For Want of a Fiend (6 page)

She rubbed her temples as she walked and wondered how long she’d flounder from one crisis to another that day. All the striding through the royal quarters almost made her long for the languorous gossip mongering she’d foisted onto Hugo. It was already wearing on into evening, and her stomach rumbled, reminding her that business or not, she’d have to eat soon.

Once her father had returned from a meeting and her mother had ordered them tea, Katya blurted her thoughts. “I’m worried about Reinholt.”

Da slumped in a chair as if the world was too heavy. “I know what you mean, my girl.”

Katya bet that he didn’t, not exactly, and she really didn’t want to elaborate.

“He’s been so sad,” Ma said, “so angry. I just don’t know how he’ll ever be happy again.”

“That’s my fault,” Da said. Katya and her mother protested together, but Da shook his head. “No, it is. My father kept me close, the tyrant, all lessons, all politics, and all the time.” He sighed and rubbed his bearded chin. “I didn’t want to be like him, so I made Reinholt constantly visit the provinces, always meeting people, always making contacts. It made him beloved, but his nannies and tutors gave him everything he wanted. And now the only girl he’s ever really chosen has broken his heart.”

“It’s his first time,” Katya said softly. “His first broken heart.” She thought of her own heart, broken several times. Still, she didn’t know if those experiences would help if Starbride ever left her. No, not just left, betrayed. Katya shook her head and tried to rid herself of the black pit the idea opened inside her.

“We won’t let him wallow,” Ma said. “Let’s order dinner, a family dinner. We’ll have one every night if we have to, and we’ll make sure he comes. I’ll go to his apartment and drag him here if I must.”

Katya thought of the voices of at least two lovers and shook her head. “I’ll, um, I’ll get him.”

“And it would be better, perhaps, if Starbride were to skip this dinner.”

Anger bloomed in Katya’s chest, and she missed the warning burn of her pyramid necklace that kept her Fiend inside.

Ma held up a hand, forestalling Katya’s argument. “I know it’s not fair, but we’re trying to pull Reinholt out of a slump. And he’s angry at Starbride.”

“Irrationally so,” Katya said.

“I know that, my girl,” Da said. “We both do. He’s extremely jealous.”

“Yes,” Ma said. “And we must make him some allowances.”

Katya clenched her fists behind her and paced. “Starbride is a member of
my
family.”

Before Ma had a chance to speak, Da piped in with, “Quite right. And she’ll understand, my girl, I know she will.”

Katya gave her father a fleeting smile and then sighed. “I’ll go and tell Reinholt.”

She’d drag Reinholt to the family dinner and then she would rush from it as quickly as possible and spend the rest of the evening with Starbride, apologizing until she was blue.

On the way to Reinholt’s room, Katya stopped by her own and sent Averie with a note to Starbride. It was the coward’s way out, but if she had to see Starbride’s disappointment, Katya would be angry at Reinholt before she even reached his room. Make him some allowances; the thought made her grind her teeth.

She didn’t bother to knock. Reinholt wouldn’t have gotten any new servants in a few hours. Everything was as she’d left it, but the door to the bedroom was slightly ajar. Katya heard voices. If Reinholt was still occupied, she was leaving.

But the voices didn’t sound passionate. They were just two men talking, and one said, “Are you certain this is the best course for you, Highness?”

Katya recognized Lord Vincent’s voice. She edged closer.

“Thought you never questioned your betters, Vincent,” Reinholt said.

Katya crept toward where the bedroom door was open a crack. She shifted until she could see them standing by Reinholt’s bed. He swigged from a wine bottle and wore a loosely tied silk robe.

Lord Vincent clasped his hands in front of his immaculate coat, the breast embroidered with crossed swords held by the hawk of Farraday, the champion’s crest. “I would never question you, Highness, but my station does permit me to worry for you.”

“Have you been speaking to my family about your worries?”

“Her highness the princess expressed some concern for you as well.”

“Did she?” Reinholt took another swig. “And what did you tell her, eh?” He grabbed Lord Vincent’s upper arm. “Did you tell her this wasn’t the first time I’ve been unfaithful to my wife?” He stepped close, their faces inches apart. “Did you tell her there are some needs a wife can’t fulfill?”

“No, Highness,” Lord Vincent said, so softly that Katya had to read his lips.

Reinholt kissed him. Lord Vincent didn’t react, and Katya tensed. She couldn’t let Reinholt force himself on anyone, even someone too hidebound by tradition to refuse the desires of a prince.

Before she had a chance to storm in, Lord Vincent’s arms curled around Reinholt’s shoulders and pulled him closer. The bottle slipped from Reinholt’s grasp as the two embraced. When they broke away, they were both breathing hard.

Reinholt barked a laugh. “Spirits above, Vincent, no one kisses like you do.”

Lord Vincent smiled his enigmatic little smile. “Thank you, Highness.”

Katya backed up quietly until she stood just inside the sitting room door. “Reinholt?”

He opened the bedroom door wider and smiled when he saw her, but his smile hadn’t lost its bitter edge. “What do you want now, Little K?”

Lord Vincent hadn’t come with him. Katya had to wonder if he was hiding from her. “Our parents want us at dinner. It’s just the four of us, by their order.”

Reinholt lazily scratched the exposed skin of his chest. “Do tell.”

“They want you there by hook or by crook, so either get dressed and come with me, or our parents will descend upon this pigsty. Do you really want them to see it?”

Reinholt’s nostrils flared. She bet his pyramid necklace was burning. So, he had some pride left after all. “As my sister commands. Will you give me a moment to dress or will you step inside and make sure I get the job done properly?”

“I can fetch you a servant.”

“Don’t. I’ll be right behind you.”

Katya waited in the formal sitting room; Reinholt must have been used to being dressed by Lord Vincent. That or he had learned how to properly dress himself. How long had he and Lord Vincent been lovers? How many more might there be? Reinholt loved Brom; Katya knew that, but she was starting to learn just how selfish a man he was, how selfish a man he’d always been. Their father was right; Reinholt had been getting everything he’d wanted for far too long, and that had taught him no respect for those around him, for his family, for his wife. How much of responsibility did he know at all?

When Reinholt emerged, dressed in an immaculate black coat and trousers, hair neatly combed, Lord Vincent still didn’t show himself. Katya didn’t bother to ask. Instead, she just escorted Reinholt toward dinner. He stared straight ahead for the most part, eyes darting toward her occasionally, mouth smug, as if daring her to comment. Katya kept her bored court face on. She’d leave it to her mother to dispense disappointment.

To Katya’s surprise, her mother didn’t turn a frosty eye on him. Instead, she welcomed him with a warm smile and open arms, a move that stopped him in his tracks; his smug face fell to something like sorrow. When she embraced him, he trembled as if he might burst into tears.

He recovered quickly and broke from her embrace, but the smile he had was strained.

Da simply said, “Let’s eat.”

After the servants served the initial helpings, they withdrew from the private sitting room. No one seemed willing to fire the first volley. They ate and talked of unimportant things, though Reinholt’s responses were monosyllabic at best.

The servants didn’t reappear with dessert. Skipping sweets was an old tactic of her parents, a prelude to a “serious discussion.” Katya wondered if Reinholt remembered that. He blinked around slowly as if just waking up, clearly waiting for either the dessert, so he could resume the wooden way he’d eaten dinner, or some other cue.

“The fall festival is in a few weeks,” Ma said. As opening salvos went, it was a gentle one.

Reinholt frowned. “I know.”

Ma continued to stare at him. Katya copied her father and watched the walls.

Reinholt pushed back from the table and crossed one ankle over his knee. “Waiting for me to say I’ll dance for the populace like a good little puppet, Ma?”

“You’re the crown prince of the mightiest nation in the world,” Katya blurted.

Da cleared his throat and gave her a warning look, but not before Reinholt turned his scathing eyes on her. “Care to step into the breach, Little K? Want to duel me for the position?”

Katya almost said she would if she had to, but Ma said, “Enough.” Her calm wasn’t shattered, wasn’t even chipped. “You have responsibilities, and being seen is one of them.”

“You don’t have to explain my position to me.”

Katya resisted saying, “Could have fooled me.” She pinched her own knee under the table and tried to keep the scowl from her face.

“I know you’re hurt,” Ma began, and before Reinholt got a chance to eat his foot once more, she hurried on, “but long, emotional sabbaticals are something we cannot afford, not if we’re going to maintain control. We have to be seen, and to be seen doing well and being obeyed.”

Reinholt stared at the table, face red, the picture of a sulky child. These were lessons they had learned from the cradle. Did he remember them at all?

Da nodded as if they’d worked everything out. “I’ll have one of my clerks deliver you an itinerary.”

Reinholt sighed long and loud. “Fine.”

Katya supposed it was the best they would get. She had to put in appearances at the festival’s myriad activities and plumb her contacts for any threats to the crown. The king’s Guard would be out in force, and any time an Umbriel made a public appearance, he or she would be protected, but it was the job of the Order of Vestra to make sure no secret villains like Roland waited in the shadows.

Reinholt knew all that. And all he had to do was show up.

When her parents finally excused them, Katya left in a hurry, both to avoid another walk with Reinholt and to get back to her rooms fast. She wanted to have a few words with the Order, and that meant a few moments to see Starbride before they gathered. She grinned even as she thought of all the trouble that was to come.

When she came back to her room, though, Averie had a pinched look upon her face. Katya stopped in the doorway. “What is it?”

“Nothing too bad.”

“That’s not very encouraging.”

“It’s just…I heard a rumor that she’s back…for the festival.”

Katya’s first thought was of Maia. Her heart seemed to skip in her chest. “Her?”

“Castelle Burenne.”

Katya’s heart beat again, and it took a moment for the name to filter through the walls she’d built around it. Castelle, she of the soft black curls and eyes like a summer sky, with her quick fingers and light laugh, the woman who’d taught Katya so much about love and life.

The woman who’d broken her heart into pieces.

“She’s…here?”

“At court. That’s what I’ve heard, and I’ve heard it enough…” Averie spread her arms as if to ask what else there was to say.

Katya felt her blush and hated it. Castelle was only three years her senior, but when they’d known each other, when they’d been lovers, Katya had been seventeen and Castelle twenty. She’d seemed decades older, eons even. She’d always made Katya feel like a child, even when she’d been taking Katya to passionate heights. Castelle had been the only woman besides Starbride that Katya had invited to meet her family. Ma had said no, had somehow been able to see through the spell Castelle had cast.

Castelle had made it clear that she wouldn’t have gone even if she’d been approved of. She’d laughed and waved the invitation away, too much of a free spirit to be tied to one person, too much of a rascal to care about one person too long.

“It’s all right, Averie. She’s not come to steal my heart again, and even if she tried, it’s already spoken for. I suppose I should even thank Castelle. Much of my rake persona I based on her.”

“She shouldn’t have hurt you.”

“Jewel of my heart, you are forever loyal.”

Averie’s mouth twisted to the side, and she bowed. “If she gets flirty, I can shoot her.”

“If she gets flirty, I have to see if I can out-flirt her. That would be quite a challenge.”

“Don’t. You’ll wind up in bed together, neither of you wanting to admit defeat.”

“If she tries to take me to bed, then shoot her.”

“Are you going to introduce her to Starbride?”

Katya almost tripped on her way around the settee. “Now there’s someone she’ll flirt with mercilessly.”

“I’ll bring two arrows in case I have to shoot her twice.”

Katya chuckled. “Will you ask Starbride to come here?”

“You have to tell her about this right away. She can’t hear it from court gossip.”

“Who are you? Elody? Could it be that I’m talking to the incarnation of the spirit of love?”

“If it helps you to think so.” She hurried from the room and returned a few moments later with Starbride before she made a discreet withdrawal.

“How was dinner?” Starbride asked after Katya kissed her hello. She had a bit of starch in her voice, no doubt due to Katya’s note.

“I protested leaving you out, but now I’m glad. You didn’t have to see my brother acting like an ass.”

“To tell the truth, I’m not really angry. Having dinner with your brother is something I’d rather skip.”

“I don’t ever want you to feel left out.”

“Please, he can leave me out all he wants. Besides, I got to spend the time practicing with my pyramids. Are you gathering the Order?”

“I’m surrounded by spirits today. Averie is Elody, and here you are, Marla, spirit of perception.”

“What advice did the spirit of love have for you?”

Katya half turned, one leg crossed over the other. She decided to deal with the news of Castelle’s return the same way she dealt with all things, by blurting them out. “One of my old lovers has returned to court.”