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She said nothing; instead, she just studied me. Not knowing what to do, I inclined my head as Marit stepped back, done viewing my ring.
The final female snorted. “Lord Roar used to have better taste.”
“Calpurnia!” Princess Saga hissed. “Why must you be so sour?”
“I didn’t want to invite an outsider, cousin.” Calpurnia spat the last word and rustled her lilac wings as if irritated. “Especially not when you chose not to invite Aenesa or the Ithamai sisters so as not to scare this plain mouse off. If Roar’s infatuation can’t take our company, what is she even doing here?”
“Failing to invite the others is not why you have an icicle up your rear.” Sayyida interjected as she swept her dark curls over her shoulder and looked at me. “Calie here has always fancied the Warden of the West and now he’s taken, so she’s upset.”
Oh, stars. This sour lady was a relation of the queen. There was not much resemblance with the princess, Calpurnia being tanned and with dark brown hair and eyes. Come to think of it, wasn’t Calpurnia the name of the person Roar had been worried about forcibly matching with? I reached far back into my memory, to the day when he’d told me about the Courting Festival. Yes, I was sure that was her name. I swallowed. Apparently, he had been right to worry.
“If that’s the case,” Princess Saga started, “then I don’t understand why you’re always clinging to Aenesa, anyway, Calie. She wants to marry the Warden of the West too. She wasted no time in speaking with my father about it when she arrived.”
Somehow, things had gotten worse.
“And as for the Ithamai sisters,” Sayyida rolled her eyes, “we’re gambling tonight, Calie.”
I perked up. We’d had no money in Sangrael, but if we had a few spare hours, the blood slaves I lived with sometimes played cards and waged bets with tin pieces that were of no real value. It passed the time and was fun.
“The Warden of the East would be furious to hear if her precious daughters gambled.” Sayyida placed a hand over her mouth in mock horror. “She’d probably try to throw us in the dungeons.”
“It’s not against the law.” Calpurnia crossed her arms over her chest.
“In the eastern territory it is.” Sayyida looked at me. “Horrible part of the realm. The Warden of the East might as well be called Lady of Laws; she’s all justice and law and no fun. Give me the deck of a ship and a rowdy crew over all the land in the east any day. We sailors know how to have fun.”
“Speaking of fun,” Marit said, “we should get on with the game.”
“How about I give Lady Neve a brief tour of the tower while you ladies set up the table?” Princess Saga looped her arm through mine, which earned her a pointed glare from her cousin. The princess ignored it.
The ladies dispersed. Baenna Balik moved to a drawer and pulled out cards and dice, while the others drifted toward a table large enough for ten.
“Pardon my cousin,” Princess Saga said as we approached an arched window. “Calpurnia was never good at meeting new people.”
“That’s alright, Princess.” I didn’t mean the words. Calpurnia had been born a noble fae and likely been taught etiquette from a very early age. Clearly, it hadn’t sunken in. Still, it wouldn’t do to make enemies so early on.
“Please, I’m among friends, so call me Saga. And, no it’s not.” Saga gave a soft sigh. “But I’m afraid that you being Warden Roar’s fiancée comes with a bit of a target on your back. That is, if Father doesn’t dissolve your engagement.”
I stiffened. “Do you think he’ll actually do that?”
Roar seemed certain that while the royal house would question our engagement, in the end it would also be enough to protect him from an arranged marriage. I’d been so busy with learning anything and everything of court etiquette and Winter’s Realm, and then traveling, that I hadn’t put much consideration into the other option. What would happen if the king dissolved our union? That would thrust Roar into a life he did not want. And as for me . . .
Would he still honor his half of the contract?
“The king can do whatever he likes.” Saga gazed out the window. “But if he’s smart, he won’t. Your fiancé has the second largest army in Winter’s Realm, and more gold than the crown itself. His mines are old, but they seem to have an endless amount of gold in them. Those two factors mean that no one wants House Lisika for an enemy, and father has already denied the Lisika family what they wanted twice. A third time would be most unwise.”
I wanted to ask what the king denied House Lisika but decided it would be better to pretend like I already knew. So I nodded.
Saga gestured outside. “I thought you might like to see a bit more of the capital. We have an amazing view of the Shivering Sea up here too. I find this view so calming.”
I followed her suggestion, and my eyes widened.
Before me spread a blue-gray sea shimmering in the late afternoon light. On it, ships sailed, closing in on and departing the bustling city below. One in particular caught my eyes. It was burning and after a moment of confusion, I realized why. Here, in the wicked north, where the ground was so hard and often frozen, bodies were often sent out to sea or down a river in a flaming boat to meet the afterworld.
Had that happened to my family? Where had they gone? Or . . . stars, was it possible that someone in my family was still alive? Suddenly, a spike of hope arose. I hadn’t thought about it before, but maybe I could find them.
But as soon as I considered that they might be alive, a hard reality set in. My mother had died fleeing Winter’s Realm right around the time that the rebellion ended. In all likelihood, my family had perished in the fighting and she was fleeing because we were in trouble. A sense of grief washed through me, and I turned my attention to the city in an effort to keep my composure.
Instantly, my spirits lifted a touch. Though I’d ridden through the city, and gotten quite an eyeful, from on high the city looked so magical. The fae appeared small as pixies, and the snow glinted, adding a charm to everything it fell upon. Smoke from chimneys drifted out to sea in sharp gales.
