Prince and the Throne (Fedosian Wars #2)

6. Teo’s Crown

six

Teo’s Crown

Aleksei picked up the human skin book from the writing table. “To cast a dark… spell? No, that’s not right. What does it mean when there is a symbol for light inside the one for darkness?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen it written like that.” They found Sofia a new room, one that didn’t have a two way mirror or a secret passage through the wall, and she sat by the vanity dabbing ointment on her face. She’d returned from taking a long, hot bath and found Aleksei in the corridor. He hadn’t attended dinner, none of the lords or commanders had because they’d been in a meeting. “How did the negotiations go?” she asked.

“Fought over the grain reserve the entire time.” Aleksei set the book down, went to the washing table, and stood there taking off his gear before washing his face and brushing his teeth. “We’re going to be fighting about it all winter and well into spring.” He sighed. “The throne owes the Pulyazin three thousand tons of grain. It’s a debt we must honor no matter what Rodion says.”

“The undercroft?” she asked.

“I didn’t bring up. I need to know what’s happening before I decide what to do with it.” He was right, of course. Aleksei grumbled like an old man as he continued, “The granaries are dry, Sofia. Harvest failed three years in a row and last year we barely scraped by. If we press the lords for more grain, we’ll have a revolt, and if we don’t, we’ll still have a revolt, just a different kind.” He tossed a cloth on the washing table.

“What did the council say?” she asked.

“The old ministers quarrel amongst themselves. Everyone wants money for their own ministry.” He dragged his heels to the bed and collapsed on it. It was Sofia’s bed and they hadn’t shared one in a long time. Perhaps he’d forgotten where he was but she didn’t point it out. “My one bright idea had been to buy grain from Elfur with Chartorisky silver but that went to shit because apparently Niko called Zoya a whore?” He sat up. “I’m not clever enough for any of this. I’d rather just build you a fire. It’s going to snow tonight.”

He went to the fireplace and got to stoking it. That didn’t take him long and he returned to Sofia while she removed the bedwarmers and got underneath the cover. “Do you mind if I sleep on this side of the bed?” he asked. So, he did know.

“Do as you like,” she said. Then requested, “Leave the light on,” when he reached for the bedside lantern.

“How was your day?” He lay down fully clothed but for his boots, and occupied a tiny portion in the corner of the large bed.

“Uneventful,” Sofia claimed though she felt the stranger creep in the corner where the light didn’t reach.

“I have to take care of some bullshit in the morning, but in the afternoon, I can take you to the Narrow if you want to see it,” he said. “The wall the mages built an eon ago still stands, as I understand, and you can see Elfur beyond it.”

“I would like that,” she said. “The den used to be a church?”

“Yes.”

“Why don’t I know that?” she wondered. They were facing each other though there was a lot of space between them.

“It’s probably because the magical wall did nothing when Elfur came with black powder and steel weapons, and they butchered a bunch of mages and acolytes on this hill,” he said. “The Elfurians were plain men, just soldiers, and Guards wouldn’t admit to such a humiliating defeat. The archmage at the time fabricated a lore about the loss, claiming some type of dark force chewed up his mages, then Elfur came. That was what we were taught, anyway, that Shields are warriors and Guards are liars. That’s probably not the whole truth, but this is now a Shield stronghold, not a sacred church, so…”

Sofia had never heard such a story. “Did the archmage elaborate on what kind of dark forces?”

“Shadow alchemy,” he said. “The same wolf the church has been crying for eons, the soulless.”

“Wolves are real, Aleksei.”

“Cries the boy,” he said.

“Not a boy. White Guard is the shepherd.”

“Says my Lady Guard.” He smiled at her, and they held each other’s gaze for a long moment. “What do you think of Volg?” he asked.

“The commander?” Sofia knotted her brows. “Why?”

“Doma says Volg has the men’s respect more than Rodion. Does he strike you as an ambitious man? Maybe someone who’d like to replace the duke?”

Sofia thought of the silver haired wolf with a red cape and a shoulder ornament of a slain dragon. A lot of darksteel on that one, he dressed like a watchman and that was intentional. “Given the chance, he’d eat Rodion,” she said. “He’d also eat you, too.”

“He’s of common birth. He can’t replace Niko,” Aleksei said.

“Whereas Rodion could murder the prince and claim the throne permanently once he’s regent,” Sofia said.

“Right.” Aleksei bit his lip, thinking. “How about Dragan? His name came up as someone who strongly opposes Rodion, and he’s a legitimate heir to the duke.”

“He’s almost certainly a false prophet,” Sofia said. “He’s a puppet the duke controls, a false opposition. The archmage used to have a few of those, parsons and mages who were critical of him, but they all worked for him, and when someone approached them with a genuine concern, they’d pass on the information to the archmage. It’s a trap. The church also had informants posing as necromancers. That is how they catch heretics.

“I’m wary of him,” she continued. “Because by your bylaws Dragan is allowed to challenge his father’s command. So either his criticism is false or he is false.”

“You’re very sure of yourself, Lady Sofia.” Aleksei smiled. When he wrinkled his nose as he just did, it was because he found something endearing.

“Not at all,” she said. “It’s a guessing game, but if you’re going to be risking your life, it’s better to err on the side of caution.”

“Volg over Dragan it is,” Aleksei said. “It’s selfish to say it but I’m glad you stayed. Your counsel is a breath of fresh air when I feel like I’m drowning.”

Sofia slipped her hand under the pillow and patted the silk sheet between them with her other hand. “You once said I was the anchor for your mind, a memory of me in a church, but that would be gone now. Have you found a new one? I reckon you’ll be using a lot of alchemy soon. Blood on the horizon, rising like a tidal wave… I feel it.”

“Have I?” Soft black brows furrowed over his eyes the color rubies, warm and deep in the firelight. “The same person, a different memory, I suppose,” he whispered. “You called me back in Kseniya’s chamber and you still do.”

“I’m sorry she hurt you,” Sofia said, addressing the unspoken thing between them. “You make me wish I was powerful so I could protect you.”

“You protect me plenty. The worst monsters are in here.” He lifted his hand to touch his temple. “I can’t run from them, can’t hide, and can’t slay them with a sword, either. But you make them quiet. They’re afraid of you, my lady.”

“Then why did you ever tell me to leave?” she asked.

“I was making you unhappy.”

“The only time you make me unhappy is when you tell me to leave.”

“Forgive me,” he breathed.

She reached across the bed and touched him on the forehead with two fingers as a parson would, absolving his sins after he confessed. Some tears were trying to sneak up her throat, so she swallowed them down and exhaled.

“I do love you.” He kissed her hand. “I’m glad every time I see you and wretched each time I miss you, and I’m so very afraid you’re going to find…” He held onto her hand and needed to take a deep breath. “My shit isn’t working, Sofia. I can’t get hard. Whenever anyone touches me, I see Kseniya, and my skin crawls and I can’t breathe. I don’t know if it will ever be better. Baltar said there’s a potion for it, but I feel so fucken pathetic because the men who buy such things are in their nineties… Fuck.” He dropped her hand and sat up. “Fuck. First I’m sterilized, and now I feel fucken castrated.”

Sofia sat up as well. She scooted over to Aleksei and rested her chin on his shoulder. Gliding her hand up his neck, she ran her fingers through his midnight curls. “Give it time, leave it be, and stop forcing it. Your bones haven’t healed. Surely your soul will take longer. I’m not hanging around waiting for sex, stop it. I’m not your patron. I love you.”

“I don’t know why you would. I don’t understand.”

“That’s because they lie.” She touched his temple. “The monsters must be loud. But one day, you’ll look in the mirror and see what I see. You are perfect, Aleksei.”

“My lady is blind,” he said.

Sofia shook her head. “Perfection, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, and I possess the eyes of someone who loves you.”

“The rarest eyes in all of creation my lady has,” he said, turning around to face her, “and they are the color of rolling hills, vast and full of mystery.” He kissed her.

“Grass and trees, he calls my eyes,” she whispered into his mouth. He tasted sweet and when their mouths parted, their foreheads remained pressed together. Her eyes closed, she let the moment linger. She stroked his crown, which she loved doing, and moaned a little to herself, sighing. Another long breath before she opened her eyes. “How about we get some sleep, Aleksei?”

“Sounds good,” he said, nodding. “Let me stoke the fire first. The den is cold.”

“Settled in cold,” she agreed. “Sleep under the cover when you return. It’s more pleasant.”

“Yes, my lady.” He kissed her hand and got up.

“I want to see it. I want to go,” the prince insisted.

“I told Sofia I’d take her, Niko,” Aleksei explained as they had breakfast in the common hall. Sentinels and castleguards alike were seated along rows of long tables. They were serving porridge from a giant cauldron and men had to get up and queue for food, but it was better than nothing.

“We’ll all go,” Niko said.

“One of us has to stay behind and talk about the grain, Niko.” Aleksei gave his piece of bread to Sofia. “It’s warm and has salt. It’s good.”

“What is there to talk about? We don’t have it.” Niko had eaten with the lords already and was at the table to pester Aleksei.

“Don’t say shit like that, Niko,” Aleksei warned.

“We’re fighting over it because they don’t know we don’t have it. It’ll be far easier if you just tell them that.”

“You can’t just not have grain, Niko. You’re the prince. You have to provide for your people.” Aleksei looked over his shoulder when Ignat came up behind him. The sentinel whispered in his ear and the captain nodded.

“Your Highness. My lady.” Ignat bowed, then left.

“Eugene has a plan.” Niko looked into Sofia’s bowl and frowned. “There’s fat floating in it.”

“It’s lard, Niko,” Sofia said.

“Do you want an apple? They have apples in the grand hall.” He pointed at the exit. “Also, eggs.”

“It’s all right, thank you, prince,” said Sofia. “Where is Eugene?”

“Asleep. He was drinking,” Niko said. “We have a plan. We’re going to kill the Chartorisky, take their silver, and buy grain from Elfur.”

“You can’t ‘kill’ a house of Boyar Duma ,” Aleksei hissed, his scarlet eyes flicking to scan around them. The hall was noisy and the Chartorisky retainers were seated far away.

“Why not?” the prince asked. “We’re trying to kill the Guards and they are in the Boyar Duma .”

“It’s not the same, they attacked first. They assaulted Raven, if you recall. We call that high treason, but the Chartorisky are an ally, all right? Stop taking advice from Eugene. He’s a drunk,” Aleksei said under his breath.

“He said you’d say that because you love Zoya.” Niko flinched, perhaps recalling Sofia was there, then turned to her. “Sorry. But they used to be betrothed long ago. I would have let it go had she only slept with Aleksei but she’s indecent and slept with a ton of men.”

“I was five. I didn’t sleep with Zoya, and shut up,” Aleksei said. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” he apologized to Sofia.

“It’s… fine.” She tried to stay out of it, though she hadn’t known they used to be betrothed.

“You still love her. That’s why you’re so nice to them,” Niko pointed at the Chartorisky retainers. Aleksei pushed his hand down.

“Now you’re just fucking with me,” Aleksei said.

“Yeah.” Niko flashed a bright grin. “But don’t be sad when I kill her. Now, hurry up. Let’s go to the Narrow. I told our cousins I was going, and they wanted to come too.”

“Ah, fuck me,” Aleksei groaned. “I’m sorry,” he told Sofia. “I was hoping I could spend a little time with you, but it’s ruined now, I suppose.”

“It’s not ruined.” Sofia smiled. It couldn’t be. He’d made the effort, and that made her happy.

Perhaps the frigid weather at the den had to do with the altitude the fortress sat at, because though the border was less than two hours ride from the hills, it was warm like early spring.

Green moss hugged the wet black rocks under their boots, slippery as they climbed, and Aleksei held the prince ever since they’d dismounted to climb up a narrow path between boulders. Lord Vukhir gave Sofia his arm, and she clung onto him as loose soil and rock gave away under her heel and slid down.

“Careful,” he said, pulling her up. Though the youngest of the duke’s sons, he was the size of an armored knight and far larger than Aleksei. The rodent like face was disturbing on such a big man, and the Shield red eyes more so, but Sofia thanked him and smiled. His breath smelled of raw meat, and that was harder to ignore. She leaned away from him and toward the damp wind when he spoke to her again. “I’ve never met a Guard before. I thought they were supposed to be golden haired.”

“Most are,” said Sofia. “Lord Lev is blond, for instance.”

“Perhaps it’s your Elfurian father. You’re the runt of the litter, then?” he asked. “Like that one.” He pointed a chin toward Aleksei who was further ahead in front of them. “Did you know his mother was Durnov?”

“How is that different than your mother being a Chartorisky?”

That breath, Sofia had to lean away from him again. Then why ask him a question? Because now he was going to answer it.

“Durnov women train in alchemy. His blood isn’t clean, and neither is his weapon. Duke Burkhard got cornered into the marriage, I heard. Queen Kseniya prized the Durnov.”

“Because they are an invaluable ally?” She should really stop speaking to him. He turned and looked at her, breathing in her face. She considered falling down the cliff to escape him. “Do you eat the dead, Lord Vukhir?”

“Only criminals.”

“That had been a joke.” Sofia shuddered, disturbed.

“It wasn’t funny.”

“The saints have mercy,” she muttered.

“There is no god.”

“Then where does alchemy come from?” Sofia let go of his arm and walked ahead. If she fell, she fell. That had been an incredibly offensive thing to say to a Guard, done purposefully, she had to assume. The duke’s children were insufferable, every single one. Perhaps growing up in isolation had such an effect.

“There better be a dragon’s hoarded gold up there!” Niko yelled. “This is a lot of walking!”

Oleksandra and Dragan led the group, and Fedir and Teo, the soft boy and the brat, were behind Sofia and Vukhir. A common theme with the Shields, apparently Oleksandra and Dragan shared a bed, or so Dominik found out. Gathering information was an art, like fencing or spell casting, and Dominik had the mastery of it. Young men talked too much, Sofia supposed, when their blood drained from their brain to fill the organ between their legs.

The prince had been present when Dominik reported his findings and had said, ‘That is disgusting,’ about Oleksandra and Dragan.

‘Please, please, please, do not bring it up, Niko,’ Aleksei had begged.

Struggling up the hill, Niko slipped and Aleksei caught him.

“You’re untrained for a Shield!” Oleksandra turned to shout, and the wind distorted her laughter.

“I’m a prince! And you kiss—”

Aleksei yanked Niko and covered his mouth.

They made it to the peak, and it was worth the climb for Sofia. To one side, the grey ocean broke against the high cliffs, rolling thunder. And to the other side sat snowy mountains forever white at the top, the bottom dressed in evergreens, and a heavy fog hovered above the valley in between.

They caught a moment of calm as the gale simmered down to a gentle breeze dancing with the cloaks, and Sofia saw Elfur, home, beyond the valley. A fortress sat on a hill in the grey, a strange shape, and when Aleksei handed her his looking glass, she peered through it and saw the black dragon banner of House of Dohnan hung from the tall white walls. A chill ran through her, gathering her childhood memories like balling snow.

Her father’s face came to her from the mist, a tall proud count, he used to have flowing feathers on his hat like exotic locks trailing down his neck.

“Ostrich feathers,” Sofia whispered. “Imported from Paradise Islands.”

“My lady dreams of faraway places,” Aleksei said.

“Oh, the threat is closer than you think. I suppose you lose your bearings when you live in Krakova or anywhere else inland,” Oleksandra said.

Niko was very impressed by a single tree that had managed to grow on a boulder and frightened Aleksei by peering down from the edge.

“You go where you look, Niko. You look down, you fall down.” Aleksei pulled him back.

“He’s like a mother hen, isn’t he?” Oleksandra nudged Sofia with her elbow as though they were friends. “I guess it makes sense. The prince is such a weakling. I couldn’t even shake his hand because of my gear. What the fuck is that blood illness he has? It’s not a Shield ailment. Does it come from his ghost father?”

“You curtsy to a prince. When have you heard you shake hands with royalty? You’re not sailors at a beerhouse,” said Sofia.

“So, you’re fucking my cousin or what?” she asked. “I’ve been told he spent the night in your bedchamber.”

“You’ve been told correct.” Sofia moved away from the duke’s daughter, but the peak was crowded with the duke’s other children, Vukhir and Fedir taking out their… Sofia turned away. The boys were pissing toward Elfur, and she hoped the wind changed and splashed the urine onto their trousers.

Teo stood there, sneering at Niko who didn’t care she existed. The brothers laughed about something as Niko cupped his hand and whispered in Aleksei’s ear. Teo had put on a gold coronet, perhaps to instigate trouble with Niko, and it angered her that he didn’t care. She misunderstood why the prince had gotten ill tempered during the dinner—it was the mistreatment of Aleksei and his sentinels, not that a silly little girl was pretending to be a princess.

Oleksandra persisted by going around Sofia, facing her, and walking backward playfully. She had on more darksteel than her brothers and had thick steady legs. Sofia wouldn’t know about her fighting prowess, but the lady was athletic, to say the least. Though her hair was midnight black, she reminded her of Elyena Durnova, the fiery redhead who’d raced with men, and perhaps would have placed second after Lev had the archmage not caused… well, war essentially.

“What is Lev Guard like?” Oleksandra asked, tossing up and catching a dagger.

“Loud, obnoxious, scandalous, and loved regardless,” said Sofia. “He’s a very gifted light user. Pity his talent must be wasted in such a brutish affair as killing.”

“I’ve heard Guards have gold locks. You’re different.”

“Black sheep of the family,” Sofia said. “My father comes from there.” She pointed beyond the valley.

“So it’s true? Was he truly a necromancer?”

“That he was.”

Niko turned and frowned at ‘necromancer’, then returned his attention to Lord Dragan who was pointing at the stone wall running the length of the valley, and speaking. Curious about the conversation, Sofia joined the prince.

“That’s the Narrow.” Niko pointed at the valley. “It’s a lot larger than on the map.”

Dragan was talking about the money needed to renovate the wall. Though Elfur and Fedosia shared a sizable land border, the Narrow was the only place men and horses could cross. The rest was a continuous mountain range of permanent frost and unforgiving ridges.

“Why can’t they invade through the water?” Sofia asked. Elfurian ships came and went through the ports of Fedosia daily. The journey was only half a month, far easier travel than through land, surely.

“It’s a buoyancy problem,” Fedir the soft lord answered. “Their instruments of war are metal, heavy, and archaic compared to our darksteel, Apraksin’s greysteel, and even Skuratov iron. When you load those onto wooden ships, they sail low, turn slow, and get eaten by our navy. Their machines of war litter the bottom of the Zapadnoi Morye.

“We have one of their weapons in our war museum. It was captured during the Elfurian War. It’s like our cannon but much larger. A weapon that uses black powder and the damn thing weighs nine thousand pounds. Imagine that!” He clearly liked the subject of war. “Our Ravagers are ten times lighter, don’t need any dry powder, and a dozen of those will tear through the largest ships with the toughest hull in less time than it takes for me to fuck an Elfurian whore.”

“Quickness in the bedchamber is nothing to be boastful about, Lord Fedir.” Sofia would have let the last remark drop and addressed instead the hypocrisy of calling a Ravager, a Durnov machine, ‘our’ after having claimed Aleksei’s blood unclean for having a Durnov mother, but the trouble was they were in earshot of Aleksei and he’d heard the ‘Elfurian whore’ comment, clearly made at Sofia.

The captain of the sentinels turned, and Fedir grinned when he strode toward him. Aleksei clocked him without a word, and the large lord dropped like a boulder. Sofia flinched because that was his injured hand. Aleksei hadn’t used his hand with the exoskeleton because that would have broken the face of the mouthy boy.

A tussle broke out between Aleksei and Vukhir stepping in for his brother while Oleksandra laughed, and Dragan frowned. No one did anything to interfere. Sofia remained where she was, trying to stay out of it. Running in like an hysterical woman yelling about Aleksei’s injuries would only embarrass the captain in front of his cousins.

She’d been looking right at Niko when Teo snuck up behind the prince, who’d been concerned about the fight, and placed a tiny coronet on his head. Not her coronet, but a pointed one made to resemble a court jester’s hat. The obnoxious girl had it custom made and brought it to the Narrow for the sole purpose of annoying the prince.

Sofia had only waved and yelled because the thing had sharp teeth that might scratch Niko’s scalp and bleed him. Instead, she watched as the gold turned pitch black. When she’d been told gold didn’t agree with the prince, she assumed he broke out in hives as he did when he ingested honey, but that was… corruption.

She froze.

Teo retrieved her coronet and stood there stunned, soundless. Niko turned, realizing what had happened. Teo’s mouth opened to scream, and Niko pushed her. The girl disappeared into the fog, and the rolling thunder of waves swallowed her thin scream.

“Did you just push her?” Oleksandra yelled.

“She fell,” Niko claimed.

The fight between Aleksei and Vukhir ended in a breath, and everyone rushed to the edge to look down, Sofia too. The girl was a splatter on the jagged rocks, the tide washing her away already.

“Did you just kill my sister?” Oleksandra whispered.

“I did not! She fell!” Niko hid behind Aleksei who appeared equally stunned, but recovered in a blink, now his hand on his hilt as he backed away from the siblings while shielding his brother.

Oleksandra glowered at Sofia, the red eyes shining mad. “You saw it too. He pushed her.”

Sofia had been much closer to the prince, the only one to see the change in the gold, and all eyes turned to her, including Aleksei’s.

“She tripped on her hem and fell,” Sofia said.

“Liar! Murderer!” Oleksandra drew her sword, but Dragan held her back. No one else had seen it.

“We can’t kill the prince, sister. We’ll let Father sort it out.”

Sofia covered her mouth as she panted. The yelling and the screaming grew distant as a thought circled overhead like a black buzzard. Was the prince of Fedosia a soulless?

No, it couldn’t be. He was a normal boy, one with many unfortunate ailments. Sofia stared at the boy clutching onto his older brother’s cloak, scared and crying, then shook her head. It couldn’t be. It was an unfortunate ailment. That was all. She’d never seen a true corruption of gold anyway, but she did know of potions that made metal change color. The church used it to persecute those they didn’t like. The false gold would turn black when touched to warm skin.

That was all. That was all. That was all.