by C. J. Archer
I laughed. “True.”
“Even so, I think he’ll make a good king.”
“So do I,” I said quietly.
“He does have a difficult streak, though. Once he has made up his mind, he rarely changes it.”
I eyed him sideways. “Are you stating a general fact or are you working up to something?”
He huffed out a breath. “It won’t be easy, him being king, but if you have your heart set on him, then I think you’ll make an excellent queen. I like the idea of you ruling over the nobles who once lorded it over you.”
“Only the Deerhorns did that.”
“Is that not enough?” He patted my arm. “It’ll be satisfying seeing them squirm when you take away their wealth and influence. As king, it would be within Dane’s power to strip them of their titles. Now that would be something I’d like to see.”
He snickered, and I nudged him with my elbow. “You’re getting ahead of yourself. Dane says he’s not going to declare himself.”
“He must. We all know it, including you. It’s nothing to be saddened by, Josie. He can marry you, no matter what his mother says. The dukes and other nobles will express their displeasure about it, and present all sorts of reasons why a political alliance would be better, but at the end of the day, the king can do what he wants.” He patted my arm again. “You’ll make a wonderful queen, Josie, and he will make an excellent king. He’s honorable, clever, commanding yet fair, not to mention handsome.”
“I’m quite sure that’s not a requirement for being king.”
“He is also stubborn enough that if he decides on something, he won’t let people like the Deerhorns talk him out of it. He’s the perfect king, in my opinion. With a lovely Glancian wife by his side—you—he cannot fail to win the hearts of the people, especially when they realize he is the answer to avoiding war.”
The end of Balthazar’s walking stick tapped my hip. I didn’t realize he’d been so close. Dane walked a little behind him, talking quietly with Quentin. As if he knew I were watching him, his gaze lifted and connected with mine.
“Theodore and I are of like mind,” Balthazar said. “There’s no reason you can’t be queen.”
“Not you too,” I said on a sigh. “It would be very unpopular, and not just with the nobles. The people will want a princess, someone born to the role.” And I knew precisely who would make an excellent queen. Princess Illiriyia was regal to her core.
“They’ll grow to love you,” Theodore said.
Balthazar nodded. “Having a Glancian woman as queen will please the people, and you will become used to the role and responsibility in time.”
I snorted. “I doubt it.”
“You are the most adaptable and clever woman I know,” he said.
“Balthazar, you know five women in total.” I indicated Kitty, Meg, Yelena and Martha, up ahead. “Besides, we all know Princess Illiriya should marry the next king of Glancia. A marriage alliance will stop her father from invading and trying to take the crown for himself. It’ll shore up peace between the two nations.”
Their silence was all the proof I needed that they agreed.
“Not you too,” I heard Dane growl at Quentin.
I turned to see him striding towards me, a thunderous scowl darkening his brow. “Dane?”
He grabbed my hand. “Listen to me,” he said to Quentin, Theodore and Balthazar. “I will not be taking the Glancian throne. Not only do I not want it, there is also no evidence that I am Prince Hugo’s son. That is the end of it. Talk about me being king ends here and now. Understand?”
Theodore nodded, but Balthazar merely forged ahead at his slow pace, one hand on his walking stick, the other tucked behind his back.
Dane frowned after him. “Pigheaded old man.”
“I heard that,” Balthazar said over his shoulder.
“You were meant to.”
Balthazar stopped up ahead with the others. I initially thought they were waiting for us but noticed they all stared at one particular ship, moored amongst the others at the dock. The figurehead of Merdu clutching sword and shield on the brigantine’s bow glinted gold in the sunlight, but it was the flapping flags that drew my attention. There were two. One sported the Vytill flag of a white diamond on a blue background, while the other depicted the royal family’s emblem of a hawk with outstretched wings clutching an eye in its beak. This ship was reserved for the Vytill king’s personal use.
Quentin swore. “We have to get aboard and hide. If he finds out we’re here, he’ll come for what we promised him.”
“We’ll tell him we don’t have the gem and wishes,” Theodore said, but not even he seemed convinced that King Phillip would believe us and simply let us go.
We had betrayed him by promising what we didn’t have and killing the guards he sent to bring us back as we fled his country. If he learned we were nearby, he would enact his revenge, no matter that we were on Dreen soil.
Quentin was right. We had to hide on our boat and hope the captain was ready to set sail sooner rather than later.
Chapter 6
Our boat was anchored far enough from the Vytill royal ship that we could not easily be seen from it, but we remained cautious and went immediately below deck. Dane asked the captain to join us and inquired after our departure.
“We leave tomorrow, as planned,” Captain Obsidian said. “The Dreen customs officers are methodical. Too bloody methodical to make an earlier departure.”
“The king of Vytill’s ship is docked here,” Dane went on. “We ran afoul of his laws when we passed through Merrin and don’t want to attract his attention. Please inform your sailors not to discuss who you have on board.”
“My men are used to keeping quiet.”
I’d suspected he might be a smuggler, and his answer had confirmed it. I felt relieved to have a fellow fugitive on our side.
“Besides, it ain’t the king on that ship,” the captain went on, one hand on the ladder. “It’s the princess.”
We released a collective sigh of relief.
“Thank Hailia it’s her,” Kitty said as she leaned against a wall.
“Why?” Yelena asked. “Is she not out for revenge too?”
“She understood why I promised the gem and wishes when I didn’t have them,” I told her. “It was the only way to save Dane’s life, and she was kind enough to let us leave the city, as long as we didn’t return.”
Yelena nodded, thoughtful. “She is a fair ruler. If women could rule, she would make a better monarch than her fool of a brother, the heir.”
I returned to the quarters I shared with the other women and lay on the narrow bed with my eyes closed. Princess Illiriya was fair and kind, strong and capable. She would be an excellent queen. And Dane would make an excellent king. Together, they would make Glancia a vibrant, progressive and just country. They were what Glancia needed as its wealth increased from more trade. The entire Fist would become more peaceful with an alliance forged between Glancia and Vytill through their marriage.
All these things swirled in my head as I lay there, feeling as though my heart was sinking through my chest into the mattress. It was impossible to shake the melancholy that had settled over me since learning of Dane’s birthright. His choice in Freedland had been relatively easy. His choice in Glancia less so. Much less.
I must have drifted off to sleep because I awoke to Meg leaning over me, shaking me awake. I sat up in a hurry, almost butting her head with my own.
“What is it, Meg? What’s wrong?”
“Princess Illiriya is on board. Dane wanted me to fetch you.”
I gasped. “Has she brought guards to arrest us?”
Her eyes twinkled like stars. “It seems she merely came to wish us well on our journey.”
“Oh. That’s odd,” I said as we headed down the corridor to the captain’s cabin. “How did she know we were docked here? Did one of the sailors let it slip?”
Her lips flattened. “Yelena fetched her. Apparently sh
e thinks the princess will be a worthy ally if Dane takes the Glancian throne. But I don’t see how. She has no power over her father. That was proved when she couldn’t free Dane in Merrin.”
I knew why Yelena really wanted Princess Illiriya on board, and it wasn’t for her influence with King Phillip. She hoped that the more Dane got to know her, the more accepting he’d be when she was presented to him as his future wife and queen.
I shook the notion off. I was being ridiculous and jealous. Dane would never set me aside, not even if it meant he could rule the Fist in its entirety.
I pushed open the door and forced a smile to my lips as I curtseyed for the princess.
“Josie,” she said, putting out a hand as I rose. “I’m so happy and relieved to see you safe and well.”
I kissed her hand and kept my smile in place. “You look well too, your highness.”
“Travel agrees with me. I adore seeing new places. I rarely get away from home, but I insisted on this journey. I’m visiting the far flung corners of Vytill on behalf of my father. It’s been so long since he has visited the outlying villages and there are many responsibilities keeping him in Merrin, so I offered to go in his stead. We’re traveling the length of the river to visit the villages on the Vytill side, but Upway is the only city large enough for us to make repairs to our ship, so we’ll anchor here for a few days. How fortunate that our paths have crossed.”
I glanced towards Dane, standing at Balthazar’s shoulder by the table in the center of the room. Theodore was with them and Yelena sat on one of the dining chairs. She was the only one smiling.
I turned to Meg to ask her to stay, but she was already bowing out of the room. “How fortunate indeed,” I said to the princess.
“Please, be seated,” she said as if it were her ship. “All of you. Come, Dane, you too. There is no need for ceremony. We are all friends, especially now.”
“Why now?” I asked carefully.
But I knew. I knew. It was the reason Yelena was the only one of our party who looked pleased.
“My mother met with Princess Illiriya,” Dane explained. “She invited her here for refreshments.”
He indicated the wine cups on the table as Theodore poured another for me. The cups were plain tin, the room also plain with little adornment. It smelled of fish and faintly of sweat. The princess wouldn’t be used to such conditions, but she made no sign that her surroundings disgusted her.
“On the way, Yelena told her highness that my father was Prince Hugo.” Dane raised his glass in salute of his mother.
Her smile withered beneath his scowl. “The princess could be a valuable ally, when the time comes,” she said.
Dane grunted. “It seems Bal agrees.”
I arched my brows at Balthazar and he nodded, although the cool glare he slid in Dane’s direction left me in no doubt he disliked Dane’s sarcastic tone.
“I’ve been thinking about the situation,” Balthazar said, “and that of Glancia, and I agree with Yelena. Dane should become king. It’s the best course of action for the country and its people. It will avoid war.”
“You don’t have to sell the idea to me, Bal,” I said gently.
He released a breath.
Dane sat forward. “Josie?”
“I know what you becoming king means. It’s a good thing for Glancia.” I looked down at my hands folded in my lap. “I might not personally like it, but Glancia needs you.”
He sat back slowly, his brow furrowed in question.
“Let’s not make hasty decisions,” Yelena said. “This requires consideration and planning. Knowing we have the princess’s support is one step up the ladder but there are more rungs to climb.”
“Agreed,” Balthazar said.
I wondered if Yelena had already promised the princess that Dane would marry her if he became king. She was good at betrothing him to make alliances.
“Have you had recent news of Glancia?” I asked the princess. “How close is a war between the dukes?”
“Very.”
“Thanks to your father’s interference,” Dane said.
“If it’s true that he sent false reports to the dukes to mislead them about the amount of support they had, I am truly sorry.” She did not flinch from his hard glare but met it with fortitude. “The situation in Glancia is dire. War could be announced within days.”
“Days!” Theodore cried.
“I’ll write to the dukes again, advising restraint.” Dane shook his head. “But I doubt they’ll listen to me.”
Yelena set her palms flat on the table. “They will if you inform them that you are the true son of Prince Hugo.”
“We’ve been through this. They won’t accept me without evidence.”
“It’ll give them a reason to pause. Send letters to both dukes, the advisors and ministers, and the high priest and declare yourself. It might be enough to delay a war while they investigate your claim. It’s the only way, Dane. You know it is.”
She was right. A delay would give us time to reach Glancia, where Balthazar and Dane could speak to the dukes face to face and try to convince them that the only person to benefit from a war now would be King Phillip. It was the wisest course of action.
But Dane didn’t agree. “I will send letters, but not to announce myself as the heir. The letters will mention our suspicions of interference and request the dukes meet us upon our return to the palace. Your highness, when we last met, you said you didn’t want your father taking the Glancian throne. Has your opinion changed?”
She hesitated.
“You are among friends here,” Yelena assured her.
Princess Illiriya swallowed heavily but otherwise kept her composure. “I am against war, whether in my country or a neighboring one. I wish to spend my entire life on the Fist, not on distant shores I know nothing about, and that means keeping Glancia and the other Fist nations independent to ensure all potential marital prospects remain available to me. I will do what I can to help you, but I am in no position to act against my father’s interests.”
“I understand,” Dane said.
“And yet I sense you have a request for me?”
“Vytill ships come and go from this port all the time, and some of them are very fast vessels. If Balthazar and I write those letters now and we give them to you, sealed, will you see that they’re delivered as quickly as possible by one of the ships heading to Tilting?”
The princess hesitated before nodding. “If they are sealed, I can’t possibly know what’s in them. I’ll wait while you write.”
Dane and Balthazar rose and moved to the captain’s desk in the corner of the room where the inkstand had been nailed to the desk surface to stop it sliding off in rough weather. They set to work immediately.
Yelena indicated to Theodore to refill the princess’s wine cup. “You are very brave, highness. Your courage is appreciated and, dare I say it, admired.” Her gaze drifted to Dane, leaning over Balthazar at the desk.
If the princess understood Yelena’s meaning, she didn’t show it. “I wish I could do more. Glancia has been a good neighbor to Vytill, particularly now as displaced residents from The Thumb flee to Mull.”
Theodore set the cup down before her, thumping it a little too hard on the table. Wine almost sloshed over the rim. It was uncharacteristic behavior by the usually smooth valet. “It’s surprising not more has been done to help those people resettle on the Vytill mainland,” he said.
Yelena went quite still, but Princess Illiriya fixed a concerned frown on him. “I see it troubles you as much as it troubles me. Our people are free to move where they wish, of course, even if it means they leave Vytill. That is the freedom we all enjoy with peace on the peninsula. However, I think it’s only right that we do more for those who can no longer find work in Port Haven. I’ve spoken with one of my father’s advisors, who thinks as I do, and he is in the early stages of planning the resettlement of skilled labor to Skene, a small port in the south that will become Vytill’s m
ain trading center. I only wish we could have managed to do something earlier. I’ll always regret that we did not.”
“We women can only do so much,” Yelena assured her. “Your people are fortunate to have such a kind yet determined princess. Perhaps one day, you will have more influence. A good king should listen to his queen, particularly a queen skilled in the art of diplomacy as you are.”
Every word felt like the nick of a blade tip on my skin. I was not skilled in anything except doctoring. Diplomacy was an art I lacked, as was ruling. Yelena knew the power of words and had designed her speech to point out my deficiencies while conveying her wish to the princess that she would make the perfect queen for Dane.
Princess Illiriya could not have failed to understand Yelena’s meaning, however she continued to talk about the plans for enlarging Skene’s port as well as build a new one on the Vytill banks of Lake Torment. She must have been involved in the planning because she knew quite a lot of detail, including the value of trade lost by the Rift and an estimate of what could be regained in twelve months. Clearly she wasn’t just kind and diplomatic. She knew about economics and trade, too.
She would be an asset to Glancia, and to a man who would need a steadying hand to guide him.
I looked to Dane, still dictating to Balthazar. Broad shoulders and a strong back would be required to be king, not just physically but metaphorically too. He would make a better king than either of the dukes. He was precisely what Glancia needed and wanted, and I could see him sitting on the throne, the crown on his head, reigning over people who adored him.
And when I saw Dane on the king’s throne, I saw Illiriya beside him as his queen.
We decided not to stop in Tilting any longer than necessary for fear of being recognized. We didn’t want word reaching the Deerhorns and Brant of our return to Glancia before we arrived in Mull. If they learned we were back, they’d stop at nothing to force us to give up the gem. We needed to catch Brant by surprise, not the other way around, and that meant we must continue on as quickly as possible. Even so, we could not leave Tilting until the afternoon of the day we docked. There were horses and carriages to hire, and provisions to purchase.