“I’m not sure I would have the time to—”
“You said only yesterday that your post here at Ankyo hasn’t given you much to do,” the woman pointed out. “And you offered to help me instruct some of my students.”
The colors in Kalen’s heartsglass flickered. “I…did say that.”
“Excellent.” Lady Hami was brisk. “Tea here takes her lessons in the afternoon. I think between us, she will be quite proficient.”
Kalen turned to me with a brittle smile, and I stopped myself from outwardly flinching. “I think so too.”
? ? ?
Lord Kalen poured his resentment into our training sessions and made Lady Hami’s seem like child’s play by comparison. I frequently came home bruised and tired, with little energy for anything else. But I made no protest; he could have used them to justify how I wasn’t strong enough for his training, and he would have been wrong.
And as hard as he worked me, he was making me better. I started winning more matches against others in my class, sometimes outclassing those above my tier. Lady Hami still trounced me often, but I was lasting longer with each fight.
I don’t know what kind of arrangement had sprung up between Fox and Kalen, but I walked in on them sparring on several occasions, with Fox holding his own exceedingly well.
“Why doesn’t he like me but has no problems with you?” I asked my brother once in a burst of frustration.
“He’s fairly protective of the prince and views you as a source of danger to him,” Fox pointed out, carefully wrapping his hands in thick strips of gauze. “And there’s an advantage to teaching you, even if he doesn’t want to. On the off chance that you’re with the prince when something attacks, you’d be more adept at fighting them off and protecting him. I reckon it’s also why he’s sparring with me.”
“But I don’t want him angry with me.”
“You’ve got a choice, Tea. You can choose to distance yourself from the prince and possibly earn Kalen’s friendship, or continue your meetings and retain his bodyguard’s ire.”
Fox looked at my face and sighed. “I thought so.”
I have entertained many people in the course of my short time as an asha. It is believed that asha only accepted discerning nobles of exemplary tastes and good standing within the community as patrons. The truth was that many who went to those parties could be just as crass and rude as the next person on the street. Being a noble didn’t exempt you from being fool born. Some of my favorite guests came from humble beginnings. Some of my worst guests came from the highest of positions. Breeding isn’t what you were born as; breeding is what you grow to be. You were born a man of Drychta, Bard; you didn’t choose the kingdom of your birth. But you chose to protest against the injustices you did see, even as they drove you out. You are a good man.
“And as for me…”
She held out her hands, and the daeva flocked to her, nuzzling at her palms like a newborn puppy fresh from the litter, yearning for its mother.
“I don’t know if I can claim to be good and principled,” she said softly, “but I know exactly what I need to do.”
20
No matter how tired I was and no matter how many bruises I earned during my training, I never turned down the prince’s requests to join him for an evening meal at the Snow Pyre. Sometimes Kalen accompanied him, though he preferred to remain outside the room, ostensibly to keep guard. My practice sessions with the Deathseeker continued. When not criticizing my techniques and form, he ignored me. His dislike still made me nervous, and I frequently made mistakes I would not have with a different teacher.
I never told His Highness about Kalen’s disapproval. It was obvious that Prince Kance didn’t know.
“Is Lord Kalen always this…serious?” I asked him hesitantly one time. “He never seems to take any days off.”
“Kalen’s always kept to himself, even when he was younger,” the prince admitted. “His childhood wasn’t always easy. His father, my uncle, is in prison.”
My history lessons had glossed over this. “What?”
“My uncle had ties with many nobles in Odalia who tried to rebel against my father ten years ago.”
“Daar’s Rebellion,” I remembered.
“The farmers claimed poor treatment, but some of the gentry used it as fodder to declare war against Odalia. A daeva had attacked the city previously, and many citizens perished, my mother and Kalen’s mother among them.” He paused, then added sadly, “We all took their losses hard.”
“I am so sorry, Your Highness.”
“There were a few who believed that Dark asha had somehow conjured the daeva and that my father conspired with them against his own kingdom. The Duke of Holsrath was one of those ambitious gentry who believed in these lies. There was some evidence to prove he instigated the rebellion, but my father chose imprisonment for him over the hangman’s noose. I know Kalen harbors guilt over his father’s actions, and he can be very single-minded when it comes to my safety. He has trained with the sword ever since he was a child, intending to right his father’s wrongs. His heartsglass only turned silver recently—not very long after my first meeting with you in Kneave, in fact. But he has continued to remain devoted to my family. I trust him like a brother.”
“And what about your older brother, Khalad? If you don’t mind my asking,” I added quickly, worried that I was being too inquisitive.
“Most people pretend that my older brother doesn’t exist. It’s refreshing for someone to be upfront about him.” He smiled sadly. “He was supposed to take over the reins of the kingdom after my father. But his heartsglass turned silver three years ago. At first, we feared he would be conscripted to the Deathseekers, but much to our surprise, the Heartforger asked to take him in.”
“As a favor?”
“No, the Heartforger would never choose anyone out of sympathy. He has never had an assistant; he said he never found the right one. Khalad was very angry about it at first.”
“He didn’t seem angry to me,” I said, recalling the smiling, if vague, young man sitting beside the Heartforger.
“Khalad always liked helping people. Being king would have suited him well. But he soon realized he could help people just as much in this way. Forging new hearts for the sick, helping people start anew in life—he was very good at it. Except he started using his own memories for ingredients, more than what he ought to. Khalad always liked to test boundaries.” He sighed. “Sometimes I wish I had the silver heartsglass instead of him. Some days I feel like I don’t have the right temperament to take the throne.”
“But you do,” I said, driven to his defense. “It would be a shame for Odalia not to have you as its king.”
I stopped, flushing a little because I hadn’t intended to sound so passionate. But the prince laughed.