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An envelope sat beside it, not quite flat, and he knew what it was before he reached for it. His grandmother’s ring fell out into his hand, but it wasn’t the ring he was interested in. She’d left him a note, and his hands shook as he opened the folded paper.
Not yet. I don’t want either of us to make a mistake. As for your unification speech for Byzenmaach, it took my breath away with its vision and generosity towards old foes.
For your protective introduction of Sophia and of me, I can only say thank you.
Sleep well, Casimir. I’ll see you in the morning.
She wouldn’t wear his ring, but nor had she left him.
That was something.
CHAPTER TEN
THREE DAYS LATER Ana was quietly going round the twist. She had plenty to do; that wasn’t the problem. Arrange for her and Sophia’s belongings to be sent from Geneva to the dower house. Acquire clothes for them both that they could wear on their first official outing with Casimir. Try and arrange schooling for Sophia, and wasn’t that an endeavour of gigantic proportions. Most of all she got to watch an increasingly stern Casimir as he left every morning for the capital and returned every evening with a bleak gaze and a weary smile.
The factions to the north hadn’t responded to his invitations yet.
Rudolpho counselled patience but Casimir didn’t want to hear it.
Lor simply shook her head and refused to talk about it.
When it came to the matter of schooling for Sophia, Ana sought Lor’s counsel above all others. The older woman knew things and had endless patience for Ana’s questions.
‘Am I really asking the impossible by wanting Sophia to go to school?’ Ana asked as they sat at the computer and studied the list of schools Ana’s new secretary had sent through. ‘What do royal children normally do?’
‘There’s no hard and fast rule.’
‘Casimir said he had tutors.’
Lor nodded. ‘Even before the tragedies he rarely mixed with other children. Only other royal children who came visiting. Augustus and Moriana. Theo of Liesendaach—and what a tearaway that one was. Valentine of Thallasia and his sister—those two were designed to break hearts, I’ve never seen more beautiful children. They were Casimir’s friends. He keeps them close.’
‘I’m getting that.’ Three of them were kings in their own right and fighting just as hard for regional reform as Casimir. ‘Did they go to school or did they have tutors too?’
‘Augustus and Moriana went to school. Theo too.’ Lor frowned. ‘Valentine and Amira, no. They had tutors.’
‘What do you think I should do when it comes to schooling Sophia?’
‘I think she’s a gregarious girl who needs to go to school, make friends and have as normal an upbringing as possible, under the circumstances.’
That was what Ana’s mother had said too. ‘My daughter is down in the aviary with Tomas, learning what to feed orphaned baby birds. I have no doubt that half a wolfhound pack is sitting at her feet and when she’s finished with the birds I guarantee she’ll con someone to take her to visit the little pink saddle and the little Arabian mare that have miraculously appeared in the stables. I think the normal upbringing ship has sailed.’
Lor snorted. ‘You could always ask Casimir about the saddle. And the pony.’
‘I would if I ever saw him before bedtime.’ And there was the crux of the problem. ‘Does he always work this hard? Because, honestly, Lor, there should be two of him.’
‘It’s a difficult time.’ Lor shrugged and pulled away from the computer, standing and reaching for the shawl she’d slung over the back of her chair upon entering Ana’s office—a word that didn’t quite fit the airy parlour with the view of the walled gardens and beyond that the grassy plains and then the mountains. ‘Casimir feels he has something to prove. Something to fix. You’re welcome to try telling him he doesn’t.’
‘Yeah, thanks. Trouble is, I like what he’s trying to do. I think it shows courage, vision and strength. I want him to succeed.’ Every day when she saw what he was aiming to do and the challenges he faced she wanted that for him. She stood abruptly. ‘I’m going for a walk to try and clear my head. I might even make school decisions while I’m at it.’
