Tinderbox Under Winter Stars

by Emma Sterner-Radley

  He peered at her. “You sound, uh, what’s the word… spectacle? Are you sek…scek… sceptical about my wife’s beauty, madam?”

  He had shouted the last words, and the redhead’s eyes went wide. Then she laughed. “No, she’s very fine-looking.” Albert kept peering at her, as if doubting her sincerity. She cleared her throat and added, “Had she been single, I would’ve courted her. Even if I don’t have an impressive job, yes?”

  There were genial chuckles around the table. Albert's face split into a wide grin.

  “Good. Good. She is a princess amongst dogs. She told me that Joiners Square was growing rotten.”

  “And right she was,” the big man said. “More and more people notice. But no one says anything, yes? No one wants to court trouble. Everybody wants to be loyal, to stay in their favour. All to be safe, getting better jobs, and more coin.”

  “Better houses, too,” Anja added. “Joiners Square can do a lot for you as long as you don’t question them. That’s why I’ve had to tiptoe with my book. If I’m too openly critical of Joiners Square – boom – my house gets vandalised or the publisher for my book withdraws her offer.”

  The man with the wiry beard pointed to her. “Aye! People are seeing that now, they’re starting to question them, yes? We in the underground found each other and then allies in the Viss. The Wayfarers, too, but they’re hard to find since they never stay in one place. There are people who’ll bring Joiners Square down. People who’ll fight no matter how impossible the battle looks, yes? The little critter can fight the big monster, if it just tries its best and gets help.”

  Everyone cheered, and someone appeared to make a toast. Nessa didn’t quite hear it. She kept mulling those last words over in her mind.

  Can it be that simple? Can I take on more if I simply dare to… try? Surely not.

  She looked at her hands. Calloused and small. Not the hands of a hero. But the hands of someone who had always tried, in the end. Those hands had gotten her this far. Furthermore — she looked around the table – she had help.

  Albert banged his glass on the table. “Yes! I can do anything, even if I’m a small man. I’ll get a job with the new gov-tent… government. They’ll employ me, praise me, write songs about me. Then I’ll get tattoos and, after that, my Eleonora will be unable to ever keep her hands off me!”

  There was another cheer. Everyone seemed to indulge Albert, but Nessa noticed that the Viss, who had not spoken, stared at him as if he was from another world.

  Makes sense. They’re Viss and he used to be Joiners Square. Also, he’s Albert.

  She had seen the Viss rebels around the ship, always helping the crew when they could. Quiet but generous.

  She had avoided them all, she realised. Not just because she’d been brooding but because without Elise, she’d reverted to avoiding people. Back to her own shy, people-fearing ways. She needed to learn to be braver and practice her social skills without Elise. She had to learn a lot of things if this was to go well.

  Eleonora came back without Sonja and launched straight into a dance when she heard the music. Albert abandoned his vodka and threw himself at his wife shouting about “dancing with the sweetest girl on the steamer.”

  Nessa was happy to see how thrilled Eleonora looked with the compliment. Those two only had eyes for each other, even after so many years of marriage. Would she and Elise be afforded that luxury?

  Clearly Anja was pondering their marriage, too. “Strange to imagine being so happy for so long. It was what I always wanted. What I, for a while, thought I had.”

  “With Diinna?” Nessa ventured.

  Anja said nothing for a while, then she nodded slowly, eyes fixed on the dancing couple.

  Nessa looked down at the vodka Albert had poured for her. “May I ask what happened between you two?”

  Anja swallowed visibly and then got up and walked out.

  Nessa was left sitting there, watching Anja with concern churning in her stomach.

  A short man with the telltale white hair of the Viss leaned over the table to be heard over the music. “I was there, you know. I worked with Diinna back when they were together.”

  As with Diinna, his Arclidian was exceptional. Nessa wondered if the Viss were always better at Arclidian than the Wayfarers and Sundes.

  Hunter jolted forwards. “Oh! Bjorn, is it not? Can you tell us what happened? Or is it a secret?”

  The short man mumbled, “It’s Björn, actually.” He hummed uncertainly. “Well, everyone who was there knew about it, so it’s not really a secret. Anja and Diinna were together for years. They met at an equal rights rally, when Anja still worked at the school and Diinna had recently arrived for her post at the embassy. She, I, and Ravna over there,” he pointed to a woman opposite, “arrived together, actually, since we came from the same area. Diinna was ambitious even then. Pleasant but addicted to work.”

  Nessa smiled. “Sounds like she would get along well with Anja.”

  He shrugged. “Storsund work ethic, nothing special about that trait. But yes, they shared it. They also shared a thirst for knowledge. And the fight for equal rights for Sundes, Viss, and the Wayfarers.”

  “Subsequently, they met, found they had things in common, and were together for years. We are up to speed now. Then what? What happened that was so horrible that it broke Anja like this?” Hunter asked, real concern in his voice.

  Björn looked down, scratching his neck. “Their relationship was always fraught. But there was one occasion which marked the end.” He lowered his voice, now barely audible in the noisy room. “On the day of her mother’s funeral, Anja found Diinna in a compromising situation in the bathroom. With Anja’s friend, Matthias.”

  Hunter hissed as if in pain.

  Nessa gaped. “The man who died in the accident where Anja lost her arm?”

  “Exactly. Their mountain climb was a year later, so obviously Anja forgave him. But not Diinna. Actually, the funeral wasn’t the first time Anja caught Matthias and Diinna together. Anja and Diinna were known for cheating on each other. Then they’d confess, fight about it, and get back together.”

  “So, it was not the cheating Anja could not forgive?” Hunter asked.

  “No. It was the timing and how publicly Diinna did it. It must’ve been to punish Anja for something? For two private people, their stormy relationship was always very public. They simply weren’t good together.”

  “It certainly doesn’t sound like it,” Nessa agreed.

  Björn sat back, clearly saddened by the memories. Hunter upended his glass, looking at the door through which Anja had left.

  The two ship’s officers launched into a new song, this one a ballad. Everyone watched them for a moment. Then the Viss began speaking amongst themselves in their own language.

  Hunter poured Nessa another shot and shoved a bowl of dried sunberries over. “Have some of these, apparently they keep seafaring folk from getting scurvy.”

  “Hunter, we’re not in the olden days. People eat varied diets. They don’t get scurvy,” Nessa said patiently. She still ate some berries to soak up the alcohol.

  Hunter tapped his fingers on the table in time with the music. “Are you all right?

  Nessa looked down while searching for an answer. “No. But… maybe I will be.”

  “You will. You are so much more capable than you think. Anyway, sad to hear about Anja and Diinna. Bad form, that.”

  “Very sad and very bad,” Nessa agreed. Despite the unhappy tale, the alcohol and the company were having a pleasant effect. Muscles popped in her tight jaw and her shoulders dropped from up by her ears.

  Hunter frowned. “Speaking of Diinna. Do you remember when she mentioned that there was someone waiting in the wings at court, ready to take the throne if we finally ousted the Queen?”

  Nessa swallowed down her vodka. “Yes, I remember.”

  “Do you happen to know who that person is?” Hunter shouted, to be heard over the upbeat song that now started.

&n
bsp; “No. Do you?”

  He bit his lip. “I have a guess. If I am remembering my schooling properly. Sadly, I did not attend many lessons before I had to quit to help my fathers at work.”

  There was a crash against the table as Albert and Eleonora danced into it.

  As Eleonora started to apologise, she stopped herself and exclaimed, “You two! You’re not dancing. Such crime, yes? Albert, dance with one of them and I’ll dance with the other. They’re too young and sweet to sit here and drink in unhappiness.”

  With that, both Hunter and Nessa were pulled up on the dance floor and conversation was lost in an evening of vodka, music, and trying to chase away the destiny that awaited them on the distant shore.

  Chapter 34

  Elisandrine and Marianna

  Elise woke with a start and blinked into the darkness. The door handle had slowly been pulled down, that was what had awoken her. Or had she imagined it? Was it the shrooms playing tricks with her mind again? The door began to open, letting in a shaft of frail light.

  Not imagined, then. Surely, it must be the middle of the night. Who would come in here now? Why have the guards not stopped them?

  Striding into the room was the Queen. Of course. Her Royal Highness could come and go as she pleased. Elisandrine watched the figure in an elaborate nightdress, and holding an equally elaborate candelabra, close the door behind her.

  “My Queen. To what do I owe this late-night visit?” she whispered, not sure why she didn’t speak in normal tones.

  “Late night or early morning? Are you so sure what time of day it is, sweet fire-starter?”

  “Stop trying to confuse me. Your shrooms do enough of that already.” Elise realised her anger was showing and that she was meant to keep the Queen sweet. She added a smile and the words, “I believe it to be night. Am I incorrect, Your Majesty?”

  “No. It is twenty minutes past two.”

  “I see. Trouble sleeping, Your Majesty?”

  “Not exactly. More along the lines of… boredom. I thought I would come see how my guest was before returning to bed.”

  Elise inwardly scoffed.

  Fine. We shall pretend that you are not here because of your frustration at my lack of submission.

  “How can I assist with that, Your Royal Highness? I would suggest a midnight picnic, but sadly, I am confined to this room.”

  The Queen grimaced, but Elise couldn’t find it in herself to regret her words.

  Queen Marianna strode towards her, stopping at the foot of the bed. “There are ways of entertaining me in your room, sweetest Elise.”

  The silence in the room was deafening. Elise weighed her options.

  She examined the figure still looming at the end of the bed. Marianna Hargraves was as tall, as high-cheekboned, and as strikingly imperial as always. But the latter seemed affected, no longer an obvious trait but something she had to fight to uphold. She wasn’t even as beautiful as Elise had remembered. Her selfishness and cruel deeds seemed to show in her callous face and her cold, pale body.

  Elise searched herself for a trace of the unwelcome arousal she had felt in the past. Then she searched for the feeling that the Queen saw right though her and could control her. She found none.

  I am done with her. Done with unwanted desire. Done with being frightened of her. Done feeling anything but pity towards her.

  Elise kept examining the woman in front of her. All the glamour was falling away, revealing cold, hard facts. This selfish creature had taken advantage of her low self-esteem. And the loneliness which Elise’s mother’s neglect and the loss of her father had instilled in her. That was all over now. Elise was a different person, she had seen what other lives there were out there. Real lives outside of court, which had strife and trouble, but were free. Free from manipulation, from being beholden, and certainly from frequent imprisonment.

  Elise smiled to herself.

  I no longer need her validation. I have learned that I am a good life partner, an attentive friend, a world-wise traveller, and I made the best scented oils in Storsund.

  Truth bred truth and with a lump in her throat, Elise understood what she had never been able to puzzle out before.

  Validation, that was all it was. Never love or admiration. Not even desire, that was merely me punishing myself. I believed the only worth I could have was as an ornament or a lover to be used. I am so much more.

  In response to Elise’s silence, the Queen said, “I know you have needs. And I know that you have treated me kindly, if somewhat aloofly, during your time here. Why not simply give in and allow us both what we want? Pull away the covers, open your legs, and beg for me to come to you. You know I can make everything right.”

  Elise bit her tongue. She knew what she wanted to reply, but she also knew that she didn’t want to be tortured in the morning. The old Elisandrine would have given in, of course. But then, the old Elisandrine would have given in the second she realised that someone wanted her as much as the Queen seemed to. That Elisandrine didn’t exist anymore.

  Elise sat up straighter. “No, thank you. I know I have been saying no in the vaguest ways possible up to this point. Therefore, let me be clear now. No. Absolutely not. Never again. Not even if my life depends upon it.”

  The Queen – no, Marianna. Her name is Marianna. She is just a person – Marianna stomped her bare foot on the marble floor in a way which must have hurt horribly.

  “No! I found you. I brought you all this gods-cursed way! You will beg for me. You will want me. You will pray to be my favourite again,” she hissed.

  Elise pretended to consider this. “Are you talking about me desiring you or loving you? Or perhaps fearing you? Do you even know the difference, Your Majesty?”

  “You cursed, dreadful little harlot,” Marianna bellowed, spitting as she did. “I shall keep you here for the rest of your life. In time, need and your denied love for me will make you plead. And when it does… oh, I will make you beg on your knees for what you want, humiliate yourself for it, and I shall make you wait… until the need nearly kills you.”

  “I think not. However, it sounds like we will have a long time to find out which one of us is right. Which is fine. I am in no hurry. I do not have a nation to run or a throne to defend. Nor enemies around every corner.” Elise smiled. “I have plenty of time and effort to put into merely continuing to not want or love you. You, however… well, I would not deign to assume what time and effort you have to spare.”

  Marianna threw her candelabra against the wall with a roar. It clanked deafeningly while the candles all smashed, spraying melted wax everywhere before their flames went out.

  “Careful, my Queen. You would not want to start a fire,” Elise said.

  The next thing she heard was the door being slammed and bare feet stomping away down the hall. Elise smiled to herself in the dark, and for the first time since her capture, nestled into her bed and fell into deep, restoring sleep.

  Chapter 35

  The Question of Magic

  Marianna looked at the missive she had just signed and felt that vein in her temple pulse. The last three letters of her signature tilted the wrong way. It was a small thing, but it mattered. Everything mattered. Especially anything which could be seen as weakness or distraction. That was what one learned if one had subjects who frequently rebelled.

  “Adaire?”

  She looked up from where she had been refilling Marianna’s second fountain pen. “Yes, my Queen?”

  “How is the mood of the people?”

  “Stable, I believe,” Adaire replied.

  “Really? I thought I heard an uproar outside Highmere’s gates when I was riding yesterday.”

  “I shall look into that, Your Majesty.”

  “Yes, do. Could… there be lingering resentment regarding my hunt for Elise?”

  Adaire handed her the refilled pen, her elegant features blank as usual. “They knew you were distracted when hunting someone and that the hunt is now over. They do not know
that you are holding someone at the castle. Perhaps any uproar is due to raised taxes and the decline in trade with the other nations? Both have hit your people hard, my Queen.”

  Marianna observed Adaire. This was the first time that the chase for Elise hadn’t made Adaire purse her lips and talk about how “misguided” the whole affair was.

  Strange. Is she no longer jealous? Or was it never jealousy to begin with? Could she have considered my distraction bad for my rule, as she claimed?

  Marianna shook her head. She shouldn’t second-guess herself like this.

  Adaire spoke again. “There have been rumblings about the Joiners Square soldiers being here, although that is mainly from the Nobles, the courtiers to be exact, who have chosen to do their luxuriating and trading in gems and gossip elsewhere.”

  “That explains why the castle has been so quiet,” Marianna said with a wink.

  Adaire looked stern. “Nevertheless, you must make court hospitable for the Nobles again, my Queen. You need them on your side. When will the talks with Nordhall be done and they all return to Storsund?”

  “Oh, who can say? Officially, he stays because our trade agreements are not finished. In truth, he stays in the hope that I will reveal the secret of magic now that he has handed me Elise.”

  “Yes, I gathered as much. It has been many weeks since Elise came here. Is he not getting impatient to get his end of the bargain?”

  “Oh, certainly. You know those letters and books I have had you deliver to him? They are all documents which hint at the existence of magic but never quite prove anything. Every time, he thinks I am giving him what he wants. He scours the text and then comes in here shouting in disappointment.”

  “Surely that trick cannot work for long, Your Majesty?”

  Marianna sighed. “No, it cannot. In fact, it is wearing thin.”

  “Then tell him what he wants to know. Or inform him that you shall never tell him.”

  “Tell him? Ha! I would tell him to go learn how to fly off a cliff, but I think that would start a war. And that would endanger my position on the throne, giving the peasants another silly reason to revolt.”