Royal Airs

by Sharon Shinn

  “Oh, and people do,” Kayle exclaimed. “Arven constantly has women throwing themselves at him, showing up naked in his rooms, that sort of thing. You remember Arven, Rafe, he was the one who just crashed.”

  “Thereby making many ladies very sad, I’m sure,” Darien said.

  “He didn’t die,” Kayle assured them. “He’ll be flying again in a few ninedays.”

  “I think ‘aeromotive pilot’ is identity enough,” Nelson decided. “Some people will find him fascinating and others will find him repellent, but that doesn’t matter.”

  “I think it would matter to me if people found me repellent,” Kayle said.

  Nelson pursed his lips and didn’t answer. Darien hid a smile and said, “The final thing to determine. Who should know?”

  “The primes, obviously,” Nelson said. “Elidon, if you like. But I wouldn’t think the other queens should be burdened with this knowledge.” He glanced at Josetta. “Sorry, my dear, but your mother is a little too melodramatic to be trusted with a state secret.”

  “I agree with all my heart.”

  “Then I say, don’t tell anyone unless there’s some compelling reason to do so,” Nelson said.

  “That tallies with my inclination,” Darien said. He glanced at the four others in the room, his gray eyes full of stern purpose. “Then I can trust all of you to speak of this to no one else? Not your siblings and heirs, not your friends?”

  They all quickly agreed, though Josetta reflected that most of her family members already knew the truth. She would scarcely need to be keeping secrets at all.

  “Then the next order of business is assigning guards and putting Rafe under their protection,” Darien said. “Rafe and Josetta, will you return with me to Chialto, where I can organize a detail?”

  Rafe hesitated, and Josetta saw him glance with longing toward the training facility on the other side of the door. “I will, of course, but—I had hoped to get in a few hours of work today.”

  “He needs the practice,” Kayle said. “I’d like to try the LNR sometime during the next nineday, and he’s not ready yet.”

  “Still, since our chief goal, we have all decided, is Rafe’s safety—”

  “Let him stay here today. I’ll stay. Foley will stay,” Josetta interrupted. “Send your guards straight to this facility. Even better, detour past the shelter and tell Caze and Sorbin to meet us here. He’ll have a full detail in place by tomorrow morning.”

  Darien gazed at her a moment. “And you’re prepared to spend the night here at the port, awaiting their arrival?”

  She couldn’t help laughing at him. “I believe I am.”

  He turned his hands palm upward, a rare gesture of concession from a man who never admitted defeat. “Then I suppose we have our plan.”

  • • •

  It was a stranger day than Josetta had expected it to be when she woke up that morning, but—now that she thought about it—she could have said the same about many of the days that had included Rafe Adova.

  Darien left almost immediately after they reached their decision. The two primes disappeared to talk business, leaving Josetta with little to do except watch Rafe’s training exercises when they seemed interesting and talk quietly with Foley when they didn’t.

  “Darien’s discovered something exciting about Rafe Adova, but I’m not allowed to share details,” she told him as they sat together outside the training facility. It was late afternoon and the sun was low enough that the temperature was actually pleasant. “I need your help, though.”

  Foley nodded; of course he would help her. She went on, “It turns out the prince of Berringey might want to kill him. So Darien is assigning royal guards to protect him—but we don’t want to draw attention to him. So the guards will follow me as if I’m in danger, and I’ll follow Rafe like I’m a lovesick girl. They’ll seem to be watching me, but they’ll really be protecting him.”

  Foley glanced down at her. “I don’t see any reason we can’t protect both of you.”

  She smiled, then sighed. “In any case, we’re going to be spending a lot of time at the port while I pretend I’ve fallen in love with an aeromotive pilot.”

  Foley’s gaze dropped briefly to her fish bracelet before he lifted his eyes to hers again. “Will you really be pretending?”

  She hadn’t even realized he knew Rafe had given her the bracelet. They watched each other in silence for a long moment. “Maybe not,” she said at last. “What would you think about that?”

  “I’d think it was about time.”

  She was surprised into a laugh. “Really? Why?”

  He seemed to consider how much to say. “I think you have led an extraordinary existence, which has made it difficult for you to have ordinary experiences. This seems to be one of the experiences you should have.”

  She nodded slowly. “I could say the same thing to you. What kind of life have you led, nothing more than a shadow of mine? Where is your lover, your house and family?”

  “So far I haven’t had a desire for those things,” he answered. “Maybe one day that will change. But so far all I’ve ever needed in my life is purpose, and that’s what I found when I came to Chialto to join the royal guard.”

  “It doesn’t seem like it would be enough,” she said.

  “To me it’s everything,” he said.

  She nodded again and leaned back against the sun-warmed factory wall, no longer meeting his eyes. “You know more about me than anyone else does, just because you’re with me so much,” she said. “And now—when I spend so much time with Rafe—you might learn other things. You might see me do things you don’t approve of.”

  She heard the shadow of a laugh in his voice. “Then I’ll look the other way. All that matters to me is that you’re safe. The rest of it is none of my concern.”

  “From now on, keep both of us safe,” she answered softly. “Guard him as you have guarded me.”

  “Majesty, I will.”

  • • •

  Once the long day of training was over, they returned to the heart of the port city to find that the wayward Kayle had been unexpectedly efficient. He had commissioned Darby to find rooms for Josetta across the hall from Rafe’s and to clear out nearby apartments for the guards. In fact, Caze and Sorbin were already installed, and once Josetta showed up, they hauled an assortment of boxes and bags from their room to hers.

  “Callie packed almost everything you own,” Caze told her.

  “But I’ll be back at the shelter for part of every nineday. We both will be.”

  “She figured you could sort out what you want to have where.”

  Josetta sighed and began hanging up rumpled tunics and arranging her toiletries. Is this my fifth home? I’m losing count, she thought. Maybe I should buy a house of my own and stay there all the time. I won’t visit anyone else. I might never even step outside the front door.

  But not yet. Her life was not designed to allow her to disappear.

  Rafe knocked on the open door as she was smoothing the wrinkles from the last pair of trousers. “Looks just like my room,” he remarked as he stepped inside. “Given how utilitarian Kayle’s factories are, I was surprised at how comfortable the furnished quarters are. And I love the little touches of elegance.” He pointed at one of the corners where the walls met the high ceiling. “You have butterflies painted on your walls. I have birds. Every time I look at them I smile.”

  “Sweela people are the hedonists who love rich luxuries, but elay folks require a certain kind of beauty in their living spaces,” Josetta admitted. “Pleasing proportions. Restful colors. Sunlight. Their rooms might be austere, but they’re always tranquil.”

  “I guess I haven’t lived up to my blessings, then,” he replied. “My living quarters were never what you’d call extraordinary.”

  “Maybe you should buy a lot of clocks,” sh
e suggested. “Though I honestly can’t figure out how you’d represent triumph or synthesis.”

  “Melt a bunch of things together,” he said promptly. “Metal and glass and oddments from the street. Turn them into little sculptures. Trophies. You know, the sort of thing you’d take home if you won a competition.”

  “Oh, yes. The perfect décor.”

  They were all hungry, so Rafe led Josetta and the guards to a commercial district that looked like a miniature version of the Plazas in Chialto—an open space where dozens of vendors had crammed booths selling everything from food to clothing.

  “I could shop here in the morning,” Josetta said. “I need more tunics. More everything.”

  “You could,” Rafe said with a grin, “except I’m leaving pretty early to go back to the training facility.”

  She stifled a groan. “Then I guess I’ll make do with what I have.”

  Back at Rafe’s apartment, the five of them crowded around a small table and passed food around with a cheerful disregard for social standing. Caze, always the most talkative of the guards, didn’t bother hiding his curiosity.

  “The regent wants you watched by six men at all times,” he noted. “Even he doesn’t usually bother with that many guards when he goes out.”

  “Seems like I overheard something one night when I was gambling with the wrong people,” Rafe said.

  “Is that why those men were after you that night we found you? You knew something?”

  “I suppose. But it took me a while to piece it together.”

  “It must be some pretty dangerous information,” Sorbin observed.

  Caze looked a little self-important. “It’s up to us to make sure it’s not too dangerous.”

  The soldiers ate fast and were on their feet as soon as the meal was over. “We’ll keep a watch all night,” Caze explained. “One in the hallway, the others close enough to rouse with a yell. Unless you want someone in the room with you.”

  Rafe looked horrified. “In the hallway is close enough.”

  Josetta made no move to stand up. “I’ll stay awhile,” she said casually. “Play a few hands of penta, maybe.”

  Foley gave her the smallest, briefest smile, then followed the other two out the door.

  “Men in the hallway all night?” Rafe exclaimed in a low voice, locking the door and turning back to Josetta. “So much for my visions of sneaking into your room after everyone else was asleep.”

  She laughed. “We should have asked Kayle to give us adjoining chambers. Maybe with a connecting door.”

  Rafe looked at her a moment. “I was joking.”

  She smiled. “But I’m obsessed with you, remember?”

  “A convenient fiction.”

  “Not so convenient,” she said. Not so fictional.

  He made a helpless gesture. “I know. You have to completely rearrange your life to accommodate me. I’m sorry for it.”

  “Well, it won’t all be about your schedule, remember? Some of the time we both have to spend at the shelter. There’s too much work there and I’ve neglected it so much lately.”

  “Callie must feel like you’ve abandoned her.”

  “Callie likes being in charge, I think. But there are decisions only I can make.”

  They cleared away the dishes, then seated themselves back at the small table. Rafe produced a deck of cards and suggested, “Penta?”

  “Gladly. What kind of stakes?”

  He intercut the cards over and over before answering. “I think the last time just the two of us played the stakes were pretty high.”

  “Dinner,” she said, “or a kiss.”

  “Many dinners,” he corrected, “one real kiss.”

  “Well, it seems pointless to bet for meals at this juncture,” she said with a laugh, “since it looks like we’ll be having most of them together.”

  “Then you need to place a different wager.”

  She gave him an inquiring look. “You don’t plan to change your own?”

  He shook his head, smiling. His hands never paused in their fluid motions.

  “Maybe my stakes are the same as yours,” she said.

  That did cause him to grow still. Not just his hands—his whole body, his eyes, his breath. Completely stopped. He watched her, and the silence that ran between them crackled with heat.

  She was the one to speak first. “You can hardly be surprised to hear that I like you, Rafe Adova,” she said. “And stop asking me why.”

  “You’re a princess.”

  “You’re royalty yourself.”

  “Not royalty with a future.”

  She shrugged. “You intrigued me long before I knew you were heir to a throne,” she said. “It’s not your sudden elevation that has made me admire you.”

  “Maybe not,” he said. “But it’s made me feel more worthy of you. If only a little bit. Made me bolder.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “Bold? You don’t seem to be anything of the sort.”

  He tilted his head back and stared at her for a long moment out of narrowed eyes. “For an elay girl,” he said at last, “you certainly like to play with fire.”

  “My father was sweela,” she retorted. She could feel herself smiling. “So I’m not afraid of flame.”

  “Maybe you would be,” he said, “if you had any sense.”

  That made her laugh. Keeping her eyes on his, she flattened her hands and pushed herself to a standing position. Trailing her fingers along the edges of the table, as if she needed contact with something solid just to keep her balance, she circled around till she was standing right next to him, her knees touching his thigh. Then she bent and kissed him.

  He didn’t move, either to pull her closer or to push her away. His mouth returned the pressure of hers with a sort of guilty hunger, as if he had promised himself he would forgo all sustenance but he could not deny himself this one forbidden treat. She lifted a hand to touch his cheekbone, touch his jaw, run her fingers lightly down his throat to settle on his shoulder. His skin was hot as a sweela man’s; she felt his blood running riot just under his skin.

  When she straightened up, she left her hand on his shoulder just to hold steady. She felt dizzy enough to fall. “We didn’t even play penta,” she murmured, “and yet here we are, collecting on our bets.”

  He gazed up at her, somber as a man delivering news of death. “You might want to be careful,” he said, “about how you play this particular game. You’re gambling on my honor, but I’ve been known to cheat when the stakes were high enough. And I’ll wager that this is another contest where I have more experience than you do.”

  “I’m sure you do,” she said. “Maybe that’s why I want you to teach me how to play.”

  “Maybe you need to think about it a little longer before you make that kind of bet.”

  She couldn’t help it; she rolled her eyes and flung both hands in the air. “You’re so exasperating!” she exclaimed. “Everything Alys said always made me think it would be easy to seduce a man.”

  His grin was a little shaky. “Maybe she picked a different kind of man.”

  “Well, one of them was Darien, and he’s not easy to influence.”

  She was genuinely put out, which seemed to amuse him. At any rate, he seemed more sure of himself as he finally came to his feet. “Maybe he wasn’t worried about the harm he might do to her by accepting her offer,” he suggested.

  “Darien worries about everything,” she said in a grumpy voice, which made him laugh out loud. She felt a reluctant smile tug at her mouth. “But I suppose I should be grateful that you don’t want to take advantage of—of the strange circumstances that have thrown us together.”

  “And will keep us together for the foreseeable future,” he agreed. “You don’t want to cross some line with me, and then regret it, and then be forced to smile a
nd flirt and pretend you are enamored of me when you’d rather see me thrown in the Marisi and drowned.”

  She pretended to be much struck by this insight. “You’re right! How could I have been so stupid! And it’s not like I’ve spent any time with you in the past few ninedays—it’s not like I have any sense of your personality at all. I could so easily be mistaken about you!”

  “Happens more often than you might expect,” he said, edging her toward the exit. “Now. Maybe you should seek your own room for the night and spend some time thinking about what you really want.”

  She allowed him to herd her toward the door, but before he could open it, she turned and placed one hand against his heart. “For what it’s worth, this is all Nelson’s doing,” she said. “Remember what he said? How he can sense strong feelings? The sweela prime thinks we care about each other.” She leaned in and kissed him again, quickly this time. “And he approves.”

  She opened the door and left him standing behind her, speechless.

  EIGHTEEN

  Though he had urged circumspection on her, Rafe was bitterly disappointed, the next four nights, to find that Josetta intended to exercise it. Oh, she left her apartment every morning when he left his, dutifully followed him to factory floor or training facility, shared dinner with him—and the guards—and lingered long enough to play a hand of penta or to talk over the events of the day. But she never again unsettled him with teasing kisses or half-articulated promises or even sideways, speculative smiles. He was left to wonder if he’d offended her or frightened her or mortified her so much she would never make the same overture to him again—and to curse himself for not taking her up on the offer when he’d had the chance.

  It had seemed like the right thing to do. The honorable thing. But honor was vastly overrated late at night as he lay awake in his solitary bed, imagining what he could be doing instead.

  During the daytime hours, training at least provided a distraction. His body had adjusted to the physical workouts, so most of the soreness was gone, and he could feel his arms gaining strength and flexibility. He had become adept at using the mock pilot’s box, smoothly managing takeoffs and landings and the occasional rush of simulated bad weather. He wasn’t sure what else he could do to prepare himself for actual flight—and when, near the end of that nineday, he said so to Kayle, the prime agreed.