CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER ONE

Queen Aethe knelt beside her husband’s bed as the world collapsed in on her, watching his all too still form through her tears. She had lost track of the time she had spent there, her grief making day and night blur into one another, food coming only when servants begged her to eat, tasting like ashes even then.

The room was rich in its opulence, with tapestries set around the walls and furniture constructed using the rich woods from every corner of the Northern Kingdom. None of that made any difference, not the gilded cups, not the silks, none of it. It all seemed gray and dead when Godwin lay unmoving upon the bed.

“When will he

wake

?” she demanded of Physicker Jarran, who did no more than shake his head and spread pudgy fingers.

“I have treated his wounds as best I can,” the man said. “Beyond that, I am sorry, I have no answers.”

“Then what use are you?” Queen Aethe demanded, the anger flashing up inside the grief feeling like the only thing that would help now. “You couldn’t help my daughter. You can’t help my husband. What

use

are you? Get out! Get back to lancing boils and stitching cuts!”

It was harsh, but everything felt harsh right then. The world had become a thing of sharp edges and shadows that leached the strength from her, making it hard for her to even stand. There was no one who could comfort Aethe right then. Even with her husband surrounded by servants and guards, Aethe felt as lonely as if she had been stranded in the middle of an open plain.

“Why can’t anyone

help

him?” she demanded, kneeling by the bed again, but no one answered. No one dared to. A desperate thought came to her. “Where is Master Grey?”

That was possibly a question that none of them could answer. Who knew where the magus was, or what he would do? Aethe went to one of the room’s windows, even that taking an effort, staring out at the tower attached to the castle, trying to catch any glimpse of the man. Of course, there was nothing, no one was sitting there, waiting to save Godwin.

She looked out over Royalsport, spread out below her. The streams of the city were at full tide now, dividing it up into its constituent islands, each holding a district of the city’s homes. Walls enclosed most of the city, but some of it spilled beyond them, like a fat man’s stomach spreading beyond his belt. The slums stood up against the walls and spread out into the countryside beyond. The great Houses stood above the rest: the blocky form of the House of Merchants standing above the market, the bright colors of the House of Sighs above the entertainment district, the House of Scholars rising in twisting spires, and the House of Weapons belching smoke as its furnaces prepared more weapons for the violence.

From where she stood, Aethe could see the signs of that violence already, the knights and the soldiers making their camps outside the city, the crowds in the streets holding even more men of violence than usual. There were noble forces as well as those of the king, because of course each duke or earl had his dozens with him, ready to do his will.

Aethe turned her back on it; she couldn’t bear to look on it any longer. She couldn’t bear

any

of it any longer.

“Wake up, husband,” she said softly, returning to the bed and perching on it. “Your kingdom needs you.” She leaned down and let her lips brush his forehead. “I need you.”

Her husband was not the man he had once been, and not just in the usual senses that age had made his hair gray, run some of his muscles to fat. Aethe was well used to that, knew those changes in him as well as she knew every line and gray hair that had crept into her own body. No, this was about how pale he was, his skin almost as gray as his beard, his breathing so shallow it was barely there. It hurt just to see him like that.

So much hurt, right then. She couldn’t take more of it.

“We can’t lose you,” Aethe said. “Rodry… your son is dead, Godwin.” Aethe had never cared much for Godwin’s sons, because they were a reminder of his first marriage, and of how much more he had loved his first wife. But of them, Rodry had been the best. Greave was strange and obsessed with his books, while Vars was… Aethe shuddered. “And of my daughters, Nerra is gone, and Erin throws herself into battle like a boy.”

At least they’d gotten Lenore back. She was back, and safe, and married, although she should never have been in danger, never have been captured, in the first place. Aethe just had to hope that her marriage to Finnal would be a happy one; she trusted that it would be, in spite of her daughter’s nerves before her wedding.

For that, though, they would have to face up to the threat from the Southern Kingdom. Aethe had always thought that no army could cross the rushing waters of the Slate River, but now they were saying that a force was coming in from the east, via the Isle of Leveros.

“Please wake up,” she said, holding Godwin’s hand. “I fear for what will happen if you don’t.”

“There is nothing to fear,” a voice said from the doorway. “I have everything in hand as regent.”

Queen Aethe turned as Vars stepped into the room.

It was hard to express how little like a king her husband’s son looked. He wore a circlet of gold, but he was smaller than her husband, weaker looking, his hair a dull, muddy brown and his features undistinguished. His clothes were fine, but Aethe could see the wine stains there. More than that, there was something about Vars that she had simply never liked. Godwin would surely never have wanted him to rule in his stead.

“How did we come to this?” Aethe asked, knowing that Vars must share her grief even if they shared so little else. “How was my daughter taken by the south, your brother killed? How is your father fallen just at the moment when the Southern Kingdom is attacking us?”

That was the part that made Aethe’s grief all the worse. It would have been bad enough if her husband had fallen in combat, but for all of it to happen together was just too much. It felt as though it had destroyed her, leaving nothing behind. The mention of it all seemed to hit Vars too, almost like a blow.

“It is impossible to judge these things,” Vars said. To Aethe’s surprise, he came to stand beside her, resting a hand on her shoulder. “I suspect it was all plotted by the Southern Kingdom. Yes, if there is anyone to blame, it must be them.”

“I

do

blame them,” Aethe said, feeling the anger burning brightly inside her, a flame that felt as if it would consume her utterly if she let it. “After all they’ve done, I’d see all of them wiped from the world if I could!”

“There is much to hate them for,” Vars said.

“Killing your brother, kidnapping your sister…”

“Yes,” Vars said. “At least she’s married to Finnal now.”

“She is,” Aethe said, and there was some relief in that. She knew Lenore had had her nerves before the wedding, but she was sure her daughter was going to be happy soon. “And Godwin…”

“We’ll do everything we can to help,” Vars said. “Everything that’s needed.”

“Can you… can you find Master Grey?” she asked. “The physicker isn’t doing anything, so maybe he…”

“I will see that he is sent for,” Vars said. “And in the meantime, I will keep everything running smoothly here.”

“I’ll help,” Aethe said. “Whatever you need. We’ll keep the kingdom safe together. For Godwin.”

She could feel the tears falling, feel herself almost falling with the weakness of her grief.

“That will not be necessary,” Vars said.

“But Vars—” Aethe began. She needed something to do that would make her feel useful, make her feel a part of things again.

“My father’s wife is clearly distraught,” Vars said, turning to a pair of the guards there. He didn’t call her the queen, Aethe noted. “She needs to go and rest. Take her to her rooms and see that she is not disturbed.”

“What?” Aethe said. “I don’t need to go anywhere.”

“You do,” Vars insisted. “You’re tired, you’re distraught. Go get some sleep. It’s for your own good.”

The problem was that the more she protested, the more she looked like nothing but the grief-stricken wife. The guards came to her, taking her by the arms. She fought clear of them, determined to walk on her own, but she couldn’t stop the tears that started to run down her face. She stared back at Vars, standing over her husband. How could this be happening?

More importantly, what disaster did it mean for the kingdom?