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Mari was thrilled to learn that Charlene was being dismissed as her governess. “Are you going to take over then?” she asked me, pausing in her jumping and squealing in delight.
“Can’t, Mari. I’m Champion, remember?”
“Please?” she asked, staring at me with wide, pleading eyes.
“Mari, I can’t,” I said softly. “I’m going back home, and I don’t know if I’ll be back. I most likely won’t be back until Cathy’s an adult, and so that means you’ll be an adult too. You’ll find a new governess, a better one.”
Her face fell and turned morose. “I don’t want to not see Cathy after this summer,” she muttered, kicking at a book on the floor.
I pulled her into a chair and sat down as well. “I know you don’t,” I said quietly. “If Cathy isn’t able to come back here, I’ll do my best to have you visit us in the Flip Side, all right?”
Mari peeked up at me, hopeful. “Really?”
“Really,” I promised. “I know you two are close. We’ll work this out, Mari, I promise. For now, just try and let yourself and let Cathy enjoy this summer together.”
The door rattled and I pressed my finger to my lips as Cathy entered. Mari nodded and bounded up eagerly. “Did you ask him?”
“Ask who what?” I asked, suspicious.
Cathy’s face was pink with embarrassment and pleasure. “I asked Alex to go to the ball with me tonight.” She paused. “He said yes!”
Mari shrieked and bounded over to Cathy. “He said yes?”
I chuckled and left the room before their shrieks deafened me.
“What’s all that about?” Yal asked me as I closed the door.
“My sister asked Prince Alex to the ball.” My lips twitched into a smile. “She’s a lot like me, I suppose, in going after what she wants. She’s growing up.” My throat tightened just a little.
Yal patted my shoulder with one of his big hands. “They all grow up some time,” he reasoned in his deep voice. He grinned at a shriek of excitement. “I’d say she’s plenty young yet.”
“Yeah.” I smiled up at him. “You married, Yal?”
“Engaged.”
I was struck at that. “You want children?”
He darted his gaze to the closed door. “Maybe. She does.”
I chuckled and patted his shoulder now. “It’s the best job in the world, Yal. Even on the bad days, it’s the best job in the world. Congratulations on your engagement.”
“And the same to you,” he said as I made my way down the hall.
The next thing I did was find Terris. He was overjoyed to see me. “You did it!” he said, awed. “All the other pages are jealous because I helped you. Are you still competing?”
“Is that still happening?”
He nodded furiously. “They’re back on tomorrow.”
“Great,” I muttered. “And I get to go after spending all night at that stinking ball.”
His eyes, already bright, went brighter. “You are competing?”
“I am.” I smiled at him. “Is there a chance that I’ll still have you as a page?”
“Of course!” he blurted out. “Of course! It would be my honor!”
“I haven’t forgotten about your lessons,” I told him. “But I can’t do it today. I have too much that I need to handle and I have a ball tonight.” I sighed. Thinking about the ball tended to cause excess sighing. “But tomorrow, we’ll start. We have at least a week to teach you how to defend yourself.”
He nodded solemnly. “All the other pages will be even more jealous,” he said.
“Then maybe you can teach them what I teach you, and they’ll stick up for you the next time you’re getting picked on,” I suggested gently. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
He nodded. “See you at the training center!” Then he rushed off with a yelp of excitement.
Next on my list was to make my plea to the royalty for the former Light Bearer children.
“You want us to let them go?” The Frondionian queen frowned at me. She’d done nothing but frown at me every time I’d seen her. I wondered if she didn’t like me, or if she just frowned at everyone. “Don’t you think you’re asking a bit much? These children attacked us. They’re violent and dangerous and have no loyalties.”
“They have no loyalties because they have no families,” I returned. “No friends. The Light Bearers were like a gang, offering them a chance of food, a place to sleep, and most importantly, belonging to something. They want to belong. As you said, Your Highness, they’re just children. Many of them are young enough and bright enough that if you gave them a chance they would be your most loyal citizens. You’ve seen their dedication when they were Light Bearers. All they need is something else to belong to now. Give them better than what they have and they won’t cause trouble.”
“And how are we to know this?” Zou’s crown prince asked smoothly. “Not all of them may respond as you are asking us to believe.”
“Some of them might not,” I agreed. “But many of them will. If you throw them in prison, they’ll resent you and turn against you. Kindness will get you a lot farther than punishment in this case. They’re not reasonable adults; most of them are barely teenagers. If you feel you can’t trust them yet, set up a work-release, or some sort of sentence where they could prove their good behavior. I’m just urging you to give them a chance, Your Highnesses. I’m asking you to give them a chance.” I wondered if I was making any headway. I’d used logic and reason and everything I could think of over the last half hour to ask the group of royalty here to do something besides toss the Light Bearers in a hole and forget them. I’d even quoted most of what I’d learned in psychology. Florinda and Alan were in attendance, but like Demetri they were merely here because they were royalty. All traces of the Light Bearers had been scrubbed out with the ending of the war.
“I believe we could negotiate some sort of work release,” King Irvin said, and my heart leapt. “We have the resources for it. Since the Light Bearer children did help us in saving our own children, I’m willing to provide them a second chance.”
I nodded, letting out a slow breath. “Thank you, Your Highness.”
“And if other countries are not comfortable rehabilitating the Light Bearers,” King Irvin continued, “then we will provide for them. We have most of them here already.”
“And what of the Light Bearer adults?” the Zou king asked politely. “What do you suggest we do with them?”
I shook my head. “My concern is not for the adults, Your Highness. They made their choices and they are old enough to know the consequences. My concern is the children. They’re the ones I promised to help. I leave the rest up to your judgment.”
They exchanged glances, and then Queen Florinda said gently, “Thank you, Lady Ilion. We will consider it.”
I curtseyed to them, then left, blowing out a breath when the door closed behind me.
“How did it go?” Martin asked, taking my hand.
“Good, I think. I made my pitch. King Irvin bit, but I’m not sure if the others did. Still, King Irvin can help a lot of them, and they just need a chance. I promised them a chance and I want to make sure they get it.”
“I’d say you did then,” Martin assured me. “You’ve been running around all day, Joan. Do you have enough time to slow down for a minute and eat?”
I checked my watch. “Barely. Hillarie and Chelsea have ordered, yes, ordered me to submit to their care for the ball tonight. They want two hours. I’m not the most fashionable person, I realize this, but I don’t understand what in the world they want to do with me for two solid hours. I mean, come on! It doesn’t take that long to dress and get ready, not even for a ball!”
“You can cut it down to an hour and a half,” he said, pulling me with him. “I’ll handle them if they try and give you any grief.”
“Thanks.” I walked with him to the dining area. “Can I ask how it went with Charlene?”
“It doesn’t matter,” he said, avoiding the issue.
I tugged him to a stop. “Martin, I’m not jealous. I understand that she meant something to you, if only for a while. I’m asking because I care. How did it go?”
His eyes showed his pity. “She cried. I’d say she was halfway to getting drunk. She’s packed and gone back to Valeria already, and she thinks she’ll move back with her cousins in Wyinn. Alan and Florinda said they won’t press charges for her misconduct if she leaves voluntarily. Some of the information she shared with Gelmand was private, and breaks the code of honor and loyalty she swore. She said she hadn’t shared anything that everyone didn’t already know. This was between blaming it all on you.” He blew out a breath. “She’s a jealous, bitter, angry woman, and she lost it all.”
Secretly, I was pleased to have her out of the castle and away from me for good, but I felt pity too. “I’m sorry for that,” I said quietly. “But I won’t give up you to make her feel better.”
His mouth twitched slightly. “Thank you, I think.” Then his face sobered again. “She was a good woman, Joan. She had earned the governess position.”
“I guess her jealousy pushed her too far,” I said. “I can’t fix that, Martin.”
“I know. I don’t blame you. Maybe she’ll be happier there.”
I was fairly sure Charlene would be bitter and jealous her whole life, at least to some extent, but I simply said, “Maybe.”
We mutually started walking together. It was silent, until we got to the dining area. As we entered, guards stopped eating, stopped talking when they saw me, and a hush spread through the dining area. Then, one by one, each table stood up and bowed to me. Servants serving them started to applaud and then room was filled with thunderous applause while I resignedly stared at them.
“Great,” I muttered. Then I raised my voice over the clamor as it died down, climbing on a bench. “Since I never learned how to accept a couple hundred people bowing to me like royalty, we’re going to do it this way. Thank you for that gesture, I appreciate it. Now, I’ve been told that the competitions are back on tomorrow.” I searched and found Marco. “You and I were tied for the steady shooting in the firearms competition last I remember, and I believe we need to clear that up. And you,” I said, identifying another guard. “You challenged me to freestyle. I intend to take you up on that challenge. Don’t you dare go soft on me because I did my job. You keep bowing to me all the time and it’ll be easy enough to knock you to the floor. The competition’s not over with and I intend to beat you fairly.” I paused. “Unless you’d rather just give Valeria the awards now.”
“Not a chance!” Quinn scoffed out before anyone else could speak, a twinkle in his eyes. “Valerians can’t do anything other than make bows and arrows and shoot them with some semblance of accuracy!”
“And what can you do besides dress up and hide behind trees?” Remy shot back. “There isn’t a competition for hide-and-seek. Last I heard, we were top of the board in jousting for group and single, and top in swordfighting. You nearly got thrown jousting against a practice dummy! It’s almost as embarrassing as Whinin’ Wyinn’s jousting!”
Now Wyinn spoke up, protesting that and hurling insults back. I grinned as the room exploded into noise, bets being shouted at each other and insults flying good-naturedly. “I love it here,” I told Martin as I hopped down.
“That was cleverly done,” he murmured in my ear. “And I do believe things are back to normal.”
“Now, if only I could sneak away from this ball tonight, things would be perfect. Any chance you could close your eyes for five seconds and let me take off at a dead run?”
Martin laughed. “You won’t escape from Florinda or Hillarie.”
“I can take them. They won’t be armed.”
Martin laughed harder as we moved towards the table to eat.
Hillarie and Chelsea pitched a fit when I arrived half an hour late. “I told you two hours. Two measly hours, Joan, is that too much to ask?” Hillarie demanded when I rushed in. Her face was covered in some brown glop that I didn’t want to know what did.
“Yes,” I snapped back. “I’ve been very busy. I had a number of things that needed to be taken care of immediately, and I don’t have two hours to spare when I’ll be wasting my entire evening dancing in circles and wearing a fancy dress. What in the world do you intend to do that will take two hours?”
“Preparation takes time,” Hillarie said with strained patience. “And this ball is in your honor!”
“If it were truly in my honor, there wouldn’t be a ball or we’d all be going in jeans,” I shot back.
Chelsea merely gestured to the chair in front of the large vanity. “Sit down and let me get started.”
I looked at Hillarie’s mud-packed face and didn’t move. “You keep that mud off of me. Hear me? I don’t know what it does, and I don’t care.”
“Sit,” Chelsea said with the steely-eyed glint of a warrior. “And let me do my work.”
It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, and it didn’t take longer than forty-five minutes before I was out of the chair and shimmying into the dress already picked for me. It was a golden-orange, decorated, like the others, with stitched embroidery in flowers and had a sash of gold trailing from the waist to just short of the hemline. It dipped to show just a hint of cleavage and left my shoulders and arms bare. My hair was tucked up in a bun, but half of it was let loose to trail down my back. Chelsea had cut it, but only a couple inches under the threat to return the favor if she went too far. My shoes were gold-colored slippers, much to my relief, so they were flat and wouldn’t kill my feet. They also had arch support to help with the long hours of dancing ahead.
My jewelry consisted of an opal bracelet, and citrine set in gold for my necklace with citrine drops dangling from my ears. My diamond arrow rested over my left shoulder and I allowed Chelsea to do my nails in a subtle manicure while Hillarie assisted in doing my makeup.
A knock sounded at my door ten minutes before I was supposed to be at the ball, and Chelsea opened it to show Martin. His eyes lit as he stepped inside. “Beautiful,” he murmured, stepping forward to take my hands. “As always. Joan, you look magnificent. Every time I think you can’t look more beautiful, you always prove me wrong.”
“How do you always manage to match my dress when I don’t even know what I’m going to wear?” I demanded. His vest perfectly matched the material I wore, and was the same golden-orange color.
He smiled. “I asked, politely, and I paid the right people to find out the color of dresses you would wear. Then I spent the money to be able to match, or at least not to clash.” He pulled the box from his jacket, offering me a rose for my wrist. “My lady?”
I let him slide it on my wrist, and then I intertwined fingers. “Thank you,” I said softly.
“My pleasure.” He gave a small bow to Hillarie and Chelsea. “Thank you, my ladies. May I say that you also look stunning.”
Hillarie was dressed in dark purple and silver, and Chelsea was in a black dress with white trim and a white stripe broadening from the left shoulder to the hip, and then it swirled down to the bottom hem of the dress. Both of them curtseyed to him. Then a knock sounded on the door. We moved aside as Corin came in, a silver vest under his black tuxedo. His eyes went straight to Hillarie. “Darling,” he murmured, moving to her. “You look sensational.”
Chelsea motioned to the door. “They won’t notice us for a while,” she said, eyes crinkling. “And I need to find my date.”
“He’s coming,” Martin said, grinning.
“Who...?” I began, but that was cut off as Neal came scurrying around the corner. “Why, Neal!” I said, grinning. “You never mentioned that you and Chelsea were going to a ball.”
He flushed slightly, but bowed to Chelsea. “My lady,” he said, offering her the white rose on the black armband.
“How did you know?” I asked as Chelsea and Neal moved down the hall.
“He was scrambling to get a flower when I went to get yours. The entire place is in a scramble to come up with flowers. I believe that the florists went and pruned a couple of plants around the castle grounds to come up with enough suitable flowers before the ball.” We approached the ballroom entrance. “Ready?” he murmured, offering his arm.
I rested my arm on his. “I believe I am.”
We were announced into the ballroom. Heads turned to study us, but I held my serene smile as we descended down the steps and approached the set of thrones at the end. “Your Highnesses,” we murmured as we paid our obeisance to the royalty there.
“Lady Ilion, I hope I may claim a dance tonight,” King Irvin said, a twinkle in his eye.
“It would be my honor, Your Highness.”
“Then I must need to request a dance as well,” his queen said. “Captain, if I may be so forward?”
“Not forward at all, Your Highness; it would be a great honor,” Martin said, bowing to her.
“Do you suppose I’ll have to dance with all the royalty?” I murmured as we moved to the side for the next arriving couple.
“It is possible,” Martin said. “Does that bother you?”
“No. Not anymore. I saved their children. They can’t throw me in the dungeon now.”
He chuckled. “You worry about the oddest things, Joan. Don’t you want to spend more time with Mickey?”
“Would you mind? They’re overcrowded in the prison because of the recently captured Light Bearers. We might have to share a cell.”
His grin soured. “And would you mind that?”
I swallowed my grin and rested my hand on his face. “He can’t compare to you, Martin. Not even close. I happen to love you.”
His eyes softened at that. “I remember. And I love you.” He picked up my hand where the gold ring glittered brightly. “I’ve proved it to you and everyone here. You couldn’t ask for a bigger audience.”
“I don’t want a bigger audience. I didn’t want this audience.”
“I’m sorry, honey, but you’ll just have to get used to it. You’re going to be very popular here and very well-known for the rest of your life.” He drew me out on the floor as the music started. “And you’re doing wonders for Valeria’s reputation.”
“My biggest goal in life,” I said dryly, then I groaned. “Why are we the only ones on the dance floor?”
“You’re the person of honor, Joan. You and your partner claim the first dance, alone.”
“Yippee,” I muttered under my breath.
Martin merely smiled, and spun me in a complicated move. Our eyes locked, and stayed locked as I spun back into his arms and then followed the intricate steps, the movement effortless on both our parts. He smiled at me when the dance ended and the audience clapped. “There,” he murmured. “Not so bad, was it?”
“Maybe not.” I kissed him tenderly a moment as others joined us on the dance floor. Then we spun into the next dance.
The ball lasted hours, but I didn’t start to feel it until the start of the third hour. It was eleven, and when Neal stepped forward to claim a dance, I muttered, “I need a break. I need to sit down, now.”
Neal graciously led me off the floor and sat down as I plopped less gracefully into a seat. “Aren’t you having fun?” he asked with a smile.
“Oh, yes. This is how I love to spend my time. And I’m going to be here all night.” I sent a sour glance to Florinda, who was busy talking to Hillarie and didn’t see it. “Under orders and threats.”
“Is that what it took? I wondered.”
I sipped the champagne the servant brought to me. “What’s the deal with you and Chelsea? Is this a one date thing, or is this a possibility?”
He flushed. “Hey, I’m not Remy. Don’t try and hook me up.”
“It seems you did that by yourself. So, Guardsman Kuzsova, is this a possibility or not?”
“Using your position is low, ma’am.”
“Just answer the question and I’ll leave you alone. I won’t even gossip about it with the other guards.”
“Discuss,” he said automatically. “It might be a possibility. We’ll see how things go.”
“Was that so hard?” I asked sweetly. “I hope it works out for you.”
His mouth twitched. “It’s a little early for that. It’s only the first date.”
“And from the position of the woman, I say you’ve done excellently so far.” I patted his hand. “Speaking of Remy, where is he?”
Neal’s eyes grinned. “I believe he’s with the Cantralin princess,” he said smoothly.
I laughed. “Good for him. I hope you’re not ribbing him too badly.”
“He doesn’t seem to mind being called the future ruler of Cantralin. At least, not yet.”
I laughed and a bell rang just loud enough for the room to hear. I paid attention as people hushed and the dancing stopped.
“As you know,” King Irvin began, standing, dressed splendidly in dark green, matching his wife. “This ball is in honor of Joan Ilion and the guards who went with her to rescue the future rulers of the English Region. If they would please step forward at this time, I would like to begin the ceremony.”
“Ceremony?” I whispered to Neal. “What ceremony? No one told me about a ceremony!”
The crowd backed up from the thrones where the royalty had gathered and we all moved forward. I gave a resigned sigh as I realized that I was the only female in the group and smoothed my hands over my dress nervously, wondering what this was about and why no one had warned me.
“The council gathered this morning, and agreed, unanimously, that these brave men and woman deserved to be honored for their actions.”
“Like we weren’t already,” I muttered under my breath.
“Champion Joan Ilion, please step forward,” King Irvin invited.
I stepped forward, stopping a few feet away, hoping I wasn’t making a mistake somehow.
A servant appeared, carrying a carved box. A murmur swept through the crowd, but I couldn’t understand what they were saying, or what the importance of the box was. Everyone seemed to recognize it though, which worried me. What was going on?
“Lady Ilion, I see you have received a diamond arrow. What is the significance of it?” King Irvin asked.
I spoke clearly, hiding my nerves and confusion. “I was told that it represents the highest honor given to a man or woman under the Valerian service, Your Highness.”
He nodded, then reached into the box, and I saw that on it was a carved globe, our continent etched into it. He pulled out a tiny replica, and the glint of a diamond in the center told me what this was.
He explained for the gathered people, in case there was any besides me who didn’t know. “This is the diamond globe, the highest honor given to a man or woman in the world. Very few have ever received it throughout our long history.” He paused. “And you are one of them. For the service you gave to the English Region, we thank you, and award you this.”
“Oh. Um...” Panicked, I looked to Florinda. We didn’t cover this! I screamed to her mentally.
King Irvin chuckled gently. “I am aware that you would not know how to accept this. Please kneel, Lady Ilion.”
I knelt, grateful.
“Lady Ilion, Champion Ilion,” he corrected himself. “For the honor you have done for our countries, we return the honor. Wear the diamond globe with pride.” He pinned it on my dress next to the diamond arrow.
“For the honor you have given me, I accept and thank you,” I said, sensing I was supposed to say something. “I will honor this symbol of your gratitude.”
King Irvin nodded approvingly. “Rise,” he said. “And let us honor the rest of the men who valiantly stood with you. Captain Martin Gonhiad.”
Martin stepped forward. Like me, he wore the ruby arrow pinned to his left shoulder. I felt love burn warm in my heart as he stood and accepted the ruby globe, although he accepted it with a bit more polish than I had. Then the rest were called forward. Simon, Samson, Quinn, Dave, and all the Elite Guard stepped forward and accepted their ruby globe. All of them already wore a pin, the guards wearing their emerald arrows, Quinn wearing his ruby tornado, Samson with a ruby tornado, Simon, to my surprise, with his diamond pin in the shape of the cursive L tattooed on his arm, and Dave wore an emerald pin as well, in the shape of his own tattoo, a zigzag of green on his outfit.
“Tell me I don’t have to give a speech or something,” I whispered to Martin as King Irvin pinned the ruby globe on Neal’s right shoulder.
“No. Just curtsey to accept.”
Neal stepped back into line and, as one, they bowed and I curtseyed, and then everyone started talking and the music started again.
“You could have warned me,” I hissed to Florinda as I moved over to her. “So I wouldn’t have stood there looking and sounding like an idiot!”
“You did fine, dear,” Florinda said, smiling at me. “Now, go dance. We have hours more yet.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “If there weren’t witnesses, I’d let you know exactly what I think at this moment about my beloved queen.”
She merely kept smiling and waved a hand at me as Martin pulled me away.
“Lady Ilion, if I may?” King Irvin said, offering his hand. “Captain, my queen would like to claim her dance as well.”
Martin handed me over, and went and bowed to Queen Isabelle of Geidy, offering his hand to her.
“I do realize we did rather spring this upon you,” King Irvin said as we started to dance. “You handled it well though.” His eyes crinkled. “And it was nice to see that you were human. I had my doubts, since you seem to handle everything else with such easy grace.”
“Your Highness, that’s very cruel of you. I assure you, I’m plenty human.” I twirled under his arm, then moved back into position. “I would like to thank you for agreeing to give the Light Bearer children a chance. They need a chance, and you’re giving it to them.”
“Cantralin and Linson and Wyinn have agreed to try rehabilitation as well. Untili and Unti are considering it, and so is Rilly and Pailio.”
I felt better. “That’s good. It’ll be good for them to know that they’re wanted somewhere.”
“You care for children,” he commented. “All of them.”
“Yes, I do. It’s my nature.”
“Then the Wolf is a good nickname for you. Wolves are known to be very protective of their young.”
I smiled. “That was part of the idea behind it.”
“You should know that to the owner of the diamond globe that our doors are open to you,” he remarked calmly. “And the doors of most countries. You will gain much respect in owning that.”
“I’d rather just beat it into them.” I glanced down at the pin. “I am honored, Your Highness, very honored. I’m just not very good at giving thank you speeches.”
“As I said, Joan, I can tell when respect is being given without the elaborate and respectful words. You express your thanks well enough.” The dance came to an end and he clasped my hand in both of his. “I will wish you luck in the competitions tomorrow. I merely request that you refrain from showing up my people in every category.”
I smiled. “If I win, I’ll have fought hard for it, and while my father liked to refer to me as the fighting queen, I’m not perfect and I can’t do everything. There are plenty of competitions for them to win in, Your Highness.” I curtseyed to him.
He squeezed my hand, then left to reclaim his wife, and leaving me to dance the night away.