Ashes of Roses (Tales of the Latter Kingdoms Book 4) (20 page)

“Of course not,” my sister echoed, and took another sip of wine. “I would put you out of your misery and dance with you next, but I know that would only make me a source of bitter rebuke for taking you out of circulation so close to the fateful hour.”

“And are you going to dance yet again with the Duke of Marric’s Rest? For it seems you have been keeping him rather to yourself this evening.”

Her lashes dropped low, and she paused before replying, the teasing note back in her voice, “No, I think we have danced enough to set tongues wagging. For you know that was my sole aim — to draw as much attention as I could from you.”

“I thank you for that, although I am not sure it was as efficacious as you had hoped. Still, I appreciate your sacrifice.”

“Beast,” she said, and let out a small laugh as she tapped me on the arm with her fan. “But no, I am going to dance the last dance with Lord Hildar, and see if I can distract him from fretting that his daughter is making a spectacle of herself with Lord Senric.”

“A good plan. In fact, you have given me an idea. I shall have the Lady Gabrinne dance the last dance with me. Since I know her heart is bestowed elsewhere, I will not have to worry about giving her false hope about her chances for the crown. It is an excellent solution, don’t you think?”

“Quite excellent,” Lyarris agreed. “In fact, I see the musicians preparing themselves once again, so you had best find the lady in question before Lord Senric quite spirits her away.”

I bowed to my sister — and winked at the same time, to which she gave me a quite unladylike grin and turned away, no doubt to make herself available to Lord Hildar. And might she have joy of him as a partner. A good man, and a trifle enthusiastic on the dance floor. I could only hope he wouldn’t step on all ten of my sister’s toes.

The brilliant emerald green of Lady Gabrinne’s gown made her easy enough to find. I paused next to her, noting that she stood with Ashara and Lord Senric, and tried my best to appear as noncommittal as possible. “My Lady Gabrinne.”

She turned to me in some surprise, but curtseyed immediately. “Your Majesty.”

“If you would honor me with the last dance?”

Instead of flushing, as most girls in a similar situation would do, her dark eyes danced, and she sent a mischievous look over her shoulder at Ashara, as if she had guessed my game at once. “Of course, Your Majesty.”

I inclined my head toward Ashara and Lord Senric, then led Gabrinne away, seeing that the Duke had bowed to Ashara, and was obviously asking her to be his companion for the dance. Excellent. She would be in good hands with him. And after that…

After that, she would be mine.

Once the music had started and Gabrinne and I made the customary honors to one another, she tilted her head up at me, eyes twinkling. “A good play, Your Majesty. For of course you could not dance this last
verdralle
with Ashara, much as you would have liked to…and I was a safe substitute, for of course I do not wish to marry you.”

I had known this already, but to hear her speak it so baldly did take me aback somewhat. “Oh, you don’t?”

“Not at all,” she said airily. “I expect Lord Senric and I will announce our betrothal to my father this very night, to cheer him up after he hears that you have chosen Ashara Millende and not me.”

“And did she tell you this?” I asked, trying to keep the amusement out of my voice.

“Oh, no. Ashara is far too well-mannered for that. But I am not stupid — I have seen how you look at one another, and when you gave me that note at the musicale to pass to her? Well, I knew that clinched the whole thing.”

“You are a very observant young woman,” I remarked, before turning her under one arm and drawing her back to me. “Perhaps I should give you a post in the foreign service office. No doubt you could pass all sorts of intelligence back to me.”

“Oh, yes, I could,” she said, eyes shining. Then her expression fell a bit. “But I do not think Lord Senric would be all that excited about such a proposition. He is
such
a homebody, you know. He’s always going on about Gahm and how much I’m going to love it there. I’m sure it is very fine…but I think I will do what I can to encourage him to stay in town whenever possible.”

“I wish you luck with that,” I told her. I knew the Duke quite well, and also knew he did not share Gabrinne’s love of the capital city and its diversions. But that was for them to work out as they could.

She raised an eyebrow. “I believe you might be laughing at me, Your Majesty…just the smallest bit. I do not mind. You’ll learn soon enough that the best thing a man can do in this world is keep his wife happy.”

“Is that so?”

“Oh, yes. Papa does everything as Mamma wishes, and the household runs quite smoothly. Or at least as smoothly as a household can that has five boys in it.”

I began to see where the Lady Gabrinne had gotten her temperament. No doubt her mother was a force of nature as well. My tone neutral, I said, “Then I’m sure you and Lord Senric will sort it out soon enough.”

“Of that I have no doubt.”

The music began to slow and soften to its closing chords, so I said nothing else, but only led her through the final steps until the song was ended, and we made our bows and curtseys to one another. My muscles seemed to tense, for the moment was now upon us. Somehow, though, I managed to thank Gabrinne in quite normal tones.

“No, thank
you
, Your Majesty,” she replied. Then, in a whisper, “And best of luck with your announcement.”

I nodded and made my way through the crowd, which now had quieted and was watching the dais, expecting my arrival there at any moment. The musicians had already gathered up their instruments and moved off to one side, leaving the platform empty for me and my family. My mother was even now ascending the steps, with my sister a few feet behind her. The guards had taken up their posts to either side, and the stage was set.

The young women pushed forward, leaving their dance partners behind. Perhaps there had been shared jokes and laughter, even flirtation, but one would not know that now. All of those faces were now tense, mouths tight, as they watched me mount the shallow set of three steps to the dais and take my position in its center.

I paused for a few seconds, then cleared my throat, wishing I had thought to steal a few sips of wine before I had to make the announcement. “My lords and ladies, I thank you all for your attendance tonight, and indeed, at all the events this week. It has been a very great pleasure for me to meet so many lovely and accomplished young women, but as you all know, only one of you can be my wife.” Another pause, as my gaze swept the crowd, searching for Ashara in her gleaming copper gown. There she was, nearly in the center and only one row back, with Gabrinne and Lord Senric at her side. Good. I would not have to wait for her to push her way from the very back of the throng.

“As you can imagine,” I continued, “this was a very difficult decision, one which required a good deal of deliberation.” To my right, I heard something that sounded suspiciously like a snort coming from my sister, but when I cast a quick sidelong glance at her, she looked serene and calm enough. “In the end, however, I knew I must go with the choice of my heart…and that is the Lady Ashara Millende. Ashara?” I asked, and extended a hand to her.

A wave of pink spread over her cheeks, a flush I could see even at this distance, but she bit her lip and moved forward, leaving the crowd behind, and beginning to mount the steps of the dais. At the same time I heard a murmur spread through the crowd, which was only to be expected. However, the murmur did not subside, but grew louder, eventually resolving itself into a single woman’s voice crying out, “No, no! You cannot choose her! She is an impostor!”

Ashara stopped on the middle step, the pretty pink disappearing from her cheeks, leaving her pale as death. One hand went to her mouth, and I thought I heard her murmur, “Oh, no…”

The crowd parted to reveal a tall burly-looking young man in the plain dark clothes of a servant and a pair of women, one of an age with my mother, dressed well enough, but with a tight, cruel set to her mouth. And the other — the other —

I blinked, but that did nothing to change the sight before me. For it seemed that I looked on Ashara, but an Ashara dressed in rags, her threadbare chemise hanging off one slender shoulder, her gown of brown linen patched in multiple places. The servingman held her tightly by one arm, as if to prevent her escape.

“What is this?” I demanded, and turned to look at the woman I had thought to call my bride. “Do you — is this your twin?”

She shook her head, her eyes brimming with unshed tears.

“No twin, Your Majesty,” the hard-faced woman said, “but a very she-devil, using unholy magic to deceive you! Show them!”

For a few seconds the false Ashara hesitated. She said, looking straight at me, and appearing to ignore the young man who held her, “The only deception here was in the gowns and jewels the Lady Ashara wore. She is no impostor — she is the daughter of a baronet, just as she told you, a young woman whose birthright has been usurped by the very woman who accuses me…her stepmother.”

“And who are you, then?” I asked, and would not allow myself to feel any relief at her words.

She stood up straighter, and it was as if the air shimmered and danced around her, before it fell away to reveal a woman of middle years, well-dressed and prosperous-looking. “I am Therissa Larrin, Ashara’s aunt.”

At once the crowd began to shift and murmur, even as the blood seemed to chill in my veins. So the stepmother’s accusations of unholy magic were true. And that meant —

That meant the woman before me had just condemned herself to death. And not just herself, but the woman I loved.

Something in my face must have shifted, revealing my thoughts, for the woman stared at me with a horror equal to that which I felt, and she cried out, “Run, Ashara! Run, or your life is forfeit!”

Just the briefest hesitation, as Ashara raised despairing eyes to me. She mouthed something — it could have been
I love you
, or perhaps only
I’m sorry
— and then she bolted down the steps, past the startled guards, through the crowds. And as I watched, she seemed to
shift
— her gleaming red hair went dark, and the gown of brilliant copper changed to dull blue — making her much more difficult to distinguish.

But that was not the end of her aunt’s trickery, for even with that disguise, the guards still converged upon her. She changed again, to the semblance of an older nobleman, and then one of my men-at-arms themselves, as all collapsed in confusion, with everyone accusing those around them of being the young woman in disguise.

“Stop this!” I bellowed. “Seize her!”

I saw a faint smile play around the lips of the accursed sorceress who had caused the destruction of my dreams, and knew that Ashara had somehow gotten away. Perhaps some corner of my soul was relieved, but I could not let myself feel that now. Everything was done and gone to dust.

“Take the sorceress to the dungeon,” I said dully, then turned away as the guards converged upon this Therissa.

And pulling the heavy crown from my head, I stepped down from the dais and made my way out of the chamber as the crowd parted around me, silent and shocked. For once, even the chattering nobles of my court had nothing to say.

I left the ballroom, and did not look back.

A
shara

N
ot knowing
what else to do, I ran. Somehow my aunt had shielded me, kept me from capture, although she was not so lucky herself. I ran from the palace, out into the dark streets, noting dully that my appearance kept changing, that sometimes the skirts I held were blue, or green, or not even skirts at all, but the breeches and boots of a man. And then at last they were my own skirts of patched brown linen, and I knew she had stopped casting the spell.

What that meant, I did not know. Was she dead, given the sort of summary justice meted out to those found guilty of practicing magic? I could not let myself stop to think about that. I could not think about anything…especially the look of dawning horror in Torric’s eyes as he gazed upon me and realized the trick which had been played upon him.

I tore through the streets, glad I had watched from the windows of the carriage as it had taken me to and from my house to the palace, so I more or less knew the route. Once or twice I made a wrong turn and had to stop, gasping for a breath, on some unfamiliar street, praying a night watchman would not see me and demand to know my business. And one time I felt drunken hands grasping at me in the darkness, thinking a woman out alone at this hour must be there for one thing only. In terror I recoiled, feeling the sleeve of my chemise tear as I pulled away from his clutching hands.

Finally, though, I reached the house, which stood empty and quiet. Everyone must still be at the palace, facing the aftermath of my unmasking. Even Mari seemed to be gone; perhaps she, too, had accompanied my stepmother and Janks to the palace with their captive, although I had not noticed her. Whatever the reason for her absence, I knew I did not have much time. I would have to disappear, and that meant taking those things which might secure my survival.

Is it stealing, to take the property that rightfully should have been yours? I did not have time to split such legal hairs, but only seized a satchel from the downstairs closet and emptied a good deal of the silverware into it. Then it was upstairs to take a gown of Shelynne’s, and a pair of slippers, and one of her spare chemises. That truly was stealing, but I knew I had to look halfway respectable to sell any of the silver I had just stuffed into the satchel, and I could not do that wearing a threadbare workaday gown and a torn chemise.

No time to change here — I would have to find a safe place to do that elsewhere. I had just slipped back down the stairs when I saw Claris poking her head out of the kitchen door. Our gazes met, and her eyes widened.

“Ashara? What on earth?”

“I can’t explain,” I said, pushing past her to the back door. I knew I daren’t go out the front.

One hand reached out and took me by the arm. “Are you running away?”

“No — yes, well, I suppose you could call it that. Just please know that I never meant anyone any harm. I never — ” The tears welled up in my eyes, splintering the pleasant gloom of the candlelit hallway into a thousand shimmering pieces before me. No. I could not cry now. Later, perhaps, when I thought I was safe, I could weep enough to fill the very River Silth, but not now. “I have to go.
Please
, Claris!”

She let go of my arm. “You should have gone long before this, miss. Just don’t go hungry.” And she followed me into the kitchen, seized two of the fresh-baked loaves from the counter, and shoved them into my satchel. “Now, off with you! I will say I never saw you, if anyone asks.”

“Thank you, Claris,” I told her. There was so much more I wanted to say, so many thanks I wanted to give her for all her little stolen kindnesses over the years, but I knew there was not time enough for that.

So I ran again, this time down the back stairs and out into the courtyard, past the stables, and through the gate where I had stolen away every day so far this week. Only this time I wore no magical finery, and I looked forward to nothing more than a life on the run.

Oh, gods, Torric
, I thought then.
I am so sorry. I did not deceive you, not truly. My love for you was real, even if nothing else was.

S
ometime later I
found a disreputable little inn where they grudgingly agreed to take a single silver spoon in exchange for a night’s stay. Even I knew that was an extortionate price, but I did not have the will to argue with them, not when they probably guessed the spoon was stolen and they could have turned me in to the city guard had they so wished. Most likely they deemed it not worth the trouble. In any event, I made my way without further incident to a cramped little room on the third floor, huddled up on the thin mattress, which was not much better than my pallet back in the kitchen at home, and made myself go to sleep.

I would like to say that I felt better when I awoke. Unfortunately, I did not. There seemed to be little for me to do except put on my stolen clothing — at least I had taken one of Shelynne’s plainest gowns, a dress she only wore while at home, when not expecting company — and eat some bread, and decide what I should do next.

Iselfex was a very great city, and I could expect to hide there more or less safely. However, I knew I would have to do something to hide my hair, for its color was far too distinctive, and would be the one thing about my appearance that was sure to give me away. So after I washed my face and hands in the dingy water in the basin provided for me, I braided my hair tightly and coiled it around my head, then pulled my kerchief over that, making sure it was set far enough forward that none of the fine coppery strands around my forehead could be seen.

From the inn I first went to a silversmith’s, and concocted a story of how my parents had passed away and my relations had turned me out in the street, giving me nothing but some silver knives and spoons as my inheritance. Whether he believed this story or not, I could not tell, although my voice did have a fairly convincing quaver to it. But at least he did not cheat me like the people at the inn, and gave me a fair enough price for the pieces, enough ready coin that I knew I would not immediately starve, or find myself sleeping in the street.

I inquired of him as to the nearest apothecary, saying I needed a tincture of herbs to calm my nerves, and he directed me to a shop only a few doors down. While it was true that I could use some calming, that was not my reason for seeking out an apothecary. Several years ago my stepmother had begun to show streaks of iron-grey in her heavy dark hair, and had immediately begun to apply a dye an apothecary gave her. Ever since then her hair had been as raven-black as it was in her younger days, although she did have to use the concoction frequently, since the color began to wear away after several weeks.

It seemed the best way to disguise myself, as it was not the fashion for women to wear kerchiefs on their heads, save when performing menial tasks around the house. I purchased the dye, saying it was for my mother, and hurried out. From there I went back to the inn, paid some of my precious coin for several more basins of water, and effected my transformation, making sure to dye my eyebrows as well so they would not give me away. Luckily my eyelashes had always been much darker than my hair, and so the contrast was not too great.

Some hours later I descended the stairs and left the place. No one seemed to have paid me much mind, but I thought it wiser to move on to a more respectable inn in a better district. As I moved through the streets, I saw guards in the Imperial livery tacking up posters everywhere — much as they had when the Emperor first announced his quest for a bride, although their purpose this time was not quite so benign. No, these sheets had a not very good likeness of me on them, with my red hair taking a prominent place in the description beneath, along with the words “Wanted for Sorcery.”

Despite my new disguise, I kept my eyes downcast as I walked, fearful that at any moment one of them would see through my fragile concealment and call me out for the fugitive I was. But though I walked with my heart in my throat and my hands trembling, none of them seemed to notice me.

An hour or so later, I walked shakily into a hostel reserved for young women only, the sort of place where those looking for employment stayed whilst between situations. I had known such establishments existed, as Mari had spoken of them once or twice, and I thought this a far safer place than an inn where all types would come and go, and drink far too much. A young woman on her own was only a target in such a place, whereas here I thought I might be left alone.

The proprietress of the hostel, a stern-looking woman in her fifties named Madam Isling, inspected me from head to toe, and I all but quaked in my stolen slippers, thinking that surely she must notice a spot of dye I had not wiped away, or that my gown did not quite fit — Shelynne, while far more slender than her sister, was still of a more robust build than I. But after a long moment she gave a brisk nod and said, “Very well. And you said your name was…?”

“Mari,” I supplied. It was a common enough name, and my wits at the moment were too addled to come up with anything better. “Mari Gelsandre.”

“Well, Mari, you look and sound like a respectable enough girl. You may have a room here until you find your next situation, but you are expected to pitch in and help with the upkeep and the cooking. That is how I keep my rates low enough for you girls to have a place to stay.”

“Of course, ma’am,” I said at once. Truly, I did not think my duties could be any more onerous than they had been at my stepmother’s home, and I was so grateful to have found a haven that I believed I would have cheerfully doubled the labor required as long as it meant I could stay here without detection.

From there she directed me upstairs, saying I would be sharing a room with a girl called Lindry, who had to leave her last situation rather unexpectedly, but who had been given a small sum so that she would not find herself on the streets. And I nodded and hurried away, clutching my satchel, glad that Madam Isling did not seem inclined to ask any more questions of me.

Once I entered the upstairs hall, I found a small knot of four or five girls gathered there, talking in excited half-whispers.

“…And they are looking
everywhere
for her!” one girl, small and round, with eyes equally round, but quite large, said. “The Emperor has said he will scour the kingdom until he finds her!”

I realized who the “her” of this pronouncement must be and schooled my features to a more or less neutral expression, even as I sidled closer, hoping to hear more.

“But how did she even get away?” a second girl, this one tall and thin, inquired.

“Oh, it was the most amazing thing!” the round girl exclaimed. “All the guards crowded around her, and it seemed there was no chance of escape, when suddenly there was the most blinding flash of blue light, and she was gone! The sorceress had sent her away — miles and miles away!”

Despite everything, I had to fight to keep a smile from my lips. Apparently the tale had already grown in the scant hours since I had made my escape from the palace. Would that my aunt had truly possessed such skills! But no, all her sorcery lay in illusion and disguise, and I murmured a quiet thanks that she had been able to summon those powers to protect me even as the guards seized her.

My heart wrenched within me then, for I still did not know whether she even yet lived. And Torric — was he searching for me so that I might meet my own punishment? Did he hate me now, hate me for what I had done?

I must have made some small sound, for the little group of girls paused and looked over at me. Summoning a smile, I took a few steps forward and said, “Do not let me interrupt you. It sounds like quite the tale.”

“It is not a
tale
!” the round girl replied in indignation. “It is true, and what actually happened at the palace last night, just as His Majesty was about to announce his new bride. Have you not heard anything of it?”

“I confess I haven’t,” I said. “Or rather, I saw some of His Majesty’s guards posting notices about the city as I made my way here, but I thought the girl on them must be some sort of common criminal.”

“Well, it is the most astonishing thing, for she is the woman he fell in love with, but it was all sorcery, a spell cast by the girl’s aunt to bind him to her, and when the plot was revealed, she was spirited away before she could be captured.”

“And — and did the sorceress get away as well?” Thank goodness, my voice did not shake at all as I asked the question.

“No, she did not. She is now in the dungeon, and people are wondering why the Emperor has not already cut off her head, but perhaps he wants to question her first, or some such thing. At any rate, she will not be casting spells again.”

The words “cut off her head” caused another lump to form in the pit of my stomach, but I forced myself to remain calm. Yes, Aunt Therissa had been captured, and things were certainly very dire. However, Torric had not yet ordered her execution, apparently. What that meant, I was not sure. Perhaps it was as the strange girl said, and he only wished to question her more. Or perhaps he could not bring himself to execute a woman, even one who had brought death upon herself by using forbidden magic.

“I’m Lindry,” the round girl said. “You’re new — are you to share my room?”

“Yes,” I replied. “I am Mari Gelsandre.”

“Well, Mari,” she said frankly. “You’re very pretty, so I doubt you will have too much trouble finding a situation soon enough, unless the lady of the house is the jealous type, or there is a son with roving hands, which happened at my last house, only they were good enough to recognize it was not my fault, and so they gave me a letter of reference and a month’s pay, and so I think I shall do well enough.”

This was all said in one breath, and I began to realize I most likely would not have to offer too much in the way of conversation. Well enough, as I feared I would soon run out of lies to tell.

“Thank you, Lindry,” I said. “Would you be so kind as to show me our room, as I have walked very far today, and am quite tired.”