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“Loshadnarod would be closest,” mused Elwyn. The border was barely fifty miles to the north, up the River Darunadi. “But my family isn’t exactly popular there.”
“And I’d just as soon never go back,” said Rada quietly. “My parents would be happy to see us, but, well, I don’t think I could ever feel at home there again.”
“I know what you mean,” said Elwyn, taking her arm and giving it a reassuring squeeze.
They had been up nearly all night planning their escape over a bottle of rice wine, until they had fallen asleep, curling together on the old wicker couch in Rada’s bungalow. Now, as the sun came up, they paced the mossy brick circle around the lily pond, trying to settle the most vital question of all: where they would go.
“The Empire might be a possibility,” said Elwyn. “I went there for a year after I finished school—Presidium and Vinopolis, mostly. It might be a good place for...well, people like us.”
Rada wasn’t sure what the princess meant by “people like us.” For her part, she wasn’t sure that a half-Sahasran, half-Loshadnarodski girl would get a very enthusiastic welcome from the Immani. “You realize the closest way to the Empire is through Loshadnarod. Or Myrcia, which would be even worse.”
“That’s true,” said Elwyn. “I suppose we could go south, instead. What about Roshan?”
“Aryavarta is better. Better weather, and better food, too.”
“If we ever get away, which I doubt.” Abruptly, the princess stepped off the brick path and headed out across the grass, into the arbors under the jacaranda trees, where twilight still lingered. With a sigh, she settled onto a wooden bench there, her chin on her hands, and she fell into a moody silence.
Rada joined her on the bench, but didn’t press her friend to speak. Last night, she had heard the earl yelling at Elwyn in his office, and young King Edwin had looked pretty annoyed with her at supper, too. Edwin said he didn’t see why Elwyn couldn’t at least try to fall in love with Andras before turning down the marriage. Clearly this had put a new strain on the princess, who liked her half-brother and cared for his opinion.
After a few minutes longer, Rada ventured to put an arm around Elwyn, and she said, “Don’t worry. We’ll find a way to get you out of this.”
“And you’ll be with me?”
“Of course.”
Elwyn rested her head against Rada’s. Then she turned, eyes glistening, and said, “Thank you so much.” With one hand, she reached up and stroked Rada’s cheek, and she leaned in and kissed her straight on the lips.
Rada froze, her whole body tensing like she was in mortal peril. She couldn’t breathe as Elwyn nuzzled against her, and she felt the princess’s hands sliding over her back and hips. This was a mistake. It had to be. This couldn’t be happening. It wasn’t until Elwyn started to push her tongue into Rada’s mouth that she found the will to move again, and she jumped back on the bench, hands out to fend off her friend.
“I...I’m sorry,” stammered Elwyn, her face white and her eyes wide. “I’m so sorry. I thought....”
“You thought what?” said Rada, wiping her lips off with her sleeve.
“I guess I always hoped.” Elwyn’s eyes were tearing up again. “Or maybe I imagined it. When you asked me to run away with you, I thought maybe you felt it, too.”
“I’m sorry,” said Rada, “but I don’t like girls that way.” She knew it wasn’t Elwyn’s fault if she did, and she had to fight against her Raskolnik upbringing not to be repulsed at the very idea. “I hope I didn’t give you that impression.”
Elwyn slumped forward, head in her hands. “I’m sorry. I guess, in my mind, I had you confused with...someone else. Don’t worry; it’s all my fault. It always is.”
Rada took a deep breath. Whatever else the princess was to her, they were friends, and Rada had promised to help her. Moving a bit closer again along the bench, she said, “It’s alright. Don’t worry about it. We can talk about it later, when we’re on the road.”
She put out a hand, but the moment her fingertips touched Elwyn’s shoulder, the princess bolted up from the bench. “Pardon me, but I think I need to be alone right now.” Then she went off toward the main house, clutching her arms to herself.
“I don’t think I could have possibly handled that worse,” thought Rada miserably, as she went back to her bungalow. Poor Elwyn! Rada’s reservations about the morality of “Thessalian” love between two women were swamped under a tide of empathy and self-reproach.
Rada had never loved a woman, but she knew what it was like to love someone completely and then discover he had no interest at all in her. Not Sir Walter, of course. There was some real affection there, even if he had trouble expressing it. No, the person she thought of as she lay in her bed with a pillow over her face was her first great love, a brave and handsome Loshadnarodski captain named Misha.
She had loved him with an unreserved passion, only to find that he loved someone else: the holy sorceress Daryna Olekovna. Their affair had been a terrible scandal when it had been revealed at the Loshadnarodski court. He had died trying to defend Daryna in the war, trying to atone for his sins, and Daryna had been killed, too. Rada had been left with nothing but regrets. So she had some idea how Elwyn must feel.
Elwyn had loved Sir Alfred Estnor; she had been ready to marry him. But then he had died at the fall of Leornian, and Elwyn had been forced to flee her country. The experience must have shattered her completely. It was no wonder she spent her days now taking any tawdry remnant of affection wherever she could find it. How terrible to find someone to love, only to lose him. That was almost as bad as finding someone you thought you could love forever, only to learn the other person could never love you back!
After an hour, or it might have been half the morning, there was a knock at the bungalow door. She ran to answer it, hoping it was Elwyn coming to say everything was alright between them now. But instead, it was one of the guards from the front gate.
“Sorry to bother you, my lady,” he said, with a worried expression. She had been crying, and no doubt she looked like it. “A message came for you.”
She instantly recognized the star-and-moon seal of the Vizierate of Magy, and she asked the soldier to wait while she read it. With any luck, this was an answer to her request for help in saving the princess. Hopefully there was good news she could take to Elwyn and salvage something from this awful day.
Unfortunately, the letter was the exact opposite of what she had been hoping for.
Rada,
I completely understand your reservations about this marriage. Believe me, I’m not thrilled about the idea, either. But the Vizier and the council think this is the best chance for getting Elwyn’s brother back on the throne, and frankly I think they’re right. The least we can do is give it a fair shot, and if the young couple don’t hit it off, then we can reconsider. But for now, we need to do what we can to promote the match.
To that end, I’ve been asked to send someone to Pinburg to meet Andras Byrne and escort him to Briddobad. It’s a sensitive mission, and I immediately thought of you, not only because you’re one of our best agents, but because you’ve become Elwyn’s friend. You can get a sense if Andras would be suited for her, and you might try coaching him a bit so he makes the best possible impression.
Leave as soon as you can; the sooner, the better.
Yours,
Pallavi
If it had been from virtually anyone else, even the Grand Vizier or the king himself, Rada would probably have crumpled it up and burned it. But Pallavi Ratnam was more than a wise and powerful sorceress. She was one of Rada’s best friends. She had given her a new home and a new job after Rada had grown disgusted with the Loshadnarodski court. She was, in fact, the person had taken her away from a terrible situation, just as Rada had promised to leave with Elwyn. Rada owed Pallavi a great deal more than the mere duty of a subordinate to a superior. If Pallavi thought this was a good idea, then Rada had an obligation to go through with it.
Even so, it felt like an awful betrayal, and before she left, Rada went up to the main house to speak to Elwyn about it. The princess’s door was locked, and when Rada knocked, there was no answer. Rada stood in the hall for a minute, but still there was silence. In a few, halting sentences, then, she explained about Pallavi’s letter, and how she would be going to Pinburg to meet Andras.
“I want you to know,” she finished, “that we can still run away if you don’t like him.”
There was no reply, not even a sigh or a sniffle.
Rada leaned her head against the door. “Take care of yourself, then. I’ll be back in a few weeks.”