“Oi, what’s wrong Jas? You hot? You’ve gone all pink!”
Bloody Telgeth! “Um, nothing. The Queen just looked at me.”
Telgeth guffawed disbelievingly. “Yeah, sure she did. Hey, she was probably looking at me! Man, I wish I had seen, you should have waved. I would have waved!”
Like hell he would have, I thought. To be caught by those clear, slate-blue eyes was to be frozen in place, stupefied. I thought of Sallagh and the guilt twinged again. I shouldn’t be thinking about the Queen like that. Hell, I probably shouldn’t be thinking about her at all! But she was so immeasurably calm and regal and sort of otherworldly. She had been assessed by Nea’thi and voted into office by a majority of her people, and they can’t all have been wrong. This woman was special.
When the courses had been consumed and the dishes cleared away, the pages had circulated, offering coffees and sweet dessert wines. As the last little page had skipped from the banquet hall, Queen Thaelique rose and the assembly hushed expectantly.
“Dear people of Lille, firstly, on behalf of my Advisor, I would like to thank you all for this marvellous welcome.” Her voice was low and warm but carried over the polite applause of the gathered crowd. “As we saw the sun set on the old year this night, tomorrow will see it rise on a new one. My hope is that it will bring peace and prosperity to the people of the city and indeed, the whole country, and we are honoured to look forward to enjoying it with you, my people of Lille!” The applause was much less polite this time, so emphatic was the crowd in its approval of the Queen’s words. I felt something stir within me, a kind of hope, excitement maybe. This last year felt like it had only begun more than halfway through, when Charlie turned up at the Manor that fateful late-summer afternoon. The months at the Hall had been crazy, busy, overwhelming at times, but the weirdness that still lingered about the incident on Samhain and the still-raw wound of Odette’s death seemed momentarily to dissipate. I wondered briefly if the Queen was using Hầұeӣ to emphasise her words, but no, she was not Nea’thi-Blood. The sparks of hope I felt were simply from the power of her words. The Queen and her Advisor were here, here! This new year could not help but be amazing, I was suddenly sure of it.
“Please, let us all relax and enjoy some entertainment. Peace be with you all. So mote it be!” The Queen helped her Advisor to his feet and they led the Lord and Lady of Lille through the door behind the dais. Courtiers moved in and shifted their table back and out to the side, and through the door the Queen had just left by, a group of musicians entered and began to set up on the raised platform. I recognised them immediately as they began to play – they were O’Malley’s group of Nea’thi-Bloods from Allyon that had commanded the headlining slot at the Shivering Thistle for the past few months. It looked as if the party was going to stretch into the night, at least until midnight when we would officially celebrate the turning of the year.
Chairs were scraped back on the tiled floor as guests began to mingle. The Mentors went over to speak to an important-looking group of Nea’thi officials, and I leaned back in my chair, seriously full and possibly a little drunk, after the quantity of good Jaelshead wine that had been served with dinner.
“So, what do you think?” Telgeth asked me.
“Of what?”
“Of what?! The Queen, you idiot!”
“Oh, uh, she seems… nice.”
“Nice!” he exclaimed. “Fyar khanall, Jas, you certainly are a man of understatement, aren’t you. ‘Litha, your opinion of our beloved Monarch?”
Lolitha was clearly a bit drunk at this point too, because she sighed dreamily. “Well I wouldn’t kick her out of bed for farting.”
“Wow.” Telgeth gasped a laugh. “Well put, my friend, well put indeed.”
I noticed movement out in the banquet hall as from a side-door the Queen and her Advisor appeared with the Lord and Lady of Lille. They moved through the assembled crowd into the centre of the room, in front of the musicians. There they began to dance in their pairs, slow, formal movements. I couldn’t keep my eyes from the Queen as her blue robe swirled about her figure and light glinted off the crown on her head. Other couples went to join in the dance, and Jimmy bounded over.
“Lolitha, my pet, a dance for your dear old Mentor?” She shrugged and stood, taking Jimmy’s proffered hand.
“Right, your Mentor can have the first one, then you’re mine,” Telgeth warned her and she snorted.
“Not if I can help it, you’ll break all the bones in my feet!”
We watched as Jimmy led her out, placing one hand on her waist and guiding her in a graceful waltz. We sipped our wine and watched the pairs of dancers. Between every song they bowed to each other, then swapped partners. I caught glimpses of the Queen, after dancing with her Advisor she danced with the Lord of Lille, then the man who I thought was Sallagh’s father, then on and on. I saw Hanniash, conspicuous with her bald head and bright yellow robes, dancing with the city’s Lord, then the Queen’s Advisor, then Charlie, who had somehow eased his way into the thick of things.
The evening was getting late, and I realised that I was in dire need of a bathroom. I looked about and sighted one of the pages, a little girl of no more than ten, struggling to stay awake in a chair by the door. She pointed out the direction of the bathrooms to me and I staggered off gratefully.
When I returned, before I could get back to Telgeth and Dunkerle at our seats I heard someone call my name. I saw Hanniash staring at me and she waved me over.
“Lady, this is Lord’s heir Jaseth of Jaelshead.”
And then there I was, pinned by the full forces of those slate-blue eyes.
“Uh, your majesty,” I tried to bow. Queen Thaelique smiled at me and my right knee wobbled as I tried to stand up straight.
“Please, call me Thaelique.”
“Oh, yes, my apologies, er, Lady Thaelique.”
Her smile showed off straight, even teeth and she nodded, as if to acknowledge my reluctance to call her simply by her first name. She was the Queen, after all, I couldn’t just call her Thaelique, it wouldn’t be right!
Hanniash glowed her smile at me. “Now the Advisor and I have some things to discuss—” Hell, I hadn’t even noticed the tiny old man standing with the two women. Shit! I bowed at him quickly and his lips puckered in a little octogenarian grin as Hanniash introduced him as Myr Serbastient. “So if you wouldn’t mind entertaining our lady, that would be most appreciated.” Hanniash took the arm of the Advisor and led him off to some seats, and although the room was full of people, I was suddenly alone with the Queen.
“Please, Lord Jaseth, if you wouldn’t mind, perhaps we could find some seating for ourselves. I fear all this dancing has rather worn my feet out.”
I blinked. “Uh, seriously, just Jaseth will do, your majesty.”
She glanced at me sideways as I stumbled a bit over her title and she smiled, her cheeks dimpling slightly. “Jaseth it is then. I understand you are studying at the Academy?”
Holy shit, Hanniash had told her about me? I was so not prepared for this.
“Uh, yes. I’m, um, Nea’thi-Blood, so…”
“So might I be so bold as to enquire whether you follow the Nea’thi custom of using moss?” Hell, she was the Queen, she could be as bold as she liked, but what was I supposed to say? Should I offer her some? Shit!
“Um, yeah, we all do really. Would… Would you like some?”
She smiled politely, but those clear eyes that held mine glittered with fun. “Yes, thank you Jaseth, that would be most kind. I would appreciate some Gold, if you have any.” I nodded and thanked the memory of Queen Lilbecz that I had thought to bring my pipe and pouches of moss. “Good, please, come with me, I believe there’s somewhere we can go this way.”
She led me through the crowd to a small door in the side wall. She murmured to the liveried guard standing beside it, and he opened it for us with a small bow. It led straight through an antechamber that opened onto a small walled garden. Perfectly clipped yew
trees stood in each of the corners, and though it was open to the night air, the braziers that burned brightly between them meant that it was not unpleasantly cold. Elegant, wrought-iron chairs clustered around a small circular table. I remembered my manners and pulled one out for her, and she sat gracefully. I sat beside her and pulled out my pouch, setting down my pipe and packing it from the gold bag of moss before sparking it with Hầұeӣ and passing it to her. I have never been so grateful I could do that as she accepted the pipe, her sculpted eyebrows raised, impressed.
“So, Lord’s heir of Jaelshead, I do hope you approved of the wine on offer here tonight,” she said as she exhaled delicately.
“Uh yes, very much so, thank you.”
She chuckled, a deep, sweet sound. “I am terribly sorry, how boring of me! You must get that all the time.”
“My lady?”
She looked at me straight as she held the pipe out to me and I shivered a little as my fingers brushed hers. What the hell was going on with me?
“It must be the first thing anyone says to you, when they learn you are from Jaelshead.”
“Oh, the wine thing. Yeah, I get that a lot. But I don’t mind it.” Not from her, anyway.
“So you’ve been in Lille almost half a year?” she guessed and I nodded. “Is your Mentor here tonight?”
“Um, Charlie? Yes, he’s here.”
“What’s he like?”
And Queen Thaelique drew me into the conversation. I told her all about Charlie, and when he had come to Jaelshead to collect me. She chuckled as I described my father’s reaction to the Nea’thi.
“Yes, the hereditary Lords of this land do tend to be a bit… traditional. But that’s what makes them so good at what they do.”
I had never heard anyone praise the rigid traditionalism of my father, which I had always found stuffily oppressive, but the Queen’s tacit approval made me feel something like pride for my father. She asked more questions in that low, honeyed voice, gently slurred with a hint of a western accent and undeniably sexy, and I found myself chattering animatedly. I told her about my friends at the Hall, the classes we had and our Hầұeӣ practice. When something piqued her curiosity she would question me about it, and I found myself telling her all about moss, how we had visited Fiona’s hydroponic setup, even pointing out on my pipe why it was made of wood and had a long mouthpiece.
I stopped talking to pack the pipe again, and realised with horror that I was talking the ears off the Queen – the Queen! – and that, apart from her interested questions, she had barely had a chance to get a word in edgeways.
“I’m sorry your majesty, my tongue seems to have gotten away on me. I’m not usually like this, you know.”
She smiled that half-dimpled smile and accepted the sparked pipe. “Oh, I’m sure, Lord Jaseth.”
Wait, what? Was she doing it on purpose? In response to my accusing look she laughed and threw her hands up, mock-defensively.
“Why, you’re fascinating, Jaseth, and it is a Queen’s duty to learn as much about her subjects as she can.”
Gosh, she thought I was fascinating! I had poured out my life story and she had found it fascinating. Thaelique really was a remarkable woman.
“Anyone can be fascinating, Jaseth, you just have to ask the right questions.” My face must have fallen, of course I wasn’t unique in my fascination for the Queen, I was just one idiot who happened to have some moss and a pipe.
She saw this and smiled gently. “There are of course those who are more interesting than others.” My insides clenched again as she looked at me with that clear, slate-blue gaze. “I do hope in the coming year there will be more occasions for us to continue this conversation.” She handed the pipe back to me and went to stand. I almost knocked over my chair in my haste to assist her. “For now, I am afraid I must return to my people. The countdown to midnight will begin soon.”
I suddenly dreaded going back inside, where she would return to being the focus of everyone’s attention, but she took my extended arm as we walked back through the antechamber and the door to the banquet hall. She smelled like vanilla and musk and the sweet tang of moss-smoke, delicate, delicious, beside me.
“Thank you, Jaseth, this has been most entertaining.” She reached up and kissed me gently on the cheek and I watched her go, swallowed up by her adoring crowd while I stood, rooted to the spot, my cheek tingling where her lips had touched it, but otherwise quite unable to move.
“Hey Jas, there you are! Everyone’s been looking for you!”
I dragged my eyes away from the direction the Queen had gone to see Dunkerle, his face flushed with wine and his hair slightly more messy than usual. Telgeth came up beside him and poked me in the shoulder.
“Oi! Where have you been?”
I shook my head in amazement. “You seriously would not believe if I told you.”
He shrugged. “Yeah, yeah, come on, it’s almost time for the countdown. Charlie’s looking for you.”
Telgeth pulled me into the crowd as the musicians announced that it was one minute to midnight.
“Jas! Where’ve you been?” Charlie grabbed me and hugged me round the shoulders.
“I’ve been, um, hanging out with the Queen.”
He grinned in surprise. “No way! Huh, cool, what’s she like?”
Before I could answer, the crowd started the countdown. “Ten! Nine! Eight!” With every second, more lights dimmed until it was almost dark, a trick of Hầұeӣ, I figured. “Two! One! Happy New Year!” The room suddenly blazed with light and sprinkles of glittering white paper fell from the ceiling like a confetti of snow. The crowd cheered wildly and applauded, people hugged their friends. Lolitha jumped at me and gave me a huge hug and a kiss full on the lips. “Happy New Year Jas!” she yelled as she was grabbed by Jimmy, who picked her up and spun her around.
The musicians launched into a rendition of Auld Lang Syne, the traditional New Year’s song that had been sung since before the Leaving, even though the meaning of the words had long been forgotten. I linked arms with Charlie on one side and Telgeth on the other and we sung loudly along,
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And auld lang syne?
595 A.L.
ot long after midnight the party began to wind down. We gathered up the Hall crew and made for the exit, where the Queen and Myr Serbastient were positioned to thank and farewell their guests.
“Ah, Lord Jaseth, a happy New Year to you.” I ignored Telgeth’s jabbing elbow as the Queen spoke to me.
“Thank you, your majesty, happy New Year to you too. I hope it’s, um, peaceful and, er, prosperous.” Yeah, not my best work, but Telgeth was distracting me ever so slightly. The Queen gave me an enigmatic smile.
“I’m sure it will be. Goodnight.”
“What? She knows your name?” Telgeth demanded as I hurried outside.
“Yeah, we… We hung out.”
“Bollocks. You hung out with the Queen? I don’t believe it!”
“I told you you wouldn’t!”
“Hmph, so what’s she like then?”
I laughed and told him about my conversation with Thaelique as we hurried home, through streets thronged with revellers, celebrating the New Year under the light of the cold winter moon.
Soon, the others returned from their holidays and we resumed the business of the Academy. Telgeth took great delight in telling them of our invitation to the royal banquet, especially the part about my “date” with the Queen. Predictably, Sallagh was furious as having been excluded.
“So you mean that if I had stayed here I could have gone?” she demanded. “My bloody parents went and they said I wasn’t allowed to!” She was quiet on the subject of Thaelique though, and I couldn’t work out whether I should be worried by this or not.
I truthfully didn’t know how I felt about Sallagh anymore. Frankly, I hadn’t exactly missed her in the week and a
half she had been staying with her parents, and since meeting the Queen… Well, she had kind of occupied my thoughts in the way that Sallagh used to, only much, much more intensely. I considered breaking up with Sallagh, but she thought she loved me, and I really didn’t think I had the balls to break her heart. Anyway, it wasn’t like anything had happened with Thaelique, and I knew I was kidding myself if I thought anything else was going to. Besides, Sallagh gave good cuddles and she really was an excellent kisser, so I couldn’t really complain.
Winter muddled along drearily. When it wasn’t raining or sleeting or snowing, there were a few rare stretches of bright, bitter sunshine, but more often a chilly fog would roll off the lake, obscuring the view from my second-storey window and clinging to our robes and hair whenever we went outside.
Anna had obviously considered Lolitha’s rather off-hand remark after she had saved us that last Samhain, and Odette’s death had prompted her to action, because one Saturday morning in late January, Charlie woke me early.
“Ugh, go away Charlie, it’s early,” I grumbled, and tried to hide under my blankets. Not only was it early but it was also seriously cold.
“Get up! You have to do your meditation – Anna has invited you lot for some, uh, special tutoring.”
“Oh really? More lessons. Good. Just what I always wanted.”
Despite my protestations, Charlie had his way and an hour later I was dressed and ready to go. We met Lolitha and Telgeth in the common room with their Mentors and together we left the Hall to go and see what Anna had in mind for our extra tutoring. I thought maybe Charlie would take us to Anna’s house, but when we passed the Shivering Thistle, Charlie nodded to the doorman and led us inside. O’Malley was, as usual, perched behind the bar, reading the big weekend edition of the paper and directing one of the Journeymen who was up a ladder, feeding the glowbes that hung from the ceiling. “Bit early for it, eh kids?” But his eyes twinkled. “Go on up, she’s expecting you.”
Bloodkin (Jaseth of Jaelshead) Page 27