Chapter 21 #3
“What was the third reason?” she asked. At his blank look, she clarified. “You said there were three reasons you sent Thorn away and kept me close. What was the third?”
“I obviously couldn’t be sure how you’d turn out,” he said, as if she were a dull student. “You aren’t actually human. You’re a creature of the Dream and one made by an untutored sorceress. I had to keep a close eye on you, be prepared for any … oddities.”
Oddities. That word described Rose in every facet of her being. So much of her early childhood made sense now. The relentless supervision. The intensive, near-constant tutoring. Her aversion to touch and general exile from normal social activities. A creature of the Dream. Not actually human.
Shoshan seemed to gather herself, aware of Clotaire’s casual cruelty in a way he simply wasn’t capable of. She turned to Rose. “It’s not true, Rose. You’re as human as any of us.”
Rose, unable to think about any of it too closely, just nodded.
“So, what is the end game in this charade?” she asked her father, needing to extract the remaining answers and be done with this world-altering interview.
“That is, I assume in the intervening eighteen years you did come up with a plan at some point.”
Clotaire dipped his chin in acknowledgment, seeming to ignore her scathing sarcasm in his rush to explain.
“We’re nearly there,” he said with enthusiasm.
“It’s a shame that Jada has been absent of late, as you’ve mentioned.
I predicted that she’d grow bored and restless eventually, and it’s frankly a miracle she lasted this long, but I didn’t realize she’d been indulging in extended absences. Or I would have tightened her leash.”
Rose gave him a long look. “Were you not … keeping track of what was going on at the cottage, with your daughter’s welfare?”
Her father managed to look both impatient and guilty.
“I gave the job to Jada for a reason: because I couldn’t possibly provide personal oversight.
Not only am I thoroughly occupied with my many responsibilities, including fulfilling my own contracted duties, I couldn’t afford to establish a pattern of traveling to a remote cottage in the Aswad Woods.
The entire point of assigning Jada to be Thorn’s guardian was to preserve the delicate shroud of secrecy that kept her safe.
It worked, too,” he added with a hint of pride.
Rose opened her mouth to excoriate him on that take, but Clotaire held up a hasty hand to stop her. “I’ll deal with Jada, I promise. She’ll get her comeuppance for being so irresponsible. I left her instructions loose for a purpose, but this is beyond the pale.”
“And her abuse?” Rose pressed.
He continued as if he hadn’t heard that.
“Like you, Thorn is an adult now,” he said.
“She doesn’t need a keeper, so sending Jada back to the cottage, to Thorn, won’t serve anyone.
You say Thorn has been learning to use her sorcery?
That’s a disturbing development. Beyond careless of Jada.
Fortunately, I have found several tutors for her. ”
Rose wasn’t about to elaborate on Thorn’s various experiments and transgressions, especially not until she knew what her father had planned. Those were between Thorn and her. “She has learned some things, yes. Is that relevant to my question that you still haven’t answered?”
“It is relevant. Her experimentation is unwise and not ideal, but not really a problem so long as she’s contained,” he mused. “She is contained, isn’t she? I don’t think you explained how you came to encounter her.”
“She’s contained,” Rose confirmed. “I met her … via the Dream.”
Clotaire looked interested. “Not surprising, really, given your connection, but—”
“No, you’re answering my questions now, Father. I want to know what role you have planned for me. Or I promise I won’t cooperate.”
“Yes,” Shoshan said. “Do tell what future you have planned for your acknowledged daughter. Does it involve incarceration?”
He flicked her a glance. “I don’t expect you to forgive me, Shosh.
At least, not immediately and not easily, but do try to be civil.
I did this for all of us.” He returned his focus to Rose.
“You have done so well in school, accomplished more than I even hoped you would, blended in with the rest of humanity. You were such a strange child, I worried you might not ever assimilate. But you have become an oneiromancer to be reckoned with. No one would have reason to think you’re not human. I’m so very proud of you.”
Rose forced herself to remain impassive. She really wanted to hear her father’s plan for her. Then you can leave, she promised herself, and give all of this a good long think. If not for Thorn, she would consider walking the Dream and simply staying there, her true home.
“And your romance with Prince Sebastien,” Clotaire continued with a sly smile that verged on fatuous, “I couldn’t be happier.
Initially, I had planned for you to contract with a different court, a more influential ruler, but then Uhtric imploded—defying all predictions—and Stearanos and Oneira both removed themselves from the playing field.
Soren has emerged as a major player in the balance of worldwide power, surging into the lead, which offers us very particular prospects.
This love affair fell into our laps, which only sweetens an already rich opportunity. ”
“You did know,” Rose breathed. Not really a question. No wonder Madame Hendricks had turned a blind eye. No wonder her father hadn’t been visiting as often as had been his habit before.
“I more than knew; I gave permission.” He cleared his throat, catching Shoshan’s pointed glare. “We both did.”
“Though I thought I was choosing for your happiness,” her mother said in an odd tone.
“I didn’t know—I still don’t understand, in fact—how this youthful first love with Sebastien plays into some grand political scheme.
” She emphasized “youthful,” making it sound as if she didn’t expect the affair to have lasting impact.
“If Sebastien offers to marry Rose, as well as to open Soren’s court to her, then that creates another level of confusion and a smoke screen to allow our deception to take place,” Clotaire explained, his fervor growing, his bright, brittle gaze on Rose.
“I worried that you might not be capable of feeling—or at least feigning—the kind of emotion required for a love affair, but you’ve managed quite well so far. All you need is the offer and a ring.”
“What deception?” she asked with patience she didn’t feel, willing herself not to give away that Sebastien had already offered marriage. She’d begun to have a very bad feeling about this, with all of these secret agendas, doubting everyone’s motives—including her own.
“This is the brilliant part,” her father said, clasping his hands together and setting the combined fist of them on the table, leaning in as he spoke.
“Rose will accept Soren’s contract to be court sorceress.
You might have to nudge Sebastien along into a marriage proposal.
Women are skillful at such manipulations, especially in these early days of your relationship, when he is still besotted with you and doesn’t yet fully understand what a lifetime commitment will mean. ”
He continued on, blissfully unaware of Rose’s growing ire.
“When your contract is transferred from Madame Hendricks, the current holder, to the king, the geas will transfer along with it, when the new contract is signed in blood. But the person signing that contract will be Thorn, not you.” He finished with a rictus of a grin, apparently waiting for congratulations.
“I don’t understand the implications,” Rose replied. “Thorn would be contracted to His Majesty?”
“Everyone would believe she is contracted, but she would not be!” he answered, voice rising to a triumphant shout.
“Remember: she is not bound by the original blood geas, which means there is nothing to transfer. She would be a free agent. Then I will take her away and keep her carefully warded, as she has been so effectively all her life, and teach her what she needs to know. Our secret weapon.”
And still a prisoner. Had their father ever seen them as people at all?
“Then you can step back in,” Clotaire continued gleefully, “and take up your role as sorceress in the bosom of the king’s court, a king with ambitions to rule more than his own realm.
Only you will not be bound to obey him. He’ll believe you are his tool, but he will be ours!
” Clotaire grinned, waiting with the air of a man expecting congratulations.
“Diabolical,” Rose commented as neutrally as possible.
“I’m glad you agree.” He beamed at her. “And, if you extract that proposal from Prince Sebastien, as I have total faith you can do, you will become a princess, and possibly queen someday, once Soren has served his purpose.”
“Am I to marry Sebastien or is Thorn?”
“You should do that, as I doubt Thorn will hold up long under scrutiny. It will be wisest to spirit her in and out quickly, to avoid any gaffes she might make in her ignorance of the world. It’s not as if you’ll be constricted by the marriage vows.
Enjoy him if you like, and when you’re queen, you can eliminate him. ”
“Sebastien is fifth in line for the throne,” Rose pointed out.
Did her father not care at all about whether she loved Sebastien or that she’d have scruples about marrying him under false pretenses?
Or, maybe he didn’t since he seemed to assume she wasn’t capable of love, which …
could very well be the case. Not actually human.
“Yes, well…” Her father waved that off, his smile taking on a manic edge of glee. “With you embedded in the court and a free agent, the heirs ahead of Sebastien can be handled judiciously over time.”