Quite a lot to stomach. An odd coincidence of words, given the fire in Tasia’s gut. Unconsciously, she placed a hand across her middle.
“Yes, it is a lot to stomach,” Tasia said. Then, remembering that she was trying to train her new servant, she sharpened her tone. “Although I don’t see how any of that is a guard’s business.”
Joslyn nodded. “Apologies, your Majesty.” She hesitated a moment. “Princess… if it eases your burden any… I want you to know that no assassin will get near you again. Not while I remain in your service.”
“That eases my burden none,” Tasia said. “I’ve known you for all of — what? Four hours of the clock? Five? And as you pointed out, the attempt on my life was only last night. Then you suddenly appear today? For all I know, you are my assassin’s accomplice, weaseling your way into the palace to finish the job.”
She stalked past Joslyn, continuing down the corridor at a brisk pace. She could hear the guard’s boots rapping hard on the flagstones behind her as the guard hurried to catch up. A moment later, Joslyn walked beside Tasia again.
The Princess expected Joslyn to say something in order to defend herself, but she remained silent.
They walked side-by-side the rest of the way to the Princess’s private apartments, at which point Joslyn slipped ahead of her and inspected all three chambers — the antechamber, Tasia’s bedchamber, the servant’s bedchamber. Tasia put on a show of the inspection being superfluous and unnecessary, but secretly she was glad for the guard’s diligent caution.
Joslyn returned to the Princess a minute or two later, giving the Princess a single nod and stepping aside to allow her to enter.
Maybe it was the bottomless blackness in the guard’s eyes, maybe it was knowing from Cole that she was some kind of war hero, maybe it was her proclamation that no assassin would come near her again — whatever it was, Tasia had to admit to herself that she felt just a little bit safer as she crossed the threshold into her private chambers.
7
It was a long, tedious afternoon, as Tasia had only a short break between her lesson with Norix and her military history lesson with General Remington, her father’s senior war advisor.
“You’re late,” he barked when Tasia and Joslyn came in.
“I’m sorry,” Tasia said. “Wise Man Norix kept me behind for a few minutes.”
“You’re late nonetheless,” Remington said. He was a grizzled old soldier who tended to speak to everyone with the same gruff manner, but Tasia liked him anyway. Remington was an uncomplicated man who barely looked at Tasia during their short weekly lesson. Others might have found his indifference offensive, but not Tasia. Compared to Norix, the General’s lack of judgment — or even attention — was actually refreshing.
Remington stood from behind his desk, stretched, then clomped over to the table he used for meetings and Tasia’s lessons. He lilted oddly to one side as he walked, most likely because one of his legs was nothing but a wooden peg. Some lordling Tasia had kissed a few times had explained with great awe the battle in which the General had lost his leg, but frankly, Tasia hadn’t listened to the story very closely and could no longer remember when or how it had happened. It was during the Western Rebellion, she thought, but wasn’t quite sure of even that detail.
The General gave Joslyn an inquisitive once-over before seating himself at the table and spreading out the map of the Empire.
“You have a palace guard with you today,” the General said to Tasia.
“Yes. My father and Commander Cole assigned a guard to me after…” Tasia paused, wondering how much to reveal. He might already know about the previous night’s assassination attempt, but Tasia didn’t think she should make that assumption, so she held her tongue.
Fortunately, the General was not an overly curious man. He didn’t press Tasia to finish the sentence when she trailed off. He did, however, look Joslyn up and down a second time.
“What’s your name, Guard?”
“Joslyn of Terinto, sir.”
Remington grunted. “Terinto. I lost good men in Terinto, battling your kind’s ragtag fighters.” Frown lines showed as he scowled for a moment. “Fierce, though, the nomads. Not a coward amongst them. How did you come to be in service of the palace guard? Don’t believe I’ve ever seen a woman or a nomad in the guard.”
Joslyn shifted almost imperceptibly, giving Tasia the smallest hint that the General’s line of questioning made her uneasy.
“I was in the Imperial Army, sir,” the guard answered. “My battalion had been rotated out from the front for winter, and we’d come back to the Capital Lands for leave. That was when Commander Cole approached my commandant to see if I would be available to serve the Princess.”
“Imperial Army, eh?” said the General, seeming to warm up a bit. “I had a few female soldiers in my time, but most of them worked supply routes. Is that what you did? Supply route guard?”
“No, sir.”
“What then?”
“Infantry, sir.”
General Remington’s eyebrows shot up his forehead. Tasia had rarely seen his face register such surprise. “Well. You are a rarity, Guard.” He turned to Tasia. “To our lesson, then. We had been studying the Second Battle of New Tevon, but the Emperor requested me to leave off with that and brief you on the War in the East.” He dropped a meaty finger onto the map, tapping the mountain range that marked the eastern edge of the Empire’s lands. “So, Princess. Tell me what you know about the war and we will work from there. Causes, milestones, current conditions.” He looked past her, lifted his chin in the direction of Joslyn. “Though your guard might be able to speak better to current conditions on the ground and recent developments than myself.”
Tasia searched her mind. The War in the East. It had been an ever-expanding project of her father’s for nearly half her life. She still remembered attending the celebration in Port Lorsin when the first imperial troops marched eastward; she must have been ten, maybe eleven, and had been instructed by Wise Man Norix to stand very, very still between her father and her brother. Her father gave a rousing speech to the soldiers; Nik fidgeted the whole time, playing with a loose thread on his trousers until Tasia finally slapped his hand away. Norix had not been pleased by their performance later.
If that was the true start of the war, she could say that she remembered it. But as to why it started…?
“Barbarians,” she said after a few seconds of silence. “They encroached westward into the Empire’s lands, then began raiding the farmlands just on the other side of the mountains. So we sent the Imperial Army in to push them back.”
“True — in part. But a vast oversimplification,” said the General. “Barbarians began raiding the Empire’s farmlands and that triggered our initial dispatch of troops. But as we fought them back… Do you know what a ‘proxy war’ is, Princess?”
She didn’t. She knew what a “proxy” was. She knew what a “war” was. She’d never heard the two put together. Joslyn probably knew. Tasia resisted the urge to look over her shoulder at the guard.