by R. J. Price
“No, she's not that strong.”
Otherwise, why hadn’t Nae fixed Anue’s bone during the winter, rather than have it heal naturally?
“You sniffed out a healer in another village who lives within the influence of the throne, and just so happened to be in need of a companion before she turned the village against herself,” Danya said sternly. “Lord Av, you may be daft in the way of many things, but you cannot tell me that you do not understand how the throne works.”
“It's never drawn a strong healer before. Sure, it used to in myth and legend. Aren is not myth and legend.”
“It used to before the short-lived queens. Aren is not a short-lived queen. The throne is slowly spreading its influence across the lands, a little stronger and a little farther than it had before. Every queen that links to Aren makes it stronger. When those women return home, they will help spread it even farther because whatever their magic touches, the throne can influence.”
“The barons’ mates are linked to Aren, you said?”
“I doubt the throne will brainwash anyone. It can cause small things that far out. Make a person trip, and find a babe abandoned to die—that sort of thing. Not change the collective mind of an entire land. If it could do that, it would have done it in the first place to stop the era of the short-lived queens, don't you think?”
Av relaxed, but only slowly. “I suppose you would be correct in that assumption.” He decided now was a good time to broach the subject. “Speaking of magic, you no doubt felt what happened today?”
“Did Aren's parents attempt contact?” Danya asked.
“No, someone else became very angry at the mentioning of Aren not feeling like one should. I'd never heard her giggle, a real giggle, until a few days ago. A laugh, sure, but it always felt hollow.”
“She goes through the motions that society expects of her and does so quite well. Well enough that even she does not realize how little she understands.”
“You've seen this yourself?”
“She visited me only for a few moments before whoever began to spark,” Danya said and sighed. “I saw it then. I did not see as I do now, when she and I last met. I believe she is capable of emotion, I saw it even then. I thought it was because we spoke of things that she did not wish to speak of.”
“Our way of fixing anything that isn't bodily is to tell them to take a nap,” Av grumbled.
“And to find the closest appealing body and throw them at the one napping,” Danya said pointedly. “You seem to neglect your duties and instincts, Lord Av.”
“I do no such thing.”
Danya shifted towards him. She attempted to meet his eyes but came about shoulder level instead. The effect was still what she wished it to be, however. Av felt a tingling cold moving through his body.
“If she were any other woman, if she had any other title, what would you be doing right now?”
“She's a lady, so I wouldn't be able to do anything.”
“And the papers you signed, which are still in effect by the way?”
“B-b-but...” was all he managed to get out.
“Stuttering like a child isn't going to help you any. You took control of that woman's life You do not get to casually walk away because things get complicated. Her life above yours. That was what you said. Now you know she's a queen and, what, you're bored with her?”
“I'm not bored with her!” Av shouted, then realized the whole garden had gone silent. People were listening in on his conversation with Danya. Taking in a breath to calm himself, he said steadily, “I am not bored with Lady Aren. She denies access to any male unless she is mated.”
“Or she has a witness present, was what Url said.”
“Then I need to grab someone?” Av demanded.
“She has a handmaid with her at all times. The woman is quite good at melting into the background, but she's still there, always watching.”
Wena—Danya was talking about Wena. Av had seen Aren a handful of times, but he only ever saw Wena during training. He had stopped each time and spoken with Aren, but had never questioned where the handmaid went when training was done.
“Oh, lovely, I can go have tea with her,” Av growled.
“Not tea, you fool,” Danya said. “The court wants a romance, so give them one.”
“Yes, but—” Was he even the one she was going to mate? “Everyone says it's her mating ceremony.”
Danya reached out and swiped at the air, meaning to cuff him upside the head. Av shifted away, putting more distance between the two of them. He had to wonder if she could see shapes and forms, as she seemed to say, and was missing on purpose.
“If you think that woman is going to mate anyone else at court, you should be fighting tooth and nail for her attention. And if you think you are going to be mating her, and that because of that your work is done, then I had best meet with this Telm woman and begin looking for someone else.”
“She's mine!” he protested.
“You keep saying that, but hardly act like it,” Danya snapped back. “The easiest way to solve all your troubles is to make her feel. Not anger, because she's had that, not rage, not frustration—make her feel the better things. You can do that, you can make her feel, but you can't do it if you've got your head so far—”
“In the clouds, I know, people have to stop saying that.”
“—up your own ass.”
“Now that’s just downright mean.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Aren sat curled in a fabric-covered, overstuffed chair, grateful that Wena had gone to the effort of moving the small eating table away from the hearth and had asked the servant who delivered the tea to help her move the chair. There was a small table in front of the chair she was curled into, though it wasn’t nearly as big as the eating table. Just large enough to set the tea tray that had been brought.
She had a blanket tucked around her legs and a pillow under her arm. She knew she was being spoiled but wasn’t about to complain. She hadn’t the energy to complain.
“Now mix your tea,” Wena said, motioning to the little canisters available.
“I don’t need a tea, just some rest,” she protested. “I’ve never taken the tea before, except my first time, I don’t need it now.”
“Why ever not?” Wena demanded.
“Queen-in-hiding,” she tried to exclaim, but only managed to sound pathetic instead.
“The tea can have the same effects as the stronger painkillers on a queen’s ability to contain her magic,” Wena muttered. “But that’s no excuse now. Your magic won’t harm anyone, just be more noticeable. Which for most means nothing at all, but you’re so wound up that you hardly let anything off.”
“I’m fine without the tea,” she protested weakly as Wena went about mixing a little herb from each canister.
The handmaid poured the hot water into the cup and thumped the pot back down. She crossed her arms and glared at Aren, who tried not to shrink from the look.
“I can feel your pain, which means every servant in the palace likely can, as well as half the ladies and young girls. They don’t need to be put into a miserable situation because of your stubbornness. Drink your damn tea.”
“Fine,” she snarled.
“Good!” Wena shouted. There was a knock on the door and the other woman sighed loudly. “That’s probably the palace guard now, come to see if I’m murdering you slowly.”
Aren grumbled as Wena went to answer the door. She reached forward and stirred the tea, trying to recall how long it had to steep before it would take effect. Should the leaves not have been placed in a bag first?
“It’s a drink-as-you-go, so it gets stronger the longer it sits,” Wena said, her hand on the door. “Once we know how strong your tea needs to be, we’ll make it to that degree. As soon as you can, start sipping, since the heat will help as well.”
She grumbled again and brought the cup to her lip, taking a small sip as the door opened. The tea tasted slightly sweet. She con
sidered the cup for a long moment, jolted out of her stupor when Wena said something in the tone that meant she had just had to repeat herself.
“Sorry?”
“Lord Poller, high lord of the East,” Wena said, motioning to the man sitting in a wooden chair across from her.
Had she been distracted long enough for the man to pull up a chair?
“Our meeting is tomorrow,” she said.
“Given events, I thought it best to get it out of the way now, in order to allow you to rest tomorrow.”
“Given what events?” Aren asked.
The man hesitated, looking to the teacup, then back to Aren. With a sigh, she thumped the cup on the table and sat back in her chair.
“Lord Poller, was it? Lord Poller, whether or not I am bleeding does not change my capabilities to think, let alone make me some sort of invalid who must be chained to her rooms in order to make the rest of you comfortable.”
“Gamen says Lord Av doesn’t feel the throne the way the rest do,” Lord Poller said sternly. “Which means I have just a little while longer before he stops one of the servants and asks them what has gotten them on that edge, and he comes looking for you. A man who’s claimed a woman who is going through her times is dangerous. As you likely know, men have no idea what to do with a woman who is in pain but denying the need to rest. He will take his anger out on others. If I attempt this meeting tomorrow, you will be planning a funeral as well as a mating ceremony.”
Aren looked at Wena, who almost smiled as she motioned to the teacup on the table.
“Just so long as you understand that I will do as I please.”
“I very well understand that you, Lady Aren, will do whatever you please no matter whose face you need to mash into the ground. I also understand that, with how you are taking to training, in a year you might even be able to do it.”
She made a sound at the back of her throat and sipped the tea. Her mouth went numb, then her throat. There was a delightful warmth flowing through her, so she put the teacup down and made a motion to Wena to step back. Hopefully the woman would take the hint and not insist on another sip.
“I am terribly inadequate at fighting.”
“Only because of muscle lost over the winter, again, so I am told,” the man said. “I am guessing that you called me here for information about the East.”
“How is trade? What are you doing to further trade between palace lands and the Coast?”
“Not good, and none,” Lord Poller said sternly. “Lady Telm has opened negotiations to trade through the Eastern lands, those across the oceans, for their tea for the palace. I have allowed the negotiation to move to Lord Gamen out of respect to Lady Telm, but nothing will come of this.”
“Why?”
“Because the East does not trust palace lands.”
“No, why are you doing nothing to further trade to the Coast?” Aren asked. “I don’t care about Eastern lands. I care about the land that borders mine.”
“I have no ties to the palace. The only reason I brought my son was because Lord Van is living in the open and so I thought it would finally be safe …” Lord Poller trailed off as Aren frowned. “You… you didn’t know about Lord Van, did you?”
“Not until this morning,” she said. “There are an awful lot of them for being so rare.”
“There are only three alive as far as I know,” Lord Poller said. “Lord Van, my son, and Gamen’s youngest.”
“Gamen’s youngest was at court last year,” Wena protested.
“That’s why I thought it was safe,” the man responded. “One way or another, the palace would come to understand this, as he is bound to mate Gamen’s eldest son.”
While Aren already knew this information, she tried to appear surprised. There was some genuine surprise, as she hadn’t expected the man to come out and directly say that his son had that rank.
“What does that mean for the baron’s line?” she asked.
“It means that Gamen’s second son’s first-born child who is a warrior will take the title. Gamen’s eldest and my son might adopt, but they would all take my bloodline, if they’ve not one to call their own. The East breeds true. Gamen’s second son is a warrior and has found himself a queen from one of the islands, so he will retire there once they mate and their sons and daughters will be raised to take over the East.”
“And you have no intention of leading the East back to palace lands?” Aren asked. “As is your duty as high lord, I must remind you.”
“Really? My duty? What about the Northern high lord? Who is also heir to the baron?”
“The East and North both have tentative agreements—” Wena started.
“Which Gamen’s son couldn’t keep if he mates a man who has a rank men are not encouraged to hold,” Lord Poller said. “No warrior would give up his queen. Whether that queen is a man or woman doesn’t matter, the bond is just as strong.”
“Well, the North will rejoin palace lands, as their agreement through Mirmae Hue states,” Aren said. “At least they have honour through the generations.”
“I have honour, Lady Aren, but I hold no loyalty for a land that cut me off from my bloodline because Lady Em decided we bred too closely with the Hues,” the man said with a snarl. “I was never finished at the palace, I never received any palace training and this? This is the first time I’ve come before the throne because the last time there was a mating ceremony, there was talk of war between the East and palace lands and I was commanded to stay behind because of my inability to behave.”
“I need the East to kneel,” she said quietly.
“Kneel? Kneel? Do you know what kneeling is?”
“It is submission,” she said. “The North does not see the error of its ways, but it does see the error of not submitting to this throne. Surely Gamen might tell his son something similar. If Url, a man who’s yet to find a man or woman to catch his eyes, can swallow bowing before me, why can the East not kneel?”
“Because kneeling and bowing are two different things!”
“Well, you were given the option of bowing, but obviously you’re too stubborn to take that way out!” Aren shouted back. She took a breath and forced herself to calm down. “Mirmae Hue gave the East the option of bowing. If it will not bow, it will kneel. And yes, I know the difference. Bowing is willing submission, kneeling is when I force you to submit.
“Lord Poller, you have told me that there are only three male queens alive, none of which are on palace lands, which does technically make it none of my business. And while the palace has no intention of disputing the East’s ability to rule simply because the baron chooses to take a man to his bed, I do dispute your ignoring that which is your sole duty in that land.”
“I don’t get compensation for my so-called duties besides a title, which is worthless, I should add.”
“If you do not change your ways,” she said sternly, “if you do not begin making every effort to bring the East to palace lands, I will kill the boy.”
“You can’t kill my son.”
“Not your son, no, Lord Poller, I will leave him alive and well. Not a hair on his head will I touch—after all, he is to mate a baron. No, I will kill the other boy. And then I will tell his father why he had to die.”
Lord Poller paled considerably.
“I expect better from my high lords and before you leave for the Coast, I command you to give me your plan to bring the East in line with palace lands. Trade routes to the Coast are to open within a year. That should not be too long. Mating shall be permitted openly between the two, and not just your lords and ladies, who are so uniquely without rank that they breed nothing but stupid.
“I want your villagers, I want your islanders, I want your fishermen, and the bastards of the sea, as they are called. I want those you would otherwise have no use for. In return I will send you women. Palace lands have many ladies looking for anyone to mate who might treat them well. You breed true, I bring new blood. Together we will breed ranks th
e likes of which have not been seen in near ten centuries.
“But if you cross me, if you attempt to sabotage this and think I will not know? I will kill him without hesitation.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Av walked up to Aren’s rooms as a lord left looking ashen-faced. As Av stared after the man, the door to the rooms closed. He turned back, meaning to protest verbally that he had been standing right there, but Wena was standing just outside the door.
“I think the throne is speaking through her,” the woman said quietly. “She just told that man that she would kill an innocent boy if he does not do everything in his power to reunite the East with palace lands.”
“But if she commands someone be killed, I’m the one who has to do it,” Av protested.
“I am aware of that, but does that sound like something your lady would threaten?”
“No, it sounds more like someone who is fed up with everyone making excuses,” he murmured.
“What’s that?”
Av looked down at his hand, having forgotten all about it. A bunch of flowers. He didn’t know if they looked nice together or if they were pretty, but they were the only things blooming at that time of year. Danya had helped him with the flowers, coaxing a few buds into bloom so that he had something to give Aren.
He glanced down the hallway, wondering if the gardeners had grown wise as to what he had done yet.
“For Aren?” Wena asked.
“They are, yes,” he said.
“I will take them to her.”
“No, I brought them for her, I will give them to her,” he said gruffly.
“I don’t think you heard me, about her state.”
“What’s her…” He trailed off as his mind made the leaping conclusion. “The throne only talks through the one that sits it when they’re not quite there, as in drunk.”
“I gave her a tea.”
“A magic tea?” There were only two reasons the healers would imbue herbs with magic. One to lessen pain, the other to prevent an accident.
But the healers rarely made the latter tea for anyone besides their own rank.