Third Daughter (The Dharian Affairs, Book One) (12 page)

Aniri’s lips pressed tight. She knew a threat when she heard it.

“Speaking of which,” the general continued, “I trust our reparations have arrived safely to enrich Dharia’s coffers? Jungali has so little to spare, I would hate to think any of it was lost in transport.”

Now Aniri was truly speechless, and the prince’s glare was plain on his face. He inclined his head to Aniri. “Can I have a word with you in private, princess?” He took a half step back and gestured for her to follow.

“Of course,” she said, relieved the prince was extricating her from the general’s hostility.

Janak gave her a wary glance, but she stayed him with a nod, and he turned his attention back to General Garesh. The two of them were a matched set: Garesh’s spectacles a thin disguise over his simmering looks of malice, and Janak’s formal Dharian uniform riding lightly over his restrained raksaka strength. Priya retreated to the door to flirt with one of the prince’s uniformed guards, and the prince took Aniri’s elbow and steered her towards the far end of the expansive and richly appointed receiving room. They passed a fireplace crackling in the center of the room, adding heat to the already too stuffy air, and the prince stopped near the balcony where they were apparently to address his people. She could see the flashes of color from the throngs outside, and their murmur floated in through the flung-open crystal doors. The guards, General Garesh, Janak, and Priya lingered by the entrance, and the size of the room and the noise of the crowd allowed some measure of privacy.

Tension gathered in Aniri’s stomach. “Is there something wrong, Prince Malik? Have I caused some offense?” Her face grew even warmer than the room. “Is it the way I’ve dressed? Have I missed some protocol?”

“What?” He seemed befuddled by her question for a moment, then smiled. “No, no. You are the very picture of a Queen today, Aniri. Please ignore General Garesh’s ill temper. He has no love for Dharians. Or royalty of any kind.” Then the prince’s gaze fell to steadily examine his shiny, black boots.

“Then what troubles you?” Aniri glanced at the balcony. “Has something gone wrong with the plans for the announcement?”

He looked up again. “Can I—” He stopped. “Would you be willing to—” He was flustered. In a matter of seconds, she saw more emotions pass across his face than she had seen in the entire time she had known him.

“Prince Malik, I’ve agreed to become your Queen. Is there truly something more difficult you wish to ask of me?”

“May I kiss you, princess?” He let it out in a rush.

She drew back from him. “What?”

“On the balcony. For the announcement. Just this once, I promise you.” The words were tumbling out of his mouth.

“But...” Now it was her turn to have a loss for words. “But I thought we agreed. No children. No... no... I thought it was understood it wouldn’t be that kind of... arrangement.” Her face flamed with a heat that put the fireplace to shame. She fought the impulse to flee. What had she gotten herself into?

“No, Aniri, I swear to the gods,” Prince Malik said. “I’m not going back on our agreement. It’s just that... well, word had traveled about the incident at the train station.”

“With Devesh?” Aniri asked, horrified. But of course, gossip like that would travel faster than shashees and flying cable carriages.

“Who is Devesh?” Prince Malik asked, looking lost again. “Oh, yes, the young man on the platform. Your lover.”

Aniri swallowed. She had never heard him called that before, but of course he was, even if their trysts were limited to fevered kisses and clutched embraces in the Queen’s tea garden and under dark bridges.

“Word has traveled, and my people were already suspicious that you were not here for your stated purpose.” He glanced at General Garesh, who watched them steadily from across the room. “And General Garesh is certain of it.”

Janak appeared coiled tighter than a clockwork spring, his attention flipping between the general and Aniri. She was afraid he might become unsprung at any moment. Had her mission already been found out?

“I want my people to love you as their Queen, but you have to understand how mistrustful the Jungali are of anyone from the plains. I’ve been trying to counter the rumors since we arrived earlier, but it is proving difficult, and General Garesh’s presence isn’t helping. The only way to truly quash the rumors, I believe, is to perhaps convince them this marriage is not simply arranged.”

“What do you mean?” Aniri dragged her gaze away from the menace in General Garesh’s face.

“My people cannot conceive that you would be so noble as to resign yourself to our
barbarian
lands simply to procure peace. I thought maybe they would, once you were here... but then the incident on the platform...”

“What do they think I’m here for?” She searched his amber eyes. Did he suspect the truth?

“To spy on us. To secretly start a war.” He gave her a tight grin. “To assassinate me perhaps.”

He said these possibilities as if they were absurd. She couldn’t stop the short release of breath in relief. Of course, she
was
there to spy, but in hopes of averting a war, not starting one. And she was genuinely shocked his people would think her capable of assassinating anyone.

It wasn’t a struggle to affect a wounded reaction to that possibility. “Do they really hate Dharians so much?”

“Yes, Aniri, I’m afraid they do. There’s only one thing they might believe would overcome your, uh, natural tendency toward such violence and deception.”

“And what would that be?”

“Love.”

Aniri was speechless again, a lump in her throat rising from nowhere. “Love.”

Prince Malik sighed. “The Jungali people are fiercely loyal, just as you said before. We believe family is a tighter bond than almost anything. But we are also a very romantic people, and fiercely passionate in other ways. If my people believed we were truly in love, that the marriage was more than simply politics, they would have to change their thinking. It could be the foundation of a true and lasting alliance, building on the support of the people behind it.”

The tightness in Aniri’s throat eased. “Won’t they be suspicious if we announce we are madly in love?” she asked with raised eyebrows. “After all, I just arrived. And we only met a few days ago, when you already had come to ask for my hand. And there’s the matter of the incident at the train station... it begs for disbelief.”

“Yes, but we could say we’ve been secretly meeting for months,” he said breathlessly. “I’ve made several trips to Dharia in the past few months—”

“You have?”

“Yes,” he said patiently, “for trading partnerships, working on arrangements to strengthen the bonds between our peoples, hoping that might help solidify my reign—”

“Did the Queen know about this?” Aniri cut him off again. Would her mother have told her? Did she even know?

“I’m sure she did. That’s not important. What
is
important is it’s plausible I have been having secret rendezvous with the Third Daughter of Dharia during that time.”

“I see.” And it almost did seem plausible, the way he said it. A tightness drew across her chest, and she wasn’t sure if it was the mountain air or that she had no good reason not to agree with the prince’s suggestion.

“I’ve also made trips to the western coast of Dharia, in the sea town of Timbar, where perhaps we could have met without onlookers noticing either one of us.”

Aniri breathed through the constriction in her lungs. “You’ve given this some thought.”

He looked helplessly at her.

“Well,” Aniri said, trying to play her part. “I suppose Timbar does have excellent food.”

He lost the panicked look and smiled. “And the black sand beaches on the eastern shores near Chira are very mysterious and romantic.”

“Have you been to the lava flows?” For a moment, she forgot she was pretending. That was where her father found the black sand he’d brought back to her mother. She had always planned to go there, someday.

“I could have.” The prince’s smile grew. “In fact, I’m certain I snuck away to Chira during a trade meeting last fall. I can find other times when we could have met as well. The rumors could start immediately.” His smile faded, replaced by the earnest look he usually wore. “What do you say, princess?”

“Definitely the shores of Chira,” Aniri said with a smile. “I’ve always wanted to see the black sand shores there.”

He hesitated. “I meant the kiss.”

“Oh.” Aniri’s smile dimmed. Did the rumors travel as quickly from Jungali to Dharia as they did in the reverse? Would Devesh be soon hearing about her supposed secret love affair with the Jungali prince? Even as she thought it, she knew the answer. It was far too good of a story to keep quiet—it would run like brushfire down the mountains and burn down any chance of Devesh waiting for her to return. But she wouldn’t be able to stay long enough to find out about the Jungali’s flying weapon if she were sent packing just after she arrived. And now that she had seen the cable carriages, it didn’t seem so impossibly strange that the Jungali might have advanced technology secreted away in their many mountain ravines.

She took a deep breath. “If we are in love, then I suppose we must kiss.”

Prince Malik took her hands in his, like he had in her mother’s chamber. “Thank you, princess. I promise, this isn’t something we will need to do often. Only whatever is necessary for the rumors to take hold.”

“I can’t imagine it will take much,” Aniri said, forcing a smile to her face. “It’s too good a story not to believe.”

He returned her smile, shyly. “I am sorry. For the pain this must be causing you. I wish... there was a better way.”

She nodded. “As do I, Prince Malik.”

He gave her a curt nod, then dropped one of her hands, leading her with the other toward the balcony. “Are you ready, your highness?”

With her assent, he led her through the doorway to the balcony outside. The bright mountain sun seemed to steal what was left of her breath. Or perhaps it was the colorful crowd of people thronged below them. The balcony was pure white mountain granite and gleamed from a million tiny points of reflection. A steel transmitter sat propped on the edge, its silver orb surrounded by a halo of sound sensing instrumentation. The prince had told her the balcony was wired for transmission throughout Bhakti, but much of the overcrowded city would be able to see them from their rooftops and windows. The colors of the city dazzled her eyes, blending in a way that made it difficult for her see properly.

The prince spoke into the transmitter, greeting his people. A snapping sound rose up, the crowd quickly drowning him out with their applause. Their hands and fingers rippled like wind-tossed grain. The prince waved to his people, and squeezed Aniri’s hand, prompting her to wave as well. The snapping went on for some time, and there was no ability or sense to speak above it. Gradually, it faded, and the prince spoke into the transmitter again.

“It gives me great pleasure to introduce to my fellow Jungali, to my beloved Bajirans, the future Queen of all our mountain provinces.” His voice rang out clear and calm, and if Aniri didn’t know better, she would have thought she heard a genuine affection in his voice, not only for his people, but for her. He was playing his part very well. She would have to do the same.

He turned to her, pulling her close with their clasped hands and gently touching her cheek with the tips of his fingers. “Are you ready to be Queen Aniri?” he asked, although she understood he was really asking permission, again, for the kiss. She nodded, and he dipped his head to press his lips to hers.

Aniri didn’t know what to expect. Five minutes ago, kissing the Prince of Jungali on his balcony certainly didn’t reside anywhere within the universe of her thoughts. But a quick peck on the lips wasn’t what the prince had in mind. His hand slipped to the back of her neck, his kiss soft but urgent, as if he wanted to make sure his people saw his passion for her. She tried to picture Devesh, but that only ripped pain through her chest. Instead, she closed her eyes and pressed deeper into the kiss, lifting up on her toes to return the urgency and make it appear as genuine as possible. A roar filled her ears, and when the prince pulled away, she realized it was the crowd below, snapping and calling their approval. Aniri teetered on her toes, then sank back to the stone floor of the balcony.

She blinked and looked to Malik for some indication of what to do next. He had already turned back to his people, smiling and waving. She did the same, a strange pounding in her head seeming to match the tempo of the crowd. The kaleidoscope of color blurred before her, and she suddenly remembered to breathe again.

Only she couldn’t seem to get enough air.

She kept trying to pull deeper and deeper gasps, but it wasn’t enough. Why did people live so high in the sky that there wasn’t air left to breathe? She jerkily squeezed Prince Malik’s hand. He needed to get her off the balcony before she passed out in front of his people. He glanced at her and seemed to realize the problem at once. Slipping his arm around her waist to brace her, he gave a final wave to the crowd and pulled her toward the door.