by Effie Calvin
“Here, do you know many Ieflarian songs?” asked Svana, her fingers gliding over the strings as if by instinct, picking out a familiar tune. “I’m afraid I don’t know any of Rhodia.”
“A few…” began Esofi, but Svana was already playing. It was a slow, melancholy tune that Adale only half recognized, not at all the traditional love ballad she’d been expecting. Svana began to sing, her sweet, high voice mournful.
“Once upon a midnight
When I was far from home
I wandered through the wilds
And thought myself alone
The mountain flowers were blooming
In spite of snow to be
And there I saw her walking
Her cloak swept o’er the leaves
Her eyes were like the evening
T’were stars beneath her skin
And when her lips did touch mine
I felt her light within.
And now that it is winter
With no work to attend
Perhaps I shall go walking
And meet her once again.”
Esofi was leaning forward, one elbow rested on the table. Her eyes were soft as she listened, and Adale felt her hatred for her cousin simmer away into something softer, at least for a moment.
“ESOFI HAS GIVEN us her answer,” said Saski.
Adale stood before her parents in their room once again. Two days had passed since the arrival of the twins, but only now had her mother and father summoned her to speak with them privately.
“Her answer?” Adale repeated. “To the betrothal? What does she say?”
Saski gave a small sigh and looked at Dietrich.
“What?” cried Adale.
“She has said that she does not wish to make her decision lightly,” said Saski. “And given the circumstances, I find I cannot blame her. She says she is considering your cousins, and I could do nothing to dissuade her.”
“What?” Adale could not help but feel betrayed. She had really thought Esofi had been starting to like her. They had read Albion’s letters together and shared their fears of the future. Esofi had kissed her! What more could anyone—
“Listen to me,” said Saski sharply. “She says she will announce her choice at the end of the mourning period. Your father and I will host a ball on that day, one that she cannot possibly refuse to attend. She will announce her decision there, and the contract will be signed on the spot. In the meantime, you will do nothing to jeopardize this.”
“If you hate the twins, send them home!” cried Adale.
“I cannot, do you realize that?” asked Saski. “If she refuses to marry you, she must marry someone. They are the most suitable candidates.”
Adale put her face in her hands. “I thought I was doing well. I really did.”
To her surprise, it was Dietrich who put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“We have noticed that you are spending time with Princess Esofi,” he said. “And we appreciate the effort you are making. But you must understand: in her eyes, your romantic compatibility is only a secondary concern. Esofi has been raised to be a queen. She will choose the partner who will make the best co-regent. Regardless of her personal feelings.”
“Then I don’t have a chance,” said Adale. She resolved to get in as many kisses as she could in the meantime, just to spite whichever of her cousins Esofi ultimately chose.
“We do not believe so,” said Saski. “What your father and I see in you is far more impressive than what we see in your cousins.”
“Being nice to servants isn’t enough to run a country!” protested Adale.
“It is not merely kindness, Adale,” said Saski. “It is their knowledge that you see them as Men, rather than slaves or cattle. What the Xytan Empire did to us has not quite faded from our collective memories. And you must realize that many of our citizens see the nobility as unapproachable and distant, despite our best efforts. Oftentimes, they are afraid to tell us their true thoughts, so greatly have they venerated us. But you have never felt compelled to hide your true self. I believe you could connect with our people in a way that no one from the Verheicht line ever has before.”
“But Esofi knows so many more things,” said Adale. “She knows how to—to fight dragons and plan battles. She thinks about the dangers—”
“And you think about our people,” completed Saski. “You are not meant to have the same traits as Esofi, Adale. You are meant to balance her. Esofi comes from a nation that, if I may be blunt, is known for its poor opinion of commoners. She needs you beside her so she does not treat our people the way her mother treats the Rhodians.”
That was not the first time Adale had heard someone imply there was something amiss with Esofi’s mother. Remembering Esofi’s own words on the subject, she frowned deeply. “What do we know of the queen of Rhodia?”
Saski looked surprised. “Queen Gaelle? She is—” She looked at Dietrich. “—she is nothing like Esofi to say the very least, and we can thank the gods for that. Why do you ask?”
“I only wish to understand Esofi better,” said Adale. “Her upbringing must have been very different from mine.”
“You can scarcely imagine,” said Saski dryly.
ADALE SET HER jaw and attempted to yawn without actually opening her mouth. Under normal circumstances, she would not have cared about being seen yawning in the middle of a service, but this was the lunar service, and Esofi was sitting only a few seats over.
Against her better judgment, Adale had accepted the help of her mother’s ladies in preparing for the service, since Daphene and Lethea had an admittedly weak grasp on looking presentable for religious functions. Then, to Adale’s horror, her mother had announced that they were all going to the service.
Now Adale sat in the front row of the Great Temple of Talcia, dressed in a gown she hadn’t even known she owned until a few hours ago, with too many bracelets around her wrists and an uncomfortable silver hairpiece digging into her scalp. The ancient archpriestess seemed completely unfazed by the presence of the entire royal family in her temple, as well as the presence of all the lesser nobles, aristocrats, and upwardly mobile merchants who had followed them. She simply went on hobbling through the rituals as though this service was no different than any of the others that had preceded it.
Adale risked another glance at Esofi. The princess was watching the service attentively, a peaceful smile on her face. Occupying the seats between the princess and Adale were, of course, the twins. There was no escaping them.
Adale let her thoughts wander. Then, when she was bored of even that, she set her attention to counting the stars painted on the enormous mural of the night sky behind the altar. After what felt like an eternity, the ceremony came to a close. Unfortunately, she could not escape straightaway. The crowd was taking its time to disperse and her mother seemed to be indulging them, accepting greetings from her subjects as though she had nothing better to do.
Adale had initially planned on staying for as long as Esofi did, but the service had left her short-tempered and irritated. Fortunately, the streets were well-lit and still reasonably crowded from the service. Adale began the short walk back up to the castle, and if a pair of well-intentioned watchmen followed her from a respectful distance until they were certain she’d made it home safely, she told herself that she did not notice.
The castle was quiet still, and she was grateful for that. As she began the journey back to her room, pulling fitfully at the comb in her hair, her gaze fell upon a pair of servants who had clearly been counting on the hall being empty for a while longer, judging by the intensity of their kiss.
The couple consisted of a palace maid and a tall, dark-haired woman that Adale realized she’d already seen once before.
“You again!” said Adale. The hunter woman broke the kiss and turned to Adale with a strange smile. Taking advantage of the distraction, the maid ducked out from under the woman’s arm and escaped down the hall, giggling madly.
“
Here, don’t you have work to do?” asked Adale, well aware of her own hypocrisy. The woman’s smile only widened. Her lips were a strange, dark color, almost black. “Or are you just out to kiss everyone in the castle?”
“Not everyone, Crown Princess,” said the woman. “For example, not you.”
Adale frowned, moderately offended. “Well, why not?”
The woman laughed and bolted past Adale, quick as a deer. Stunned, Adale spun around in time to see the last of the woman’s long black hair whip around the nearest corner. Adale hurried after her, but when she turned the corner, the woman was gone.
Chapter Five
ESOFI
The presents from the twins were already beginning to pile up, but Esofi was having difficulty focusing on them. There had been another dragon strike yesterday, at Adelsroda, a town only three days ride south of Birsgen. The refugees were already moving north under royal guard and expected to arrive in Birsgen within the week.
On Esofi’s desk rested a map of Ieflaria marked in bright red ink at the site of every dragon attack in the past year. The marks left a wide but distinct inward spiral pattern, with Birsgen at the heart.
The next attack would be at the capital. She could feel it.
She wished she could set aside the entire matter of her engagement until the dragon issue was resolved. It was a struggle to even keep a level head, for she was quite unused to this degree of romantic interest. Back home, everyone had understood that she was engaged to a foreign prince and to pursue her would have been a waste of time. Even if someone had been inclined to court her, Esofi would never have accepted it. Probably.
Some days had been lonelier than others.
Her ladies were not being shy about making their opinions of her suitors known. Lexandrie was staunchly in favor of Svana, while Mireille asked her of Adale almost constantly, and Lisette seemed to prefer Brandt, citing that the question of heirs would come up sooner or later.
At long last, there was a knock at the door. Lexandrie, who had been reading quietly in her usual spot on the sofa, rose to answer it. His Majesty’s young squire, Ilbert, was standing there, waiting to escort Esofi to her meeting with King Dietrich and his generals.
That day, they would be discussing the permanent placement of the battlemages until more could be trained. The call for magically gifted Ieflarians had been sent out, and Esofi could only hope, for now.
For the meeting, Esofi brought only Lexandrie with her. Esofi’s annoyance with her cousin had not quite dissipated yet, but Lexandrie was acting as though nothing was wrong, and Esofi didn’t have the energy to quarrel with her. Besides, Lexandrie was the only one of her ladies who would be of any sort of use during the meeting. Though her magic was not as powerful as Esofi’s, she still had a good eye for details and a mind for strategy.
They departed with Ilbert taking the lead. He was a well-behaved young man or at least wise enough to pretend to be so when he was around Esofi. She wasn’t sure who his parents were, but she supposed they must be important, for King Dietrich to have chosen their son to be his squire.
They met in the war room, which reminded Esofi a great deal of the one back home in Rho Dianae, where her parents and all their advisors would occasionally discuss grim things with somber faces. Esofi and her siblings had been allowed to attend these meetings under the condition that they would not make a single sound throughout.
The large table in the middle of the room was painted with a map of the entire continent, Ieflaria at the center. Gleaming silver pieces had been placed upon it to mark the recent dragon attacks, mirroring the map on her own desk.
Esofi knew the names of all the military commanders that His Majesty had invited but could not match the names to the faces. The Ieflarian military was a bit different from the Rhodian, and the pins and stripes that indicated rank were strange and unfamiliar to Esofi. Fortunately, King Dietrich arrived quickly, saving Esofi from having to hide her ignorance, and the meeting began.
“They are coming from the northeast,” said Captain Lehmann, indicating the Silver Isles on the map. “Their routes are unpredictable, but they do not seem to ever travel through Xytae. They would rather pass over the sea than deal with the Xytan Legion, it seems.”
“We’ve seen them flying overhead,” confirmed a neutroi who was dressed in a naval uniform—Esofi supposed they must have been an admiral. “Unfortunately, they’re too fast for our warships. We’re lucky if we manage to get in a few shots of the harpoons before they’re already gone. Hitting them in the wings is the only way we’ve managed to kill them, and that’s only happened twice.”
“Your Majesty, you know our borders are simply too long for us to defend it all,” said one of the men. “We can afford to leave the south, because Vesolda would never march on us, but it is not so with Xytae. The battlemages must be spread across the northern and eastern borders—”
“No,” said Esofi stubbornly. “They will be spread too thinly. They must remain here.”
One of the women gave an exasperated sigh. “Do you intend to let them attack Birsgen, then?”
“They do not require my permission to do that,” said Esofi. “It is the vaults beneath the castle that call to them—that is the reason for their movements inward.” She thought of the place where her dowry was being kept. No doubt her addition made the scent even more irresistible. “We must act as though an attack on Birsgen could come at any moment.”
There was a knock at the door. All fell silent and looked to it in confusion—who would interrupt such an important meeting? But the knocking only became more insistent. After a puzzled pause, King Dietrich strode over and pulled the doors open.
Standing before him was one of Archmage Eads’s apprentices, red-faced and sweating. He doubled over to catch his breath.
“Your Majesty!” he sputtered. “You must come quickly!”
“What has happened?” demanded King Dietrich. “Speak, now!”
“We have had a sign from Lady Talcia!” he cried, and then went back to gasping.
Esofi grabbed her skirts and surged forward. “Where!?” she cried. The apprentice looked up at her and pointed down the hall.
“They’ve gathered in the healing ward,” he said.
Esofi had no idea where that was, but fortunately, King Dietrich was already moving. With Lexandrie at her heels, she followed him down the halls that were becoming more familiar with every passing day and into an area of the castle that she’d never visited before. They came to a large set of doors painted with symbols of Adranus, and King Dietrich threw them open.
Gathered inside the room was a strange assortment of castle staff and Birsgeners, all looking shaken and confused, sitting wherever they could find a space. The castle healers seemed to be at a loss, running around frantically but without purpose. The chief healer, a high-ranking priest of Adranus, was arguing hotly with Archmage Eads.
“What is going on?” demanded King Dietrich, and the room fell silent—for a moment. Then one of the Birsgener women started crying loudly.
“My lord,” began Archmage Eads. “We, that is, I—”
Lexandrie gave a sudden gasp, and Esofi moved closer to the weeping woman. She was dressed in the ordinary clothes of a Birsgen shopkeeper, and her head was lowered. She seemed to be holding something in her hands, something that glittered like sapphires.
It was the light of magic.
Esofi felt her heart stop for just a moment.
“You were not born with this, were you?” Esofi asked, drawing nearer. The woman’s pale eyes, rimmed with redness, met her own.
“None of them were,” said the priest of Adranus from behind Esofi. “When the first one came in, we thought it was merely a mistake in our recordkeeping or an oversight.”
“I told you,” spat one of the men who was standing, arms crossed and eyes narrowed in rage. He had the scent of a tanner about him, and Esofi found herself wishing she had an orange to cover the smell. “They thought I was wrong. As if I l
ived thirty-five years not knowing I had magic.”
Esofi did a quick count of the room. There were eleven patients in total, but nobody could say how many new mages were scattered throughout Ieflaria, waiting to discover their gifts.
“I have never heard of anyone being granted magic later in their life,” volunteered Archmage Eads. “In Ieflaria, it has always been taught that Talcia only grants magic to babies at the moment they draw their first breath.”
“It is so in Rhodia as well,” said Esofi, her head spinning. She’d barely begun her work in Ieflaria, and Talcia had already made her approval known. How could this be?
But Esofi realized that she could wonder about that later. At the moment, she had a room of frightened citizens to reassure. She released the woman’s hands and stood.
“I’m sure I cannot imagine how you’re all feeling right now,” said Esofi. “But in time, I hope you will realize what a wonderful gift you’ve been given—the opportunity to defend your city in the coming months, rather than leave the fight to foreigners.”
None of the Birsgeners looked particularly enthused.
“I have three children,” said one of the other women at last. “I can’t risk my life to fight dragons. You have to understand that.”
Esofi bit back an impassioned speech about serving one’s country, and instead said, “Even so, you must be trained. You could harm yourself or another if you lose control. We are setting up a university in the Temple District, but now it is clear we cannot wait for construction to be complete.” She looked to King Dietrich for his approval, but before he could reply, the doors swung open again and Adale strode in. She paused for a moment to take in the gathered group and then gave a half-incredulous laugh.
“So it’s true?” she asked.
“Adale,” said King Dietrich disapprovingly. “Why are you here?”
“Why shouldn’t I be?” responded Adale. “It’s my country too. If we’ve had a sign from—from Talcia, or whoever, I think I ought to…”