Chapter 2
Chapter Two
The gentle warmth of mid-afternoon sunshine settles across my nose like a welcome blanket.
Each breath is stained with salt as I walk along the wide path at the top of the tall sea walls.
Gulls of various colours have nested amongst the aged rocks below, their piercing cries cracking against the constant low rumbling of steady waves breaking against the stone.
A glittering sapphire ocean lazily sways in a hypnotic rhythm.
The skirts of my dress ripple around my ankles as I make my way along the wide stone walkway, four City Guards following five paces behind me.
People recognise us as we walk, many glaring or grumbling curses at me under their breath.
Halice has divided in two. At first I didn’t see it happening, the chasm that formed between the people of this city after I became Maestrus.
Halice was a city of two halves in my father’s day, support split between him and Idris’s father into those loyal to the Maineri, and those loyal to the Patricelli.
They were often on opposing ends of political struggles and that bred decades-long feuds that were always smothered with a layer of civility.
Never bubbling over, but ever present like a weed.
I had thought that wounded divide gone with our fathers, but Idris and I haven’t healed it; our cooperation had merely softened it.
Our estrangement has torn the covers away and let the exposed, festering rot to the light. Now it’s angry, hissing and painful.
There are those who are loyal to me, and those who stand with Idris. Old family lines and loyalties are falling back into place like they always truly belonged there.
I take a deep breath as I draw closer to our meeting point, pulling a gentle smile onto my face, ignoring any sideways glares or grumblings tossed my way. I head towards two familiar people.
Electi Savino gestures to Tahira, alerting her to my approach. The Princess of War smiles, her inky black curls jumping in the breeze as she turns away from the sea to greet me. That smile catches for a moment, before being wiped away. I look behind me briefly, wondering what on earth she saw.
“Hi, Renza, good to see you. Are you alright?” Tahira reaches over to give me a hug. I pat her back as I release her, tucking a stray curl of my own behind my ear.
“I should be asking you. How was Coari?” I say. Tahira recently returned home with a particularly large trading shipment to assess just how profitable our arrangement was truly turning out to be. She was away for almost four weeks, and is honestly a much-missed sight for sore, troubled eyes.
“Warm,” Tahira chuckles. “Your summer is cooling off much faster than ours.”
“And everything is alright with the cargo?” I ask.
“Trade is booming!” Tahira announces brightly, eyes alight.
“We cannot keep your dyes in stock longer than a day. That wine we sent across – it turns out if you add a few spices it becomes a simultaneously warm and sweet drink that people absolutely love. I’ve brought the spices back so you can try it – trust me you’ll love it. ”
“That’s great. And your mother and stepfather? It must’ve been nice to see them,” I ask as the three of us turn and start walking, the briny breeze applying long, languid strokes across the bare skin of my arms and the light, silky fabric of my dress.
“Doing well,” Tahira answers with a serious nod. “It was good to see them looking so well. Mother particularly.”
“Oh good. I’m glad rumours of your mother’s ill health were just that,” I say sincerely, remembering for a moment the pain of watching my own mother’s illness progress. Tahira nods seriously, rubbing her jaw, her mind’s eye clearly skittering back home.
“What is it?” I ask gently, my hand going to her arm. Tahira sighs quietly, face folding as she carefully choses her next words.
“Makram – His Majesty the King,” Tahira hastily corrects herself, “doesn’t like the fact that we’re here. He hasn’t given us any orders to return home, but he made his … preference clear.”
I blink and nod slowly. That’s certainly not ideal.
“Because you’re in danger?” I hope to clarify. Tahira’s mouth wrinkles before answering.
“Danger is relative. I’m a mercenary. He got over that pretty quickly in the scheme of things, but this…” Tahira folds her arms. “He doesn’t like this continent, doesn’t trust this continent. We have a saying in Coari, and loosely translated it goes ‘Old Blood doesn’t do well on northern land’.”
“Old Blood?”
“We can trace our Old Bloodlines back centuries and beyond. Blood is sacred, the liquid of life. The Old Bloodlines come from the Great Spirits themselves,” Tahira explains briefly, the sea breeze rustling her dark curls, “but Makram considers that old saying almost like a surety, the way many of you northerners revere Fate. An absolute rule.”
“So he’s worried about you?” I surmise.
“Yes. But on the other hand, he doesn’t know you,” Tahira counters with torn tone. “It’s natural to be wary of people you don’t know. Stories of honour and change aren’t as persuasive as seeing it for yourself.”
“He knows Idris, though, doesn’t he?” I ask, the name of my Fated burning in my throat as I force it to my lips. Tahira wrinkles her nose in a guilty grimace.
“He does but his presence was more tolerated than welcome the few times we were in Annen. My mother likes him, but Makram… Anyway, as I told him, I’m not of the Old Blood,” Tahira answers firmly before shrugging it off.
“But Kaz is,” I say, surmising the problem. The king’s one son and heir is on soil he doesn’t trust amongst people he dislikes. That must grate like sandpaper at their tragic Soulbond – even on different continents. The war between fatherly love and the bond craving destruction must be agony.
Tahira tenses slightly.
“Yeah. But he’s protected here. I vouched for Halice, for how much Kaz likes you. How he’s protected not just by our own but by Halicians as well – as a priority even.”
“But he doesn’t believe his son is safe.
” I pause, letting my hand touch the sea wall.
The stone is coarse and dusty as I turn over those words.
While Kaz is in the city, we’re responsible for his safety.
And his father, the king of a large, militarily strong country we’re only just beginning to understand, is unhappy about it.
“He’s a superstitious man,” Tahira counters, shaking it off as though she’s worried about offending me. “I know better. I know Kaz is safe here.”
“I don’t blame him. His concerns aren’t without foundation. Halice is a city at war. A war that will be hard to win,” I reason with my friend, trying to reassure her I understand and am not offended. “Perhaps Kaz would be safer back on home soil.”
“Kaz is safest with me,” Tahira answers, her words unquestionable as tempered steel. “He’s my brother. No one will defend him like I will. He is where I am, and vice versa.”
I don’t point out that she left him here while taking her trip back home. That would not be helpful at all.
“Kaz has lived through battles and wars before. I’ve always made sure he’s safe,” Tahira says, certain as the sun in the sky.
I nod slowly and offer her a warm smile.
She’s here and she’s staying. Much as Kaz would be safer in Coari, we need her.
We need her armed forces. This is a risk we have to take.
“As will we,” I promise.
“Does that mean we can count on your support in the coming war?” Savino asks, ever to the point.
He and I exchange a brief look as we turn to Tahira.
Tahira agreed to protect the Argenti Strait because it protected her profitable trade routes.
She hasn’t as of yet agreed to fight the Holy States with us.
Tahira shrugs nonchalantly.
“I’ll talk to my people about it,” Tahira says carefully, “But I think … probably, yes. These new trading contracts are very lucrative and my men are very pleased so far. If you lose this war then they go away. But we’ll want some assurances.”
It’s strange to think that I was originally so against the Red Sands Bannerhood coming to our shores, and fought hard to send the foreign mercenaries away.
But they have been the miracle we desperately needed, the key to repairing our ruined economy and strengthening our army.
I suppose on this, Idris was right after all.
The thought twisted at my stomach.
“Assurances? Like what? That you’ll be the only trade we do with Coari? Or even your whole continent?” I venture, and the glint in Tahira’s eyes gives me all the answers I need. Trade really must be exploding if she’s already worried about rivals.
I chuckle, pulling my arms to my body as I turn over how to answer that. The sea breeze plants salty kisses over my lips, tangling languidly with my dark hair as I find the words.
“Halice can’t make a contract like that indefinitely.
In the short term of a year or two perhaps, but a long-term agreement would be a poor reflection of Halician trade across our continent.
We are a city that thrives on trade, you see.
However, if you speak to my sister, you might be able to strike such a deal with the Maineri Bank, given they’re a private institution… ”
I trail off and look up, hoping she understands my meaning. A small smirk crosses Tahira’s face.
“I see,” she says with a grin. “And do you think Giulia would be open to this kind of discussion?”
“I’d never dream of speaking for my sister … but I’ll put in a good word for you.” I wink. Tahira snorts and shakes her head at me.