Heir, page 2
part #5 of Ressaline Series
“And I want to be the sort of person my proper queen sister can count on,” she said. “That part I know. It’s one of the few things I’m absolutely positive about.”
“Then, little sister,” I declared. “I think you’re making the right choices, or at least the best choices from those available to you.”
“Do you have someone else in mind? Am I wasting my time?”
“We’re talking hypothetical situations now.” I said. “Father dumps some important responsibilities on me. I can’t even think of what.”
“Economic mission to Gandeet,” she supplied.
“All right. Good example. Father isn’t going to let both of us go together.”
“I suppose.”
“And you’re still fifteen,” I added. “I’d have to go. Which means someone would have to see to my duties here, and there’s no one else, Darfelsa.”
“Me.”
“You,” I confirmed. “Or later, in a few years, we might send you instead of me. You’ll actually have more experience working with a foreign government by then.”
“I suppose I will,” she said thoughtfully. “Is Mother going to let me go back once you’re home again?”
“She promised to.”
“Do you think she’ll see me as nine by then?”
We laughed together. “I doubt it. I want to ask you something.”
“Sure.”
“I’m eighteen now.”
“I wasn’t here for your party. I should have come back sooner.”
“You left me a very nice present,” I said. “And while I missed you, you were doing what I wanted you to do.”
“I was?”
“My question: I’m eighteen, and Father has told me he’s going to begin giving me real responsibilities, once I’m back from Charth. Now, you’re not going to be here very much, but when you’re here, how would you feel if I began depending upon you?”
“Really?”
“Do you understand the complete question, Sister?”
“Not when you put it that way.”
“You couldn’t be a shit if I ordered you to do something.”
She said nothing for a minute. “It would be different,” she finally pointed out. “It wouldn’t be my sister telling me to clean my room or stand up straight. It would be the Crown Princess telling her right hand to handle something.”
“My future right hand,” I clarified.
“Right-hand-in-training,” she said.
“That could be your official title,” I offered.
“Sure,” she agreed. “You’re right. What if I need reminders?”
“Then you aren’t being an adult.” I let her think about that. “Father says part of being a leader is knowing how to give orders, that not everyone accepts them the same way.”
“I’ve heard him say that.”
“With you, I might have to start the conversation by briefly reminding you it was an official conversation, and not your bossy big sister.”
“You’d do that?”
“Do you think it would help?”
“Until I got used to it, maybe.”
“Maybe the things you’re doing in Charth will mean you get used to it before it’s even an issue.”
“Maybe,” she agreed. “Yes, I want you to be able to count on me.”
“Good. Because while I’m gone, someone needs to see to my duties here.”
“You have duties?”
“Yes, I have duties,” I said, a little annoyed.
“Tell me.”
“I dress pretty.”
She snorted. “Right. Come on, Ahlianna. I really don’t know.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“They’re boring,” I said. “I attend meetings with Father, but I sit there, take notes, and keep my mouth shut. If Father wants me to speak up, he’ll prompt me. Otherwise, we talk about it in private later.”
“Why?”
“I need to know what’s going on, but no one is ready for me to start acting like a future queen.”
“That kind of sucks.”
“He’s been prompting me more often the last year or so.”
“Not just since your birthday?”
“No, longer than that.” I paused. “It began after the Ressalines were here first.”
“After he met Olivia.”
“Yeah. That could be coincidence.”
“Do you believe that?”
“No.”
“So. Crown Princess. Do I have orders?”
“I want you to talk to Father and ask him if you could assume my duties while I’m gone. Tell him I told you to ask.”
“I will.”
“If you start, you need to see it through, Darfelsa. And even if it’s boring, you need to pay attention. Father will not be kind if you can’t answer basic questions afterwards, and if you even once embarrass him during a meeting, he may not invite you to any others.”
“I’ll do my best,” she promised.
“And then I want you to talk to Mother and also tell her I sent you.”
“To attend events with her?”
“Sometimes, but don’t let her make you attend every opening, or she’s going to expect that from me later.” She laughed. “But I meant the other things she does. We both still have a lot to learn from her, too.”
“I suppose.”
“Will you make me proud, Darfelsa?”
“I’ll try to. When you come back, will you tell me about it?”
“No.”
“Hey!”
“I’m not talking about any of that with my fifteen-year-old sister.”
“That’s okay.”
“Good.”
“I can talk to Gretchena instead.”
“Oh, ho,” I said. “A particularly notable name?”
“Maybe,” she replied. “She’s having her first right now.”
“As we speak?”
“Yeah. She was going to do it over the winter but then decided to wait until I left.”
“She’s doing it behind your back.”
“It’s not like that,” she said. “She’s nice.”
“Uh, huh. What aren’t you telling me?”
I wasn’t sure she’d tell me, but then she whispered, “She kissed me.”
“More than once?”
“A whole lot more than once.” At that, she grinned.
“You don’t sound upset.”
“Why should I be upset?”
“Because…” I didn’t want her to become upset if I pointed out something she wasn’t putting together.
“Because she’s someone else’s pleasure slave?” Darfelsa offered. “The rules there are so different.”
“I know.”
“They’re different about things like that, too. You remember Claary.”
“Claary?”
“One of the women who was here with Lady Olivia.”
“Okay,” I said. “I don’t remember her.”
“Well, you’ll recognize her. She’s in their equivalent of a marriage with a woman named Gigi. And sometimes when they’re together, you can tell. But they still spend time with other women, and neither of them seems to think it’s a big deal. And they both have slaves, even pleasure slaves.”
“It seems…”
“Don’t judge,” she said.
“It’s hard not to, though, isn’t it?”
“I suppose.”
“That’s why Queen Lisdee is so insistent,” I said.
“Yeah. Until you’ve done it yourself…”
“Right.” I rolled onto my back. “I can’t believe I’m about to do this.”
She moved closer. I opened my arm, and she moved against me. We hadn’t cuddled like this since she was a whole lot younger, but it was nice. “Have you, you know. Done it?” she asked.
“It?”
“You know what I mean.”
“No, I’m sure I don’t.”
“I should go.”
I turned my head. “What?”
“If you don’t want to talk anymore. I’m keeping you awake.”
“You’re a brat.”
“Have you?”
“No,” I said. I turned back to stare at the ceiling. “It sounds like you and I have had about the same amount of experience, give or take a few kisses.”
“Did you let any of them touch you?”
I thought about teasing her, but decided I’d already done that. “A little. Above the waist. But you know?”
“What?”
“You know what it’s like,” she said. “Not knowing why he’s really there.”
“Yeah,” she said.
“I mean… They’re boys,” she said. “So there’s that part. But I don’t remember the last time someone wanted to be my friend, and I didn’t assume it was because who I am.”
“You’re going to love Charth,” she said. “I know exactly what you mean, but I didn’t get that feeling at all. Not once.”
“Really?”
“Not once. Oh, I know that being the princess opened certain doors. But once I was inside that door, I didn’t feel like anyone was giving me time just because of who I am.” She paused. “At first, I thought maybe I was getting more time from Lady Olivia than someone else might, but then I realized she was giving even more time to some of the others at the embassy.”
“She was?”
“Yeah. She’s guiding them for their challenges. That takes more time than letting me work for her. Anyway. Maybe it’s all a big fraud or something, but I didn’t get that feeling even once, not from anyone.”
“Not even from this Gretchena person?”
“Especially not from her,” Darfelsa said. “Her mother was really nice to me, too.” She paused. “Are you really going to do it?”
“Yes,” I told her.
“I wish I could be there.”
“So you could watch?”
“I’d like to see you in red.”
“I bet you would.”
“Do you blame me?”
“Not particularly. If it were my choice, Darfelsa.”
“Thank you for that.”
“I missed you while you were gone.”
She didn't say anything to that. Instead, after about a minute, she said, “I think this is the longest conversation we’ve ever had.”
“I think you’re right,” I agreed. “Eighteen to fifteen is a lot smaller gap than fifteen to twelve.”
“I suppose. Ahlianna, if you were queen, and I told you I wanted to marry a woman, would you let me?”
I lay there for a minute, thinking about the implications, then said, “Yes.”
“Do you think Father would?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you think he’ll try to force me to marry someone?”
“He and I have talked about my future,” I said. “Just a little. He’s told me we’re going to have to be very careful.”
“Did you tell him you want to wait ten years?”
“No, and don’t you, either.”
“I won’t,” she said.
“Darfelsa, this isn’t something you have to worry about yet.”
“When you come back, will you talk to Mother and Father with me?”
“I think that’s a mistake,” I said. “I think you should wait. Mother thinks you’re eight.”
“She has some catching up to do.”
“She does,” I agreed. “But as long as she thinks you’re eight, she’s not trying on potential suitors for you.”
“Oh.”
“And she’s going to think it’s a phase.”
“Oh.”
“And she might not let you go back.”
“I think maybe we should wait.”
I chuckled. “I could be wrong.”
“I don’t think you’re wrong. I didn’t think of that.”
“Which is why you’re talking to me instead of her,” I said. “I do love having a little sister.”
“You didn’t used to think so.”
“Oh, there have been times, but I’ve loved having a little sister most of the time since you originally came along.”
“Really?”
“Really. I’m sorry I haven’t shown you better.”
“You’re showing me now,” she replied. Then she chuckled. “I wonder how many people would be jealous knowing you’ve got someone in your bed.”
“You brat!” I said with a laugh. “Dozens.”
“Hundreds.” We laughed together. “Ahlianna, how are you going to find a husband?”
“I don’t have a clue. If I were willing to let him rule, that’s easy. I’d just look for someone qualified to be king who I trusted to treat me well.”
“Instead, you have to find someone who will treat you well while letting you rule.”
“It’s not really his choice.”
“Someone the ministers won’t rally behind for a coup.”
I paused then whispered, “Yeah. Maybe I should pick a woman, too.”
“Maybe. There’s a whole country full of them, just to our north.”
“So I’ve heard.”
We chuckled, but then we lay there. I wondered whether I was serious. And then Darfelsa told me something that would give me a lot to think about. “It wouldn’t be that surprising if Father tried to marry me off to some foreign prince. I could become Queen of SomewhereOrOther.”
“I thought that was the last thing you wanted.”
“It is,” she said. “He couldn’t marry you like that, because you’re staying here. But he could marry me like that.”
“Why are you bringing this up?”
“He can marry me off like that because I’m not the future queen here,” she said. “Ahlianna, Gionna isn’t the future Queen of Ressaline.”
“Oh, shit!” I exclaimed.
Neither of us spoke for a long time after that. I stared at the ceiling, thinking of the implications of what my wiser-than-I-realized little sister had just told me. Finally I said, “Roll over and I’ll scratch your back.”
She didn’t argue. Eventually I fell asleep, my hand resting atop Darfelsa’s back.
Chapter Two
I eyed the size of my ‘honor guard’, my lips tightening, but I didn’t say a word. Instead, I checked my mount one more time before Mother checked my appearance, not quite for the last time. But she cupped my cheek. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, Mother,” I said.
“Have you said ‘goodbye’ to your sister?”
“I’ve been watching for her. Is she hiding from me?” Mother gestured, and I followed her gaze. “I’ll be back.” I turned away and walked to my sister, hooking my arm in hers. “Walk with me.”
“Sure,” she said.
I looked around, finding a place near the courtyard wall we wouldn’t be overheard. I tugged her in that direction, and then we turned to each other. “I want to ask you about what you said last night.”
“We each said a lot of things.”
“About Gionna.”
“Oh.” She looked away.
“How long have you been thinking about that?” I asked her.
“A while,” she said.
“For me, or for you?”
I wasn’t sure she would answer, but then she turned back and put on a firm expression. “Maybe it would be different if I were three years older than I am,” she said. “But I’m not. I’m a kid, and that’s how she’s going to see me for years.”
“Darfelsa.”
“I might be a silly girl, but I’m not stupid,” she said. “Ahlianna, if that’s how things go between the two of you, I will support you with every breath in my body. I think it would be fabulous if she were my sister-in-law.”
“Are you just trying to be adult?”
“No. Well, partly, but no. Ahlianna, don’t worry about me.” She grinned. “There’s always Allium.” I laughed, but she put on an expression. “What? I’m not good enough for her?”
“I don’t think you’re serious.”
“I have a total girl crush on her,” she admitted. “And don’t you dare tell her!” She sighed, somewhat dramatically. “I think I have an advantage you don’t have.”
“What’s that?”
“Unless things change, I’m going to be in Charth for a while. Years.”
“And?”
“And I’m going to have fun doing things the Ressaline way.”
“Not for three more years.”
“Still.”
“Still,” I agreed.
“If that’s how things go between you and Gionna, I will be very happy for both of you,” she said. “If there’s a wedding, I expect to be part of it.”
“Absolutely.”
“Even if this conversation is entirely premature,” she added.
“Even if.”
“If it doesn’t go that way between you, then I’m going to do things the Ressaline way for a while.”
“That sounds like fun.”
“And then maybe I’ll see how she feels about the younger sister. But that’s years away, and if you catch her first, there’s always Gretchena and Allium and a whole country of women who might like letting me catch them.”
“You’re not really serious about Allium.”
“I wouldn’t turn her down,” she said. “But we both know to her, I’m just a kid.”
“Mother would kill her. You know that, right? Mother would kill her.”
“Well, that’s years away,” she said.
“Darfelsa, tell me you aren’t going to cause trouble.”
“I’m not going to cause any trouble,” she said. “And I know what you’re saying. But did you hear what I said about Gionna?”
“I heard you.”
“Good. But there’s a price for my being so wonderful about this.”
“A price, hmm?”
“You promise to support me and my choices.”
“Conditionally.”
She stomped her foot. “Not fair. I didn’t offer conditions to you.”
“You’re fifteen, Darfelsa. My conditions are simple. If what you mean by ‘support you’ means what we’re talking about, then you do things the Ressaline way for a while. And then you be honest about the person you’re choosing. If I don’t like her, I don’t know how well I can support you.”
“If you think she’s after my tiara, you better tell me!”
