The Rose Throne

by Mette Ivie Harrison

  “I have lived my whole life without a single friend,” said Ailsbet. “Why should I need one now?”

  The smile faded from Kellin’s face. “Let me tell you what I know of you,” he said. “You are indeed strong enough to live alone your whole life.”

  He knew how to flatter better than anyone she had ever met. Ailsbet was annoyed with herself for almost liking this man.

  “You do not wish to be known as your father’s daughter. You wish to be known as yourself. You are defiant in order to prove yourself.”

  It was true enough. “And you are happy to be the invisible hand behind my father?” asked Ailsbet.

  “Nothing would make me happier than to be invisible.”

  “I don’t believe it,” said Ailsbet flatly. “No man wishes to be invisible.”

  “Then I am no man,” said Duke Kellin. “My grandest hope is that the history books forget me and that my name is never mentioned again once I am dead. I hope that even those who know me will have difficulty remembering my name.”

  Ailsbet shook her head. “I know that is not true,” she said.

  “Oh? And how is that?” asked Duke Kellin.

  “I saw you,” she burst out. “On the southern coast, when you were supposed to be on your way to Weirland to arrange for the betrothal.”

  “I don’t know what you mean,” said Kellin stiffly.

  “The girl. The boat. The ekhono hunters,” said Ailsbet.

  “You must be mistaking me for someone else. Perhaps the ekhono hunters frightened you, and you became confused,” said Kellin blandly.

  “It was you,” she said. “I was not confused. And I aided you. I sent the ekhono hunters away.”

  “Why should ekhono hunters come for me?” asked Duke Kellin, still trying to pretend his innocence.

  “Because the girl you were helping into the boat to Weirland was ekhono. And I suspect that if I were to begin to ask questions, I might find that more than one ekhono hunter has had an encounter with you over the last few years, though they may not have known your true identity. If I had them all together, what stories would they tell of you, I wonder?”

  Kellin stared at her, his lips pressed together. Finally, he bowed his head. “What is it you wish, then, Princess Ailsbet?” he asked.

  She was annoyed with him. “I don’t wish for anything. If you imagine that I am trying to win some favor from you, you are mistaken. I do not need your favors.”

  “Then why speak to me of this?” he asked.

  “I only wanted you to stop lying to me. My father loves to be lied to, and all the rest of the court has become used to it. But I am not one of them.”

  “I serve my kingdom,” said Kellin.

  Ailsbet had heard him say the same thing before. “Not the kingdom my father imagines you serve. That kingdom hates the ekhono.”

  “I serve the kingdom of Rurik as it should be,” said Kellin, his tone softer.

  “Ah,” said Ailsbet. “And that is a kingdom with ekhono accepted as any other?”

  “Yes.”

  “This is the reason you wish to remain anonymous, then? Because it is the only way to help the ekhono?”

  Kellin nodded.

  “Good,” said Ailsbet. “I am glad of that. And in Weirland? Did you speak to the ekhono there? Did they greet you fondly?”

  “My brother is ekhono,” said Kellin after some hesitation.

  “Your brother?” Ailsbet did not know why she was surprised, but she was. The idea of Kellin having a brother felt strange. He seemed a man without any ties.

  “Kedor is his name,” he added.

  Now she had everything she needed to ruin him. One word to her father and Kellin would be dead.

  It made Ailsbet feel strangely close to him.

  “You could do much for the kingdom in the future,” said Kellin.

  “Me? I am only a princess, destined to be married off to someone even more invisible to history than you,” said Ailsbet.

  “Perhaps,” said Kellin. “And perhaps not. Your brother is young and malleable. You could be the voice that counters what your father tells him. You could stand behind him when he comes to power, whisper the truth in his ear about the ekhono.”

  “That is why you are here. Not for my father. But for my brother,” said Ailsbet.

  “Not only your brother,” said Kellin. “For you, as well. You have the potential to wield a great deal of power, if you choose.”

  “Invisible power,” said Ailsbet.

  “Power nonetheless,” said Kellin.

  And with that, Kellin left her chambers, leaving Ailsbet to consider what it might mean for her to have power. She had never wanted it, and she wanted it even less now. But Kellin was right, that was the only way that the ekhono could be safe in the long-term. And it was not only the ekhono who were unsafe. The whole kingdom had become suspicious, grasping, and terrified since her father had taken the throne.

  Ailsbet was ekhono herself. She should care for her own kind, should she not? But still, she wanted her music. And she hated power.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Issa

  ISSA SLEPT BADLY her first night in Rurik. The sounds were completely different. She did not hear the baaing of the sheep outside the castle nor the chatter of the birds overhead. Instead, she heard the creak of the stones in the Tower as the wind whirled around them and the sound of the boats coming up the river to the port. The noises were not unpleasant, but still she woke up feeling tired and listless.

  King Haikor had sent her four new servants to attend her. She had not asked for more servants, but it seemed the king thought no noblewoman, let alone a princess, could manage with only two maidservants. The other servants who had come with her from her own country were not suited to attending the princess and had returned to Weirland. To send the new maids away would risk King Haikor’s displeasure, so they remained. They made Issa feel even more a stranger here. Their accents were sharper than she was used to, and they seemed always to be hurrying her along.

  That morning, she spent hours having her hair done in the Rurese style, brushed and oiled, then wound into four tiny crowns in a row at the top of her head, while the rest of it was curled and left to hang on her neck—where it itched horribly. Then her trunk was opened and her gowns drawn out. They were shaken and cleaned and shaped. The servants looked at them dubiously. Then one asked if she might offer the princess a gown of her own as a gift. When she brought it, Issa realized that it had to be her best gown, but it was more elegant than anything she owned herself.

  “Thank you,” said Issa. Refusing the gift might offend the servant, she realized, and she could not appear in court in clothing coarser than the servants’ garments. King Japp had given Issa some gold for the journey and expenses. She would have to spend it on a new wardrobe.

  At last, she was dressed, and she followed her servants to the Throne Room. The palace was so large that Issa wondered if she would ever learn all its twists and turns. She could live all her life here, she thought glumly, and still fear that she would lose herself.

  Prince Edik was waiting for her and after a moment of hesitation, Issa moved to his side.

  “Are you well?” he asked quietly, patting the hound.

  She nodded. “Very well, I thank you.”

  “You ate well? You slept well?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she assured him. There seemed little else to say to him. Issa stood, trying not to fidget, as King Haikor called Duke Kellin forward.

  “Do you bring me a name?” demanded Haikor loudly, as the duke knelt before him.

  Issa could see more than one nobleman near her trembling. One shook so badly he fell down.

  “I do, Your Majesty,” said Duke Kellin.

  “What is it, then? Who has betrayed me?” asked King Haikor.

  Duke Kellin glanced up and caught Issa’s eye. His gaze was cold and he gave no hint they had ever met before. “It is Lord Werecks.”

  Instantly, the man cried out, “No. I
swear, Your Majesty. I swear it is not I.”

  Issa turned and saw him. He was a thin man of middle age, balding on top, but with a wealth of hair on his chin and upper lip. He wore a fashionable, bright blue-and-magenta doublet that made his pale cheeks stand out.

  The king’s guards had already reached his side.

  Issa glanced at Edik and saw that he seemed undisturbed by this, as if it happened every day. Perhaps it did.

  Issa wished her father were there. King Haikor’s court was a dangerous place. Who would be next? It seemed a matter of the king’s whims. And Kellin was helping him.

  But she imagined her father would tell her that she must let King Haikor deal with his court in his own way. A king sometimes had to do distasteful things to prove his power. And when men broke the laws, they must be punished.

  While the court looked on in silence, Lord Werecks fought the guards, kicking and spitting. “It is not I! He lies! I shall tell you the truth, if you let me. I shall tell you everything,” he said, gasping.

  The guards slammed him down before the king, his head hitting the floor. Blood sprayed from his nose, spreading out on the polished marble floor in a pool.

  Issa looked up and met Princess Ailsbet’s eyes, but she could not tell what the other princess thought of this. Did she approve?

  “You have the proof?” asked King Haikor.

  “I do, Your Majesty.” Duke Kellin opened a leather satchel. “There are papers there, letters written by Lord Werecks in which he discusses his plans. Maps he has made of the dying neweyr, places he believed he could take easily from you or other landowners. Also papers he has signed for debts incurred over the last year, more than two thousand gold coins.”

  Kellin spoke with cool precision, as if this were no more than a business transaction. He must have a good reason for what he was doing, Issa told herself. Lord Werecks must be a traitor, not only to King Haikor, but to the land itself, to the weyrs.

  “The gold was for a new home for my young wife!” Lord Werecks said, his voice muffled. “And an inheritance for my newborn son. That is why I wished to buy land. That reason and no other.”

  But King Haikor paid no attention to the man. “I thank you, Duke Kellin, for your faithful service to the kingdom.”

  Duke Kellin gave the papers to one of the king’s men, then stepped past Lord Werecks and offered to take the man to the Tower himself, if the king wished it.

  King Haikor nodded, clearly pleased. “I shall give you two guards, then, to carry the burden, but you shall guide them to the Tower and hand him over there.”

  Kellin accepted this, and he led the guards and Lord Werecks out of the court.

  Issa did not know why Kellin had done what he had, but she trembled in response. She saw Prince Edik, who was now at the far end of the court, near the door, and moved toward him. He was holding tightly to the black hound and she heard him whisper the name Midnight into its ear.

  A good name, she thought, though she was still distracted by what had happened to Lord Werecks. Many of the noblemen and ladies in the court had moved to the windows to watch him being led across the courtyard to the Tower.

  Issa was jostled away from Prince Edik and found herself standing by Princess Ailsbet, who said, “And here we are together.”

  “Indeed,” said Issa, not sure if she should stare out the window or try to avoid seeing Lord Werecks.

  “He frightens me like this,” said Ailsbet.

  “Your father?” said Issa.

  “Not my father,” Ailsbet whispered. “Duke Kellin.”

  Issa froze. She dared show no emotion when it came to Kellin, and especially not to Edik’s sister. But before she could respond, she heard a sound like a tree trunk being split in two by a vicious storm.

  Issa looked out into the center courtyard and saw Lord Werecks sprawled on the ground, his head at an unnatural angle. He looked as though he had flown into the sky and then dropped from some height.

  He was clearly dead.

  “He must have fought against Duke Kellin,” said a lady.

  “He did not look as if he had strength enough to threaten a gnat,” said another.

  Issa tried to tell herself that this was mercy, of a kind. What else could Kellin have done for the man? But a part of her wondered if she did not know Kellin at all.

  The next week at court was a blur of meeting the nobles of Rurik, some of whom were already at court, but others who had come to pay a visit to court from the outlying counties. Issa spent hours on her feet, feeling as if she had become a statue, nodding and curtsying and looking pretty, but saying very little. King Haikor seemed to enjoy watching her struggle with the long days of meeting. There was always food and drink, but little time to consume it. While Prince Edik was often at her side, Issa had no chance to speak to him privately. As for Kellin, he was sometimes gone with no explanation, and that always made Issa feel out of place. Even if she could not speak to him, knowing he was there steadied her.

  Throughout all of this, Princess Ailsbet would not even look at Issa. Did the other princess dislike her so much? It was a surprise, therefore, when Ailsbet came privately to Princess Marlissa’s bedchamber the day after an especially long court meeting, several days after Issa had met with a palace seamstress and had ordered three gowns, to be finished as soon as possible.

  “You look like a tree in the spring,” said Ailsbet at the sight of Issa’s new pale-green gown.

  “You are kind,” said Issa, suddenly self-conscious. Why had Princess Ailsbet come to her now? To mock her?

  “But it is true. You are like a storm or the seasons, a force of nature. You are the neweyr itself, I think. My brother, Edik, is in awe of you.”

  But Ailsbet was not, Issa thought. “And you who have no neweyr think to compliment me on my wealth of it?” she asked. Ailsbet did not react to this, but nonetheless, Issa felt immediately guilty for what she had said.

  “I am a musician,” said Ailsbet. “Did you know that?”

  “I did. But I have not heard you perform on your flute. It is a flute, is it not?” Surely, this was not the real reason Ailsbet had come. “Why are you here?” Issa asked.

  “I came to warn you,” said Ailsbet. “About Kellin.”

  Issa gaped at her. “What of Kellin? Is he in danger?” Was King Haikor angry with him for killing Lord Werecks? Had someone found out that Kellin’s brother was ekhono?

  Ailsbet smiled faintly. “Indeed,” she said. “You and he are both in danger, I fear.”

  Issa was silent. She had hardly looked at him and had certainly not teased him as she might have in Weirland the year before.

  “Your feelings for him are too obvious,” said Ailsbet.

  “I do not know what you mean,” said Issa immediately. “I have no feelings for him. I do not speak to him. I do not look at him.”

  “That is precisely the problem,” said Ailsbet. “You treat him differently than anyone else. You cut him as if he has wounded you. It will not be long before others notice and begin to spread rumors about what it means. They will begin by saying he has some ancient grudge against you, that he has offended you in some way. But they will not stop there. They may come to the truth by accident, they are stupid enough for that. But they are also persistent, and they will gossip until they see you react, as you are doing now.”

  “Oh,” said Issa softly, and sank to her bed. She had been trying so hard to do her duty, to act properly, to be the princess of Weirland that everyone in King Haikor’s court expected.

  “You are supposed to be betrothed officially to my brother in less than three months’ time. I know he is only thirteen years old, but he is not a fool.”

  “I did not think he was,” said Issa. “But—”

  “Is Kellin so irresistible? I find him rather cold,” said Ailsbet.

  It was an interesting comment from a woman whom Issa had thought cold herself. “He is not—I do not—there is nothing between us,” Issa got out. That was the truth. Whatever s
he felt for him, it was surely a passing thing. A childish fancy, no more. And Kellin felt nothing in return for her. His duty to the kingdom would not allow it.

  “Are you so naïve as to truly believe that? Perhaps you are,” said Ailsbet. “It makes me wonder what the court must be like in Weirland.”

  “I intend to be a good wife and queen for your brother, Edik,” Issa said earnestly. “I shall show him all the love that is due him.”

  “Due him?” echoed Ailsbet.

  “As my betrothed,” said Issa. “Will you tell me about Edik? What you see of him as a sister?”

  “He sees things,” said Ailsbet carefully. “He may seem oblivious to what goes on around him, but he is not. He is smart, but he does not judge quickly. He takes the measure of those around him. He does not have much choice, but he knows whom he can trust and whom he cannot.”

  Issa was surprised that she was getting more helpful information about Edik’s character from this chance encounter with his sister than she had found in the last week and more in Rurik. “And whom can he trust?” she asked, daring to hope for more.

  “Not many,” Ailsbet admitted.

  “And you? Whom do you trust?”

  “I trust myself,” said Ailsbet.

  Of course she did. Issa bowed her head. “I shall do my best to control myself. I thank you again for coming to me and offering to help. Please—do not tell your brother.” Or your father, she thought.

  “I did not do it for your thanks,” said Ailsbet, and she left without another word.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Issa

  THE NEXT EVENING AT DINNER, Princess Ailsbet made it clear to the whole court that she had an interest in Kellin. She smiled across the room at Kellin, then moved closer to say a few words in his ear before flitting away again, still smiling. For all Ailsbet had said the day before about warning Issa not to reveal her feelings too clearly, it seemed that Ailsbet had decided to take Duke Kellin for herself.