Troubled Waters (28 page)

Josetta had already disappeared, and the second servant still waited at the door, but Corene hadn’t yet left Zoe’s side. “Will you be back tomorrow? Will you be back every day?”

Zoe was trying to hide her immense relief at the news that she was about to quit the room, so she rose slowly from her chair, as if reluctant to go. “I don’t know what my schedule holds,” she told Corene. “But I am sure I will see you often.” She reached the door and bowed at the group. “Thank you for your warm welcome. I look forward to getting to know all of you better.”

SEVENTEEN

Z
oe and Darien Serlast kept complete silence as they stepped out of the room, down the halls, and back to the
kierten
at the base of the multicolored steps. There he stopped and turned to face her.

“And you
still
see me as the villain,” he said, as if resuming a conversation that had been interrupted by only a pause.

She smiled faintly. “Because I talked of dispossessing your family?”

“My father had nothing to do with Navarr’s fall from grace. In fact, as I told you, my father fought hard to have Navarr reinstated.”

“So you say. Yet Serlasts profited from his exile.”

“Christara Lalindar was the one who spoke most strongly against your father.”

She nodded. “That’s who my father always blamed. And my aunt Sarone told me some of the reasons my grandmother hated my father. But I can’t help thinking there is more to the story than a private feud between my relatives and a public disagreement about political treaties.”

Darien’s face instantly took on that alert and watchful expression that Zoe had decided meant he didn’t want her to ask the next likely question. She did it anyway. “But you know, don’t you?” she said slowly. “You know the real reason my father was banished?”

He was silent a long time, studying her with narrowed gray eyes. She merely stood there, showing no impatience, willing to wait until night fell or the river dried up or the world itself ended. “Essentially,” he said at last.

“Will you tell me?”

He shook his head. “Not unless there turns out to be some reason it is important that you know.”

“I
want
to know. That’s important enough.”

He shook his head again. “No, it isn’t. Not for this.”

“You promised you wouldn’t lie to me.”

“I’m hardly lying when I say I cannot tell you what you ask.”

“Then you can’t be surprised that I continue to think of you as a villain.”

Now he smiled. “I do not think any of us has foresight enough to guess what kind of turmoil you are going to bring,” he said.

She showed him an inquiring face. “I don’t know what you mean. I have done nothing.”

He gestured toward the room they’d just left. “Any audience with the king’s wives is a grueling experience, for they can be jealous and spiteful and sometimes cruel. Even Elidon, who is not by nature unkind. Yet you handled yourself with poise, you did not allow yourself to be intimidated, and you displayed your strengths. I think if they try too hard to provoke you, you will grow tired of behaving with that assumed tranquility. You will be like a squall upon the waters, and none of us will be able to guess how much chaos you might churn up.”

“Darien Serlast,” she said in a mocking voice, “what a romantic turn of mind you have.”

“I would be interested to hear your opinions of the king’s wives.”

Zoe answered readily. “Seterre is a schemer, but a cautious one—she would take petty measures to make someone else unhappy, all the while pretending to be her best friend. Romelle is still young enough, and likable enough, to believe the world likes her back. When she is hurt or disillusioned—as she inevitably will be—she will either become depressed and withdrawn or bitter and loud, though I don’t see her as dangerous. Alys is ambitious and determined—and smart enough to figure out how to get what she wants, no matter what it costs. Elidon—” Zoe shrugged. “Trying hard to be graceful, not always succeeding. She could destroy Alys if she wanted—and she’ll do it, if she ever needs to.”

He was laughing softly. “All this from an hour in their company! I’m impressed.”

“I am
coru
,” she said. “You think that means I am as willful as water, but it also means I am bound by blood. Since I have taken my place as Christara’s heir, I have gained some insights into the human heart.”

“And the princesses? What did you think of them?”

“Josetta is unhappy and Corene is unbridled,” Zoe said promptly. “And Natalie probably really
is
a spoiled brat.”

He was frowning. “Why do you think Josetta is unhappy?”

She gave him a scornful look. “Why would
you
think so? You yourself called a visit to the wives’ wing grueling. She must
live
there, and she seems ill-equipped for the life. I imagine she is not particularly good at defending herself.”

“Her mother is perfectly capable of fighting for her daughter.”

Zoe shrugged. “I doubt her mother is always nearby when the battle is joined.”

He was still frowning. “Still. If she cannot protect herself when she must, that is a serious flaw. If Vernon were to name her his heir—if she were to become queen—she would need to be fierce on her own behalf. She would need to be strong enough to fight.”

“Would she?” Zoe said, her voice very dry. “Doesn’t the king surround himself with people who protect him? Help him make decisions? Smooth his way?”

Darien’s face was instantly alert again. “He has advisors, certainly, who provide valuable counsel.”

“The king cannot even choose what buckle to wear on his boots unless one of those advisors is by his side. I find myself wondering what other decisions he relies on other people to make.”

It was comical to watch his face, to see him reconstructing a visit to a cobbler’s shop—two full quintiles ago!—remembering how the king dithered over the purchase and how Darien had helped choose the leather, the color, the decorations. Then his expression became rueful.

“I had forgotten all about that day,” he said. “I chose that shop to patronize because I knew you were working there.”

“And here I thought I had been so lucky to be working in the back room when you arrived. I didn’t realize you already knew I was there. But I found it very interesting to watch you oversee the king’s purchase.”

“I don’t know what you think you learned, but—”

“What I
learned
,” she interrupted, “is that you have a great deal of power in the royal household. What I
learned
is that the king doesn’t even make very small decisions without your approval. What I
guess
is that the king’s wives are consumed with trying to influence his choice of heir. They know that he listens to you, and that is why they fawn over you and flirt with you and show off their daughters for your approval. But they know better than to rely on one man and one potential avenue to the throne. Favorites come and go, after all—look at my father, once so dear to the king—they know the same fate might befall you as well. So they scheme and whisper and make alliances and vie for position. If one strategy fails, they are prepared to try another. And another, until the heir is chosen and the king is dead and a new monarch sits upon the throne.”

She came a step closer to him, suffused with a fury she had not realized she had been holding back. “What I
don’t
know is what you expect of
me
. Why do you want me in the palace? You say you never expected me to marry the king, but clearly you were eager to introduce me into this volatile company.”

“I told you,” he said stiffly. “Your father wanted you returned to Chialto and the king wanted balance in the palace. The Lalindar prime should be on excellent terms with royalty. My motives are no more sinister than those.”

She shrugged. “You see? You’re lying again. And
that
is why I continue to see you as a villain.”

“Is that what I have earned myself by fetching you to the city?” he said, speaking with a little heat himself. “A woman who has set herself against me and my family? Is it now your goal to bring down the Serlasts?”

“Not at all,” she said. “I would like to see
you
confounded, perhaps—not even discredited, not exiled, as my father was—just stripped for a moment of your arrogance and certainty and steel. You believe I will sweep a storm through these palace walls, but it will be a small one, I think. Only enough to knock you off your feet.”

“I am
hunti
,” he shot back. “Not easily overcome or thrown off course.”

She gave him a savage smile. “I didn’t say I expected it to be easy.”

He was silent a long moment, watching her. When he spoke, his voice was calm. She didn’t think he discounted anything she had said; he had simply braced himself to meet the chaos, whenever it might come. “When I traveled from Chialto to find you, I journeyed through a land parched with two years of drought,” he said. “Yet when I made it to your village, the wells were full, the crops were watered, and there was no sign of privation. It was raining when I arrived, and rain followed us all the way home. For the next two quintiles, the city saw more rain than it had seen for three years. The river swelled back to its normal size, and farmers from the outlying territories reported that their springs and aquifers were once again flowing freely. The drought that had seared the kingdom for two years had ended. Because
you
ended it.”

“I—”

He spoke over her. “Oh, you didn’t do it on purpose. You didn’t even know there
was
a drought—water followed you like a puppy follows a friendly master, and you never knew a day of thirst or worry. But
I
knew you were in the city and
I
knew you were in your grandmother’s house, because of the way the rain and river responded. And now that you, too, have seen how water obeys when you call it, I think you will not be able to resist the temptation to speak its name. And you are surprised that I think you belong in the king’s palace? Where else should such a woman reside? It seems like a very bad idea for anyone who cares about the kingdom to lose track of you.”

She tilted her chin up; she was irritated again. “I am no danger to anyone.”

“You have already threatened
me
,” he pointed out.

“You deserved it.”

“And who else, eventually, will deserve it—at least in your opinion? Will Seterre make you angry? Will Corene? It is very difficult to refrain from using power once it comes into your hands. And you, Zoe Ardelay Lalindar, wear the symbol for power dangling from your wrist. I cannot think it is the sort of blessing you will cast off without exploring it to the fullest.”

“Spoken like a
hunti
man,” she said.

He shrugged. “There is no winning an argument with a
coru
woman,” he said. “She redirects the conversation every time she finds herself in a channel she cannot control.”

Zoe lifted her hands, as if in surrender. “And there is no ending an argument with a
hunti
man,” she replied. “He takes a stand and will not yield it, even when the battle no longer rages. I am done quarreling, at least for the day. You said Vernon wanted to see me. Was that the truth, or merely an excuse to allow us to escape from the king’s wives?”

The quick change of subject caught him off guard only momentarily. “I do sometimes speak the truth,” he said coolly. “Yes, the king wants to meet with you. I know he is free at this time. Would you like to see him now, or have you found your last audience too harrowing?”

“Not at all,” she said. “Lead me to him.”

He offered her his arm again and she took it. She didn’t need his support. She didn’t need to feel, again, the precise chemical mixture of the blood racing through his veins, as distinct to her as the shape of his face and the particular weight of his body. She took his arm because he was the favorite of the king and anyone who encountered them in the hallways would see it as a mark of high esteem for Darien Serlast to allow the touch of Zoe Ardelay Lalindar. There was no other reason.

Z
oe had not expected to like the king, but she did.

He was awaiting them in a small study, though they must have passed a dozen rooms of mammoth size and smothering opulence. It was situated on the second floor, at the very westernmost tip of the men’s wing, and it had a stunning view of the waterfall lashing its way down the mountain. When they entered, he was standing in front of the window, motionless, apparently absorbed in that magnificent sight. Zoe had the impression he had been standing there a very long time.

“Majesty,” Darien said, and the king turned around. Zoe and Darien both bowed very low. “I have brought Navarr Ardelay’s daughter to meet you.”

“Oh, I am so glad,” King Vernon said, immediately crossing the room. Unlike his wives, he took her hands in his and smiled at her, clearly trying to read her heritage in her face. Against her skin she felt the prickle of analysis as her body read the composition of his blood. She would know him again if she was blinded and he reached out for her. It was a peculiar thing to realize.

“You look very much like your father,” he said.

She smiled. “So people have been telling me. What I’m unable to determine is if they mean that as a compliment.”

He smiled and dropped her hands. He looked much as she remembered him from her clandestine spying in the cobbler’s shop, although close up his face showed deeper lines and his skin was softer. His eyes were a lost blue. “I suppose that depends on how they felt about your father,” he replied. “Since at times I admired him and at times I was furious with him, I suppose you might consider my opinion mixed. But of late I have been wishing I could meet with him one last time, and so I am pleased to see that you resemble him so nearly.”

“Then I shall thank you for the words.”

He ushered her and Darien toward an arrangement of chairs and indicated that she should take the one that faced the window. “I imagine that is a vista a Lalindar woman would never tire of seeing,” he said as they all took their places.