by Naomi Lane
She reclaimed her bow and began to draw another arrow under his gaze. As she lifted it to aim, he stopped her. “Hold there.” He squeezed her upper arm gently. “Hmmm,” was all he said then removed his hand. “Straighten your wrist; it’s slightly bent. Imagine a rod connecting from your palm to the elbow.” She blushed slightly, but drew the arrow back again, this time more conscious of her right wrist. She let the arrow fly, and even at the longer distance it landed just inches below Fyrian’s. “Better. If you continue to practice, I pity the deer that gets in your sights while holding that.” He paused and turned around. “Carry on, Durand. Let me know when you have a final practice schedule in mind.” With that, he turned to leave the training room.
When Jenna caught Durand’s eye again, she saw annoyance on his face mixed with what appeared to be a bit of relief. “Ladies, score your rounds.” The other Ladies wandered away to let Durand have a semi-private word with Jenna. “You can use your bow, but don’t expect to me be so lenient again. I expect my instructions to be obeyed.”
“Yes, sir,” she replied.
He just sighed and walked away. Jenna’s heart rate finally began to slow.
As the practice session continued, Jenna kept trying out both the longer and shorter distances and felt she made real improvement as the hour wore on. Despite Crystelle’s murderous looks and the shocked expressions of the other girls, she began to thoroughly enjoy archery. She learned that if she couldn’t practice hand-to-hand combat, this wouldn’t be a bad substitute.
Chapter 18
Jenna’s music teacher smiled as she played the opening chords to the accompaniment for the song Jenna was about to perform. All of the Ladies were there watching along with the Queen. Technically the performance would determine who among them would be selected to sing in front of a much larger audience at the feast. Jenna did not think she would be selected, however, because she was only thirteen. Her music teacher was still supportive though and hoped she would sing for the King before she left court.
As the opening bars of music came to an end she began. Thankfully, after many years of performing, Jenna had long left stage fright behind, and her voice rang out confidently, easily hitting the notes to the lively Sevalian drinking song. Originally it had been written as a duet for soprano and tenor, but it was easily rendered as a solo.
The Queen smiled as she concluded the first verse, and Jenna herself was beginning to enjoy her performance, but the first note of the second verse stayed stuck in her throat as a tenor voice began to sing. Both Jenna and the Queen’s expressions quickly changed from joy to shock as they turned toward the sound of the new voice, but the Queen’s reaction instantly turned back to joy as she saw her son Eamon approach.
Jenna continued to stare in shock, as did many of the other Ladies, but they gradually began to smile too, especially after hearing him sing. His voice was glorious. Even Jenna eventually began to enjoy the performance, but when it was her turn to sing again, she couldn’t avoid stuttering a bit as she recovered from the surprise. Luckily, her experience helped her voice soon return to the rhythm of the music. She finished her part, and he sang one more short verse before the finale. Since Jenna had only practiced the solo rendition, she had a slight moment of panic that she would flub the final notes, but fortunately she was familiar with this song and had sung the duet with one of her friends at home in Salara. Both of their voices blended well for the final high note, and Jenna smiled at the Prince, who smiled back.
There was polite applause from the other Ladies, but the Queen applauded loudly as she stood. “Wonderful! Just marvelous.”
Eamon left Jenna standing near the piano and went to give his mother a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you, Mother. I do enjoy that song and have rarely had the chance to sing it with such a lovely soprano voice.”
He faced Jenna again, and she blushed. She curtsied then for both the royals.
“Yes, Miss Mallory,” the Queen continued. “This was yet another fine performance. You are a bit young to sing for the feast this year, but perhaps next.” Jenna smiled and made her way over to her seat, while the Queen’s attention returned to her middle son. “Eamon, this is a wonderful surprise, but however did you know about the audition?”
“Oh, a little birdie told me.” He grinned mischievously, but Jenna saw him give her a sly glance. She was confused until she remembered she had told Sebastian earlier about her singing performance. Thoughts of that earlier conversation helped her understand Eamon’s appearance. Apparently boredom drove him to do some strange things.
He turned slightly to face the entire group. “After hearing about the concert and given that it had been so long since I had the chance to sing, I wanted to come down and take advantage of the… opportunity.” On that last word he gave Aurelia an appreciative glance. As he looked around the room, Jenna could tell that, although the Prince sang well, music probably had little to do with his decision. But as his smile lit up his face, she didn’t think any of the Ladies would mind. No, in fact, she was quite sure they were all extremely grateful he had made a special effort to come and flirt with them.
“Perhaps you would like to sing for the feast as well, Eamon?” asked the Queen. There were murmurs of pleasant surprise around the room at this thought. “You could do a duet with one of the Ladies.” The murmurs increased in volume, and Eamon smiled.
“It would be my pleasure, Mother.” He bowed. “Did you have someone in mind?”
“Lady Aurelia, you are scheduled to perform next.” All eyes turned to the beautiful blond, most of them burning with jealousy. “Is there a duet in your repertoire that would be suitable?”
Aurelia smiled, and Eamon came over to her with a gleam in his eye. Jenna could tell that he was most pleased with his mother’s choice. “There is, Your Majesty,” Aurelia replied, “and I am honored at the opportunity to perform with you, Your Highness.” She gave the Prince a small curtsy. “But may I be so bold as to make another recommendation? Constance has the strongest voice. She should have the first chance.” Aurelia pointed to her friend and former tormentor, while the blood drained from Constance’s face.
Eamon looked shocked at Aurelia’s suggestion, but did the honorable thing and approached Constance. “Lady Constance, I would be honored.” As he took her hand, Jenna didn’t have to be a mind mage to sense the other girl’s panic. Just as the Prince’s lips reached the knuckles of his prospective singing partner, Constance’s knees buckled, and she fainted into the Prince’s arms.
Jenna felt sorry for Constance as she sat next to her with some of the Ladies at the long-awaited Midwinter Feast. Constance seemed inconsolable since the singing audition and could barely eat any of her food. When Eamon came down from the high table to stand near Aurelia to perform, Constance ceased eating entirely and didn’t touch any food throughout their duet. Jenna did not know Constance well, but as she clapped for the performers thought she might at least try to help.
“It’s a pity, really.”
“What?” Constance dragged her eyes from Aurelia and Eamon to stare at Jenna confused.
“A pity that Aurelia was chosen to sing. What she said at the audition was true. You do have the strongest voice. It would have sounded much better than hers did.”
Constance smiled weakly. “I don’t know about that. I certainly don’t have your soprano range.”
Jenna shrugged. “That may be true, but your voice has a beautiful tone and perfect pitch, which counts much more.”
Constance sighed. “It hardly matters. Aurelia is so beautiful that I’m sure the King won’t mind if she missed a few notes. For that matter, I’m sure Prince Eamon won’t either.”
“Oh really? I think he noticed when she slurred that last passage a little at the end. He winced.”
Constance shook her head.
“Well, it was subtle, but it’s there. He appreciates good singing.”
“He definitely liked singing with you. I don’t know how you kept your head. Crystelle sai
d it had to be magic.”
Jenna frowned, but then smiled. “Trust me, there was no magic involved. I have a lot of experience performing for audiences in Salara. My singing is much stronger than my magic.”
Constance raised her eyebrows. “Considering you healed Prince Sebastian’s neck injury, if your statement about your voice is true then you must have only given us performances displaying a small amount of what it can do.”
Jenna was a little surprised by Constance’s reaction, but was happy to explain. “Well… it’s complicated. Using the desert healing magic is normally effortless. Plus, I had a lot of help healing Sebastian. The mind magic, which I assumed you referred to earlier, is not. I have never shown the mind talent for manipulating others with my voice.”
There was a pause in the conversation, and Constance sipped her drink. Jenna decided to pursue the subject of magic. “You are a healer yourself, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” Constance replied. “I am the Healing Guildmaster’s daughter.”
“You mean the daughter of the head of the entire guild?”
Constance nodded.
“You must be very talented.”
She shrugged. “Level five. I was the first among the Healer’s Guild to be chosen to be a Queen’s Lady.”
Jenna was interested in learning more about the guilds. Lord Harcourt had not provided her with much information, in part because he did not cross paths with them often. The Towers and guilds did not get along. When Lord Harcourt attempted to explain why, the reasons did not always seem clear to Jenna. In her mind it seemed just like a political power struggle based mainly on old grudges. She didn’t want to appear to Constance to be prying, but she risked one more question. “But you weren’t the first among the guilds generally?”
“Oh, no. There have been many others, especially from the Fire Guild.”
That statement piqued Jenna’s curiosity. “Oh… why from the Fire Guild?”
Constance’s eyes narrowed, but then she smiled. “I forget you haven’t been among the nobility long. Fire talent is rare in Sevalian women and generally sought after among the landed nobles. Female fire mages are most likely to bear sons with fire mage talent. Landed nobles like that because fire mages make the best knights and run the military.”
When explained that way it made perfect sense to Jenna. The thought briefly passed through her head what a nobleman might think of marrying her with her talents of communicating with horses, healing quickly, and traveling out-of-body. She guessed they would find the fire mage talents of strength, speed, controlling objects, and of course manipulating fire far preferable, though her healing magic had proven valuable.
She was pulled away from her musings when Constance continued to speak. “Guild mages with earth magic have been chosen in the past as well. With the Queen being such a strong healer, though, it was natural of her to extend the invitation to my family. My Aunt Delia recommended me.” Jenna blushed slightly, thinking of her run-in with the Ladies’ normal magic teacher. “Don’t worry. She forgives you. It was really just her pride that was hurt. Your magic trounced hers.”
“I really was sorry. I had no idea what I was doing.”
“It’s fine. She recovered.”
Jenna was saved a bit of further embarrassment when everyone began to clap once more as Aurelia left the high table. The King’s smile was radiant. As Jenna looked at Eamon, she suddenly made a mental connection. “Prince Eamon is a fire mage, isn’t he?”
“Yes, just like his father.”
“You think he will want to marry another fire mage then?”
Constance’s eyebrows lifted. “You heard the scandal?”
“What?” Jenna had no idea what she was talking about.
Constance smiled and leaned in closer. “It’s not exactly polite to discuss, but it is common knowledge now. Prince Eamon had a fling with the Fire Guildmaster’s ex-wife while away on assignment at the northern border.”
“I see.” Jenna was surprised, but not overly so after seeing Eamon’s way with women.
“She was with the war party, assisting with her magic. Normally it wouldn’t have been such a huge scandal, but the Guildmaster was there and not too pleased.”
“So there is talk of marriage between them?”
“Well… no, I mean not only is she divorced, but over twice his age. But the rumor is that he still asked her.”
Jenna now fully understood why such news would cause gossip. “Prince Eamon doesn’t seem to mind the scandal.”
“Well, it was eclipsed by the whole business about Sir Raymond’s disinheritance. Plus, Prince Eamon has always had the reputation of being a bit… reckless with women.”
Constance had a wistful expression on her face as she looked over at the Prince, who had returned to sitting at the high table. Jenna thought she would try one more time to cheer up the other Lady. “Maybe he won’t marry a fire mage. Maybe he will prefer to marry a healer one day just like his father.”
Constance frowned slightly. “Well, even if he did, he wouldn’t want one who would pass out just looking at him.”
Jenna shrugged. “The impression I got was that he was flattered.”
“Flattered?”
“Sure. A pretty girl swoons at the thought of his handsome face and beautiful voice. I think he liked it.” Constance’s expression turned more thoughtful as Jenna continued. “At least you didn’t faint from a concussion in front of Sir Gerard and the whole parade of knights as they returned from the border.”
Constance then smiled slightly. “I had almost forgotten about that.”
“It’s all right. My family doesn’t expect me to make a good match at court. I don’t mind if my embarrassment serves to make the other Ladies look better.”
Constance laughed and lifted her glass. “Then cheers to you, Jenna. On behalf of all the Queen’s Ladies, I thank you for your strange magic and loose tongue.”
Jenna smiled in response and then began to sip her glass of water. She heard someone come up behind her and saw Aurelia, who stopped by to talk to Constance. Constance was reserved with her response, but Jenna hoped they would soon go back to being friends. Their recent rivalry was causing tension among the Ladies, and she didn’t want it to escalate. When Constance began to smile, Jenna was relieved.
She then turned around to once again gaze upon the central courtyard. It had been spelled with weather magic so that it stayed warm, and they were lucky that it was a clear night, so Jenna was able to look up and see the stars shining along with the beautiful mage lights that hung along streamers above them. The mage lights alternated green and white, the Sevalian royal colors, or green and gold for Midwinter.
She looked over at the high table. Behind it was a large evergreen tree. It too was decorated with mage lights of silver and gold as well as carvings of songbirds.
Jenna was slightly wistful, looking at the table, remembering her excitement being there in her first week at court. She recognized the King and Queen as well as some of the other figures. Lord Harcourt and Princess Aylin again sat near the Queen. Both Prince Eamon and Prince Dominic were at the table this time too, sitting near their father.
Toward the far end Jenna recognized Lord Fyrian and Sir Gerard. Jenna was surprised Gerard was there, considering he had no landed title, but as she looked more closely, she could see a familial resemblance between him and Fyrian. Jenna began to wonder if they were father and son, but she really didn’t know.
Close to them, she saw the Khazaran ambassador, and then she smiled broadly. Standing behind him was her brother. Officially he was there to translate for the ambassador, but Jenna knew his presence probably had more to do with his ties to their father and his participation in trade negotiations. She felt somewhat sorry for him, though. Because he was still in training he was not allowed to sit at the table and missed a lot of the wonderful food.
As he stood there Jenna thought he seemed somewhat bored. Perhaps trade was not the largest topic of conversati
on this time. Jenna wanted to talk to him, but she couldn’t just wander over to the high table. Then she had an idea. She could try a mind-link. Granted Peter wasn’t a mage, but he was her brother, and she had been close to him her entire life. That should make it easier. She lowered her shields and directed a greeting in his direction.
Hello, Peter!
Peter looked over his shoulder, startled. He had heard!
It’s Jenna, silly. I’m in mind-link.
He looked toward her table. What? With me? With your magic? he thought.
Yes! Lord Harcourt will be pleased I could reach you at this distance.
Jenna thought she saw a scowl cross his face. Is this link private?
Should be, unless Lord Harcourt is determined to eavesdrop. But I doubt he would, being busy tonight.
Good. I needed to talk to you anyway. Have you lost your mind?
No, Jenna became confused. Obviously not, or else we couldn’t communicate this way.
That’s not what I mean! The bow, Jenna. How could you?
Oooooh! Jenna then understood why he was upset. How did you know?
Lord Fyrian asked me about it specifically. I barely knew what to say!
All I said was that a family friend gave it to us. I don’t even remember his name.
Good. That’s basically all I said, but what were you thinking? You know Father doesn’t want you using the weapons. You promised me you would obey.
Jenna was slightly upset at his anger. But it’s fine. There’s no scandal. All the Ladies learn archery.
She sensed Peter’s exasperation. But Jenna, they don’t use weapons like that.
Like what? You mean magic? I know the bow has magic now. I felt it; it’s strong. I could manipulate it too, so that it wouldn’t burn anyone anymore.
Peter’s mood suddenly changed. Jenna sensed… fear? That surprised her. Jenna, he pleaded, I can’t stop you from learning archery, but that bow is dangerous. And you have to leave the sword alone.
But Prince Eamon said he would teach me.