“Oh, la, the Emperor is very handsome,” said Jenaris as she spread a piece of toast thickly with butter and quince jam. “But he pays no attention to any of us.”
“I don’t think she’s even that pretty,” Shelynne added with a scowl. She broke a piece of bacon in half and ate one section. “Oh, yes, so she has that red hair, but what of that? She looks like a skinny scared rabbit.”
I tensed, but somehow managed to keep my hand from shaking as I poured more tea into my stepmother’s cup. The fragrant steam curled upward, and I found myself wishing I might have some as well, to steady my nerves. But tea was far too expensive to be wasted on the likes of me.
“Red hair?” my stepmother said in sharp tones. Her dark gaze flicked toward me for a second, but then she seemed to relax slightly, as if realizing that I had been here all last night, so of course I couldn’t possibly have attended the dinner at the palace. “And who is this girl?”
“No one knows,” Jenaris replied with a shrug, helping herself to the last of the bacon on the platter. “I think someone said her name was…Aislinn? Sharanne? Something like that.”
“Well, which is it?” my stepmother demanded. “Those two names sound nothing alike.”
Jenaris mumbled something around a mouthful of bacon, and her mother let out an exasperated breath and turned on Shelynne. “And I suppose you know nothing as well.”
A lift of the shoulders. “How could I, Mamma? I sat next to Jenaris the whole night, so I heard the same things she did. Anyway, what does it matter who this girl is? All that matters is that she isn’t either of us.”
For Shelynne, this was actually some remarkably clear-headed thinking. Indeed, what did it matter who the Emperor had apparently chosen, if it was not you?
All the same, I found my throat and stomach tight with dread. Oh, how I wished I had given the Emperor a false name, although which one I could have chosen, I had no idea. My knowledge of the nobility was scanty at best, so I could not have come up with something plausible, some distant relation of a well-known family. Such a subterfuge would have been easily discovered, and discredited.
“You are both being remarkably silly,” my stepmother snapped. “Acting as if the race has already been won, when there are still three days ahead of you in which you might catch the Emperor’s eye! And you should do what you can to find out more about this girl, for it’s only by studying an enemy that one can defeat them. Do you understand?”
The two sisters exchanged confused glances, then nodded halfheartedly.
My stepmother did not appear mollified, but she said nothing further, and instead only returned to her own neglected breakfast and began to eat, all the while staring at her daughters as if she were not quite sure they were actually a product of her womb.
As for myself, I made my escape as soon as I could, using the excuse of requiring more hot water for the teapot to leave the room. My heart was pounding and my hands trembling.
It had been difficult enough to escape my stepsisters’ notice prior to this. What on earth was I to do now that their mother had instructed them to spy on me?
* * *
“Not to worry,” my aunt told me in soothing tones early that afternoon, after I had escaped to the stables to meet her. “The same magic that tricks their eyes into seeing you in elegant gowns rather than those rags your stepmother deems it seemly for you to wear also tricks their ears. You could tell them your name directly, and they still would not be able to recall it.”
“Then how can the Emperor hear it correctly?” I half-whispered, shooting a worried glance in the direction of the kitchen door. “Or, for that matter, my friend Gabrinne?”
“Because they mean you no ill.”
I frowned, and my aunt said,
“Oh, for goodness’ sake, what difference does it make how it works? It is magic, dear girl, and it is doing all it can to protect you.”
“Is it doing anything more than that?”
She shot me a questioning look. “What are you asking, Ashara?”
I smoothed my hands over my skirts. That day’s spell had already been cast, and so I wore the semblance of a fine riding suit in closely woven deep brown wool. “I am asking if your spell is doing something else…making the Emperor fall in love with me, perchance.”
“Of course not!” Her expression seemed horrified enough that I thought I might believe her. “All I am giving you is the opportunity. Everything else comes from you, dear girl. Have you so little faith in yourself?”
There was a question. I had not had many opportunities for faith, whether in myself or in others. “I do not know,” I said simply.
At once her features softened, and she took my hands in hers. “I cannot imagine how difficult things must have been for you. But I am telling you the truth, Ashara. The Emperor is falling in love with you because you are strong and lovely and good. Not because of a spell. Believe that, and believe in yourself.”
For some reason her words brought tears to my eyes, and I struggled to keep them from spilling over my cheeks. “I — I will try,” I murmured.
“Good girl. Now go.” Her dark eyes twinkled then. “I think you will find something a little better than a coach waiting for you this time.”
That could mean only one thing. I thanked her hastily and rushed out, glad that my stepsisters had already gone and that Janks would not be about, either, as Claris had sent him out for more firewood for the kitchen hearth.
After I slipped through the gate and went around the corner, I found a young man of about my age standing there, holding the reins of the most beautiful blood-bay mare I had ever seen. Her legs were elegant but powerful, her dark mane and tail meticulously brushed.
“For you, miss,” the young man said, and cupped his hands so I might hoist myself into the sidesaddle.
“No need of that,” I told him, my voice sounding light and joyous, even to me. “I can manage.” And I put one foot in the stirrup and pulled myself into the saddle, disposing my skirts around me as if I had been doing that very same thing every day since I was a child.
He shook his head and grinned, but did not seem offended by my refusal. “Her name is Maelyn, and she will bear you well.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I will take good care of her.”
A small half-bow. “And she of you.”
For the first time I noticed a second horse, this one not nearly as eye-catching, standing a few paces past my own.
“Mine,” the young man supplied. “Your aunt says I’m to ride with you, act as your groom.”
She did appear to have thought of everything. “Your name, sir?”
He flashed a grin at me. “Aldric, my lady. Follow me.” In short order he was mounted on his own horse and leading me through the crowded streets.
Although perhaps I should have kept my head down, to prevent anyone from getting a good look at me, I must confess I was too entranced by my surroundings to be so circumspect. For the last ten years — save the past few nights — my world had consisted of my stepmother’s house and the small cul-de-sac where it stood. Of course I was never allowed to venture any farther than that, as I might run away. And although I had ridden forth in a carriage along these same streets, I could not see and hear and smell the city in a coach as I did now, on horseback.
All around me were people of all different shapes and sizes and ages, from the young girl on the corner selling clove-scented lemons — a sovereign antidote for the stink of the streets — to the carter behind me, his hands so gnarled with arthritis I wondered that he could hardly hold the reins of his horses, which looked barely younger than he. My ears rang with the noise, for everyone was shouting out their wares, or cursing someone whose wagon had cut them off, or talking loudly to be heard over the din.
I stared and stared, but retained enough of my wits to follow Aldric as he led me to the city’s eastern gate, where we emerged into a throng as loud and sizable as the one we had just left, save that they were headed into town to
conduct their business. We rode further, and the crowds diminished even as the countryside grew more open and more green. Off to my left I saw a dark blur that gradually resolved itself into a great forest of pine and oak and other trees I did not recognize. Against that dark blur fluttered a number of pennants in colors both bright and somber, and beneath those pennants were more pavilions, and a great mass of people.
My hands must have clenched on the reins, and Maelyn gave a little snort and tossed her head, as if in protest. At once I relaxed, then bent close and murmured, “No fear, my beauty — we will have some fun soon enough.”
At least, I hoped so.
Men in the black and silver livery of the Imperial house gestured me toward a group also on horseback, while indicating that Aldric must go in the opposite direction, back where the rest of the grooms and other attendants appeared to be congregating. I shot him an apologetic look, but he only shrugged and said, “’Tis no problem, my lady,” before heading off where he’d been directed.
As for myself, I nudged Maelyn forward in a slow walk so that I might take the measure of the group I was approaching. Yes, there were far fewer young ladies on horseback than had attended the dinner the night before; I thought I counted something more than a hundred, not including the noblemen and guards who would also be riding along. It still seemed a goodly number to be engaging in a hunt. At least here I knew I could avoid my stepsisters, since they were not riding, and must be back in one of the pavilions, pretending to have a good time while waiting for His Majesty and the other hunters to return.
Then I saw him, sitting straight in the saddle, his head bare and his dark hair gleaming in the sun. He wore a plain doublet of very dark green, and high brown boots and gloves to match. Even from that distance, I could sense his gaze fastening on me, and he smiled, teeth flashing as he raised his hand.
I gave Maelyn a gentle nudge with my knees, and she picked her way carefully through the crowd, somehow managing to sidle up to the Emperor’s great black stallion without actually bumping into any of the other horses. Several of the young women astride those horses shot me annoyed glances, but they knew better than to say anything when it had become increasingly clear that His Majesty had extended me some special favor.
“Good afternoon, Ashara,” he said, and ran an appraising eye over the blood-bay mare I rode. “Your aunt is obviously a good judge of horseflesh, if that is the mount she chose for you to ride.”
“She does have exquisite taste, Your Majesty,” I allowed, reaching up to stroke Maelyn’s neck. “I daresay my own father had no better horse in his stables.”
“Now I see why you were so confident at dinner last night.” He smiled at me, and it was as if the sun had doubled in intensity. I felt a rush of heat go over me that had very little to do with the warmth of the afternoon.
Somehow I managed to keep my tone light as I replied, “As to that, I suppose we will just have to see, Your Majesty.”
He laughed then and gestured for the same tall, dignified man I had met last night, whom Gabrinne had identified as Lord Hein, to approach. “Are we all more or less assembled?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. All those who said they would ride are accounted for, and so we may commence at your pleasure.”
“It pleases me that we start now,” the Emperor said, and his gaze slid sideways toward me before he looked back at his seneschal.
Lord Hein bowed. “Of course, Your Majesty.”
I heard several shouted commands then, although I could not make out what they were. However, the guards interspersed with the young women and the nobles seemed to fan out and take positions where they were evenly spaced amongst everyone else, and then the conversation died off as a great pack of noisy dogs was brought out, straining at their leashes. A horn sounded, and the hounds were let loose, baying and barking as they charged into the forest.
My father had not been a great hunter — and we did not have the wealth to support a stable of horses and hounds — but I knew enough about the process that what happened next wasn’t entirely unexpected. The great throng of horses, which had been standing placidly only a few seconds earlier, now leapt forward, a straining mass of horseflesh following the dogs into the trees.
Thank goodness Maelyn seemed to know exactly what to do, and she surged into the woods with the rest of them, her pace picking up with no signal from me. The Emperor on his black stallion was just a few yards ahead of me, and I signaled my own mount that she should follow them. Without hesitation she shifted the direction in which she was running so we were nearly in a straight line, the space between us closing fast. I had no idea whether any of the other riders’ horses were as good as ours, or whether they purposely hung back so they would not be seen besting the Emperor, but for whatever reason, it seemed the gap between the two of us and the rest of the group was slowly but steadily growing.
Even the guards appeared to be falling behind, much to their consternation. I heard one or two desperate cries of “Your Majesty!”, but the Emperor affected not to hear them. Indeed, he turned and looked over his shoulder at me, then grinned, his teeth seeming very white in the relative gloom of the forest. He said nothing, but that glance told me everything.
So you want a race? I thought. Then you shall have one.
I flapped the reins against Maelynn’s neck and felt the powerful muscles beneath me push forward with a burst of speed that brought us nearly neck and neck with the Emperor’s stallion. Odd how it seemed that my muscles recalled exactly what to do — how to balance myself in the sidesaddle, to lean into my horse’s stride, becoming one with it.
A stream meandered across our path, and the Emperor’s horse sailed directly over it. I felt Maelyn tense for the jump, and I caught my breath, wondering if I could still maintain my seat through it all. It had been a very long time since I had ridden at all, let alone jumped over the low hedgerows on my father’s estate.
But then Maelyn’s leap was over so quickly I hardly had time to think about it, and we were tearing down a narrow track, so narrow that once or twice I felt a tree branch scrape against my shoulder, or my leg. And all the while the sounds of the other riders and the belling of the hounds grew fainter and fainter, until at last the Emperor and I might have been the only ones riding through these woods.
Because the track was so cramped, I let Maelyn fall behind. It was impossible for two to ride abreast here. After a few more minutes, however, we emerged into a clearing, and I leaned forward and whispered, “Now, Maelyn.”
She bolted forward, hooves tearing at the dead leaves and dry grass underfoot, and we shot ahead of the Emperor and his horse, thundering to the other side of the glade, where I pulled her to a stop and patted her heaving sides.
“I believe that makes me the winner, Your Majesty,” I called out as he came to a halt a few paces away.
“So it does, Ashara.” He did not seem disappointed that I had bested him; indeed, he smiled as he dismounted and came forward, extending a hand to me.
Of course I could not refuse it, so I wrapped my fingers around his and allowed him to help me down from the saddle. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“Torric,” he said.
Those dark eyes seemed to be searing into me, and were far too close. I looked away, instead staring down at the muddy earth. “I could not,” I murmured.
“Even if I command it?”
I glanced up then, forced myself to meet his gaze. “So you command me to not address you as my Emperor?”
“If that is what it takes, yes.” He still held my hand, and I felt his fingers tighten around mine. “Please.”
This request shocked me so — who had ever heard of the Emperor saying “please” to anyone? — that I said, “Very well…Torric.”
The smile returned. “Ah, that is better. What use for such formalities, when it is just the two of us here?”
I had to concede that he had a point. “So do you often do things like this?”
“Like what? Run off into
the woods with a beautiful woman?”
Heat flared in my cheeks, but somehow I made myself hold his gaze, and not stammer and stare down at my feet as I wished to do. “Well, not precisely that, but a little. That is, do you often go tearing off and leave your guards behind? I must say they sounded quite worried.”
Some of the light went out of his eyes, but his tone was casual enough as he said, “Ah, I wish it were so, but no — they dog my steps every minute of my life. This is a blessed respite.”
I caught the note of weariness in his voice, and wondered at it. Then again, I had very little idea of what an emperor’s life was like. He had just given me a glimpse that perhaps it wasn’t quite as rosy as I had thought it might be. “And you have no fear, being out here without their protection? After all, I assume you must have guards for a reason.”
He shook his head and chuckled. “I have ridden in these woods since I was a boy. There is nothing here to harm us, for all the bears and wolves were driven to wilder places long ago. And if I have aught to fear from my fellow man, well, then, let them come.” His hand strayed to his hip, and for the first time I noticed that he wore a long knife — or perhaps it was a short sword — in a scabbard of finely tooled leather hanging from his belt.
Whether he had meant his words to hearten me, I did not know. I must confess that the sight of that knife was not particularly encouraging, and I hoped he would have no cause to use it. “Do you think they will find us soon?” I asked.
An offhand shrug. “I do not know. If they give my scent to the hounds, in time they will come here. But they will have to divert them from their present quarry for that to work, and that may take some time.” His eyebrows lifted, and those dark eyes were intent on my face, as if seeking to read my very thoughts from my expression. “Why? Do you wish for them to find us?”
Ashes of Roses (Tales of the Latter Kingdoms Book 4) Page 12