The Pale Princess, page 29
part #1 of Storyweaver Series
“Me?”
“You. Others like you.”
“The pretend Taihg?”
Ridaln breathed out in a heavy sigh. “There is something I’m missing. I don’t know what it is, and try as I might, I haven’t been able to discover the way the Raven Queen has trained those who serve her. You are the first person I have found who has the potential required, and I only found you because of the Karell.”
Sophie had the sense he hadn’t wanted to share that with her, and that he hated admitting he’d so far failed in finding someone who could reach magic.
“How many have you tried to find?”
“Every woman I’ve brought to the palace has been an attempt.”
“And how many succeeded?”
“Not nearly enough.”
“That’s why I’m here?”
Ridaln said nothing as he regarded her.
“What about Caitlyn?” Sophie had been trying to understand what the woman was doing in the palace, as she’d been here for a while.
“She had potential, but not enough. Few do. I suppose we must still wait to see what potential you have. There was one who came close, but then she switched sides, joining the Raven Queen.”
That had to be the redheaded woman that Sophie had met.
“Who was she?”
Ridaln regarded her with suspicion. “Does it matter?”
Sophie shrugged. “I need to know who to watch out for.”
Ridaln snorted. “I doubt you have to watch for Jalyn. She knows better than to risk herself coming to the city.”
Jalyn. That had to be the woman Sophie had met. “Why? I mean, why all of this?” she added quickly. “Why these measures?”
Ridaln clenched his jaw as he seemed to debate how much to share with her.
“When the war began, another advised the king, a powerful magic user who helped to train me.”
“What happened to him?”
“He was lost at the same time as the Pale Princess. They fought. Power was unleashed. Neither survived. After that…”
“The war was over?”
Ridaln nodded.
“I don’t understand. Why was there a war in the first place?”
“The same reason there are always wars. Power. The Raven Queen—and the Pale Princess—chased a dangerous power that should not be unleashed.”
“What sort of power?”
“I know little about it other than what my mentor described. He called it the Shavln, an ancient magical power that can reshape the world. In the years since the end of the war, everything I’ve found about the Shavln tells me it’s dangerous.”
There was something about that phrase that was familiar.
Could Nana have had a story about this as well?
“Why is there magic?” she’d once asked Nana.
“There’s a dark power in the world, Sophie. The kind of power that must be confined.”
“What happens if it is not?”
“The world will be changed. That is why there are those like the Raven Queen.”
Sophie shook away the memory. In that story, Nana had suggested that the Raven Queen had actually fought against a greater power. “If the Raven Queen gets that power?”
“With her talent, she would be unstoppable.”
Sophie shivered. “Why the delegations?”
“That was another gift from my mentor. We bring together lands that hold the key to protecting us from the Shavln. He left records, and since I found them, I have used those records to coordinate these delegations. We have nearly completed the list.”
“How many more?”
“Don’t worry. You aren’t in danger.”
“I’m not. Others are.”
He waved his hand. “When Alitan visits, we will have everything we need.”
Sophie had never heard of Alitan. “And why only girls?”
Ridaln blinked a moment. “It doesn’t have to be only girls, but magic manifests earliest in girls. That makes it easier to detect.”
“And the Karell?”
“They have a way of detecting those who have potential with magic. With enough power, they will be able to reach the Shavln regardless of what we do to stop them.”
Whenever she thought she understood what she was dealing with, Ridaln threw more at her. “What about boys?”
“It’s possible that magic will manifest early, but that’s why we are trying another approach to draw it out.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that there are other ways to reach them.”
Sophie studied Ridaln, a question burning in her eyes. “Is that what you’re doing with Lan?”
Ridaln glanced over at Sophie before turning his attention back to the row of shelves. He fingered a strange spiky object, pressing his thumb onto one of the spikes until he winced and withdrew his hand. A small drop of blood had beaded on the surface of his thumb. He dabbed his fingers together and whispered something softly. There came a flash of light between his fingers, which faded quickly.
“I have nothing to do with what is taking place with your brother.”
“But you brought us here. You brought him here.”
“I brought him here.” Ridaln focused on her, and then he let out a deep sigh. “His training—their training—isn’t under my control.” He sighed. “Perhaps it is time you knew the truth.”
“What truth?”
“I’ve been observing the soldiers. They are under the command of the king. I don’t have any influence over what they do or how they serve, and as much as I want to influence them, there is nothing I can do.”
“I thought you said you were trying to create this kingdom’s version of the Taihg.”
“I don’t even know if it’s possible to do that, as I’ve had no success.”
“Then where is my brother?”
Ridaln tapped his fingers together again and squeezed another droplet of blood from his thumb. Once more there came a flash of light. When it faded, he glanced up at Sophie, and she knew the answer even without him telling her.
“You don’t know. That’s what you’ve been hiding from me, isn’t it?”
“I don’t know, but I’m not hiding it from you.”
“And yet every time I’ve asked, you haven’t shared anything with me.”
“Because there isn’t anything for me to share. I would reveal what I know, if I had learned anything, but…”
“You’ve deceived me in this. You made it seem as if you knew, but you didn’t. Why?”
“I haven’t deceived you, Sophie.”
“No?” She rounded on him, placing her hands on her hips. She was tall for her age, but not nearly as tall as Ridaln, and he turned back to her, his eyes flashing with the strange silver light. She resisted the urge to take a step back. She wasn’t going to let Ridaln intimidate her and force her to look away.
“I would not share with you my ignorance if I had any intent to deceive you. I’m sharing this with you so that we can work together to determine where to find your brother.”
“Why me?” That was something she didn’t fully understand but thought she needed to. “Were it not for the Karell, would you have brought me here?”
“I don’t know. You showed spirit, and everything I’ve learned about those who have potential with magic indicates it’s necessary for the practitioners to have some spirit. If they don’t, they will end up overpowered by the magic, unable to control it.”
“And that’s why you thought I could help you with this charade to create the Pale Princess?”
Ridaln nodded.
“How long do you intend to keep creating fake Pale Princesses?”
“Until the Raven Queen is defeated.” Ridaln crossed his arms over his chest. Energy sizzled around her, the same as the barrier on the stairs to his chamber. “That’s all that matters, Sophie Varison. You don’t matter. I don’t matter. Defeating the Raven Queen and preventing her from destroying this kingdom is all that matters.”
Sophie looked at Ridaln but couldn’t hold his gaze. There was too much intensity and heat in his eyes, and the power radiating from him intimidated her.
“Now, if that is all, it’s time you resumed your training. Do you think you have the ability?”
Sophie had no more pain, not as she had been experiencing, but she still wasn’t sure that she wanted to resume her training. Something about Ridaln made her uncomfortable. She had been uncomfortable around him before, but this was different. This was a man who was focused on a task, and she was suddenly aware she was caught up in something that might destroy her.
The red-haired woman’s warning flashed in her mind. He thinks he controls power, when in reality, it controls him. What makes him dangerous puts others at risk. At least now Sophie had a name. Jalyn. Having a name helped, even if the woman believed it didn’t matter. Having her name meant Sophie could go in search of her. That was something she intended to do. She wanted answers, and if Ridaln wasn’t going to provide them, and if he continued to use his connection to magic to intimidate her, she would have to go to someone else. Even if that meant going to someone Ridaln intended to warn her away from.
He watched her expectantly. Sophie needed to answer, and she needed to keep from having his attention fixed on her in that way. She flexed her arms, checking the injury to her wrist, and then twisted, trying to determine how injured she still was from the attack. She was better—at least, well enough to resume her practice.
“I’m ready,” she said.
Ridaln watched her for a moment and then nodded. “Then we will begin.”
Chapter 38
SOPHIE
Sophie stood out in the garden, enjoying the bright sun shining on her. There was a pleasant warmth to it today, and it contrasted with the cool breeze gusting through the flower beds. She stood off to the side, not wanting to draw attention from anyone who might be passing through the garden. She wanted only a chance to have some solitude to practice the poses that Ridaln had been teaching her. She had progressed to the point where she could use several poses with some degree of consistency. Most of them simply concentrated energy. She didn’t know enough about what to do once she had that energy concentrated. She suspected he would eventually teach her the next step, maybe a way of pushing out the power into something useful. So far, he had not.
“What are you doing?”
Caitlyn watched her with a sour expression. Her hair was pulled back in a formal braid and slung over her shoulder. Threads of lace were woven within it. The skill of the weave was evident even from a distance. As much as Caitlyn annoyed her, there was much Sophie could learn from her, but only if Caitlyn wanted to teach, and she doubted very much that the woman had any such intention.
None of the weavers had shown any inclination to teach her. For the most part, she was allowed to sit with them and practice, but they didn’t offer any demonstration of technique. Any improvement would have to be driven by Sophie learning on her own. Yet she didn’t think it mattered. What purpose would there be in her learning to weave other than to spend time doing it?
“I’m stretching,” Sophie said. It was a lie that she already had prepared. It was a reasonable answer, especially considering most within the palace knew about her injuries.
“Stretching? You seemed to be holding a position for quite a while.”
Caitlyn stood next to her and mimicked the posture, one Ridaln called the flag pose, and one not quite as obviously named as some of the poses were. It required Sophie to bend her arms at the elbows and keep them straight out in front of her while leaning forward to the point where she almost tipped over. One of her feet was supposed to turn out, but she found it hard to maintain balance for very long.
“Not like that,” Sophie said before realizing what she was doing. Why was she bothering to correct Caitlyn?
“Not like what? Why would it even matter if you’re only stretching?”
“I suppose it doesn’t.” She glanced to Caitlyn’s hair, admiring the tight braiding that made it appear even thicker than it normally did. “That’s a lovely weave in your hair.”
Caitlyn’s eyes narrowed. “Are you mocking me?”
“How can I be mocking you when I’m complimenting your hair?” Sophie shifted out of her pose and planted her hands on her hips, glaring at Caitlyn. She had grown tired of the woman and the way that she treated her. “If I were to mock you, I might comment on the way your feet point out when you walk, or I might comment on the way you wrinkle your nose when you talk, or even the way you—”
“Enough! It seems you were mocking me.”
Sophie let out her breath in a huff. “I wasn’t mocking you.” She shouldn’t have said what she had about Caitlyn. They already didn’t get along, and she didn’t need to be making enemies with this woman. In the palace, she had few enough friends, and she should be focusing on trying to work with her, to gain an alliance rather than to antagonize her. She knew better. Nana had warned her about doing such things and taunting in such a way. “I’m sorry. What I said wasn’t kind.”
Caitlyn studied her a moment, as if trying to determine whether Sophie was implying something else. “You don’t have to be so cruel.”
“I shouldn’t have said that,” Sophie said. “It’s just that you’ve never been…” She shook her head. What was the point of telling Caitlyn what she had never been? It wasn’t as if Caitlyn was about to change. “It doesn’t matter. What are you doing in the garden?” Sophie rarely saw any of the women spending any time in the garden. It was part of the reason that she came here, to a place where she could practice outside, rather than being cooped up in her room with nothing but stone walls surrounding her.
“Can’t a woman come out to the garden and enjoy the fragrances of the flowers?”
“I suppose,” Sophie said. “It’s just that I haven’t seen you here very often.”
“And you are here so often that you would know when and if I come to the garden?”
Sophie bit her lip and grabbed her dress, twisting it. She was making a bigger mess of things. “That’s not it.”
“Then what is it?”
Sophie shook her head. She started to turn, wanting nothing more than to get away from Caitlyn. She didn’t want to get into an argument, and she especially didn’t want to get into one with Caitlyn, in which she doubted that she would be able to say anything that might not be misconstrued.
“You heal fast,” Caitlyn said.
Sophie’s heart skipped in her chest. “What was that?”
“Your arm. Didn’t you have a splint on your arm?”
Sophie hadn’t prepared for the possibility that someone would notice how quickly she had recovered from her injuries. She should have. She should have anticipated questions, and she should have anticipated that someone like Caitlyn would have paid attention, especially as Caitlyn seemed to enjoy needling her.
She wiped her arm across her forehead. The sweating was from holding her pose and not from Caitlyn’s interrogation. “It wasn’t a splint. My arm was wrapped—”
“It was a splint.” Caitlyn circled around so that she could get into Sophie’s face again. “I’ve spent enough time around the physicians that I know a splint when I see one. There is only one reason to have a splint on your arm, and you don’t look like someone who had a fracture.”
“It was precautionary.”
Caitlyn frowned. “Precautionary? Who places a precautionary splint when there’s no fracture?”
“Someone who doesn’t know any better,” Sophie snapped. “It was only bruised. And now it’s better.” She waved her hands in front of Caitlyn’s face before pulling them back down. She shouldn’t have done that. She should have known better than to attempt to draw the woman’s attention to her hands and the injury that she had sustained.
“And what of your hip? I saw the way you were limping.”
Sweat beaded on Sophie’s back. Ridaln would not be pleased to learn that Caitlyn paid this much attention to her. “Have you been following me?” she asked.
“So what if I have?”
“Why?”
“Because I’m waiting for you to leave, Sophie Varison.”
“Why are you waiting for me to leave?”
Caitlyn breathed out in a huff. “With you here, it’s less likely that I’ll be chosen. Too many of these men prefer younger women. You’re the youngest one here. Before you came, I was one of the younger ones.”
“You’re not getting any younger,” Sophie said, and she immediately wished that she hadn’t.
Caitlyn’s face contorted, and she clenched her jaw.
“But neither am I,” Sophie said hurriedly. She doubted that would make it any better, but maybe she could take some of the anger from Caitlyn with that comment.
“Yes. I suppose that neither of us is getting any younger.”
“And why does it matter? I don’t even want to be chosen.”
“And as I’ve told you, just because you don’t want to be chosen doesn’t mean that you won’t be chosen. It’s the women who don’t want to be selected who end up getting taken first.”
“Then I just won’t go to the next choosing.”
“Do you think the king would allow that?”
“I don’t know anything about the king,” Sophie said, “other than he’s here and he apparently likes rhubarb pastries. Why would the king care whether I’m at his party or not?”
“Because he needs the alliances to stabilize the kingdom during the war,” Caitlyn said. “Don’t you pay attention to anything?”
“Apparently not.”
“That’s the whole purpose of having women come here. He wants to use us to solidify alliances.”
Sophie looked at the woman, tilting her chin at her in her irritation. “It seems you know an awful lot about what the king intends.”
“Because I pay attention,” Caitlyn said. “When Carolyn speaks, I listen. She sits with the king more than any of the other weavers, and she knows more than any of the others.”
“Well, it doesn’t change the fact that I don’t want to be chosen.”
