The next morning I woke alone. It was late in the morning already, and still I felt exhausted, the events of the day before weighing heavily on me. I woke and dressed and found Theron outside my door, but Adria was absent.
“Where is she?” I asked Theron, confused. “It’s late.”
“I’ll send someone to fetch her, my queen.”
I nodded. “She can meet us at the Erudium; they want me to approve of something for the Consecutio.”
“Yes, my queen.” He sent another guard off to find her, but we hadn’t even reached the gates before the guard returned.
“Report,” Theron told him as the guard bowed.
“My queen, Domina Viato is with the king in the Great Hall.”
That couldn’t possibly be good news. “On what business?”
“I don’t know, my queen. The High Vestai Thessaly is with her.”
I shot a look to Theron, and he nodded. We turned back around, going into the castle to the hall where we had court dinners every night. Calix still sat on the raised platform, Galen standing off his left shoulder, but now Thessaly and Adria were at the bottom of the stairs.
Buried in a throng of people straining to hear, the trivatis still saw me and slammed his staff on the stone to announce me, interrupting the proceedings and flushing heat to my face.
“Wife,” Calix said, standing. “Come join us.”
The people parted for me, and I climbed the stairs slowly, taking his hand. He kissed it, a shadow of Galen’s action the day before, and it embarrassed me to remember the storm of emotions I’d felt at such a simple touch. I couldn’t look at Galen.
Calix directed me to sit beside him, and he sat down. “I believe you were insulting my honor and prowess as king,” Calix reminded Thessaly.
Thessaly’s face was mottled with anger, and for her part, Adria looked uncomfortable beside him. “Do not belittle my concerns, my king. My daughter could have died yesterday, and you do nothing.”
My back straightened. Died? When? She had been with me all day. Surely—oh. He meant in the courtyard, when the stone exploded into sand. Something they all thought was an attack.
I saw Kairos, standing in the crowd of people, and his eyes met mine with a smile and a slight nod.
“And the fact that you are so cavalier not only about my daughter’s safety, but about the queen’s safety as well, is a blatant act of disrespect to the tenets of the Three-Faced God. Are our women not holy vessels? Are they not in need of protection and guidance? And yet this Resistance strikes at your very heart and you do nothing. I demand a response! I demand satisfaction!” he bellowed, and the words seemed to echo on the stone walls.
Calix’s face was a dark scowl.
“My king, might I offer a thought?” Galen asked, stepping forward.
“Yes, Commander,” Calix said.
“I was in the courtyard yesterday,” Galen said, turning to look at Thessaly, his face stern and disapproving and his hands clasped behind his back. “Neither the queen nor your daughter suffered any kind of injury. Indeed, half the army was there to protect them as necessary, and no action was needed. While I acknowledge your legitimate concern, let us not overestimate the nature of the events.”
“Quite,” Calix agreed, propping his elbow on the arm of the chair.
“But it does not remove the seriousness of the situation,” Thessaly insisted. “If the Resistance can strike at us in the Three Castles, we are not safe anywhere. They have sorcerers on their side, and clearly, they can use this destructive power anywhere and anytime they wish.”
This caused a cascade of murmurs and voices to rush through the hall, and Calix watched it all, not quelling it.
“What will you do, my king?” Thessaly asked.
Calix leaned forward. “What is it you wish me to do, Thessaly? Or in your rage, have you just considered how to hurl accusations without a mind toward solutions?”
Thessaly’s gaze turned to me. “They say Rian d’Dragyn is the leader of this Resistance,” Thessaly said. “Perhaps you need to use the leverage you purchased and send a message.”
I gasped, and Adria’s head whipped to her father, but Calix chuckled. “You think attacking my wife is wise, Thessaly? She is the most holy of holy vessels. Besides, you are betraying your ignorance of the matter. Rian d’Dragyn is not the leader of the Resistance. So other than dangerous misinformation and egregious insult to my wife, what do you bring me for a solution?”
Thessaly’s gaze flicked between me and my husband. “I do not have a solution, my king, because I am not the Three-Faced God incarnate. Where is your solution?”
Calix paused, a hint of a smile on his face, his gaze narrowed on Thessaly, appreciating the moment. “You do not have a solution because it is beyond your capability to judge, High Vestai,” he told him. “You and your daughter are here as fearmongers, but my people are not taken in by such antics.” He paused again, rubbing his mouth thoughtfully. “The God relies on his people to stand against such injustice and sin. Going forward, any of my people who have information about the Resistance or a sorcerer in their midst will be rewarded in coin,” he said. Again, murmurs and gasps rose through the hall. “And my commander shall act accordingly. We will not submit to fear; instead we shall let true justice be our guide.”
My gaze shot to Kairos. Rian had to be warned about this—he and all his organization would be at risk. Kairos nodded at me, turning and leaving the hall.
Thessaly started to say something, but Calix stood.
“Everyone is dismissed!” he shouted.
The guards sprang into action, shepherding people out of the hall, and Calix sat back down to watch them leave. Galen didn’t move, and so I stayed still, watching as Adria gave me a forlorn look over her shoulder.
The moment the doors shut behind them, Calix sighed. “I don’t want to hear it, brother.”
“Clearly,” Galen said stiffly. “Not an hour ago you agreed that plan would tear the city apart. And now you’ve just publicly enacted it, without consulting me.”
Calix stood, turning to his brother. “Because I’m king. I don’t need to consult you. I swear, I will find a reason to divorce that man’s tongue from his head. Using his daughter as a way to come at me—and my wife.”
“But, Calix, people will be falsifying information for money,” I told him. “Instead of peace, you’re going to have civil unrest.”
Calix glared at me. “He’s not wrong, you know. Think of what a reaction I would have if I flung your lifeless body off the battlements for your brother to see.”
My stomach turned that he could even threaten such a thing so easily—and moments after he had defended me. “Don’t speak to me of Rian. He left the desert when I was a child for this Resistance. I lost him years ago. And I have left my family behind for peace between our peoples. In spite of him.”
“Good,” he snapped. “But still. He needs to remember that we have you, and I will do with you what I want to stop him. They will collect information in the courtyard. You will be there, for everyone to see. For everyone to be reminded where my queen stands.”
“As you wish,” I said, raising my chin. “But if I’m going to be there, the rest of the women of the court will be with me.” He opened his mouth, yet I continued. “And we’re going to give away as much food as we can purchase or spare. I won’t have our people desperate and hungry.”
“Fine,” he snapped. “Whatever you see fit.” His gaze flicked to Galen. “See that the queen does as she’s told.”
Galen didn’t respond. I stood from my chair and walked slowly down the stairs. Galen followed.
“Wife,” Calix snarled, and I turned. “Don’t forget to wear your crown.”
I swallowed. “As you wish, Calix.”
Galen and Theron trailed me in silence back to my chambers, where the ishru helped affix the crown to my hair. It was light, but I still felt the awkward weight of it on my brow, blotting out my face and my skin and my family until all they would see were three silver branches.
Once the orders had been given to the palace cooks, storekeepers, and women of the court, we assembled in the courtyard. Adria was there, looking small and ashamed, her mother by her side with her arm around her.
I waved Galen and Theron away from me. I was here, and I didn’t need them by my side in a courtyard that was full of guards. The women of the court all watched as I approached Adria.
“Go,” I ordered them. “See that everything is set up to feed our people.”
The women scattered at this, still looking over their shoulders to see how I would react to Adria. Domina Thessaly didn’t say anything, but she was looking at me with such worry on her face.
“How could you do that?” I asked Adria, my voice quiet and low enough that the others couldn’t hear. I kept my face as even as I could, but I couldn’t help looking at her with an accusation in my heart.
“I didn’t want to,” Adria told me miserably. “I didn’t know he would say those things about you. He doesn’t really believe them, I swear it.”
My throat worked and my chin rose higher. Calix would rebuke her, loudly call out her disloyalty, and dismiss her from service. He would use this excuse to get what he had always wanted.
And in that moment, I saw the temptation of it. I could taste how sweet the words spoken with anger would be in my mouth.
I thought of Calix making me apologize to him months ago, leaning his face close to mine and saying, That is power.
“My queen, please—” Adria continued.
“Stop,” I said, holding up my hand. I would never believe in Calix’s brand of power. “I’m sorry that I was so concerned with myself yesterday that I didn’t consider how you were faring. I cannot hold you responsible for your father’s actions. Do you wish to keep attending to me?”
She looked up at me, surprised. “Yes, my queen.”
“Good,” I said. “Then let us focus on our people, and their needs. We have so much to do, and no time for any petty thoughts.”
I held out my hand to her, and she took it, squeezing it with a grateful look. I brought her over to the table where women were cutting and arranging bread, and let her stand beside me.
I felt the weight of someone else’s eyes, and I looked up and across the courtyard to find Galen’s warm gaze following me. He gave a judicious nod when our eyes met and turned away, calling for the gates to be opened.
Hundreds of people came to inform on their friends and neighbors. The bread disappeared, and more bread, cured meat, and cheese replaced it.
Kairos came, working beside us and teasing the women, laughing with the guards, another d’Dragyn conspicuously in the king’s courtyard, doing his bidding, showing where we stood. But Osmost wasn’t on his shoulder, and I was certain that the hawk was carrying a warning to the one d’Dragyn we were supposedly standing against.
“I think you should sit,” Kai said. It was late afternoon, and the line was only growing longer, with more people for us to offer food to as they waited to tell their tales for a coin.
Adria nodded at this. “You do look tired,” she said. “And I thought you rather liked hard work.”
“I do,” I told her. “So I will continue.”
“You haven’t eaten,” she said.
“Why don’t you rest, and I’ll get you something to eat,” Kairos said.
“I’m not hungry,” I told him. “And I don’t really understand your concern.”
“I don’t think it would do very well for the queen to faint in the middle of all this,” Kairos told me, raising an eyebrow.
Perhaps he had something he needed to tell me? “Very well,” I told him, and he led me over to a stool. The moment I sat, I sighed heavily. I was tired. I pressed my hand to my stomach—it seemed a sad reflection on how little I did every day that a few hours on my feet handing out bread could exhaust me.
The cook was bringing out a huge vat of stew, and Kai waited for her to set it up before requesting a bowl. I couldn’t hear what was said, but I saw the cook smile and angle her spoon at Kairos until he laughed. My brother, ever the charmer.
He brought it over to me, but I smelled it a foot away and stood up. He halted, looking at me curiously. “Skies, that’s the fish, isn’t it?” I asked.
He looked at it. “Yes. Has it offended you? I think it already lost its head, but I’m sure we can cook up some kind of revenge.” He grinned. “Cook up?” he repeated with a wink.
I backed away, but it was like the smell was a thick, physical presence in my nostrils, clawing down my throat.
“Oh,” I cried, and barely made it to the edge of the courtyard, the grassy patch that led down toward the garden and the ocean, before my stomach wretched up its meager contents.
Kairos was beside me, twisting my hair back and holding my crown steady. “Very well,” he said. “No more fish.”
My stomach heaved again, but nothing came up. “Water!” he called, and I heard someone offer it to him.
I straightened up, and he let my hair go to rub my back, passing me a skin of water. I drank a little, but it made my stomach feel tight and angry, and I passed it back to him, shaking my head.
I turned around. Adria and Kairos were there, but the guards had formed a blockade around us, their backs to me, affording me some strange level of privacy. “Here,” Adria offered, handing me a piece of bread. “Try that. My mother said that’s all she could eat with Aero.”
I didn’t take it. “Aero?” I repeated.
Skies Above, she thought I was with child. But I couldn’t be—I had last bled—
Months ago, I realized.
I had been exhausted for days. My mother had been so tired with Gavan, especially for the first few months.
My head was pounding. “Skies,” I breathed. “I think I need to sit for a minute.”
“Yes, we established that,” Kai told me. “Theron, bring that stool here.”
A moment later it materialized, and I sat. Kairos stayed right beside me, handing me first the water and then the bread. “Try to eat something,” he said. “And then we’ll get you back to your chambers to rest.”
I nodded, nibbling at the bread. I looked up. “What a scene this must be causing,” I said, shaking my head.
“I think it’s the best sort of scene,” Adria said with a smile. “The king will be beside himself. My queen, you’re with child!”
People heard her, and the murmuring voices around us started to pitch to yells.
I searched the soldiers’ backs, thinking of Galen. It was difficult to tell, but I was nearly certain he wasn’t one of the men standing there. Admonishing myself, I shut my eyes. I was expecting his brother’s child—I couldn’t think of Galen anymore. Not that I ever truly could.
When I finished the piece of bread, I stood, and Kairos put his arm around me. “Easy,” he told me.
I flapped my hand. “Skies, Mother could walk for days in the hot sun when her belly was heavy with child,” I told him. “I’m fine, I just needed a moment to rest. Please let us pass,” I said to the guards.
“My queen—” Adria started.
The guards separated, and I instantly felt the weight of hundreds of eyes upon me.
I took a deep breath, smiling at the gathered crowds, and they leaped forward, shouting, calling my name and offering me congratulations, blessings, praise of the God.
I jumped back, and the guards immediately fended them off.
“You’re going to start a riot,” Galen told me. He put his arm on my back, steering me up the walkway as Kairos and Theron blocked people from following us.
“Thank you,” I told him, glancing back over my shoulder to see people pushing at the guards for my attention—and more than that, the line of informants that stretched down the road and into the city itself. “Where’s Calix now?” I asked.
“In the tower,” he told me, glancing up. “I’ll call for him.”
“Nonsense,” I said. “Take me to him?”
“It’s a few flights of stairs,” he warned.
I waved my hand. “This is important.”
Galen led me inside to the central tower of the main castle. I’d never been in it before; I’d been told there were battlements and barracks, that it was largely a soldiers’ post, not unlike the Oculus in the communes. “So it’s true, then?” he asked. “You’re with child?”
We started up a staircase with a soldier always in sight. “I believe so,” I told him.
His face was stern. “Almost as if he threatened it into existence.”
I raised my chin as we turned up another stair. “Yes, well, none of that matters now,” I told him.
“It doesn’t?” he asked. His voice was low, careful, but he said, “I could have killed him for saying those things to you.”
This made fire burn in my cheeks, but I ignored it. “All along, he has wanted a child. A child will make him more powerful with the vestai, it will prove the prophecy wrong, and I know he hopes that it will at least quell some of the violence from the Resistance.”
“He said it himself: Rian d’Dragyn isn’t the leader of the Resistance,” Galen told me, turning another corner. “Why should it matter?”
“If it didn’t matter, why did he marry me?” I returned. “Once he knows about the baby, he’ll stop all this information gathering that’s threatening to turn the city against itself. It isn’t necessary, and it actively threatens the peace.”
He stopped me. “Shalia, what if he doesn’t want peace?” he asked.
“He does,” I insisted. “That’s what all of this has been for. That’s why I married him. Perhaps it would not serve your purposes, Commander, but Calix believes in peace.”
He blinked, leaning away from me. I sighed. That wasn’t fair. Galen wasn’t some kind of warmonger—from what I could tell, he spent far more of his time trying to lessen the harm of Calix’s orders. I opened my mouth to say so, but he said, “Peace is a noble goal. But there is a difference between peace and submission.”
I started up the stairs again. Of course there was a difference. Calix wanted peace—we had discussed it many times. In his worst moments, he acted out of fear and anger, but he wanted peace. And this child would be a balm to those fears—this child would give him the ability to act for peace alone.
We didn’t say anything further, even as I felt Galen’s watchful gaze on me. We crested a platform, and Galen headed toward a door that was flanked by guards.
The guards opened the door when they saw us, revealing Calix bent over a table layered with maps and documents. He straightened with a frown. “Wife?” he asked. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I said, smiling. “I have good news, actually.”
His eyebrows rose. “I like good news.”
“I couldn’t eat fish,” I told him. He looked confused. “Not that I’ve ever been fond of it, but when I smelled it, I felt so ill that I was sick, and I’ve been so tired lately, and it’s been several months since I bled—”
He strode around the table, catching me in his arms with a bright smile. “You’re with child? Are you sure?”
I laughed. “I think so. As sure as I can be, I suppose.”
He kissed me. “Oh, wife, this is the most incredible news,” he said, holding me tight to him. I closed my eyes for a moment, letting warmth rush through me.
“There was nearly a riot in the courtyard when they realized why she was ill,” Galen told him.
Calix kissed my temple. “Of course there was! Our people need this hope. Galen, we’ll have to plan a grand tour—the whole country will want to see my wife carrying my son!” Galen nodded to him, and Calix stroked my cheek. “Does that please you, wife?”
“I’m happy to do whatever you two think is best,” I told him.
He kissed me once more and let me go, pointing to Galen. “We’ll need a whole chest full of jewels,” he said. “And clothing and furs—whatever my wife desires. It will be a glorious spectacle.”
Galen nodded. “I’ll see that it’s done.”
“Make sure the whole court knows by tonight,” Calix said.
“That won’t be a problem; every woman in the court has already heard,” Galen said.
“Calix, what about the informants?” I asked. He turned to me, confused. “You’ll stop collecting information now, won’t you?”
He crossed his arms. “Well, no,” he said. I looked at Galen, but he avoided my gaze. “I cannot just reverse an order I gave this morning. Not only would it be damaging to my reign, it would be disrespectful to Thessaly. This was an answer he called for. It isn’t as simple as stopping.”
“But you won’t act on it,” I insisted. “You won’t do anything with the information you collect, right? Whether it’s persecuting the Elementae or targeting the Resistance—you don’t need to do that anymore.”
His gaze narrowed. “You think I’m persecuting them?”
“Calix,” I said, coming closer to him and tugging his hand. “This child proves that you’ll have an heir, and the prophecy is merely the prattle of some misguided fool. I just want to make sure you’re not resorting to violence when you don’t have to. Not when we’re starting a new age of peace.”
He drew a long breath, but his fingers entwined with mine and he lifted my hand for a kiss. “How can I argue with that?” he said. “Very well. We won’t act on the information. We’ll keep collecting it for a few days, if only so people can have their coin.”
I nodded, but it didn’t feel right, not after Calix’s rabid need to get information on the Resistance. In agreeing, he was silencing my concerns, but could I trust him not to act on the information?
He pulled me close for another kiss. “Why don’t you go rest?” he said. “I’m sure dinner will be a theater of supplicants tonight, so you may want to prepare for it.”
I shrugged—I was tired. “Very well,” I told him.
“I’ll escort you,” Galen offered.
“No, Galen, we have far too much to do,” Calix said. “Unless you need an escort, my love?”
I shook my head, even as Galen frowned at his brother. I was only halfway down the staircases when I heard voices and saw Kairos making a guard bend with laughter.
Grinning, I joined them. “Oh, Kairos,” I said, shaking my head.
He chuckled, putting an arm around my shoulders and kissing my cheek. He nodded to the guard and led me away. “How did he take it? Is he building a white stone sculpture in your image?”
I elbowed him. “He’s very happy.”
“And you, little sister?” he asked. “Are you happy?”
I smiled. “Of course. I can’t wait to be a mother.” A sudden realization made joy bubble up inside me. “And we’ll have to bring the baby to the desert to be blessed. Kai, we’ll get to see everyone.”
“See them?” he scoffed. “Father’s going to be so smitten with his grandbaby he’ll probably give up the desert altogether. The whole d’Dragyn clan will have to leave the desert for the Trifectate.”
I laughed happily at the vision—that was truly what peace meant. Not just the day when my brothers would stop dying at my husband’s sword, but the day when they would all be welcomed in the Tri City. When everyone gathered around my child, working together to make a better world so that he or she could inhabit it.
“And when we go to the desert,” he said, hugging my shoulders gleefully, “the clans will celebrate until the mountains shake.”