My day started out pretty normally with me trying to bait Edwin Calanthis into committing high treason. In my defense, he was really annoying me that day.
“Evariste, your mother is a fool,” he said, tossing his mop of perfectly shiny auburn hair to the side in what I’m sure he thought was a rakish gesture. Mostly it made him look like a horse trying to scare off a fly, although that might have been my personal bias poking through. I did not care for Edwin, or horses for that matter.
“Is she now? Do tell.” I kept a light tone as I turned to glance at the open doorway Edwin had so unceremoniously bull rushed through a moment before. “I’m sure we’d all be delighted if you’d enlighten us,” I said, gesturing towards the assorted group of ladies I’d been chatting with before his unwelcome interruption. A few of them tittered softly.
We made quite the pretty picture I have to say. We were gathered in the Lilac Salon, one of my favorite chambers for casual entertaining. The walls were painted the room’s gentle namesake shade, with furniture of dark wood not too luxurious to be used but sufficiently elegant to impress even the most refined palette. The room was lit largely by the huge glass windows that dominated the eastern wall, looking out onto one of the many interior courtyards that dotted the palace grounds. Beyond that, a few pixie lamps shone twinkling light, and of course there were the bonded companions of more than half the company glowing softly in every shade you could imagine.
Normally the prospect of embarrassment in front of a number of the eligible women of the court would be enough to rein in Edwin’s tendency to run his mouth to me, but it didn’t seem to hold him off this time. He blustered his way closer to me, pushing aside the table of pastries I’d arranged for my little soiree and knocking a few to the floor. I think that was when I decided I was going to hit him. I’d made a couple of those pastries myself.
He fit right into the surroundings, I had to give him that. Tall and handsome, his brown skin set off beautifully by the forest green of his clothes he made a perfect picture in my salon. A suitor, coming to call on his lady love. A courtier, come to pay respects to his queen. An asshole, interrupting my party.
“That- that woman is-”
“That woman the queen?”
He paused bemusedly. “Well, yes of course I-”
“That woman the queen to whom you owe your allegiance, fealty, and respect?”
That time he blushed. It would have been adorable back when we were kids. It might still have been adorable to a few of my fellows. I was pretty sure I heard Mina make a sympathetic noise behind me, although frankly it was hard to hear over the giggles that were erupting from the rest of my coterie.
“The queen who is also my mother, who you are insulting in front of not only me but an assortment of my peers?” That shut him up for a moment, although I could feel Mina’s empathy intensifying. She had always hated to be made a fool of in public, and so always felt for whoever had the misfortune to be made a spectacle even when they so richly deserved it as did Edwin.
I need to talk to her about that after, I thought. Can’t have her developing an inconvenient crush on Edwin of all people. Awei isn’t exactly too low for Calanthis, but any kind of romantic entanglement between the two would be extremely inconvenient for Mother. She’s having a hard enough time dealing with the northwestern faction without an alliance over the Ariellen.
Did I really think that a little flirtation between Mina Awei and Edwin Calanthis would be enough to draw the two houses together into a political alliance despite the gulf of the great Ariellen river that separated their holdings? Not particularly. Like Mother always said, geography is destiny. Their interests just weren’t aligned enough. Still, it wasn’t worth taking a chance when there was no need. I resolved to have Mina over for a bit of a girls’ night sometime soon, and make sure to bring up the time I caught Ed practicing his kissing on a stuffed bear when we were eleven. That’d probably be enough to avert any potential relationship, and besides it would be extremely funny.
Political concerns aside, Mina was entirely too pretty for him.
Edwin took a deep breath. “I apologize for my rudeness, Evariste. I am somewhat incensed over your mother’s latest proclamation, and I find that I have forgotten my manners. Ladies, you have my apologies.” He bowed very prettily, first to me and then to the assembled group.
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I waved my hand graciously. “Not at all.” And I waited. If I had to guess it would be-
“What has you in such an ill humor my lord?”
Alea. I could always count on her to nose about for gossip, and while it was somewhat frustrating at times at the moment I could kiss her. The more Ed dug himself into this hole, the more likely it was I’d get to hit him.
“Her Majesty is increasing tariffs on the movement of those bonded with creatures “of military capability.” That last was said in a tone just shy of mockery. “And she's including the Grey Wolves of Calanthis Forest in that number.”
That gave me pause. I hadn’t known she was doing that. The rest of the ladies chattered excitedly at the news. Apparently this was fresh gossip indeed.
“They are extremely powerful creatures, you can’t deny that Eddy.” From the left my friend Saliss piped up, raising her nose from the treatise she’d been perusing throughout the whole conversation. She’d grown up with me and Ed, and was the only one who could call him Eddy without provoking a duel.
“They’re protectors! Half the city watch are Grey Wolves for gods’ sake,” he said, some of his earlier rage returning. “Those men aren’t soldiers.”
That was my in.
“Then maybe they should stop acting like soldiers.”
The room went quiet. Everyone turned to look at me.
Exactly how I liked it.
“What, precisely, are you implying Your Highness?” Edwin glared at me. Where before he had been outraged on his father’s behalf, here I had struck a nerve. The Calanthis were fiercely proud of their Grey Wolves, creatures who had long protected the forests of their homelands. The folk of that region had been bonding with the beasts and using their strength and ferocity to guard the kingdom for centuries. Edwin himself might have bonded one had he not been born with such a useful talent. Indeed, his sister was a Wolf, and a well-respected member of my mother’s guard.
“Tell me Edwin, what do you call a group of armed individuals far more powerful than any of the locals, moving in to take control of a region and enforcing their own code of behavior over the laws of the land? Because I would call it an occupying force.”
He turned bright red, not with embarrassment this time but with rage. “How dare you. The situation in Veyandt is a matter of the safety of my people. Of your people if you’ll remember. The kingdom owes us their protection.”
“And the kingdom was providing protection. Members of the actual military were enforcing a ceasefire as our ambassadors worked to find a peaceful solution. Or at least they were until the Wolves of Calanthis instituted martial law in Veyandt.”
The room echoed with our words. Everyone knew what had been going on up near Calanthis lands, but it was far enough away that few paid it much mind. Or at least, few paid it mind until recently, when the Lord Calanthis sent in volunteers from city watches across the kingdom to take control of the area.
“As you well know,” said Edwin through gritted teeth, “The situation had been deteriorating rapidly. My father felt that additional protection was necessary in order to safeguard the lives of our people.”
“And my mother felt that if your father was using the Grey Wolves as his personal army, he should be paying taxes on them like every other private military force in the kingdom. Really Eddy, I hardly see what the problem is.”
I could see the anger in his eyes. That righteous burn that urged him to draw his tonfa and drop it at my feet. I knew he was going to challenge me, and I was going to get to beat the ever living shit out of him. I felt my lips curl, baring my teeth in a feral grin of anticipation.
Of course, that was the moment when a guard walked in. She was tall, well built in the way that you knew there were powerful muscles lurking behind every soft looking curve. Her shoulders were broad and powerful beneath the Queen's Guard uniform she wore, and she looked at me without emotion in her cool brown eyes. She had to be new. I would definitely have remembered her.
“Your Highness, my apologies for interrupting.” She didn’t exactly sound apologetic. “Her Majesty the Queen requires your presence at your earliest convenience.”
Startled out of my anticipatory fervor, it took me a moment to respond. “Ah, yes of course. Thank you. I will be with her shortly. Just a few moments to wrap up this conversation.”
She didn’t move.
“Her Majesty requested that I escort you to her.”
Oh. That… wasn’t good. Mother knew that sending an escort to bring me through the palace I’d lived in my entire life would be humiliating. She didn’t do anything like this by accident. I almost wished she would, at least then I wouldn’t have to deal with whatever I’d done that had brought her to this point.
“Ah. Of course. Lord Edwin, ladies,” I said, nodding my head politely at each in turn, “I’m afraid I must away. I hope we can resume our delightful conversation at another time.”
Amidst the flutter of goodbyes and well wishes, two reactions stuck out. Firstly, Mina was looking at me with pity in her eyes, meaning it was my turn to be the spectacle. And secondly, Edwin was unclenching his left hand from the handle of his tonfa..
Damn it. I was so close.
Next time.