Chapter 12

 

When they left the chapel, the First Priestess finally got her chance to ask where Zora had been. Zora, still pretending to be Lina, told the priestess that Zora had been with her and that she wanted to keep Zora with her. Then she drew on Lina’s status as Queen and High Priestess to refuse to answer further questions. At least I’m probably not going to get into trouble now. They can’t blame me for the Queen’s behavior when they can’t control it themselves. They retrieved Zora’s clothing from the priestesses’ quarters and moved it to the Queen’s rooms, allowing the priestess who had been on duty there to return to the temple and rejoin the others.

Unfortunately, they didn’t get a chance to explain to Kyril what was happening before he and Zora had to sit down for the evening meal, at the high table in the great hall, in public view. The way he was eyeing her made Zora certain he could tell they hadn’t switched back.

“Kyril,” she said softly to him from behind her goblet, “if you don’t stop staring at me like that and start treating me the way you treat Lina, she could be in serious trouble. I know it’s a stretch, but try to look besotted!”

“Where is she?”

“Having supper alone in her rooms. It’s really hard to eat when you’ve got a veil covering your face. We’ll retire soon, and we can all talk then.” She took a sip of wine. “Now smile, if only for her sake!” She put the goblet back on the table.

Of course, if I want him to talk softly in my ear... “Kyril, exactly what did your father tell you about Diadem? Did he tell you everything about the Sacrifice?”

As she expected, Kyril leaned closer to her and lowered his voice. “Yes, he did. He said that the Sacrifice was the reason he set up the swimming test the way he did. He warned me that they drug the king the morning of the ritual. He told me how the ritual goes and what it feels like—they sever the bond between the king and the Queen, and he says that makes the king feel very cold and empty inside, so it’s important to concentrate as you go down the waterfall. He said some interesting things about the Choosing, too—did you know that your father was a Year-King?”

“I found out when I read the temple records,” Zora replied softly. “It was quite a surprise. Your mother took his place, didn’t she?”

“Yes. Father said it made the Goddess angry—or at least the crops failed afterward, so everyone thinks the Goddess was angry. But what’s really interesting is that when Briam was Chosen, my father was there in wolf-shape—and he said that he still heard the Calling. In fact, he followed Briam right up to the Queen, but because everyone thought he was Briam’s pet, they ignored him. He thinks the Goddess will choose a shape-shifter if one is present—and she chose me, so I think he’s right—but he also thinks the same person can be chosen more than once. That means I can come back and marry the Queen again next year.” He smiled at her. “Isn’t that great news?”

Zora blinked in astonishment and then remembered she was supposed to be Lina and forced herself to smile fondly at him. “It certainly could be.” If the same person was chosen repeatedly, he’d know where the rocks are—and there would be fewer of them each year. With enough practice he could just swim to King’s Cove and walk out of the water. And that matches what I was telling Lina in the chapel this afternoon. Maybe I’m actually right about what the Goddess is doing.

~o0o~

As soon as the meal was over, Zora sent Kyril back to the Queen’s room, while she waylaid the Shield-Bearer.

“Shield-Bearer, could you give me any documents relating to the petitions being heard in the near future? I would like to know what to expect when I hear them in court.” And I need a good excuse for staying up later tonight.

The Shield-Bearer stared suspiciously at her. “Why are you suddenly interested in this?”

Zora had no difficultly looking worried. “I thought it might help if I paid more attention to the aspects of my duties that don’t involve killing people...”

“Very well,” the Shield-Bearer replied. “When would you like them?”

“Could someone bring them to my room this evening? I’d like to read at least the most urgent ones before I go to bed tonight.”

“You’ll have them within the hour.”

“Thank you.” Zora inclined her head, then turned and headed for the Queen’s rooms.

~o0o~

As she expected, she found Kyril and Lina sitting side by side, talking in low voices. At least Lina still had the veil on, which was a very good thing, considering that the door was unlocked.

“We’re going to have company soon,” Zora warned them. “I asked the Shield-Bearer for the documents related to the petitions we’ll be hearing, and she said they’d be here within the hour.”

“Why do you want those?” Lina asked.

Zora grinned at her. “The need to read at least some of them before I go to sleep gives me a good excuse to tell Esme to leave the potion with me. That way I won’t have to drink it in front of her.”

“That’s brilliant,” Lina said.

“Thank you,” Zora said. “But it means at least two people will be coming here before we can shut the doors for the night and really talk, so we need to make sure things look proper. Lina, you need to sit in the anteroom and pretend to be meditating or something. Just sit still, keep your veil over your face and don’t say anything, and you’ll be fine.” Lina nodded and moved to the antechamber, while Zora turned to Kyril. “If you can’t do a convincing job of pretending I’m your wife, at least do something that keeps your back to the door.”

Kyril glared at her. “You’re getting really bossy,” he complained, but he took his dagger and whetstone and went to sit by the fire.

I’m trying to keep you alive, and Lina moderately sane. Since you presumably share the same goals, a little more cooperation and a little less attitude would be helpful. Why do I have to do everything? I shouldn’t have to do the thinking for all three of us!

The Shield-Bearer brought the papers herself, which enabled Zora to find out which cases were being heard first. She piled the documents neatly in order, and picked up the first one. “If I have any questions, I’ll ask them tomorrow—if that’s acceptable to you?”

“That will be fine,” the Shield-Bearer replied bemusedly. She left the room, obviously wondering what had happened to the Queen, but there wasn’t much Zora could do about that.

When Esme arrived with the nightly goblet of sleeping herbs, Zora smiled, thanked her, and told her to leave it on the table.

“But you should drink it now, while it’s freshly brewed,” Esme protested. “The herbs lose their potency if they sit too long.”

“I won’t be long.” Zora gestured with the scroll she was holding. “I just want to finish this before I go to sleep.”

“I’ll be happy to take this away and bring you another one later,” Lady Esme said quickly.

“Nonsense,” Zora said briskly. “I wouldn’t dream of putting you to so much trouble. Just put the goblet on the table. The servants will return it in the morning.” Lady Esme opened her mouth to say something else, and Zora smiled and cut her off. “Thank you, Lady Esme. You may go now. I wish you a pleasant night and a peaceful rest.”

With Kyril in the same room and a priestess in the next room, both listening to every word, there wasn’t much Esme could do. She bowed and left, silent and tight-lipped.

Lina closed the door to the hall, and joined them in the bedroom, locking the door behind her and shedding her veil. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her look so angry,” she said. “I don’t know how you can stand up to her like that.”

“I think it’s mostly that we were raised differently. I spent my childhood around Kyril’s mother, and she’s very assertive. She ran her father’s estates whenever he was away, and she was even younger than we are now when she started doing that.”

“She sounds like a really strong woman,” Lina said wistfully. “I’ll bet the Shield-Bearer would like her.”

“Probably,” Zora said, “but the people who serve the gods at home can’t leave. They have to be there for rituals every day.”

“Kyril,” Lina said hesitantly, “do you remember any of the Choosing Ritual?”

“Yes, of course I remember it,” Kyril said. “Why wouldn’t I?” He frowned. “Did Lady Esme drug you before it, so you don’t remember?”

Zora shook her head before Lina could answer. “No. I don’t remember it either, and we know I wasn’t drugged.”

“Maybe that’s why the Queen doesn’t remember,” Lina said slowly. “Not just because the Goddess is using her body, but so the Queen won’t try to change the outcome. I swear, Kyril, I would never have picked you for the Sacrifice!”

“I know.” Kyril actually chuckled. “You tried to get me out of the city for the day, remember? You asked me to hunt venison for you.”

“Yes, that’s right,” Lina said, remembering. “And you did bring in a deer that day, didn’t you?”

“He certainly did,” Zora said. “He took Colin and me with him to catch it and we left before dawn. I think it was the fastest deer hunt in history. He said he wasn’t going to spend the summer watching you with another man.”

“Well, you did get that,” Lina said bleakly. Kyril patted her hand.

Zora hastily dragged the conversation back to practicalities. “Are you going to do the ritual and court tomorrow, Lina?”

Lina looked appalled. “No, you do it,” she said quickly. “You do much better than I do anyway.”

“But I’m not the Queen,” Zora pointed out. “You are.”

“I still don’t think we want to change who does the morning ritual for the second time in three days,” Lina said.

“You’re probably right about that.” Zora chewed on her bottom lip. “I’m afraid people can definitely tell the difference. I’ll do the ritual if you’ll take morning court.” She handed her the top parchment. “You’ll need to read this—after the Shield-Bearer went to the trouble of bringing all of this up here, she’ll expect you to know what it says.”

Lina took it, but nodded to the rest of the pile. “We’d better both read these. If we keep changing back and forth, we’d better both know anything one of us is supposed to know.”

“True.” Zora picked up the second item in the pile. For the next hour the girls read, switching documents as they finished them, until both of them had finished about a third of the pile.

Zora found herself yawning. “I don’t know about you two, but I’m tired. It’s been a long day. I didn’t know there were so many cases being heard soon.”

Lina nodded. “There are more during the summer. It’s when the people who spend the winter in the countryside come to Diadem for the social season.”

Zora laughed. “Judging from some of these documents, they spend the winter starting stupid quarrels in the country, and the summer picking fights in the city.”

“I think you find these more interesting than I do.” Lina yawned. “I don’t think I’ll need Lady Esme’s potion to sleep tonight.”

“I can’t believe I almost forgot that.” Zora picked up the potion and took a cautious sip. Her eyes widened. “How long have you been drinking this?” she asked urgently.

“Lady Esme started making it for me after she came to court last year,” Lina replied. “She takes it too. Why? Is there something wrong with it?”

“You really don’t know?” Zora asked. “Can’t you tell from the taste?”

“You are the one who studied herbs,” Lina pointed out. “I was being taught to be Queen, not an herbalist.”

“It has Queen’s Lace in it,” Zora said, “and you’ve been drinking this every night for a year!”

“What’s Queen’s Lace?” Kyril asked. At Zora’s incredulous look he added, “I didn’t study herbs either. Is it going to hurt her?” he added anxiously.

“If she stops now,” Zora said, chewing on her lower lip as she thought, “probably not.” She took the goblet into the outer room and shoved it under her bed. “It could be worse,” she said as she returned. “She could have used tansy or pennyroyal.”

Lina’s gasp showed that she had heard of at least one of those.

“What do they do?” Kyril asked as Lina started crying.

“If a woman is with child,” Zora explained, “they’ll make her miscarry—assuming they don’t kill her first. Queen’s Lace isn’t as strong, but it would keep her from conceiving a child.”

“Ever?” Lina raised a tear-stained face and looked imploringly at Zora.

“I doubt it,” Zora said, trying to be reassuring. “The effects will probably wear off in a few months after a year’s exposure, but you should be fine once they do. If you’d been taking this for decades...”

Kyril was starting to look seriously angry. “So what you are saying is that Lady”—he sneered the word—“Esme has been feeding Lina harmful potions. On a daily basis. The intended effects are to cut her ties to the Goddess, to make her too tired to fulfill her duties, and to ensure that she is unable to bear a child. Is that it, or have we missed anything?”

“Lady of Earth, I hope we haven’t missed anything!” Zora said fervently. “What we do know is bad enough.”

“More than bad enough,” Kyril said grimly. “Zora, take Lina’s place until we can do something about this mess. I don’t want Lina to be put at risk anymore.”

“But what about the risk to Zora?” Lina asked timidly.

“Oh, Zora can take care of herself,” Kyril said blithely.

“I am more likely to notice if someone tries to poison me,” Zora said thoughtfully, “and the Goddess doesn’t seem to mind my doing the morning rituals.” She frowned. “Actually, I can pretend to be the Queen indefinitely. The problem is more that she has to pretend to be me.”

“I’ll just stay veiled and make sure I’m always with you,” Lina said hastily.

“We’ll have to stay away from the temple. We’d be expected to remove our veils there.” Zora looked from Lina to Kyril. “What about the sleeping arrangements?” she asked. “I imagine that you two want to continue sleeping together.”

“Yes,” Lina and Kyril said in unison.

Lina added, “Can you sleep in the antechamber, and then we’ll both get dressed in here in the morning?”

“We’ll try that tonight,” Zora said, “but we’d better make very certain that we’re both awake before anyone comes looking for you.”

~o0o~

They all woke in time to get dressed in the morning, and Kyril disposed of Lady Esme’s “sleeping herbs” while the girls were at the morning ritual. Zora was relieved that the effects of the broth-and-blood potion had worn off and her link to the Goddess was back. I couldn’t do the ritual properly if it hadn’t worn off—not to mention how horrible I’d feel in general.

There were even more people in the square during the morning ritual than there had been the day before. Zora could feel power from the crowd in front of her, but none from Lina, who was standing in the room behind her. I hope Lina will recover soon—she really can’t be a good Queen without a link to the Goddess, which probably explains why Lady Esme did this to her. Zora suddenly realized this was why the Goddess made her take the potion while she was still safe at Eagle’s Rest. Nobody would ever have figured this out otherwise.

She ate breakfast in the hall with Kyril at her side. Now that he realized Lina was in danger, he was doing a much more convincing job of pretending that Zora was Lina. He went off with his Companions after breakfast, while Zora went to morning court. Lina trailed just behind her, a silent green shadow, and Zora silently blessed her for having insisted that both of them read the documents for today’s hearings. She was actually able to make a few intelligent remarks on the cases when she discussed them with the Shield-Bearer, rather than having to just echo what the older woman said.

Lady Esme handed her a cup of “beef broth” after the hearings were done. Zora looked under her eyelashes at Esme’s hands. Sure enough, there was a fresh pinprick on one of the fingers. She thanked Lady Esme, pretended to take a sip from the cup, and then asked the Shield-Bearer a question about one of the morning’s cases. By the time their discussion was done, the broth sitting untouched at her side was cold enough that no one could realistically expect her to drink it.

~o0o~

Zora was rapidly coming to realize that the only place she could truly relax was the Queen’s chapel. She went through the maze and collapsed on the bench at the end with a sigh of relief.

“You can walk the maze again,” Lina remarked as she removed her veil.

“Yes, thank the Lady,” Zora agreed.

“So do you think that I’ll be able to again someday?” Lina asked. “If I don’t get dosed with that potion again?”

“You should be able to,” Zora said. “Nothing I’ve learned suggests the effects are permanent.”

Lina shivered. “Lady Esme scares me,” she admitted.

“She should scare you,” Zora pointed out. “After all, she is trying to harm you.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Lina said. “I can’t stand up to her the way you do. Can’t you just keep being me?” She took a deep breath. “I know you said you could be me indefinitely, but I couldn’t be you. But if I just disappeared—how long would they even look for a missing junior priestess?”

Zora gaped at her. “You’re the Queen—you can’t just run away!”

“You don’t know that,” Lina said. “Maybe I can.”

“Cheer up. Things aren’t that bad. I can cover for you for a while and cope with Lady Esme. As soon as you want your life back, just tell me.”

“I don’t want it back at all!”

Zora hid her dismay and said lightly, “Well, I draw the line at pretending to be married to Kyril—it would be like being married to my brother!”

“You don’t have a brother.”

“No, but Kyril and Kassie and I were all raised together, so he feels like my brother. Besides, isn’t the Festival of the First Fruits coming up soon?”

Lina winced. “Yes, it’s...”

“The day after tomorrow.” I can’t believe I lost track of time that much. “You’ll have to do that. I don’t know the ceremony.”

“And Kyril does it with me,” Lina agreed, “so he’d have to pretend to be in love with you in front of the whole city.”

“We had better not put that much of a strain on his acting abilities,” Zora said. “He’s doing better, but he’s not that good, and he can tell us apart.”

That actually got a faint smile from Lina.