Winterkeep

by Kristin Cashore

  “Yes. I was diving for the Seashell. You know the Seashell?”

  “Yes, but how did you know about it?”

  “I saw a strange thing at sea, through a glass, the very same day the Seashell disappeared,” he said. “An airship lifting people out of a lifeboat.”

  “Is that so strange?” said Lovisa. “It sounds like a rescue.”

  “The last person who left the lifeboat took an ax to its bottom,” said Katu.

  “Oh,” said Lovisa, her heart sinking.

  “Then the airship passed close by me,” Katu said. “I heard snatches of conversation in Kamassarian and I thought to myself, This is a Kamassarian mystery. They saw me. I tried to turn my craft so they couldn’t read her name and figure out who I was. But then the balloon shifted in the light. I recognized it.”

  “It was my airship,” said Lovisa.

  “Well, your parents’ airship,” Katu said with a small smile. “I certainly didn’t think to myself, That Lovisa is up to something.”

  “My father.”

  “Or your mother,” he said grimly.

  “Your own sister?”

  “My sister presumably trapped me in our childhood prison,” he said, “alone, for months. Recently, they started feeding me more, and giving me my favorite candy.”

  “Your favorite candy!”

  “Samklavi,” he said.

  “Samklavi!” said Lovisa, who heard herself repeating things stupidly but couldn’t help it. A few weeks ago, she’d watched her furious mother hand her father a wallet of samklavi. “I think my mother sent you the samklavi, via my father!”

  “Well,” Katu said, with a noise like a snort. “Despite that act of magnanimity, I can’t say I’m moved by ties of sibling loyalty just now.”

  “My mother is dead,” said Lovisa.

  Katu went still, all the light fading from his eyes. He tucked his chin to his chest, put his hands into the pockets of Lovisa’s coat. Then, to his own patent amazement, he extracted his ruby ring. “What on earth?” he cried.

  Suddenly Nev shouted at Lovisa to return to the sheet rope to haul Hava up. “I’ll be a minute, Katu,” she said. But once Hava was back on solid ground, she had to help with Giddon. By the time Lovisa returned to Katu, he’d curled himself into a shivering ball. When she touched his shoulder, he recoiled.

  “Quick,” she cried, alarmed at the transformation. “He’s ill!”

  Davvi, Liv the cook, and Ella the maid came running, Davvi lifting Katu into his arms like a child, carrying him toward the house. Behind them, Nev and Roni the housekeeper supported Hava between them, headed in the same direction. Giddon and the queen followed, so Lovisa tagged along too, alone, cold. Liv and Ella were in quite a state about Katu. They kept exclaiming their wonderment, unable to believe what had happened to him. When a guard came stumbling out of the barn, clearly dizzy and concussed, Liv turned on him, shrieking vitriol, accusing him of having known, of having perpetuated an outrage against the Cavenda family. Tears were practically flying from her face. Lovisa watched her with a kind of fascination, wondering what would happen if she started screaming and crying, flinging tears around at the outrage of it all. Would it make her feel different? More certain of what was true?

  She’d thrown an egg and killed Linta Massera and two guards. That was true. She didn’t want to think about it.

  Giddon went into the barn, came out with horse tackle, and began binding the hands and feet of the guards, whose bodies, in various states of consciousness, seemed scattered across the grounds and house. Everyone else gathered in the sitting room, where Nev began to give orders about how to tend to Katu and Hava. Nev, an animal doctor, probably knew what she was doing. Maybe a human was like a tiny, upright, small-nosed, hairless horse?

  Lovisa heard herself having these thoughts and tried to focus. Her body hurt, so much. The explosion had thrown her, then the crater had opened and she’d felt herself sliding, caught that pillar, clung to it forever, expecting at every moment for it to break off and plummet into the hole, bringing her with it. All the muscles in her arms and hands ached, her entire body felt like a giant bruise, and her ears were ringing. Her mouth tasted like blood.

  Katu lay on a sofa near the big sitting room windows, shivering, but lucid. So Lovisa stood beside him, holding his hand. He’d put his ring back on. It slid back and forth on his skinny thumb. Lovisa tried to imagine refusing food to one of her own brothers. She couldn’t. It was unimaginable.

  Hava, on a sofa nearby, seemed in good spirits. Probably because Nev had told her she wasn’t going to lose her foot. “Your ankle is broken,” Nev said, “and so, I think, is one of your ribs,” and Hava laughed, a strange laugh that turned into a high note of pain, but a laugh, nonetheless.

  With small gasps, Hava told the story of how Lovisa had thrown the explosive egg. “You saved my life, Lovisa,” she said flatly, and then everyone was looking at Lovisa, who didn’t want the attention.

  “I killed Linta Massera and two guards,” she said.

  “I’m the one who pulled the pin,” said Hava. “I almost killed you.” Then she went on to describe how Giddon had lifted the ladder away from her foot. “I was briefly confused when he started stripping,” she said.

  “He didn’t strip for me,” Katu mused, sounding hurt. The queen’s giggles rang out like bells, then Bitterblue left Hava’s side for a moment, coming to Katu. She leaned down and kissed his forehead.

  “Welcome back, Katu,” Bitterblue said quietly.

  “I’ve never been gladder to see you,” Katu said, giving her the gift of his warmest smile, which made Lovisa’s heart hurt. When he did that, he looked like himself, and grief flooded her for all that had happened to him.

  Bitterblue returned to Hava.

  “The queen looks thin,” said Katu. “Has she been ill?”

  “It’s a long story,” said Lovisa.

  “Is she all right?”

  “She’s high on rauha just now, but yes, she’s fine. Wonderful, really,” said Lovisa, with that familiar burst of resentment. “She’s in love with Giddon. They’re disgusting together.”

  Katu closed his eyes. He seemed to shrink, becoming distant and subdued. Every time he cut himself off like that, he left her alone with these foreigners who kept breaking into rapid Lingian when they spoke to one another, straining her tired mind.

  “When I was in my attic prison,” Bitterblue was saying, “I couldn’t fathom why Estill would ally with Winterkeep in a war against Monsea, and why Estill would think they could win. Now we know. Benni Cavenda was going to sell them this weapon.”

  “Remember, in the beginning,” said Hava, “Mikka wanted to tell you something about zilfium?”

  Bitterblue’s voice, when she responded, was terribly sad. “He wanted to tell me about this zilfium weapon. He wanted to warn me of how the world had changed.”

  “Lovisa,” came Katu’s voice again. “What does the queen mean by her ‘attic prison’?”

  Lovisa could not bear the burden of explaining these things to Katu. He was her uncle. He was the one who was supposed to explain the world to her. He was supposed to say, “I’m going to take care of you and your brothers now. It’s all over, Lovisa. You’re safe.”

  “Let me explain it to you later, Katu,” she said, “please?”

  “Lovisa?” he said. “Are you all right? You’re all scratched up. What happened to you?”

  Through the window, she caught sight of a dot in the sky, moving steadily between the trees. It took shape—balloon above, sails in the middle, car below. It was an airship, coming from the south. It was losing altitude, as if headed for the Cavenda house.

  Lovisa dropped Katu’s hand, stepped closer to the glass. She knew all the airships of the important Ledra families. This one was deep blue, covered with gold stars, which made it the Tima family airship. The Timas
were Industrialists, friends of her father.

  From Hava’s sofa, Nev said, “Lovisa? What’s wrong?”

  Lovisa left the room, heading upstairs to the roof.

  * * *

  —

  On the roof, the wind gusted, sending her sideways.

  The airship hovered, buffeted to and fro, having some trouble docking, because no one was present to feed it a dock line. Lovisa knew she could come forward to help, but she didn’t. There were two flyers. She squinted against the light, unable to make them out, but unsurprised when the ladder lowered and the person stepping down resolved into her father.

  He was supposed to be in jail, but of course nothing happened as it was supposed to. Pushing her mucky mind back, she realized that the head magistrate’s visit to Bitterblue had been only yesterday. Benni had probably left Ledra in a borrowed airship before the magistrate had ever returned.

  When Benni spotted Lovisa, his footsteps faltered. She saw the surprise in his expression, and also a kind of relief. Then he found a careful mask, one she recognized. It was his Disappointed Father face.

  “My darling!” he said. “I can’t express how happy I am to see you. But what happened? You’re a mess!”

  “Don’t come any closer!” said Lovisa.

  “Darling!” said her father, continuing to move toward her. “What can you mean by that? Aren’t you glad to see me?”

  “We found the eggs!” she said.

  He laughed. “Eggs, darling?”

  “We found Katu!”

  “Ah,” he said, pausing in his advance, a flicker of uncertainty crossing his face. Then he stepped toward her again, so that Lovisa began to step back.

  “Your mother is dead, Lovisa,” he said. “Her tyranny is over. I can finally start to make amends.”

  “Amends!” cried Lovisa, alarm shifting into confusion. “What amends?”

  “I’m so sorry,” he said. “I never wanted any of this. You understand how it is to be under your mother’s power, don’t you? I came here to release Katu, now that your mother is dead. She can’t hurt us anymore.”

  Lovisa wanted to believe the words he was saying. But she’d heard them fighting. She’d heard her mother accuse her father of doing something to Katu. She’d seen him carrying Pari’s body.

  Her back came up against the railing that made the roof’s perimeter. “You’re trying to trick me,” she said.

  “I can’t believe you would think that of your father,” he said, stepping forward and reaching for her arm.

  A voice came sharply behind him. “Lovisa!”

  Benni spun around.

  “Lovisa?” said the Queen of Monsea, climbing through the trapdoor and starting toward them in Ferla’s coat. Tiny, swaying, wincing at the wind. “What are you doing up here? Who is that?”

  “It’s my father,” said Lovisa in utter confusion. “Don’t you recognize him?”

  “We never had the pleasure, not while I was conscious, anyway. Why aren’t you in jail?” said Bitterblue, marching right up to Benni with no fear in her big, intoxicated eyes.

  “Bitterblue,” cried Lovisa. “Don’t trust him.”

  “Of course I don’t trust him,” she said. “You’re on the run, aren’t you, Benni Cavenda? You came to see Katu killed, and to collect your weapons.”

  “Queen Bitterblue!” said Benni. “We finally meet!”

  “Are you kidding me?” said Bitterblue.

  “I’m here to make amends for the wrongs of my wife!” he said.

  “Oh, please,” said Bitterblue, rolling her eyes. “You know, I’ve had just about enough today. Lovisa, go downstairs. I’ll deal with this kitten-head.”

  “Lovisa?” said Benni. “Is this really the Queen of Monsea? She seems a bit unhinged.”

  “I am unhinged!” said Bitterblue. “You took my hinges!”

  Then Benni grabbed at Bitterblue and everything happened at once. The queen whipped a knife out of nowhere and stabbed Benni right through the hand he was grabbing her with. As Benni howled, the queen kneed him in the crotch, once, twice. As Benni began to fold, behind them, Giddon emerged through the trapdoor, Davvi behind him. “Bitterblue?” Giddon said, glancing around, squinting. “Where did you go?”

  Benni struggled up, yelling some indiscernible command across the roof, to the flyer in the airship. Lovisa suddenly recognized the flyer—it was that same guard, the woman who’d motioned to Lovisa to flee from the house, the sister of the one Lovisa had seduced. The guard began running from tiller to lines, preparing the airship for departure.

  Benni stumbled toward the airship, but Giddon and Davvi came forward, intercepting him easily. Lovisa heard a terrible crack and knew it was a fist in her father’s face. Benni fell.

  “Bullies!” Lovisa cried, rushing toward them. “Bullies! All of you, against one of him!” With a massive shove, she knocked Giddon away from her father. She dropped beside Benni, cradling his bleeding face in her hands. “Papa,” she cried. “I’m sorry. Papa, I’m sorry.”

  He spoke to her through a broken mouth. He was weeping, tears making messy tracks down his bloody face. “My daughter,” he said. “I’m sorry too.”

  Even that was a lie; she could tell it was a lie. How could he murder people, then say he was sorry? She didn’t want his lies. She wanted forgiveness for her crimes.

  Through the sound of her own sobbing, Lovisa heard the distinctive hiss of a varane tank. Glancing up at the airship, she saw the guard staring at Benni, who was crumpled on the ground. The guard looked once at Lovisa. Then, producing a blade, she cut her tether.

  With a swing of the boom, the guard caught the wind and headed north toward Kamassar.

  * * *

  —

  The journey back to Nev’s house was horrible.

  Benni wouldn’t stop talking, and his words were always directed at her. Lovisa, exhausted, heartbroken, alone, was engaged in a battle inside herself, a battle to keep hold of reality.

  “I never wanted any of this to happen.”

  “Your mother threatened to hurt you and your brothers if I didn’t obey her.”

  “We can have a life together now. The courts will understand. We’ve lost a lot, but we’ll have enough for the five of us.”

  The queen, who stayed near Lovisa, told her that they could gag him if it would help, but Lovisa couldn’t give the order to gag her own father, especially not when his mouth was broken and bleeding like that.

  Finally, she cried out to him. “Why do you have to make this worse for me? Isn’t it bad enough already?”

  He perked up at her response, eagerness surging in his voice. “But, Lovisa! I’m trying to make it better! Don’t you see? We can be free of all this now!”

  “I heard you,” Lovisa said. “I heard your conversations with Mother. I know you’re the one who kidnapped the queen. I know you killed Pari, not Mother. I know she didn’t want any of that. I know you drowned the men on the Seashell! I know you trapped Katu in that cave, with that horrible scientist building explosive weapons above him!”

  Benni sat with that for a while, in an injured sort of silence. The evening grew darker, and colder, as they sailed; Lovisa was grateful to be unable to see his face. But he could put so much into his voice. He’d always had that power. She supposed he was a consummate actor.

  “That really hurts,” he finally said. “You can’t imagine how it hurts to hear those words from you, Lovisa. I’m your father. Are you forgetting everything I’ve done for you?”

  She heard low, sharp voices telling Benni to shut his mouth, and became terrified that someone would hit him again. Finally, in desperation, she leaned herself against the queen. She let Bitterblue wrap her small, strong arms around her own shivering form. She let Bitterblue rub her back while she wept.

  “I’ll be held liable for the Gravla house, you kn
ow,” Benni said, in a new voice. A voice of reproach, for a bad daughter. “And their airship, which is even more expensive. Probably the Tima airship as well.”

  “Let us gag him, Lovisa,” Bitterblue begged, close to her ear. “Don’t let him do this to you. He’s bullying you!”

  “I can’t,” she whispered, crying harder.

  “It’s absurd to imply that anyone drowned those men in the Seashell,” Benni added, in a voice that contained both reproach and a kind of fatherly chiding, for a daughter who was being silly. “There’s been nothing to suggest that. Not a jot of evidence.”

  “I’m going to tell you all about the Royal Continent,” said Bitterblue in her ear. “More than you ever wanted to know. I’ll tell you about every Graceling I’ve ever met. Okay?”

  “Okay,” said Lovisa.

  “You’re worthy of love, Lovisa,” said the queen, whose voice was close enough to drown out Benni’s voice, which had risen again. “You’re stronger than the way he’s making you feel.”

  “I’m not,” she cried.

  “Of course you are,” said the queen. “Haven’t you figured out that Hava would be dead if it weren’t for your quick thinking? That we couldn’t have rescued Katu or Hava without your knowledge of the cave? Don’t you remember that you saved my life?”

  * * *

  —

  To the sound of the queen’s chatter, Lovisa finally fell asleep.

  When the boat reached land, she woke to the feeling of being carried. She cried out, needing to know where her father was.

  “Our magistrate took him into custody,” a gruff voice said. She could feel the voice vibrating right through her body. It came from Davvi, who was carrying her against his chest, like a child. “He’s on his way to the Ledra Magistry now.”

  Lovisa thought of her father being pulled away from her, dragged across the sky, all the way to Ledra. She thought of her mother, dead. Katu had stayed behind at the house with the house staff, who were going to care for him, and keep the guards bound until the Magistry could come for them. “Where are my brothers?” she asked. “Who’s taking care of my brothers?”