Troubled Waters (41 page)

“And because the fruit won’t be ready this year, my mother and I will deliver baskets of oranges and apples and pears every nineday during Quinnahunti and Quinnatorz,” Josetta added as they signaled the driver to be on his way.

“That’s generous,” Zoe said.

Josetta glowed. “Do you think so? It was my idea. My mother said I could do whatever I wanted.”

“I think you will bring great good to people who can use it most.”

There was no way of knowing if Sarone would welcome visitors at this particular hour, but they decided to go by the Lalindar town house just in case Sarone was home and bored. Admonishing Josetta not to be disappointed if they couldn’t go swimming this time, Zoe left the princess in the car with the guards and approached the door by herself. Servants hastily summoned her aunt, who stepped onto the porch and gazed with great curiosity toward the car.

“Really? You’ve brought Josetta
here
? But, Zoe, how delightful! Of course she can come in! I just had the water cleaned yesterday and I was thinking about taking a dip this afternoon, but it’s not nearly as much fun to be there by myself and Keeli’s gone for the afternoon. She’ll be so jealous when she learns who came by to visit.”

“Well, if Josetta really sets her heart on learning to swim, Keeli will have plenty of opportunities to get to know her,” Zoe said. “Excellent! I’ll bring her in.”

T
he water feature at the Lalindar house was magnificent, and Zoe was not surprised that Josetta stared at it in wonderment. It had been designed to resemble a lush, unspoiled mountain pool surrounded by scented shrubs and grasses speckled with wildflowers. The clear surface of the water revealed a stone floor painted to look like river rocks, and the pool itself was fed by an artificial stream that bubbled over a fall of mossy boulders. No matter what the outdoor weather was like, inside this room it was steamy and warm; a combination of condensation and plant growth obscured every inch of the glass panels that enclosed the space.

Josetta stood wide-eyed and openmouthed, taking it all in. “I’ve never seen a place like this,” she said at last.

Sarone laughed merrily. “No, it’s a little outrageous, isn’t it? My grandmother commissioned it before I was born. We’ve all added our own touches—do you see the little birds, way up high in the branches? I brought those in. Once they’re used to us being here, they’ll start chirping. I find it very soothing to swim to birdsong.”

“It must cost a fortune to keep the place warm in the winter,” Zoe said.

Sarone nodded vigorously. “Oh, it does! But I’ve found that heating it with Dochenza compressed gas is much cheaper than heating it with wood. It’s an indulgence, of course—but such a
lovely
one.”

Josetta glanced down at her clothes, which Zoe guessed probably cost more than a quintile of heating the pool. “What do I wear in the water?” she asked.

“When I am alone, I sometimes swim in the nude, but I would certainly not expect you to do so,” Sarone said. “I have plenty of swim clothes on hand—I keep them in all sizes to fit unexpected guests.”

Josetta glanced behind her, where her attendants waited on the other side of the glass door that separated the pool from the house. “Do you have clothes they can wear, too?”

“Your guards?” Sarone asked, a little startled. “I assure you, you are quite safe in my home—”

“Oh, I’m not afraid,” Josetta said swiftly. “I just thought they would enjoy it.” She glanced back at the water, rippling faintly from the constant flow of the stream. “It looks like there would be enough room.”

Sarone glanced at Zoe, her eyebrows lifted slightly. Zoe thought she could read her aunt’s expression.
A princess who cares about her common subjects. That’s a rare creature.
“Indeed,” Sarone said briskly, “there is water enough for all.”

I
t turned out to be the most enjoyable hour Zoe had spent since she had returned to Chialto. The maid and one of the guards declined the offer of changing into swimming attire, but they did roll up the hems of their trousers and sit on the banks of the pool, kicking their feet in the heated water. Sarone, Zoe, Josetta, and the other guard—Foley, who, as it happened, already knew how to swim—changed into outfits that modestly covered them from neck to midthigh while leaving their arms and legs free. All of these ensembles tied at the waist and seemed to repel water with some efficiency, but Zoe couldn’t say they were particularly flattering.

Josetta had been alarmed to learn there was no part of the pool shallow enough to stand in, but Zoe and Sarone eased her into the water, one on either side of her, and showed her how to kick and how to breathe.

“This pool is so small that you can’t get far enough away from me to drown,” Sarone told Josetta cheerfully. “If you feel yourself going under, don’t panic. Zoe or I will be at your side in seconds.”

“Or I will,” Foley said.

Zoe glanced at him. He was keeping a respectful distance away, treading water in the center of the pool, but she guessed he could reach the princess with a few quick strokes. The arms revealed by his borrowed suit were impressively well-defined. “I wouldn’t have taken you for a
coru
man,” she said, “but you look awfully comfortable in the water.”

“Torz,”
he said. He didn’t grin; he didn’t look like a generally light-hearted man. He looked serious and practical. At some point in his life, it must have seemed to him practical to learn this particular skill, so he had studied it till he mastered it. That life hadn’t been overlong, Zoe judged. She thought he might be eighteen or nineteen years old.

“Too bad you weren’t in the boat with the princess during the regatta,” she said.

Foley pressed his lips together and didn’t answer, but Josetta spoke up. Her blond hair was plastered back from her face, making her look even younger than her age and more vulnerable than usual. “I wanted him to be,” she said. “He was last year.”

Last year, when the princess
didn’t
almost drown. “So why not this year?”

“My mother had already hired the sailors, and there was only room for three,” Josetta said. “She thought I had a better chance of winning if both rowers were professionals.”

“I suppose she’s learned there are some things more important than winning,” Zoe said.

“I suppose,” Josetta said. She had been holding on to the lip of the pool, but now she ducked her head under the water, moving her arms and legs in practice strokes before surfacing again. “Let me see if I can make it to the other side by myself.”

“I’ll swim alongside you,” Zoe said.

“Go past me,” Foley said. “I can help you if you’re in trouble.”

Josetta dipped her head in the water again, as if trying to wet her hair enough to keep it out of her way. “All right. Watch me.”

The princess splashed a lot, and her kicks were erratic, but she made it across the water without needing help from her instructors. “Excellent! Very smoothly done!” Sarone called, clapping her hands. “Now back to me.”

But Josetta had to pause a moment to celebrate. “I did it!” she exclaimed, clinging to the stone border on the other side. “I didn’t think I could! It’s always so hard for me to learn new things but—I like this! This is easy!”

Lazily kicking her feet to keep herself afloat, Zoe smiled at the princess. “I’m glad you’re enjoying this. You must always respect the water, of course—always, even in a controlled environment like this one—but if you do, it can be a powerful friend.”

Josetta nodded, listening, but her eyes were already on Sarone, measuring the distance between them. “Come back to me!” Sarone called again. “We’ll have you cross the pool a few more times, until you start getting tired.”

Josetta laughed, a small, happy sound that Zoe didn’t remember hearing before. “Oh, I don’t think I’m going to get tired of this for a long time.”

O
f course, the princess found herself immensely weary when she pulled herself out onto one of the artfully placed boulders some time later. “It’s the water,” Sarone explained, bringing over a towel to start drying Josetta’s hair. “It takes your weight for you. You always feel dreadful when you first get out, but you’ll feel better soon enough. In fact, the more often you swim, the stronger you’ll feel in general.”

“I’m so hungry,” the princess exclaimed, and then looked mortified. “I’m sorry! I’m not asking you to feed me—”

But Sarone was laughing. “Swimming always leaves me ravenous,” she confided. “I would have been astonished if you
hadn’t
been hungry. Food is on its way.”

“How can I thank you for giving me such an enjoyable afternoon?” Josetta asked.

“By coming back, of course,” Sarone said promptly. It was clear she had gauged the princess correctly; Josetta could not bear to push herself where she was not welcome. “I will be offended if you don’t!” She gestured at the royal retinue. “All of you. Come anytime. I will leave orders that you are to be admitted even if I am not here.” She bent a stern look on Josetta. “But you are not to climb into the pool without me or Zoe or Foley with you. Not until I decide you are skilled enough to swim on your own.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t
think
of trying it by myself,” Josetta said earnestly.

“Good. Then you may come whenever you like.”

As soon as they had blunted their hunger on Sarone’s excellent selection of breads and cheeses, they redonned their formal clothes. Zoe just let her damp hair hang down her back to dry as it liked, combing it out once with her hand. But Josetta’s blond locks twisted into messy curls as they started to dry, and the maid had quite a time trying to tame them into something more presentable.

“Start wearing your hair in a braid coiled into a knot on the back of your head,” Sarone suggested. “Very practical for a swimmer.”

“
Not
practical for a girl who’s nearly fifteen and who must present a certain appearance at court,” Zoe said firmly. “So make sure you don’t go swimming on days it matters what you look like.”

Finally, they had restored themselves as best they could and were back in the car, heading up the mountain. Josetta chattered for the whole ride back, as animated as Zoe had ever seen her.

“I liked your aunt so much! She seems like such a warm person. Is she always like that? Or was she just being nice to me because I’m a princess?”

Zoe had to smile. “I think that is who she genuinely is, but I’m sure she never forgot for an instant that you’re a princess. I’m afraid that’s the way things will always be for you. You’ll find it difficult to know who is being kind to you because kindness is in their hearts or because they think it will win them favor.”

Josetta thought this over a moment, some of her exuberance fading. “So are you saying I cannot trust her? I thought, since she is
your
aunt—”

Zoe leaned forward, catching Josetta’s hands in hers. For a moment, she was almost overcome with the implications of that touch, the familiar rhythm of the blood dancing through Josetta’s veins. “I have not been at court long enough to know who
I
can trust,” she said quietly. “I have led a strange life, much of that time isolated from my own family, and it is hard for me to tell sometimes who wishes
me
well. I would not want you to trust anybody merely because they are related to me, or because you met them in my company. I do not know enough to be able to guarantee that
anybody
is safe for you.”

Josetta absorbed this in silence, her face very sober. She made no move to pull her hands from Zoe’s grasp. “Can I trust
you
?” she asked at last.

Zoe’s breath caught so hard that for a moment, her ribs hurt. “Yes,” she said, when she could trust herself to speak. “To never offer you harm and to keep you from harm if it comes from someone else and I have any power in my body to shield you. I will swear that before the booth of promises in the Plaza of Men, if you like.”

But Josetta’s face had relaxed into a smile. She leaned back into the plush cushions of the carriage. “I believe you,” she said. “I don’t require any vows.”

Zoe released her and settled more deeply into her own cushions. This city car was nearly as comfortable as Darien Serlast’s opulent travel vehicle. “Judging by what I saw today, you can trust Foley, too,” she said.

Josetta nodded. “Yes. I always feel safe when he’s nearby. I never leave the palace without Foley.”

Zoe was certain she should offer some kind of sisterly advice at this juncture.
Be careful about how much you come to rely on one particular man,
perhaps, or
Do not lose your heart to a lowly soldier who has clearly already lost his heart to you.
But she did not speak the words. If someone in the city wanted the princess dead, Josetta’s best defender would be a besotted guard who would give his life to protect her.

And if, a few years from now, Josetta gave him her affection in return, well, Zoe was hardly one to be outraged by that. She knew, as few others did, how impure the royal bloodline already was, and she had little reverence for societal conventions. Princess or no, queen or no, let the girl love where she would. When Zoe got a chance, she would tell her sister exactly that.

D
uring the following few ninedays, Josetta and Zoe made a half dozen trips to Sarone’s house. After that first visit, Keeli made sure she was always present, and she quickly became a favorite with the shy princess. Zoe had to smile to watch them together. Keeli loved fashion and beauty, and she took it upon herself to recommend colors, clothes, and hairstyles to Josetta that the more conventional advisors at the palace never would have suggested. Keeli even collected products that would smooth Josetta’s hair once it came drenched out of the pool, and glittering accessories that would pin the recalcitrant curls in place. Eventually, Josetta looked better
after
their swims than before them, and all due to Keeli’s ministrations.