Crown of Coral and Pearl

by Mara Rutherford

  * * *

  Just as Elder Nemea had predicted, the rest of the journey was long and painful, as I suffered through what Captain Osius called “land sickness.” And sick I was, even worse than the time Zadie and I had inadvertently purchased bad meat from a trader. Ebb cared for me like a child, helping me to change in and out of my dresses, bringing me cups of a tea made from ginger, valerian root, and bugbane to help with my sickness. The ingredients were as foreign as everything else, but they did settle my stomach enough that I was able to eat a bit on the third day.

  I didn’t see anyone except for Ebb, with the occasional glimpse of Grig or the captain outside the window of the carriage. Ebb and I slept inside, and at night, the deep laughter of the men around the fire, coupled with the thick tang of wood smoke, made me ache for home. The carriage began to feel like a net around me, and I fought against a sensation I’d never experienced, like something inside of me was clawing to be free. When I wasn’t sick, I napped, but try as I might to pretend the carriage was a boat and the rough road beneath us a choppy sea, my mind and body would not be fooled.

  On the morning of the fifth day, Captain Osius came to check on me before we started moving. “We’ll be on Ilarean soil in a few hours,” he assured me. “You’ll finally be able to leave the carriage and stretch a bit.”

  When Elder Nemea had told me the journey would be long, I hadn’t understood that I wouldn’t be able to leave the carriage for days. Ilara had once stretched across the entire continent, but in the past few generations, uprisings had become more common, and we were traveling through two other territories on our journey. The first, Meradin, was mostly thick forest, with small villages here and there along the road. It had been easy to take from the king, apparently, because it was close to the shore, and the king never ventured far from the mountains.

  But the land we traveled through now, Pirot, was more disputed. Every week, the rebels claimed more land. A large river was the last physical border protecting Ilara from invaders, Ebb explained.

  “When will we reach the castle?” I asked Captain Osius, trying not to sound too desperate. But I didn’t know how much longer I could last without fresh air and sunlight.

  “Not until sunset, I’m afraid. But don’t worry. Soon the road will be nothing but a distant memory.” He smiled, but even he looked like he was ready to be home. His beard was becoming unruly, and there were dark circles under his eyes.

  We rattled to a stop a few hours after breakfast, and I flew to the window, ignoring Ebb’s pleas that I remain in my seat. We were stopped at the foot of a large wooden bridge that spanned a shimmering mass of water so vast, I at first mistook it for the ocean.

  “The River Ilara,” Ebb explained, joining me at the window.

  “Does that mean...?”

  “Yes, milady. Just across the river is your new home.”

  I peered farther out of the window. Home. The word would always evoke Varenia for me, even if I spent the next hundred years in Ilara. Captain Osius was speaking to a man standing at the foot of the bridge. He was dressed similarly to the captain—Ebb had explained that the thick leather plates the men wore were called armor, designed to protect them in battle—but the crest painted on his chest was a white tree framed by a black-and-silver shield.

  “Who governs Pirot?” I asked.

  “King Xyrus would argue he is still the ruler here. But these soldiers wear the crest of Lord Clifton.” She lowered her voice. “He’s actually just a commoner who made himself a lord. These are his soldiers.”

  Sami had mentioned talk of war in the South, but this wasn’t the South. Did he know the disputes reached this far north?

  The chatter outside grew louder and more animated, and Ebb tugged on my sleeve. “Best to wait inside.”

  “I’m hardly outside,” I started to say, when a man’s face appeared next to the window.

  He was the same man Osius had been speaking with. He was shorter than the Ilarean guards, with a body the shape and size of a water barrel, and his breath stank of alcohol.

  “So, this is to be your new queen?” he asked Osius. He examined me so fully I felt the scar on my cheek burn. I’d been careful to keep it covered, reapplying the stain whenever Ebb left the carriage, but I wasn’t sure I’d ever stop being conscious of it. “The most beautiful girl in all of Varenia.” He licked his lips. “I bet your commander wishes he were the firstborn instead, eh?”

  The captain strode over, looking furious. “To prevent us from crossing is an act of war, Riv.”

  “Steady on, Os.” The man leered at me before returning to the front of the carriage. “Let ’em cross!” he called to someone I couldn’t see.

  “Are you all right, milady?” Osius asked me.

  I took my seat. “I’m fine.”

  “Don’t worry about him,” Ebb said. “He’s an ignorant mercenary. Most of Clifton’s soldiers came from the South to escape the woman king.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “‘Woman king’? Don’t you mean queen?”

  “She calls herself a king, and they say she’s amassing an army. These men fled to escape conscription, preferring to work as sellswords instead. But they don’t belong here. King Xyrus will drive them back as soon as he’s well.”

  “Is the king ill?” I asked.

  She caught her lip in her teeth and glanced at me sideways. “I misspoke, milady. He caught a chill recently, but he’s on the mend. As healthy as any man of forty.”

  Forty. My father was forty-two, and he was even more fit than Sami. Fifty was considered a Varenian male’s prime. But since we lived longer than the Ilareans, perhaps forty was considered a bit older here. Still, how unhealthy could a man be at that age? A king, no less.

  The wheels bumped over the wooden planks of the bridge, but my eyes were on the water beneath it. I’d never seen a river before. The water, so clear I could see the rocks and stones on the riverbed, rushed toward us faster than a wave. I scrambled past Ebb to the other side of the carriage and threw back the sash. Farther downriver, the water became white and frothy as it swirled over larger rocks, tumbling toward some unseen destination.

  “Where does it go?” I asked Ebb, but her eyes were closed and her normally hollow cheeks were puffed out, as if she were holding her breath. “Are you all right?”

  She didn’t respond until we finished crossing and were back on the road. Her eyes fluttered open, and she exhaled noisily.

  I eyed her curiously. “What were you doing?”

  Ebb looked a little sheepish when she answered. “Keeping out the water spirits, milady.”

  “The what?”

  “It’s nothing. You should rest up.”

  “We have water spirits, too,” I said, thinking of the ocean around Varenia, how sometimes I’d speak to the spirits through the cracks in our floorboards, asking them to guide me to the best oysters the following day. “But we don’t try to keep them out.”

  I fell asleep for several hours and awoke to sunlight on my face. Ebb had insisted on keeping the curtains shut for most of the journey due to the dust on the road, but she’d pulled them back now to reveal the captain riding alongside us.

  “Is everything all right?” she asked him. She’d been worried about “robbers and vandals” before we’d reached Ilara’s borders, but she seemed more relaxed today.

  “Yes, all fine. We’re just—”

  “The castle!” I yelled, startling Ebb. I pointed past her to the large stone edifice in the distance. It was massive, the size of one hundred houses at least. Crimson and gold Ilarean flags waved from towers that stretched up toward the clouds. It was surrounded on all sides by gently rolling hills covered in purple and yellow wildflowers, and a small river shimmered in the valley between them. It was even more beautiful than I’d imagined, and for a moment, all my discomfort faded.

  “I’m sorry, milady,” Osius sa
id. “But that is the old castle. We haven’t reached New Castle yet.”

  My smile broadened. If this was the old castle, the new one must be even more magnificent. “Are we stopping? Say yes, please. I have to see it.”

  “I’m afraid we can only stop for a bit. We still have a few hours’ journey ahead of us.”

  Ebb dropped the sash and urged me back onto the bench.

  “It’s beautiful,” I said. “Why would anyone ever want to leave?”

  “New Castle is much safer. Only the king’s guard lives here now.”

  Safer than a giant stone building? What would she think of my little wooden house back in Varenia? “So this is where the captain and his men live?”

  “Yes. And the prince.”

  “The prince?” I was going to meet my future husband now, in a dress the color of soot, and stale from five days trapped in a cage? My hands flew to my hair, which felt just as ratty and tangled as I feared. “I can’t meet him now!”

  Before Ebb could respond, Grig opened the door. “We’re going to change out the horses and leave a few of the guards here, as we’re in safe territory now, milady. The captain said you wanted to get out and stretch your legs for a bit?”

  At the sight of the open door and the blue skies beyond, I forgot about my hair and dress. “Yes,” I breathed, already rising to my feet.

  “Your shoes, milady,” Ebb said, tugging at my skirts.

  I sat back down, and Ebb presented a pair of black silk slippers topped with neat little bows. They looked far too delicate and small for my feet, but somehow they slid right on. Captain Osius stepped forward and held his hand out to me, and I took it eagerly. I was so fascinated by the sights around me that I forgot to look down, and my foot landed in a muddy rut in the road with a squelch. I squeaked at the sight of brown mud all over my new slippers. My very first step on land, and I’d made a complete mess of it.

  The captain patted my hand reassuringly and led me across the road onto the grass. It was softer than I had imagined, like stepping onto a sponge. In a way, I felt like I was back in the ocean, but instead of being surrounded by blue, everything was green, from the grass to the trees that arched overhead.

  I started to smile over my shoulder, excited to see Zadie’s reaction to all this. We had imagined the castle when we were small, but never had we dreamed up anything like this. She must be as stunned as I was.

  My smile fell as my eyes landed on Ebb instead of Zadie. Somehow, in my excitement, I’d forgotten. I was so used to sharing everything with my sister. Now, every time my gaze landed on the empty space where my twin should be, I felt an ache in my heart at the realization that we would never share anything again.

  “Don’t worry, milady,” Ebb said, taking my other arm. “No one will harm you.” She had mistaken my sorrow for trepidation. A small party of guards was riding out to meet us, and two men on foot led four black horses so large they dwarfed their handlers.

  As the riders came closer, I noticed that the young man in front was wearing metal armor, which glimmered in the fading sunlight. One hand held the reins while the other rested on the hilt of his sword. His horse was a silvery gray with a white mane that flowed down to its muscled chest. When the young man stopped and dismounted, the guards bowed, and Ebb dropped into a deep curtsy.

  I lowered myself shakily next to her, my eyes downcast in respect. But to whom were we bowing? Surely not the prince. I couldn’t imagine Ebb would allow me to meet him in such a state.

  My heart hammered in my chest as the young man reached for my hand. I didn’t even know what to call him. Prince? His Royal Highness? Though we’d been traveling together for five days, Ebb hadn’t prepared me at all for this first meeting.

  But when I glanced up, the turquoise eyes that met mine did not belong to a stranger, and the lips that brushed the back of my hand were all too familiar, though his mouth was set in a grim line very unlike the amused smile I’d seen in Varenia.

  Talin’s gaze held mine for ten heartbeats that felt both like an eternity and not nearly long enough. “Welcome to Ilara, my lady. I believe we’ve already met.”

  12

  For a moment, I wondered if I would faint like Zadie had when Governor Kristos toasted my engagement. Talin had told us he was an emissary—why was everyone bowing to him? And for the love of Thalos, did he know who I really was?

  “Talin,” I said, and the people around me gasped. “I’m sorry. Sir Talin?”

  “This is Prince Talin,” Ebb murmured next to me, and I glanced over at her with wide eyes.

  Oh gods, was Talin my fiancé? Had he come disguised as an emissary, just so he could see his future bride for himself? Did Governor Kristos know? Did Mother? No, that was impossible. She would have had some kind of fit if she’d believed she was in the presence of royalty.

  Then I remembered the circumstances of our first meeting and flushed so hard, I was sure he would be able to read my thoughts.

  “I’m King Xyrus’s second son,” he clarified. “Prince Ceren, my older brother, awaits you at New Castle.”

  I should have felt relief, but a strange sense of disappointment washed over me instead. I realized I was staring at him and dropped my gaze again. If he knew who I was, he showed no sign of it, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t come to realize it eventually. Talin was supposed to be an emissary I never saw again, not my future husband’s brother.

  I didn’t notice he’d kept hold of my hand until he dropped it and the warmth of his touch disappeared. He turned to Osius. “Please, get our future queen to the castle. She’s clearly overwhelmed and exhausted from her journey.”

  I curtsied again, not daring to look at him, and followed Ebb back to the coach. “I don’t understand,” I murmured as I sat down.

  “I’m sorry,” Ebb said. “I ought to have explained everything. This is all my fault.”

  “It’s all right, Ebb. But please, could you explain it to me now?”

  “Prince Talin is Prince Ceren’s half brother and the commander of the king’s guard. He lives here, at Old Castle. His mother was sent here from Varenia, like you.”

  The last Varenian bride was Talin’s mother? “And the crown prince?”

  “Was born to an Ilarean queen, milady. Prince Ceren will explain everything when we arrive. I promise.”

  I leaned back against the cushions, my mind racing with unanswered questions. What had happened to Ceren’s mother that Talin was born to another woman? Was Talin’s mother the king’s mistress? The thought was horrifying. All this time, we’d been sending our women to Ilara, with no idea of what was really happening to them. What were our elders thinking?

  For the past few days, I’d been so overwhelmed by exhaustion and sickness that I hadn’t had much room left to spare for nerves or even grief. But now I wished more than anything that I was back in our house with Zadie, singing songs with made-up words that drove our mother out of the house, muttering in annoyance. I could face anything with my sister and would do anything for her, but I didn’t feel brave now. I felt sick and tired and very, very frightened.

  We finally came to a halt when the waxing moon was already high in the sky. I climbed out of the carriage facing west, toward home. Then I turned around.

  I found myself staring at a wall of darkness, far blacker than the sky itself, which was studded with stars. I looked up, and up, and up, until my neck was craned so far my head was nearly touching my spine. Finally, I saw sky again. What in Thalos’s name was I looking at?

  Ebb took my arm and led me forward. “Welcome to New Castle.”

  I staggered back a step. “What?” I asked, my voice barely more than a whisper.

  Captain Osius appeared on my other side and took my free arm. “We leave the horses here, milady. I’m afraid it’s a bit of a climb to the top of Mount Ayris. If you’re too tired, we can wait until sunrise. There’s
an inn at the bottom of the castle. I could send word to the king.”

  “No,” I said, not wanting to put this off any longer. “I’ll climb. It will be nice to stretch my legs after the long journey.”

  Several men in Ilarean livery appeared from somewhere in the base of the mountain and took the horses. Others handed torches to the guards, who surrounded me. Now that I could see better, it started to make sense. The mountain was the castle. Or the castle was the mountain. Sami had once described mountains as giant waves made of stone, but I saw nothing here that reminded me of the ocean. As my mind adjusted to what I was seeing, I noticed narrow slits in the sheer face of the mountain. Windows. Faint lights glowed behind some of them.

  There were stairs carved into the very stone, which we began to climb in a line, one by one. Someone had fastened a rope to the cliff’s face with giant metal spikes, and I used the rope to haul myself up when my leg muscles started to burn. I’d always considered myself strong, but I could barely breathe, my chest heaving against the bodice of my gown as I struggled to fill my lungs. I wanted to tear the dress open and kick my worthless slippers over the side of the mountain, but I didn’t have the energy. Ebb was breathing hard as well, but she didn’t complain.

  “How much farther is it?” I wheezed when it felt like we’d been climbing for hours. The stone stairs were jagged and uneven in height, forcing me to pay attention to every step. The wind blew my already faint words away so fast I was afraid Ebb wouldn’t hear.

  “Halfway,” she called over her shoulder.

  My knees buckled at the reply, and I would have fallen backward if not for Grig’s hand in the small of my back. “Easy does it, milady. We can call a halt if you need to rest.”

  I shook my head. “I’m fine. Just a bit dizzy.”

  “We all have a hard time at the beginning. You’ll get better at it.”