The Rose Throne (20 page)

“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 she 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.

T
HE 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.

Issa turned to find Lady Pippa and two other noblewomen deep in conversation about Duke Kellin and Ailsbet. She stepped closer to them. She had been
wondering how to make a place for herself among the ladies of the court. They had all nodded to her when she was introduced, but then they turned back to their conversations, and she had not spoken to any of them since. In Weirland, Issa had never had to learn to draw attention to herself. She was naturally the center of attention there, and she had always felt at ease. It was a rude awakening to come here and be no one, even with the betrothal to Prince Edik in the offing.

“You see how Duke Kellin rarely breaks a smile?” said the other lady, whose name was Viona. “He does not know how much that will attract Princess Ailsbet. She is tired of humor after Lord Umber.”