Keys to the Realm, page 14
Neither did she. So, she kept her tone polite and casual as she said, “She needs to learn to fight, so she can protect herself.”
“I’ll protect her. Seth will. Father will. The hundreds of guards in this Palace will. She doesn’t need to—”
“She wants to—”
“She won’t.” He folded his arms. “I won’t let her.”
Aaryana huffed out a small laugh. “You’re not King yet.”
“You won’t understand!” Wyett threw up his arms. “You’re used to seeing your brothers and sisters fighting and getting hurt; it’s all you know. It’s not like that here.”
“It’s not just me and my siblings,” she informed him. “Everyone in Adgar learns how to fight. It’s taught at school.” She shrugged. “It’s a good... life skill.”
“Well, there are plenty of people with that life skill that can protect my sister—”
“Why are you so against this?” Aaryana asked, genuinely intrigued. He didn’t have a problem with Erisa learning to fight.
He sucked in a long breath. “Seth has always been sick. I’ve always had my fire. Can’t Quin be... normal for a change? Be a child?”
“She won’t be a child for much longer. And she’s a Fresdan Princess. The very first one. She’s already not normal.”
“Perhaps. But let her keep her childhood for a little longer.” He sounded like a parent, a father.
Or a mother... Had Dakna Deyati wanted to shelter Quin from violence? Was Wyett trying to respect his mother’s wishes?
“She can have both, you know,” she said softly.
“Aaryana, please. I don’t want to argue with you. I don’t like it.”
“Neither do I,” she told him immediately.
A hint of a smile. “So, can you drop this?”
She sighed. That smile—how could she make him frown when she’d seen it? “Fine. For now.”
Another ship had been spotted coming towards Adgar this week, moving faster than the Old King’s vessel. It would probably dock this afternoon. People were saying that it was a seabird, coming with the emergency supplies that Queen Noora had promised. But it’s coming from the north somewhere... Rudro would be mad to not ride out to the docks to investigate.
With Leesha, Parth, and most of the Court preparing to receive the unexpected visitors aboard the seabird heading their way, Malin decided to talk to her father. Everyone would be too preoccupied to be suspicious about her leaving her room on a dry day. For the past two days, she’d let her father rest; she couldn’t wait any longer to unload her burden on him.
She found him in the study of his new quarters, the one the Old King and Queen had moved to after Leesha’s coronation. “Father, I was hoping to speak to you, if I may.”
Her father flipped over the papers in front of him and looked up. His smile was just as tired as it had been on his first day back. He gestured for her to take the chair opposite him.
Malin hesitated. “I trust that you’ve had enough rest, Father?”
“Physically, yes.” He sighed before adding, “Mentally, I’ve never been so restless.”
Malin sat down. “What’s troubling you?”
“All that is happening in Adgar.” He shook his head. “My advisors and friends have been flocking to me with complaints and reports of everything that is not right with our Kingdom.” He pointed at the papers on his desk. “All this was waiting for me when I got home. Most of the Outskirts has drowned, Malin! How did that happen?”
“It’s all the rain, Father,” she mumbled.
“And what is that silly girl doing with my son-in-law?” His eyes flashed, enraged.
“Myraa?”
“It’s all everyone seems to be talking about! Which is ridiculous, because there are other pressing matters to address.”
Her father listed all the issues that his former Courtiers had brought to his attention, waving different pieces of parchment in the air as he mentioned them. The expansion of the military. The changes at the Royal Academy. The ruined crops. The twins’ joint marriage proposal. The monitoring of everyone’s movements within the castle.
“I was planning to tell you everything once you’d had a proper rest...”
“I know.”
“Have you been avoiding coming to Court—avoiding Leesha—because of all this?” Malin chewed on her lips.
“I’m avoiding her because I’m too angry with her! And what is her husband thinking, taking a mistress so soon after his marriage?” He shook his head, disgusted.
“I can’t believe Myraa is... and why Leesha’s turning a blind eye to it.” Malin squirmed in her seat. “She’s pretending that she doesn’t know. But she does.”
“They’re not exactly keeping it a secret. Lilia was saying that they drink from each other’s goblets.” His lips twitched in distaste.
Yes, Malin had heard about that from her ladies. “I always thought that she hated Parth.”
“There’s something not quite right with Myraa. I’ll talk to her.”
“You will?”
“And I’ll put a stop to it. As well as every other stupid decision that my daughter has been making lately.”
Already, Malin felt better.
Thursday morning’s training session was cancelled. The King called a Council Meeting straight after breakfast and Wyett and Seth were there until lunch. His father felt that it was time he officially spoke about the rebel leader with his Council. Wyett had surreptitiously watched Rozlene for her reaction but she didn’t do or say anything he could fault her on.
Everyone acted as though they didn’t believe that the rebels possessed a Royal Pearl and agreed that they wouldn’t justify the rebel leader’s claims by reacting to it. However, Wyett had seen their longing to see the pearl for themselves. For their own sakes, he hoped they didn’t sneak out of the Palace to indulge their curiosity.
At the end of the meeting, Wyett and Seth were the last to leave the room. The Crown Prince took advantage of this moment. “Seth, can I talk to you?”
His brother was at the door. He stopped, shut the door, and turned around.
When Wyett gestured to a chair, Seth took it, asking, “Is this about the seabird?”
Wyett’s brows creased. “The seabird?”
“No?” Seth shrugged.
“What about the seabird?” Wyett took a seat next to his brother. He hadn’t thought about that ship in a while. It’s been a month since it set sail...
Seth verbalised Wyett’s next thought: “It’s probably close to Adgar now. Are you worried about what they’ll find out about Aaryana?”
“No.”
He was at a point where nothing he learned about Aaryana would change the fact that he loved her. Yes, he might like her less, trust her less, hate her more, but his love for her was as eternal as the fire angel’s flames.
“She’s probably told you everything you ever wanted to know about her.” Seth grinned. “The two of you are spending more and more time in the eastern tower these days...”
“I haven’t asked her about Adgar at all.”
It hadn’t occurred to him to ask her about her banishment since they’d become... friends. He supposed it didn’t matter what she’d done to get herself exiled. Once Rozlene’s treachery was brought to light, Wyett and Aaryana wouldn’t need to keep up their act of being lovers. The two of them could pretend to fall out and end their courtship. They wouldn’t get married so the news from Adgar wouldn’t affect the Kingdom.
“I suppose you don’t care anymore,” Seth said with a cheeky smile, “and that’s good.” He gave Wyett a reassuring nod. “Her past is her past. Her future is with you.”
If only...
“Aaryana said she spoke to you about the curse,” Wyett said the next second, “and how to break it?”
Seth was startled by the abrupt change in topic. Eventually, he said, “No.”
Wyett frowned.
“She doesn’t know how to break it,” his brother said in a detached tone. “She just knows of a way to... dilute it out of our bloodline.” Seth sighed. “You know how I feel about marriage.”
“And you know how I feel about that.”
“You think the decision is up to me. After we found out about Micah’s mother, you told me that you’d support me, help me, if I wanted to marry. I don’t, so your help is not needed. But thank you.” Seth rose to his feet.
Wyett stood up and blocked his path. “What if it works, Seth? Don’t you want children? Don’t you want to be a father?”
“My children won’t cure me.” He made an exasperated sound. “My middle son might be less affected by the curse but he’ll still be affected. And I’ll still die before they grow up. I’ll still leave a young widow behind. I can’t do that, Wyett. I won’t. That’s not who I am. I thought you knew that?”
Seth was able to walk around him and exit the meeting room because Wyett had frozen at the words ‘I’ll still die’. Damn Aaryana for putting him in a situation where he had to hear Seth say that. Damn you, Aaryana!
“The main thing I wanted to talk to you about is... my investigation,” Malin said, lowering her voice.
Her father nodded. “Go tell the guards outside to not let anyone come in,” he instructed, referring to the men posted outside his chambers. “And lock this door before you sit down.”
By the time she sat back down at her father’s desk, what she wanted to bring up first was her mother’s family. “Father, did you know that Mother’s family were immigrants?”
The Old King was taken aback by that. After several seconds’ thought, he said, “Her ancestors were, yes.” He looked uncomfortable all of a sudden.
“Why did you never mention it?”
“The Nidiyas emigrated to Adgar a long time ago, Malin. Even they don’t talk about it.” He leaned back in his chair. “Because we’ve always been a peaceful people, we’ve attracted immigrants from all over the south, you know that.
“The Vijkantis have ruled Adgar for a very long time. We’ve never been challenged for the Throne. The whole of the south knows that we’re too strong to be conquered. It’s in our blood. Vijkanti means—”
“Superior.”
Malin had heard this story many times in her childhood. In the dialect spoken by Adgaris when the Vijkantis first took the Throne, the word Vijkant meant ‘superior’ or ‘above all’. Meaning: Better than everyone else. And she supposed Vijkanti blood must be special, seen as they’d held onto power for so long.
“I remember. But Father,” she said with a moan in her tone, “did you know that the Nidiya family was originally from—”
“Roshdan.”
“—Khadak.” Malin blinked. Did he say Roshdan? “What did you say? Roshdan?”
“What? No. I meant Khadak.”
“No, you didn’t.” He said Roshdan, and that’s what he meant.
He found Aaryana in the training hall with Erisa and Quin, all three of them in gear. She was swinging a wooden waster at his sister, very slowly, and allowing Quin to block the strike with her own waster. Erisa was on the bench, her eyes on Aaryana’s feet—wanting to improve her own footing, no doubt. Their guards were positioned around the perimeter.
“Quin, Erisa,” Wyett called. His voice boomed in the high-ceilinged hall.
Aaryana and Quin froze. Erisa jumped to her feet.
“Guards. Everyone. Leave.” The last two words were a roar. “Not you,” he added to Aaryana when she began to follow the others out. “You, stay,” he said with a sneer on his face.
She halted and sucked in a breath.
When it was just the two of them, she said, “I’m sorry, I know today’s training was moved to the afternoon, but Princess Quin and Erisa wanted some advice and I was showing them...” She trailed off when he stalked towards her.
“Show me,” he said in a deadly calm voice.
He walked past her to the cabinet with the real weapons and picked up two swords. When he turned back around, she was facing him.
“I was just going through the basics,” she murmured. “You know it all.”
He threw her one of the swords and she caught it easily. “Then, show me something new.”
Aaryana placed the weapon on the floor. When she straightened up, she shook her head at him.
“No? Why—because I won’t be able to take it?”
“No, you’ll be able to take it,” she assured him. “You just shouldn’t have to.” Aaryana spun around and began to walk towards the exit.
He stopped her with, “Because I’m a Prince?”
“No.”
“Because I’m not good enough for you?”
“No!” she snapped, turning around to glare at him. “Because you’re—”
She pressed her lips into a thin line.
“What?” Wyett barked. He walked up to her and growled, “Because I’m what?”
“Because you’re... you.” The last word was a whisper. She inhaled deeply before turning around to leave.
Wyett dropped to his knees and swung his sword at her legs. She jumped, avoiding the blade. He was up on his feet when she twisted around.
“You did not just do that,” she said through her teeth, eyes narrowed in indignation.
He spun on the spot, bringing his weapon around to aim for her waist. This time, she performed a back-flip to get out of the way.
“I think I did it again.” Wyett raised an eyebrow in challenge when she was facing him again.
She gave him a look that said, You’ve had your fun. Now I’m going. Aaryana made to leave again.
“Is that how you won all your duels for your Contest? By running away?”
She turned around and snapped, “Fine.” Aaryana retrieved the sword. “If that’s the only way to get your frustrations out of you, fine, go ahead.” She took up her fighting stance, her chin jutting out.
“Make sure to give it your all.”
“I always do with you.” Her tone added a couple more words to that sentence: Unlike you.
That was all the ammunition he needed and he pounced.
Her father folded his arms and leaned them on his desk.
“I meant Khadak, Malin,” he said in casual tone. “Now, what do Kanona’s ancestors have to do with the missing people?”
Malin sighed inwardly. He wasn’t going to tell her what he knew. And he knew something. It begged the question of whether she ought to be truthful with him.
She couldn’t decide yet, so she said, “Nothing. I heard about it in passing.” She shrugged.
The Old King clearly wanted to probe further but chose not to—in case she pushed him about Roshdan.
“I see. So, tell me about your investigation.”
“Sorry, Father. I didn’t find anything.”
He wasn’t going to disclose anything about the Nidiyas, who were weaved into this tapestry, so what could he help her with?
“Oh, it seemed as though you had—”
“No. I’m sorry.” Malin jumped to her feet. “I ought to go see what this seabird is doing in Adgar.”
“I heard about that,” he mused. “I wonder where it's coming from.”
“You know, sparring is not the best way to deal with one’s frustrations.” She was out of breath, just like Wyett was, as she blocked an array of strikes from his sword in quick succession.
“Oh, really?” Wyett panted. “I would have thought this was exactly how you dealt with your problems in Adgar.”
This could be a ballroom—they could be dancing—the way they were whizzing around the room, the drumbeat supplied by the clash of their swords. Aaryana was leading the waltz, ducking and diving and rolling away from Wyett’s blade and only using hers to block. He, on the other hand, was determined to win.
Only victory was going to douse the anger he felt towards her. Or Seth. If his brother came and asked him to stop, or told Wyett to fight him instead, he would back down.
The day he’d heard that Aaryana had smuggled a letter aboard the seabird for that Rudro fellow, he’d been so furious with himself for falling for her that he’d beaten the life out of his guards. If it weren’t for Seth coming to get him, the raging fire in his veins may well have burned him from the inside out.
“On the contrary,” Aaryana said as she twirled away from his swinging sword. “Whenever someone made me angry, I just plotted revenge against them. Planning and scheming distracted me from feeling those emotions. So, they couldn’t affect the water.”
“How often did Rudro make you angry?” When was he going to stop asking her about that man?
When would she tell him the truth about him? The letter she’d written to him was never meant to be sent...
“Not half as much as you do,” she replied, “and I’ve known him almost my entire life.” Aaryana pushed her sword against his, trying to back him up against the wall.
“He’ll be reading your letter in a matter of days,” he told her, pushing back at her blade. “The seabird is most likely in Adgar now.”
That surprised her enough that he was able to shove her away with his sword and sweep her off her feet with his leg. She fell flat on her back and he pointed the tip of his sword at her throat. Only for her to trip him up with her feet. Losing his footing, he dropped on top of her.
She was lucky that he’d spread his arms out to try and keep his balance, else his sword could have pierced her throat. It could have gone anywhere.
“Are you mad?” he hissed in her face. “Who does that to someone holding a sword at their throat?” Wyett shook his head, annoyed and baffled.
“Careful, or you’ll sound like you didn’t want to hurt me.”
“I didn’t.”
“Then, what was this all about?”
Wyett didn’t respond.
“Like I said earlier, there are other ways of dealing with our problems. Such as talking.”
“I don’t want to talk,” he growled.
“Don’t growl at me!” Her grey eyes flashed.
“Why? What are you going to do about it?”
This time, it was Aaryana’s turn to be quiet.
