The Queen of Mages

“We have to go get her!” Katin shouted.

  “You forget your place, girl,” Dardan said hotly. His fists were balled up and he looked about ready to explode. Katin didn’t care. Amira was lost, Amira was gone, who knew what the prince would do to her? I know what the prince would do. Men like him only have one use for women.

  She ground her teeth, trying to figure out how to make Dardan see reason. They stood facing one another in the Tarians’ sitting room, while Countess Besiana sat on a couch fanning herself. She’d been overcome when they’d explained what had happened. Rose stood by, nervously patting Besiana’s shoulder and murmuring soothing nonsense.

  Liam leaned against the wall, tapping his thumb against his lips. His hooded eyes stared off into nothing. Katin would take support from any quarter, even from him, but he was not likely to gainsay his master. He did not look half so handsome now.

  “I would curse the king to his face if I thought it would bring Amira back,” she said. “I will not lose her, not after—” She cut herself off and turned away, planting her hands on the back of a couch to avoid beating it with her fists.

  At the palace, the guards had put them into the coach and sent it away. Dardan and the valai had all been too stunned to speak, and besides, more guards still rode on the runners, ready to overhear. The instant they’d arrived on Willbury Street, Besiana had burst forth from her manse and shrieked praise to the Aspect of Despair that Dardan was unharmed. She’d ushered them all into their sitting room, even Katin, and demanded to know what had happened.

  Uneaten cheese and fruit sat on a shiny silver platter on one of the end tables. Bertram, the Tarians’ fussy and high-strung house major, had brought it unbidden, but none of them had the slightest appetite. The major had glowered silently around at them when he returned to find the food untouched.

  Nobody said anything for a moment. The panic and fear were draining away, leaving only exhaustion behind. Katin gave in and sat down on the plush lavender couch.

  She looked over at Dardan. He was staring at his mother, and Liam was staring at him. Do any of them have the faintest idea what to do?

  “Father must hear of this,” Dardan said at last. “I will go myself. Edon may be heir to the crown, but this insult will not stand.”

  Besiana snorted. “Don’t be foolish. Insults worse than this stand all the time, if given by kings and princes.” She seemed to have gotten over her initial shock, and her eyes narrowed shrewdly.

  “Mother, he kidnapped us! He interrogated us! And then he threw us out, keeping the lady who I had a duty to protect! This is a stain on our house’s honor and we cannot ignore it!”

  “I do not suggest we ignore anything, my boy. And I know you will not listen, as you have the righteous fury of unblooded youth, but I must try anyway. Challenging Prince Edon to a duel may seem like the only honorable path, but I assure you that there are many other weapons in the noble arsenal.” She sighed, and clucked in disappointment. “This is what comes of you spending all your time in the country. Noble society carries on with or without you, and you disregard it at your own future peril. I will not live forever.” Katin thought she heard Liam snort, but when she looked, he was as placid as ever.

  “Then what do you propose we do?” Dardan said.

  “For a start, we ensure that this is not kept silent.” She glanced up at Rose. “Fetch the servants.”

  “What… all of them, m’lady?”

  Besiana nodded. “And send someone next door for Lady Amira’s servants as well. Bring everyone in here.”

  ———

  Within minutes, the dozen or so servants the Tarians kept, and the half-dozen of Amira’s, had all been gathered in the sitting room. They lined up anxiously in two ranks by the wall. Amira’s servants tried not to gape at the opulence of the room. Some of them even succeeded.

  “Is this everyone? Good.” Besiana turned to face Dardan again. “Dardan, my boy, I seem to have forgotten everything you’ve told me about what happened this morning. Please start again at the beginning, so that I may be certain I have everything straight.”

  Katin’s jaw dropped. She means to ensure that every maid, cook, and stableboy between here and the palace knows about what happened to us. This was bending the rules almost to the breaking point. Servants overhearing gossip by chance was one thing, but this…

  Dardan frowned at his mother. He hesitated a moment and eyed the servants, then began to speak. He recounted their abduction by the royal guards and his curious interrogation by Edon. Liam told much the same story: Edon asked whether Amira was unusual, leaving Liam baffled. Katin’s interrogation had taken somewhat longer. She said only that Edon asked her the same questions, and that she had no idea what he was talking about.

  But she did. She knew that Edon had been trying to ascertain whether they knew anything about the silver light, which he had no doubt seen in Amira just as she had seen it in him.

  A vala was supposed to keep her lady’s confidence, though it would have been foolish to say that to Edon, who clearly did not care about such things. Katin had had plenty of practice lying to men far swifter and more vain than Prince Edon, so instead she’d played stupid. When Edon had asked if Amira was strange at all, Katin said something about wanting to eat cheesecake in bed, as if this were the height of oddity. Edon kept prodding, unwilling to directly mention the silver light, even going so far as to ask if Amira ever had suffered a head injury. Katin answered by talking about her lady’s poorly styled hair. Edon had grown frustrated and dismissed her. But Katin said none of this in the Tarians’ sitting room, as the servants looked on in horrified fascination. Little Sara looked as if she were about to faint.

  When the retelling ended, Besiana stood up. “How dreadful! Well, at least you are all safe, but I wonder about Lady Amira. Surely she would come to no harm at the hands of our noble prince.” Then she turned to look at the servants lined up against the wall, as if they had appeared out of thin air. “Well what is this? Has all the work of keeping this house been finished forever and ever?”

  The Tarians’ servants nearly ran from the room. Amira’s servants lingered a moment, until Katin dismissed them. “I’ll be back soon,” she murmured to Sara, and gave the girl a reassuring pat on the arm.

  When the servants were all gone, Dardan rounded on his mother. “You know that they will spread the manner of how they came to learn all that, as well as the meat of it. It will get back to the prince and he will know what you’ve done.”

  “That was my intention, dear. There is something you may not understand about the royal family.” She patted the seat beside her, and Dardan sat. “The king does not like his eldest son. He thinks the boy is a brute idiot. He is mostly right, except that Edon is more clever and cunning than he lets on. He is impulsive and does stupid things with alarming frequency, but when he sets his mind to a goal, he rarely fails to achieve it, one way or another.

  “And not only Edon will hear of this little gambit of mine. The king will, as well, and he will know that we consider the insult to Lady Amira to be just as severe as the insult to us.”

  “Do we?” Dardan asked. “I mean, I do, but is that the role we wish to play in this?”

  Besiana hesitated a moment and eyed Katin. “I believe Lady Amira would appreciate our support, and think all the more favorably of us. Would she not, Miss Berisha?”

  Katin nodded. “I believe anyone would, m’lady.” She had to work to keep her expression neutral. How could the countess think about impressing Amira at a time like this?

  Besiana clapped her hands together. “There is much to do. You ought to return home, dear, and rest. There is nothing else for you to do but wait. We will let you know if we hear anything about your lady.”

  Katin curtseyed to the countess and turned to leave. Liam came up beside her. “If I may escort you home, miss,” he said calmly.

  She could not think of an excuse to refuse him, and so nodded silently. She took his arm and he guided her out of the manse, dow
n the front steps, into the afternoon sunlight. “You must be distraught,” Liam said after a few moments.

  “My emotions are my own concern,” she said, and winced at the harshness of her own voice.

  Liam seemed not to notice, or perhaps not to care, for he stopped and took her hand. “I know how you feel,” he said, leaning in close, as if in confidence.

  Anger bubbled up, and before she knew it she had slapped him full across the face. “How dare you!” she cried, and pulled her arm from his grasp. She ran the rest of the way to Amira’s manse, and slammed the door behind her.

  She went immediately up to Amira’s bedchamber, closed and locked the door, and collapsed on the bed, sobbing. It was about Amira, perhaps lost to her forever; it was about Liam, trading on her grief to gain favor, as if she were merely some prize to be won.

  She felt as if it would never end, but each tear carried away a little of the sadness. Before long she had cried herself out, and in defiance of a vala’s proper place, she kicked off her shoes, crawled under the blankets of her lady’s bed, and closed her eyes.

  ———

  She woke in darkness, her mind and mouth full of cotton. She crawled out from under the covers and poured herself a glass of water from the pitcher that was always kept ready. She drank twice, visited the privy, and changed into a clean shift and dress before reality settled on her. She didn’t want to think about Liam; instead she made herself focus on what she could do about Amira.

  The worst she considered first of all. If Amira were dead, her manse and servants would likely fall to Valmir’s nearest living relatives, whoever they were. She’d never heard him speak of any kin, but no doubt they existed. Garovans were fastidious about bloodlines, and a relation would be found to inherit the property. If that happened, well, Katin would be happy to serve whoever it was, in whatever capacity. A lifetime working in a Callaston manse was better than most alternatives. If they’d let her stay on. The prospect of being turned out terrified her.

  If Amira were still alive and still in the palace, though… had she fought Edon with her ember? What could she really do with it? Burn him, perhaps, but then what? Amira was not a stupid girl, but her intellect had always been applied more toward frivolous pursuits and charming conversation than toward anything one might refer to as cunning or strategy.

  By now it had been half a day since she’d last seen Amira. As much as it pained Katin to sit on her hands, there was nothing else she could do.

  At least she could avoid being completely idle; a manse such as Amira’s never lacked for chores. She needed something to distract her, at least until Countess Besiana returned with some news.

  It was still well before midnight. The other servants stopped what they were doing when Katin came into the scullery. She’d tied her hair back with a kerchief and rolled up her sleeves. “Our lady will return to us, I am certain,” she announced, her thumping heart belying her outward confidence. “You all heard what the countess said. The way to protect ourselves is to ensure that the word spreads. Your friends, your family, everyone must hear of this.” The others all nodded slowly. Sara looked frightened as she always did, but Katin thought she saw a hint of determination in her eyes. Or maybe she was just seeing what she wanted to see.

  She picked up a washcloth and began to scrub.

  CHAPTER 10

  AMIRA