by Kova, Elise
“What is this?” Ellene finally spoke up. It was unusual for the girl to be so quiet, and the fact only emphasized how much Andru’s sheer presence could change their dynamic. “A promotion?”
“I’ve been appointed as a royal guard.” She raised her head, looking directly at Vi. “Your royal guard, to be specific. I will oversee your protection and guard detail, if you’ll have it.”
Vi could practically explode with excitement and she struggled to keep her face passive and manicured, especially in front of Andru. “Of course I’ll have it. You have been a loyal courier of mine for years; we all know that you can gracefully endure my various quirks.”
“You’re too hard on yourself.” Jayme gave a small smile.
“No, that’s about right,” Ellene muttered, finally breaking from decorum. Vi successfully fought a grin.
“You will be staying as well then? You will not be going home this winter?”
She shook her head. “I’ll be here until the Imperial parade comes to collect you this spring… and then after that also, naturally.”
Imperial Parade comes to collect you this spring. The words rang in Vi’s ears. She’d never heard something so wonderful and yet so hard to comprehend. There was some kind of disconnect. A wave of familiarity came over her, as though she was living a moment she’d dreamed thousands of times.
Likely, because she was.
Vi felt dizzy all over again. She shifted the grip on her box. It only contained letters but they were as heavy as a powder keg. Depending on what was written in them, it might be just as explosive. Vi could only imagine what her brother had to say about the newest development Andru revealed.
“I will be assessing Jayme as well.” There was that terrible word again from Andru’s lips. Assessing. “It’s quite a strange affair to see a common-born courier appointed to soldier so young. By the Empress Vhalla Solaris herself, no less.”
“Jayme is no mere courier,” Vi said defensively.
“She must not be, given the circumstances.” Andru looked away and then dragged his eyes back to Vi. She fought the urge to squirm under his gaze. The man made her downright uncomfortable. “The Senate wants to make sure you are properly protected, your highness.”
“I have the utmost faith in Jayme.” Vi left no room for debate in the statement. She didn’t like people questioning the merits of her friends—Vi had few enough, and she wanted to keep the ones she did have. “If she feels fit for the job, then I’m certain she is.”
I’m. Vi caught her slip too late. I am. Judging from the slight widening of Andru’s eyes, he hadn’t missed it. She hastily continued speaking, as if that could cover it.
“Now, if you will please excuse us. Jayme has letters to deliver to Martis.”
“Yes, of course.” Andru gave another bow of his head. “I shall find my quarters and then yours.”
“Pardon?” Vi stopped mid step, half turned away. “A little bold, is it not? Inviting yourself to the Crown Princess’s chambers?”
“For your lessons,” he clarified.
“Of course…” Vi gave him one last, long look, trying to uncover whatever secrets he was hiding. But the man was a closed book.
It was a good thing books of all kinds were Vi’s specialty.
* * *
The moment the door to her bedroom closed and they were alone, Vi put the box on her bedside table and threw her arms tightly around Jayme’s shoulders.
“You are the best birthday present a girl could ask for.”
“It’s good to see you too.” Jayme gave Vi a small pat on the back. “While it wasn’t intended, I’m glad I could make it by your birthday. Honestly, I didn’t know if I was going to make it at all before the new year.”
“Really?” Vi pulled away, looking into the familiar set of hazel eyes she hadn’t seen for over two months. “The passages are that bad this year?”
“Worse than ever.” Jayme gave a small nod and paused to give Ellene a tight hug next. “Winter came early, and in a bad way. The passes are becoming too treacherous for even the largest warstriders trained in ice and snow.”
“Well, I’m glad you made it safely.”
“I always do my best to deliver you a taste of home.”
“Yes, speaking of…” Vi looked from the box to her friend. Her head was spinning. Vi pulled her hair over her shoulder and fussed with the ends of her braids, giving her fingers something to do.
“What’s happening there? An Imperial Parade? Spring? Andru?” Ellene asked in Vi’s stead, as if sensing her tension.
“There’s a lot going on at the capital,” Jayme affirmed. “I’m sure your letters detail it better than I could.”
“Give me the quick summary. I may not have time to read them all before my lesson,” Vi urged, impatient. “You always have the best pieces of news that no one else writes about.” No one but her brother. Romulin rarely spared details, one of many reasons why she went for his letters first.
“You’ve heard the quick summary already…” Jayme ultimately obliged her. “The Senate is determined to bring you back South, no more delays or excuses.”
Finally. “What made them suddenly demand it?”
“A number of things, based on what I heard. But remember, I was only there for a week or so to deliver and collect replies. I’m hardly embroiled in it.” Jayme began to pace as she spoke.
“I know your usual disclaimers.” Vi sat on the bed, pulling her legs up to sit in a crossed position. “I want to hear what you saw, what you think. I value your counsel.”
Jayme stopped, gave Vi a small smile, and then began pacing once more. The tiny expression of gratitude at Vi’s flattery instantly faded away as Jayme’s tone became serious. “The White Death has become much, much worse—that’s a good place to start.”
“The plague? There hasn’t been a single case of it here in Soricium still.” Which was on the list of the many reasons why it had been argued that Vi should stay in the North.
“Soricium no, but—”
“It’s in Shaldan now—to the southwest border,” Ellene finished for Jayme.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Vi looked to Ellene.
“My mother only told me recently… and you know I don’t like speaking about the White Death.”
The last Chieftain of the North, Ellene’s grandmother, had died not more than three years ago of the White Death, after heading West to Norin at the request of the Empress and Lady of the West. She’d gone to see if the strange yet powerful magic of Yargen could be of any help to the efforts to find a cure.
“Not to linger…” Jayme continued with an apologetic look toward Ellene. “But with the knowledge of the disease being here, the argument of keeping you here to protect you has vanished. In addition, your father set out shortly before I did for the Crescent Continent. I think the Senate wants to see you back with your father gone. I think they may feel nervous having neither the Emperor nor heir near them.”
“What?” Vi breathed. “My father left?”
“I’m certain he wrote about it.” Jayme stopped her pacing. “They say a cure for the plague may be found there.”
“So they still are at a loss for how to treat it,” Vi muttered. She turned to her box, plucking it off her nightstand. “Thank you, Jayme. I want to catch up further, but I think you were right and I should read my letters.”
“Don’t be too shocked that I was right,” Jayme remarked dryly.
Vi gave a snort of amusement, eyes flicking up. “How I’ve missed that wit of yours.”
“Careful, you may get more than—” before Jayme could say anything further, her head jerked toward the heavy wooden door. Vi’s followed as the sounds of movement and muffled voices grew on the other side.
“That must be Andru arriving with your tutors,” Jayme whispered.
“Aren’t they noisy?” Ellene frowned. “He comes in here like he owns the place.”
“He has that air about him. Well, I don’t know… Somet
hing is off…” Jayme’s frown deepened. She sat quickly on the edge of Vi’s bed, leaning in. There was a tension that hadn’t been in her actions before, not even when she was talking about the plague. “Listen, Vi. You need to be careful about him. I was with him for over two weeks on the road and have barely learned more than his pedigree. But I can tell you this: the Head of Senate, Lord Tomson, will do you no favors. Tomson is vocal about his concern for you taking the throne, and in the wake of the White Death worsening, the people are getting desperate… desperate enough to listen.”
“What are you saying?” Vi whispered back. Her mind had already connected the dots, but she didn’t want to see the words the lines spelled out. She’d do anything to ignore them.
“I’m saying that some say the crown may no longer be needed. That the Senate can represent the people alone.”
“What?” Vi hissed. “They have no right.”
“They don’t. They don’t, alone. But if they make the people believe the future of the crown is unstable—if you are unstable—then…” Jayme paused, letting the rest go unsaid. “The people are a powerful force if they unite behind a banner, and getting Andru on your side may be the only thing that could prevent such a tide from rising.”
“I don’t…” She didn’t understand? No, that wasn’t it. Vi understood perfectly, so perfectly that it was agonizing. She didn’t want to understand.
“Read your letters, and look for any advice on the political climate. There won’t be mention of Andru in there; the Senate practically ambushed me with him at the last minute after the letters were written. I’m going off the rumors of the people, which are always to be taken with a grain of salt. You may be able to derive better insights than I. But I do know that nothing good will come if you lead Andru to believe you’re anything other than the perfect princess the Senate wants.”
Perfect princesses didn’t speak back to their tutors, or fantasize about running off at the first possible opportunity. Nor did they debate strong opinions about the senate as Vi so often had. Every one of her teachers had been hand-appointed by the Senate. How could she have been so reckless as to feel comfortable?
A cold chill tingled down Vi’s spine. She felt as though she was about to be sick.
Unfortunately for Vi, she’d have to shove aside the queasy feeling, as a knock on the door brought their conversation to a close.
“Princess?” Martis asked through the door.
“Enter.” Vi stood, in the same motion opening her box and selecting a letter at random. The seal was broken and parchment unfurled by the moment the door was opened in full, revealing her tutors—Martis, Callope, Fredrik—along with Jax and Andru. Jayme was off the bed, standing two steps away, rigid. Ellene leaned against the wall by the bathroom door.
“I do believe it’s time for your lesson. We have much to go over,” Martis said.
“Yes, of course.” Vi made a show of rolling up the parchment as though she’d been engrossed in its contents. “I was trying to get a head start on reading through my correspondence.”
“There will be plenty of time for that.” Andru’s eyes met hers. Ice blue, Vi decided, his eyes were ice blue and void of all warmth. “You shall have all winter, before the Imperial Parade arrives, and there will be no more letters in or out until then.”
No more letters meant that whatever information her box, and Jayme, contained was all Vi had to work with. She would get no advice from her brother, and no insights from her parents. Vi pressed her lips into a thin smile, trying to use the expression to conceal the pain that heavy stone was still inflicting in her stomach.
“You are very right.” Vi closed her box, standing as straight as possible. Panicking didn’t change her situation. She would keep herself together, and learn all she could. Vi had been groomed from birth to play the games of nobility. She smiled at each of them, the expression of a perfect princess, even when worry threatened to burn her alive. “Well then, shall we begin?”
Chapter Five
Vi eased herself down into the chair behind her desk as though it were a throne. As though she wasn’t completely surrounded by the men and woman who sought to pass judgment on her. Her eyes fluttered closed and she took a small, stabilizing breath.
She needed to keep her head about her. Her magic seemed erratic—more so than normal today—and the last thing she wanted was it running away on a rogue emotion and causing a mishap in front of Andru. She needed to be a perfect princess, just as Jayme had said.
Vi opened her eyes once more. They had all been waiting for her to speak as the highest rank among them. Silence can be control, her father had told her once. This was the first time she felt she truly exercised it.
“Let us start from the beginning. I would rather not have the details, and thus my understanding, be in pieces.” Vi looked to Andru, folding her hands on the desk.
“Yes, your highness.” Andru gave a small bow of his head and took the floor. He produced a small folded envelope, a broken seal bearing the blue signet of the Senate. Handing it to Vi, he paraphrased: “Your upbringing has been unconventional. As a result, many are concerned if you will truly rule with the Empire’s best interests in mind.
“Since the Senate helps bridge the people and the crown, I have been sent to compose an assessment of what you have learned and your overall demeanor. This will help the Senate give you their vote of confidence immediately on returning home.”
Vi had a few things she could think of that the Senate should be doing rather than assessing her—chief among them was not meddling with her family. Her rule did not have to be complicated and she had no idea why the Senate was making it out to be.
“Why the urgency?” Vi asked, already suspecting the answer based on her discussion with Jayme. “The Senate can assess me in full when I return home in the spring. I will not sit the throne for many years, so even the people will have a chance to come to know me when I am no longer bound to Shaldan.”
“As you may have read in your letters, your father has left the capital, and soon the continent. We wish to account for contingencies.”
A nice way of saying, “in case he dies,” and they all knew it. It was the way of royalty; Romulin was the contingency plan for her, she was the contingency plan for her father, alongside her mother.
“Or perhaps you could consider me collateral.” Andru shifted his weight from side to side, glancing askance. “To ensure that Chieftain Sehra will not do anything to try to keep you. The Imperial parade will come to collect me as the son of Head of Senate, ensuring your return as well.”
Her own lips turned into a bitter smile. He wasn’t nearly as valuable as she was. If the Senate changed their mind on making the trip for her, then the trip wouldn’t be made, regardless of who else was stuck with her.
“Yes, well, it is not as if I can send you away, even if I wanted to.” Jayme said the passages were too perilous now for safe travel. They were trapped together, for better or worse, for a winter. “So how will your assessment work?”
“I will sit in on all your lessons.” He lifted a folio off the desk her tutors usually used. “I have notes from the Senate of things they wish to see, certain subjects they want reported on. As you might imagine, princess, they are keen to learn more of your politics.”
Vi gripped her hands tighter still. Now she was to be graded like a child. They didn’t respect her, or her authority.
She took a calming breath, squelching her eager spark to show them all why they should heed her. If this was what she must do, then she would do it gracefully.
“I fear you shall be bored, but do as you like.” Nothing in Vi’s words betrayed the swirling emotion within her.
“Well then, now that we are all acquainted, I would like to begin that half lesson you promised me, princess,” Martis interjected.
“Yes, certainly, I am ready when you are.”
Martis moved behind the desk. Andru moved for a chair in the back corner of the room. Something about havin
g him sit off to her side and behind her right shoulder had Vi uneasy. But there was little she could do other than sit straighter and try to ignore him entirely.
“Since I am still going through my letters, let us resume with our discussion from two days ago, if you please.”
She didn’t please, if Vi was being honest.
More than anything she wanted a few solid hours with herself to regain her mental footing. Her eyes drifted to Jax for support, but he was already leaving the room.
Outwardly, she’d be the princess, while inwardly she’d boil from her magic super-heating her nerves.
“Yes, Martis, where shall we resume the discussions?” Vi said as the door closed behind her last tutor, leaving her alone with Martis and Andru.
“We had been talking about the nature of the Senate.” What an apt thing to be discussing now with Andru in the room. “Our last lesson had ended before you could answer my question.”
“Please refresh my memory.” Vi remembered perfectly, she just hoped to look for an opening to change the topic.
It didn’t work, and Vi settled in for several long hours of tutelage.
* * *
She had never been so exhausted at the end of a day of lessons. It felt like an entire lifetime had transpired. She’d woken up before dawn and now emerged from her classroom after the sun had set.
But her back was still rigid, a relaxed expression turned into a small smile as she thanked her final tutor and sent him away. Andru was close behind but he paused in the doorway.
“Thank you for allowing me to sit in on your lessons.”
“You’re welcome.” He was as welcome as a viper in her bed. Vi wanted him gone. She wanted him gone as badly as she wanted out of her formal clothes, which at that moment was very badly.
“I look forward to the next time we have lessons together. But I hear that will be in a few days’ time, as you are going on a hunt.”
“Yes, I am quite excited.” What Vi really wanted to say was that if he tried to do something to take her hunt from her, she’d burn him to ash where he stood. “Leaving Soricium is a gift from Sehra. She gives her blessing for it every year.”