Queen Katyrinna (Rin)

Rin smoothed Tansy’s dark hair and wiped an ash smudge from the girl’s cheek. “Do you remember the mark on Duck’s back? And Papa’s?”

“Yes,” Tansy said. “Boys need magic protection because magic hurts them all the time. Poor, poor boys.” She shook her head mournfully.

That seemed to be how things worked in Rin’s family anyway. “Drake is going to be helping to look out for you,” Rin explained. “Do you think he might need some magical protection?”

“Yes,” Tansy said with a full-body nod of agreement. “So much.”

One of Drake’s dangling arms already bore an E-emblazoned scorpion, so hopefully he would not mind her use of the other arm. Rin pushed up his shirt and placed her fingertips on his forearm. After having a child, her magic knew exactly what she wanted from it. Power rushed down her arm and through her fingertips. A black tree with branches shaped like a bird’s wings started as faint, pink outlines against the Baysellian’s tanned skin.

“That tickles,” giggled Tansy.

The baby stirred a bit as well, and even Talyrin flicked his ears. Naxturaen blood was a fascinating and powerful thing. Now that he was basically a member of her blood family, Drake’s body was better able to fight Shrilynda’s poison concoction. Rosaliy and Arlana would be back in plenty of time for him.

Rin waited until the lines of the tree blackened and solidified before she withdrew her arm, feeling a rush of exhaustion sweep over her. She could stand a bout of that ordered rest now.

“He’s safe to move,” Rin murmured to Dmitri.

Celia had settled her sleeping boy down in a makeshift hay bed, and she seemed to have the rest of the children hauling things around in the barn to keep them busy as much as to create some semblance of order. Dmitri removed Drake from Talyrin’s back and hauled the Baysellian to a patch of hay next to the sleeping boy.

“I’m so sorry,” Celia fretted, putting a hand to Drake’s clammy forehead. “Is there anything I can do?”

“I am the one who is sorry,” Rin insisted. “Without my magic at full strength this will take a week to fix.” She looked mournfully out the barn window at the charred land and the sad, crumbling building that was once a house.

“Fix,” said Celia, mouth agape. “A week?”

“Yes, that is far too long,” Rin murmured, missing Celia’s tone of surprise. Perhaps she could call in a favor from the Bellicus to haul out the broken trees and shattered bits of house. After that, the Naxturae were phenomenal builders when they had hands instead of hooves to work with. Perhaps the Flifary could provide some light. Of course, placement would be an issue…

“Tal and I are going to finish our sweep of the perimeter,” Dmitri announced. He did not announce his wish to find Shrilynda for the purposes of wringing her neck. Rin knew he would return disappointed, but precautions were rarely a bad idea.

Alexander and Silas returned shortly after, dragging Issabeth between them. Closely following, Lillya was being suitably reverent with Issabeth’s bow and quiver of arrows. Duck carried a single, dirty arrow that appeared to have been retrieved from the ground. His toad was stowed safely in a now-muddy pocket.

“Silas,” Rin greeted him. “You must come to Crystal Palace as my guest until your home is repaired.”

The expression on his face was as if she had asked him to set his head on fire and he was figuring out how to politely run away screaming. As if in preparation for that act, he transferred Issabeth’s weight to Alexander, who nearly fell over.

“I won’t be able to regrow an entire orchard from nothing right now,” she explained. Trees were a specialty under normal circumstances, whatever normal circumstances were. “You’ll have to choose from the trees at Crystal Palace so I have a healthy branch or two to start with. What were you growing here? Pomegranates? Persimmons? Figs?” Her eyes scanned blackened husks in the distance, determining space. “Hopefully you have room for a good-sized plum orchard.”

He was softening by the fruit. Celia nudged him. “You know you’ve been trying to grow olives for the past five years.”

Silas scratched his thick, silver-blond hair. “You don’t have any almond trees, do you, your highness?” Silas suggested carefully.

“Please don’t get her started on the almond trees,” Alexander interrupted, hefting Issabeth off his shoulder and depositing his sister on the ground. “They’re threatening to take over half the palace.”

Silas was very tempted to accept Rin’s offer, which was a relief because his land was in shambles and Rin would use every bit of her royal pull to set things right. Rosaliy and Arlana returned with the paste she needed before he tried to turn her down again. Rin sent the family away with Arlana and Issabeth.

“Wait, what about Mallow?” asked Celia in a panic as Arlana assembled the family around Issabeth’s body. “And the—” She scanned the burnt buildings. She had little else to manage at this point.

“I’ll make sure all the animals are taken care of,” promised Lillya cheerfully.

Celia forced a smile that tried to be genuine and stopped somewhere just past strained. “Of course you will, dear girl.”

“How often do the chickens lay eggs?” Lillya asked.

“She’ll have help,” Alexander promised. In response to an incredulous glare from Silas, he added, “Not from me, obviously.”

“You would adore him if you gave him a chance,” Celia whispered to Silas as the fog swept around them all. Silas’s glaring face was the last thing visible before the family disappeared.

“That is highly unlikely,” Alexander muttered when they were gone.

Lillya took Duck and Tansy to go tend to the cow. Rin was unsure what that meant, but they were in view, so things could not go too badly for the cow.

“What does he blame you for?” Rin asked.

Alexander shrugged. “Not marrying the love of his life, I think.”

“What sense does that make?” Rin asked.

“There is a twisted sort of logic,” Alexander admitted.

“Celia seems lovely,” said Rin.

“Is this what it looks like?” asked Alexander, peering at Drake’s arm, perhaps trying to change the subject. “Duck and Lillya said they felt something tingly.”

She nodded. Alexander was familiar with the perks of Naxturaen protection.

“How are you?” he asked, pretending not to be worried. The mark on his own shoulder had cost the giver her life.

“A little tired,” she admitted.

Rosaliy had set to work dabbing the paste on Drake’s wound. The boy gave a valiant attempt to stir when the antidote seeped into his skin.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured first.

“Sorry is an epidemic today.” Rin lifted his eyelids to see the purple lines of poison just receding from the whites of his eyes. Honestly, the only people with cause to be sorry were Shrilynda and the Flifary down in the Pit, and Rin doubted they would be offering apologies any time soon. “What are you sorry for?”

“I did a poor job of rescuing the children,” he said, wincing as Rosaliy dabbed more of the paste.

“In what way?” Rin asked curiously.

“That woman nearly killed me,” he grunted.

“That’s an odd thing to be sorry for,” said Alexander contemplatively.

“Very few people can claim the distinction,” Rin added. “She usually succeeds.”

Drake tried again. “I meant hopefully you can find somebody better equipped to—”

Rosaliy had tensed, and her face had tightened into an expression of displeasure. Rosaliy had caught Drake’s meaning long before Rin had.

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“Oh, you’re trying to quit?” Rin realized.

“Well, no,” he said, pained eyes looking from Rin to Rosaliy to Alexander. “But why would you want me to stay?”

What a sadly genuine question from a man accustomed to being unwanted. Rin recognized that emotion right away. She had spent a childhood wallowing in it. Something about childhood sparked a memory.

“I do know you,” she realized instead of answering his question. “We met in the desert. You were with the smugglers.”

“Yes,” he agreed.

“Alexander.” She brushed his arm. “The boy who fetched the coconuts.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he answered.

“In the desert, when we were kidnapped by smugglers.”

He shrugged.

“You were there. You must remember,” she chided.

“What you remember and what I remember about that event are two wildly different things.” He looked straight at Drake and snapped his fingers. “Meena.”

Rin looked down on Drake critically. “I don’t see it,” she decided. It was hard to imagine Meena ever being this young.

“He’s right,” Drake admitted. Alexander’s face lit up. He did love being right. “She was my grandmother.”

“You must have had an interesting childhood,” Alexander mused.

“Interesting, yes.”

“You’ll fit right in,” Alexander told him.

He responded with a glazed expression hiding mild panic. “To what?”

“To the family,” Rin replied.

That pushed Drake over the edge into panic. “But I’m not— And I am— Don’t you know what I am?” His words had an edge of desperation to them.

Rosaliy hid a grin by bending over his wound in a particularly attentive way.

“If you go back on your promise,” she threatened, “you have no leverage to hold me to mine.”

His mouth opened, but only a strangled sound of incredulity came out.

“Rin managed to bring Daniella into the fold,” Alexander pointed out. “You have no argument here.”

“But she is your actual family,” Drake insisted.

“So you think being born into a family means you deserve it?” Rin asked curiously.

“Of course,” he said, flabbergasted.

“Why?” Rin asked.

“You have royal blood,” he tried.

He was not the first to try to explain to Rin the flimsy reasoning behind blood ties. Frankly, the idea mystified her, but her own family history was confusing.

“So everyone keeps telling me,” she sighed, “but my ancestors locked me away for their own good while you treated my family as your own: the children, Daniella, Rosaliy. So who has the better understanding of family?”

His eyebrows rose. He was not absorbing this. Rin could not blame him. Family was something best learned through experience.

“But the people I was supposed to protect had to rescue me,” Drake pointed out.

“It’s a team effort most days,” said Alexander.

“Merely proves you’re willing to put yourself in harm’s way,” agreed Rin.

Drake raised his eyebrows and shot a look to Rosaliy.

“Yes, they’re serious,” she said, not able to stifle her grin anymore.

“In all seriousness,” said Alexander, “there will be a next time, and if you would rather go back to your vaguely shady past, I’ll only think badly of you once in a while.”

“Perhaps you shouldn’t strong arm important decisions from the wounded, dearest,” Rin suggested.

“Me?” Alexander teased. “Who could say no to you and your love-based arguments? He’s already decided to stay.”

“Oh?” Rin asked, pleased. She thought he seemed rather tenuous about the whole thing.

“I promised already,” Drake admitted, eyes drifting to Rosaliy while she was busy digging out bandages, “but that doesn’t mean I understand why it’s so important to everyone that I stay.”

“Ah,” said Rin. This, she understood. “You may not figure that one out for quite a while, but you’re young, so you have plenty of time.”

“I hear you can pick locks, for one,” Alexander said. “How good are you?”

“Is that a trick question?” Drake asked warily.

“He’s very good at locks,” Rosaliy chimed in.

Rin was very good herself, but there had been a locked trunk driving Alexander crazy for moons now. She had no success battling it.

Alexander said, “A trick question would be ‘What type of hard alcohol is best for children?’”

Those children had returned from comforting the cow and a few horses. Rin felt a twinge of guilt over how normal events like these seemed to them. Their fear of Shrilynda had practically evaporated.

“The baby!” Lillya gasped, catching a glimpse of turquoise under Rin’s cloak. “Can I hold her, oh, please!”

“Stay calm,” Rin warned the girl, handing over the tiny bundle.

“And if she turns orange, you’d best take cover,” Alexander warned.

“She?” Taurin wailed. “You promised to be a boy!” The baby did not take the admonishment to heart; she shimmered at the sound of her siblings’ voices, knowing somehow.

“Oh,” Tansy breathed, eyes mesmerized. Rin would have to keep an eye on her, she sensed, lest Tansy decide to test out the baby’s transformative capabilities.

“I think the fire’s out,” Lillya suggested brightly, gingerly handing back the now-squirming bundle. “Could I go into the house and see if any of my books survived?”

Rin nestled the little one back into wrappings under her cloak.

“Sure,” Alexander answered. “Priorities. I’m standing in a soggy barn, so I might as well be slogging through a soot-damaged husk of house instead.”

“Hooray!” said Lillya, and she scampered off with her father close behind.

In an instant, things were as normal as they ever were. At least for Rin. Drake and Rosaliy seemed to be experiencing a fair bit of abnormalcy. Rosaliy finished dabbing another layer of paste around Drake’s wound. The purple lines were already receding.

“How does that feel?” Rosaliy asked Drake.

He shot her a pained look. “Much better, by which I mean it feels like a run-of-the-mill gaping stab wound and not a poisoned one, so thank you.” He ended with a tentative smile. Since Rin could not avoid soaking up the emotions of those around her, she did her best not to pry into them at the very least. These two were going to strain that policy. With Rosaliy, Drake was especially guarded and hesitant, which was saying something. Things were strained between them, and he was determining how strained.

Rosaliy smiled back at him. She was less conflicted and more relieved. “Well, then stop whining and sit up so I can wrap up your side.”

Drake gingerly pressed himself to sit, catching sight of his arm for the first time.

“I should have asked your permission, but you were dying at the time,” Rin apologized.

Rosaliy set to wrapping bandages tightly around him while he was distracted. He traced the wings of the dark bird tree on his skin.

“What does it mean?” he asked.

Rin had already answered his question, and it appeared he was going to need time to discover what being a member of her family really meant.

“I have one of those,” Taurin announced proudly, yanking down the back of his shirt to show the tree below the base of his neck. “It protects you when Tansy tries to zap you with lightning.”

“Among other things,” mused Rin. “Duck, Tansy—stay with Drake, please.”

“Have you ever ridden a cow?” Taurin started in as they left. “They have a cow here.”

“I don’t have much cow wrangling experience,” Drake admitted, “but I am familiar with camels.”

Just like that, he was Tansy and Taurin’s best friend.

Rin linked arms with Rosaliy and walked with her. “Rose, remind me to make sure Celia’s animals are all accounted for. Perhaps you can make a list? I was going to have the Bellicus haul away the burned buildings.”

“That should be…interesting,” said Rosaliy, smoothing back a few stray hairs that had wriggled from her long ponytail. Rosaliy was good at order and harmony, but although she was exhibiting those emotions, she was not feeling them.

“It’s best to keep the Bellicus busy,” Rin pointed out. “How are you feeling?”

Rosaliy turned a little pink. “Physically or…otherwise?”

“I care about both things,” Rin told her, “but you don’t have to talk about either if you so prefer.”

“I’m feeling a little muddled, and I think that’s my answer to both questions.”

“It feels like someone smashed your heart with a hammer,” Rin pointed out.

“Pretty close,” Rosaliy agreed.

“Are you ready to talk?”

Rosaliy waved her off. “You’re far too busy to deal with my problems.”

“I’m never too busy for you, Rose,” Rin promised. “Perhaps doing other things at the same time, but never too busy. I know Drake doesn’t understand what being family means, but surely you don’t need a fumbling speech on the subject?”

“Do you really consider me family?” Rosaliy asked with a touch of incredulity.

“Ah me,” Rin sighed. “It sounds like I’ll have to prepare a speech after all. None of the heroes of this week are willing to admit their importance.”

“Oh, no, I—” Rosaliy started to object. She and Drake had that in common, it seemed.

Rin interrupted her. “There’s no point arguing with me. You’ve been one of my heroes since you were eight.”

“You’re exaggerating,” Rosaliy said, deciding there was a point arguing.

“Not a bit,” Rin told her. “You’ve been a constant for me.”

She looked at Rin askance. “Arlana tried to say something like that,” she admitted.

“That settles things,” Rin agreed. “Although you have all created quite a problem for me.”

Rosaliy’s face went serious. She was always so willing to jump in to solve a problem, even at her own expense.

Rin pulled back the cloak to stroke the fluffy purple hair of the baby snuggled underneath. “This little person owes her safety to quite a few people. I’m not sure I can find a name big enough.”

“You have this problem every time,” Rosaliy laughed. “What is today’s name?”

“Draella Rose,” Rin said.

A smile spread over Rosaliy’s face as the mish-mash of name bits struck her. “That is a big name for such a little girl. What kind of person is she likely to grow up to be with such a name?”

“A skilled criminal who can take over the world with her pure heart?” Rin suggested.

Rosaliy laughed.

Considering her namesakes, Rin imagined this new little person was going to be able to be anything she wanted to be. As long as the world did not end first. “I’m going to take advantage of this brief interlude where Shrilynda is too weakened to launch a direct attack to travel a bit,” Rin decided, “and you missed your entire vacation with your family.”

“Oh, I managed to squeeze in a visit,” Rosaliy chuckled. “Although I imagine I should tell my parents I’ve survived and your children have been found safe and sound before they launch their own rescue attempt.”

“Then it’s settled. We’re all going. I haven’t seen Ana and Darrow in years.”

Rosaliy’s eyes drifted to Drake and the children. They were pestering him for camel stories, and he was fumbling to come up with one that met their demands. A light glinted in Rosaliy’s eyes when she said, “That sounds wonderful.”

The End