by Sharon Shinn
“How many men were in the boat with her?” Zoe asked.
“Two. Apparently it is common for those who hire outside crews to hire them in pairs.”
“And what kind of trouble did they have?”
“One dropped his oar, the other steered them into a sandbar, so that before the race was even ten minutes old, they had fallen behind. She was very angry, she says, telling them that they would never be hired by anyone at the palace again and they might not be paid for this day’s work.”
“I imagine that made them angry as well.”
“Maybe,” Calvin said. “Once they got free of the sandbar, she says, they made some effort to get back in the race. They rowed hard until they were in a stretch where the river runs very fast and the boat was tossing on the water. Both of the men were on their feet when they got rocked by a rough current. One fell in and the other leapt in to try to save him.” Calvin paused for dramatic effect. “Josetta saw both of them get swept away by the river. She thinks they might have drowned. But she was carried forward by the motion of the water, unable to help them—or help herself.”
There was a short silence while the three of them thought this over. “It seems unlikely,” Annova said, “that two professional men would both be lost. In such a manner. On a course that is not particularly dangerous.”
Zoe nodded. It was exactly what she was thinking. Most men who chose lives at sea had at least some coru blood in them, and even though few of them would have the affinity for water that she had, not one in a thousand would lose his life under the conditions that had governed yesterday’s regatta. “Who hired these men?” she asked. “Her mother?”
Calvin waggled his head in an equivocal manner. “A footman employed by her mother. A hunti man who has worked for Seterre’s father his entire life.”
“So probably he did not betray her,” Zoe mused. “Then someone else bribed the sailors to abandon Josetta in the river.”
Calvin nodded. “That is what everyone in the palace is whispering this morning.”
Annova stirred, stepping away from the wall, her face full of disbelief and perturbation. “But—to desert the princess that way—in wild water—I mean, how could they know you would be able to save her?”
Zoe offered her the ghost of a smile. “They didn’t. They expected her to die.”
Annova stared at Zoe. Her eyes were a shocked hazel against her dark face. “Someone wanted to murder the princess?”
Calvin was nodding. “Of course, no one is saying so aloud. And it was cleverly done. The queen sent her own man to hire the sailors. They did not boldly leap overboard and swim for shore, but appeared to fall victim to a sad disaster. It could all have been a series of mishaps—tragic, of course, but hardly sinister.”
“And yet no one believes that,” Zoe said.
“No,” he said. “Everyone believes someone wanted Josetta to drown.”
“But why?” Annova demanded. “And who?”
“Someone who wants to eliminate her as a potential heir to the throne,” Zoe said. “Someone who wants to see her own daughter named heir instead.”
“Alys or Romelle,” Calvin said.
“Alys,” Annova and Zoe said at the same time.
Zoe added, “But if we think that, and we are practically strangers here, everyone else would also think it.”
“They do,” Calvin said. “I’ve heard her name a hundred times today—whispered so softly that you cannot tell who has said it.”
“So it might not be Alys after all,” Zoe said. “Because whatever else she might be, Alys isn’t clumsy. She isn’t obvious. She isn’t stupid.”
“Then—someone who wants to make it look like Alys tried to murder Josetta?” Annova guessed.
“I’ve heard that suspicion, too,” Calvin said, almost happily. Zoe knew that he simply loved court intrigue—and the fact that no one had died during this particular bout of scheming made it possible for him to enjoy the situation to the fullest.
“Then Romelle?” Annova said.
Zoe shook her head. “I suppose it’s possible, but she’s so—maternal. You’ve seen her with Natalie. I can’t imagine her harming a child. Anybody’s child.”
“And yet you scarcely know her,” Annova said. “Perhaps she would risk anything to give her daughter a better opportunity.”
Zoe sighed and nodded. “So what happens next?” she asked Calvin. “What is the king going to do? If everyone in the palace suspects attempted murder, surely there will be an investigation?”
“Oh yes,” Calvin said. “And Darien Serlast is the one running it.”
“Oh,” Zoe said. So perhaps that was why he had no time to come checking on exhausted heroines. He was tracking down would-be killers.
“But no one expects him to discover anything,” Calvin added. “Even if he finds out who the sailors were. Even if they’re still alive, they’ve surely fled Chialto by now. And if no one admits to bribing them, and there is no evidence—” He shrugged. “What can he find out?”
“Maybe nothing,” Zoe said. “But maybe that wouldn’t be the point. Maybe the point would be for Alys—or Romelle—or whoever did this, to be afraid to try again, because they know everyone is watching. That would at least be enough to keep Josetta safe.”
“Josetta and Corene,” Annova said. When Zoe looked at her, she added, “In case it was Romelle.”
“You’re right,” Zoe said. “Both princesses could be in danger.”
“All of them,” Calvin said. “In case it wasn’t any of the queens. In case it was merely someone who hates the king.”
“In which case,” Zoe said softly, “none of the princesses will be safe no matter what.”
“But the princesses are only part of yesterday’s story,” Calvin said. “Everyone is talking about you as well.”
“I’m not surprised,” Annova said. “If the description I’ve heard is anything like the truth—”
“What are they saying?” Zoe interrupted.
Calvin waved his hands in the air. “The Lalindar prime has unimaginable powers! She can stop the river merely by willing it! The Lalindar prime is the one who has ended the drought that has strained the country for the past few years!”
“Is that true?” Annova demanded.
Zoe shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s true that there was never drought where I lived. But the rain just seemed to follow me. I never consciously called it.”
“Well, you consciously stopped the river yesterday,” Annova said. “Didn’t you?”
“I don’t know how to answer that,” Zoe said. “I wanted the river to stop. I whispered the word. But I didn’t think—and it hadn’t occurred to me—it seemed impossible that it would do what I said.”
“Well, it did,” Calvin said, leaning forward. “And everyone is impressed, but everyone is a little uneasy, too. Is it safe for someone to have that kind of power? Some people are afraid.”
“I don’t know why they’d be afraid of me,” Zoe said a little petulantly. “From what I’ve heard, Christara had some power over water as well. And if I can do such spectacular tricks, wouldn’t you think the other primes have some abilities as well? Maybe Kayle Dochenza can call up the wind, if he likes, and Mirti Serlast can split the trunk of a tree merely by laying a hand upon it.”
“I think it is the scale of your power that frightens them,” Calvin said. “Stopping a river in its banks? Christara Lalindar never did that.”
“Maybe she did, just never in front of anybody,” Zoe argued.
“It works out to the same thing,” Calvin said.
Zoe shrugged. “So? What do they want? These people who whisper about me. Do they want me to leave the palace? Gladly! Go live in exile? Not a hardship.”
“It doesn’t matter what they want, does it?” Annova asked. “Aren’t you here because the king desires your presence? Then I think you must stay until he asks you to leave.”
Zoe sighed and flopped back against the pillows. Impossible to b
elieve, but she wanted to sleep again. Annova hurried forward to snatch up the tray of half-eaten food before it slid off of Zoe’s lap. “Well, I don’t suppose I have to leave this instant, at any rate,” she said. “I suppose I at least will wait to hear what the king thinks about me now.”
Or what Darien tells the king to think, she thought drowsily. The smile was still on her lips as she fell back asleep.
King Vernon was the first visitor to her room the following morning. He had sent a note warning them of his impending arrival, so Zoe was up, washed, dressed, and styled before he arrived at her door. She was feeling much better today—ravenous, which Annova took as a good sign, and unexpectedly cheerful. Almost exuberant. The aftereffects of power, she thought. Her father had sometimes claimed that fire acted upon him like alcohol; he could be drunk with sensation if he sat too close to the hearth. She suspected this was her reaction to the demonstration two days ago. Yesterday she had merely been too tired to feel it.
“Majesty,” she said, bowing very low when he stepped into the room. She spotted a contingent of guards in the hallway behind him, though none of them came in with him. None of them was Darien Serlast, either.
“Zoe,” he replied, coming close enough to take her hand in both of his. She felt the sudden warm pulse of his blood, familiar from that last time that he had touched her. “I don’t believe I can express how deeply grateful I am that you were there to save the princess’s life. Josetta is very dear to me. I cannot imagine a world without her in it. By what token will you allow me to express my thanks?”
She shook her head. “I need nothing.”
“I have land—beautiful properties in provinces throughout the kingdom—”
She shook her head again. “I am scarcely equipped to manage the Lalindar property that has come into my possession,” she said. “I certainly would be a poor landowner for any other estate.”
“Money, then—jewels.”
“Majesty, I have more than enough of both of those.”
“Status,” he said, “political power. I could arrange a marriage that would raise you to a position even higher than it is now.”
She couldn’t help wondering what potential husbands might wield such political clout; surely Darien Serlast was among them? It would be interesting to see how he reacted to the notion that the king regarded him as a prize to be awarded for exceptional service to the crown. But she refused again. “I am not prepared to marry, certainly not for such a reason,” she said. “But I do have a suggestion.”
“Tell me.”
“Take whatever gold you would give me and build a fountain on the west side of the city, where it is difficult to find clean water, because it is so far from the river. Put my name on it, or Josetta’s. That would make me happy.”
Vernon stared at her for a moment with his sad blue eyes. She thought he might exclaim, Zoe Lalindar, you are the strangest girl. It was what any of his wives might say. “I will do it,” he said at last, “and gladly.”
“Then I am rewarded,” she said.
The king had not been gone more than ten minutes when other visitors began to show up at her door, staying only a few moments, never overlapping. Zoe supposed they all had spies in the corridors, gauging the flow of traffic to her room.
The queens were first, arriving in order. Elidon was elegant and gracious, praising Zoe’s strength and steadfastness. “Your grandmother would have been so proud of you,” she said softly. “I can offer no higher tribute.”
Seterre was fighting back tears, though she instantly lost the battle. “What can I say?” she sobbed, and actually flung herself into Zoe’s arms. Zoe murmured comforting phrases, awkwardly patting Seterre’s shoulder, but the whole time she was automatically cataloguing the precise composition of the queen’s blood. She might never have another chance to touch the fastidious hunti woman. “I owe you my daughter’s life—I owe you everything—”
“I am only glad I was able to summon such ability.”
Seterre pulled back and tried to regain her poise. “Thanks are inadequate,” she said. “I must do something to show my appreciation.”
She told Seterre about the request she had made of the king. Seterre liked the idea, Zoe could see; the hunti were nothing if not practical. “I will have an orchard planted around the fountain,” she decided, “and anyone can pick fruit from the trees.”
“That would be generous. That would please me,” Zoe said.
“Then I will do it.”
Alys came flouncing into Zoe’s suite, glancing around quickly to assess the furnishings, clearly trying to gauge Zoe’s wealth as well as her taste. “You are quite the marvel,” she said, not bothering to sit for what was clearly going to be a brief visit. “Everyone is talking about you.”
“Not an honor I aspire to,” Zoe said gravely.
Alys gave her that rogue’s smile. “There is so little sweela in you, isn’t there?” she said. “Your father or your cousin would be basking in the court’s attention, but you just sit in your room and pretend you have a headache.”
“I do have a headache,” Zoe said. “I developed it just as you walked in.”
Alys flicked a spiteful look at her, interpreting that remark exactly as it had been intended. “Let me give you some advice,” she said. “None of us gets more than one or two grand opportunities in our lives. Chances to remake ourselves, to accumulate prestige and other assets. You’ll be sorry if you let this one slip away from you without making it pay off in some spectacular manner.”
Zoe wanted to laugh. By Alys’s reckoning, that really was good advice, and most generously offered. “I will bear that in mind,” she said.
Alys laughed and headed for the door. “You won’t,” she said. “A year from now, you will be gone and no one will remember your name.”
Romelle was distracted throughout her short visit, chasing after Natalie the whole time, trying to keep the princess from knocking over pieces of décor. “I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed breathlessly. “I just wanted to tell you in person—Natalie, stop that!—how very wonderful it was that you were able to save Josetta’s life. All I could think about was how awful it would have been for me to see Natalie in such a terrible situation, and how grateful I would be if you had saved her.”
Once again, Zoe thought it was utterly impossible that Romelle would willingly put anyone else’s child at risk. Alys, she realized, had not said anything along these lines. I hope you would have saved Corene if she had been the one in danger. But the first thing Romelle had thought of was her own child.
Natalie knocked a metal vase to the floor, where it spilled water and blossoms in all directions. The little girl started wailing. “I’m so sorry—we’ll leave right now,” Romelle said. “But—thank you. It was an incredible thing to see.”
After the last queen had departed, other visitors began knocking on Zoe’s door. Mirti Serlast, Keeli and Sarone, a half dozen others, everyone eager to be associated with the most celebrated woman in the city. Rhan and Kurtis arrived together, Rhan catching her up in a hug and spinning her around, Kurtis more soberly clasping her hands.
“That was an astonishing thing to witness,” Kurtis said. “Until my life ends I will not forget the sight of the river refusing to flow because Zoe Lalindar ordered it to pause.”
“I will not forget trying to persuade Zoe Lalindar herself to climb out of harm’s way,” Rhan exclaimed. “Did you know she almost drowned because the Marisi was rising so fast but she refused to move?”
She laughed. “I don’t think it would have harmed me,” she said. “Even if I had been swept off the bank, I think I would have survived.” She patted his cheek. “But I am very grateful that you watched out for me when I was too absorbed to watch out for myself.”
“And we must do more than commend you on your strength and power,” Kurtis said with a grin. “We must thank you for most dramatically bringing us back into fashion, since you were in our boat when we won the race.”
; She smiled. “I’m glad to hear you are popular again, but I’m sure it’s because you and your father were in the boat that rescued the princess,” she said. “That would have rehabilitated you even if I had never reclaimed my Ardelay relatives.”
“Perhaps,” Kurtis agreed. “And yet, I can honestly say that was not the thought foremost in my mind when I followed Darien Serlast down the riverbank. All I could think about was saving that little girl.”
“And that,” she said, “is the reason you deserve your newfound respectability.”
Well after sunset, at least an hour past the time Zoe had decided that she would see no more visitors for the day, there was a timid knock on the door. Zoe had just sunk to a chair at the dining table, wearied by all the attention, while Annova prepared to serve dinner for the three of them. It would be moderately scandalous for Zoe to be caught sharing a meal with her servants.
“Shall I answer it?” Annova said, her voice barely above a whisper. “Or pretend we didn’t hear it?”
Indeed, the knock had been so soft that Zoe suspected the visitor half hoped that no one was home. Which made her curious. “Let’s see who’s on the other side,” she said.
Calvin whisked the plates out of view, while Zoe came to her feet and assumed an expression of saintliness. Annova opened the door.
“Is Zoe Lalindar still receiving visitors?” someone asked in a quiet voice. A girl. “I know it is very late.”
Annova stepped aside. “She is. Please come in.”
Josetta stepped through the door. Today she looked even more fragile and tense than she usually did—not surprising, Zoe thought, given her harrowing adventure. Her ashy hair was piled sloppily on top of her head and her clothes were decidedly casual. She might almost have spent the entire day sleeping, drugged by exhaustion or some more potent medicine, and just now climbed out of bed to come thank her rescuer.
Calvin and Annova disappeared into their room, though it didn’t matter; Josetta had eyes only for Zoe. The princess crossed the room slowly, as if she had just recently relearned how to walk. Her face was pale, completely innocent of cosmetics; her eyes were huge and haunted.