“They might not arrive by ship,” I pointed out, searching the horizon for the shimmer Zynda had spoken of. I more than half suspected she was having a joke on me with that one. Tala enjoyed their tricks, even with friends.
“What do you mean?” Kral gripped the rail in a gesture I recognized. He didn’t need the balance, not with his sea legs, but the mysterious ways of Tala magic unsettled him, too.
I shrugged, enjoying being the one on firmer footing for once. “Depends on who Zynda brings with her. Queen Andromeda is a shape-shifter also, as is King Rayfe. Unless they bring others, they can simply swim here.”
“You think both this king and queen will come on this errand?”
“Well, Queen Andromeda certainly will, as the barrier answers to her. And King Rayfe is quite protective—he’s unlikely to see her go off without him.”
“See? This is not always a bad thing, for a man to be protective of his woman.”
“I’m not your woman,” I retorted.
“So only this Queen Andromeda controls the magic barrier?” Kral looked thoughtful. “Interesting.”
If only the Dasnarian alphabet was as easy to read as his face. “Not only her,” I lied, because from what I understood, she was the only one. “This is an unusual circumstance, where Queen Ursula asked it of her. Besides, I wouldn’t get ideas. She wouldn’t be able to work the magic from Dasnaria, and the king and queen won’t journey without considerable Tala reinforcements. Even if you don’t see them, they’re deadly. Especially if you don’t see them,” I amended. “That’s when they’re at their worst.”
“You’ve battled these Tala?” Kral looked even more interested. And was that a hint of respect? Be still my heart.
“A number of times. They stormed Ordnung when King Rayfe first set to extract the then Princess Andromeda to be his bride. Many engagements after that, large and small, as we chased them before and after the wedding.” And the various escaped Tala prisoners and pockets of unrest, which continued to the present, but it would be impolitic to inform the Dasnarians about that. “They have a kind of domesticated animal, staymachs, that shape-shift at a trainer’s direction, which they employ in battle also.”
“Not unlike having trained warhorses,” Kral mused.
“Right. And sometimes their actual warhorses are these shape-shifted staymachs and sometimes they’re people in horse form. Keeps things interesting.”
“Is a person in horse form as intelligent as in human form?”
Had to credit Kral. He might be a lunkhead as far as human values and social skills, but he thought through the ramifications of an enemy’s abilities quickly. I was not, however, going to reveal any of the secrets Zynda had confided. That story she’d told, of how Tala trapped in animal form could lose their human selves entirely, bothered me greatly. For all that I appreciated the convenience shape-shifting would bring—though it would be even better if she could manifest extra weapons at will when converting back to human form—I liked my skin the way it was. Or rather, as it had been before the fish-birds ate most of it. I was still myself, no matter how scarred, but only if I stayed in control of my own life and destiny. Nothing would make me give that up.
I’d die first.
I pushed the dark thoughts aside and focused on prevaricating. “Hard to say. The Tala are cagey with information about their abilities. And it hasn’t been long that we’ve been allies instead of enemies.”
“Since your queen conquered their territory.”
“Since she arrived at a treaty with the Tala via marriage alliance.”
“Though their king abducted the woman in question and forced her into the marriage. Something you seem to object to strenuously with the scribe.”
“Totally different. Princess Andromeda made a considered political decision in wedding King Rayfe.” Probably an emotional one, too, given the gossip I’d heard. No one blamed her there. Rayfe was as hot as they came. I would have wanted to wrap myself in that long, black hair and let him have his tricksy way with me, too. With a mental sigh, I let that image go. “Dafne had no idea what Nakoa intended. Really still doesn’t.” Tired of looking for the shimmer, I turned my back to the rail and took in the view in the other direction.
“She’ll be well provided for, will lack for nothing.”
“Exactly what you said about Karyn.”
“Your point, hystrix?”
“Just that you have certain mental ruts.”
“Ruts?”
I’d used the Common Tongue word. “You know, like a muddy road where the wagon wheels dig in, creating deep ruts. Even if you try to drive on a different part of the road, those ruts drag your wheels in, and boom!” I clapped my hands in emphasis. “You’re back in that rut.”
“Thinking that there’s nothing wrong with a person being provided for so they can have a peaceful, fruitful life is hardly a ‘rut.’ ” Kral sounded all calm and logical, using the Common Tongue word that I had.
“No Dasnarian word for that?”
“All roads in the empire are paved with stone,” he said proudly. “No ‘ruts.’ ”
“The roads weren’t paved with stone in Nahanau.”
“Nahanau is—was, before this barrier took the islands—a protectorate, not part of the empire.”
“Apt analogy right there,” I commented, squinting. Something in the water? No hail from the lookouts, though. Maybe the Dasnarians wouldn’t be watching for people emerging from the waves. Good test of arrogance.
“How so?” An edge in his voice. Danu, I loved needling this man as much as fucking him. Okay, not quite as much—but in lieu of the one, the other would do.
“See, as a man, you are part of the empire, enjoying all those pretty paved roads. As a woman, Karyn is like your protectorates, supposedly taken care of, but without the benefits. All of that simply dresses up what is truly occurring.”
“And that is?”
His carefully neutral words didn’t sucker me in for the width of a blade’s sharp edge. I gave him my sunniest smile. “Exploitation.”
“How am I exploiting Karyn, when I don’t get to enjoy her as my wife? I am childless, alone, without the succor marriage brings.” He locked his jaw down on saying more. It surprised me he’d said that much. “If anything, she’s exploiting me by having the use of my good name and my fortune, with no obligations in return. Same for Nahanau. The islanders have enjoyed the protection of the empire, having to yield up nothing.”
“Only because you haven’t been able to get your greedy paws on their treasure.”
“I saw no evidence of treasure. On top of everything, I have to face the Emperor with that news, as well.”
I wondered. The Tala weren’t the only ones cagey about hiding their riches, material and otherwise. “And I’ll make you a bet right now that your Karyn would give up the amazing honor of your name and fortune in a heartbeat in exchange for her freedom.”
Kral’s face cleared into complete bafflement. “You know less than nothing about Dasnaria—yes, less than nothing because your wrongheaded ideas take you in the other direction—and you dispute with me over my own wife’s preferences, to the point of challenging me with a bet of honor?”
Hmm. The way he phrased that made it sound a bit more . . . high stakes than I’d intended. Not the dicing-and-drinking version of the word. “I didn’t mean a literal bet.”
“Oh, no, you don’t. You don’t get to backpedal on a challenge like that. You made a bet with me and I’m accepting.”
Fine, then. I shrugged, making it as insouciant as possible. “Sure.”
“I choose the terms.”
“No, we agree on them together.”
Finally, the lookout’s warning rang out. Sloppy. I’d been watching signs of the Tala approach for a good five minutes. My scouts would never have been so slow.
Two porpoises leapt from the water, transformed into birds that were joined by a large black raptor that stooped from above, then pulled up abruptly. All three
circled, then landed before us, shifting again into Zynda, Queen Andromeda, and King Rayfe.
I bowed deeply to them, maybe a bit more than I would have normally, to both give Kral the cue and poke at him a bit more. A couple more people I respected to add to the list. “King Rayfe, Queen Andromeda, may I present General Kral of Dasnaria and Imperial Prince of the Royal House of Konyngrr.”
“King Rayfe, Queen Andromeda.”
They returned Kral’s dip of the chin. Fair enough between rulers of equal rank, I supposed. Dafne would know for sure, but I was all the ambassador they got. The King and Queen of the Tala had manifested in, what was for them, formal court gear, as had Zynda, who raked me with wide and horrified eyes. Compared to Kral’s rigid armor, however, their brilliantly colored, flowing silk garb was as far as sunny Elcinea was from the frozen Northern Wastes.
“Ambassador Jepp.” Queen Andromeda raised dark eyebrows over storm-gray eyes. I might not be able to see a giant magic curtain, but the magic that shimmered around her had always felt like itchy wool on my skin. Even back when she’d been only invisible Andi, I’d given the awkward teenager a wide berth, as most in Ordnung had. “What under Moranu’s gaze happened to you?” Her gaze went silvery as it flicked to Kral. “I demand an explanation. Translate that for me, please.”
I grimaced. “It wasn’t—”
“I’ll hear it from General Kral of Dasnaria and Imperial Prince of the Royal House of Konyngrr,” the queen interrupted, using a tone as cutting as Her Majesty ever employed. They might none of them be the tyrants their father had been, but they’d all learned a thing or two about power at Uorsin’s knee. “Since Jepp won’t do it, Zynda, you speak their tongue. Translate exactly what he says.”
Zynda stepped up and asked Kral the question. Her Dasnarian wasn’t quite as fluent as mine, but neither was it as lowbrow.
“King Rayfe,” Kral said, addressing him while Zynda translated, “perhaps you and your wife would care to join me for refreshments after your journey, and I can explain our adventures at length.” I winced at his stupidity, and Zynda shared my chagrin with a bare shake of her head.
Rayfe regarded him with wolfish amusement, the ocean breezes whipping his hair around his lean body like a cloak made of night, deep-blue eyes nearly as dark. “Condescending to my queen, who has journeyed to assist you in crossing back into your own realm, seems hardly wise, General Kral of Dasnaria and Imperial Prince of the Royal House of Konyngrr. We’re pressed for time. If you still wish our assistance, I suggest you answer Queen Andromeda’s question.”
Kral actually faltered at Zynda’s translation. Not so as anyone who didn’t know him well would notice, and not that I blamed him. He’d thought Zynda representative of the Tala. She possessed powerful magic, certainly, and more shape-shifting ability than her king, but Rayfe had the ruthless air of a man who would do—and had done—anything in pursuit of his goals, much like a sword forged in the hottest fires. Keeping a considering eye on Rayfe, Kral composed himself and nodded more respectfully to them both.
“Forgive me, Queen Andromeda. I meant no offense,” he said. Using male language, too.
“Didn’t you? My sister the High Queen told me something about you, General Kral of Dasnaria and Imperial Prince of the Royal House of Konyngrr, as did her consort, my heart-brother Harlan. I believe I have an idea of what offense you do and don’t mean to give.”
Kral set his teeth. “Please, Your Highness, call me Kral.”
She only waited, expectant, as if they had all the time in the world. Why had they said they were pressed for it? Kral glanced at me, put a mailed hand on my shoulder in a protective gesture. I managed to tamp down the snicker, though it took yanking my gaze from Zynda’s expression of wicked amusement to get there.
“Ambassador Jepp incurred her wounds nobly defending the ship and my men from a second attack of the fish-birds your cousin Zynda saw. We feared Jepp dead more than once and only great effort by my medic saved her life. We are all greatly in her debt, for surely without her actions, we all would have died.”
Color me shocked that he pulled off that speech, with all apparent sincerity. And that he managed to refrain from snarling at Zynda about it or pointedly referring to the danger of the invisible magic barrier.
The queen tilted her head, examining me, not so much the teenage Andi I recalled ducking arms practice. “Exactly the valor I’d expect from one of Ursula’s Hawks,” she murmured in Common Tongue to me, “but it looks like it hurts.”
A mere scratch was always the joke among the Hawks and other fighters, though I thought the queen wouldn’t appreciate that brand of humor. “I’m healing, Your Highness. Thank you for your concern.”
“You might have my concern, but my sister would have my head if I left you to continue on your journey in this condition, no matter how important this mission to her.”
She glanced at Rayfe, and he acknowledged. I didn’t catch the signal, but a seal leapt from the water, flipped through a bird form, and landed on the deck as a green-eyed woman with long, silver hair.
“We do have rope ladders they could use,” Kral muttered at me, which nearly made me laugh.
“Our healer can tend to you, Jepp,” Queen Andromeda told me, then lifted an inquiring brow to the woman, saying something to her in the liquid Tala tongue.
She nodded and, moving with that uncanny Tala quickness, took my head in her hands, eyes taking on a glow. Nearly as fast, Kral knocked her aside, a knife in his hand. The queen and king exchanged interested looks at that, while I barely stayed Kral’s strike.
“A healer, Kral.” I caught and held his eyes, which had gone cold as frozen steel. “She can help me.”
As fast as he’d gone on the defensive, he relaxed again. A practiced and deliberate effort. “Good. You looking like carrion was putting me off my feed.”
“Ha-ha.”
Andi gave me a slight smile, assessing gaze flicking back to Kral. “Meanwhile Zynda can translate while I prepare to move the ship through the barrier.”
“Your Highness, I made it this long. I can wait to be healed.”
She shook her head. “Not on the other side of the magic barrier you can’t be.”
“Would it be better for you to rest than work immediately?” Rayfe murmured, in Common Tongue, apparently for my benefit. “Let Jepp get thoroughly healed.”
“I’d like to, but . . .” She looked away from me and into his eyes. “The longer I’m far away, the less power I have. I can feel it draining by the moment. I need to do this now.”
He looked grim. “If you’re determined, then do it.”
“I promised Ursula—she seems to think it’s important.” She turned back to me. “Just tell me this, does the ship have a name?”
“The Hákyrling,” I told her, Kral going alert at the sound of the word.
“Not the Dasnarian word, a meaning I can latch on to.”
“Lady Shark, as Kral’s name means ‘shark’ in their language. Why does it matter?”
She smiled, the sense of magic gathering about her like an impending storm. “Names matter, Jesperanda. Sit where you can see. We’re making history today.”
8
Queen Andromeda decided on a position near Shipmaster Jens, by the wheel, so I propped myself in a sitting position nearby, the Tala healer working on me in silence, since neither of us shared a language and Zynda was busy translating for the Dasnarians.
It took all the patience I possessed, a virtue that admittedly did not run deep in me, to both sit still and refrain from jumping up whenever there was a pause in the arranging, in order to ask Zynda what she’d found out about Dafne. There would be time for that later. I really hoped.
The healer worked rapidly, to finish the job before we crossed, which made all those already uncomfortably pulling stitches itch like I’d fallen into a stinging-ant nest. Trond made his way over to observe, thankfully cutting the stitches as she healed each major laceration, which helped immensely. It could hav
e been the relief from the grinding pain, but as I healed, restless sexual desire began to boil through my veins. Not an unusual state for me, especially given the recent extraordinary privation, which would strain any woman’s resources, but brighter and bolder than I’d ever felt.
So not what I needed. Head in the fight.
I wasn’t close enough to hear, but I read Kral’s expressions well enough—the incredulity followed by resignation before he passed the order that everyone aboard the ship come on deck. It made for a tight squeeze, though many took to the rigging, which helped. King Rayfe stood at his queen’s back, an arm around her waist, not tight enough for stability, so for some other reason.
She closed her eyes, one hand on Jens’s shoulder—who looked fascinated; the other on Kral’s arm—who managed to look dubious, annoyed, and excited all at once. Gradually, that sense of static, of a storm looming, grew denser and tighter, making me sweat. The ship turned, the sails caught, and she glided forward.
A murmur of discomfort began at the prow, growing in volume until Kral’s cracking command cut it off. The Hákyrling, however, continued to creak louder than ever, shuddering and shaking. Queen Andromeda’s voice rose above it, speaking in Tala, singsong, but as if she spoke to the ship herself.
The Tala healer put her hand on the top of my head and sent a final burst through me, something that felt much like I’d jumped into a cold mountain spring, both shocking and refreshing.
I knew the moment we passed through the barrier, though I never did see anything.
It raked through me, though, like Uorsin’s sword had, only on an insubstantial level, and I clamped my lips down on the desire to growl as the Dasnarians did. The world dimmed, or my eyes lost keenness, and pain from my wounds, so briefly relieved, rose again—though nothing like before. The Tala healer gave me a sympathetic look that said she’d done her best in the time she had. Considering she’d filled in any number of bits of missing flesh, I counted myself far better off than before.
The Edge of the Blade Page 10