Cars stopped, but he looked furious. “I can’t believe none of you have any understanding of commitment and obligation. How can you live like this?”
He sounded desperate. I had no doubt he knew as well as anyone that I couldn’t be held to a contract created before I was sent to the Academy. And he had to know his son, if he married me, would have to travel with me, follow me wherever I was sent by the Triple S. Whatever function Marcus served for his family’s business, he would no longer be able to perform it. Marrying him to me would cause a loss as well as a gain.
Cars could think of nothing else to do. I was sure of it.
“I’m sorry,” I told him. “I really am. But it just isn’t possible.”
“This is entirely possible,” he retorted. “You just don’t want to do it.”
No, I didn’t want to do it. He spoke as though my wishes were irrelevant. But no one should be forced to marry anyone.
And Taro should not have to put up with it.
And I was wondering why, if this contract was so damned important, they didn’t seek to marry Marcus to one of my brothers once they realized I could not be bound. If the whole thing was so damned important to everyone, throw Mika at them.
There was nothing more to say. So I left.
Cars didn’t follow. Taro did.
I went to our suite, Taro following me. I didn’t sit down. I couldn’t stay still. I paced, which was Taro’s habit. Maybe I’d gotten it from him.
“It’s going to be all right,” he said.
“It’s not going to be all right,” I snapped. “You heard them. They’re going to ruin my family’s reputation if I don’t marry Marcus. And from the look I saw on my mother’s face, that’s a real possibility.”
“So what are you saying?” he asked stiffly. “You’re thinking of saying yes?”
I stared at him. “Is your mind wandering?”
“What am I supposed to think?”
“That this is a mess and it’s probably not going to be that simple to fix.”
“Just because it will be difficult and annoying and embarrassing doesn’t mean the end result is going to be anything other than what you want it to be.”
I had to admit, “That’s true.”
“So just think of it as a learning opportunity.”
“An opportunity to learn what?”
“How to convince a regular not to marry you.”
“When will I ever need to do that again?”
“You hadn’t anticipated having to do it once, did you? The future is unpredictable. Embrace the uncertainty.”
I scowled at him. “You’re not cute.”
“I have it on excellent authority that I’m fantastic.”
“I expected you to be more, well, angry, about this.”
He waved a hand. “I’ve grown weary of melodrama.”
I didn’t blame him. So. No melodrama. I’d just keep saying no until the Prides accepted it and left. How hard could that be?
Chapter Seven
Fiona silently shook me awake before dawn the next day. I wondered how she always managed to wake so early. I dressed without waking Taro. I went down to the kitchen, where Fiona was waiting with a rope, two buckets and two lanterns.
We were going to the crystal cave to chip out some rocks for Browne. We were going early in the morning in the hope of avoiding any interested onlookers.
“Thank you for doing this,” I said, taking a lantern and a bucket. The bucket held a pick and some burlap.
“It may end up benefitting me in time. It’s not like I have anything else to do with the crystals. Except maybe sell them, but now that I’ve seen they have some”—she made a kind of circular gesture with her hand—“casting properties, or something, I’m not comfortable with just sending them out to strangers without knowing what they are.”
Fiona and I stepped out into the cool, damp morning. The silence at that time of day was soothing to my ears. We crossed the gardens and, before I could help myself, I looked at the Dowager’s dark manor. Was she sleeping? Was she dreaming of annoying little schemes for making Taro’s life more difficult? Would Linder turn into an ass under the weight of her proximity?
We took the thin curving path through the ridge. The shape of the ridge had been drastically changed by the rock slide, and the path through the ridge had had to be cleared out. That had been a nightmare of a task that had shredded the hands, knees and feet of everyone involved. The other rocks had been left where they fell. We carefully walked on them, around a bend of the ridge, and from there we climbed up to the location of the cave. I slipped several times, and that was painful.
We reached the mouth of the cave. At least that much had survived the rock slide.
Fiona tied the rope to an iron ring hammered at the bottom of the mouth of the cave, the rope a means to make sure we could find our way back. I followed her into the cave, the faint daylight quickly fading away. It wasn’t long before all we had for light was the yellow glow of the lanterns.
I was a little nervous about this. The last time I had been in this cave, someone had stolen the rope and the lantern had been dropped and doused. We had to wait for Fiona’s husband to come looking for us. It had taken him hours to decide to come for us, hours with Fiona and me sitting in the dark, to which our eyes never adjusted. It had been frightening.
So maybe this wasn’t the greatest idea I’d ever had.
Taro did know we were doing this, right? I thought I remembered telling him at some point the evening before.
After a few bends in the path, a cavern opened up, glittering with crystals of white and blue. It was just as breathtaking as it had been the first time I had seen it.
“I’m going to keep a hold on the rope,” said Fiona, clearly having learned from our last experience in the cave. “I’ll chip away here. You can go deeper into the cavern. What size of crystal does she want?”
“I think a variety of sizes would be best.” I hefted the handle of my pick. It did seem a shame to defile the cave by hacking at it, but the amount we were prepared to take probably wouldn’t be too scarring. I found a long crystal and swung at its base. The pick bounced with such force that I dropped it. The vibration hurt my hand. “This is going to be more difficult than I anticipated.”
“We’ll just have to put our backs into it.” She swung at a crystal and it popped out of the wall.
She didn’t have to do anything. She was doing a favor for me to help me repay the favor I owed to Browne. I was creating a situation in which I was becoming beholden to more and more people. That wasn’t good. A Shield was supposed to be unfettered. Except to her Source, of course.
I chipped away at the crystals for a while. I worked up a fine sweat. It was boring work. And I could see that it was going to take a while.
Then, out of nowhere, Fiona said, “Kent asked me to marry him.”
My arm kept swinging the pick without mental direction while I thought about that. “What?”
“You heard me.”
“Aye, but . . . what?”
“Aye.”
“How hard did you hit him?”
“Don’t I wish.”
“Seriously, what was he thinking? You’re still in mourning.”
“He is aware of my responsibilities.”
“Your responsibilities?”
“To marry someone.”
“You have a duty to marry?” I was shocked, but oddly relieved. Crazy people were harassing her to marry, too.
“It makes for a more stable estate.”
“How?”
“No one knows. That’s just the way it works. Estates with married titleholders tend to prosper, those without tend not to.”
Huh. “But you don’t have to actually marry anyone, do you?”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“You could just take a lover.” Ah, there was a good chunk of crystal. I wondered if it mattered what color we chose.
“No, that’s not good enough.”
“Why not?”
“A wedding is a ritual. Rituals have power. The best, closest lover in the world doesn’t have the power of a spouse.”
I supposed that made a certain sense. Sort of. “So you will get married in time?”
Fiona paused in her hammering to push hair out of her face with her forearm. “Aye, I suppose I will.”
The Emperor wasn’t married. He had been, but his wife had died before he gained the title. Did his single state mean all of us would prosper less? And if Kent believed it, why hadn’t he married before now?
“But not to Kent,” I said to Fiona.
“No, not to Kent. There is a darkness within him that I have no desire to examine more closely.”
I agreed, though I wouldn’t have put it so poetically. He was an avaricious pig, and he deserved to have something unpleasant done to him for trying to take Fiona’s estate from her. “How does this work, his getting the estate from the Emperor?”
“He has to go to the Emperor and make his plaint. He has to bring with him a token from the land he wants to take, a clump of dirt or a branch or something. He has to bring some kind of proof that I’m experiencing difficulty. Testimony is enough, so he could bring someone I’ve annoyed, a titleholder in the area who holds a grudge against me or enjoys meddling in people’s affairs, or even someone who wants a chance to meet the Emperor. Kent has to convince the Emperor he has a prima facie case. If he doesn’t, Kent gets fined for wasting the Emperor’s time and he can never petition for anyone else’s estate ever again. If he does, the council conducts a more thorough investigation and gives the Emperor their decision.”
“If Kent can achieve his goal that way, why would he ask you to marry him?”
“It would be easier than convincing the Emperor to give Westsea to him.”
“But you would still be the titleholder. The title is what he wants, isn’t it?”
“Maybe he feels he would be the power behind the titleholder.”
“Doesn’t really know you, does he?”
“It would seem not.”
It was weird how life worked sometimes. Both of us getting unwanted marriage proposals. “How did he react when you refused?”
“He was quite the gentleman about it. Told me he would give me time to think about it and come to my senses.”
“I do not admire people who will not accept a negative answer.”
“Some people feel that’s a sign of strength.”
“Some people are idiots.”
Once we filled the buckets—Browne would be getting more than she’d asked for—and covered the tops with burlap, we found our way back through the cave, the rope right where it should have been. The bright sunlight pierced our eyes as we stepped from the shadows of the cave. “What an unusually pleasant day,” said Fiona, shielding her eyes with her hand.
I blinked and waited for my eyes to adjust. “Thank you for helping me.”
“That’s what friends are for.” She paused. “What the hell?”
“Hm?” I blinked again and was then able to see a whole slew of fishers standing about on the shore. They didn’t appear to be getting ready to work.
As we walked toward the water, I could see fish lying dead on the rocky shore, silver and flat. Thousands, it looked like.
I could smell them, too. Yikes.
Then I noticed within me the jittery feeling that told me a spell had been cast. I moved closer to the fish and the sensation grew stronger. The fish were either the tools of a spell, or the result of one.
Fiona kind of groaned and rubbed the back of her neck. She didn’t seem surprised, though.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“It happens.”
“What? The fish just jump out of the water and die here?”
“It’s fish rot. They die in the water and the tide brings them in.”
“How often does it happen?”
“Couple times a year.”
“This seems like a lot of fish.” And there was a spell involved. I was sure of it.
“It is,” said one of the fishers with a scowl. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
There was really nothing Fiona could say to that. Maybe it was true. She’d lived in Flown Raven only a few years.
“I thought Lady Daris would have told you,” the tenant continued.
“I can’t believe she’s aware of this,” Fiona replied.
“She’s been here.”
“She isn’t one for wandering away from the manor.”
The tenant wasn’t impressed with being doubted. “I’ve seen her myself.”
“Of course, Aven,” Fiona said quickly, to avoid causing offence. “I’m just surprised.” She bent down and picked up one of the fish.
I suppressed a grimace. Better her than me.
We bid Aven and the others good day, and once I thought we were out of earshot, I asked Fiona, “Can Daris cast?”
Fiona snickered. “You need focus and concentration to cast, don’t you? Daris is always too drunk to have either.”
“All right, but there’s something about these fish that involves casting.”
She frowned. “Are you sure?”
“Completely. I don’t know the nature of the spell, you should probably get Healer Browne to look at it, but there’s definitely something there.”
“So you’re saying a spell was deliberately used on the fish.”
“Or the fish were used to cast the spell.”
“Why would anyone do that?”
“I have no idea. I’m not suggesting it has to be nefarious. But someone is using spells that have an impact on your resources, and you don’t know about it. That can’t be good.”
“No, I don’t believe it is.” She gave me her bucket. “Can you take these to Healer Browne and ask her to come back with you?”
The buckets were heavy and their handles bit into my hands. “Of course.”
I walked toward the village. People were up and working, bustling about and talking. I was reminded anew how busy the average person was, how hard they had to work. I was happy to be a Shield, but something about all the activity in which regulars engaged was appealing, every day seeing the results of one’s labor, a chair created or a furrow of seed planted. I wondered if I was missing something by being apart from it.