“They’re here!” Her high voice floated back to us, calling at full volume. “The princess is here!”
I coughed as Bryony elbowed me in the side.
“It seems your arrival has been highly anticipated.”
“By four-year-olds at least.” I glanced at Faylee. “What exactly did you say about me?”
“Nothing more than the truth,” she said calmly. “That I was bringing a guest to meet them, and that you were Princess Verene of Ardann. You’ll have to excuse the poor girl’s enthusiasm. Kallorway doesn’t have any princesses of their own, you see, so the whole idea is terribly exciting.”
Bryony grinned. “Well she wouldn’t be the first little girl to dream of princesses. And somehow I imagine not having any of their own only helps keep the dream idyllic. Princesses might not seem so appealing if Darius had a sister as icy faced as himself.”
I sent her a glare, and she subsided, although her eyes still laughed at me.
A stream of people soon appeared in the courtyard. If they shared any excitement about my presence, then they kept it under better control. Faylee made introductions, but they were so numerous that even with all my court experience, I soon couldn’t keep any of them straight. The overwhelming impression, however, was of well-dressed people with intelligent but lined faces and the rough hands of those who knew what it was to work for a living.
We were soon ushered around under an enormous portico which jutted into the garden from the back of the house. Both Captain Layna and Captain Vincent trailed us, never straying more than a few lengths from me, but the locals seemed to accept their presence, paying them no heed at all.
Tables had been set up, laden with any number of delicacies, some of which I recognized from the ball at the Academy the year before. Bryony’s eyes lit up at the sight of them, and she had soon wriggled out of the endless introductions with consummate skill. I watched her go wistfully but forgave her when she reappeared with a small plate for me.
When the introductions were finally complete, and everyone had been given the opportunity to examine the foreign princess, fiddlers struck up a merry tune. The children, who had been running freely through the portico and gardens, squealed with delight and began to dance. The adults watched on fondly, although the matron who had been introduced as lady of the house regarded their exuberant antics with some concern.
“I hope you don’t consider us too uncultured, Your Highness. But it’s Midwinter, and no one has the heart to deny the children some fun.”
“Not in the least,” I assured her. “It does my heart good to watch them. I almost wish I was a child again myself so I could join in.”
That earned me a radiant smile, and the conversation moved from the previous discussion of the weather and the state of the road from the Academy, into more serious topics. I tried to keep my questioning as subtle as possible, but a common thread soon emerged.
None of the merchants openly spoke against their king, but one word was repeated more than any other: change.
They understood times had changed in Ardann.
One never knew when change was coming.
Change is always just around the corner.
No one could comment, even obliquely, on a negative situation, without someone else chiming in to say that last phrase. When I mentioned Darius—an easy enough topic to bring up given he was my year mate—curious, calculating looks sprang into many eyes. They knew the coming change had a name, and they were clearly desperate to know what sort of king Darius intended to be.
If they had hoped I would have answers for them, they were disappointed. I wouldn’t risk Darius’s plans by accidentally saying the wrong thing. And it struck me, now that I was here, that I knew Darius also wanted change, but I didn’t actually know his intentions for his commonborn population. He had seemed on good terms with the servants at the Academy, but we had never directly discussed the topic. How could I blame my aunt for overlooking this aspect of Kallorwegian society, when I had apparently done the same?
When it came time to leave, however, the farewell smile on my face was genuine. Last night I had feared I would find nothing to like in Kallmon, but already I had been proved wrong.
Chapter 17
Faylee returned us to the castle, bidding me a fond farewell and all of us Midwinter greetings. We returned them with our thanks.
“Did you get the answers you sought?” she asked me in an under voice. “There were representatives there from most of the major merchant families.”
“I believe so,” I said. “Thank you again.”
She patted me fondly on the cheek and disappeared back into her carriage. I watched her drive away, until Captain Vincent’s gruff voice interrupted my musings.
“May I suggest we move inside, Your Highness? Best not to be loitering outside in the open unnecessarily.”
I sighed and complied. I suspected the scenes waiting for me inside the castle would be a great deal less enjoyable than the one I had just left behind.
My fears proved correct. A reception was held in my honor that night, and the entire next day was taken up with visits from various courtiers—none of whom would be lured into any comments on either of their monarchs. Ashlyn brought her mother to see me in the late afternoon, and she was more direct and forthcoming than most. But her focus was her own discipline and what potential I saw for future collaboration between the Ardannian wind workers and her people.
I was grateful to have spent two weeks with the wind worker class because it gave me something to talk about with her, and her eyes lit up as we discussed some of the experiments the class had conducted with Bryony and Tyron. Despite Hugh and Raelynn’s derisive comments about Ashlyn’s family and their rush to seize power after the war, I could see that Duchess Ashten truly loved wind working.
The full hour she spent with me indicated that while Cassius himself might still hate me, his faction remained interested in an alliance with Ardann. I could only hope that boded well for Darius—especially if he was right and Cassius had abandoned the caution which had allowed him to hold his faction together for two decades.
While Darius was constantly on my mind, I hadn’t seen him since our arrival at the castle. I had looked for him at the reception, but he never made an appearance, although Jareth was there with smiles for all.
I kept waiting to hear if he had made his move. The shock waves would no doubt spread rapidly through the castle and city when the time came, so I doubted I could miss it. But with every hour that passed without word, my foreboding grew.
“I suppose I’ll have a chance to meet the rest of the Mage Council at the ball tomorrow night,” I said to the duchess as she was making her farewells. It was the closest I dared come to alluding to Darius’s plans.
“Unfortunately not,” she said. “King Cassius and Queen Endellion must have enjoyed the more intimate celebrations last year because they declared this to be a special Academy ball, and only the family members of the trainees and instructors received invitations.”
I stared at her, momentarily robbed of words. The king and queen hadn’t invited their own Mage Council to their Midwinter celebrations?
“Duke Rennon of the creators will be there, of course, since he has two nephews in your year,” she said. “But then you would have met him last year.”