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August 21, 1198
Lyssa blinked, unsure of what to make of the confession she'd just heard. Renata would have leaned back in her chair and gaped, half impressed by the boldness of it all, half astounded that such an ill-thought-out scheme had survived for so long. CeeCee would have had the whole thing figured out in minutes and would have had several volumes' worth of thought on the conditions that had bred such desperate plots bouncing about her head before Mona even finished the story. Alya would have produced the perfect blend of concern and sympathy, not a trace of pity or judgment about her, and offered to help however she could.
As opposed to her peers, Lyssa had always felt more decorative than functional--and, most of the time, she supposed she was all right with that. But the whatever reason the princess had for sharing the tale with her, she didn't think she could be of much use, except as maybe a confidante.
But, the confidante role was reserved for friends, which Lyssa and Mona were not. Why would they have been? When Mona had set off to be married, the biggest stress in Lyssa's life had been the shame of occasional bed-wetting. Even if such an age difference hadn't existed, their families had always been wary of each other and they had little in common personally besides. Nowadays, Lyssa's husband had occasional dealings with the knights and lords of Carvallon, but nothing that would have brought him to the palace; it was possible that he knew this Sir Zareth, or at least knew of him, but not to the point where he'd have heard much about the man's wife, or would have suggested that their wives could make good company for one another.
She supposed all she could do, at this point, was ask. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Why shouldn't I? You and everyone else in both kingdoms will know soon enough; Anna and I have determined that we can't keep up the lie much longer, not with both sets of children as old as they are now. That, and my brother is dead, and from what I know of Dea... I don't believe she'd take any personal offense?"
The pout in Mona's lip gave a hint of a plea to the question. Maybe that was it. Lyssa was of an age with Dea. They may not have been close, but they'd spent their lives attending the same events and had even lived in the same house while at the university. And it wasn't impossible that they'd be sisters-in-law some day, if Lyssa's brother's courtship with Dea's sister progressed as he hoped it would. As far as the population of Carvallon was concerned, Lyssa was as close to an expert on Queen Dea as they could get.
"No, she wouldn't. She's... not always the warmest person, but she's fair, and not without a concept of familial discord; she'd understand your not wanting to be a bargaining chip. And she's far too reasonable to declare war based on a years-old half-slight."
Mona sighed, the tension about her form visibly easing. It was as close to relaxed as she'd been since her arrival, when Xetrica had screamed to Lyssa from the bottom of the stairs that someone was at the door--a lucky thing that nothing short of thunder could rouse baby Jadin from his naps. "That's... that's a relief."
Lyssa couldn't say much in answer to that. From what she knew of the Carvalli Royal Family, she herself would have been much more worried about Devidra. "Does... Anna's mother-in-law know?"
"Um, yes, apparently. Anna went to confess to her a few weeks back, and Devidra told her before she could even start that she'd known more or less that whole time. I suppose she wanted to figure out which of us had initiated the switch before making any calls she couldn't take back." Mona offered a sheepish grin that would have been quite out of place on the aloof-yet-mischievous older princess she remembered from her early years. "I guess she knows what it's like to have your father insist on your marrying a stranger."
"Hmm." It was true that many women of high rank did. Knowing that, Lyssa herself couldn't have asked to be born into a better family than her own, nor to have chosen a better man as the father of her children. Poor Landus's parental issues could have almost rivaled Dea's--but luckily, he was the sort to take such occurrences as examples on how not to raise his own children. "Well, if Devidra's not a concern, and Dea's not a concern, and Adrius isn't a concern either, then I suppose it just comes down to riding out the scandal."
"I hope you're right about that. If nothing else, I... I guess I can be glad for my parents' sake that they won't be around to endure it. I at least got a chance to come clean to my mother before she died, and she took it better than I'd thought she would, but she would have hated being the subject of scandal--and my father will rest better not knowing."
Lyssa nodded--though, privately, she hoped that at least Mona's brother was well aware and downright livid as he looked on from the fires of hell. She may not have been Mona's friend, but she was at least friend enough to Dea that an eternity of suffering didn't seem to cruel a fate for King Ietrin.
"Both of our families will go to Naroni in the Near Year. We'll come clean to the people of Carvallon before we leave, since they really are our people now, and the ones we've affected--but I think I'd prefer it if Dea had some degree of briefing before we arrive. Do you think you could maybe...?"
Lyssa exhaled. Dea, she knew well enough, would have no more difficulty with the situation than any of her other peers. Less, even. But, between queens and alleged queens, perhaps some degree of insight from a not-unfriendly source couldn't have hurt. "I'll write to her tonight."
NEXT CHAPTER:
July 9, 1194
"You're married!" Eyes wide, Renata pulled Lyssa in for a hug. The ceremony had concluded mere minutes ago, and the guests had dispersed to prepare for the reception. As for Lyssa, she'd handed Landus off to his brother and dashed away to meet Renata and CeeCee in Nora's sitting room. Perhaps she and Landus ought to have been inseparable as newlyweds, but they'd agreed beforehand that they'd have each other in Carvallon; the rest of their loved ones would remain in Naroni. "When did we get so old?"
"I know! It's so strange--but good strange." Wonderful strange!
Even if she did hope that she and Landus would return to Naroni some day.
"Even if it means I'll be leaving next week."
"But it's not as if we'll never see you again," CeeCee assured her. "There's a whole two-month break between my graduation and my wedding. We could make the trip out then."
"Yes, let's! Falidor and Roddie and Alya might want to come too."
"I don't know if we'll have enough space for so many of you!" Her aunt and uncle's old house was just a cottage, after all--not a manor. "Plus, Roddie and Alya might have a baby on the way by then; they won't want to travel."
"Yes, but you might have a baby on the way by then, and you won't want to travel back when that happens." CeeCee winked--then grimaced. "Seriously, don't have a baby just yet. I don't want to have think about us being that old."
"Especially since Alina's about to pop any day now." And to think--this would be her grandfather's second great-grandchild.
"Dear Lord, yes. I should not be a great-aunt twice over at my age. Damn older siblings, making me an aunt before I was even thought of." She rolled her eyes--fondly, but an eye roll none the less. "But congratulations anyway, my dear niece who is older than I am."
"Thank you very much, my dear aunt who is younger than I am."
However many babies she had, she didn't think she wanted to have quite so many as to invoke that situation! "But seriously: do visit before the babies take over."
NEXT CHAPTER:
March 10, 1194
"So! What brings you to campus?" Ricky's cousin spun onto the other couch with a flash of a smile. He'd indeed called at Scorpio House for his sister--just to check up on her--and Lyssa knew it, but he saw Celina often enough that a trip out to the university would require some other purpose.
Lyssa would get a kick out of this one. A lucky thing CeeCee and Renata weren't around. "Eh... my father thought I ought to go scout out some perspective brides, so I'm humoring him."
She giggled--as he could have guessed. "Ah, Ricky! Ever the consummate bachelor, aren't you?"
"Hey, Adonis Wythleit graduated over two years before I did, and he's still not married."
"Yes, but Adonis Wythleit isn't going to be a duke one day." Lyssa winked. "That, and he has the luxury of being rather handsome. But really, I'm surprised Uncle Lorn hasn't arranged anything for you on his own."
"He says that if I'm to be duke one day, then I ought to choose my own duchess." He still thought that rather unfair to his siblings, most of whom were tidily paired up. At least he could take comfort in the fact that he'd yet to hear any of them complain about their future spouses. "It's not anyone's fault that I haven't found her yet."
"Have there at least been any close contenders?"
Ricky shook his head. "No. Well, I mean, I know many women who would certainly make fine duchesses, but I guess I'm a romantic at heart."
"So you're looking for The One." Lyssa raised a wrist to her forehead and swooned--half mocking, half sincere. "I have to say, cousin: I wouldn't have thought you much of a romantic."
"Well... at this point, maybe." He shrugged. He liked to think that when he met the right woman, he'd know it. But, he'd been wrong before. "I suppose that past a certain age, an heir can't afford to be much of a romantic."
NEXT CHAPTER:
May 27, 1192
Perhaps it was a scandalous time for the young man Lyssa had been courting to call on her. Dea had been summoned to her grandfather's castle. Renata was out sparring with Falidor, while CeeCee had gone to 'help Farilon redecorate his living room'--which translated to, Lyssa figured, 'having sex on his couch'. Thetis and Celina were in class, and Alya and Lia had headed to Veldora to spend their free afternoon at Roddie's new manor. The left Lyssa and Landus most unchaperoned.
Lyssa didn't much mind. "I wasn't expecting you today."
"I know, and I apologize for that. But I got some news this morning, and I thought you ought to be the first to know."
"Oh?" She thought she knew what it was. Her smile drooped a little; she tried to prop it up with a grimace, but it couldn't have been convincing.
"Yes. I had a meeting with your Uncle Lorn today, and he's decided to station me in Carvallon." Yes--as she'd feared. Her late aunt's also-late husband had a house there that was just gathering dust, waiting for some foreign knight to man it. Searle had left it to his daughter Tivie, but she preferred Naroni. The logical choice then for an inhabitant was her brother-in-law, Landus--and, from what Lyssa knew, it would be a good opportunity for him.
Was she horrible for not wanting him to leave her? "I... I see. You're not going right away, are you?"
"Not immediately. I convinced him to at least let me stay until after your birthday." Her birthday was in July--much sooner than it had seemed an hour ago. "But I'll be back as frequently as I can. Two of my siblings are here, after all, and all my nieces and nephews. And, of course, you."
"Of course." But would it be frequently enough? She knew she was being selfish--but surely she wasn't the first person who'd ever felt this way! "I'll miss you the rest of the time, though."
"And I, you--but that's what I wanted to talk to you about." He took her face in his hands and kissed her. It was a sweetheart's kiss, romantic yet chaste, long enough to linger but short enough to leave her wanting more. "If you're interested, I was thinking that after you're done at university, you could... maybe join me there, if you want?"
Lyssa blinked. She hadn't quite expected that. She hadn't been sure that they were that serious.
But, in that second, she knew that they were. "You... you must ask me properly."
"All right." Smiling, he took to his knee. Her heart beat about her chest like a butterfly and she scarcely noticed the rhythm.
"Eilyssa Kemorin, will you marry me?"
NEXT CHAPTER:
May 10, 1191
"Renata!" CeeCee barely gave her a chance to stand up and meet her. Fridays saw CeeCee off to a later class schedule than Renata, Alya, and Lyssa; she claimed not to mind normally, as some extra sleep in the morning gave her more energy for a night at the inn, but today was an exception to that rule. "Happy birthday!"
"Thank you," Renata choked as her friend eased up on the hug. "And don't worry; none of the party guests have shown up yet."
"Don't Lyssa and Alya count as guests?" CeeCee mock-glared at her nieces over Renata's shoulder. "If my memory is correct, neither served the minimum planning time required of a co-host."
"We would have if someone hadn't taken issue with all of our ideas," Alya muttered, not so quietly that she could have thought CeeCee wouldn't hear.
"If you don't want me to take issue with your ideas, you might consider coming up with some that are actually decent."
"And what, pray tell," Lyssa asked, "is so less-than-decent about making it a formal?"
"Why bother with our best clothes when half the guests will end up taking them off anyway?"
"CeeCee!"
"Oh, don't pretend you aren't at least a little envious of them." There was almost a sigh in that sentiment. Renata had to raise a brow at the un-CeeCee-ness of it. "Anyway, Renata: your present is in your room."
Present? "I thought I told everyone not to get me any presents."
"You did, but what sort of best friend would I be if I listened?" CeeCee winked. "You'll like it. I promise."
"I'd better."
With a smirk to her friends and an encouraging wave from Alya in turn, Renata spiraled up the staircase, two steps at a time in some cases. Scorpio House, like the other university residences, housed eight bedrooms on the top floor, essentially two squares with a room at each corner, one bathroom to two bedrooms forming parallels to the front door. The sitting room staircase emerged in the section of hall between the first four bedrooms, those of the three girls downstairs and Dea; Renata hurried along it and turned at the corner, crossing to half currently home to her and her cousin Celina. She fished the key to her room--Room Six--out of her pocket and slipped it into the lock, trying not to think about how few qualms CeeCee seemed to have about picking it.
But at the sight of what lay on the bed, that lack of qualms was instantly forgiven. "Oh my God!"
It took a conscious effort not to tear the fabric as she shed her dress with glee, flinging it to the floor and not much caring if it crumpled. The black shirt was a perfect match to the chausses she already wore, a subtle plaid pattern just visible enough to make it more interesting. The silver tunic slipped over it with a comfortable ease, and the longer red with more of it after. One belt later and she was quite possibly the most pleased she'd ever been with an outfit lacking chainmail.
"Best present ever!"
"What? We were supposed to bring presents after all?"
It was Falidor's voice. Renata grinned. "Your sister broke my rule--but I'll let her get away with it this time."
"Oh?"
She smoothed the front of the tunic over and opened the door. "My mother would have a heart attack if she saw this."
"If that's true, then she wouldn't know style if it danced naked in front of her." But Falidor's eyes made no effort to hide his widened horizons. "You're so beautiful."
Not a lot of people told her that. But lately, she'd decided that beauty was not so much a thing that some possessed and some didn't so much as it was a thing some simply failed to see.
"I know."
NEXT CHAPTER:
December 31, 1188
"Christ, Landus! What are you drinking to grow so tall and where can I get some of it?" Lady Leonora greeted him with a peck on the cheek, sure that he noticed her standing on her toes. But whatever she might have lacked in height--or thought she lacked, since Landus tended to tower over most men, never mind women--she made up for in other aspects. How old was she now? Forty-five, forty-six? She could have passed for one of her own daughters. And nine children did nothing to ruin the effects of that tight, bare-shouldered gown.
A pity he hadn't found a wife at university. He was tired of scolding himself for thinking such things about happily married women. "Height is overrated, my lady. I miss being able to look people in the eye."
Lady Leonora laughed. "I have a name, you know. None of this 'my lady' nonsense."
"Uh, all right. Nora." God, that was awkwardly informal. Perhaps he ought to have used her full name? But no one seemed to call her 'Leonora' without the accompanying 'Lady'. "I'm sorry I'm early."
"Nonsense. You're not the first one here. Besides, it's been so damn long sense we've seen you around here that we need our fill of you before the other guests can steal you away." She winked. Not for the first time, Landus wondered if the Kemorins were only interested in him because he might have been Lady Viridis's stepson. Lady Viridis's stepmother, however, never seemed insincere.
"I take it Neilor and Tivie and the children will be along later?"
"Yes." Though, if the moaning behind the door had been any sort of hint, he wouldn't tell her exactly why. "I think Neilor had an issue with his tunic." That issue being keeping it on his body.
"Ah. Well, we've seen them more recently than we've seen you, and of course you see them all the time. So, are you missing university? Or are you glad to be--?"
"Landus?"
They both turned their heads to the newcomer, a monument to splendor in royal blue and gold. It took Landus a minute to realize who she was.
"Lyssa?"
Damn. He hadn't thought it had been quite this long since he'd set foot in Veldora Keep. What he remembered of Lyssa was a seven-year-old who used to follow him around like a puppy, pestering him with every inane comment she could think of just because he was too polite to tell her off. He'd certainly never seen this young woman, thick auburn locks in an elaborate tail, blue eyes like moons and freckles like stars on the sky of her lovely face. How old was she now? Fifteen, sixteen? Surely not old enough that he ought to have noticed her!
But apparently, old enough that he had. "You, uh... you look nice."
"Thank you. Though I suspect my Aunt Rona will be rather annoyed that I had the seamstress copy her dress." She twirled about with a smirk, skirts flying and folding like a flower sped up. Lady Rona, Landus recalled, had a two-month-old baby; who knew if she'd even show up for the party.
"Perhaps. I can't say I remember what dresses everyone has, but I believe you wear it better."
Lyssa smiled.
When it occurred to Landus to look back at Lady Leonora, her eyes had darted between him and her step-granddaughter more than once. "Perhaps I ought to review the wine selection before anyone else arrives. Lyssa, I trust you'll show Landus into the hall?"
"Yes, Grandmama."
Lady Leonora nodded to them both, then hurried off out the same door through which Lyssa had entered. Now that it was shut between them, Lyssa ventured further into the room. "So. Congratulations on graduating."
"Thank you. I take it you'll be starting university... soon?" He hoped it was soon!
"Soon enough, I suppose. Not this summer, but the summer after that." Damn. "A pity our times there didn't overlap. I should have liked it if you'd shown me around."
"Perhaps I could. I should still be in the area at the time." What a filthy lie, given the duke's hints that he was the first on the list for a possible posting in Carvallon. Why had he even said it?
And why didn't he take it back?
"I should very much enjoy that."
Landus swallowed. "So should I."
"Oh, good!" Such wide eyes. Such wide, pretty eyes.
Why had he lied to them?
"I'll show you into the hall now and let you mingle--but I'll warn you now that I fully expect a dance later on."
NEXT CHAPTER:
July 24, 1188
Just as CeeCee's father had said, she and Lyssa found Renata and the other squires at Cuthron and Eleara's house, and not one of them looked pleased to be here. Severin was slumped over on the couch, Donnie beside him with his arms crossed, muttering occasionally. Renata and Falidor stood, whispering about something--something serious, if CeeCee was close enough to make out their expressions. It wasn't much like any of them.
Nor had it been like her parents to make haste down to her Aunt Aerina's shop in the village, stopping on their way out of the castle only to send CeeCee and Lyssa to meet the others, and two messengers to tell Thetis to stay at Honora's house and Xeta and her younger children to stay at Lady Celina's. The others squires, her mother had said, would tell them what had happened. It would be important that they got everyone's side of the story. Sir Karlspan would give his at Aerina's, and the others would give theirs here, when they were up to talking about it.
It didn't take a genius to figure out, between the healer's involvement and the abrupt end of the training session, that someone had been injured--badly. If her brothers and Renata and Severin were here, then it had to have been Arkon.
But how?
CeeCee didn't want to ask just yet. Lyssa, however, wouldn't. There were often perks to being the bolder of a pair, but this wasn't one of them. "What happened?"
Severin furrowed deeper into the couch and Donnie shook his head. Falidor and Renata traded worried glances as CeeCee and Lyssa stepped toward them. It was Falidor--not typically the bolder of that pair--who spoke first. "Arkon's horse went wild."
"His horse?" Arkon, as far as CeeCee knew, had been riding the same horse for years. And he'd always been so good with horses! "How?"
"It was a new horse. A stallion. One of the men at the stables was complaining about how he couldn't break it, so..." Her brother cringed. "Arkon said he'd give it a shot."
"It was horrible, CeeCee." Renata crossed her arms together and shuddered. Hardly a characteristic gesture of someone so fearless. "He was barely on the horse when it started bucking, and it flung him right into a post. Then it galloped around in a rage and--" She cast a wary look toward Severin, who'd taken to shaking. Her next words were whispered. "Trampled him. Thoroughly."
"So Sir Karlspan had the men cart him to Aunt Aerina's. He was still breathing when they left, but..." Falidor stopped. This too was probably for Severin's benefit.
CeeCee had seven brothers, six still living. Six was more brothers than many ever had, and even with brothers to spare, the thought of one of them having some freak accident was a nightmare even as a hypothetical.
Severin had only one brother.
So CeeCee kept her voice down too. "Do you think he'll--?"
Renata sighed. "I don't know."
NEXT CHAPTER:
