The Fiend Queen (27 page)

Hurt battered through the adsna. “How dare you even think that about me?”

“How can I not?” She pointed to the two sleeping figures. “How can you not when you have done this?”

“Set their minds and bodies at ease, you mean?”

“Assaulted them, Star! Used magic on them without their permission, when all they had done was come to check on you.”

“They came to tear a rift between me and Yanchasa.”

Yanchasa leaned against the settee where Katya rested. “As I warned you,” he said.

Dawnmother’s face grew thunderous. “There
should
be a rift, just as when you befriended that tall girl when you were eleven, the one who tempted you to steal.”

“I’m not a child anymore, Dawn. Yanchasa is not a young thief.”

“Not young, I’ll grant you.” She gestured at the papers under Maia’s shoulder. “But thief seems appropriate. That
thing
wants you to take over, and it’s changing you from the inside. Why else would you think you know better than the king what to do with these reports, that you know what’s best for the princess and her cousin even regarding their own bodies?”

Starbride’s ears and cheeks went hot. She vividly remembered the brooch she’d stolen at her friend’s insistence, the shame when Dawnmother had marched her back to return what she’d taken and apologize. She had pleaded with Dawnmother not to tell her mother, and Dawnmother had agreed if Starbride pledged never to speak to the tall girl again.

“I’m…” She couldn’t get the words out.

Yanchasa stood at Dawnmother’s shoulder, arms clasped behind him. “You’re what, daughter? Sorry?”

“Well?” Dawnmother asked.

Yanchasa tsked slowly, a smirk on her face. “Still eleven, are we? I wonder if Redtrue lets people speak to her like this.”

“Star.” Dawnmother knelt in front of her. “Wake the princess and Maia, and we’ll—”

Starbride tuned her out, eyes glued to Yanchasa as anger built within her.
Why mention Redtrue?

“Well, no one speaks to her like this because she doesn’t have a
servant
, wouldn’t be burdened by one, from what you remember.”

Starbride launched to her feet. “You’d throw her in my face?”

Dawnmother fell back. “Star?”

“I wonder if she’d hear me,” Yanchasa said.

Starbride stepped around Dawnmother. “I thought I was your chosen one, and you mention another?”

“Gifts must be earned, daughter. I will not have mine squandered.”

Dawnmother pulled on Starbride’s arm. “Star, whatever the monster is saying, do not listen!”

“Just what
are
you saying?” Starbride asked.

Yanchasa gestured toward the scattered papers. “You’ve seen what must be done. Why linger? The kingdom needs you for more than these petty problems. Unless…”

“Yes?”

“Well, unless you’d
rather
immerse yourself in smaller problems.” He smiled pityingly. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of, daughter. Some people are just not made for greatness.”

Starbride marched around the settee and gathered up her papers, ignoring Dawnmother’s wails. They’d see who was made for greatness. It certainly wasn’t Redtrue. She was afraid of power, and how could that ever make one great?

Dawnmother pulled on Starbride’s arm, and Starbride grabbed her chin. “Do you need rest, too, Dawn?”

Dawnmother tensed as if she might jerk back, but Starbride held her tighter.

“No, mistress,” Dawnmother said, an unknowable look in her eyes.

Starbride saw the look for what it was: one more petty problem she didn’t have time for. Other feelings tried to surface, but she shut them down. “If anyone comes looking for me, I’ll be with the nobles and the king. It’s high time they convened the council.” She glanced at Katya and Maia. Dawnmother would look after them, and they’d be safe, and she wouldn’t have to concern herself with their welfare for the time being.

Yanchasa’s proud look made Starbride’s skin tingle. As she strode into the hallway, Yanchasa kept pace with her as if they were comrades.

“Of course we are, daughter. You always give me reason to be proud of you. There’s no challenge or test that you cannot overcome.”

Faith, just what was lacking in all her friends and family. She’d seen it briefly in Katya’s eyes, but then that Darkstrong-cursed doubt reared its head. Didn’t any of them see she could handle this power and Yanchasa’s advice? She was in control, but none of them would believe that. Perhaps they were incapable. Perhaps they preferred her weak and vulnerable.

“Time, daughter, will let us see who can be convinced.”

*

When Starbride was admitted to Einrich’s formal sitting room, she found him meeting with several nobles, namely Countess Nadia, Baroness Jacintha, Viscount Lenvis and a bald, bearded man Starbride didn’t know.

It rankled not to have been included, but she supposed she shouldn’t have been surprised. Like Yanchasa said, they needed time.

And proof of her power, of course.

Baroness Jacintha beamed at her, but she was the only one. Starbride returned her deep bow with a gracious nod. She wasted no time showing Einrich the documents she’d been looking at, those from the Watch detailing crime or destruction in the city.

“I’ve already started restoration efforts,” she said, watching surprise cross all their faces. “I’ve repaired some buildings, settled some disputes—”

“Did you loose those dead things on the city?” Lenvis asked.

Starbride stared at him hard. “I have put them to good use, Viscount. I did not create the remnants. The Fiend king did that.”

“I have heard,” the bearded man said, “that there are actual Fiends in the city, too. They’ll need hunting down.”

“Be easy, Count Mathias,” Einrich said. “I believe our young Starbride has that covered, yes?”

She nodded, though she didn’t appreciate his underhanded comment on her age. “They are now under my command.”

Lenvis still looked at her strangely. “And how many will share that fate?”

Starbride considered hurting him, but she didn’t think that was necessary yet. Jacintha stared at him with wide, appalled eyes, but she couldn’t censure him because of his rank. At least someone else understood.

“Wise of you to spare him,” Yanchasa said. “Strike too hard too quickly, and you’ll find yourself with no one left to rule.”

Countess Nadia sidled close. “Forgive Lenvis, my dear. He has yet to hear from his family on the coast, and he fears the worst.”

Starbride nodded her away. Einrich was saying something about increased Watch patrols, and she needed to let him know she could handle things in Marienne. “The remnants can patrol the city. If you wish,” she added as Lenvis glanced at her again.

They all grimaced. “Perhaps not,” Nadia said. “They make people a little uncomfortable.”

Small-minded people, perhaps. She’d seen the discomfort and hoped they’d get over it. Lenvis gestured at the reports she held, his face still holding open hostility. He seemed miles from the pretty young bauble Nadia had been pursuing before Roland had taken Marienne. “How did you come by those reports, Princess Consort?”

“Starbride developed many ties to the Watch in our absence,” Einrich said, “as leader of the rebellion.”

At last, a rational head. He saw how much she could do for the city. But Yanchasa’s mouth puckered in a frown.

What is it?
Starbride asked.

She shrugged. “Probably nothing.”

Starbride tried to keep one ear on the other conversation as she thought,
Tell me.

“The king said, ‘in our absence,’ as if now you won’t be needed. With Countess Nadia’s comments about the remnants, it’s as if they’re saying they don’t need you at all.”

“I can take over that project,” Starbride said, interrupting something Countess Nadia was saying.

“Which project?” Einrich asked.

“City restoration. If you don’t want to use the remnants, I can do it myself. I’ve already made a start.”

“We were talking about crime,” Lenvis said.

“I can help with that, too. A few criminals are nothing to me. Or have you seen the Fiend king lately?”

That turned him a little white around the gills.

“We weren’t all hiding while the fighting was going on,” Count Mathias added. “If it’s criminals that need hunting down, I’ll be happy to help.”

“I’m sure you could aid the effort, Starbride,” Einrich said, “but you’re only one person, and we do have an entire city Watch. I think it would do the people good to protect themselves.”

“And you don’t want them hiding you away as some piddling commander of city forces,” Yanchasa added.

Starbride nearly stamped her foot.
Be useful but not too useful?

“Aim higher,” Yanchasa said.

“I’ve got the lesser nobles and the courtiers pretty well organized,” Jacintha said. “Some weren’t happy about helping put the palace back in order, but I told them we’ve all got to lend a hand. If the queen were with us she’d be doing the same.” She bit her lip. “I’m so sorry, Majesty. If I had known she was coming to meet us in the servants’ quarters, perhaps I could have—”

Einrich touched her shoulder. “You could have done nothing, Baroness, but thank you for your condolences. Perhaps we can all speak again when I convene the council of nobles.”

An uncomfortable silence descended. The others bowed and said their good-byes. “Starbride, stay a moment,” Einrich said. He gestured for her to sit beside him. “Wine?”

She nodded graciously. He waited until after he’d poured to nod to the reports. “Why did you keep these from me until now?”

“I thought you might be tired.”

He smiled kindly. “How considerate of you.”

It was, wasn’t it? She returned the smile for Yanchasa’s benefit.

“I hope you don’t think me a doddering old man just yet.”

“I’ve always respected and admired you.” She blurted the words without thinking but realized how right they were. Einrich had been her supporter from the beginning, or so Katya had told her. And he’d been willing to keep her as his family even after Katya had…died.

That was a mistake, she told herself as the wine threatened to come back up, a bad dream.

Einrich’s light touch on her shoulder made her start. “That’s kind of you to say. I try to do well at my job, all parts of it.”

“You don’t think I should have kept those reports from you.”

“Running this city and this kingdom is my responsibility, no matter that I haven’t been able to do it lately.”

“I can help you.”

“I know you can. That’s why I asked the others to leave.”

She clenched her fists, wondering if he was going to ask her to get rid of the nobles who were slowing him down.

“I need you to undertake a mission, one you’re uniquely suited to. I want you to take these remnants and Fiends and go north to clean out the last of Roland’s troops.”

Starbride narrowed her eyes, teetering between intrigued and insulted. “What troops?”

“Countess Nadia has had word from some of the survivors in the north. Roland wasn’t dragging people all the way back here to be hypnotized. He had a camp up there, where his minions were taking live victims so that they could fall under the influence of a pyramid. I need a pyradisté who can fight to seek this pyramid out, destroy it, free those who are simply under its sway, and eliminate those who’ve been warped to the point where they cannot be saved.”

It did sound uniquely suited to her. None of the other pyradistés knew how to fight like she did. None of them had the power of the remnants or the children. And Einrich probably didn’t want to haggle with the adsnazi or have them poking randomly around his kingdom.

Starbride waited for Yanchasa to speak, but she just stood there.

“What will Katya think?” Starbride asked.

Einrich seemed a little taken aback. She was, too. The words popped out without her permission. “She’ll miss you, but she’ll understand,” he said. “I don’t think she’s quite ready for another fight.”

Yes, Katya had been through a lot that day. “I’ll do it.”

“Splendid. You’ll need some messengers.”

But who? Not Dawnmother. The image of her face captured in Starbride’s hand hovered in the front of Starbride’s mind, and even the adsna couldn’t banish it. From the depths of her memory, she pulled one of Horsestrong’s tales, where his servant Birdfaithful said, “There are deeds one can never come back from.”

Einrich cleared his throat.

“I’m sorry?” Starbride said.

“I said I’ll find a few people for you. You didn’t seem able to think of anyone.”

“Thank you, Majesty.”

“Thank you for taking this weight off my mind. Hard to start putting the city to rights if you’ve got another force massing outside your walls.”

“True.” And so much easier to think about than moldy old Horsestrong tales. “I’ll be ready to go at first light.”

He nodded, and she left, Yanchasa striding by her side down the hall.

“Well?” she asked.

Yanchasa flickered back to male with a shrug. “It’s a start.”

“I expected you to say whether you thought it was a good or bad idea.”

“What do you think?”

“I’m the only one who can do what Einrich wants.”

Yanchasa cocked his head and waited.

“Or it’s a fool’s errand.”

“Or it’s neither.”

Starbride sagged against the wall. “Perfect.”

“Did the king send you into the country as a clever ploy to get you out of the way, or does he genuinely need your assistance? Or is it both? You’ll have to figure it out. Since Roland and I could not speak directly, I know nothing of his schemes. His mind is closed to us and prying into the minds of heads of state—especially Einrich’s—will net you more trouble than you can handle at this point.”

“But one can never be too accommodating?”

“Not at first, no. I would wait a bit to flex my muscles.”

“I’ll clear out his country problem, then,” she said. “I’ll build more of a reputation with him and with the people.”

“And then those like Viscount Snotty won’t dare oppose you.”

She liked that plan. Now all she had to do was find something to keep her occupied until it was time to go. She could return to her apartment, but Katya and Maia would still be there.