“If I must.” She pouted, but could not maintain the expression for very long, for the dance’s exertions required her to open her mouth to take a breath. “But you cannot give me one hint? Not a single one?”
“That would not be fair, as I have said nothing to any of my partners this evening.” And even if I had, I would not extend you the same courtesy. “But at least you know that soon the waiting will be over.”
She did not reply, but frowned and said nothing for the remainder of the dance, which I found to be a welcome relief. Surely if she possessed an ounce of perception she would have recognized the distaste I felt for her, but as was often the case with self-absorbed people, she had very little awareness of the sensibilities of others.
It was with a great sense of liberation that I bowed to her at the end of the dance and went my own way, glad that I would not be burdened with her company again. And it was then that I encountered my sister, who had just danced once more with Lord Sorthannic. She smiled at me, but ruefully, and said,
“You might want to wipe that sour expression off your face, my lord, for it’s a little too obvious how happy you are to be relieved of the lady’s company.”
“I did not know I was being so transparent.” I signaled to one of the servants to bring us some wine, and almost at once the man was handing me a full goblet, and then another to my sister. He bowed and left, and I added, “Truly it seems as if the hours are lasting longer and longer as the evening wears on. Surely it must be midnight already.”
“Soon enough.” A corner of her mouth quirked. “It is not only wearing on you, Torric — Mother cornered me a while ago and demanded that I tell her who your choice was. I said that I did not know, that you were being very secretive about the whole thing, but I fear she did not believe me.”
“It does not matter much whether she believes you or not. The important thing is that she does not know for sure, although of course she must have her suspicions. I did not hide my regard for Ashara soon enough, although since then I think I have done fairly well at not showing her any particular favor.”
“Very well for how besotted you are.” Lyarris sipped her wine and gazed around the ballroom, as if looking for Ashara, although I could not spy her myself. “She does look rather astonishing this evening, does she not? And her father was a baronet? They must have some other wealth in the family for her to have the means to procure such a gown, and such jewels.”
“She mentioned an aunt once. It sounded as if she might be a wealthy woman in her own right, and so perhaps she is the one who has been assisting Ashara with her wardrobe.”
“Ah, that would make sense.” A small pause, and then she asked, “Are you nervous?”
“Of course not,” I replied immediately. Fine words. An Emperor could not admit to nerves…not even to his sister. But there was an odd sensation somewhere in the pit of my stomach, one which, if not precisely nervousness, was something closely related. Anticipation? Perhaps. And while I wanted to announce to everyone that Ashara Millende was the choice of my heart, I knew there would be many disappointed young women surrounding me, and that would be difficult to bear in its own way. True, I did not much worry about breaking the heart of someone such as Brinda Allende — if she even possessed such an organ, which I somehow doubted — but there were many fine girls here who had nothing wrong with them…save that they were not Ashara.
“Of course not,” my sister echoed, and took another sip of wine. “I would put you out of your misery and dance with you next, but I know that would only make me a source of bitter rebuke for taking you out of circulation so close to the fateful hour.”
“And are you going to dance yet again with the Duke of Marric’s Rest? For it seems you have been keeping him rather to yourself this evening.”
Her lashes dropped low, and she paused before replying, the teasing note back in her voice, “No, I think we have danced enough to set tongues wagging. For you know that was my sole aim — to draw as much attention as I could from you.”
“I thank you for that, although I am not sure it was as efficacious as you had hoped. Still, I appreciate your sacrifice.”
“Beast,” she said, and let out a small laugh as she tapped me on the arm with her fan. “But no, I am going to dance the last dance with Lord Hildar, and see if I can distract him from fretting that his daughter is making a spectacle of herself with Lord Senric.”
“A good plan. In fact, you have given me an idea. I shall have the Lady Gabrinne dance the last dance with me. Since I know her heart is bestowed elsewhere, I will not have to worry about giving her false hope about her chances for the crown. It is an excellent solution, don’t you think?”
“Quite excellent,” Lyarris agreed. “In fact, I see the musicians preparing themselves once again, so you had best find the lady in question before Lord Senric quite spirits her away.”
I bowed to my sister — and winked at the same time, to which she gave me a quite unladylike grin and turned away, no doubt to make herself available to Lord Hildar. And might she have joy of him as a partner. A good man, and a trifle enthusiastic on the dance floor. I could only hope he wouldn’t step on all ten of my sister’s toes.
The brilliant emerald green of Lady Gabrinne’s gown made her easy enough to find. I paused next to her, noting that she stood with Ashara and Lord Senric, and tried my best to appear as noncommittal as possible. “My Lady Gabrinne.”
She turned to me in some surprise, but curtseyed immediately. “Your Majesty.”
“If you would honor me with the last dance?”
Instead of flushing, as most girls in a similar situation would do, her dark eyes danced, and she sent a mischievous look over her shoulder at Ashara, as if she had guessed my game at once. “Of course, Your Majesty.”
I inclined my head toward Ashara and Lord Senric, then led Gabrinne away, seeing that the Duke had bowed to Ashara, and was obviously asking her to be his companion for the dance. Excellent. She would be in good hands with him. And after that…
After that, she would be mine.
Once the music had started and Gabrinne and I made the customary honors to one another, she tilted her head up at me, eyes twinkling. “A good play, Your Majesty. For of course you could not dance this last verdralle with Ashara, much as you would have liked to…and I was a safe substitute, for of course I do not wish to marry you.”
I had known this already, but to hear her speak it so baldly did take me aback somewhat. “Oh, you don’t?”
“Not at all,” she said airily. “I expect Lord Senric and I will announce our betrothal to my father this very night, to cheer him up after he hears that you have chosen Ashara Millende and not me.”
“And did she tell you this?” I asked, trying to keep the amusement out of my voice.
“Oh, no. Ashara is far too well-mannered for that. But I am not stupid — I have seen how you look at one another, and when you gave me that note at the musicale to pass to her? Well, I knew that clinched the whole thing.”
“You are a very observant young woman,” I remarked, before turning her under one arm and drawing her back to me. “Perhaps I should give you a post in the foreign service office. No doubt you could pass all sorts of intelligence back to me.”
“Oh, yes, I could,” she said, eyes shining. Then her expression fell a bit. “But I do not think Lord Senric would be all that excited about such a proposition. He is such a homebody, you know. He’s always going on about Gahm and how much I’m going to love it there. I’m sure it is very fine…but I think I will do what I can to encourage him to stay in town whenever possible.”
“I wish you luck with that,” I told her. I knew the Duke quite well, and also knew he did not share Gabrinne’s love of the capital city and its diversions. But that was for them to work out as they could.
She raised an eyebrow. “I believe you might be laughing at me, Your Majesty…just the smallest bit. I do not mind. You’ll learn soon enough that the best thing a man can do in
this world is keep his wife happy.”
“Is that so?”
“Oh, yes. Papa does everything as Mamma wishes, and the household runs quite smoothly. Or at least as smoothly as a household can that has five boys in it.”
I began to see where the Lady Gabrinne had gotten her temperament. No doubt her mother was a force of nature as well. My tone neutral, I said, “Then I’m sure you and Lord Senric will sort it out soon enough.”
“Of that I have no doubt.”
The music began to slow and soften to its closing chords, so I said nothing else, but only led her through the final steps until the song was ended, and we made our bows and curtseys to one another. My muscles seemed to tense, for the moment was now upon us. Somehow, though, I managed to thank Gabrinne in quite normal tones.
“No, thank you, Your Majesty,” she replied. Then, in a whisper, “And best of luck with your announcement.”
I nodded and made my way through the crowd, which now had quieted and was watching the dais, expecting my arrival there at any moment. The musicians had already gathered up their instruments and moved off to one side, leaving the platform empty for me and my family. My mother was even now ascending the steps, with my sister a few feet behind her. The guards had taken up their posts to either side, and the stage was set.
The young women pushed forward, leaving their dance partners behind. Perhaps there had been shared jokes and laughter, even flirtation, but one would not know that now. All of those faces were now tense, mouths tight, as they watched me mount the shallow set of three steps to the dais and take my position in its center.
I paused for a few seconds, then cleared my throat, wishing I had thought to steal a few sips of wine before I had to make the announcement. “My lords and ladies, I thank you all for your attendance tonight, and indeed, at all the events this week. It has been a very great pleasure for me to meet so many lovely and accomplished young women, but as you all know, only one of you can be my wife.” Another pause, as my gaze swept the crowd, searching for Ashara in her gleaming copper gown. There she was, nearly in the center and only one row back, with Gabrinne and Lord Senric at her side. Good. I would not have to wait for her to push her way from the very back of the throng.
“As you can imagine,” I continued, “this was a very difficult decision, one which required a good deal of deliberation.” To my right, I heard something that sounded suspiciously like a snort coming from my sister, but when I cast a quick sidelong glance at her, she looked serene and calm enough. “In the end, however, I knew I must go with the choice of my heart…and that is the Lady Ashara Millende. Ashara?” I asked, and extended a hand to her.
A wave of pink spread over her cheeks, a flush I could see even at this distance, but she bit her lip and moved forward, leaving the crowd behind, and beginning to mount the steps of the dais. At the same time I heard a murmur spread through the crowd, which was only to be expected. However, the murmur did not subside, but grew louder, eventually resolving itself into a single woman’s voice crying out, “No, no! You cannot choose her! She is an impostor!”
Ashara stopped on the middle step, the pretty pink disappearing from her cheeks, leaving her pale as death. One hand went to her mouth, and I thought I heard her murmur, “Oh, no…”
The crowd parted to reveal a tall burly-looking young man in the plain dark clothes of a servant and a pair of women, one of an age with my mother, dressed well enough, but with a tight, cruel set to her mouth. And the other — the other —
I blinked, but that did nothing to change the sight before me. For it seemed that I looked on Ashara, but an Ashara dressed in rags, her threadbare chemise hanging off one slender shoulder, her gown of brown linen patched in multiple places. The servingman held her tightly by one arm, as if to prevent her escape.
“What is this?” I demanded, and turned to look at the woman I had thought to call my bride. “Do you — is this your twin?”
She shook her head, her eyes brimming with unshed tears.
“No twin, Your Majesty,” the hard-faced woman said, “but a very she-devil, using unholy magic to deceive you! Show them!”
For a few seconds the false Ashara hesitated. She said, looking straight at me, and appearing to ignore the young man who held her, “The only deception here was in the gowns and jewels the Lady Ashara wore. She is no impostor — she is the daughter of a baronet, just as she told you, a young woman whose birthright has been usurped by the very woman who accuses me…her stepmother.”
“And who are you, then?” I asked, and would not allow myself to feel any relief at her words.
She stood up straighter, and it was as if the air shimmered and danced around her, before it fell away to reveal a woman of middle years, well-dressed and prosperous-looking. “I am Therissa Larrin, Ashara’s aunt.”
At once the crowd began to shift and murmur, even as the blood seemed to chill in my veins. So the stepmother’s accusations of unholy magic were true. And that meant —
That meant the woman before me had just condemned herself to death. And not just herself, but the woman I loved.
Something in my face must have shifted, revealing my thoughts, for the woman stared at me with a horror equal to that which I felt, and she cried out, “Run, Ashara! Run, or your life is forfeit!”
Just the briefest hesitation, as Ashara raised despairing eyes to me. She mouthed something — it could have been I love you, or perhaps only I’m sorry — and then she bolted down the steps, past the startled guards, through the crowds. And as I watched, she seemed to shift — her gleaming red hair went dark, and the gown of brilliant copper changed to dull blue — making her much more difficult to distinguish.
But that was not the end of her aunt’s trickery, for even with that disguise, the guards still converged upon her. She changed again, to the semblance of an older nobleman, and then one of my men-at-arms themselves, as all collapsed in confusion, with everyone accusing those around them of being the young woman in disguise.
“Stop this!” I bellowed. “Seize her!”
I saw a faint smile play around the lips of the accursed sorceress who had caused the destruction of my dreams, and knew that Ashara had somehow gotten away. Perhaps some corner of my soul was relieved, but I could not let myself feel that now. Everything was done and gone to dust.
“Take the sorceress to the dungeon,” I said dully, then turned away as the guards converged upon this Therissa.
And pulling the heavy crown from my head, I stepped down from the dais and made my way out of the chamber as the crowd parted around me, silent and shocked. For once, even the chattering nobles of my court had nothing to say.
I left the ballroom, and did not look back.
Chapter 15
Ashara
Not knowing what else to do, I ran. Somehow my aunt had shielded me, kept me from capture, although she was not so lucky herself. I ran from the palace, out into the dark streets, noting dully that my appearance kept changing, that sometimes the skirts I held were blue, or green, or not even skirts at all, but the breeches and boots of a man. And then at last they were my own skirts of patched brown linen, and I knew she had stopped casting the spell.
What that meant, I did not know. Was she dead, given the sort of summary justice meted out to those found guilty of practicing magic? I could not let myself stop to think about that. I could not think about anything…especially the look of dawning horror in Torric’s eyes as he gazed upon me and realized the trick which had been played upon him.
I tore through the streets, glad I had watched from the windows of the carriage as it had taken me to and from my house to the palace, so I more or less knew the route. Once or twice I made a wrong turn and had to stop, gasping for a breath, on some unfamiliar street, praying a night watchman would not see me and demand to know my business. And one time I felt drunken hands grasping at me in the darkness, thinking a woman out alone at this hour must be there for one thing only. In terror I recoiled, feeling the sleeve of
my chemise tear as I pulled away from his clutching hands.
Finally, though, I reached the house, which stood empty and quiet. Everyone must still be at the palace, facing the aftermath of my unmasking. Even Mari seemed to be gone; perhaps she, too, had accompanied my stepmother and Janks to the palace with their captive, although I had not noticed her. Whatever the reason for her absence, I knew I did not have much time. I would have to disappear, and that meant taking those things which might secure my survival.
Is it stealing, to take the property that rightfully should have been yours? I did not have time to split such legal hairs, but only seized a satchel from the downstairs closet and emptied a good deal of the silverware into it. Then it was upstairs to take a gown of Shelynne’s, and a pair of slippers, and one of her spare chemises. That truly was stealing, but I knew I had to look halfway respectable to sell any of the silver I had just stuffed into the satchel, and I could not do that wearing a threadbare workaday gown and a torn chemise.
No time to change here — I would have to find a safe place to do that elsewhere. I had just slipped back down the stairs when I saw Claris poking her head out of the kitchen door. Our gazes met, and her eyes widened.
“Ashara? What on earth?”
“I can’t explain,” I said, pushing past her to the back door. I knew I daren’t go out the front.
One hand reached out and took me by the arm. “Are you running away?”
“No — yes, well, I suppose you could call it that. Just please know that I never meant anyone any harm. I never — ” The tears welled up in my eyes, splintering the pleasant gloom of the candlelit hallway into a thousand shimmering pieces before me. No. I could not cry now. Later, perhaps, when I thought I was safe, I could weep enough to fill the very River Silth, but not now. “I have to go. Please, Claris!”
Ashes of Roses (Tales of the Latter Kingdoms Book 4) Page 20