And I knew this to be accurate. True had told me. Returning refugee women to Airen was a thorny subject between my country’s king and his son. True without fail advised his father to grant asylum. Carrington advised it would not be good to anger King Gallienus or the members of his gentry who had command of standing armies.
“Enough they’re willing to allow their sons to die for it?” Carrington fired back.
“I do not know,” Mercy retorted. “Though it would be my son in service to his realm and his king who leads the king’s armies and knows the minds of the king’s men, and I would wonder which they would prefer. Riding in aid of a new ruler making just changes in his realm or riding to a folly in order to increase their king’s chest.”
“Mercy,” Uncle Wilmer muttered warningly.
“I am sorry, my husband,” she declared like she was not. “But I will not sit silent and allow anyone to call my son a traitor.”
“Your king’s chest is also yours, my queen, and it grows low,” Carrington spoke as if my aunt had not.
“And why is that, Carrington?” she asked quietly.
Why it was, I knew, was because of the campaigns against Firenze.
There was silence, and while I waited on tenterhooks, my heart beating madly, it jumped, as did my entire body, when I heard a door open down the hall.
I turned that way.
And my mouth dropped open.
Serena of the Nadirii was rushing down the hall.
And she was wearing the garments of a female Firenz.
An orange brassiere festooned in yellow, red and salmon beading, sheer orange skirts that showed her legs with an elaborately bedazzled waistband that went over her hips and fell in dangles and fringes of beads.
She was not hurrying.
She was scurrying, her eyes darting this way and that, as if she feared someone would see her (and fortunately, as she did this, she did not see me).
And I would imagine she did for I never would imagine I would be seeing her in such clothing.
What on earth?
Had the world turned upside down?
“We can salvage this situation, Your Grace,” Carrington was speaking again, sounding like he’d calmed himself.
Serena scooted around the corner to the stairs and I lost sight of her.
But I would have returned my attention to what was happening in my king and queen’s chamber regardless of Serena’s shenanigans.
For I, like my aunt, did not take kindly to anyone calling my cousin traitor.
“Aramus has promised his armada to Cassius’s crusade,” Carrington continued. “Ophelia would not make a binding vow at this time to offer Nadirii arms, but as you know, if what Cassius intends to do is instigated, she’ll obviously offer support, and if it should become necessary, her warriors’ bows and staffs. Most importantly, Firenze has promised their horses to Cassius’s crusade.”
With True’s offer of the Dellish army, this meant the entirety of Triton would stand in support of Cassius.
That made me feel warm inside.
Especially as Mars had offered his as well.
“However,” Carrington went on, “when Airen descends into chaos, as it will, and the Mar-el armada sails to its shores, the Nadirii warriors align behind their princess, who will be princess to the Airenzian usurper, and Firenz horses ride in aid, we will send our armies to Firenze. With the warriors of Firenze occupied on their northeastern border, indeed everyone occupied elsewhere, we will retake our southwestern border that Firenze stole from us with ease. And once we do, we will continue south.”
I gasped then bit the inside of my cheeks and again studied the servant.
But he was well down the hall and he did not have as good of hearing as I did, so he made no sign he heard me.
“You’re saying break the promise King Wilmer made to all the realms in order to secure a ruby mine and a saffron field?” Aunt Mercy asked in derision.
“The promise Prince True made,” Carrington corrected.
“It will not be True’s name on the parchment, Carrington,” Aunt Mercy retorted.
“Then yes. Rubies. Saffron. And riches south,” Carrington stated confidently.
“Do you not think Mars will send his warriors west the minute he hears of this?” my uncle asked.
“Yes. I do. But when he does, if what I have planned comes to fruition, it will be too late,” Carrington answered. “Thus, at your leave, I’ll dispatch a raven and send a rider on its tailfeathers. We’ll begin recruiting immediately. Add to our numbers now. Begin training. Prepare for our campaign. We’ll overwhelm them with our force this time. And as we have months to plan, we will be ready.”
“And use what, precisely, to pay these new soldiers, Carrington? The dust in our king’s chests?” Aunt Mercy asked.
“Those chests they will know will be far richer once we re-secure what’s rightfully ours,” Carrington sniffed.
“So we promise them pay, just…later?” Aunt Mercy scoffed. “Should any be foolish enough to agree to that, how do we arm them, provide armor, and, say, food?”
“There are those in our fertile lands who would offer us loans,” Carrington suggested.
“Ah yes, be in debt to our aristocracy and merchants. On a quest that will again prove fruitless, so we’ll have to tax our citizens in order to pay their beaten, downtrodden sons and repay our debts. This is an excellent idea,” Aunt Mercy murmured.
“When you’re dripping riches and furs, I’ve no doubt you’ll have more assurance in my plan,” Carrington returned.
I wasn’t sure she would. Aunt Mercy wasn’t a riches and furs type of female.
She made that clear to Carrington.
“I’m sure you’re aware that that tract of land you so desire, Carrington, was of Firenze first, five centuries ago. We wrested it from them. They wrested it back, seven generations ago. Do you not think it’s time to forget this and focus on Wodell’s strengths as well as negotiate trade and safe sea passage with Mar-el while we have their king here and at the diplomatic table for the first time in recorded history?”
“What I know is the Dellish want their wealth back,” Carrington replied.
“I do not agree,” Aunt Mercy returned.
“Stop it,” my uncle demanded wearily. “The both of you. You’re giving me a blinding headache.”
“You need to think on this, my king,” Carrington urged. “With urgency.”
“I’ve done nothing but think for days,” Uncle Wilmer complained.
“We must move swiftly. I must send a bird as soon as—”
My uncle interrupted his advisor. “I will think on it, Carrington. Enough. We’ll speak later this afternoon.”
“Your Grace—”
“Later this afternoon.”
There was silence, then a heavy sigh, murmured farewells, and I drew in my belly for no purpose as the door to the bedchamber opened and I saw Carrington skulk out.
He closed the door behind him and stormed to the stairs.
I then listened for some time before Aunt Mercy spoke.
“Your son is no traitor, Wilmer.”
“True shouldn’t have promised my armies without speaking to me.”
“Your son is no traitor.”
I pressed my lips tightly together at the tone in which Aunt Mercy reiterated her assertion.
Though I had to agree with her. In all his frustrations, True had many opportunities to break from his father, his king.
He never did.
And now, when all the realms were aligning for positive change, it seemed foolhardy to me that Wodell would choose to do something that would only serve to upset perhaps all the realms.
But definitely the most wealthy and powerful one on the mainland.
“I urge you to speak to your son, my husband, and listen to him before you speak to Carrington again,” my aunt stated.
“I need a moment to close my eyes and clear my head,” Uncle Wilmer murmured.
“P
romise me you’ll do as I ask first,” Aunt Mercy pressed.
“Just half an hour.”
“Wilmer.”
I jumped when Uncle Wilmer snapped, “Half an hour, woman!”
There was a moment of silence before Aunt Mercy said softly, “Of course, husband.”
It didn’t take long before I saw her sweep out.
And I pressed my lips together even harder at witnessing the cold fury on her face when she did.
I did not know my aunt very well.
I had been in her presence many times.
She was simply not a knowable person.
Hurriedly, I dashed back to my door, opened it, dropped the shadow and walked out, as if I’d been in there the whole time.
I smiled at the servant boy who was studying me quizzically, for he probably saw me starting down the corridor some minutes before and was surprised to see me back.
I could have no mind to this.
I needed to speak with someone.
I just didn’t know who.
Though I knew my father was not an option, nor my mother.
However, the thought occurred to me I knew someone who was wise and who also had the best interests of Wodell and Firenze at heart and who also had experience of the volatility of politics.
Therefore, I went directly to the door of Farah’s bedchamber, hoping she was still within, for I did not wish to speak to her in front of Queen Ha-Lah.
I knocked and was heartened when, in moments, the door opened.
But it was not Farah.
It was Sofia.
“I’m sorry to disturb you. I was looking for Farah. We’re going to bathe,” I said on a smile I could feel was trembling. “Is she in?”
Sofia, wise in many ways as well, did not miss my trembling smile, thus didn’t answer my question.
She asked her own.
“Is all well, young Silence?”
“Yes. I just thought we could walk together to the bath.”
“I’ve no idea if she’s gone yet, child. You should try her chamber,” she suggested.
I was confused. “Is this not Farah’s chamber?”
Something occurred to her and she nodded. “It was. I apologize. Your fitting this morning, you probably didn’t notice. When the queen moved, as my other chamber was…closer to hers, we decided this morning to…um…”
I didn’t make her finish.
“Of course, you switched. I didn’t know that. I apologize as well. I’ll go there to find your daughter.”
Sofia nodded again before she tipped her head to the side. “You seemed troubled, my future queen. Is there something I can help you with?”
I shook my head and somewhat fibbed, “No. All is well. Just, perhaps, a little anxious that the king will still be in meetings at dinner.”
Sofia’s face got soft and she reached out to touch my hand briefly.
“You will charm them, with or without our great king, Silence. This is because you are most charming, cara. So please, do not worry.”
She really was so lovely.
“Thank you, Sofia,” I whispered.
“Run along. Find Farah. Relax in the baths. And I’ll see you at dinner and while doing it, watch you charm all of Firenze.”
I gave her a smile that was a great deal brighter as she shut the door.
I then rushed down the hall to Sofia’s former bedchamber, which was indeed closer to Queen Elpis’s that was now at that end, rather than the other.
At my knock, when no one answered, I realized I had a conundrum and it was one I would have to work out on my own.
But really, I needn’t worry.
I knew exactly what to do.
Thus, I changed direction, rushed down the corridor, lifted my dressing gown and raced down the stairs. I turned right, a direction I rarely went, for this was where the formal rooms in which the king did business were located, and except in the beginning, Mars was never formal with me.
As it had been for days, it was rife with men.
Mars’s Trusted.
True’s personal guard.
The same of Wilmer, Gallienus, Cassius and Aramus.
I went right to Alfie, True’s closest lieutenant.
His attention had shifted to me the moment I hit the stairs, as had Kyril’s and Guard’s, Mars’s men.
“Countess,” Alfie murmured when I arrived at him.
“Sir Alfie,” I murmured back. “Is our prince still behind those doors?” I asked, glancing at the closed doors to the meeting room where they were having their diplomatic discussions.
“He is, milady.”
“I would speak to him, please,” I requested.
He was openly surprised and thus spoke carefully. “Talks are such they shouldn’t be interrupted.”
“I understand.” And I certainly did with all the goings-on I’d overheard. “But this is important.” I paused in hopes of adding the significance I needed to my emphasis. “Very important.”
I felt a presence beside me, turned my head and saw Kyril there.
“I will get my king,” Kyril stated instantly.
“She asks for her prince,” Alfie replied.
“She has no prince. She has a king,” Kyril announced implacably.
Oh dear.
“I wish to speak to my cousin, Kyril,” I told him.
“And you shall. As well as your king,” Kyril told me.
Balls!
Kyril turned on his sandal and stalked to the double doors.
Alfie threw me a certain kind of look and followed on his heels.
I fought wringing my hands for this was not going well.
I could tell True. True needed to know.
I couldn’t tell Mars what I’d overheard.
Though, it must be said, he needed to know too.
It would seem I had no choice. I either had to keep it to myself, wait to get True alone and tell him later, fabricating some other reason I urgently had to speak to my cousin, thus interrupting political discussions of grave important.
Or I’d have to share with True and Mars.
For both were right then stalking my way.
Well, True wasn’t stalking. He was striding with purpose.
Mars, however, was definitely stalking.
“Is all well?” my intended demanded when he was four feet from me.
“I…well, I…” I looked to him, to True, to him.
They both arrived at me, stopping very close, tipping their chins down to stare at me.
And in that moment, I remembered Sofia.
She had not known what her husband intended to do.
And from the words of the piercing ceremony, I wondered if she had, what she would have done.
That ceremony stated your first allegiance was to your husband, not your realm.
But if she knew her husband would personally murder her king…
If he’d told her this, he would have put her in an unbearable position.
And I was in somewhat the same position right then.
Except I knew the kind of man my cousin was.
I also knew that I would, the very next evening, be the Firenz queen.
I had alliances to both sides.
And one of them was to my (very soon-to-be) husband.
So I understood what I had to do.
“Can we speak privately?” I requested.
Mars took my hand immediately, and I rushed with him as he strode down the hall to a door. He opened it and pulled me inside.
True followed and closed it behind him.
It was his receiving room swathed in bold silks and furnished with cushions and divans.
I very much liked that room, a room I would in future use to do my own receiving with and without my king.
Then again, I liked all about the palace that would be mine.
This heartened me, this reminder of who I was and who I would be in this palace.
On that thought, I straightened my shoulders and lifted my gaze
to my king and my prince.
“Silence, mia piccola, there are matters of—” Mars started.
Before I lost my courage, I interrupted him.
“I overheard Carrington speaking to King Wilmer. In the king’s chambers. At what I heard, I listened, and it was shocking. And concerning. So much so, you…you…” I lifted my chin. “You both need to know.”
“Silence,” True murmured, clearly feeling his own shock.
And worry.
“Carrington called you a traitor,” I told True and watched my beloved cousin’s eyes flare in an odd way I’d never seen.
It made them seem impossibly more green.
And it was impossible because they were already very green but now they seemed alive with green, like a burgeoning leaf unfurling at a fantastical rate.
Matters were of such important, I tore my gaze from that wonder and looked to Mars.
“And he has advised King Wilmer to renege on our promise to aid Cassius in his endeavors, and instead, when all ride and sail to Airen’s aid, he will invade Firenze on their northwestern border.”
Mars looked to True.
True turned to Mars.
“The king is thinking on this,” I added, and both men looked to me. “Aunt Mercy was there, and she strongly advised against it. However, you should…I felt you both should…” I swallowed. “You should both know.”
There was a worrying moment when they were silent.
True spoke first.
“You did right, and you did well, Silence,” he said gently. “Now think not of it. We know but they will not know how we do.”
“They absolutely will not,” Mars growled.
“But we will handle it from here,” True went on. His gaze moved over me. “You seem to be prepared for something enjoyable. Go forth and do that, my cousin. And do it knowing the decision that had to be weighty was made correctly.”
I nodded to him.
True again looked to Mars.
“Return. I’ll be one moment, and I’ll join you,” Mars said to my cousin.
True nodded to Mars, looked to me, seemed to hesitate, and I knew he intended to touch me, probably to kiss my forehead, but he realized he could not with Mars there.
I’d have to discuss this with my intended. I missed the affection of my True.
The Beginning of Everything Page 33