Forest Born (19 page)

The way her mouth opened suddenly, the woman might have gasped, though with the mud in her ears Rin could not be sure. She flew to Rin, seizing her wrist. Rin made a small noise of pain.

The woman’s voice was loud enough to push through the mud, though Rin did not understand the questions in Kelish. Rin thrashed and squirmed and tried to get free, but the woman’s hand was strong. One of the guards charged forward, hefting his sword.

Rin grabbed the woman around the middle and pushed her hard to the ground. Though large, the woman was soft and awkward, and Rin managed to put her foot on the woman’s throat and twist out of her hold in a dirty move forbidden at the homestead. But she was free, and she darted for the stairs, pulling in air to shout to the fire sisters and hope her voice carried. All she had time for was one breath before hands were on her, yanking her arms behind her back. The force of her capture knocked the wind from her chest, and she could not squeak a word.

It had been a desperate move anyhow. No chance she could have made it far. The horror of her failure engulfed her.

They took her pack and tied her hands. The woman noticed the mud crammed in her ears and scraped it out with her fingers.

She said something in Kelish that sounded like a question, and when Rin did not respond, she switched to the Bayern tongue. “Why putting dirt in the ears?”

One of the soldiers looked uneasy, speaking in Kelish and gesturing to Rin and toward the wood outside the castle walls.

The woman shushed him. “The queen asking questions next. You answering.”

She had the soldiers drag Rin farther from the way to the dungeon, then ran up the steps to the higher levels of the keep.

The sweat that lay over Rin’s face and under her tunic felt freezing cold, and she shivered. She thought if she could just see the soldiers’ faces, perhaps she could figure out how to trick them into letting her go. But they held her arms at an angle, her back hunched so she could not twist enough to see. Her mouth was as dry as a fallen leaf, everything seemed hopeless. And Selia was coming.

Chapter 21

R
in heard the Kelish woman’s voice echoing down the stairs before she emerged, a shivering circle of candlelight descending before her.

“I not noticing her at first. I was seeing of her heat before seeing of her, Your Majesty.”

Then, a second voice—Selia’s. “What an enchanting mystery! Do you think we should keep her alive to figure it out? Or shall we kill her now?”

“She could be dangerous.”

“Mmm.”

The candlelight grew brighter, then in the circle of light Selia emerged from the stairs, flanked by the woman and two other men, also dressed in gray tunics with orange markings. Over her white nightgown, Selia wore a red velvet robe, the color of a very ripe berry, and her dark yellow hair was long and loose. Selia stepped daintily off the last stair, took in Rin with the soldiers, and smiled. Rin could not help thinking her lovely.

“My wonderful guards!” Selia extended her arms, as if embracing the soldiers from a distance. “Flann, Imchad, Conall—you are so fine, so strong. What good work you do keeping my little home safe. How I adore you!”

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” each one mumbled in voices that sounded sheepish bordering on lovesick. The other soldiers who remained at the gate watched intensely. A few shuffled closer, their faces eager, as if hoping Selia might notice them next. But her generous smile had turned to the woman beside her.

“And beautiful Nuala. Ever watchful, always brilliant. Your days of going unnoticed are long forgotten. You shine like a full moon.”

Nuala bowed her head, red flush smeared over her broad cheeks.

Now Selia’s eyes turned to Rin. Her gaze was uncomfortable, probing, and Rin flinched under it.

“Nuala, why are her ears smeared with dirt?”

“She had putting mud in her ears, Your Majesty. I cannot know why.”

Rin thought Selia’s followers must not realize the power of their mistress’s voice.

Selia’s eyebrows rose. “She did? Well, maybe she’s a clever thing. Are you clever?”

Rin summoned all her strength and sent it into words. “Let me go.”

Selia’s eyes opened wide in pure surprise. “Pardon me?”

“You want something from Isi, from the
Crown Princess.
”

Rin fought to speak with confidence, to shine up her words and offer them like coins. But her chin trembled, and she was so aware of her own worthlessness she could barely squeak. “I can’t give you what you want. You should let me go. I have nowhere to run. There’s no point in keeping me around, just another mouth to feed. You’d feel so much better if you let me go.”

Selia stared, then she leaned her head back and laughed. “Wonderful! So charming. It appears I have a little sister in talent. But is that your best effort, truly? How sad. Let me guess—you were afraid of yourself all your life, so you did not practice your skills; you shut them away. And now you are useless. Yes, Nuala, this one is terribly dangerous—if you are a beetle underfoot.” Selia’s smile was barely a twitch, yet it seemed the cruelest smile Rin had ever seen.

“She is not a threat?” Nuala asked, watching Rin with wary eyes.

“No, she is weak.”

Rin shuddered. Never had any words seemed more true.

Then Selia’s eyes softened, the cold smile melted from her lips. Her face was all benevolence. Even as Rin guessed that it was just another mask, a new tactic, the effect was profound, and she found herself thinking,
I wish I’d had a
chance to wash before meeting her. I wish I looked a bit nicer. What can
I say to make her like me?

“I know who you are, Rin. Cilie has told me many charming stories. Eager to know you better, I was thrilled to learn you had escorted my old mistress to my home. So you may imagine my worry when I realized you were not among the girls. But all is as it should be again. You were so clever! We looked and looked for the longest time but could not find any trace of you and dear sweet Tusken. Truly ingenious. How did you elude my searchers?”

Rin blinked long and hard. She wanted to tell Selia. She should just tell her. Did it really matter if Selia knew about sleeping in the oak tree, or even about the tree-speaking? Surely she was about to kill Rin anyway. But there remained a thin, tough core in Rin’s middle, pulled securely up toward the sky, down toward earth, and there within that single fiber, she could still think a little.
Keep silent, Rin.
At least she had some practice at that.

“Come now,” said Selia. “None of it matters anymore. I just admire your competence.” She studied Rin’s face, lifting a finger to stroke her cheek. “No one appreciates you properly, do they? Your family? Yes, they do not see the true Rin, the clever Rin, the powerful Rin. Overlooked your entire life, tossed aside as if you were no more than any scrap of a girl. They don’t know what secrets you hold, how you have fought to keep those secrets, all you have sacrificed to keep your family safe. And for what? For negligence? For dismissal? The way you have been treated is shocking.”

Rin felt as if she could curl up at Selia’s feet and fall asleep. Her thoughts relaxed too, drifting away from her control.
Selia would understand me. She and I have grown up with the
same plague inside. She could teach me, and in turn I could help her
change her ways. Only she could really understand . . .

“I bet there are stories you could tell! I am near breathless in anticipation. Tell me. Tell me all of it, all the clever things you can do. How did you get them away without drawing notice? What did you do next?”

Selia put a finger under Rin’s jaw and gazed lovingly into her eyes. Rin’s legs trembled with eagerness to speak, her stomach tossed with joy. How wonderful it would feel to tell Selia about her sneaking, half in the green world, and her idea to hide in the very tree that held the cage. Selia would be delighted! Rin could see the path they had taken in her mind, their flight north, then east, and north again.
Silence,
Rin. Keep silent
. The room seemed to tilt to one side; her head hurt. Maybe she could draw Selia a map . . .
No!
Why was everything so confusing? She tried to think like a tree, hide herself inside that wonderful bark of thought, sink deep in a sturdy trunk, close herself to all this confusion.

“You are fighting so hard!” Selia said. “That is sweet. You must think you have someone to protect, but there is no need. You should protect yourself now, and the way to do that is to speak. You are so good at speaking, better than you can even guess. No need to close yourself up any longer, little flower. Open yourself, claim yourself. Speak.”

Rin wanted to, she really wanted to. But a tickly bug of an idea was irritating her, distracting her—Selia understood her. That meant that Rin’s ability to read people was part of the people-speaking. When she guessed Ma’s thoughts before Ma spoke them, that was people-speaking. When she detected the lie in Cilie’s face, that too. And finding just the right thing to say to Wilem to keep him from running off with the boys. The ability to read people, know what they needed to hear, convince them to do as she wished. All of that. People-speaking.

Selia could see thoughts in people’s faces, could read in their expressions what they wanted to hear, and told it to them. But the way Selia spoke was beyond finding the words to convince Nordra to give up the stick—Selia’s words were webbing, thick and sticky, that clung and enshrined. Selia’s words were weapons. Beside her, Rin felt weak as pudding.

“I have nothing worth saying,” Rin muttered, and felt it was true.

Selia sighed. “Oh well, I was just curious. It does not matter now that I have the boy prince safely home with me.”

Rin heard the gasp before realizing that it had escaped from her own throat.

Selia tilted her head, studying Rin’s face, her expression amused surprise. “Oh my, you did not know that, did you? You thought Tusken and his little soldier friend were still out there somewhere? Look at her, Nuala, she is utterly shocked. She’s trying to hide it, poor dear. And here we all assumed she broke into the castle in some fanciful attempt to rescue him!”

She smiled again at Rin. “Forgive me. I should show more compassion. If you did not know, then . . . Well, I hope it won’t come as a dreadful blow when I tell you that when my guards found the boy prince and his companion, they tried to flee, the poor dears, as if they had anything to fear from me! In the tussle, the dark-haired boy died. He tried to fight, but what good is a sling against a sword, especially with his boots on fire?”

Rin was on the floor. She did not think she had sat down, but suddenly the ground was there under her hand and backside, her body jarred as if she’d hit it hard.

“Did you know that boy?” Selia’s voice dripped with concern. “I had no idea or I would have taken more care. My condolences, truly. I have lost loved ones too, and I know the pain. The deep, deep pain. But in good news”—her tone brightened—“the little one lives in excellent health! He is back in his aunt Selia’s adoring arms. I have dressed him in silks and he sleeps upon feather pillows, his chubby little face still smeared with the honey sweets I fed him for dinner. Cilie is with him, my faithful lady-in-waiting, but he is most fond of me.”

Razo is dead,
Rin was thinking. It was all she could think. The thought crowded her head, her body, filled the room like smoke from a clogged chimney, and Rin could not breathe through it.
Razo is dead, and it’s my fault. I failed him,
I killed him. I fell asleep and lost all that time. The searchers found them,
killed my brother, carried Tusken back to Selia. All while I slept. He’s
dead, it’s my fault. I insisted on going myself, and now he’s dead.

Selia crouched beside her and placed something small and cold in Rin’s hands. Her face was close to Rin’s, so close she found herself watching Selia’s pale eyelashes as she blinked.

“Tell the Crown Princess to name me the ruler of Bayern’s eastern provinces. It
is
delightful to be a queen by marriage, but I’d so much rather have some land in my name. My provinces will still be part of Bayern. I’m not asking for the
crown
, after all. The eastern provinces aren’t too much to exchange for the life of her child, are they? No, you agree. That would be greedy of her. And I will be a good ruler, and tie the kingdom of Bayern even more snugly to Kel. It will be a marvelous political alliance with both sides benefiting richly. I do not ask for something impossible, just a little piece of land, won fairly in this war game. All I require is her signature on a letter to Geric. He will honor what his wife signs, as long as I send it back with his son intact. If she refuses, I will keep Tusken as my own. I have always wanted a son. I do not think that will transpire—I believe the Crown Princess will sign, and then she will remain my guest until the king follows through on the transfer of land. Once that happens, everyone goes home hale and healthy! You see how reasonable I am.”

Rin was nodding. She did not care about any of it—eastern provinces, political alliances. Trying to take it in felt like drinking dust. Razo should have come, not her. All along, she’d known she would fail, and sure enough, here she sat on a stone floor drowning under the news of her brother’s death. But she nodded.

“Good. Very good. My hearth-watchers,” Selia said, gesturing to the men and women in gray tunics, “will escort you downstairs to your companions. I apologize for the rough quarters, but alas, Castle Daire is not so grand as to boast of large guest chambers! Still, the sooner the Crown Princess signs her agreement, the sooner I can send that sweet little baby back to his father. Off you go, and tell the Crown Princess I will call on her tomorrow.”

“She’s a queen,” Rin whispered.

Selia had begun to walk away, but she stopped where she stood, her smile rigid. “What did you say?”

Rin could not believe she had spoken at all. The words had slipped out; she had barely noticed them. Now she had to gather any energy left in her body to speak again, forcing the words out in a croak. “Isi. You call her Crown Princess. But she’s a queen.”

The change in Selia’s face was astonishing. Her composure, her beauty disappeared as her face stiffened and turned red, her eyes glaring, her mouth quivering. Rin recoiled, sure the woman would strike. But just as suddenly, Selia’s face calmed again, though now no smile graced her lips.

“All of this can end very well for you. How would you like to be the one to accompany the child back to his father? Yes, I can see that you genuinely care for him. You would love to be so honored, to have his well-being in your hands. You could keep him safe. If the
Crown Princess
signs that document, you will be taking the little prince home tomorrow. And then I will not have a reason to cut your throat and toss you over the wall. Think on that. Come, Nuala.”

Selia climbed the winding stairs, Nuala following. Selia’s remaining hearth-watchers, those in the gray tunics embroidered with orange flames, took Rin by the elbows and walked her swiftly down steps so steep Rin feared she would drop to the bottom if she leaned forward just a bit. That was where she’d been trying to go all along, and now they took her willingly. Because it did not matter anymore. Rin had no good news to shout, and the fire sisters would not break free.

For some reason she was having trouble seeing. The torches on the walls swam with indistinct light, the steps beneath her feet seemed to curve and bulge. Only when she blinked and felt coolness streak down her cheeks did she understand that she’d been seeing through tears.

From the hiccups in her chest and the shake of her shoulders, Rin guessed she was crying hard, though a numbness consumed her so she was scarcely aware of her sobs. By the time the hearth-watchers unlocked a heavy metal door and pushed her through, she was nearly blind with tears. The room was completely black and stank like a privy hole.

She stumbled forward, and hands were on her at once, comforting hands. Rin kneeled, then crumpled, stone beneath her arms and head.

“What’s happened, Rinna?” It was Dasha’s voice. She was stroking Rin’s hair back from her forehead, and Enna and Isi were rubbing her back, grasping her hands, their touch desperate to ease whatever might be her pain. Rin covered her face with her hands. She had no right to their comfort when it was her fault.