A Crown of Lilies Read online

  As one, we all dropped into our deepest bows and curtsies. “Long live Queen Rishel!”

  The remainder of the evening passed in a frenzied blur, as nobles clamored for position near the dais to congratulate the couple and curry favor with their new queen. Aubrey, Leon, and I hung back with the other young heirs, leaving space for our parents to make the pronouncements on behalf of our Houses. I scanned the crowd to find my parents cloistered near the back of the room with Lord Chamberlain and a few others.

  As the night wore on, I took note that none of them ventured to the dais, though since the throng never abated, I’m not sure they would have made much progress anyway. On the carriage ride home, I broached the topic.

  “There was no need,” my father stated firmly. “The King will send for us when he is ready.”

  “Lazerins do not grovel for royal favor.” My mother’s voice betrayed an indignant edge. “There is no honor in debasing oneself before the throne.”

  I recalled Greta cursing about Lazerin pride in the kitchen after stitching me up. Part of me worried my parents had made a mistake. What if their tightly held dignity was misconstrued as indifference, or worse, disapproval? Gossip could destroy a House as quickly as any war. My father must have noticed my unease because he leaned forward in his seat toward me.

  “Through deeds and loyalty, we prove our fealty to the Crown,” he reassured gently. “Amenon and I have known one another a very long time.” His tone clearly brought the topic to a close, so I pressed no further, but could not shake the ill feeling in my gut that they were underestimating the danger.

  As if to purposely make me feel foolish, an invitation from the palace arrived three days later. A small dinner party was to be held in the King’s private quarters that evening. My parents met each other’s eyes over the breakfast table, an entire conversation passing between them in a silent moment. I felt a pang of envy and thought about James for the first time in days. Would we ever enjoy the deep understanding of long years together? I had a sudden urge to seek him out.

  “May I be excused?” I pushed my chair back abruptly.

  My mother eyed me sidelong. “No outings today. We cannot be late this evening, and I want you at your best.”

  I nodded my acquiescence and slipped from the house. Seth pointed me toward the stables, where I found James re-shoeing one of our carriage horses. He murmured softly to the mare as he worked on one hoof with a long metal file. Leaning against a stall, I watched him a moment before making my presence known.

  “I see you haven’t lost your touch.”

  He turned his head slightly to glance over his shoulder at me a moment before returning to his task. “My mother says we have some bastard Lazerin blood from way back. Makes it so we can understand them better than most.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say to that, so I remained silent and continued to watch him work. When he finished filing, I handed him a metal shoe from a nearby bucket. “Are we going to talk about this?”

  He heaved a sigh and dropped his file to the floor, fishing in his apron for some nails. Fetching his hammer from the bucket, I held it hostage until he met my eyes. Red-brown curls rustled as he shook his head. “What do you want me to say, Elivya?”

  “An apology wouldn’t go amiss,” I retorted dryly.

  He flushed, eyeing my side where his blade had cut me. “It was an accident. I’m sorry.”

  I nodded my acceptance. “And maybe tell me why you’ve been such an ass these last few weeks.”

  His penitence vanished. “As if you need me to explain the reason?”

  “Nothing is going on between Aubrey and me.” I tried to keep from laughing at the thought, bittersweet though it was. I’d spent hours debating how to convince James there was nothing improper between us. To tell him of Leon would make things much simpler, but I had sworn Aubrey to secrecy regarding my own illicit affairs. I could not fail to show him the same discretion. “He is just a friend.”

  James did laugh, bitterly, quickly followed by a rising tide of anger. “You expect me to believe that, with you riding off to Chamberlain House every day? I’ve heard the rumors, Elivya. Servants gossip too. You and that snake-tongued boy-poet spend every social gathering fawning over one another.”

  At that, I bristled. “Do not speak of him that way!”

  For the first time, I saw a cruel smirk of satisfaction cross my lover’s lips and knew that my reaction had only confirmed his suspicions. “Forgive me, my lady,” he sneered, voice dripping with sarcasm. “I forget my place.”

  “You certainly do.” I thrust the hammer against his chest and fled the barn with as much dignity as I could muster.

  Shera woke me gently in the late afternoon. I had wept myself into exhaustion over our heated discussion. “I’m sorry to wake you, miss, but your mother has bid me get you ready for the evening.”

  I shook off the sleep and sat upright. “Yes, of course.” I allowed myself to be bathed and dressed in the gown my mother had chosen. As my handmaid worked, my mind drifted. How could he think such a thing of me? Why is my word not enough? Maybe he just doesn’t love me anymore. I’ve neglected him these last months. He has every reason to be angry. Maybe there’s someone else and he’s just trying to end it. It’s not like we could ever marry. Maybe he’s just being a realist and I’m the fool.

  “Are you alright, miss?” Shera’s small voice pulled me from my thoughts, her hands absentmindedly twisting my long hair into an elegant coif. Her eyes reflected a genuine concern, and I smiled sadly at her. She was the only one I had confided in at the beginning of this mess, and her discretion had proven her trustworthiness to me.

  “Just troubles of the heart.”

  She nodded in sympathy. “James?” The corner of my mouth curled in acknowledgment. My soft-spoken handmaid returned her focus to her work, glancing at me in the mirror. “Jealousy makes monsters of us all, my lady.”

  We arrived once again at the palace, though this time with no fanfare or warming braziers. I clutched my wolf pelt cloak about me as we made our way up the steps and into the castle. A crisp-mannered doorman escorted us with alacrity to the private wing. No chamber in Crofter’s Castle was small, but the private dining room and adjoining salons were cozy and welcoming compared to the vastness of the formal ballroom.

  As I’d come to expect, Aubrey was quick to greet me at the entrance, though I noted that Leon was not in attendance. Instead, our dinner companions were largely strangers to me. My gregarious companion swept me to a quiet side of the parlor with a decent view of the landscape and deposited a glass into my hand.

  “The tall fellow in the drab doublet is Lord Ignatus Caerus, the Royal Physician, and beside him is his wife Lynn. Their son Mateo is there,” Aubrey gestured subtly to a group of young gentlemen across the room. Mateo fidgeted nervously, looking very young under his amber curls. “He’s just come of age for Court this past autumn, and I’m sure he’d rather be anywhere but here.”

  “And to his left?” I inquired.

  “The twins of Ardontus House: Ila and Ero. Ero will inherit, of course, but that doesn’t keep his sister from being his constant competition.” He gestured to an elegant couple currently locked in conversation with my parents. “Their parents, Lord Miko and Lady Cheza.”

  My education continued for several more minutes, including a recitation to ensure my accuracy and avoid embarrassment. Just when I felt I’d gotten my bearings, the door abruptly opened and a small cluster of sultry figures glided into the room. Their silk doublets and gowns shimmered the deepest blue I’d ever seen. The women were adorned with delicate silver jewelry, the men each with a single small silver hoop in one ear. Long hair, darker even than my own, fell in a straight cascade down the women’s backs, unpinned and undecorated, sleek in the light. The men kept theirs nearly as long but caught back in a variety of ways. What captured my attention most, however, was their eyes: gray, with a slight hint of blue, like a tempest on the sea.

  “Van Dryns,�
�� Aubrey murmured.

  The retinue split off to make courteous greetings to various groups of company. I noticed the eldest couple approach my father and Lord Chamberlain, clasping hands and exchanging polite bows.

  “The patriarchs, of course, must sniff each other for weaknesses,” my companion scoffed, eyeing our parents. “Yuri and Tasha Van Dryn, heads of the Van Dryn Trading Enterprise and Lords of Daria province.” He downed the rest of his glass and traded it for a full one, waving it at the room as a whole. “And, of course, his posse of various kin.” I fully intended to ask Aubrey about the manner of his apparent disapproval, but was made to pause when a pair of tempest eyes locked onto mine from across the room. I wanted to look away. I tried. I couldn’t.

  He had his mother’s elegant mouth and his father’s broad shoulders. Like many of his House, his age was hard to place, but I estimated him to be in his late twenties. Blue-black hair was carefully plaited and tied with a length of black silk that matched his doublet. He had the bearing of a fighter, but as he excused himself and crossed the room toward us, I noticed his smooth rolling gait. Aubrey muttered something I couldn’t make out, and then he was upon us, offering a crisp bow to me that I enjoyed more than I should have.

  “Good evening, my lady.” Gods, even his voice was like silk.

  “Elivya, may I introduce Adrian Van Dryn. Adrian, this is Miss Elivya fen Lazerin.” Aubrey made a good show of propriety, but I could feel the tension in his frame beside me.

  Adrian’s eyes never left mine, though he addressed my companion. “Much obliged, Aubrey. I hope our late arrival hasn’t inconvenienced anyone.”

  “We are waiting for the King and Queen. I am told it should be any moment.” My friend’s annoyance crept into his voice.

  “Perhaps later in the evening,” he directed at me, “I might beg the honor of a dance?”

  I flushed. “I don’t know that there is to be any music, my lord.”

  The corner of his mouth twitched. “Nevertheless.”

  After a moment, I caved under the intensity of his gaze. “Of course.”

  His hand lifted mine to his lips. “I’ll hold you to it.”

  When he turned to leave us, releasing me from his mesmerizing gaze, I felt as though a great breath I’d been holding had finally been released. “Callous twit,” Aubrey muttered beside me.

  “He seemed perfectly courteous, to me. What is the manner of your disapproval of his family?” Behind me, I could hear the doors swinging open once again.

  “That, my dove, is a story for another time. Duty calls.” We turned with everyone else in the room to offer our obeisance as the King and Queen of Alesia entered the room.

  “My friends!” Amenon beamed at us, brass eyes lit with joy. “I am so glad you are here. Shall we?” he gestured to the doorway that led to the dining room, and we all filed in.

  I would say that the dinner was uneventful, and it was, but for my furtive glances down the table to spy on one dark-haired acquaintance. He seemed not to notice, though across the table Aubrey shot daggers at me and shook his head almost imperceptibly. My mother eventually pinched me under the table and I dragged my attention back to the conversation at hand. Our family had been given a place of honor near the head of the table, and my parents were talking animatedly to the King and Queen. I was quickly reminded of my courtly duties and contributed a polite question or two to the conversation. Rishel was a keen conversationalist, especially when it came to the arts, and I found myself liking her quite a bit.

  As the dinner drew to an end and the plates were cleared away, more wine was served and the King stood at the head of the table. “Excellent food, good company; I don’t see why the evening should end. Join me in the salon, won’t you?” A cheer rose around the table, and we all followed the glowing newlyweds into the adjoining parlor. It was generously well-appointed and spacious, and a quartet of musicians in the corner struck up a cheerful tune as we entered. My parents and many others retired to the plush couches arrayed in clusters for continued conversation. Some strolled and stretched their bellies after the meal, walking slow laps around the room and admiring the paintings on the wall. Amenon and Rishel, however, had eyes only for one another. After sharing a couch for the better part of an hour, he led her to the open center of the room. We all watched, enchanted, as they floated across the floor - love, in its purest form, as Adulil willed it at the dawn of our era. The scent of lilies hung in the air.

  “At last,” I heard my mother murmur, sinking back into the adoring arms of my father.

  After a few minutes, Rishel gave Amenon a tender kiss and bid him to wait. She crossed the room and, with a smile, pulled Miko and Cheza Ardontus from their couch and onto the floor, shortly followed by my parents and several Van Dryns, before returning to her bereft but patient King. Aubrey laughed and tugged me to my feet, sweeping me into the rhythm of the musicians’ cadence. Whether it was Adulil’s presence, the lively waltz, or too much wine, I will never know, but that was the first truly joyous moment I’d experienced since returning to Court.

  We danced unfettered for an hour or more, and I thought my stormy-eyed admirer might claim his due, but our paths never quite crossed on the floor. Our eyes met through the crowd on several occasions, but we were each waylaid by another partner until one by one, couples retired in exhaustion. Outside the row of tall windows along one end of the salon, the moon climbed across the starlit sky and the crowd thinned until only a handful of us remained. We rested our hammered feet on couches. Servants brought blankets and stoked the hearth against the winter chill as we sipped watered wine and chatted. The King’s increasingly casual demeanor sobered me. I doubted many were graced with such moments, in his true company as trusted friends.

  “Do you intend to commission the portrait straight-away, then?” My mother was discussing the presence of House Ardontus at the castle. While both Miko and Cheza were celebrated artists, and their House had close ties to Rishel’s own family, they were rarely seen at court. Their province of Arradon lay far to the west.

  Amenon tucked a stray lock of russet hair behind his wife’s ear and smiled. “I saw no reason to wait. She is my queen, and her beauty should be immortalized in marble, as all queens before her.”

  “And preferably before I no longer fit my gowns!” she laughed her musical laugh and touched her belly.

  And your sons will unseat young Selice from her position as heir to the throne. I glanced around at my companions and found no traces of the uneasiness I felt at the notion.

  The conversation meandered through various other topics before landing on one that pulled my flagging attention back to the present.

  “You’ve only just returned from sea, then?” Lord Chamberlain queried.

  Adrian sat in a high-backed armchair, a glass of watered Eradine red in one hand. He watched Augustus’ face as he replied, “It is my duty to patrol the coastal waters with my men.”

  “Could you not oversee operations from your port city? Maintain a central command?”

  Lord Yuri leaned forward on his couch. “Van Dryn men do not lead from armchairs in their manor houses. Every generation of my House has fought to maintain our family’s hold on the White Sea. Our fleet ensures that all vessels traveling in Alesian waters carry honest goods.”

  My mother raised her brow at him. “Every vessel? Surely there is too much coastline to keep an eye on it all.”

  He waved his hand dismissively. “The occasional privateer slips by our watch, but not many. We confiscate shiploads of pirated merchandise every month.” He deferred to the King with a nod of obeisance. “In the name of the Crown, of course.”

  Rishel contemplated her glass. “And how many seized goods make their way to the Royal Treasury, I wonder?” She tilted her head and eyed Yuri, who drew himself up indignantly.

  “All recovered goods bearing the mark of Alesian nobility are returned whenever possible, as is dictated by law.”

  Long lashes fluttered as her eyes narrowed
slightly. “A good thing, then, that you are a man of honor.”

  He bristled at her subtle accusation. “My house has maintained the King’s Navy for hundreds of years. Not a generation passes that doesn’t dedicate one of its sons to serve as Royal Admiral. We secure trade alliances that benefit all in this kingdom, Majesty, not only ourselves.” He nodded to her gown. “That silk you wear was brought in on our merchant ships. The establishment of that particular trade alliance cost many Darian lives, as does the protection of its sea route.”

  Amenon’s voice rang out, “Enough.” He sighed wearily. “The Crown does not doubt the loyalty or dedication of your House, Yuri. The spoils of the sea are your purview, and will remain so.”

  Lord Van Dryn wrestled his anger into submission and bowed from his seat. “Majesty.”

  An awkward silence followed. I was sad that the previously exceptional evening had turned so sour, and was sure it could not be salvaged.

  “To answer your question, my lord poet,” Adrian’s voice rolled into the silence. “Men will obey a commander from afar, certainly. And perhaps on a strategic level, it would make better sense to remove myself from harm’s way, but to stand shoulder to shoulder with your men is to earn their respect and their loyalty in a way that cannot be gained otherwise.”

  Augustus took the softening of the collective tone as an opportunity to regale our company with a comical ballad featuring an impotent merchant captain and his battle to resist the seductive call of an island full of sirens. The mood in the room turned lighter, and we all laughed as the merchant finally arrived at his destination port, only to reveal that his precious cargo was a shipment of maidenhair saplings, a known aphrodisiac, for the ruling lord’s garden.

  The King and Queen stood from their couch, and bid us stay as long as we wished before they retired for the evening. Yuri and Tasha soon followed, leading their retinue of various kin, Adrian trailing them with an apologetic bow my way. As the sun began to blush the night sky with the earliest traces of dawn, we departed.