by Morgan Rice
Sebastian shook his head. “She was a good person.”
“People do what they need to in order to survive,” Angelica pointed out. “She invented a whole new identity for herself. What else might she have been forced to do to live?”
Sebastian didn’t have an answer for her then. The truth was that Angelica was right. There were things that he didn’t know about Sophia. He had no idea why she might have been killed, or who might have done it.
“I’ll help you,” Angelica said. “Whatever it takes. I might not have liked her, but I do care about you, Sebastian, and I… you know that your mother still wants us to be married?”
Sebastian didn’t know what to say to that.
“She’s had it announced,” Angelica said. “Neither of us gets a choice about this.”
“Is that what this is?” Sebastian asked. “Is this just you just trying to get control of me?”
“Is that really what you think of me?” Angelica asked.
The worst part of it was that Sebastian didn’t know how to answer that. He didn’t know what to think of Angelica.
“Look,” she said. “Forget it for now. We need to concentrate on you. You want to find out what happened to Sophia? I’ll help. Maybe I know some people you don’t. Maybe I can help you put this to rest. At the very least, I can be there.”
A wave of gratitude swept through Sebastian at that. He couldn’t imagine anyone else offering to help him like this. He couldn’t imagine anyone else even being there for him like this.
“Why are you doing all this for me?” Sebastian said. “Is it just because we’re supposed to marry?”
Angelica held him out at arm’s length. “I want to be there for you, Sebastian. I want this to work for us. I want—”
She didn’t get to finish saying what she wanted, because at that point, a servant was there, knocking on the door with the kind of worried look that suggested that only one thing would ever force him to interrupt like this.
“What is it?” Sebastian asked, trying to be kind about it.
“It’s your mother, your highness,” the servant said. “She requires your presence. At once.”
***
Sebastian stood outside the doors to his mother’s chambers, took a breath, and pushed his way inside without waiting to be invited. On another day, he might have cared about the possible consequences of that. As it was, he just strode forward toward the spot where his mother stood looking out the window, barely bothering with a perfunctory bow as she turned.
“You summoned me, my queen?”
“Sebastian, you’ve returned to us.” She stepped forward, saying it gently.
That caught Sebastian a little by surprise.
“You aren’t angry with me?” he said with a frown.
“Oh, I’m angry,” his mother said. “I’m more angry than you can believe. You walked away from your duty, from the marriage I picked out for you. You ran from your city, from your post in my army, from me.”
Sebastian forced himself not to react. “Forgive me, my queen.”
“Your queen?” she countered. “I am your mother, Sebastian. I did everything I could to keep you here, and you still ran away after that… that…”
“She’s dead,” Sebastian said. “Sophia is dead, Mother.”
“Oh, Sebastian,” his mother said. She took his hand and led him to the window. “It was foolish of you to go after her like that. Nothing but pain has come of it. If it were anyone else, they would find themselves imprisoned for leaving like that. Deserting your regiment when the enemy is about to invade is an offense that would see anyone else hanged.”
“Then let them hang me!” Sebastian declared. Did his mother think that he cared right then? With Sophia gone, none of it mattered. If the Masked Goddess’s priestesses were telling the truth, maybe it was even the one way he would get to see her again.
“You don’t mean that,” his mother said.
“I do.” Sebastian stood there, determined not to show the pain inside him. “If they want to kill me, they can. You said that war is coming? Send me into it if you want. Throw me into the front ranks of the battle!”
His mother stared at him. He heard her sigh.
“Sebastian, why are you doing this? Why did you run off after her like that? You are a prince. You have duties.”
“I loved her, Mother,” Sebastian said. He didn’t know how he could explain it any better than that. “You must know what that feels like. With Father—”
“This is not the time to speak about your father,” his mother said. “And in any case… I did my duty. I did the things that were necessary, and so will you.”
“You’re talking about me marrying Angelica,” Sebastian guessed. It had been what his mother had wanted even before he left. It had been what she had been trying to force him to do from the start. “I know that you’ve had it announced. Without even asking me.”
“Because this isn’t about you,” his mother said. She gestured to the window. “What do you see out there?”
Sebastian suspected that Rupert would have made some joke, or stormed off, but he wasn’t Rupert. Whatever else was true, he wasn’t like his brother.
“I see the city, Mother. I know that it is bigger than me. I know that it matters more than me, but can’t I have anything for myself? I’m not king, and I’m never going to be. Does it matter who some second son marries?”
“Everything matters,” his mother said. “But especially this. Especially you, Sebastian. Don’t underestimate yourself. The things you do will have an impact on this kingdom, and you will marry Milady d’Angelica.”
“To avoid making you look bad?” Sebastian shot back.
“Because the people need it!” his mother snapped. “There are enemies invading, and while our armies will push them back, it will take time. They need hope in the meantime. They need the sense that there will be a future for the kingdom. They need you to do your duty.”
“I could do that on the battlefield,” Sebastian suggested. “I could fight them. I could help to hold them back.”
“War hasn’t worked like that for a long time,” his mother said. “Do you think it’s about heroes trying to throw themselves into the heart of the battle? Do you think I’m going to let you kill yourself like that?”
“It’s what I want!” Sebastian said.
“This isn’t about what you want!” his mother snapped back. “You’re going to do what you’re told, Sebastian. You’re going to marry Angelica. You’re going to stay here and do your duty!”
Sebastian could have stormed off then, but he suspected that his mother’s guards would have tried to stop him. He could have continued to argue, but he doubted that it would do any good. The truth was that he didn’t have the strength for any of it anymore. With Sophia gone, there was nothing left of him to keep fighting.
He would do what his mother wanted, because what else was there?
CHAPTER NINE
Sophia watched the sea that their boat cut through, willing it to pass by quicker. How long had they been aboard now? Days, certainly, and it felt as though every one was a test of her patience. She wanted to find her uncle. She wanted to learn more about her parents.
Kate seemed to be getting even more restless. Her sister paced the ship, trying to find things to do. She didn’t know enough about sailing to truly help, although she seemed to be determined to try to learn. Sophia spotted her clambering up the masts more than once, wanting to look out from the top or help with the sails.
Sophia could understand the frustration. There was little to do aboard the ship except wait, and talk, and swap stories. Sophia did her best to keep Kate entertained, telling her about her journey north with Emeline and Cora, or about how life at court had been. Kate told her about the battles she’d been a part of, talking about the violence of it all with a kind of excitement Sophia didn’t think she would ever understand. Then again, she doubted that Kate was truly interested in tales of trying to fit in wi
th the nobles at court either.
“How much longer until we make landfall?” Sophia asked Captain Borkar.
“Later today, I think,” he said. “It can be unpredictable. It depends on the sea.”
Sophia could see from his thoughts that he was hoping it would be sooner rather than later, the burden of having to carry two royal sisters obviously weighing on him.
“Are you starting to wish you hadn’t been in the harbor when I came along?” Sophia asked.
The captain shook his head. “I would never wish that. This is a great honor. It is merely that I do not wish to be the man who sank with royalty aboard.”
“Are we likely to sink?” Sophia asked.
The captain smiled. “I suspect that depends on how much your sister helps.”
He was joking, at least Sophia hoped that he was, but even so, she pulsed out a call for Kate, hoping to drag her away from her efforts to assist with the lines of the boat.
“What is it?” Kate asked, running over. “Is it the baby? Are you feeling sick again?”
Sophia smiled at that. From the moment Sophia had announced that she was pregnant, Kate had fussed around her like a mother hen, seeing the least hint of seasickness or tiredness as a sign of impending disaster.
“No,” Sophia said, “nothing like that, I just… wait, look!”
She pointed, Kate following the line of her finger. Even Sienne ran to the edge of the boat looking out as the water beside the boat gave way in a rush of white foam, the sleek gray form of a whale breaching the surface. It was larger than their ship, swimming alongside and keeping pace easily. Reaching out with her talents, Sophia could feel the deep, powerful intelligence of the creature as it looked them over. It swam alongside them in the water for a while before turning and diving, its tail slapping at the sea as it disappeared from sight.
There were more small islands now, some little bigger than jagged rocks sticking out of the ocean like teeth.
“In the winter, there is ice as well,” Captain Borkar said. “It is part of what keeps Ishjemme safe, because only the people who know the waters dare navigate it. Don’t worry, though, I know them well.”
That was good to hear, and as they continued on, Sophia started to see some of the sheer beauty of this strange land. She saw distant mountains, obviously snow covered and ice filled, but behind them, the land was greener than it should have been, some trick of the mountains’ protection creating a space where things could grow.
“Look,” Kate said. “One of those mountains… is that smoke coming off it?”
Sophia followed the line of her pointing finger and saw it, smoke rising from a volcano in what seemed to be an endlessly swirling cloud.
“It is part of what makes the land habitable,” Captain Borkar explained. “There are many hot springs thanks to the volcanoes, and the land is fertile. They say that there are slopes where a man could toss seeds and by the time he has walked away they will have sprouted.”
Sophia suspected that was an exaggeration, but it did make for a spectacular landscape as their boat made its way through the mouth of one of the fjords there, the wide, craggy expanse of it leading them along the final stages of their journey. Sophia could see great bears walking along its banks, fishing in the shallows.
“Ishjemme is at the far end of the fjord,” Captain Borkar said. “It is always a beautiful way to approach the city.”
Sophia had to admit that was true. It was a landscape with few trees, but there were grasslands and flower meadows, and there were other things too. Someone had carved statues from the local granite, setting them along the shores so that they looked out over any vessels moving closer. Some appeared to be mythical figures, some monsters, but some…
“Kate, I’m not imagining it, am I?” Sophia asked, pointing to a statue that appeared to have very familiar features. It was of a man and a woman, and Sophia had seen them both before, in the paintings of her parents’ estate.
In answer, Kate took out the locket that she carried, opening it so they could compare the features there to the ones within. There was no doubting it—the statue was of their parents.
It wasn’t the only one. There were at least three more statues of them mixed in amongst the others there, while many of the remaining ones had features that suggested they were of more distant relatives. It seemed that this was a land where their family was anything but hidden, and Sophia didn’t know what to think about that. No wonder the captain had been able to recognize her back at the port. If there had been more time, she might have asked to stop and look at the statues more closely, but the truth was that the chance to reach her living relatives counted for more than stone likenesses.
They rounded a bend in the fjord and now, Sophia could see a city ahead.
“It’s beautiful,” she said.
It was less sprawling than Ashton, smaller and seemingly more orderly, the houses built from a mixture of wood and the same stone that the statues had been carved from. Greenery was visible within the walls, in parks and gardens obviously designed to break up the unrelenting stone of the buildings. There were walls around it, intact where those of Ashton had long ago been damaged in the civil wars. Wide docks spread out in front of the city, colorful ships loading and unloading in what seemed to be a never-ending cycle of trade. Porters and wharf hands ran up to each ship as it came in to the docks, ready to help unload.
They ran in as their ship approached too. Sophia stood patiently, waiting for the ship to tie up safely. Kate and Sienne were both obviously more eager to be ashore. The forest cat leapt down almost as soon as the boat bumped against the docks, looking up as if wondering why Sophia didn’t do the same. Kate hopped down beside her, landing in the middle of the dock hands who were already running up to help. Sophia wasn’t sure which of the two attracted more stares.
Sophia waited until the ship was safely tied up, a gangplank lowered to allow her off without having to jump. She went over to Captain Borkar, taking his hand.
“Thank you,” she said. “We would never have made it here without you.”
“It was my honor, your highness,” he said, bowing. “If you ever need my help again, merely send word, and I will be there.”
Sophia could see that he meant it, but she also found herself thinking of what it had been like trying to get his help back in Monthys.
“Just remember what I said,” she said. “Help the next person who needs it, regardless of who she is.”
Sophia moved down to the docks, catching up with Kate. Sienne ran to her side, obviously happy to be on dry land again. Around them, the porters were moving to the boat as if they weren’t there. Sophia went up to one who seemed to be less busy, a big man who appeared to be supervising some of the others.
“Excuse me,” she said, “what’s the best way to get to the castle?”
“And why would you need to go there?” the man said. His accent had a kind of thickness to it, some of the sounds drawn out in places Sophia wasn’t used to. “They don’t let folk go just to look around, you know.”
Sophia saw Kate start forward, but stopped her.
It’s easier just to talk to people, Sophia pulsed across to her.
“We need to talk to Lars Skyddar,” she said.
The porter stared at her, and then laughed, long and hard. Sophia could see the source of amusement in his thoughts: he thought that they were just ignorant travelers who assumed they could wander up to meet Ishjemme’s ruler for their own amusement.
“Have you heard this, lads?” he called out, then switched to a language that seemed both close to the tongue of the Dowager’s kingdom and a long step away from it, all at once. The men nearby laughed as well, shouting back comments that Sophia couldn’t understand directly, but she could get the sense of them from their thoughts. They thought that she and Kate were fools, or adventuresses looking to snag a rich husband, or simply arrogant foreigners who thought that they could go where they wanted.
“Let us show you t
he way to a decent inn instead,” the porter said. “You’ll have a better time in the city than if you start bothering our ruler.”
“We need to see Lars Skyddar,” Sophia repeated.
“Why? What’s so important that you think you need to see him and no one else?”
Sophia considered making something up, saying that she had a message, but she didn’t want to start this with a lie.
“Because he is our uncle,” she said.
They stared now, the porters stepping back and stopping work. Sophia could sense their confusion, and a few hints of anger from the ones who assumed they must be joking about something they shouldn’t.
“My name is Sophia Danse,” Sophia said, the name feeling strange even though it was hers by right. “This is my sister, Kate. Our parents are Lord Alfred and Lady Christina Danse, and I want to speak to my uncle.”
She could hear the porters murmuring amongst themselves, some not believing it, some wondering aloud if it could be true. All of them looked at her and Kate with a kind of awe, either at the prospect of what was happening, or at the sheer audacity of someone willing to make a claim like that.
“Wait,” the head porter said. “Turi!”
A boy ran forward, looking at them as if not quite sure what they were.
“Take a message to the castle. Tell them what has happened here. Run!”
The boy scurried off. They waited, and Sophia could feel the eyes on her. The men kept their distance, as if unsure whether they should approach or not. Around them, the business of the dock almost ground to a halt as people stopped to look at them.
“I feel like the tattooed lady in a circus,” Kate muttered beside her.
Sophia might have replied, but in that moment, she saw the figures approaching. There were half a dozen guardsmen, all in dark colors, with the arms of the city on their shoulders. At their head was a woman in somber clothes that suggested officialdom. She stopped, then stared at Sophia and Kate, her eyes widening.
They look like them. The resemblance is uncanny, but… no, I have my instructions.