Ashlynn swore under her breath and dove towards him, catching him by the elbow and dragging him to a halt. Broden was over ten feet away and could not hear what she said but he had a good guess. To the two retainers, who looked worried by this reaction, he explained, “Edvard be a mite over protective where his sisters be concerned. And Bria has mentioned naught of this to us.”
Fitzpatrick and Avis shared a startled look before asking in tandem, “Why?”
“Now that be a good question we need an answer to.”
Whatever Ashlynn had said, it did not leave much of a dent, as Edvard growled, “BRIAAAAAA.”
Bria jumped like a startled rabbit, took in her brother’s expression, and pinned a winsome smile on her face. “Edvard, dear brother.”
“Don’t you ‘dear brother’ me, you…you…” he literally could not think of an epithet strong enough.
Ashlynn stroked a hand down his arm in a soothing motion. “Breathe, Edvard, breathe. And Bria, Prince Hendrix, I think we should take this inside and talk about it. Calmly. Without yelling.”
Privately wishing her luck with that last part, Broden took hold of the retainers and ushered them up to Edvard’s study, leaving Ashlynn to gather up the rest. They got many a wild look from the staff as they passed them. Broden kept them going at a good clip to prevent anyone from stopping the party and asking questions and only breathed easily once they had gained Edvard’s study.
Hendrix looked weary enough to just drop into a chair, but he kept his feet, and his grip on Bria’s hand was strong enough that even a pry bar would not separate the two. Edvard came to stand nearly toe-to-toe with him, furious enough that one could practically see steam coming out of his ears.
“Your Majesty.” Hendrix took a half step back to give him a bow.
Broden blinked at hearing Edvard addressed this way. For all that he was King of Estole, few actually called him that to his face.
The whole room saw Edvard close his eyes, take in a cleansing breath, and let it out again. When he opened his eyes he was, on the surface at least, calmer. “Your Highness. I am very, very curious as to how the two of you came to be together. And why my sister didn’t mention a word of this to me.”
Hendrix gave his beloved a speaking look that suggested he was very curious about the same thing.
Bria bit her lip, eyes darting between the two men. “Edvard, when Ashlynn and Broden found me, they said we had a problem with spies in Estole, right? We weren’t even sure if it was safe to talk about things on the trip back here. Hendrix’s position at court was already so unstable, I was worried what would happen if our relationship got back to his father. And as far as I know, the spy problem hasn’t really been solved.”
Edvard rubbed a pained hand against his forehead. “It’s been solved, dearheart, for a good fortnight now. Mostly.”
“Well, no one told me that,” she declared, mouth pursed. “So don’t be getting mad at me. I didn’t know it was safe to talk.”
“It’s just as well it has been solved,” Ashlynn muttered to the room in general. “Otherwise having Prince Hendrix burst in through the gates certainly would have made it back to his father’s ears, and then we’d be in a fine pickle.”
Hendrix flushed and looked a little mortified for a few seconds as he realized just what kind of an entrance he had made.
Edvard nailed the prince with his eyes. “You realize that because of my sister’s status in Iysh, you’d never be allowed to marry her. So why did the two of you start courting?”
Not flinching from that iron gaze, Hendrix smiled as he responded, “She’s the princess of a foreign country. Why can’t I marry her?”
Broden snorted and then chuckled outright. He had a feeling he was going to like Hendrix just fine.
The King of Estole tried to stay stern for five full seconds before he gave up. Throwing his hands in the air, he demanded of his sister plaintively, “Hang it all, Bri, what am I supposed to do about this?”
“Use it to your advantage,” she suggested in a ruthlessly logical way.
“But he’s…” Edvard spluttered, pointing at Hendrix, “and you’re…and it’s...it’s…arghhh.”
“I’m not much of a prince, but I’m still a prince of Iysh,” Hendrix pointed out. Determination blazed from him so strongly it was almost visible in the air itself. “Surely we can use that to our advantage.”
“Our advantage,” Edvard repeated in a very neutral tone.
“Our advantage,” Hendrix sustained. “We have two things in common, Your Majesty. We don’t like Iysh and we love Bria. Surely those two things unite us.”
The whole room held its breath as they waited for Edvard’s response.
Broden knew that Edvard was buying every second he could to think. But he also knew what the man was going to say before he said it.
Finally, the King of Estole gave a feral smile. “Yes. I suppose it does.”
Everyone dared to breathe again.
“Ashlynn?”
“Yes, Edvard.”
“Call for some snacks and tea to be sent up. I think we have much to discuss.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Ashlynn caught Riana and Ash right in the middle of eating a late lunch. When her report came in, Ash dropped everything immediately and raced for the docks, demanding answers as he went. Ash was looking wild-eyed about the whole situation but Riana wasn’t surprised. She’d had a feeling, ever since Bria had dropped those hints on their shopping trip, that her beau was someone very highly ranked in Iysh’s court.
Ash ran through Estole and burst into the castle with Riana struggling to keep up with him. The other wizard had forgotten, for once, that he could run faster than she could and wasn’t moderating his pace at all. By the time that Riana had caught up, Ash was already in Edvard’s study.
Ash got hold of his sister and shook her shoulders, growling, “Bri, you should have warned us!”
“I didn’t know it was safe to talk,” she fired back, matching him glare for glare.
“You could have said something behind closed doors, it wasn’t like spies were infesting the castle, and, Riana, why aren’t you surprised by any of this?” He turned to his partner with a partially betrayed look as if she should be feeling as outraged as he was.
Riana shrugged in a very blasé way, in part to rile him up, because it was somewhat funny seeing him in this state. “Bria gave us a hint earlier.”
The whole room froze while Bria blushed and refused to look up from the floor.
Ashlynn snapped her fingers as the recollection came to her. “The third son of an official at court.”
“Sort of,” Riana tacked on, grinning.
“Wait, when was this?” Ash looked at the three of them with growing confusion.
“Ye were no’ there, it was while we be shopping for the coronation,” Riana filled him in.
“Ahh.”
“Be no’ harsh on the lass,” Riana chided him gently. “She did no’ have just herself to protect, but yon prince as well. With all that has happened, can ye blame her for being extra cautious?”
Ash deflated like an empty sack. “No. I suppose I can’t. But it does beg the question, does anyone else have a hidden beau somewhere that I need to know about?”
The rest of the family adamantly shook their heads.
“Good.” Ash flopped into a chair and tried very hard not to pout. He still felt a little hurt by his sister’s silence. Riana slipped into the neighboring seat and slipped her hand into his. He didn’t look at her, but returned the grip.
“Where be Prince Hendrix?” Riana asked the room in general.
“I gave him and his two retainers a suite here so they could freshen up from the road,” Edvard replied. “Also, a chance for the two of you to get here. You made it here faster than I expected. In fact, you might have set a new record.”
“Some magic might have gone into that,” Riana admitted cheerfully.
Edvard gave his brother a sardonic lo
ok. “I have no doubt.”
Prince Hendrix returned to the study with his retainers, all three looking much more refreshed and ready for this impromptu meeting than they had been thirty minutes ago. They had better manners than to fall upon the waiting tea and snacks like ravenous wolves but Riana noted that it took them bare minutes to clear the trays of anything resembling crumbs. They had pushed themselves hard for those two months that they were looking for Bria. The way their clothes hung on them, no longer fitting quite right, said they’d lost a great deal of weight in a short amount of time.
Bria ignored the frowns of both of her brothers and had Hendrix sit with her. He didn’t look quite comfortable snuggling with her in front of witnesses (glaring witnesses at that) but he wasn’t willing to relinquish Bria either. So he stayed staunchly in place and squirmed a little instead.
Edvard finally had pity and turned away, requesting of Ashlynn, “Call Tierone for me. I think he needs to be in this conversation.”
Ashlynn already had a tall caller in hand and the look she shot him said plainly, Just what in mercy do you think it is I’m doing right now?
Grinning, he held up a hand in silent apology.
“Tierone,” Ashlynn repeated patiently.
“Gah. Yes, I’m here, tell me it isn’t an emergency.”
“It’s not an emergency,” Ashlynn parroted obediently.
“Right. I take it by your tone it’s an emergency. So, what’s happened this time? Has the castle burned down?”
“Not yet. Tierone, are you sitting down?”
“I always sit down when you call me these days. It’s a safety precaution.”
“Good plan.”
Riana bit her lip and tried not to show any humor at this exchange. Never having had a sibling of her own, she couldn’t be sure if this give-and-take was common in families, but it was certainly a pattern for the Knolton family.
Ashlynn paused, phrasing her words before stating, “Bria has a beau.”
“Does Edvard and Ash know about this yet? Because they’re likely to hunt the poor sap down.”
Hendrix choked and looked only slightly panicked by this.
“They found out a little while ago, and no, he’s not in any danger. But it’s not that so much as who he is.” Taking a breath, she finally blurted, “It’s Prince Hendrix.”
There was abrupt silence on the other end. Faintly, Tierone requested, “Repeat that? I think your magic caller just hiccupped or something.”
“Bria is being courted by Prince Hendrix. He, ah, is here now.”
Out of all of the siblings, Tierone was the one that could take surprises the best. Or at least, he reacted to a moment of crisis better than most of them did. He stayed stuck on this for a full second before offering, “Good afternoon, Your Highness.”
“Good afternoon, Lord Tierone,” Hendrix responded, pitching his voice a little louder to carry.
“If you don’t mind my asking, just how long have you and Bria been together?”
“Roughly nine months, my lord.”
“Bria,” Tierone’s voice had a note of dark promise in it, “we’ll speak about this later. Alone. When there are no witnesses.”
“I said that no one told me it was safe to talk about matters,” she retorted, almost petulant. “I didn’t know that Troi had gone on a spy-hunt after the ceremony had happened and gotten them all out of Estole! How was I supposed to know that Hendrix would find me this fast, anyway? I thought I had time to tell people.”
“Nevertheless and notwithstanding, sister dearest, we will have words on this subject. Now, Prince Hendrix, I must ask what your intentions are by walking into the enemy encampment like this.”
“Enemy encampment? Odd, I thought I was here to speak to allies.”
There was an audible perk in Tierone’s voice. “Oh?”
“We did discuss a little before calling you,” Edvard leaned toward Ashlynn so Tierone could hear him better as he filled him in. “He’s against Iysh, for Bria, and thereby Estole, and would like to join in with us. How is still the question as we stopped and got you into this meeting at that point.”
“Glad you did, I don’t want to miss this. Prince Hendrix, does your decision to abandon Iysh have anything to do with the new Binding that your father put into place?”
Hendrix snorted. “Please. I was basically disinherited years ago when he sent me out of the court. He called it ‘experience building’ but it was basically exile and we all knew it. This Binding of his just makes it clear by law, it didn’t change anything.”
Riana didn’t hear a trace of bitterness or see any anger in Hendrix’s face. Whatever he felt about his father’s attitude, he had come to terms with it. It spoke well of him that he didn’t wallow in this parental rejection but instead chose to overcome it and make his own path.
“The only worry I have at the moment is how Estole is going to deal with my brothers. I don’t expect much out of Savir, he’s more inclined to go along with our oldest brother than anything, but Maddox is likely to bring an army to your doors. What I saw coming in doesn’t incline me to believe that you have what it takes to stand against an army.”
Edvard grimaced. “We’re working on a plan to thwart him so it doesn’t come to an open battle. Political maneuvering at its finest. I do admit it would go much smoother if I had your help in that. Even a disinherited prince will have more influence than I would.”
Hendrix tilted a hand back and forth in a seesaw motion. “Depending on the parties we’re talking about, you might or might not be right. King Edvard. What do you want from me? I will aid you in whatever ways I can.”
Sitting back, Edvard regarded him for several seconds without trying to say a word. The room held its breath, waiting for him to speak, feeling that the next thing he said would change things. This was not Bria’s brother that Hendrix was asking the question of. A prince of Iysh had formally asked the King of Estole what services he could render.
“I don’t think that’s the right question.”
“I don’t think so either,” Tierone agreed. “Rather, the question should be, Prince Hendrix: What is your limit?”
Edvard nodded in support of this even as he asked, “How far are you willing to go to make sure that Estole is safe?”
Hendrix didn’t rattle out a reply. He paused, thinking, his free hand reaching over to grab Bria’s in a stronger grip. She was watching him anxiously but not speaking, as if she knew that he had to answer this on his own and without her input.
Raising his head, Hendrix looked straight at Edvard as he replied, “I have no loyalty left to Iysh. I ask only two things of you. Don’t hurt the people and don’t hurt my mother.”
Edvard stood and crossed the four feet separating them, holding out a hand. Hendrix rose to meet him although he didn’t take the proffered hand. “We’re going to incite a rebellion within Iysh so that it doesn’t have the power to wage war against us. I want you to spearhead that movement.”
A feral smile stretched slowly over Hendrix’s face as he clasped Edvard’s hand in a strong grip. “I will.”
Bria squealed in delight and bounced once on the couch before clamping a hand over her mouth. It made the rest of the room smile, even Hendrix’s retainers.
Edvard squeezed the hand a little tighter as he said warmly, “Welcome to Estole.”
Epilogue
All-Winter’s Festival was in full swing in Estole. The first snows had come at the beginning of the week, as if simply waiting for the festival before falling, and the people couldn’t be happier about it. The streets were decorated with greenery and ribbons and (for once) not a trace of garbage could be found anywhere along the gutters. No one was quite sure if it was in fear of Ashlynn or in respect of the festival, but no one was looking the gift horse in the mouth.
It had been a near thing, but they’d managed to get all of the major projects done by the time that the snows came. The storehouses and greenhouses were built and stocked with food, enough
so that they would only have mild food rations during the winter and early spring months. The highway to Cloud’s Rest had been laid, with only the need for finishing touches come spring. The mint was still turning out new coins, but in deference to the festival, they were on half-days and only worked mornings. They still had enough in circulation to where it wasn’t a problem and no one complained about that, either.
Most everyone had houses up, although a few had some unfinished rooms, and the new magical academy was finished (barring a few practice rooms that the students carefully did not remind their master of). Some people had worked well into the nights to pull everything off. Some claimed it was a miracle, others that it was just hard work paying off, but Riana was of the mind that it was probably a little of both. They had experienced an incredibly rough year and the heavens might be trying to bless them a little to compensate for that.
In honor of the celebration, Edvard had opened up the castle so that they could hold the festival right there on the grounds. It had made his staff want to pull out their hair on several occasions but the people loved it and the grounds were packed almost to the point of insanity. The only clear places were on the battlements and the ballroom, where the dancing was, and even that room didn’t have much space to be had.
Riana gulped down cold cider and watched the dancers whizz past her. She and Ash had arrived later because of the icy conditions of the channel and it had been a fight getting inside. But now that she was here, she could appreciate the heat of the room and the gaiety of the people and the general happiness that was present in the air. Wanting to be nicely dressed for the festival, she had worn her green gown from Edvard’s ceremony, as she didn’t have anything else appropriate. It had seemed like a bad decision, almost like wearing an ill omen, but now that she saw how everyone else was dressed, she was glad she had. She would have looked very out of place here in anything else.
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