CHAPTER NINE
K el let out his breath in a soft hiss. The Princess from Kutani had blindsided him, and it was not something that happened often. He felt both deeply annoyed and slightly admiring, as if she had beaten him with a sly move at Castles.
“You have been pretending all is well since we met at the docks,” she said. “But if the Palace sent the Sword Catcher in place of the Prince today, they must have felt a serious danger loomed. If I ask the King or Queen, I suspect I will hear only lies. But you know. Tell me: What sort of danger am I in?”
“I suspect you know,” he said. “Laurent Aden.”
Her cheeks flushed. Anger or embarrassment, Kel couldn’t tell. “I saw no signs of ships in the harbor. Not Aden’s galleon or warships of Castellane.”
So she was worried. She’d been looking. Kel said, “Visible warships would have alarmed the populace on a day when the Palace wishes them happy. But believe me, they were there. The cliffs on either side of the harbor hide warrens of caves and tunnels. Smugglers use them, but so does our navy—when necessary.”
“He might have other ways of getting to me,” she said. “He is a rich man. He can afford to travel the Gold Roads in luxury. As long as he is alive, Aden will pursue me.”
“Castellane is a fortress,” said Kel. “There are only two ways in—the harbor and the Narrow Pass. Both will be guarded. And Marivent is impregnable. The pirate is certainly alive, and just as certainly, he cannot reach you.”
The tense line of her shoulders relaxed. “If you are sure he is alive— Well, then. There is something more. I know what will happen when I arrive at Marivent. They will wish to show me every nook and cranny of the Palace, every portrait and statue. But before I agree to remain, I need one thing. I need to speak to Prince Conor. Honestly and without the King or Queen there. Can you arrange that?”
Before I agree to remain. Kel had not realized it was any kind of an open question. He hesitated as they passed beneath the North Gate, their perch atop Sedai barely clearing the arch.
“Yes,” he said finally. “With help from you, I can.”
Many who came to Marivent were intimidated by the size of the place, the walls of sheer white stone, and the towers casting their shadows down over the city and the harbor. Kel remembered how he had felt, so long ago, riding through the North Gate as a child with Jolivet.
Anjelica did not seem at all intimidated, though; only watchful. She seemed to take everything in as they emerged into the grassy space past the gate, where a circle of courtiers, their hands draped with flowering vines, had formed a loose circle. In the center of the circle stood the Queen. Beside her was Mayesh, his medallion gleaming dully like the moon behind clouds. Kel did not see Jolivet.
Lilibet had already begun to step forward, smiling, when she caught sight of Sedai. A genuine expression of surprise crossed her face; Kel could not help a small feeling of amusement. Mayesh, of course, changed expression not one whit as Sedai came to a halt and Anjelica rose to her feet. She wore brocade slippers, Kel saw, and exquisite chains of gold and silver circled her ankles. Without a glance at him, she stepped out of the basket and made a chirruping noise: Sedai lashed her trunk backward and circled the Princess’s waist. With a gentle motion, she lifted Anjelica and deposited her on the grass.
Anjelica bowed low to the Queen. Kel could not hear her greeting; he was busy scrambling off the elephant’s back. He made a less elegant job of it than Anjelica had, as Sedai did not seem inclined to help him out. Fortunately, he managed a safe enough landing to keep his dignity.
Already the Arrow Squadron were pouring through the gates, making their own ring around the courtiers and the Bloodguard, who stood at Sedai’s head, motionless.
The Queen glanced over at him for just a moment before returning her attention to Anjelica. “Welcome, Ayakemi Anjelica. A lovely name,” she added, smiling as she held Anjelica’s hand between her own. The Queen resembled a calla lily today, in a dress of green-and-white silk, draped in heavy folds to show the richness of the material. A rope of pearls dangled from her throat, and more pearls, worked with white gold, circled her brow. “But not Kutani, I think?”
“I was named for a musician my mother adored. Anjelica Kjell, of Hanse.”
“Lovely, lovely,” said the Queen, patting Anjelica’s hand and releasing it. Behind her, Kel noted Mayesh turn to whisper in the ear of a Castelguard, who took off running. “I would love to take you on a tour of the Palace and grounds, my dear,” Lilibet said. “I recall seeing Marivent for the first time myself as a girl, knowing I would be Queen of the place. It was not something that could be forgotten.” She sounded wistful.
Anjelica smiled. “That sounds wonderful,” she said. “Perhaps tomorrow. Today I would like to speak privately with my betrothed.”
The Queen glanced sharply at Kel, as if to say silently: What are you doing ? After all, the plan of action had been decided on already. Kel was meant to slip away while the Queen guided Anjelica about the grounds, allowing Conor to take his rightful place and join his bride upon her return from the tour. “But it has all been planned for you, my dear. A tour of the grounds, and afterward a small supper, only ten courses—”
Anjelica’s pleasant expression did not change. Nor did the tone of her voice. It was the same measured music as she said, “I must admit, I am smitten with my Prince. I yearn for private counsel with him.” She gazed limpidly at the Queen. “Surely you understand.”
Lilibet looked utterly baffled. She turned stiffly to Kel. “Conor, dear,” she said loudly, rather as if Anjelica were not there. “The Princess—”
Kel smiled so widely that it hurt. “Ought to have anything she wishes. I shall of course accompany her to her rooms and speak with her there. Bensimon, will you lead the way?”
“I truly hope,” said Mayesh, “that you have an excellent explanation for what has just transpired, Kellian.”
Kel and the Counselor were walking a few yards behind Anjelica, headed in the direction of the Castel Pichon. Anjelica was flanked on either side by her Bloodguard; Kurame seemed interested in the layout of the Palace and was pointing out towers and gardens to Anjelica as they passed them.
“I have an explanation,” said Kel. “But I cannot promise you will find it to be an excellent one.”
Mayesh gave Kel a hard look. “She guessed who you are, didn’t she? Or did she already know?”
“She knew. She seems very well informed,” Kel said. He wondered if he should confess his mistake with the walnut but decided against it.
Mayesh sighed. “Kutani is infamous for the quality of its spycraft. I suppose they must have been diligent in investigating Castellane after the... previous events. What does she want with you?”
“She doesn’t want anything from me,” Kel said. “She wants to talk to Conor. Alone.”
“That’s all she requires? For Conor to join her in the Castel Pichon?”
Kel nodded. “She knows her mind,” he said. “If I had refused her request, she would simply have told Lilibet she knew who I really was and demanded to speak with Conor regardless.”
They were crossing the wide lawn in front of the Castel Pichon now, the green shafts of grass muddled with the small white flowers that had appeared after a recent rain.
Mayesh gave a grunt. Kel sensed the Counselor had been surprised, and he did not like to be surprised.
“She was anxious at the harbor,” Kel added, “when I told her Aden might put in an appearance. But she is not fearful or delicate. She may look like a flower, but I saw iron in her.”
“There are different kinds of iron. There is the iron that binds and strengthens. And there is the edge that cuts.” The old man looked sideways at Kel. “Which is she?”
“I cannot say yet. But Conor must meet her as she is.” He glanced at Mayesh. “Tell him to come with his defenses down.”
Mayesh grunted again and turned away, cutting back through the grass, headed for the Castel Mitat.
Kel put on a burst of speed to catch up with Anjelica and her brothers. He reached them as they arrived at the front door of the castle, a low square building with small towers at each corner of the roof. Castel Pichon meant “Little Palace,” and it was traditionally the home of visiting royalty. Luisa d’Eon of Sarthe had stayed here for the brief time she had been at Marivent before the bloody slaughter that had claimed her life. And the life of her bodyguard, Vienne d’Este, who had been sworn to protect her and had died trying.
Kel forced himself to shake off these thoughts. He greeted the Castelguards posted at the red door of the Little Palace and led Anjelica and Kurame inside. (Isam and Kito, her other two brothers, had remained outside to chat with the Castelguards.)
A short, tiled hallway gave onto a massive set of carved doors, and beyond those doors were the apartments that would be Anjelica’s. As he filed in with Anjelica and Kurame, Kel experienced a peculiar, untethered feeling, as if he had fallen asleep and woken up in a foreign place. He was not Conor; he was not even Kel Anjuman. He was a commoner. He had no business entering the private apartment of the Princess of Kutani. Yet here he was.
Anjelica was silent as she gazed around the rooms. To Kel’s relief, Lilibet had clearly redone the chambers since Luisa had occupied the space. In fact, they were not just redone, they were overdone, in just the way Lilibet loved. The walls were hung with saffron silk tapestries, and every surface had been upholstered in silk or satin, all in shades of orange, yellow, and red. A massive couch in dark-red velvet ran along one wall, and a carved daybed groaned under the weight of brocaded pillows.
“ Deela tie, zia, ” said Kurame. “She has certainly tried to make you feel at home.”
Anjelica sighed. “It was kind of the Queen,” she said, “to think of me, and I do love my homeland. But I do not need to live inside the national flag.”
“Lilibet enjoys a theme,” said Kel. “Possibly more than she enjoys anything else.”
Anjelica shook her head. “It will all need to be redone.”
“Lilibet won’t like it,” said Kel.
“I shall cover the costs myself. Surely she will accept that.”
Probably not, Kel thought. Lilibet would take it as an insult and a rejection of her taste—which, to be fair, it was. But he could already tell there would be little point telling Anjelica that; she would believe him, but she would not bother herself about it. The Queen would get over it, she would say. And they were her rooms, were they not, to do with what she liked?
Kel almost envied her. It must be freedom, he thought, to care little what others thought of you. And then he saw her eyes slide past him and realized that Conor had come into the room.
He had dressed for the occasion. A frock coat that swept to his ankles, lined in bright silk; a figured waistcoat and a shirt of white samite, threaded with gold. Heavy rings on his fingers, each flashing a stone of a different color: poison green, sea blue, blood red. A circlet of finely worked gold glittered with pinprick diamonds.
For the first time, he looked at Anjelica. And Kel felt immediately that he ought not to be in the room; there was something strange about being here for their first meeting. Conor’s gray eyes met the Princess’s dark ones, and Kel could see the shock of her beauty strike him, as it surely struck everyone who looked at her.
But that surprise was fleeting. What came after was a mix of consideration, calculation, and a cool appraisal that matched Anjelica’s own look. It was rare, Kel thought, for Conor to look upon someone so very much like himself. Someone who was also royal, also armored in privilege and beauty. Someone who was neither above nor below him, but exactly equal. Perhaps the situation was the same for her.
“Welcome, Ayakemi. ” Conor swept a bow that made his frock coat fly around him like dark wings.
Anjelica inclined her head. “ Mizuru. ”
It took a moment for Kel to recall what the Kutani word meant. Not “Prince,” as she had called him at the docks, but “betrothed.” He saw Conor mark the choice of word, too, a flash of interest in his eyes.
I should leave them to spar, Kel thought. Indeed, Kurame had already left the room, having slipped away discreetly at some point. Kel made as if to follow him, but Anjelica held out her hand.
“I would prefer the Sword Catcher stays while we talk,” she said, her gaze on Conor.
“Kel is welcome to know anything I know,” said Conor. “But chaperoning me is not his usual occupation. And I believe you made it clear you wished to speak to me alone?”
“I wish to speak to you honestly,” said Anjelica. She sat down on the nearby daybed, folding her hands in her lap. “And I know what a Sword Catcher does. For years, he will have lived with you, slept beside you, learned with you, come to speak as you speak and dream as you dream. If you are lying to me, he will know it.”
“And you think I would tell you, if he did?” said Kel, his voice carefully neutral.
Conor winked at him.
“I think I could read it in your face,” said Anjelica.
I don’t think you could, Kel thought, but Conor nodded in his direction, as if to say silently: Stay.
So he would stay. Kel leaned back against the wall as Conor turned his attention to Anjelica. “I must offer my apologies, Princess. I do not normally decline a chance to make a first impression. Unfortunately, it was not possible for me to greet you at the Royal Docks today.”
Anjelica did not move. She was perfectly still, in a way Kel had rarely seen before: the line of her body utterly motionless from her straight spine to her graceful neck. She said, “I had assumed you did not come because of Laurent.”
“Rather unfortunate you had to spurn a pirate,” said Conor, “and not, perhaps, someone else with a less dangerous profession. A gardener, perhaps, or a cook.”
“A Princess has little opportunity to meet gardeners and cooks.”
“I would have thought a Princess had little opportunity to meet pirates.”
When Anjelica shook her head, the gold net that held her hair sparked like fire. “I have seen many royal marriages. Some are good and some are bad. But I think the most important thing is that we are honest with each other.”
“I thought we were discussing pirates?” Conor said lightly, and Kel shot him a warning look. Anjelica was still a stranger; she might easily take Conor’s light amusement, directed at everything in the world that he found ridiculous, as mockery of herself.
But if she was bothered, she was too well trained to show it. “It is relevant,” she said.
“I trust that it is,” Conor said. “So. Honesty among royalty. What will you think of next?”
“Only the truth,” she said. “I am one of ten daughters of the Kutani King. Not the oldest, and not the most important. But I was considered the most beautiful.”
“I, too, am my parents’ most attractive child,” Conor said.
Anjelica ignored this. “When you are a Princess who is not the oldest or the most dowried, you learn to be practical about each of your advantages and disadvantages. But there was a man who frequented the Court. Someone I saw often at parties and social occasions. Laurent Aden, the privateer. He courted me passionately.”
Conor exchanged a quick look with Kel, who shrugged. For someone who spoke of passion, Anjelica’s voice was cold and flat as a sheet of ice.
“I thought he truly loved me,” she said. “Even when my parents found out and forbade me to see him, I held fast to the belief that he was true to me.”
“Let me guess,” said Conor. “He was only interested in enriching himself with your dowry? Men who make a living thieving often cannot put down the instinct, even in personal matters.”
“It was worse than that,” said Anjelica. “One of his sailors betrayed his plan to the Palace. Aden hoped that I would let him into the Palace; he would use that access to rob the royal coffers before escaping on the Black Rose. When this was discovered, he fled Spice Town, but before he did he dared to come to me and beg me to run away with him. I refused. I spat in his face. He said I belong to him, and that he would keep coming for me. He has not left me alone since.”
“I quite understand,” said Conor. “I, too, have had pirates obsessed with me.”
A smile quirked the corner of Anjelica’s mouth, but it vanished quickly. In a grave tone, she said, “You amuse yourself greatly, mizuru. ”
“I hope to amuse others as well,” Conor said, not ungently, “though I am aware it may not happen.” He sat down on the daybed, not close enough to Anjelica to crowd her, but not as far away as he could get, either. “You feel you need to warn me,” he said. “You were afraid Aden would be at the docks today, and are afraid he may yet come for you.”
“I thought you should know. He may not leave me alone.”
Conor said, without a hint of humor, “We were made aware of the danger some time ago. There were fleets out looking for him today, but he was neither captured nor even spotted.”
An odd look passed across her face. She said, “He is clever. I expect this is not the end of him.”
“I told her this Palace is a fortress,” Kel said. “She will be safe here.”
“Surely you could not be afraid to tell me this,” said Conor. “You cannot imagine I knew nothing of it. I was told that your reputation had been marred. That this was why your parents were willing to countenance your marriage to me at all.”
Ah, Kel thought. So that’s the reason—the thing Castellane had to offer to Anjelica that no one else did. A Princess’s reputation was as important as her dowry; her botched alliance with the privateer would have rendered her unsuitable for marriage in the eyes of many royals.
It also explained why Conor had been reluctant to tell Kel the details of the alliance. It would have been Anjelica’s secret he was spilling, not his own.
Anjelica flushed. Conor said, rather gently, “Do not be ashamed. I do not come to you unmarred by any scandal myself. Surely you have heard I murder all my fiancées?”
“Oh, yes,” said Anjelica, “and that you drink, and gamble, and whore as well—though I have also heard that you have changed in these past months. But I suppose that is only ordinary behavior for a Prince.”
“You shall have whatever you require, in the way of protection,” said Conor, “though surely you would have expected that. I cannot help but feel there is something else troubling you. Something that is, perhaps, less easy to ask for than physical protection.”
Anjelica raised her great dark eyes to his face. “Laurent considered himself a great romantic,” she said. “He did everything to sweep me off my feet. He thought nothing of filling the harbor with flowers—paid for from the spoils of his piracy, no doubt. He lavished me with jewels and poetry. And all that time he was lying to me.”
Kel thought: It may not have been a lie that he loved you. In fact, I would very much guess that it was the truth.
“When I think now of flowers and declarations of love, I think of lies. I know that what we are entering into together, you and I, is a business alliance. I know that we will also be encouraged to pretend otherwise. To make a great show of adoring each other, for the pleasure of the people and the Palace. I suppose what I am saying,” Anjelica finished, “is that I am not interested in pretending to emotion we do not feel.”
“I am beginning to see why most people do not find stark honesty an aphrodisiac,” Conor said dryly. “Are you saying that in public, we must ignore each other, or perhaps stare at each other as if revolted? Because indeed, this may well present a public relations issue.”
“We can pretend to the public,” Anjelica said. “Just not to each other. You need not make any false pronouncements to me, or any great show of false passion.” She looked straight at him. “If all this sounds horrible to you, you can send me back to Kutani.”
Her head was held high, but Kel could tell from her voice that she was more nervous about Conor’s reply to this than she was pretending. It was perhaps the first real crack in her armor he had observed.
“Not horrible at all,” said Conor. “There is a cold practicality about it all that I find rather charming. Speaking of which, there is the issue of fidelity. Do you expect it?”
For the first time, Anjelica looked slightly discomfited. “I will do my duty by you,” she said quietly, “in the matter of heirs. I will take no other man to my bed, for I understand that the lineage of the Aurelians must be protected. You may do as you like before we are married, as long as you behave with the utmost discretion. I will not be seen as a fool unaware of her betrothed’s amorous activities.”
Conor said calmly, “Discretion shall be my watchword. The last thing I should want to do is to cause you discomfort when you have been so honest with me.”
She gave him a quick, sharp look, but even Kel could not see anything in Conor’s expression to indicate displeasure.
Conor rose to his feet. “If that is all you wished to speak to me about,” he said, “all I can say is that I am in agreement with you, and we shall proceed accordingly. I will leave you now, if you do not object, for I can only imagine you are tired from your journey.”
Anjelica inclined her head. “Thank you.”
Conor took several steps toward the door, then stopped and turned back to face her. “There are,” he added, “two more things I thought I should mention.”
She raised her eyebrows inquiringly.
“First, you have an elephant,” he said. “I’d like very much to meet this creature. I’ve never met an elephant before.”
A smile flashed across Anjelica’s face. “I’m sure Sedai would be delighted.”
“Second,” he said, “there is always the danger that you might fall in love with me. I am very appealing.”
Anjelica regarded him with great seriousness. “I shall,” she said gravely, “let you know if such a thing occurs.”
Conor swept a final bow and headed toward the door; Kel followed, pausing only a moment in the doorway to look back at Anjelica. She had not moved from the daybed; she looked a little lost, as if, having unburdened herself of a great secret, she was unsure what ought to happen next.
Outside the castle, the sun had begun to set. Kurame and the other Bloodguard had joined the Palace guards in a card game around a folding table. The air was full of the scent of night-blooming flowers, only just beginning to open.
Beside Kel, Conor took a deep breath. Kel turned to look at him. To Kel’s surprise, Conor, too, looked unburdened—as if he had been relieved of something he was dreading. Which was strange; Kel could think of nothing about what had just transpired that would lift a weight from Conor’s shoulders.
“Did that go the way you hoped?” he asked, truly curious.
Conor threw his head back, gazing up at the dark-blue sky. “I like her,” he said, sounding pleased. “She’s a delightful girl, don’t you think?”