The Salamander Prince

by S R Nulton

  I smiled softly and patted the bed beside me, waiting ‘til he had sat down to answer.

  “She says that I’m healthy and so are the babies.”

  He smiled and relaxed. “Oh good, I was worried for a minute there– did you say babies? As in more than one?”

  I nodded. “Yep. Thyme is pregnant with one child and we are having twins.”

  Until that moment, I’d never seen a man smile so much. His grin was enormous and he pulled me into a tight hug, causing the babies to kick.

  “That’s fantastic! I knew that one of us would have twins, but our family has never had two brides pregnant at the same time. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen.”

  I patted his arm. “Yes, well, we have more important things to worry about than them being twins.”

  He frowned. “Like what?”

  “Like them being sorcerers.”

  “Wait, what!!!”

  ~

  Mallie and Briar Rose stayed for another week before disappearing one morning. That was always how it went with Mallie. She was there until she wasn’t. Luckily, she didn’t leave before giving me a concealment charm that would allow me to stretch my magic some without giving ourselves away. Her time aboard had also given Briar plenty of time to question Yew about his duties and begin learning to spar. The girl knew her forms, but she’d never had the opportunity to practice against a living being. Both her guardians were very solitary, private people and visitors were regarded as a menace.

  They were there long enough to put the brother’s minds at ease about the babies, all three of them. It was a good thing, because we left our boat less and less as the months progressed. Things were getting too dangerous to try and head for a healer, even with my new concealment charm in place.

  As the winter solstice grew closer, the Prince Regent began pulling his men in. Meetings were too dangerous with guards wandering the streets day and night. Crime was at an all time low, but paranoia was rampant on the streets. Many of the merchants who normally wintered in Wrigestrin decided that they should head downriver to Porttown. It wasn’t normally popular, but no one was buying anything except the essentials.

  Thyme and I still set things up every day and waited there on the dock, but it was pretty useless, as no one purchased anything. Most of the stall keepers were beginning to worry about making enough to survive the winter. It wasn’t a good state for the country.

  Three days into December, a drunken soldier meandered down the dock. He swerved between the miniscule crowds looking for someone named ‘Jessie’. When he thought he saw Jessie, he began to run, tripped over his feet and crashed into our stall, breaking almost every pot on display.

  “Sssssorry ladiesss. I thought you were Jessie!” He started laughing before getting up and wandering off, leaving us with a giant mess and no more product to sell for the day.

  Oh, and a note. Collins had been sure to drop it while giving us an excuse to shut things down and move on. It read: Time to move. They need help in the kitchen.

  “Looks like we’re changing professions,” I told Thyme.

  Chapter 14: Paaarty!

  “You want to work here? At the palace? While seven months pregnant?” The steward stared at us in horror. “I-I don’t think that would be wise.”

  “Please. A drunk broke all of our goods at the market and it’s too cold to make more. Our husbands are doing the best that they can, but we need to make money so we can eat,” I told him, tears in my eyes. They were real, mostly because I was incredibly upset that we might not manage to get into the castle and it would ruin some of the carefully laid plans.

  The steward eyed us once more before sighing. “Alright. You can help with the extra cleaning necessary before the winter solstice. We have a lot of guests coming in for the coronation and it wouldn’t do to have a messy castle, but the current staff can’t handle it.”

  “Oi, Geoff! What’s this then?” demanded a large man in a white apron as he burst through the door. He reminded me of a blacksmith, what with his muscular build and massive arms, but he had flour instead of soot streaking his face. “This order is completely wrong! What, you throw out my list and choose things at random?”

  The steward, Geoff rolled his eyes. “Of course not, Tom. What happened now?”

  Tom glared. “We got the same order as last week. We don’t need that, we need the new list I gave you. Get it through that thick scull ‘o yours! Don’t be changin’ the orders!”

  Geoff glared back. “As if I don’t have enough to take care of… do you have any idea how many lists I’ve been handed in the past week? Over fifty! Fifty lists of orders! And half the suppliers decided to leave the area. Now, did you put a date on it, like I asked? Because if neither of them had dates, then I can’t be held responsible for mixing up the orders, now can I?”

  The chef, for that had to be what he was, looked about ready to froth at the mouth. “I been puttin’ dates on my orders since you first asked us to. I can’t be held responsible if you don’t actually look for the date before placin’ the orders. And where are my extra servers and kitchen helpers, eh? I told you time and time again that we need help.”

  The steward smirked. “Right here. You get these two ladies for the kitchen. They’ll be perfect helping you prepare for the coronation ball.”

  Tom turned to look at us, eyeing our bellies with askance. “Fine. I’ll take ‘em and fire ‘em if they mess up. And then you’ll have to find real kitchen maids for me. Come on!” he grunted and gestured for Thyme and me to follow him. As soon as we stepped out, the door slammed behind us.

  We followed our new employer to the kitchen where he gestured for us to sit at the island in the middle of the massive space.

  “Sorry ‘bout that. No disrespect ladies, but you two look like you shouldn’t be on your feet too much right now.” He moved around the room a bit before setting some cups of water in front of us. “Now, I recognize you two from that crockery stall at the market. Not makin’ enough?”

  Thyme shook her head. “Someone stumbled in and broke everything. We need the money until our husbands can find work.”

  Tom eyed us once more and nodded. “Shame, that. Alright, how good are you at cookin’? Because with the number of guests showing up in the next three weeks, I’ll be needin’ a lot of help with prepping the food. That can be done while sittin’, so you won’t have to be doin’ too much.”

  He handed us a bag of potatoes and had us start peeling, then demonstrate that we could cut them in any way that he desired. After that we were left alone.

  As we settled in some chairs in the corner of the kitchen, Thyme and I smiled at one another. Our plan had worked!

  When Collins had destroyed our pots, we were given the perfect excuse to move away from the market to a less popular dock and seek out new jobs. It wasn’t easy to even get an interview with the steward, being obviously pregnant. Most servants were single and it was considered gauche to be a pregnant woman working outside the home. Added to that, we were strangers with foreign sounding accents and they didn’t know if we were lying about having husbands or not. I’d been worried when we were almost shunted off on the cleaning staff, but things had worked out in the end.

  The castle chef was taking quite a chance allowing us to work for him, though. We both knew we’d need to make a good impression to be kept on. It was the best place to gather more information, though. Just like most homes, the kitchen was the heart of the castle. Servants would come in for meals, water, or just to escape a capricious noble and chat with everyone about what was happening around the keep.

  “They’re having me set up the blue suite for the prince of Mindep. He’s due to arrive next week, but the place is a mess! I don’t know whose job it was to clean it last rotation, but they need to be whipped!” complained a very tired and dusty maid one afternoon. “I just hope I can get it done in time!”

  “At least you don’t have the gold suite with me,” parried another woman. “The king of Cr
echel requires everything to shine perfectly and the gilding shows every tiny speck of dust. I clean it, finish, and then realized that I have to start all over again. And he demands his sheets be made of gold silk. Gold silk! Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep that clean and wrinkle free?”

  The Prince Regent was also discussed heavily.

  “Has the seamstress working on his own coronation clothes,” reported the man’s valet as he drank a cup of coffee while the Regent was in a secret meeting with the council. “Even fancier than the princes’ will be. It’s like he expects them to stay gone and that he’ll be taking the crown instead.”

  One of the cooks shushed him quickly as someone new walked in and the man escaped shortly after.

  All the while, Thyme and I listened carefully and spoke little, disappearing into the background and being forgotten. Things were moving smoothly.

  ~

  “Wake up, love. It’s time to go,” Jeshu said, nuzzling my neck. I groaned and tried to move away from his beard as it tickled my sensitive skin.

  “Don’t want to.”

  His rumbling laugh echoed through me and made me smile.

  The weeks had passed quickly and it was almost time to make our move. The ball was that evening and Thyme and I were due at the palace before the sun rose. This time, our husbands would accompany us.

  “Come on, love. The sooner you get up, the sooner this can all be done.”

  I rolled to my back and blinked up at him. “It’s all going to be different. I don’t know if I want it to change. I like living here with all of you and hiding from the world. I don’t want the world to make us look at each other differently.”

  He rubbed his nose against mine before kissing me gently. “Then don’t let it. Choose to trust and choose to love, even when life changes us. Choose us.” Jeshu kissed me once more before pulling me out of bed and helping me get ready. It was becoming necessary to have help, considering I couldn’t see my feet anymore. Thyme still could, but she wasn’t carrying twins.

  I’d grown steadily over the past few months and was enormous. It was a very good thing that we were both able to heal ourselves to some extent, because I doubt I would have been able to move otherwise. Jeshu was a saint, giving back and foot rubs every night as we lay in bed together. He made sure I never felt fat, always showing absolute joy at the lives I was growing and making me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world. And the past few months had soothed my fears about becoming like my mother. Jeshu made sure of that.

  He also made certain to keep his promise and every night before we fell asleep, he would tell me one thing about himself and I would do the same. Sometimes it was his favorite season or favorite drink. Other times it was his worst day or the best memory he had of his parents. I always reciprocated and the gap that had grown between us was slowly shrinking.

  Jeshu kissed me once more as he finished putting my shoes on, breaking me out of my wayward thoughts. It was time to go.

  Before long, the four of us were standing at the kitchen door of the castle, saying our goodbyes. Yew, meanwhile, was hidden somewhere out of sight and would remain so, carefully keeping track of the princes until the plan was complete.

  “Have a good day, love. We’ll see you soon,” he said, hugging me gently while our children kicked like they were part donkey.

  “Stay safe,” I whispered back.

  He nodded and then disappeared with Stone right beside him. Thyme and I straightened our backs (mostly to stretch out some of the kinks from walking all that way with a lot of weight pulling us forward) and hurried into the kitchen.

  Tom looked us over and nodded. “Those your husbands then? Strong lookin’. They’ll find work soon.”

  I nodded at him silently before starting on my work. Tom was a blustery man, but very kind. He protected Thyme and me from unkind words and unwanted attention early on and ever since then had watched over us like a hawk. I just hoped that his diligence didn’t cause any problems for us.

  The palace buzzed all day like a hive attacked by a bear. Servants ran from one place to the other in a tizzy, all worried that they wouldn’t finish their work in time and it would be taken out of their hide. The rooms were dusted in a frenzy of swipes, furniture polished ‘til it glowed and every available hand was used to put up more decorations in the ballroom.

  The kitchen was even more hectic. The number of guests had spiraled out of control and that meant the amount of food required to feed them all was outrageous. Thyme and I sat peeling potato after potato until we thought our fingers would fall off. The kitchen staff had been lucky enough to finish the various deserts the day before and they were being stored in a basement room that had been enchanted to keep food cold. The room had a good design, but needed some updates to be truly effective. I’d actually used the same design to improve my own cold room on my ship. Mallie’s charm meant I could safely use magic again, so I had been busy while not in the kitchen.

  While we worked steadily, I knew the boys were sneaking into the castle. The plan was simple, really. They would sneak in, hide in their rooms, turn back into men and sneak into the party to take their rightful places. Well, there was a bit more to it then that, but I was trying not to think too hard about it. It would make me nervous and stress wasn’t good for the babies.

  The kitchen staff continued to complain about all the extra guests attending. Thyme and I knew that the reason there were so many more was because as many men as the boys could find that were loyal were going to be sprinkled in the crowd. They were backup in case the Prince Regent attempted to cause problems. No one believed that he’d just give up when the boys showed. At this point, if he backed down he’d be killed for treason against the crown. He hadn’t left himself any options. He’d painted himself into a corner, throwing so much into this particular plan that there was no real coming back from it. Everyone would know that he had attempted to steal the throne and none of the other countries would trust him, much less the average citizen. They didn’t like him much anyway. The Prince Regent was well known to be half-mad and brutal to any who crossed him, making the commoners very nervous at the prospect of him taking the throne.

  The day progressed and everyone became more and more nervous. It made sense that my sister-in-law and I would be, but everyone else was acting oddly. It was the whispered conversations about the still missing princes that clued me in. The servants were afraid the Regent would win. Still, I decided to play the ignorant foreigner.

  “Tom,” I asked when he came over to give us some lunch. “Why is everyone so edgy? You must be used to events like this, but everyone looks like they’re about to be condemned to death.”

  He looked around the room consideringly. “The new king is supposed to be crowned tonight. I expect everyone is worried that the princes won’t show up. And, the Regent is not known to be a kind man. If he dislikes someone, they may very well hang in the morning.” With those cheery words left hanging in the air, he headed off to get back to work.

  I drew in a big breath and sighed.

  Only four more hours until the ball.

  ~

  “What do you mean Elissa and Karen are missing? They were just here getting more appetizers! How could they be gone?” Tom growled as one of the other maids came in to ask after two of the servers. “Never mind, we need more people out there now!”

  He looked madly around the room for anyone not busy. And he ignored that we were done with all our chores. At least, until he realized that Thyme and I were the only options.

  Tom sighed heavily and gestured us over. “I don’t really want you two out there, but it looks like you’re all we got left. Remember, just walk slowly through the crowd and come straight back when your plates empty. Don’t talk to anyone if you don’t have to.” He looked at us both and shook his head, mumbling about women being too pretty by half before handing us a pair of platters heavy with stuffed mushrooms and various cheeses.

  Lucky for Thyme and I, the kitchen w
as close to the ballroom and there were no stairs involved. We followed a few other servers into the room and made our way slowly around the edges.

  A few women snickered as we passed. “Poor and pregnant, how pathetic.”

  “Oh, wonderful alliteration, Elodie! You’ve been practicing, haven’t you?” another responded acerbically. I passed out of range before I could hear anymore, but I felt like throwing something at the cruel speaker. There was no reason to insult someone you considered less fortunate. It only made you the one to be pitied. I was not looking forward to spending time around the nobles.

  “Oh, don’t these look positively delicious,” drawled a tall man with pale complexion. He was the type of man that seemed to spend entirely too much time making sure his appearance was impeccable and too little thinking about his attitude. And he was staring at Thyme, not the food.

  “I don’t know,” his dark haired friend replied. “I think they look tired and dull. Leave the poor women alone.”

  “Why? They’re certainly pretty and I can’t get them with child when they’re already in that condition.”

  “Because,” replied the second man. “Not only are they most likely married, I told you to back off.”

  The first man stared at us hard for a moment before sighing. “You’re no fun, you know that? Always protecting people…”

  “I’m a soldier, it’s what I do.” He nodded to us respectably before leading his flirtatious friend away.

  Thyme looked at me with wide eyes and I shook my head. She was from a small village in a country that despised politics and the like. The poor girl had no idea what we’d gotten ourselves into by marrying the princes. For that matter, neither did I.

  We continued to move through the elegant and overheated room, dodging stray hands and sharp tongues until our platters were empty. Before I could move back toward the kitchen, the platter was taken from my hands and a man in a mask pulled me toward the dance floor.