Chapter 25
The man took a menacing step toward Tashama, and she stood her ground while one of her guards pushed the man back. “You touch her, and it’ll be all of our heads,” the guard said to the man.
“How long is this going to go on?” Tashama sat down on the red carpet.
“No, my lady.” The healer lifted her to her feet. “You must stand during the ceremony.”
She leaned her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes.
“Are you still tired?” Listra whispered to Tashama.
“I cannot stay awake and yet.” Tashama opened her eyes, then yanked her arms free from her captors and skipped down the long red carpet before Listra and the healer took her arms and made her step aside. “I feel I’m on a caffeine high.”
The women of the Bachavin order watched the prince in silence, and Tashama pointed at the group. “I know you came to see me last night. I remember.”
“Tashama—shh,” Listra said.
“She did,” Tashama persisted as she glared at the black-veiled women.
Carissian studied her, and she shook her head at him. “Quit trying to read my mind.”
The prince received his crown, and cheers erupted. Carissian appeared before Tashama. “You’ll come with me.”
“No, I must congratulate the prince.”
“King.”
“Yes, him too.”
“Later. You will tell me which of the women of the order came to your room last night.”
Tashama glanced around the hall and saw Oshon glowering at her. “She was veiled. She had no eyes.”
“You have other ways of knowing, Princess Tashama. You’ll point her out to me now.”
“Here, in front of all of the gods and everybody?”
“In the temple.”
“I must congratulate the prince.”
“Later.” Carissian took her arm.
“Congratulations, Prince!” Tashama shouted over her shoulder as Carissian led her away.
“King, you little fool,” a man said to her.
“King, you little fool!” Tashama shouted back to the prince, then she turned to the man. “My mistake.” She patted Carissian’s hand, gripping her arm. “Is this to be our first date?”
Carissian shook his head. “The king is in such good spirits today, he has ignored your little antics and not had you removed from the proceedings as I would have done.”
“That is because he wants to kiss me.” Tashama quickened her pace toward the temple.
“You were the one who asked for him to kiss you.”
Tashama stared at Carissian for a moment, then smiled. “You only say this, but it is not so.”
“You cannot read my thoughts truly, can you?”
“What makes you think that?”
“Just a hunch.”
“If I cannot read thoughts, how will I know which of the women came to my room last night?”
“You have other gifts.”
They walked into the temple where one of the priests greeted them. “This is highly irregular.” He twisted his belt between his fingers.
“The procedure will only take a few moments,” Carissian said to the priest, then turned to Tashama. “Begin.”
Tashama stood before one of the women, then touched her wrist. She moved to the next. As she made it halfway through the line of women, the king walked into the temple. “Has she identified the woman yet, Carissian?”
“Not yet, sire.”
Tashama touched the correct woman’s wrist, squeezed her wrist tightly, then moved onto the next. Carissian frowned.
“What?”
“The princess showed no recognition, but the woman she just passed up feared having Tashama touch her.”
Tashama finished with the women and turned to Carissian. “None of these visited me in my chambers. The woman must have been an imposter.”
The king said, “Carissian will speak with the woman the tenth from the right on the first row. I wish her name, as well. That’ll be all.”
“I said nothing about the woman, Your Highness,” Tashama said in front of the women before they disbanded from the temple.
“No, the woman told on herself to Carissian.”
“Oh, then I cannot be held at fault.”
“Are you feeling better?” Aleron led her out of the temple.
“I’m feeling much better. Did I have too much wine to drink last night? I cannot remember much about the evening, except for the woman invading my sleep.”
“And you took a swim.”
“No.”
“I’m afraid so.”
Tashama frowned as she tried to recollect, then she shook her head.
“I don’t remember. But something had upset me—Balthazar.
” She walked in silence for a few minutes, then nodded.
“If he is gone, I will have to live without him, though it won’t be easy.
” She saw Oshon as he stood near the king’s quarters, and her eyes grew big.
“I believe I have the solution to this problem, however.”
She hurried over to Oshon and grabbed his wrist, but he jerked his arm away from her and stepped back as the king watched. “If you will permit me this, I will prove you mean to do me no ill will, and you and your bride-to-be will have been absolved of any wrongdoing.”
Oshon glanced over at the king, who, with a single nod of his head, consented to the impromptu trial. Tashama took the cavalry officer’s wrist and held it for some time. A slight smile appeared on her lips as Oshon’s wrist grew sweaty.
Her smile widened. “King Aleron, you have nothing further to fear from this officer. He intends to do nothing for Loran’s cause. But he wishes for you to attend his wedding as he intends to wed the woman Carissian is now questioning.”
Her eyebrows arched as he contemplated the matter. “I tell the truth, Your Highness.”
“But I wonder if I should not have had Carissian studying you as you used your gift. Somehow, I feel there’s more to the situation than you will reveal to me.”
“Is he free from further ostracism, sire?” Tashama folded her arms as Oshon waited to be released from the nightmare he had created for himself.
Aleron shook his head. “I believe I will live to regret this. I do not normally make such lofty decisions without my advisor at my side.”
“You are king now, so be king and decide.”
Carissian appeared next to Aleron. “Have I missed something?”
“The princess used her powers to find Oshon not capable of treason.”
Carissian took the same posture as Tashama, crossing his arms over his chest. “She did, did she? I would have liked to have listened in on this one, Your Highness.”
“Do you call me a liar?” Tashama asked.
“No,” Carissian said. “But sometimes you omit things you do not wish for me to see.”
“That was my very thought on the subject,” the king said.
Carissian studied Oshon. “It is up to you, sire.”
“He is exonerated then. Having a royal member of the household accused of committing treason reflects badly on all of us. Spread the word at once. Oshon is cleared of any wrongdoing.”
The look Oshon gave Tashama was as harsh as any before. She tilted her head to the side. “You’re welcome, Oshon.” Turning to Aleron, she took his arm and led him toward the gardens as his lips turned up in amusement. “So sire, now you must make a selection for a bride, I’m to understand.”
“I have a list of fourteen names.”
“And Devil is on this list?”
“First name on the list, actually.”
“I want Listra absolved of her involvement with helping me leave here before. She only tried to keep me from being harmed.” The king shook his head. Tashama frowned. “How can you win my favor if you will do nothing to satisfy me?”
“My kisses satisfied you last evening.” A smile stretched across his face.
Tashama glanced back at Carissian, who followed them a short distance behind. She frowned as he smiled broadly. She turned to Aleron. “I don’t remember. It must have been the drugs that made me do it if I did any such thing at all.”
“Does she speak the truth, Carissian?”
Tashama faced Carissian. “Must you follow us everywhere? We were having a private conversation.”
“She remembers, sire, and with much satisfaction, I might add.”
“Feeble he grows.” Tashama pulled Aleron along the path.
“Our stroll is becoming a race, Tashama.” He tugged at her to walk more slowly.
Tashama waved her hand at Carissian. “How can I concentrate on a walk with you if you have him with us?”
“You may reveal something in your conversation to me that Carissian…”
“I will tell him nothing and you either if you insist on having him walk with us.”
“Is it the drug that makes her this way?” he asked Carissian.
“This place called Texas has made her so unruly. Though the drugs the healer used to counteract the others may have made her a bit more unstable.”
Tashama smiled, then she took a deep breath. “Please treat Listra with some kindness, sire. She is your cousin after all and wants nothing but the best for you.”
“Her pillow sits on my bed. It is the only one I allow to rest in such a place of honor.”
“You won’t look at her or speak to her. And because of this, everyone else takes this as meaning they should not either.”
“She is with the other ladies at this moment. You need not fret about her so.”
Tashama relaxed her tense posture. When she did, Aleron leaned over and kissed her cheek. She shook her head. “You should not do that to me, as you will soon be marrying.”
“It is customary to show an expression of affection between royal families.”
“Amongst Maldovians, you mean. I imagine Devil will not be too happy should you continue to treat me in this manner when you marry her.”
“What makes you think I will choose her?”
“She is the only one I ever see you with.” Tashama touched the gold belt at her waist. “Was the grape poisoned?”
“What made you think of that?”
“Devil crushing it beneath her foot.”
“It was not.”
“And the lobster?”
The prince hesitated to answer her, and she studied Carissian. Though he showed no indication of the answer to her question, she nodded in response. “The lobsters were disposed of before you could test them, so I thought.”
Carissian smiled slightly. “You are guessing.”
“No.” Tashama looked at the path beneath her feet. “I know it to be so.”
“Well, without the so-called evidence, we cannot be sure your fears were truly warranted or not. The food would have been discarded after all when it was thrown so wastefully to the pavement.”
Tashama took a deep breath. “But I imagine the food would not have gone to waste.” She glanced back at Carissian. “Would it have?” He wouldn’t say, and Tashama added, “To the pigs, perhaps?” Carissian still remained silent. “Why do you not tell me, Carissian?”
“I’m thinking about what has been done, but you cannot see this, can you?”
Tashama turned away from him. Aleron laughed. “She cannot tell what we are thinking. Knowing this to be true, I feel much relieved.”
“Why? Do you have secrets you want to hide from me?” Tashama asked him.
“Some things even Carissian shouldn’t know, but I’m afraid I can’t keep him from probing my thoughts like you do. But you still cannot see what my future holds?”
“No, I cannot see what the future has in store for you.”
“She sees something, but she fights allowing me to see what she observes,” Carissian interrupted.
The prince squeezed Tashama’s arm more tightly. “You must let me know what you see, Tashama. I can be quite hard to live with when I want to know what gifts my courtiers want to bestow upon me, and they want to keep them secret from me until the appointed day.”
“All right.” Tashama looked back at Carissian. “Ask your sorcerer.”
Aleron turned to Carissian, who smiled back at him. “You wouldn’t wish for me to say, Your Highness.”
“What?” the king said.
“You are kissing the lady, and she finds the experience most pleasurable.”
“You didn’t have to let him see this.” Aleron pulled Tashama along at a quicker pace.
“Now you are pulling me along as if we were in a race.” Tashama laughed.
“So, where do I get to enjoy such a pleasurable experience with you?”
“That I don’t know.” Tashama’s eyes studied his dark brown ones. “Maybe it’s just a figment of my imagination.”
Aleron shook his head. “No, and not just wishful thinking either.”
“Sire, this continued delay to select a bride from one of the eligible women of our realm confounds me.” Carissian sat in the king’s anteroom.
Aleron leaned back in his chair as it was situated behind his desk while he observed the mermaids in his mural.
Carissian added, “She’s been so demure of late, I thought perhaps she was settling down to the notion she would just live with us, but something is brewing in that crafty mind of hers. ”
Aleron glanced over at Carissian. “What?”
“I knew I could get your attention.”
“What is she planning to do now?”
“I’ve considered how we could turn her over to General Karam’s forces. He will keep her as safe as he can, and she will undoubtedly encourage him to remove Loran from his throne. We couldn’t hope to do better than this.”
“No.” He resumed considering his mural.
“You cannot marry the Karthlander princess, sire.”
The king frowned at him. “I am king now, yet you still insist on telling me what I must and must not do from time to time. Remember, you advise me, you do not command me.”
“Yes, sire.”
“Besides, who says I was interested? And if I were interested in marrying her, what makes it so wrong for me to do such a thing?”
Carissian groaned.
“What?”
“We have been at war with the Karthlanders for ten long years, isn’t that enough? Your people would revolt if you took one of theirs for your wife.”
“What word have we concerning General Karam’s forces?”
“They haven’t moved from Chrisholm Island, sire. Seems the bountiful food, pleasant weather, and willing women have given them other options than continuing the war with us.”
“And we’ve made no progress at liberating the island?”
“The natives seem content with the presence of the Karthlanders. What’s the difference if one people rules in place of another anyway?”
Aleron nodded as his thoughts returned to Tashama. “What is she planning now?”