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Cassia’s wariness fought with her admiration. Sabina had managed to surprise her.
“It seems we have similar priorities,” Solia said.
“Do we? I don’t want to marry and watch my husband inherit Hadria and my father’s seat on the Council of Free Lords. I can inherit the lands and the title myself.”
Solia nodded. “But the council seat will become vacant, and it will fall to the new monarch to fill it. I have often wondered if this is your father’s intention. Does he want Hadria’s seat to revert to the crown, to break the power of his own line as a safeguard against future feuds?”
“Yes.” Sabina raised her chin. “I will not allow that to happen. Here is my question for you, Your Majesty. Do you intend to rule a kingdom where a woman may hold the throne, but not a Council seat?”
“You want to become the first Free Lady of Tenebra in your own right,” Cassia realized.
Solia’s horse danced under them. “Lady Sabina, I thought you were asking me to do you a favor. If you’re willing to push your way to that table and endure the lords’ retaliation, you will have my gratitude and unconditional support. I would love nothing better than to make you the first woman on my Council.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Sabina said. “I know changing hundreds of years of Tenebran law and tradition will not be quick.”
Solia glanced at Lio. “I am working on that with my advisers.”
“This is an area where I have been making some suggestions,” Lio said. “Free lords are male by tradition, rather than law. Nowhere in the Free Charter did King Lucian codify that one must be a man to inherit a Council seat. It is not specified whether a man or woman should be a Free Lord. I suspect that was his wife’s influence at work, for among the Lustri, women held positions of great influence.”
Sabina stared at him. “It’s not even in the Free Charter? All these centuries, the lords have pointed to that piece of parchment as if it were written in Anthros’s own hand to justify anything they wished their wives to do.”
“Transcribing and distributing copies of the original charter is on my list of plans, too,” Solia said.
“The rest of Tenebran law assumes a male heir,” Lio said, “and varies with incredible inconsistency between domains. Changing those laws will not be trivial, but far easier than changing the Charter. It will be harder still to change minds, but unchanged minds must still obey the new laws.”
“You already have your advisers researching this,” Sabina said to Solia. “I can see you are committed to fighting for it.”
“I have lived in an Empire where it is a reality,” Solia replied. “I will devote my reign to making it so in Tenebra. Admittedly, I don’t plan to announce this to the free lords while I am still fighting for their mandate. I must get those oafs to offer me the crown first, and once it is too late for them to protest, then I can begin to surprise them.”
“What other changes do you envision for the women of this land?” Sabina asked.
Solia sighed. “Many. I fear I may have to leave more than I wish to my heirs. But I will begin with the most important reforms. Inheritance and rape laws.”
“And what of the laws that forbid magic use outside of a temple?”
“Those may actually be easier to change because they’ll benefit men.”
“And women, one hopes. My handmaiden Miranda asks that you hear her petition as well.”
Cassia took this as an opportunity to show Miranda she was not the enemy. “I am sure my sister would be glad to hear Miranda’s concerns.”
“Of course,” Solia agreed.
Miranda avoided Cassia’s gaze, looking instead at Kella, who gave her a nod of encouragement. “Thank you for hearing me, My Queen. I am inspired by Princess Kella’s and your magery. Let us imagine that I knew a woman who was trying to avoid being trapped in a temple due to her magic. A theoretical exercise, you understand, Your Majesty.”
Solia smiled. “Of course. We are not suggesting any such women are actually present.”
“Indeed. But if they were, would you protect them from impressment into the Orders?”
Cassia’s heart squeezed. Was Miranda like Cassia and Solia, also secretly a mage struggling with her own power? What had she suffered while trying to escape the Orders, and what role had Cassia played in it?
Solia’s temper came through in her voice. “I would like to set fire to the laws that keep girls ignorant of their own power or confine it to what men consider acceptable in Anthros’s eyes. While we wrestle for change, any woman who suffers at the Orders’ hands may come to her queen’s household for sanctuary.”
“That will make you unpopular with the Orders, Your Majesty,” Sabina warned.
“They need never know. If I offer a lady or her handmaiden a place in my household, it is purely a domestic matter, yes? Why should it ever reach the clerics’ ears?” Solia met Miranda’s gaze. “Do you need a place in my household now?”
Her gaze fell. “You honor me, Your Majesty, but I will gladly remain under Lady Sabina’s protection, if it pleases you.”
