by Robin Roseau
“Darfelsa, is it your intention to accept such suit?”
“Tell me honestly: how much would that hurt you?”
“Be happy, Sister,” she said gently.
“You’re already taking an untraditional path.”
“What does that mean?” Flame asked.
“The expectation,” Ahlianna said, “Is that Father will pick his successor.”
“I thought you were his successor.”
“And then I would marry the man, possibly young, possibly not.”
“Oh,” Flame said. “Instead?”
“I am the future queen. The various lords haven’t yet caught up to that plan.”
“How many sons are they throwing at you?” I asked.
“So far?” Ahlianna responded. “Six sons, two nephews, three younger brothers, one young lord, one not-so-young lord, and…” She grinned. “One daughter.”
“Really?” I asked, laughing. “Who?”
“Lord Arbane’s eldest daughter.”
“Islbee? She’s twelve.”
“She was twelve the last time you saw her. She is now freshly sixteen. She’s very sweet, exceedingly lovely, and a good horsewoman.”
“How many have you thrown away?”
“It’s easier to describe the ones I haven’t: the young lord and Islbee.”
I laughed again. “Really? She’s sixteen.”
“Which we’ve ascertained,” Ahlianna said. “It’s not like she’s sharing my bed, although she’s hinted a few times.”
“Wait! Are you serious about her?”
“I’m not serious about either of them,” she said. “But she reminds me of you, in a way.” She paused. “She spent a month in Charth.”
“Seriously?” I asked.
“Actually, in total, more than a month,” Ahlianna said. “Late summer.”
“I bet it was beautiful.”
“I was back home by then. She stayed with Olivia.”
“Oh, did she like Bee and Dee?”
“Who wouldn’t?” Ahlianna replied.
“Does she know you’re not serious?”
“I’ve told her I’m going to take my time. She points out that’s to her advantage.”
“Given her age.”
“Exactly. She’s watched me toss out most of the others. Well, half of them were before she came forward.”
“What does she think of that?”
“She told me unless I get serious about someone else that she hopes I’ll keep her on the list, at least until she’s 18.”
“So her parents don’t try to give her to someone else?”
“I think it’s more than that, and I think she enjoys dinner at the palace.” Ahlianna smiled again. “We can talk more about that, but we’re not done discussing your situation. Darfelsa, I want you to be happy. You’re not any worth to me if you’re miserable, and I love you. My first hope is for your happiness.”
“But we have responsibilities.”
“We do,” she said.
“You need me to make a deeply traditional choice.”
“No,” she said firmly, as firmly as she ever spoke to me. “No, I do not. I need you to make a choice I can support.” She gestured to Flame. “I can support this, but not if it’s rushed. And so far, it’s rushed.”
“That’s because I wasn’t taking it seriously.”
“And yet, she’s the only one who has made it to your bed. Has Alexi tried?”
“I’m not answering questions about who has or has not tried to make it to my bed.”
“I can answer that,” Flame said. “Half the town has made an attempt, and if Darfelsa actually denied Alexi was on the list, I’d call her a liar.”
“It hasn’t been half the town. Your brother hasn’t.”
“He’s in the half that hasn’t,” Flame said. “Answer me honestly: more than 20 others?”
“It’s not like I count.”
“If it were three, you could have said ‘fewer’.”
“More than three.”
“How many members of your staff could you have seduced?”
“Flame!” I complained. Ahlianna only snorted. “I really don’t need you suggesting improper relationships with my staff.”
“Oh, please,” Ahlianna said. “You’ve learned that lesson from Allium.”
“Answer my first question and I won’t bring up particular names.”
“If I had been counting, which I haven’t, I would suggest I have probably run out of fingers. I may have toes left. Some have been subtler than others. I’m not mentioning any names.”
“All right, then,” Flame said. She smiled broadly and pulled my arm to her, then turned her smile on Ahlianna. “She’s wrapped around my little finger.”
“I am not,” I muttered.
But Ahlianna nodded. “It’s still rushed. What’s your plan, Flame?”
“I’ll leave with her and present myself to your mother. I understand that’s how it works.”
I didn’t say anything, and Ahlianna was quiet for a minute. “Well, that plan will fail. You have three basic ways to arrive in Barrish.”
“By coach, mounted, or…”
“That’s not what she means,” I muttered.
“Oh.”
“You could arrive as a member of Darfelsa’s staff.”
“I could?”
“She has the authority to build her staff as she desires. She has one Gandeetian. It would be nothing to add another.”
“Perfect. I can follow her everywhere.”
“You’re smarter than that,” Ahlianna said. “Or you wouldn’t have kept her attention. Why is that a bad plan?”
Flame cocked her head then looked at me. “Because Darfelsa doesn’t date her staff.”
“Mother would be unhappy with the subterfuge,” Ahlianna added. “Coupled with what appears to be impropriety. That works only if you’re going to remain hidden.”
“I have no intention of hiding.”
“The next way you can arrive is as an artist. I do not know your family’s financial standing. You could come as a relative pauper, but that will not succeed. You would need to establish a household. Does your family have holdings in Barrish?”
“No, but we’re not paupers.”
“Well, you would need to establish a household. You would need to become a member of society. And then you could offer suit.”
“Is that a good plan?”
“Yes. But it would take time. You could come as a friend of Darfelsa’s. You would be best to be honest with Mother and Father. But Darfelsa, Mother has a list waiting for you. You have to know that.” I nodded. “I will not support Flame as consort until she has successfully offered suit for at least two years, and I would prefer longer.”
“You said you were going to send her around Flarvor,” Flame pointed out.
“Yes,” Ahlianna said. “It is unclear whether we can find a way you could travel with her. I’m not sure it’s a good idea. She has to at least seem to give other suitors consideration.”
Again, I said nothing.
“And it will take time to establish yourself. You need a home. It does not need to be lavish, but you need to be able to entertain, at least small groups. You can hire some staff locally, but you will want to bring one or two with you. You will need a cook, a maid, and a housekeeper, at the very least. We can talk further about that.”
“You said three plans.”
“The third is to arrive as a member of the embassy. Your father could send you.”
“She’s never shown any interest in government,” I said quietly. “But Ahlianna, she does a good Mother.”
“You think I’d be a good mother?” Flame asked.
“That’s not what she meant,” Ahlianna corrected. “She compared you to the Queen of Flarvor.”
“Oh,” Flame said. “I don’t think I mind that at all.”
“That actually offers possibilities,” Ahlianna said. “You could be some sort of social coordinator
for the embassy.”
“That sounds like a minor role,” I said.
Ahlianna understood. Flame didn’t. But Ahlianna nodded. “Perhaps. Or perhaps a cultural exchange. Art.”
“I could do that, too,” Flame said.
“Cultural exchange director,” I said. “No one has a clue how lofty a title that might be, and it’s better than social coordinator.”
Flame looked at me, and I could tell she was a little upset, perhaps a lot upset. “Do I need to put on airs for you to consider me?” She shifted her gaze to my sister. “Or you?”
“No,” Ahlianna said. “And not for Mother, either, but the further you are from expectations, the longer it will take for the politics to settle.”
“If Ahlianna were making a traditional choice, then I could probably be quite outrageous in my own choice,” I said. “But doing so makes everything else that much harder. It makes it harder for her, and it makes it harder for me to do anything but be the princess. She could set me up on a property somewhere, which wouldn’t be that bad, but that’s not my plan.”
“I need you, Sister,” Ahlianna said. “At my side.”
“At your side,” I agreed.
“I’ve given you both things to think about,” Ahlianna said. “It’s late.”
“I should go,” Flame immediately said, standing up. “You two have so much to catch up.”
“No, you shouldn’t go,” Ahlianna said, both of us also rising. “Do you normally stay for breakfast?”
“I wouldn’t say normally, the nights I stay, but sometimes, yes.”
“Stay tomorrow,” Ahlianna said. “I’ll see you then. I want to call on you tomorrow, though. Informally, late morning.”
“Of course, Princess Ahlianna.”
“Why?” I asked.
“None of your business.”
“Bullshit,” I replied.
“Let me put it this way. It’s between Flame and me, and I will be angry if you pester either of us.”
“Are you going to warn her off?”
“No. I’m going to tell her what you were like as a baby.”
I laughed. “Right. You’re really not going to tell me?”
“How did it go the last time you pestered me?”
“Poorly.”
“Take that as a lesson,” she said. Then she stepped forward and brushed cheeks, first with Flame, and then me. “I’ll see you at breakfast, assuming that happens before lunch.”
I hugged her tightly. “Thank you for coming.”
She separated. “Other than meeting with Flame, expect us to spend my time here together. Does that interfere with any plans?”
“No one is going to complain if I cancel a few commitments,” I said.
“You should keep the ones with me and my family,” Flame said. “But we can do something together, the three of us.”
“Find me a date,” Ahlianna said. “Hmm. If it’s more than one night, don’t do any repeats.”
“I can do that,” Flame said. “Male or female?”
“Surprise me, but I’d prefer older than my little sister.”
“I can do that,” Flame repeated. “The question is whether I should try to make money for it.”
Ahlianna laughed. “I understand I’m in the blue-blue room.”
“That’s down the hall from mine,” I said. “We’re going that way.”
We talked easily for the walk, both of them taking one of my arms. I led her to her room. Her things were already there. We hugged once more, then she pushed me from the room, directly into Flame’s arms, and closed the door in my face. Flame giggled and pulled me to my room.
Where she had a lovely birthday present for me. Most lovely indeed.
* * * *
Ahlianna stayed for a week. During the day, we sat in business together. We went over everything I was working on, talking through all of it. I felt far more confident about it.
Early on, I told her, “I was exceedingly heavy-handed when I arrived.”
“It was probably necessary.”
“I had the embassy packed.”
“Were you bluffing?”
“No.”
She nodded. “Good. When Father read that, he slapped his knee and said, ‘That’s my daughter!’.”
“Did he really?”
“You weren’t sure if we were serious with your authority.”
“No, I wasn’t.”
“I didn’t think you were going to handle it very well. You wouldn’t believe how upset I was you came through Charth, but in the end, in spite of Gretchena’s reaction, it was what you needed. You needed to test your authority, and then to flex it.”
“Did you engineer any of that?”
“No. I was struggling to keep up. Everything was falling apart so quickly, and I didn’t know how to help you.”
“It’s fine,” I said. “I’m not going back, Ahlianna.”
“You would learn more from Allium.”
“If you truly believed that, you wouldn’t have sent me here with enough authority to start a war.”
“If Father or I send you to Ressaline, are you going to be angry?”
“No, but I’m not going back on my own business.”
“Allium expressed significant regret about that.”
“I probably owe her a kind letter of thanks.”
“Probably.”
We talked about that a little further, and about the situation in Dennaholst. And I asked her, “Any word on an ambassador?”
“I think, Little Sister, that one will show up miraculously somewhat after you put a few more of these to bed. Whether you’ll receive new opportunities in the future will depend upon how pleased Father is with the agreements you make.”
“He’s intentionally waiting?”
“Of course, he is.”
“Does he have someone in mind?”
“Probably.”
“Mr. Gremish?”
“Absolutely not. And Mr. Epseen has left public service.”
“Is that my fault?”
“His.”
“I bet he blames me.”
“I would have sent him home with Mr. Gremish,” Ahlianna said. “You gave him a chance to show loyalty to you.”
“I have no evidence he was disloyal.”
“Yes, well. Father does. Please don’t ask.”
“Disloyal to Father?”
She looked away. “The newspaper article I sent you. He began a whisper campaign the day you arrived.”
“No one told me. Another test?”
“I wouldn’t call it a test,” she said, looking back at me. “I would say your older sister was assembling evidence to have him tried for treason. I didn’t find enough to make that charge stand, but Father let me dismiss him without an explanation to him.”
“So he knows.”
“He might. It’s almost certain Mother does. Father simply told me, ‘I trust you’ and told me to handle it as I saw best. So I let him take the blame for every bad agreement made here.”
“He was here during those bad agreements. That was the biggest reason I let them all go. Ahlianna, I still think this embassy staff is too big.”
“Leave it alone now and let the future ambassador come to his own conclusions.”
“If people leave, unless I ask, don’t replace them.”
She nodded at that. “That’s best.”
“You should know: the women who came with me have vowed their loyalty to me, including Sergeant Felist.”
“I know. Good. They are yours for as long as that is mutually pleasing.”
“Thank you,” I said. “Two of them are foreign service.”
“No. All of them are assigned to Princess Darfelsa, to be used as she requires. Right now, that means you’re all foreign service. Once you come home, it’s whatever you need. And they knew that when they made their vows.”
“I want to give them more money. Do I have that authority?”
“You’ve trimmed the embassy
staff by a third. Father couldn’t be more pleased about that. Their accounts in Flarvor are credited based on their titles here. When you get home, it will be a fresh conversation. I believe Father will give you a budget. I don’t know how big it will be. Enough for your current staff.”
“He told me to limit it to ten.”
“And if you fill it, you’ll have less to pay each of them,” she replied. “I do not recommend, however, that you divide it all out now. You’re going to add at least one or two more people.”
“Do I need household staff?”
“Do you intend to leave the palace?”
“Not unless you kick me out.”
She smiled. “When you get back, we’re going to talk about ladies in waiting. You need several. Mother has made me accept them, and she’s going to make you do it, too.”
“Not out of my office budget!”
“No.” She grinned. “But they’re cheap, anyway. They do it for the chance to snatch up your castoffs.”
I laughed. “Right.”
* * * *
We attended social events, sometimes with just the two of us, but I introduced her around a little.
We shared a date with Flame and Blaze: dinner and dancing. Blaze was scandalized when Ahlianna insisted on leading, but Flame thought it was deeply funny. It was a lovely evening.
For dinner with Belolad and Nautila, Blaze brought Salle. Flame had Alexi waiting for Ahlianna. Ahlianna left with Alexi. Flame saw me home, but she didn’t stay the night. Ahlianna came to me in the early morning, slipping into bed with me. She smelled of Alexi and sex. “Was she good?”
“Oh, yes,” she said. “I’m in love.”
I laughed. “You are not.”
“Be aware: she told me before I left that now that she’s had one sister, she still intends to have the other. And I heard something about a dress.”
“Our first date,” I replied. “She’s been exceedingly well-behaved since.”
“She got you to wear a blindfold.”
“She’s a force of nature.”
“I’m glad Flame caught you before she did,” Ahlianna observed.
“Otherwise she wouldn’t have been on the market, and you couldn't have had a lovely evening?”
She laughed and didn’t answer. I rolled to her and wrapped arms around her. “Did she douse you in her perfume?”
“Yes, actually,” Ahlianna admitted. “She told me to spread it all over your bed for Flame to find tomorrow.”