I tried to get my ear as close to the door as I could without tipping off the guards that I was eavesdropping by simply stepping closer and turning side on.

'...sixteen years old and still hasn't summoned a single portal!' Mother was saying.

'Give her time. She is but a slow learner,' Father replied.

'You’ve got it into her head that all she's useful for is to find a husband,' she said. 'What if something were to happen to Timoth and Kaeya? Third in line is no guarantee.'

'She would make an excellent ruling Countess,' I recognised Timoth's voice, and felt a surge of goodwill towards him. It was true that I could potentially inherit, but Timoth was not so far off having to consider marriage and Kaeya had already been annoyingly tardy in doing so. Even if both of my parents and siblings were to die, it would have to be in the next few years before they bore children who could become their heirs. Besides, marrying a royal husband would cause my land to become his, and he would know how to rule it.

Nevertheless my parents ignored him.

'She will find a man worthy of our family,' Father said. 'She has the looks and the class for it.'

I almost heard Mother sneer through the wooden door. 'She spends all day brushing her hair and pushing up her bosom and pinching her cheeks. She was suntanning at the beach when the raiders came, you know.'

'I will not send her away,' Father said, this time in a tone which indicated the finality of his words. It was the voice of a ruler rather than that of a husband, and Mother was silent. 'She will yet learn the portal magics, and she will bring an alliance to Ebonreach which will serve Timoth well when it is his time to rule.'

'You do not fear her slow wit?' Mother asked quietly, and I was shocked by the venom in her words. I tried not to think worse of her; she had not intended for me to hear her words. But it was hurtful to know what she thought of me.

'I fear that she will find love before she finds marriage,' Father replied.

'If you will not send her away to learn, then send her away to embed herself in court life. Send her to a Duke, or to the King.'

'When she has come of age, she will go.'

'I will go with her.' Timoth. A pause.

'Yes, I think that would be best,' Father said. Again my opinion of Timoth rose. Though I had long known that my path would lead away form Haelling Cove, I had not known with whom I would travel it.

Nothing more was being said, and a minute later my brother burst out of the oak door. I jumped aside just in time, but he knew that I had been listening. Though not for how long.

'She worries,' he said, knowing that my mind would be on Mother's harsh words.

'As I do. For the health of her expectations.' We laughed gently, then Timoth and I strode to my chambers. 'Could you teach me portalmancy?'

'Are you not taught by Master Kaed?'

'He's such a slow teacher,' I said. 'It'd be easier if you helped me.'

Timoth stopped to consider my request. He looked at me. 'My own portal realm is very small. I… I’m not a very good student either.'

I opened my mouth to protest, to say that at least he could summon a portal, but he continued before the words left my mouth. 'But, if you wish, I could sit in on your next lesson to see if I can… liven things up for you.'

'Yes please!' I said enthusiastically, and he smiled. 'First thing tomorrow.'

'I'll be there,' he said. For a second I thought he might embrace me, but after a moment of awkwardness he just walked off.

I shrugged and entered my room. The pooled water on the floor told me that Gwaeda had not been inside during my absence, so I closed the door, discarded my coat, and walked to my bed. It was dark outside, though not yet bedtime. Despite this, I slipped onto the bed, laying atop the sheets and blankets and a small tower of feather pillows.

I summoned the courage to raise one of the political books I was supposed to read for my lessons from my bedside table, and set it on my lap. It was the family history of some noble house that ruled one of the other Counties in Halivaara. It interested me more than most of my homework, much of which was of limited practical use to me, yet I could not make the knowledge stick in my mind. It was as frustrating as trying to will a portal into existence. I wondered if Mother had been right about me.

A knock on my door. 'My lady?' Daegwin.

I put the family tree aside, grateful for the excuse. 'Do come in.'

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Daegwin stepped inside and closed the door. She saw the water on the floor and immediately retrieved a mop from the closet I allowed the servants to keep supplied for such occasions. She began to soak up the water, writing the mop over the bathtub.

She caught sight of me watching her. 'Your hair looks lovely, Countess.'

'Thank you, Daegwin.' I said. I wondered if she had changed her hair too. Instead of asking, however, I said, 'make sure you get all the water. I don't want to slip and crack my head and get a scar.'

'Yes, my lady.'

'When you're done, bring me something to eat. I don't feel like joining my family for dinner.' Mother's words had soured my appetite for her company.

'Yes, my lady.' A few moments of silence passed by, but as I did nothing to occupy them Daegwin started a fresh conversation. 'Did you hear that Count Djiron is coming to Haelling Cove?'

'Count Djiron…' the name was familiar to me. I began to rummage through the tomes at my bedside but Daegwin spoiled the mystery.

'He rules one of the border counties. He’ll be discussing battle strategies with your father, or so it is said.'

'That's right…' I said, and with that knowledge I selected the correct chapter of the family history book. 'It says here he was born nineteen years ago. But this book is old. Does he yet rule his county?'

'Nay, my lady,' Daegwin said. 'Though they say his father tires of war, and intends to abdicate so that Count Djiron can rule.'

I mused. Sixteen and nineteen was not such a big age gap, not once I was of age and we were eighteen and twenty-one. That said, I knew nothing of his looks, and I yet hoped to wed someone in line for the title of Duke. Or even King, as Father had suggested.

Yet there were certain benefits aside from title that some suitors carried. I knew that Father had wed Mother despite her lack of title as her family was – and still is – the largest landholder in Ebonreach. She had brought Father legitimacy and wealth. Perhaps Count Djiron could bring Ebonreach exotic border goods, or soldiers with battle-hardened fighting techniques. In any case, it was a chance for me to finally meet an unwed nobleman of a similar age to me. 'When is he expected?'

'His advance messenger arrived today, while we were on the beach. I was not privy to the message, though I'd imagine that he's not more than a day or two behind.'

I rolled my eyes at her attempt to imagine an answer where she knew none. Despite that, her logic was sound. I was glad that I'd taken the time to sunbathe today, I wouldn't want Count Djiron to mistake my paleness for sickliness. The dry sun of the Borderlands bred tanned men, after all. He'd think me a wraith!

Daegwin finished cleaning up after my bath and left. A few minutes later, she returned with Gwaeda in tow, both of them brandishing trays of beef, buttered bread, cream cheese, potatoes, and glasses of bloodberry juice. The offerings at Haelling Cove had always been limited, especially to those who eschewed fish as I often did. Ebonreach had plentiful farmlands, but for whatever reason I had never cared to discern they were utilised primarily for exotic meats and berries. Most citizens of the Reach were happy enough to supplement their diet of mostly fish with meat when they could afford it, but I had grown weary of repetitive fish meals at a young age. My status had permitted me to choose what I ate with greater leniency than a commoner, but still my diet consisted mostly of cattle and dairy products and bread to flesh out the meal. Though I relished bloodberries, their price tag periodically earnt the ire of my father.

Perhaps Count Djiron's holdings bred sheep or goats, though I doubted it. The Borderlands were not known for their arable land. They were, however, known as a free county, much like Ebonreach. As the heirs to the only two free counties – counties which answered directly to the King without belonging to any Duchy – in Halivaara, Timoth and Count Djiron would be equals in station.

I permitted my attendants to eat my leftovers. They had known that I would allow them to do so, I could tell. There was far too much food for one person on those trays, especially one who was watching her figure.

'Gwaeda, what do you know of Count Djiron's visit?'

'Naught that Lady Daegwin does not also know,' she replied, scoffing down a mouthful of potato and cream cheese. 'Do you wish to meet him, my lady?'

'Of course,' I said firmly. 'I will come of age in less than two years. By then he may be a ruling Count.'

'I do not think that the Borderlands life would agree with you, my lady,' Gwaeda replied.

'What did you intend by that remark?'

She sensed that she had overstepped, and attempted to recover. 'I mean only that the Borderlands are a dirty place, beset by conflict and populated by those only recently civilised.'

'If my children became the rulers of that land then I would tolerate it,' I declared. 'Leave me.'

Gwaeda was uncertain whether she'd upset me or not. I was content to let her wonder, to keep her wary of her tongue's limits. They took the trays and left me to make one more attempt at studying the book of family histories. The cursive writing gave me a headache within minutes and I set the book aside angrily.

There was little else for me to do but get to bed early. I didn't want to be tired for my lesson now that Timoth would be in attendance. After I disrobed, it did not take long for sleep to take me.

I was awakened in the morning by Gwaeda's arrival with a glass of milk and plate of bread smeared with bloodberry jam. I ate it down and dressed myself. This day I felt the need to wear something more robust than my ivory dress so I donned a cream blouse and ocean blue skirt. The colours of my House, almost.

I knelt before my window and gave my morning prayer to Cha. I begged that Cha, the god of the sun, earth and sea, grant me success in my magical teachings that day, and offered him thanks in the traditional phrasing. For Yoru, Cha’s earthly servant, I offered thanks specifically for human charity, as it was said that he was responsible for all acts of genuine kindness.

After I rose from the floor, I took myself to Master Kaen's room. The door was locked as he was not yet present, but Timoth arrived as I did, clad in the same silk outfit he had been wearing yesterday. He appeared tired, so I greeted him with a tease. 'You look like Master Kaen.'

'I was up all night,' he confided in me. 'One of the raiders survived his wounds yesterday, for a time.'

'Did he say who the man in the portal was?' I asked, interested in the mystery of what had happened.

Timoth looked me dead in the eye, the seriousness of his words cutting through his obvious fatigue. 'He said he was a messenger from Hollowhold.'

I furrowed my brow, before remembering how ugly doing so made look. 'Why would a citizen of Halivaara, of its capital even, have to say to the Tokuans?'

'I don't know,' Timoth replied.