Chapter 30
Thirty
Stavros
Every hoofbeat of the horse next to mine sends more tension coiling around my innards. I glance over at my foremost companion on our journey. “You didn’t need to join me for this expedition, Your Highness.”
Petra lifts her chin with the stoic determination I’m becoming used to in our future queen.
“I know you and Ivy want to keep me out of danger, but I can’t hang so far back that I’m shying from my duties.
We’re going to be asking a lot of Provinca Yessaine and her household.
She should know I’m taking my fair share of risks as well.
The request will mean more coming directly from me. ”
I’m sure that’s true, but every instinct of my military training tells me that the meeting we hope to initiate could easily turn into an ambush.
I trust Provinca Yessaine’s loyalties enough to be riding out to one of her homes with a small entourage of associates, but not so much I want to stake the security of the royal family on it.
As if she’s read my mind, Petra shoots me a pointed look. Her tone is dry with amusement. “If something happens to me, you still have two other Melchioreks currently safe under Baron Cyris’s roof to take the throne.”
I grimace at her. It’s obvious why she and Ivy get along so well. They’re both damned stubborn and far too good at arguing their case even when I want to refuse them.
“I’ll endeavor to ensure that’s not a concern,” I say, smoothing my frustration from my voice. “But please don’t stray from your guards.”
If I were coming on my own, I’d have brought only one or two comrades with me to assist the provinca and her staff if they agree to set our plan in motion. Because we have a Melchiorek among us, I insisted on four soldiers on top of that, and even that number feels insufficient.
Petra’s mouth slants as if she’s going to reject that suggestion as well. “I suppose I should be grateful for the freedoms I had in those years when no one knew I was anything other than a distant relative of the queen’s.”
I study her as I formulate my answer. How can I know what goes on in the head of a woman who’s lost her parents and found herself thrust into the highest leadership role so suddenly and violently?
Especially when she’s talking to a man who should have been there to protect her father but wasn’t.
But I did know her father. I might not have agreed with every decision King Konram made, but I can imagine the lessons he passed on to all his children while he could.
I adjust my grip on the reins. “There are different freedoms that will replace those you lost, once we see you back where you belong. You can’t protect your people as you’re meant to unless we protect you in turn. But you’ll wield more power than most of your subjects could conceive of.”
A faint smile flickers across her face. “Of course you’re right. I apologize. I didn’t mean to complain when I’ve had so much handed to me by virtue of my birth.”
“Both boons and responsibilities. The latter can be heavy to carry. We all have our own burdens to shoulder if we strive to serve well—and I know you mean to.”
“Yes.” The word comes out of her like a sigh. “I hope Provinca Yessaine can recognize that too. And if we can prepare these trials in time, I can prove to all my people that I deserve the trust I’m asking them to put in me.”
“It isn’t only birth regardless, you know,” I remark. “It’s experience and training. You’ve seen the inner workings of a kingdom as no one except your siblings has. You understand what it takes to rule. I can’t say even I would feel prepared to take on a role that immense.”
A teasing lilt returns to her voice. “Not even the great General Stavros? I don’t imagine you’d do a terrible job as monarch.”
I glance away, taking in the landscape and the buildings of the city we’re approaching for the fleeting moment before they blur in front of me.
“I wasn’t hale enough to continue as a general.
King is another order altogether. I failed to protect the king I’d sworn to defend from the worst threats he faced.
I’ll be happy if I can simply ensure that you’re restored to the throne. ”
Petra lapses into a momentary silence. She glances at me sideways, her expression gone solemn. “You didn’t fail my father, Stavros. Surely you don’t think that.”
I lift my shoulders in a slight shrug, tamping down the swell of guilt inside me. “I did everything I could to save him, but it wasn’t enough.”
“Because he didn’t let you. He pushed you away.
If there were any failures in that equation, he failed you.
Even this conversation proves why he should have trusted your judgment more.
” She shakes her head. “I think you see perfectly well in the ways that matter most. I appreciate your guidance, even if I don’t follow every caution. ”
I don’t know if I can fully agree with her, but the words spoken in her steady voice take the sharpest edge off my regrets.
We veer onto the lane that leads to the sprawling estate just beyond the city walls, where Provinca Yessaine enforces her authority over Aberni province.
I’m reasonably sure of the provinca’s loyalty because I collaborated with her local military efforts more than once, whenever they needed to push back incursions from the Darium empire across the Seafell Channel.
Our association also means I know about the hidden back entrance in the estate wall where her family accepts visitors they don’t want to draw attention to.
After a short trot longer, we turn off the road, give the main entrance a wide berth, and circle around the back. When we’ve drawn close to the section of mortared stone I was aiming for, I motion for the rest of our company to stand their ground, dismount, and walk the last several paces on foot.
I press my hand to the keystone and then rap out a pattern only a few recent generals will have been given. I suspect Provinca Yessaine will be able to guess which one is calling on her.
Luck willing, she’s heard enough about the Order of the Wild to realize that I’m fighting for our country as always, not against it as Lothar would claim.
I have no way of telling exactly how much time passes while we wait. The city bells ring in the late afternoon hour. Finally, footsteps crunch through the brush on the other side of the wall, where the estate’s hunting woods lie.
Several sets of footsteps. If the provinca intends to meet us herself, she hasn’t come alone.
Then again, I wouldn’t have expected her to.
There’s nothing wrong with my ears. I listen closely and then raise my hand toward my companions, splaying my fingers twice to indicate that we should expect ten figures in this confrontation.
Just as I’m lowering my arm, the hidden doorway grates open.
Provinca Yessaine peers out at me, her face framed by the raised swords of the guards standing half a step ahead of her on either side. She folds her arms over her lean chest and raises a thin eyebrow at me without a word.
I dip my head to her respectfully and catch a familiar face behind her that I hadn’t expected to see here. It appears the provinca has called her daughter back from the royal college.
Further evidence that she’s unsettled by the current state of affairs in Silana.
“Provinca Yessaine,” I say in acknowledgment. “And Romild—it’s good to see you’re well.”
My former student fixes me with a stare as steely as her mother’s. Does she still resent that I chose Ivy as my supposed assistant rather than opening the position more widely? I know she coveted that spot—and made no secret of it with the woman I love.
I would hope we can put any sour feelings from before behind us. But there is a reason Ivy didn’t join us on this particular expedition, just in case.
Romild nudges her mother with a brief murmur, and the provinca’s gaze slides past me to the riders in the shade of the trees. Her normal unflappable expression twitches.
Romild must have pointed out the face she can recognize from their time as classmates.
Provinca Yessaine drops into a deeper bow than mine. “Your Highness. I didn’t realize—if I’d known—”
Petra offers a small smile. “It’s perfectly all right.”
Relief trickles through my knotted stomach, but not enough for me to let down my guard. “The rightful queen wishes to speak with you. I’m not sure it would be wise for many to see her entering your home. Are you willing to conduct the conversation in a less conventional setting?”
Yessaine lets out a soft chuckle. “That sounds fair enough. We will come out—but I hope you won’t take insult if my guards accompany me.”
“Absolutely not,” Petra says. “We all have reason to be wary in the current climate.”
I draw back to stand near Petra while the provinca, Romild, and their eight protectors ease out through the doorway. As we face each other in the lengthening shadows, Petra and our own small squadron of guards descend from their horses.
I’d like to shield my future queen, but I know she won’t accept being hidden behind me. So instead I flank her alongside one of the royal soldiers who’s been with us since Florian, with the rest of our company in a semicircle around us.
A lightly sweet scent laces the air from the first early spring blooms. Petra draws her posture up commandingly straight and holds Yessaine’s gaze.
“You must have heard about the horrors Lothar and his followers are carrying out. I need help to put down this uprising once and for all and end the slaughter that’s come with it.”
The provinca’s mouth tightens. “I don’t care for the stories that’ve been passed on to me or the scenes I’ve witnessed myself.
But this Order of the Wild has spread through every city and town in the country, it seems. Two of my counts tried to stand against them when they first swept through the province, and their entire families were slaughtered.
” She touches Romild’s shoulder. “I’m not throwing away our lives on a principle. ”