The smiles on the captains’ faces were gone, but they made no further comments. Cyte went off with Sub-?Captain Gale to compare lists, and Marcus endured the rest of the introductions, though none of them stuck in his mind. More Vordanai cavalry was starting to arrive, and he set them to marking out an area where the army could stop and erect its tents. We’ll be at least a day getting on board. No sense getting wet until then.
“You’re very thorough, General d’Ivoire,” Dorsay said approvingly. “We’ll have some time on our hands once we set sail. I hope we get the chance to compare notes.” He winked. “And it’s possible a bottle or two of Hamveltai flaghaelan may have come into my possession.”
Marcus grinned. “I think I would like that very much, Your Grace.”
“We can raise a glass to your queen,” Dorsay went on. “She’s due congratulations.”
“Congratulations?”
“On her marriage to Second Prince Matthew.” Dorsay slapped Marcus cheerfully on the shoulder. “The price of the alliance, I imagine. Georg drives a hard bargain, but if she got a fleet and an army out of him in exchange for a marriage, I think he may have got the short end of the stick for once!”
23
Raesinia
“Well,” Raesinia said.
“Well.” The second prince gave a crooked smile. “It was a nice engagement while it lasted.”
“Surprisingly pleasant,” Raesinia agreed, grinning back at him.
They were standing in the same foyer where Raesinia had confronted Georg. Trunks full of Raesinia’s things sat by the door, waiting to be hauled to the docks.
“You’re sure you wouldn’t rather come with us?” Raesinia said. “I can’t imagine you want to spend any longer here than you have to.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t simply vanish from the capital on a moment’s notice,” Matthew said. “I have affairs to wind up and friends who need tearful good-?byes. It won’t be long before I grace your Ohnlei Palace with my presence, I assure you.”
“If your father tries anything—”
“I’ve got the letters,” Matthew said. Cora had written out instructions for a few different contingencies. “And the duplicates are somewhere safe. My friends know what to do.”
The threat that they could still bring the Borelgai economy down, even once Raesinia and Cora had left the city, should be enough to keep Matthew and his lover safe from the king’s reprisal. Still, Raesinia felt uneasy. “Make sure he knows what will happen. Just in case.”
“I will.” Matthew looked down, uncharacteristically at a loss for words. “Your Highness—”
“Raes,” Raesinia said. “My friends call me Raes.”
“Raes, then.” The prince swallowed. “I don’t know how I can possibly thank you for this.”
“You don’t have to,” Raesinia said. “We couldn’t have done it without your connections.”
“You didn’t have to do it at all. You could have married me, gone back to Vordan, and let me drink myself to death. You didn’t have to... care.”
“Well.” Raesinia’s smile broadened. “I’m sure, as ambassador, you’ll find some way to make it up to me. You can’t be worse than Ihannes. He has a smile like a carnival mask.”
“It does have a mechanical look to it, doesn’t it? Like there was some kind of clockwork inside his head keeping it wound up.” Matthew let out a breath. “For what it’s worth, then. Thank you.”
“Thank you, Prince Matthew.” Raesinia bowed slightly. “I look forward to seeing you at court.”
“Of course you do. I make a stunning addition to any court.” He struck a pose, and Raesinia laughed out loud.
After a carriage ride through the city, shrouded as usual in mist and rain, they were back at the docks. The Prudence, the same courier that had brought Raesinia to Borel, was assigned to bring her home. Eric, Cora, and the other servants followed in her retinue, along with a small packet for the Borelgai embassy in Vordan City. With so few passengers and no cargo, the captain assured her that they would make excellent time.
That turned out to be the case, thanks to a southerly wind that heralded the onset of winter. Prudence sped through choppy seas, rounding the Jaw and down the western coast of Vordan. They were headed, not directly back to Vordan City, but for Enzport at the mouth of the Pale. If nothing had gone terribly wrong, that was where Duke Dorsay’s squadron would be, and the prospect of an early reunion with Marcus was impossible to resist. It’s not far out of the way, in any event, Raesinia told herself. And we need to get the latest news on the war.
Cora kept herself occupied reading—?she’d gotten a small crate full of new texts in Borel, which at the rate she was going looked like they’d last until roughly the end of the week—?while Eric seemed to enjoy the break from the pressure. But the waiting wore on Raesinia. There was only so long she could spend on deck, watching the foam-?flecked waves rise and fall, or down in the chart room staring at the maps. She tried to read, but couldn’t concentrate. There ought to be something I can do to be useful. But the crew certainly didn’t need her help, and without more information there wasn’t much planning that could be done.
It was with some relief, therefore, that she watched Ecco Island slide into sight. It was a mountainous hump, rising out of the ocean like the domed back of a turtle, with only scattered greenery on its rocky slopes. A few people lived there, she knew, mostly raising sheep, but the only permanent settlement was on the landward side, at the naval base. As they hugged the north coast of the island, she could see the bumpy shapes of brick embrasures at the tops of the cliffs, where the shore guns that had closed this route to enemy vessels were emplaced. Those guns were gone now, dragged away and spiked by the Borelgai when they’d invaded the island during the war and not yet replaced by a revolutionary government that needed every cannon it could manufacture for the army.
Past the island, the southern peninsula swung up like a lower jaw, creating a bay the shape of a long, narrowing funnel. It made for a magnificent harbor, the best in Vordan: shielded from ocean storms by the bulk of the island, deep enough for the largest ships, and big enough to float the navies of the world. Before the War of the Princes, the largest squadron of the Vordanai navy had been based here, as well as their primary shipyard. The Borelgai had smashed the former and burned the latter, and kept the place under very effective siege, though neither city nor island had actually fallen. After Vansfeldt and the peace that followed, Vordan’s navy had been officially disbanded. Enzport was still a center of commercial shipping, but the naval shipyard had never been rebuilt.