Chapter Forty

 

 

Para walked into the queen's rooms, exhausted. The fact that she had been called so late at night, when she knew Aren had returned hours earlier, was an insult. She would have come to the rooms to demand entrance no matter who stood at the doors, but something had kept her in her rooms.

Aren still had Anue, that was what was keeping Para at bay. Para had hoped and prayed that Anue was a queen like her sister. All the work, all that trouble buying the loyalty of the lords and promising that the younger sister was more obedient.

Only to have it all go to shit at the last moment.

She stiffened her back and formed her resolve as she marched past the handmaid who didn't even bother lowering her head in respect. Para went immediately for the fire where Aren was standing in full formal dress.

A purple so solid and dark that no dye-master could have possibly made it. The fabric must have been wrought from magic itself. It sparkled just slightly as Aren turned towards Para.

“How dare you insult your own mother?” Para said, coming within a foot of Aren.

“Lady Para, please sit.” Aren motioned to the seat behind Para.

“Don't you talk to me like that,” Para said, shaking a finger at Aren. “I raised you with manners. I haven't the faintest idea where this attitude of yours came from, but you do not win over the court by outing your own family.”

“How is your mate?” Aren asked.

These were the questions of the throne to a woman. Para's heart fluttered in her chest, fear beginning to bloom. She had no idea what Aren was implying. Though that wasn't entirely true, Para had an idea but no idea why Aren would turn her back on her mother then of all times. They were so close to taking all the lands. So close to ruling everything.

Para chose to reinsert herself into Aren's life by saying, “Your father is fine.”

“My father is dead,” Aren said.

“No, he's not. That's like saying your mother is dead.”

“My mother is also dead,” Aren said. “All know that the Argnern line, within palace lands, dies with myself and possibly my sister, depending on her choice of mate. I am Lady Aren Argnern, she is Lady Anue Argnern, by relation to the throne, of course.”

She forced herself to swallow her fear. “And what does that make me?”

“Lady Para Bilgern, of the Bilgern Vineyard,” Aren said. “What else would you be? Mated to Lord Cerlot Bilgern, who inherited from his great-uncle upon the man's death. You have one son, who is a crafted wine maker but you will send him to this palace for finishing as a ward of the throne.”

“Males are not wards of the throne,” Para protested.

“So help me, Para, if you do not send him here for finishing, I will burn your vineyard to the ground,” Aren said, her hands clasping before her.

It was such a Telm move, something that Para expected from the head of house. Before her stood a queen, but even a queen could be controlled. Aren was her daughter and she could be leashed.

Yet as Para considered the idea, she saw Aren's resolve. The queen would not budge, she would not move, no amount of bartering or screaming would change her mind.

Someone had poisoned her own daughter against her.

“On your estate, you had a dimwit. He sleeps in the barn and is of absolutely no use to you,” Aren said. “You will send for him and he will come to the palace here, where we have a place for a dimwit.”

“What use is he to you? Dimwits are nothing.”

“Your vineyard to the ground,” Aren said sternly. “How else could I say this? I could threaten to present your mate's penis to you on a silver platter, but I've seen enough of that organ for an entire lifetime.”

Para went still. She watched Aren for any sign of movement, yet the girl's body seemed to imply that she was telling the truth. If Cerlot had done something stupid, damaged a queen?

If Av caught wind of that little rumour?

“You were virgin the day you came to the palace,” Para snapped at Aren, refusing to rise to the bait.

“A woman might be virgin, yet not,” Aren said in calm response. “If Cerlot ever sets foot on palace grounds again, I will make his desires well known. Or did you think there wasn't a connection between you losing your youthful looks and his visits to your bed?”

Para's mouth dropped open. “How dare you!”

“Please, you were once a rival to the beauty of court, and you held on to your youthful looks until recently. The past few years you've aged greatly.”

“I will not stand here while you tear apart my family,” Para said.

“Of course, Lady Bilgern, by all means.” Aren motioned to the door and smiled at her.

“I am an Argnern,” Para shouted at Aren. “I am not a Bilgern, I am not birthed to that line, I did not submit to that line. I am good, strong, coastal blood—not some inbred palace bitch.”

“From the coast or palace lands, you are still an inbred bitch,” Aren said, almost muttering the words under her breath before she frowned and seemed to realize what she had said. “I apologize Lady Para. I travelled a great way today and, when tired, I say things that are hardly appropriate. But I washed, ate, saw to my needs, and was told that you desired an immediate audience with me. I know the hour is late, but how could I deny the request of a lady at court? What was it that you wished to see of me?”

Suddenly back to niceties. Para opened her mouth to speak, but there was a knock at the door. Both women turned to the door as the servant opened it. Av walked into the room. The warrior’s eyes roamed over the room, focusing for a moment on Aren, then settling on Para. His mind was made up. Whatever he thought before, Av would tear Para limb from limb if she questioned Aren.

Drawing in a small breath, Para turned back to Aren. “I came to enquire as to the well-being of Anue.”

“To the well-being of Lady Anue Argnern?” Aren asked calmly.

“Yes, to her well-being. I was told she was spending the winter with you and Av and his blood.”

“A just reason to demand an audience, looking after my family,” Aren said with a smile that was almost genuine. “I appreciate that commoners would look after my family, even from myself. Lord Av, please, tell Lady Para Bilgern what the state of my sister is, as a warrior who swore to Lady Para you were going to protect Lady Anue.”

“Lady Anue...” Av said, trailing off.

“Lady Anue Argnern,” Aren said.

“Oh, yes, of course, I swore to protect your sister,” Av said. “I'm sorry, I thought I knew of another Anue. Yes. Anue read and did numbers, and my father taught her about ranks, most especially because my younger brother, Mie, is a warrior. He is blooming and needs to know about himself. It's a perfect way to teach others about the rank at the same time.

“She slipped on the ice in the middle of winter. I was trying to teach the children to ice skate and she slipped and fell, unfortunately. Aren nearly took my head off for it because she thinks skating is like dancing with knives on your feet and while Anue is graceful in dancing, doing so on knives is insanity. At least by her words.

“At the winter solstice, Anue and Mie were both taught about the holiday and Anue mentioned that Aren does a little-known queen tradition, which was interesting. Anue was very upset that Aren wouldn’t take her with her. Uhm, that Aren wasn't there to take Anue with her, on this secretive female tradition.”

Av turned his full attention to Aren. “Of which there is a male tradition, Lady, which I don't think you know of.”

Why would he say a thing like that?

“My father explained of the tradition after Aren returned,” Av said to Para. “Because Aren ran off without Anue, upset her quite a bit. I wanted to chase her but, well… have you ever seen that woman run?”

Purred out like a man who had yet to capture what he wanted. Av smiled all too knowingly and looked Aren up and down before shifting his look, altering it to annoyance, to Para.

“Next year I'm going to chase her and have her,” Av said to Para. “Hopefully breed her, if she will permit my blood to mingle with hers.”

Which was a jab at Para and her initial attempt to woo Av, years before Aren was even born. He was old enough to be Aren's father, yet neither seemed to care.

“Who will be your head of house?” Para said to Aren, grasping at straws. “Your steward? Who will give you away at your mating ceremony?”

“Telm will be head of house, Jer will be my steward,” Aren said before turning to Av. “What does happen when a queen has no mother or father to give her away?”

“Jer adopted you before the court as brother, so he could stand as your blood,” Av said. He focused on Para. “A queen is never given away. She is not some object to be passed around to the highest bidder. Jer will offer Aren to her mate and should that man fail, and should the queen who stands at Aren's side fail, Jer will splatter that man's blood across the palace.”

“Aren't you intending to mate her?” Para demanded.

“I am,” Av said with a small smile.

“How is Jer to take you down?” Para asked. “With what, his thoughts? Who will protect Aren? If her mother were alive, why would she want her daughter protected by the lesser brother?”

“But Jer has the backing of all the north,” Aren said quietly.

Av smiled openly. “What Lady Aren means is that while Jer and I are both related to the baron of the north, they will back whoever is standing for the victim. If Jer's chosen were in danger and I were not able to stand for the other, those of the north would stand to my back. The same is true for Aren.”

“But they are your family, not hers.”

“That is the point, Lady Para, they are my family,” Av said. “It is my bloodline that will be tarnished if I rape and murder a queen, not hers. It is the Marilton name that would suffer a blow that could not be repaired, if word became public that one of us caused something as terrible as rape, conceived a child, and then was murdered for that action.

“If I were to ever hurt Aren, I would die. Simple as that.”

“I should go,” Para said, feeling as if she were suffocating.

At this point it was any excuse to flee before one of them turned on her.

“Of course, Lady Para Bilgern,” Aren said kindly. “Say hello to your mate, and pass on my message.”

The one that said that if Cerlot ever stepped foot on palace lands again, Aren would tell Av what had been done. Para glanced at Av, who had a slight frown. The man was obviously wondering what this special message was. He would notice the change of bloodline, but whether he would say something, would be another matter. Would he assume that the secretive missive to Cerlot was simply Bilgern returning to the vineyard, or would he press and question what Aren meant?