt the startled surprise of servants who hadn’t been warned in time and the confusion of the lords and ladies.

  How could she feel what they felt?

  Much like they felt what she felt, when her emotions were strong enough. Except a queen learned to keep her emotions to herself. There was no need for a commoner to learn to do the same. No need to learn to hide a feeling when there was magic racing through the walls, confusing and hiding so much.

  Aren brought the lights back on and every eye turned to her. She suspected some few of them thought she had died in that moment.

  “If you wish to be a part of this court you will obey me and my commands, you will toss aside your pettiness, or—” The lights went out again, only this time some of them realized that Aren was making it dark on purpose. Their fear doubled as they shouted out for her to stop it. She brought the lights back up as Av walked in, late and looking dishevelled. “If you harm any of the servants...” She hesitated and watched the lords and ladies flinch, waiting for the darkness. “Lords and Ladies of the court, if you believe me so dull witted that I can only do that in the throne room, ask yourselves if you can live without light and without water for the rest of your lives.

  “Lady Em may have been too weak to shut off your plumbing and not that of your neighbour, but I am not. She may have been ignorant of what it meant to be in control of her own magic, but I am not.”

  Av stood sheepishly by the door, late and uninvited to participate.

  “Lord Av, you are late,” she said.

  He didn’t flinch, but the entire court, barons included, did. Whatever tone she had put to her voice made Av frown ever so slightly and gave him some kind of stability. He might not have understood what he had walked in on, but he understood anger.

  “My apologies, I was up all night with the coin master and you know how hard numbers are for a warrior to wrap his silly head around.”

  “I never said that. I said that I was surprised you could do numbers, not warriors in general,” she responded calmly, surprised that Av still recalled the impulsive moment from almost a full year before. “Why were you up with the coin master all night?”

  Av took the question as an invitation. He moved halfway down the throne room, then came to a sudden stop as if afraid to go any further.

  “After our discussion yesterday I went to speak with the three guards in the healer hall. It would appear that Lady Em broke laws concerning the payment of those who are wounded in action. There are at least ten guards that were wounded and the coin master has notations saying the coin was withdrawn to pay the guard. The captain of the guard, as you may not know, also keeps a set of books on payments. As does every master, along with the steward.”

  Aren looked to Jer. The man nodded.

  “In case something like this did happen,” Jer said. “One might be greedy, but the chances of the other masters being in on the plot are slim.”

  She turned back to Av. “I assume the captain of the guard’s books say that the coin was never received.”

  “You would be correct in that assumption,” Av said. “The master of the coin forbade me from leaving while he attempted to find where the coin went. I insisted on coming to the called court and he finally let me go, but not before we discovered that Lady Em used the coin to purchase an estate some three-days-ride west.”

  “Em never left palace grounds,” Jer said, sounding utterly confused.

  “She used the coin to purchase the land, but a Lord Montel is written in as the current owner—either renting the land or outright owning it.” Av looked to the lords, but none of them moved. “I’m guessing Lord Montel is not yet at court.”

  Aren wondered if Av had expected the lord to respond to the claim. Or had he hoped that after the display of magic Aren had shown, the man might simply up and bolt for the door?

  “Awkward,” Jer squeaked out.

  “Do you know him?” Aren asked Jer.

  “No, but that does not mean I cannot find the situation awkward and yet somehow amusing all at the same time,” Jer grumbled back. “We will have to do a full investigation into the matter. I will relieve Av as the master of coin’s aide, as I have a better head for numbers. We might be able to resolve this matter more quickly with someone who can think as fast as the master.”

  “I have my uses,” Av growled.

  “Your use is in any area besides numbers,” Jer said. “Calm yourself, brother, this is neither the time nor the place to be starting an argument.”

  “Why not?” one of the lords asked bitterly. “It’s not like she’ll shut off his lights.”

  Av frowned at the lord, then looked to Aren for an answer. She obliged by making the throne room and only the throne room. The servants would attest to the fact that Aren had control across the whole of the palace. They would then attest to the fact that the last time the lights went out, it had only happened in one place, demonstrating her control.

  When the lights came back up, Av looked puzzled.

  “I need to speak to one of you,” he said gruffly to her and Jer.

  “Are there any matters that need seeing to?” she asked the court, who were all deathly afraid of bringing forward their petitions. They would think twice about calling court for some silly matter.

  “Court is dismissed,” Jer said loudly, clapping his hands once.

  Lords and ladies began filing out as Av approached the throne. Aren stood with Jer to her back. She was to trust the man with her life and so this did not count as being alone with a man, she supposed. She couldn’t help but feel a bit uncomfortable to be alone with the two brothers in the throne room.

  Av waited until the last person left the room, then sighed loudly.

  “The lights stayed on wherever I was in the palace, if you did your little demonstration all over,” he said.

  Aren felt a cold rush over her. She turned to Jer, who was staring at Av as if he had grown another head. With little else to go on, she could only assume that no one could be exempt from such a use of magic, which made sense. If she had commanded all the lights go off, why had the ones around Av stayed on?

  “Can’t have you tripping over things in the dark,” she said quickly. “Wouldn’t want the lights to come back on and you be bloodied from a fall. If you will excuse me, I have to meet with two queens who will very shortly be screaming and wanting to see my blood. I’d rather get it over with before dinner.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Url happened to be in the training yard when Mar and Perlon arrived at court. He had wanted to see Aren after court had been dismissed but the queen had walked right past him to his mother, commanding her to attend. Commanding another queen to attend was unheard of. His mother had been rankled, but they were at court to broker a treaty between palace lands and the North.

  No need to upset the one who sat the throne when they wanted to retain some bit of their independence. When they still wanted Url to sit as high lord of the North.

  When Url had heard that Telm had received a similar command, he began to worry.

  When he had casually asked his uncle why Aren might demand two queens come see her, the man had babbled excuses and rushed away.

  Url knew that he could not simply walk to Aren’s rooms and beg an audience, as that was not how the palace did things. It certainly wasn’t how his mother would do things.

  However, Mar would want to visit Aren immediately, to make certain her friend was safe. It would be unsafe for her to go alone and very unsafe for her to take Perlon with her, given the fact that Aren had two other queens locked in her rooms. As a cousin, and one with rank, Url could offer his services and fill Mar in on the details of the court session she had missed.

  Approaching the stables slowly, he noted the way Perlon placed himself between Url and Mar, and the way the once bold que
en seemed to hide behind her mate.

  If Mar had stepped away from Perlon in that moment, instead of towards him, Url would have put a blade through the man’s gut.

  “Just me,” he said calmly. “No threat to Mar—in fact I came to offer an escort to Lady Aren’s rooms.”

  “What happened?” Mar demanded, still behind her mate.

  “She has Telm and my mother locked up in her rooms. She’s also learned how to put out the lights across the palace and stop water from running. But my main concern is my mother and Telm being locked up. The two have never met before.”

  “Oh dear, I had best go,” Mar said, moving around Perlon.

  Her belly was rounded, not a great deal, but enough to be noticeable. Url glanced once and leashed his jealousy, as always happened when a relative announced they were expecting. In that moment he realized that taking Mar to the rooms was just as dangerous as going alone, but he couldn’t back out after saying what he had said. One of her rank wouldn’t allow him to simply walk away without her just because she happened to be pregnant.

  Url took in a breath, steeled himself for what he was about to do, and offered Mar his arm. She glared at it vehemently, but took it nonetheless.

  “Perlon says I’m delicate,” Mar declared loudly as they walked away from her mate.

  He glanced back at the desperate-looking man. Commoner or warrior, a man who watched his expecting mate walk away on the arm of another was not going to react well. He’d have to have a conversation, with Perlon later about how far he could push the bounds of the commoner-to-rank relationship when his mate was involved.

  “I would not necessarily say delicate,” Url said in response, trying not to sound strangled.

  “But you wouldn’t suggest I go horseback riding, or use magic, or a hundred other things that can happen in day-to-day life, now would you?” Mar demanded.

  “To be fair, magic use can cause you to lose the child,” he said quietly. “I would strongly suggest against it, unless your life depends on it.”

  “I know that,” she said desperately. “I just wanted to go for a ride tomorrow, is all, but he thinks consumption will take me if I walk out of our rooms.”

  “It’s not very wet this year,” he said as he led her into the palace and towards the queen’s rooms. “I don’t think consumption will arrive at the palace.”

  Mar relaxed. “You should tell him that.”

  Perlon was obviously not the only one concerned. Url happened to pass his father in the hallway and made desperate eye contact. He needed help, someone to distract Mar so that he could slip away without looking like a fool or starting a fight with a pregnant woman. His father, however, was caught in thought. Even though they made eye contact, Er did not seem to see Url.

  Url muttered a curse under his breath.

  “What was that?” Mar asked.

  “Nothing, just…” He struggled for a moment. “Have you any idea why she would call those two?”

  “Not unless they both had something to do with where Aren went for the winter,” Mar said.

  He almost stopped, but forced himself to keep going. The result was that he tripped over his own toes and stumbled forward, almost taking Mar to the floor with him.

  “My mother had nothing to do with that,” Url said.

  “I received a missive mid-winter from Laeder—is he still at court?—Anyhow, I received a missive from him stating that Aren went to the Northwest. Perhaps your mother knows something of where she went. At the same time Laeder did seem to say that something had happened to Telm. Perhaps she is ill. Perhaps Aren wants your mother’s help finding a replacement for Telm and the two together are speaking to her about it. Telm never takes that sort of information well. My mother once tried and Telm damned near took her head off and somehow scared the poor apprentice off after a week of service.”

  “I don’t think that would be the reason for this visit. She commanded my mother attend,” he said quietly. “No one has ever commanded my mother do anything except for her mother. My grandmother has tried, but it never quite worked out how she planned.”

  “Aren doesn’t command people attend,” Mar said.

  “Exactly my point. She returned from her venturing much changed. Which has been all well and good, but I’ve never heard of one queen commanding another.”

  “Voice and all?” Mar asked.

  “Yes, every word as well, not just one or two like she does when she’s trying to be stern but isn’t quite managing it.”

  “Oh dear,” she said.

  The pair of them rounded the corner to the queen’s rooms and found Wena standing sheepishly outside the door. The handmaid spotted them and made a shooing motion before she frowned. Neither rank moved, causing Wena to make the motion once more.

  “Lord Url,” Mar growled out.

  “Yes, Lady Mar?” he asked.

  “I’m about to do something that you are not to mention to my mate,” she said hastily.

  “What’s that?”

  Mar collapsed to the floor, limp as could be. Url blinked down at her. Concern and then annoyance flowed through him. She did that far too well to have not done it before to some poor, unsuspecting soul. He picked her up with all due care and walked towards the closest room—the queen’s rooms. Wena stared at him wide-eyed and tried to protest as he walked into the room.

  He took a moment to wonder how the door had opened, only to notice Aren was on the other side, holding it for them. She frowned at him as he walked past with Mar in his arms. He resolutely ignored the murky feeling in the room, the emotion thrumming through the air. He refused to look towards the fireplace, where he knew his mother was.

  If he did that, he might lose his courage and bolt from the room.

  “She collapsed, and I think she may need a healer,” he said to Aren, going straight for the bed.

  “She didn’t collapse,” Aren snapped. “I’ve seen her do that before. Pulling such a move to get into my rooms is ridiculous at best.”

  Url set Mar down carefully. If she were in any other condition he would have dropped her on the floor.

  He turned to Aren, who simply stared back at him, seemingly not annoyed or frustrated, or even the least bit angry that he had walked into her rooms. She was only calm and awaiting an explanation.

  He dared glance to the hearth, where his mother and Telm sat with their backs to the door, stubbornly silent. Neither looked over, which meant that his mother, at the very least, was upset and feeling fragile about something. Normally he could tell the mood of the room by the emotions that nagged at him, but the best he could describe them was murky, still. By that point he should have known who was feeling what, and just how strong the emotion was. Especially with queens.

  Especially with his mother.

  “What’s going on…?” he asked.

  “It is a matter for me and them—not you. Get out.”

  Aren jabbed her hand towards the door and he almost went. His feet tried to move ahead of him. He gritted his teeth, willing his body to obey his commands, not Aren’s.

  “But Lady Mar…”

  “...Can stay here. I may have a need of her, but you are to leave immediately. I will come speak to you shortly about your stupidity.”

  “But Lady Mar’s—”

  “Get out, Url!” Aren and his mother shouted at the same time.

  “Fine, I’m going,” he protested, but only because his mother used that tone, which meant she’d bend him over her knee if he didn’t obey. He was willing to try Aren’s temper, but he was far too familiar with his mother’s to attempt to remain in the room after hearing that tone of voice.

  He left the rooms, the door was firmly slammed behind him and Wena folded her arms and gave him a look.

  “Obviously it’s not a female-only thing, because you’re out here,” he muttered.

  “I was given the option of staying. I chose to leave, since it seemed safer,” Wena said with a head nod. “Now you get to go explain to the men tha
t you might have made things worse. I gave your father and uncle the warning along with Jer and Av, just in case, but the high lord of the North was not included on the list of those to be told about this conversation.”

  “Why not? That’s my mother in there.”

  “We are not always privy to the trials our parents must go through when we are not around,” she said calmly. “At least that’s what Danya told me to tell you, if you came snooping about because her mother was involved.”

  “You even warned Danya?” he asked.

  And then he realized Wena had said ‘her mother’ not ‘your mother,’ but he wasn’t certain he wanted the answer to the question that raised. His mother had always been vague about her time on palace grounds, but Danya was far too young to be his mother’s child. He had a sister almost her exact age.

  Telm, well, she was too old to have had Danya.

  Wasn’t she?

  “It was my understanding that whatever happened to her village happened because of Telm and that it may have inadvertently involved your mother, so yes, I updated the woman on the throne’s investigation. She asked if you were involved and I told her that you were related to one of the queens being called.”

  “Maybe if I was told what was going on, I wouldn’t have had to go in there to try to find out,” he snarled.

  “Maybe if you announced to court and family that you’ve claimed her, she wouldn’t boot you out the door every time your hackles were raised.”

  “No,” he said, jabbing a finger at the handmaid. “No, Av only knows of one kind of claiming. If he thinks I have any claim on her, he’ll tear me to bits.”

  “He’s going to have to learn to share her somehow. Better now with someone who can stand his ground rather than later with his own sons.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Mar slid off the bed as Aren slammed the door, and approached her friend from behind. When Aren turned to her, Mar almost saw the differences. Something had changed, but Aren was still Aren. It might have simply been that the men were starting to see the woman that Mar had spent time with the previous year. She was no longer terrified of being discovered and had less and less reason to hide what she believed. They were in shock, was all.