Authors: Barbara Ann Wright
Dawnmother took Starbride’s chin in hand. “Go and see her.”
“Without being invited?”
“I’ll come with you. We’ll bull our way in.”
Starbride stared down for a moment. She’d lost her temper; they both had. Pride told her to wait, to let Katya make the first move. Something in her expression caused Dawnmother’s fingers to tighten, forcing her eyes up.
“Pride is a comfortable shackle,” Dawnmother said.
“I’m lucky Horsestrong had a saying for every occasion.”
“We all are. Let’s go.”
“Right now?”
“Yes, before your thoughts have time to turn against your good sense again.”
“What if she won’t see me?” One tear dribbled down her face, and she dashed it away.
Dawnmother clucked her tongue and pulled Starbride to her feet. “Then she’s a fool who doesn’t deserve you, and I’ll tell her that myself.”
“You’ll get strung up in the courtyard.”
“Then I’ll go to my grave knowing I was right. Come.”
Starbride nodded and allowed herself to be led from the room before she straightened her spine and took the lead down the hallway.
Averie helped Katya bind her shoulder in place, and Katya welcomed the pain. Averie didn’t ask questions, and Katya was, as ever, grateful for her silence. It gave her the opportunity to try to puzzle out how Starbride had gone from sitting in her lap to slamming out the door after Katya told her to leave. Katya rubbed her pounding temples and wished she’d kept the Order a secret. Everything it touched turned to disaster.
Starbride kept hinting at the work she did, but she wouldn’t say what it was. The fact that she mentioned it at all, after their agreement not to speak of it, had to mean she wanted Katya to ask, but Katya simply didn’t have the energy. Starbride was proud. It had to cost her something just to
look
like she needed help. “You should have asked,” she said after Averie left her alone. “Fool, you should have been asking all along.”
A knock sounded from the other room, and Katya listened to muted voices. “It’s Starbride and Dawnmother,” Averie said through the sitting room door.
Icy fear seized Katya’s chest. Had Starbride come to say she was leaving? Was it some formal declaration that had to be witnessed by Dawnmother? “Show them in.”
When the door opened, Starbride slipped inside alone. Katya drew breath to speak, but Starbride beat her to it. “I’m sorry.” Tears hovered in her eyes.
“Me, too.” Katya’s anxiety left her in a rush as she stepped forward.
“Please, I need you to listen.”
Katya’s nerves jangled again, but she sat down and gestured for Starbride to take the divan across from her.
“I’m going to take a page from your book and just blurt it out. Farradain traders are taking advantage of the law in Newhope to unfairly tax individuals who want to trade up and down the river. Since they’ve got more money coming in, they’re underbidding other trading businesses and forming a monopoly.”
Katya had never thought of herself as stupid, but Starbride’s words sounded almost like another language.
“That’s why I’m here.” Starbride gestured around her as if she meant not just the room but the kingdom. “Our problem is ignorance. We don’t know the laws well enough, so we’ve just been
mimicking
the Farradains. Lately, there have been some, well, antiquated laws popping up, that hinder Allusian traders only.” She gripped the edge of the divan and seemed more tired than Katya had ever seen her. “When we complain to the magistrate, the Farradains hide behind these old laws. My family is financially secure. We trade overland, but other families haven’t been so lucky. People look to us for answers. I’ve come to find some.”
She paused, but Katya sensed she wasn’t finished,
“My mother wanted me to marry someone with influence, not only for my own status and hers, but for what a person with influence could do for our people. She puts personal status first, of course, but I know she cares about the families of Newhope. Our local magistrate is a good man, but he has to be impartial. He can’t counsel us on what to do, but I’ve learned a lot about tariffs and taxes and trade laws. Some of what the Farradains are doing is illegal, and I’m sending my research home.”
Starbride clasped her hands in her lap and stared at them. “Meeting you was more than my mother hoped for. She’d ride high on the status alone, but I can picture her marching to the Farradain families’ doors and telling them that the princess is going to make them play nice.”
Katya cleared her throat. “You shouldn’t have kept this from me. People breaking the law is every inch my business.”
“I know, I know. It was pride, but also, we have to learn to defend ourselves. Every time a Farradain tries to take advantage of us, we can’t go running to another Farradain to make it better. We have to learn the law.”
“I understand.” Katya moved next to her. “And you’re right. I shouldn’t just ride in and stop it, even if I learned all the law. It would change nothing in the future, and it would make your people feel that they can’t defend themselves. What I
can
do is bring over some scholars, picked by the people of Newhope, to study in the Halls of Law to become lawyers.”
“You can…what?”
“If they can’t afford it, the royal family offers scholarships to the different colleges all the time. Why shouldn’t they extend to Newhope? I’m allowed several patronages based on my position; I almost never use them.” Starbride only stared. Katya grinned. “Send your letters. See what you can do about the immediate problem, but send other letters as well, and get some of your people to the Halls. They could start at the winter term.”
Starbride held her arms out slowly, and Katya drew her in. “Thank you,” Starbride said. “That was so different from anything I hoped for or even dreaded.”
Katya took a deep breath. It was her turn to tell a secret, fair being fair. “Do you remember the death I mentioned on Hanna’s Retreat? Well, that was the death of Maia’s father seven years ago. We think the children of the woman who caused his death are the ringleaders of our current troubles: Darren, Cassius, and the bearded man.” She rubbed her aching shoulder. “Today, we went to the Pyradisté Academy to see if we could find the most powerful pyradistés to graduate in the past twenty years or so. Crowe found ten names.”
Starbride’s brow furrowed. “Do you have locations for these men?”
“Not yet.”
“I’m sorry about your uncle. And poor Maia.”
“She’s been a little ball of anger ever since she found out the circumstances of her father’s death. She picked a fight with someone in an alley, and I dislocated my shoulder pulling them apart.”
Starbride pressed her warm lips to Katya’s cheek. “Poor Princess.”
Katya hugged Starbride closer with one arm. “Better now.” The divan was comfortable; Starbride smelled amazing. Even with her injured shoulder, Katya lay back and pulled Starbride with her.
Starbride laid a finger across Katya’s lips. “You’re injured, and Dawnmother is probably wondering what happened to me.”
“Dawnmother doesn’t think I’d hurt you, does she?”
“She never rules anything out.”
“Would she run in here and stab me?”
“She would impose her body between us. Her life for mine, that’s the servant’s code.”
“Our servants are made; yours are born.”
Starbride shrugged, but Katya didn’t expect an explanation. Like many cultural customs, it was what it was. It didn’t matter if she could understand it. “I wonder how late it is.”
“You’ve more to do today?”
“Always.”
“Want some company?”
“The thought of exposing you to danger terrifies me, Star.”
“You’ll have to get used to it.”
Katya had to laugh. It wasn’t the response she expected. “You’re right. Let’s go see what Crowe’s up to. Will you tell Dawnmother that you’re safe and in one good hand?”
Starbride went out, passing Averie on her way.
“All better?” Averie asked. Katya put on her best enigmatic face. “We knew you’d work it out.”
“You and Dawnmother discussed our troubles?”
“No, we had tea in relative silence, but we both knew anyway.”
“The psychic powers of ladies-in-waiting.”
Averie winked just as Starbride came in. “Dawnmother said she knew we’d find common ground.”
Katya kissed Starbride once more and ushered her into the secret passageway that led to Crowe’s study.
“How did you ever learn to find your way in these cramped spaces?” Starbride said softly. The dark tunnels seemed to require whispering.
“There are symbols at the junctions that tell you where you are.”
“I remember.” She felt a tug as Starbride paused. “Circle, circle, square.”
“To my parents’ rooms.”
“And this side says X, grid, square.”
“That eventually leads to the stable but also goes other places.”
“I trust you.”
Katya smiled again, her heart wide open. “Would you like to come to my brother’s welcoming dinner?”
“Your brother’s…? The crown prince’s dinner? It’s…a banquet?”
Katya cleared her throat, amazed at the nervous fluttering in her belly. “No, after he’s formally greeted by the court, we have a small family dinner in my parents’ dining room.”
She heard Starbride’s sharp intake of breath but didn’t turn around. “Should I?” Starbride asked. “I mean, if it’s just for family…”
“I’ve already approved it with my parents, but if you don’t want to go…”
“No! It’s not that, it’s just, well, wouldn’t I be an intruder?”
Katya did turn then, her lantern revealing Starbride’s anxious face. “I’ve never brought anyone before.”
“That makes it worse!”
“No, it means that you’re already such an essential part of my life you can’t possibly intrude.” Starbride leaned forward, and Katya obliged her with a quick kiss. “You’ll come?”
“Of course! But if the air does turn thick, promise that you’ll let me leave early. Oh! I’ll have a new outfit made. You’ve given me inspiration.”
“An Allusian outfit? I’ll buy that for you.”
“If you buy it for me, how can it be a surprise? Besides, it gives me the opportunity to sell one of these awful dresses for some ready cash.”
“I can’t get in the way of such deviousness.” As she resumed walking, she thought of one way Starbride would never feel like an outsider, if she
became
family. Of course, no one became part of the royal family overnight. Consortship came before marriage. The butterflies within her took wing again as Katya really considered that for the first time: Starbride as princess consort.
At Crowe’s study, she knocked lightly. “Come in,” he called. When they emerged from behind the bookcase, Crowe blinked once before he bowed. Katya waved him down and took one of the couches, Starbride beside her.
“How’s your shoulder?” he asked.
“Better, but that’s not why we’re here.”
“Maia and I both went to your apartment, but Averie told us you’d gone out.”
“I had a prior engagement.”
“So I see. Time to begin the training?”
“Now?” Starbride asked. “Don’t I have to…go somewhere special?”
“If Crowe is teaching you, you don’t have to go to the academy.”
“Your doing?”
“Being royalty has its perks.”
Crowe snorted. “As much as I love witty banter, I do have preparations for Crown Prince Reinholt’s visit, so if we’re not going to begin today—”
“That’s why we’re here.” At Starbride’s further look of alarm, Katya hurried on. “Aren’t there preliminary tests you can do? Assessment of ability? A pyradisté obstacle course?”
“This isn’t show-jumping, Katya.” Crowe waved Starbride over to a small table in the corner. “We can test your general aptitude. Sit there.” He took the seat opposite, and Katya stayed put, watching them.
“Now,” he said, “we’ll see how easily you fall into a pyramid. No one can hypnotize you, as you’ve already discovered, but a pyradisté must be able to hypnotize himself, to merge with the pyramid he’s using and thus access its powers.” He grabbed a small pyramid off the shelf behind him. “Some pyramids can only be accessed by the maker, and some can be used by anyone. This produces light, so you don’t need to worry about anything dire. Now, take hold and look into it. Feel it, the smoothness of the sides and the sharpness of the points, how the entire shape focuses at the top, all of its power channeled into the tiny capstone.”
Starbride’s brow furrowed as she stared at the pyramid. After a moment, she glanced up at Crowe. “You’re trying too hard,” he said. “Don’t think at it, just think
about
it.”
Starbride gave Katya an annoyed look and tried again. Tiny lines of frustration stood on her forehead, but they quickly smoothed away in the quiet room. She ran one thumb across the pyramid’s edges, and blinked once, twice, and then not again.
“Now,” Crowe said, “think of light.”
Light blazed from Starbride’s pyramid, and she yelped, tossing it into the air. Crowe reached across the table and caught it as it faded back to normal. Starbride pointed at it, all traces of concentration gone. “It…it…”