by Megan Hart
Daelyn cocked his head to look at me, then gestured. "Come here."
I obeyed, expecting him to take the mirror from me. His fingers closed around my wrist and tugged me down to sit beside him. Seated, we were eye to eye. He leaned close to me and put his forehead to mine.
"You could never look like a troll, Aeris."
Then he pulled away and stood, leaving me stunned by the intimate contact. He strode to the vanity and tossed the mirror down hard enough to shake the rest of the items on the table. He turned, his hair like liquid gold sliding over his shoulders, and gave me a sly grin.
"I know what will make us both feel better."
He rang the bell for a folly. "Bring me cacao. The finest desserts the kitchen can make. You'll love it, Aeris!"
His enthusiasm was infectious. "I'm certain I will, my prince."
"Call me Daelyn. I get so weary of being addressed as 'my prince' and 'my lord' all the time. There are so few people who treat me as...well..." he trailed off for a moment, sounded almost wistful. "As just me."
"I couldn't presume myself to be one of those people," I answered quietly. "I'm just your fetchencarry."
"Being my friend is a difficult task, Aeris. Worse than being my servant. As fetchencarry, I ask you to be both. I hope you find the rewards worth the heavy burden."
Impulsively, I reached for his hand. "I do. Daelyn."
He squeezed gently before dropping my fingers. He turned back to the vanity. "Help me repair this damage, will you? I have to go to court in a chime."
Chapter Seventeen
Rosten had already whipped the room into a frenzy of discussion. I followed Daelyn to the front and took my seat behind his, my ears abuzz with the myriad of conversations already flowing.
"Good afternoon, my prince." Rosten was as smooth as placid waters in his address. He made a leg in front of Daelyn, who motioned impatiently for him to rise. "I trust you slept well?"
"Fair enough." Daelyn simpered at a group of dicing lordlings. "Considering how much ale I'd drunk and how many coins I'd lost to that pair over there."
Rosten gave the two a glance that showed he thought they were of no consequence. "You were entertaining last eve?"
Today the Book Monster wore sober, dark blue from head to foot. The plume on his hat was half the size of any other in the room, the fabric bare of extra jewels or embroidery. The sole ornamentation his entire outfit boasted was the medallion bearing Daelyn's crest on a chain he wore round his neck. His graying dark hair hung in a thin, lank braid just past his shoulders. His clothes were of fine quality, and expensive, but not one piece looked as though it brought him joy.
"Every eve," Daelyn remarked. "You were at home in bed, I presume?"
Rosten's thin lips curled into some semblance of a smile. "These old bones are too tired to spend nights carousing, my prince. Not like in my youth. However, in light of recent times, I did manage to spend a few chimes in some of the local poetry houses."
Did I imagine the glitter in Daelyn's eyes came from something other than reflected lamplight? "I hope you found yourself well entertained."
Rosten thrust out a sheaf of crumpled papers. "There were several...incidents, for lack of a better term, in other parts of the city. And more posters, my lord prince. At the Laughing Peacock, the Dancing Dove and the Ivory Partridge."
"How fowl," Daelyn quipped.
Rosten didn't join the laughter that rang throughout the room at Daelyn's joke. "All within a chime of each other, my prince! All hung without anyone so much as noticing them until the criminal had done his work and gone!"
Daelyn sat back in his chair and put a finger to his chin. Cosmetics covered his scratched forehead and hid the shadows of fatigue beneath his eyes. "Extraordinary."
"Where did you entertain last eve, my prince?"
Rosten's silent accusation hung the room with silence. Daelyn cocked his head and asked with quiet, lethal intensity, "Why do you ask?"
Rosten shrugged. His smile grew broader but still didn't reach his eyes. "I merely thought, my lord prince, you might have seen something. Had you been frequenting one of the poetry houses I mentioned, you might have seen the culprit...first hand."
"See something? That’s your job, is it not?" Daelyn laughed and looked around the room until most of the other men joined in. I noticed those who did not were those who counted themselves as Rosten's men. There weren't as many as those who followed Daelyn, but there were enough.
Rosten made another leg. "As you wish, my prince. Have I your approval to take what steps I need to increase the security?"
Daelyn was playing some sort of game, though I could not imagine what. He gave Rosten a level stare, and I saw the regent behind the rake. He might be extravagant, flamboyant and fashionable...but he was also Prince Regent Daelyn Avigdor, and he was not stupid.
"Let me see the posters."
Rosten handed them over. "They are disgusting, my prince. But if you wish to soil your sight –"
Daelyn motioned for me to take the papers and hand them over. Rosten's glare showed he did not approve. I kept my face purposefully neutral – no difficult task since smiling or frowning made my fresh bruises ache.
I saw the papers as Daelyn leafed through them. The first showed a woman clothed in a full gown, her only covering a veil clipped to her hair and held back from her face by a garland of ribbon. Her hair flowed down her back like a man's. I recognized the style from the book I'd found in Daelyn's library. The man in the picture was on one knee before the woman, his hand outstretched to clasp hers and his body bent so he could press his lips to her bare hand.
"Simple pornography." Daelyn tossed the picture to the floor. He held up the next, which showed the same man and woman in a more intimate embrace. "As is this. We've seen it before, Rosten, as schoolboys giggling over it in the privies. Anyone has. It's ridiculous to think that the sight of these posters is going to incite anyone to revolution."
"Interesting choice of words, my prince." Rosten tapped his fingers together. "Revolution. I fear that's exactly what we have on our hands. There have been eight more reported incidents of follies lashing out against the men of their houses. One man sought a private audience with me to request he be allowed to get rid of the woman of his house, not because she'd tried to harm him, but because she'd demanded he..." Rosten's throat convulsed as he swallowed. He shook his head and managed to continue. "She demanded he make love to her."
The last came out in a strangled whisper Daelyn leaned forward to catch. "Make love to her? Demanded? I know enough of the male physiology to know that a male can be persuaded to make love to nearly anything. But demanded to? That seems unlikely to me."
Rosten cleared his throat. "This man was an upstanding merchant in his trade, my prince. Well thought of by his peers, and a regular at one of the poetry houses where we found those pictures. He came to me because he was ashamed of what he'd done, and feared having the folly in his house would tempt him to deviance again. I allowed him to send her to me."
"He feared she'd tempt him to deviance." Daelyn repeated the words. "What, exactly, did she make him do?"
Rosten looked around the room. The men who'd been avidly watching and listening pretended to be absorbed in their other tasks, though 'twas clear every ear was tuned to their conversation.
"She made him orally stimulate her before she would allow him to penetrate her." Rosten sounded sick.
Orally stimulate a woman? I had to close my eyes to picture it. How on earth would it be done?
"Why did he not simply avoid intercourse with her altogether?" Daelyn asked smoothly.
"He was trying to get a son, my prince. It was her time."
"And how long had he been trying to get a son with her?"
Rosten shrugged. "She'd been in his household for several years, my prince. He testified he'd lain with her at every opportunity, even at times other than her preflow, in case her cycle was irregular."
"And has she born children for him?"<
br />
Another shrug. "Females, yes. Several."
"And did he have other women in his household?"
"Aye, my lord prince, but I fail –"
"And did they have sons for him?" Daelyn continued.
Rosten didn't look pleased. "Aye, my prince. But those follies are too old to bear children now. This one was much younger, and he thought –"
"I can imagine what he thought." Daelyn's voice was cold. "A man who blames his urges on a piece of paper scratched with ink is not a very strong man, Lord Rosten. If 'tis considered deviance to take one's pleasure with a female, then he is a deviant, no matter what she demanded of him. He ought to be punished the same as she. More so, for he is a man and supposed to know better."
"There are other issues, my prince." Rosten seemed determined to push his case.
Daelyn sighed and dropped the picture to the floor. "I fear you are making an ocean out of a teardrop. There have always been conflicts with women who don't accept the places men have given them. That’s why we have the Council of the Book, to follow the words of Sinder and judge those issues."
"If I might be so bold –"
"Might?" Daelyn said dryly. "I suspect you already are."
Rosten's simpering smile did not reach his eyes. If looks were daggers, Prince Daelyn would have been stabbed in the heart. "My lord prince, I would like to be granted permission to revisit the Law of the Book. In light of recent events, I feel some interpretations are no longer valid. New mandates are in order."
The silence in the room turned to murmuring as men turned to each other to discuss this event.
“It’s the place of the priests to interpret the story of our Lord Sinder."
"And mine as Book Master to determine how to best utilize those interpretations in our society." Rosten made a play at being humble, but he didn't convince me. I doubt he convinced Daelyn, either. "'Tis my duty to be certain the Law of the Book is followed, my prince."
"The mandates we have are fine." Daelyn dismissed him, but Rosten didn't go.
"With all due respect, my lord prince, the final decision is not yours to make." Rosten's sly look said he had a secret up his unadorned sleeve. "As a Master of your ruling councils, I have the right to determine how to best perform my duties. If there is any disagreement, it is deemed by the Law of the Book that the matter be voted upon by all the members of the ruling councils, barring those who have not served for more than three seasons."
The men faced each other while the room collectively held its breath. Finally, Daelyn tilted his head toward Rosten. Rosten tilted his in return.
"I am opposed to this," Daelyn warned. "But I’m well aware of the Law of the Book. If you set this to a vote –"
"We've all agreed to the vote, my prince." Lord Adamantane spoke up from his corner. "We only await your order."
Daelyn fixed the fat lord with a steady glare, but the Adamantane didn't quaver. "Very well."
Simelbon stood next. "With your good grace, of course, my lord prince."
Daelyn's expression made it clear none of them had his good grace, but apparently, the prince had no choice. The council was assembled, and votes were cast. When all was done, the vote allowed Rosten to consult with the Priests of Sinder about the Law of the Book. He accepted the victory with sobriety despite the backslappings and handshakings from his comrades.
Daelyn's smile looked forced to me, but he gave it. "You hold a position of much power. Use it well."
Rosten's answering grin was so cold it sent a chill down my spine to knock my knees. "I intend to. My prince."
Chapter Eighteen
Daelyn paced the length of his bedchamber, smoke pouring from his nostrils. He puffed again on the cheroot and threw it to the floor without bothering to stamp it out. It smoldered on the tile and left a black mark when I crushed out the flame with my boot heel.
"Damn that Rosten, and his bumboys Simelbon and Adamantane too!" Daelyn overturned a low ottoman with the strength of his kick. "Bugger them both!"
"No thanks," Lir countered mildly. "I don't fancy either of them."
I had withdrawn to the corner, uncertain how to react to Daelyn's display of temper. Lir's comment made me bite back a smile, which I quickly hid when Daelyn looked at me.
"He's full of wit, isn't he?" Without waiting for an answer, the prince took off his high-heeled shoe and threw it at Lir's head. "And where were you, today when they came at me like dogs sniffing raw meat?"
"They're not worth your angst." Lir lit a cheroot of his own and puffed the sweet smoke. "They're all talk. Nothing more."
Daelyn clenched his fists and didn't seem appeased. "They want my throne. They want my crown."
"But they won't have it, will they?" Lir moved forward to grab Daelyn's arm to keep him from pacing. "Dae, love, they won't have it."
Daelyn stopped, his fury abating. "If something should happen to me, Rosten holds a claim to my seat."
"I know it," Lir replied. "So do half a dozen other lords. So do I, for that matter."
Daelyn whispered, "But I don't believe you're going to try to kill me for it."
I heard him, despite his lowered voice. I still felt out of place, useless, bound to a job I didn't know how to perform. Was I to act as a servant or a companion? Should I offer comfort or keep my mouth shut?
Lir answered my silent question. "Tell Dae he's being a foolish woman, Aeris."
I couldn't tell him that. Daelyn might have shown me favor thus far, but I wasn't sure it extended to forgive insults. Lir saw my hesitation, and laughed.
"You've got the lad scared spitless of you, Daelyn. Look."
I bristled. "I'm not scared spitless."
Daelyn peered closely at me. "There is one thing I require of all those close to me, Aeris. Honesty. I'll never fault you for the truth. I may not like what it is, but I'll not punish any one who gives it to me."
I thought of the tightly rolled cylinder of rags I had tucked within my body to hold back proof of my biggest lie. "I understand, my prince."
"Am I being foolish?"
I thought of Rosten's face as he held out the picture. Men like him hated women, for no other reason than they could. "I don't think so."
"Truth is a slippery fish." Lir's gaze caught mine. "One man's truth is another's lie."
"I don't think you're being foolish." I made a point to look away from Lir. "Those men want to find and stop whoever messes up their view of how things ought to be. If you stand in their way, they might try to stop you. Kings have been overthrown for lesser reasons."
"Who's been reading history books?" Lir teased.
"I'm not yet King," Daelyn whispered. "I'll not take that title until I spawn a son, something I have thus far been unable to manage."
Lir coughed and looked apologetic, though I didn't understand why. Still, it pleased me to see him ill at ease for once.
"They'll take your power however they can get it, and they'll not be alone. Too many men in Alyria have their lives too steadfastly planned. They won't take kindly to disruption."
"You speak exceptionally well for a lad your age...and one whom I found working in a joba stand." Daelyn left Lir's side and came close enough to put a finger beneath my chin. "Tell me, laddie, have you had all of this just from my books?"
"Yes, my prince."
Daelyn smirked at Lir. "I told you the lad was priceless. And now I benefit from his insight. Unlike others, who only wish to appease me."
There could be no mistaking that he'd targeted his words at Lir, who didn't seem upset by Daelyn's comment. Instead, he laughed ruefully and shook his head.
"Mayhap I've been appeasing you for so long I know naught else."
Daelyn made a small, pleased grunt. "You do it rather well, I'll grant you that."
Watching them, I again felt an outsider to their private conversation. Only for a moment, because Daelyn tucked his hand into my elbow and pulled me forward. He brought me to Lir, who looked amused.
"I'm tired of talk
," Daelyn said. "Court, as usual, has left me exhausted and out of sorts. I seek amusement, Lir."
Lir grinned. "As usual."
Daelyn laughed and pulled me close to him for an instant before twirling me away so fast one of my heels caught against the other and I stumbled. He only laughed more merrily.
"Shall we take in a show? Visit a poetry house?" He paused to think, then snapped his fingers. "Visit my menagerie?"
Lir sighed. "Again? Do you never tire of watching beasts rut, Dae?"
"Go get the lads," Daelyn said. "And no, of course I don't. It’s far more interesting than watching you do it."