Prince's Fire

by Amy Raby

  “I do not have the whole Inyan population, or this would be easy,” said Rayn. “When my father’s mind was riddled with holes, Lornis helped me stand up to the council. When my self-absorbed mother took to her bed, unable to cope, Lornis remained to advise and reassure me. Everyone else abandoned me, and he was there. Do you understand? And now he leaves. What am I supposed to think when I’m the man everyone abandons?” He reached for the uske bottle.

  She held the bottle out of his reach and walked out on the balcony with it. She tossed it into the garden below.

  “There’s a law against that,” said Rayn.

  “I’ll tell you what you’re supposed to think,” said Celeste. “You’re supposed to think he had a good reason for doing what he did, one that probably has nothing to do with you. For the years of service he’s given you, the least you can do is make it through these last few events before your ratification vote.” She returned to Rayn and tugged him out of his chair. “Get dressed.”

  Rayn rose reluctantly and stripped out of his bedclothes. While he put on tunic and pants, Celeste went to the door and spoke to Atella, who was standing guard along with a second Legaciattus. “Fetch the empress.”

  “Yes, Your Imperial Highness.” Atella departed.

  Celeste returned to Rayn.

  “I don’t understand why he’d do it,” said Rayn, adjusting his belt. “Something has upset him, but I can’t imagine what.”

  “We’ll find out,” said Celeste.

  Vitala arrived, and while Rayn continued to dress, Celeste conferred privately with her at the door. “Lornis just resigned, and we don’t know why.”

  “Lornis?” Vitala looked so stunned that it was clear she didn’t know anything either.

  “Rayn’s got a speech this morning, and I’m going with him. Would you get to the bottom of this for us? Rayn won’t be himself until we understand what happened.”

  Vitala nodded. “Of course.”

  At the palace stables, Celeste and Rayn mounted their horses. Then, followed by an escort of three Legaciatti, they rode into Tiasa. The crowd in the street thickened as they approached the plaza. Most people were going in the same direction they were. The Legaciatti cleared a path through the crowd—she could see Rayn’s back stiffen as they did their work; he still didn’t like bodyguards—and they found the plaza packed with humanity. Celeste hoped it was a good sign that so many more people had come to hear this speech than the one he’d given the day before.

  Rayn took the stage and spoke about his efforts at bringing Kjallan trade to Inya. Celeste, shy but no stranger to making public appearances, said a few words of support. Her prince then went on to speak at length about the King’s Lands and his desire to protect them from any further abuses by the council. This got a round of applause. As Rayn headed into the conclusion of his speech, someone in the crowd shouted, “What about your adviser?”

  Rayn stopped short. Celeste, standing at the side of the stage, felt her heart race. How did this heckler know that Lornis had resigned? Rayn recovered from his stunned silence and said, “I’m not taking questions on that subject.”

  “Is he a sodomite?” called the heckler.

  Rayn went very still. Celeste, watching him, was reminded of a lion that goes motionless just before it springs, but he only said, “I’m not taking questions about my adviser,” and continued his speech. He was a professional—his voice did not waver, though Celeste was certain he was deeply disturbed.

  As he moved through his concluding words, Celeste scanned the crowd and spotted Vitala near the edge, conspicuous with the orange-garbed Legaciatti surrounding her. She hoped Vitala’s presence meant that she’d tracked down some information.

  When the speech was over, Rayn descended into the plaza and spoke to individual civilians, many of whom had their own private complaints with Inyan governance. Celeste accompanied him. Rayn was gracious but honest, making promises when they seemed reasonable and responding noncommittally when they weren’t. Several people asked him the sodomite question. Rayn was chilly as he informed them he would not answer. The plaza was emptying. Vitala and her guards made their way over to them.

  Rayn spotted her. “Thank you all,” he announced to the townsfolk who remained. “I’ve got another engagement. Thank you for coming.” He stepped away from the dwindling crowd.

  “Did you find anything?” Celeste asked Vitala.

  Rayn looked confused, and she explained that she’d asked the empress to look into the reasons for Lornis’s resignation.

  “I talked to Lornis’s friend Magister Donyl,” said Vitala. “He gave me this.” She held out a folded sheet of paper.

  Rayn took the paper and unfolded it. It was a handbill.

  RATIFY PRINCE RAYN?

  HE WAS EDUCATED BY MAGISTER LORNIS, A KNOWN SODOMITE

  WHAT ELSE DID LORNIS TEACH THE KING’S ONLY SON?

  VOTE NO ON RATIFICATION DAY

  “Vagabond’s Breath,” said Rayn. “Are these posted around Tiasa?”

  “All over the place,” said Vitala.

  Rayn took a deep breath, and Celeste saw him swell with fury. His face flushed and his muscles bulged beneath his tunic. He crumpled the paper and threw it on the ground. He looked like he was about to erupt in a tirade of swearing, but there were civilians around, some of them idly watching. She took his hand and folded her small fingers around his large ones.

  He exhaled and spoke in a tight voice. “Is Magister Lornis back at the palace?”

  “Donyl said he’d left town,” said Vitala. “He didn’t think Lornis would be gone for more than a few days.”

  Rayn’s hands curled into fists. “I’m going to destroy that man.”

  “Who?” said Vitala, looking surprised.

  “Councilor Worryn.” Rayn’s eyes narrowed. “Did Lornis take his horse? Did he tell anyone where he was going?”

  “Yes, and no,” said Vitala. “I used my discretion in this matter and sent a team of Legaciatti after him. He can’t have gone far, and I don’t think he anticipates being chased. I told my people to bring him back peaceably.”

  “Thank you, Empress.” Rayn clasped wrists with Vitala. “That’s exactly what I needed done.”

  Vitala nodded. “I’ll return to the palace and await news from the Legaciatti.”

  Rayn led Celeste away from the plaza and to their horses.

  “At least we know,” said Celeste.

  “Yes,” said Rayn, pulling himself into the blood bay’s saddle. “But it creates a political dilemma.”

  Celeste mounted her gray gelding. “How so?”

  “Some people will be bothered by those handbills,” said Rayn. “I understand why he resigned. Lornis’s living arrangements have been an open secret in the Tiasan Palace for over a decade. Some people disapprove, but until now they’ve minded their own business. Now that Worryn’s dragged it into the open, he’s turned Lornis into a political liability.”

  “How much will it affect your chances at ratification?”

  “Hard to say,” said Rayn. “I don’t think the insinuation that Lornis and I were involved with each other will stick. My scandalous and well-known affair with Zoe gives it the lie. But the rest of that handbill is true.”

  “Why should it matter that your adviser sleeps with a man?”

  “Some here think it unseemly. Why, is it accepted in Kjall?”

  “Actually, no,” said Celeste. “It’s illegal. But during Lucien’s reign the law has not been enforced. I know some people who live openly that way.”

  “It’s not illegal in Inya, just frowned upon. Lornis did what he felt he had to do. He hoped to mitigate the damage.” He scowled. “I hope Donyl’s not in danger. Generally Inyans don’t get violent about this kind of thing. But you never know.”

  “I can assign him a guard,” said Celeste.

  R
ayn smiled at her. “You’re such a Kjallan. Guards are your solution to everything.”

  Celeste shrugged. “They work.”

  • • •

  Rayn couldn’t afford to obsess about the situation with Lornis—he had a full afternoon of meetings ahead of him, where he would exchange small talk and not so small talk with influential Tiasans. He put Lornis out of his mind as best he could and redirected any questions he received about his adviser. His anger had ebbed since that initial burst of rage, but the injustice of this treatment of Lornis gnawed at him all day, making him testy.

  Celeste was wonderful. Seeing her today as she made conversation with strangers in meeting after meeting, he would never have guessed she was at heart a shy woman. Her black hair and exotic look appealed to Inyan eyes. While the Tiasans had mixed feelings toward the Kjallan Empire, they did regard the empire with awe, and she was by far the most sought-after conversation partner in the room.

  She was calm, kind, and gracious. He knew she was smoothing over a lot of his rough edges today.

  When they rode back to the palace in the evening, he asked, “How do you do it? You were so quiet when I met you in Kjall.”

  She ducked her head. “That situation was different. You didn’t know it, walking into that dinner, but I knew that Lucien intended to offer me to you as a marriage partner. And I hate being scrutinized, especially in that way.”

  “I hope my scrutiny doesn’t bother you now,” said Rayn.

  “No, you’ve . . . changed my attitude about that quite a bit.” Her cheeks flamed. “But this is different. Mingling, making conversation—back in Kjall, I did these things at imperial events at least once or twice a week. It’s easier when I don’t care deeply what the people think of me. It’s a performance, you know? An act. Inside I’m the quiet girl who wants to go home and work on her math treatise. But I can pretend for a little while.”

  Vitala was waiting for them at the Hibiscus Tower. “We’ve got him,” she said shortly.

  “Please tell me you mean Lornis,” said Rayn.

  “My people caught up with him on a bridle path just outside the city. He’s waiting in your room.”

  He felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. “Thank you.”

  Celeste made her excuses and departed. Rayn suspected she wanted to give him the opportunity to speak privately with Lornis, and he appreciated that.

  A knot of Legaciatti waited at his door. Rayn was ironically amused. He hated door guards, but he’d thrown his lot in with the Kjallans, and now he seemed to be stuck with them everywhere he went. Celeste had even reassigned two of her own guards to him, fearing a last-minute assassination attempt.

  The guards parted to admit him—imagine, needing authorization to enter one’s own room—and he went inside to find Lornis sitting alone at the breakfast table, looking forlorn.

  “I saw the handbills,” said Rayn.

  “I did what had to be done,” said Lornis.

  “You’re not leaving,” said Rayn. “I forbid it.”

  Lornis sighed. “Think about it, Rayn. Ratification is the day after tomorrow. Worryn’s had this in his back pocket the whole time. He’s been waiting to spring it on us, this ugly last-minute attack. There’s a very real chance you could fail ratification because of me. And I’ve worked so hard—for twelve years, Rayn!—to make you king of Inya.”

  “The damage is already done.” Rayn pulled out a chair and sat across from his adviser. “You think I can feign ignorance, pretend I didn’t know about you and Donyl? The whole palace knew. Nobody cared until Worryn decided to make an issue of it.”

  “It doesn’t matter that the palace knew,” said Lornis. “It matters what the people knew. You must disclaim me. Disown me. The people who are bothered by it will be satisfied—”

  “They won’t,” said Rayn. “They’ll think I’m trying to cover something up. If I lie and cut you loose, they’ll know I’m a man who doesn’t stand behind his people, a man who drops his closest friend at the barest whiff of a scandal. You think I’m that sort of man, Lornis?”

  “You can hire me back after ratification,” said Lornis.

  “Pox that,” said Rayn. “You’ve stood with me for over a decade. Now I stand with you.”

  “I want you to be ratified,” said Lornis. “It’s been my life’s work, this past twelve years.”

  “I’ll be ratified with you or not at all,” said Rayn. “I refuse your offer of resignation.”

  “But you already accepted—”

  “No, I didn’t. I ripped it in half. I’m ordering new handbills to be posted tomorrow, declaring my support for you. So you’d better stay. I’ll be taking the heat for it whether you do or not.”

  “Your Highness—”

  “Not another word about it,” said Rayn. “Clasp wrists?”

  Reluctantly, Lornis extended his hand.

  “Let’s go to dinner,” said Rayn.

  32

  The morning before ratification, Celeste was at breakfast in Rayn’s apartment. By virtue of sleeping in the prince’s bed every night, she was learning about him. Small things, like the fact that he preferred to eat the same breakfast every single morning: coffee and a rice dish with vegetables and a fried egg. She found she wanted to know every little thing about him. What were his favorite activities? Did he like books, sports, horses? How did he get that scar on his right elbow?

  She had been eating the same breakfast as Rayn, only substituting chocolate for coffee. She had a feeling she could develop a taste for coffee if she tried—certainly it had a lovely smell—but she had no desire to do so, as long as chocolate continued to exist.

  “You haven’t introduced me to your family yet,” she said.

  Rayn winced. “I know. I’m putting it off.”

  “You already told me about your father’s illness and your mother’s disinterest in caring for him. There are no secrets beyond that, are there?”

  He shook his head. “No secrets. I’ll introduce you, but can it wait until after ratification? I don’t think my family will reflect well on me. Except my sister—you’ll probably like her. I need to ask you, though—how do you feel about Aderyn?”

  “Your daughter? What do you mean, how do I feel about her?”

  “I know she’s illegitimate, but I’d like to raise her within the family, if we marry, and if . . . well, if you approve.” His forehead wrinkled.

  “I’ve no experience with babies,” said Celeste.

  “You won’t have to raise her,” said Rayn. “She has a nurse who looks after her full-time. I just don’t want her to feel unwelcome, especially once we have children of our own. If we have children of our own.”

  She rather hoped they would. “If we marry, Aderyn will be welcome as part of our family.”

  Rayn smiled. He seemed about to say something when a knock came at the door and Lornis was announced. Rayn shook his head ruefully. “We’re never going to have a quiet morning.”

  “Maybe after ratification.” She reached over and squeezed his hand.

  “Come,” Rayn called to the door guards.

  Lornis didn’t look distraught this time, and he wasn’t holding a folded piece of paper. He entered the room with a quick stride and an alert look that made Celeste want to roll her eyes. She was never so bright and eager this early in the day.

  “News?” asked Rayn.

  “A Riorcan ship sailed into the harbor this morning,” said Lornis.

  Celeste sat up straighter, suddenly more alert herself. “Is it Lucien?”

  “He’s on board, yes.”

  Something fluttered in her chest. She’d missed her brother terribly, but her excitement at seeing him again was mixed with trepidation. She was going to have to face the consequences of stealing his ship. “Have you told the empress?”

  “I’m going to
her room next,” said Lornis.

  She glanced regretfully at her half-finished chocolate. “I’ll go with you.”

  Rayn rose from the table. “I’ll go as well.”

  Celeste laid a hand on his arm. “Finish your breakfast. I’ll handle this on my own.”

  “You’ve stood by me. The least I can do is stand by you in return.”

  “If you come, Lucien will think I’m using you as a shield. He won’t feel at liberty to say what he needs to say.”

  “Which is exactly why I should be there.”

  She shook her head. “I need to make things right with him, and that means letting him speak his mind. He won’t be able to do that if you interfere.”

  Rayn growled his displeasure. “This is my country, not his. When I was in Kjall, I obeyed his laws. Now he is a guest in my archipelago, and he must obey mine. I won’t tolerate his treating you ill.”

  “He won’t treat me ill,” said Celeste.

  “Are you sure? He may not beat you, but there are other ways to hurt a person.”

  “It was my own decision to come here—”

  “Pox that,” said Rayn. “You came for my benefit.”

  “It’s not as if you twisted my arm. The conversation will go better if it’s handled as a family matter: just me, Vitala, and Lucien.”

  “Well . . .” He scowled. “I won’t gainsay you. You know your family better than I do.” He maneuvered his big body around the table, slipped an arm around her, and kissed her. “But if the meeting goes badly, summon me at once. No matter what happens, you will always have shelter in Inya.”

  Celeste smiled. Brave words, considering that if he sheltered her from Lucien, he’d be defying a country with an army many times the size of his own. Fortunately, her brother had no interest in war.

  “If you’re ready?” prompted an impatient Lornis.

  Celeste turned to him. “Has the emperor been rowed to shore?”

  “He was still on the ship when I spoke to him by signal,” said Lornis. “But I don’t expect he’ll remain there much longer. Let’s meet him at the harbor before the Land Council gets to him. Not that they’ll do him any harm, but they might whisper some lies into his ear.”