The Fiend Queen (36 page)

“That won’t happen, my girl, it won’t.”

She couldn’t force her voice to work, so she just knocked one fist against his chest.

“I don’t know how,” he said, “but I’m a king for spirits’ sake, my wishes must count for at least twice a normal person’s.”

She couldn’t even laugh.

“If our finest magical minds can’t figure it out, I don’t know what I can do,” he said, “but I’m willing to put my thoughts to it.”

Katya stood and tried to step away, stumbling over her chair. She steadied herself on the arm. “You’ve got a government to run, Da.” She wiped her face on her sleeves.

He knocked her arm down and gave her a handkerchief. “Your mother would be appalled.”

She breathed through a chuckle and then took another breath and another. She blurted out the news about the Roland copies just to get a little distance.

He praised her too much, the exaggerated pride reserved for small children who had accomplished simple tasks, but a knock on the door saved her from having to confront him on it.

A messenger waited outside, one of those who’d gone with Starbride, and Katya sank into her chair to listen. Starbride had found her objective, hadn’t foreseen any problems, and the messenger had been able to return to them unharmed due to his corpse Fiend escort.

After the messenger left, Katya rubbed her chin and stared at a spot on the floor, desperation threatening to choke her again. “She’ll be back soon.” She laughed again without humor and wondered if she’d forgotten how to do it correctly. “We’ve all got good ideas about why certain solutions won’t work for the Yanchasa problem. The best idea I’ve heard so far is to sneak up on her and bash her over the head before letting the adsnazi try to cleanse her.”

Da looked thoughtful. “I suppose Starbride could use magic to cleanse any kind of poison you might give her.”

“I’m not going to let anyone hurt her, Da!”

“A sneak attack might be the only way, my girl.”

She just kept staring.

He returned her look with one of glacial patience. She bet it had set many a noble’s teeth on edge. “No one’s saying they would
really
hurt her,” he said.

“Because hitting her over the head will just tickle.”

He exhaled slowly. “There are people who know how to do such things better than others. Your Pennynail comes to mind, though I guess he’s Freddie Ballantine now.”

Katya cocked her head. “That didn’t surprise you at all, did it?”

“I knew Crowe far longer than you. I knew he had a son.”

Katya blinked slowly. “Freddie Ballantine is Crowe’s son?”

“I guess there’s no particular reason to keep that secret any longer. I don’t know where young Freddie got that Ballantine business. Perhaps it was his mother’s name or one of his friends. I know that when the Dockland Watch tried to hang him, he had help escaping.”

“Crowe helped a convicted murderer escape execution? Rule-abiding Crowe?”

“Oh, he didn’t tell me what he had to take time off for, but I figured it out. Crowe always liked to imagine he was smarter than me or more observant, and I was happy to let him think so.”

“He said he kept secrets from us for our own good,” she said.

Da shrugged. “And I believe that he believed that. It was enough for me that Crowe trusted Pennynail or that he knew his son was innocent. He had a certain sense about people. I trusted that. And he liked Starbride, which is why I think we should go to any lengths to help her back from wherever she’s gotten to.”

And they were back to this again.

Da patted her knee. “No maudlin thoughts. We’ll figure out a way.”

Katya thought of Freddie sneaking up on Starbride. She winced as she imagined Starbride’s eyes rolling up, face going slack. “She’s tougher now. Stronger. If she senses what Freddie’s up to, or if the first hit doesn’t work…”

“Her guard will need to be down.”

“Spirits above.”

“As Crowe would say, all for her own good, my girl.”

Katya thought of Redtrue, of evil begetting evil. Starbride had been so mad with grief she’d sought Yanchasa to defeat Roland, and now they were considering another dark path to cleanse them of that evil? Yanchasa would be bouncing among them like a croquet ball.

She needed to talk to Freddie and Hugo, find out what they’d observed during their trip. And she needed Redtrue, their evil detector. “As soon as Freddie gets back, it will be easier to plan.”

“It might be best to recruit Brutal to strike her as soon as she arrives, while she’s tired and thinks she’s safe.”

Katya didn’t know whether to shout, run from the room, or just sink to the carpet and weep. “Da, I can’t.”

His nod was slow, his gaze steady.

“I know that look,” she said. “You gave Castelle that look before you had her bash my head in, when you kept me from coming back to Marienne to look for Starbride!”

His gaze drifted away. “I am sorry about that.”

“Make it up to me by not planning to ambush Starbride behind my back. I can figure this out, Da, and I will. Promise me.”

“Yes, yes, I promise. And I hardly need to remind you that I must put the needs of the kingdom above my own, my girl, and above my family’s.”

“You don’t have to remind me,” Katya said, practically through her teeth.

*

On the day Starbride returned, Katya greeted her at the royal stables. She grinned at the sight of her love no matter the circumstances. To her surprise, Starbride smiled back with a tired but sincere energy, and Katya’s heart sped. All the talking and planning, she wouldn’t have to use any of it. Starbride had come back to herself all on her own!

Then Starbride’s head turned as if listening to someone, and Katya’s stomach shrank into a black pit.

Still, Katya hurried down the stairs to greet them. Only when Starbride slipped down from her horse did Katya realize she wasn’t riding alone. “Who’s this?”

“Princess Katyarianna Nar Umbriel,” Starbride said tiredly, “may I present Bea, a pyradisté Roland threatened into working for him.”

Bea nearly fell in her haste to get down. She was a clumsy, tiny girl, the furthest thing from a pyradisté in Katya’s mind. “Welcome to the palace. Shouldn’t you be at the academy?”

Bea just stared, open-mouthed.

“Can she speak?” Katya asked out the side of her mouth.

“Bea, go with Freddie. He’ll find a place for you.”

Freddie led her away. As soon as they were gone, Starbride sank into Katya’s arms. “Are you okay?” Katya whispered into her hair.

“I don’t know what I am.”

It was a start. “Want to talk about it?”

“Not here.”

“Would you like to go through the halls or the secret passages?”

Starbride thought for a moment. “One of the messengers died. The other is missing.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“I don’t know who the one who died was. The missing one is a woman named…” Her eyes misted over. “I can’t remember.”

Katya pressed her close and started leading her through the secret passageways, thinking she’d like that better than falling apart in the halls. “It’s all right, dearheart. I’ll find out who they were. Their families will be informed. What are you going to do with young Bea?”

Starbride sighed miserably. “I don’t know yet.”

“All right.”

“Is that all you have to say?” She jerked to a halt. With the light of the pyramids in her body, they didn’t need a lantern.

“I can see you’ve had a difficult journey.”

“Difficult?” Starbride laughed, and the sound made Katya’s ears burn as much as a peal of Fiendish speech. Though she’d have to start thinking of it as Belshrethen, and the pain it brought as another Fiendish weapon. “I feel like I’m tearing apart, Katya.”

Katya licked her lips. Oh, this was delicate, like the finest wisp of silk. Could she bring up Yanchasa now? Starbride’s mood changed like lightning strikes. “Tell me how to help you, my love, and I will do it.”

Starbride’s cool palm caressed her cheek. “And if I asked you to fetch me the moon?”

Katya leaned into the touch. “I’d run to get a ladder.”

Starbride tumbled forward, pulling Katya close. Her forehead thudded into Katya’s collarbone. “You’re my strength and my weakness.”

Katya held her and didn’t know what to feel, thinking that one description was Starbride’s opinion and the other Yanchasa’s. “I’m whatever you need me to be.”

“That’s very accommodating.”

“I’m good at accommodating.” She remembered their time in the bath and shuddered. It had been one of the best and strangest experiences of her life. She suddenly understood strength mixed with weakness.

Starbride leaned back, her eyes dry. “Why aren’t you angry with me?”

“Do you want me to be angry with you?”

“I put you to sleep without your permission, you and Maia both. There are some deeds a person can’t come back from, Katya.”

“Well…”

Starbride’s eyes narrowed. “You’re not angry because you didn’t think that was me. You think Yanchasa did it, not me.”

“So, you
do
want me to be angry?”

“That’s not the point!” She started walking again, and Katya had to jog to keep up with her. “I did it, me. If you’re going to be angry with anyone, be angry with me. I take responsibility.”

“All right.”

“Stop saying that!” Starbride rounded on her.

Katya took a deep breath. “Did I like being put to sleep like an errant child? No, that was very unnerving. Did I like having Redtrue pinch me awake?”

Starbride’s eyes narrowed. “What was Redtrue doing there?”

The quick change of subject left Katya floundering. “Dawnmother fetched her.”

“Why?”

“I guess she thought that since she couldn’t wake me, someone who knew pyramid magic might be able to.”

“And did she use pyramid magic on you?”

“No, I told you—”

“Pinched you.” Starbride slid her thumb along her chin, other hand on her hip. Her face swung between calculating and furious. “She shouldn’t have touched you.”

“Dearheart, she didn’t hurt me.”

“You would have awakened in your own time.”

Katya fought the urge to say, “All right.” “Thank you?” she tried, but Starbride wasn’t listening.

“Are you angry with her?” Starbride asked.

“Well, I’m always a little angry with her.”

“But not with me?”

“Well, she’s infuriating, and I love you.”

Starbride leaned her head back, mollified but still suspicious. “You’ve been angry with me before and still loved me. Is Dawnmother angry with me?”

“What is this obsession with having people be mad at you?”

“Obsession!” She huffed. “I only want everyone to be normal. What’s wrong with that?”

Katya almost said, “Look who’s talking.” Instead, she gestured down the hall. “Shall we go to my apartment? You obviously have a lot on your mind. If you won’t tell me exactly why you want me to be angry with you about the past, I’m sure I could work up to it in the present.”

Starbride started walking again and didn’t stop until they were safely in Katya’s sitting room, then she whipped around. “You should blame me for what happened because I am not Yanchasa!”

“And you think that I think Yanchasa put me to sleep, not you?”

“Finally!”

Katya watched her pace. “Okay, then. You shouldn’t have put me to sleep.”

“But you needed it.”

Katya’s mouth dropped open. “That still didn’t give you the right!”

Starbride nodded as if this satisfied her somehow. “Is that all?”

“Do you want me to storm away in a huff?”

Starbride shrugged. “Do what you like.”

Well, hadn’t Katya offered to do or be whatever Starbride needed? And for some reason, Starbride needed to feel guilty and angry. She kept insisting she wasn’t Yanchasa, and maybe this bizarre turn was part of that. Yanchasa wouldn’t feel guilty. Starbride wanted to feel like herself again.

“Fine,” Katya said. “Why don’t you meditate a little on why I’m so angry? Maybe then you’ll see my point of view. What you did was a violation of trust, Starbride, and I’m not going to forgive it lightly.”

When Starbride turned, chin wobbling, Katya wanted to hold her arms out and swear that all was forgiven, but she made her court mask drop into place.

“I’m sorry,” Starbride whispered.

Katya hesitated. Was it too soon to forgive? “I need a little time to cool off before we speak again.”

Starbride’s eyes widened. “If that’s my penance, I suppose it’ll have to do.”

Katya just wanted out of this conversation before she did something else wrong. “Then I’ll see you later?” When Starbride nodded miserably, Katya let her face soften. “Get some rest, my love.”

Starbride’s face shone with gratitude, and Katya almost pulled her in for a hug, but she turned toward the door that led into the hall. She froze when she saw the spill of papers on Katya’s low table. “What’s this?”

Katya rubbed her hands together and stepped forward as lightly as if she were sneaking up on a hare. “Reports from the underground city.” Was she still supposed to be angry, or did this change of topic suggest something else? When Starbride didn’t respond, Katya said, “With their rock shifting technique, the adsnazi are plowing through the city, uncovering one house after another. The ones I found were all cleaned out, but you should see some of the artifacts the adsnazi have discovered.”

Starbride whirled around, and Katya resisted the urge to leap away. “These are about summoning Yanchasa.”

“Um, any of the council, I think, is what the cultists were hoping for. According to some old writings we found, the leaders of the old city constructed the capstone to keep any flesh-magic users out, but these cultists started to retune it to summon one. The knowledge monks think that some of the cultists might have even collaborated with the ancient Farradains to summon one of the council, but their plan backfired when they got—”

“Yanchasa,” Starbride said. “In his beast form, he was out of control.” Her head tilted again, and Katya resisted the urge to shake her. “If they’d summoned one of the others, things might have gone differently.”

Katya nodded slowly, this time taken aback by the
lack
of emotion in Starbride’s voice. “We can thank the spirits, well, thank someone for that.”