Sage smiled wryly. “Will you share water with it and give it a name?”
“Maybe I will.” The storm had passed. Lani grinned and plopped down on an upholstered couch under a colored glass window. “Did you see how Dev fought for you, and how angry he was on my behalf?”
Sage had appreciated Minister Sinda’s efforts, but she’d also seen Lani’s secret romance wasn’t quite as secret as she believed. “I saw,” she said, taking a seat beside her friend. “I was glad to have a smile among so many frowns.”
“I cannot wait to marry him. Then I will not be shut out of council meetings and important matters.”
“How will that help?” asked Nicholas, who had followed them. His Casmuni speech lagged far behind his understanding, and he spoke slowly and awkwardly.
“Because then…” Lani hesitated. “As the wife of a council member I will have more standing.”
“I saw not other wives,” the prince said. “You are princess. There is no higher but queen, and there is none now.”
Lani frowned, and Sage saw Nicholas had a good point. Lani and Minister Sinda’s love might be genuine, but the princess was a bit blind on what she stood to gain.
“Nicholas,” Sage said. “Will you excuse us?” The prince shrugged and left.
“Lani,” she said quietly. “How far has your relationship with Minister Sinda gone?”
Lani blushed a little. “Don’t be such a taku, Saizsch. I’m going to marry him.”
After overhearing Lani and Sinda, Sage wasn’t surprised, but it still complicated things. As for being called a taku—an overbearing grandmother—she’d been just as willing if Alex had ever wanted … Sage cut that thought off before it could gain traction. “What power does a chessa’s husband have?” she asked.
“Not more than Dev already has,” said Lani. “He will actually have to resign his current position as minister of finance. It is a conflict of interest to have two royals with direct access to the treasury.”
“Will he leave the council?”
Lani nodded. “Yes, but I have plans for him.” She leaned toward Sage and lowered her voice. “General Pig-face will be retiring soon. All I must do is plant the idea in Banneth’s head that Dev is the man for the job. Minister of war is traditionally held by the king’s brother or uncle, anyway. Pig-face is only there because our brothers died.” She sat back. “Of course, Dev has no idea that is my intention.”
“I think what Casmun needs is a princess on the council,” said Sage. “As Nicholas said, there is no woman higher than you.”
Lani smiled thoughtfully. “Perhaps what Casmun really needs is a queen.”
Sage didn’t like the look on her friend’s face. “What happened to Minister Sinda?” she asked to change the subject. “His head was hurt.”
“Oh, you didn’t hear about yesterday!” The princess brightened. “He was auditing the prison’s weekly accounts when a Kimisar man tried to escape, but Dev stopped him. He was a hero,” she boasted.
“You have Kimisar prisoners here?”
Lani nodded. “Two spies caught last month and one who was brought in with you.”
“Can I see them?” Sage asked.
“I don’t see why not.”
86
LANI LED SAGE down several winding staircases to the lowest levels of the palace. The air became damp and cool, and they frequently had to lift their skirts to step over puddles in the corridor. “It doesn’t drain well,” said Lani, pointing to one. “The stones are worn from use, and that traps any water that drips from the ceiling. Perhaps we should fill them with cement, or carve grooves so the water can flow out.”
Lani was much cleverer than she gave herself credit for.
Eventually they came to a landing with several guards. The princess waved her hand, and they stood aside. Sage followed, thinking Lani knew her way around the prison as well as she did the marketplace. “Do you come here often?” she asked.
“I inspect when Banneth is gone,” Lani answered. She walked up to a man who looked to be in charge and spoke with him briefly. He bowed and led the way down more steps and tunnels until they came to a guarded door. Within was a large room with metal bars running down either side of a central aisle. Lani swept past him with a thank-you.
The only occupied cells were at the far end. As Sage and Lani approached, both prisoners lifted their heads from the straw mats they slept on. In spite of the dank conditions, the prison was generally clean. The guard came running up behind Sage, carrying a torch to supplement the dim light coming through a grate in the ceiling. “Stay back, My Princess,” he called. “These men are dangerous.”
Lani rolled her eyes at Sage. “And I thought these men were here for a picnic.”
One of the prisoners stood and walked to the front of his cell. “Princess, ay?” he said in Kimisar. The man looked at Lani with disdain. “I think I understand a few things now.”
The other man sat up and squinted at Lani in the same way. Neither man seemed bothered by their surroundings, like they had become a way of life.
Lani ignored them and addressed the guard. “Where is the third man?”
“Haven’t seen him since yesterday,” said the prisoner before the guard could answer. “Heard him a few times, though.”
The guard coughed and rubbed his throat. “He needed extra restraint.”
“Have you seen enough of them?” Lani asked Sage, who nodded. Something about both men made her skin crawl. “Take us to the third man,” Lani told the guard.
Sage stepped aside so Lani could go first. The Kimisar called out to her. “Ay, Demoran girl.” Sage looked back over her shoulder without thinking. The man met her eyes and winked. “I hope you like it down here.”
She couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
A few turns down the hall, the guard stopped before an iron door. “He’s in here, Palachessa.”
Lani stepped up and slid a narrow horizontal window open to look inside.
Sage stood on her toes next to her. The tiny room was completely dark except for the slash of light from the opening in the door. “I can’t see anything,” she said.
At her voice there was movement within the chamber. A shadow shifted and chains rattled. Though she knew she was safe, Sage jumped back. “He can barely move.”
“It is necessary,” said the guard, closing the window with a rusty screech.
The chains rattled again, weakly, and Sage took another step away from the cell. “Surely he can be restrained in another way.”
“That man nearly escaped again last night, after his first attempt with Minister Sinda in the afternoon. He injured two guards and almost killed a water boy.”
“He would be better treated if he behaved,” said Lani.
It was one thing to know such monstrous men existed, but it was quite another to see what had to be done to contain them. Did such conditions make them more vicious, like caged fighting animals? “Perhaps he was desperate,” said Sage.
The princess frowned. “Saizsch, this man was part of the attack that killed Ah’lecks, no?”
Sage twisted her hands as the image of Alex falling off his horse played in her mind. Lani was right, but the room was little bigger than a coffin. Just the thought of being shut inside made it difficult for Sage to breathe. “How much longer will he be kept in there?” she asked.
“That is not my decision, mistress,” the guard said nervously.
Lani pursed her lips. “I can order him moved.” She raised an eyebrow at Sage. “Is that what you wish?”
Sage thought of the bruises on Minister Sinda’s face and of a terrified little boy being held hostage. Even considering that, the man’s treatment made her queasy. Or perhaps it was guilt for having tried to kill him herself. “Yes?” she said, unsure.
The princess turned her gaze to the guard, who shifted his feet and hesitated before responding. “I want to obey My Princess, but I must also answer to my superiors.”
“I understand,” said Lani magnanimously. “You will relay my order, then, and if the head guard disagrees, he has until sunset to personally explain to me why.”