I sit there, with my smile fixed on my face, while inside, I’m seething. Lovely. Another asshat of a king. This one thinks he’s entitled to sleep with all his lord’s wives in exchange for a few status boosts. How many of these lords are raising royal bastards? As I consider a plan to kill all kings, just on principle, I pretend not to understand what they’re saying, look around a lot, and smile at everyone. I notice a magnificent giant animated clock. The moving figures captivate me as the clock bells chime the hour.
Duke Jellema notices my interest, “Come back at midday tomorrow when it shows the full display.”
I smile at him. “It’s lovely. I would like that.”
Kenric and Jellema discuss various events that occurred while he was away. I pretend to understand very little while keeping a smile and a slightly vacant expression. It seems like the whole town has come out to greet us. Finally, the carriage pulls up to the gate, and the men inside open it while more guards rush forward to push the crowd back. The carriage pulls through and goes up the driveway to the palace. I now understand what the dryad meant about cold iron and sharp-cut stone. Places like this are somewhat inimical to my kind. It dims our magic and dulls our senses. The duke gets out first, followed by Kenric.
Kenric turns to help me, but I hold out my arms and pout prettily. Smiling, Kenric lifts me down from the carriage.
Duke Jellema chuckles. “She really is a tiny thing compared to you. I’ll have someone take her to the solar. She can sit with my wife. We can talk and have some whiskey. They can do whatever it is that ladies do.”
The duke waves at one of the stationed servants and tells him to take me to the solar. The man springs into action, but I pretend to misunderstand. Kenric tells me in Fey that I can’t come with him and to follow the servant to where the duke’s wife is.
Damn the luck. I’ll be stuck doing silly, meaningless things like embroidery. I trudge after the servant as Kenric chuckles.
Duke Jellema shakes his head. “You should tell her that it’s safe here. She can wander around a bit if she likes. I’m told that she can read. I have a library.”
Kenric nods. “She does and writes too. She was instrumental in securing a better trade deal for us. Her king included a lot of language in the agreement that didn’t seem unfriendly until she explained it. Their language is tricky.”
I catch the look Jellema gives me, but pretend not to notice.
I follow the servant out of earshot, and we walk through most of the palace to a glassed-in room filled with stunning plants. I start examining them, many of which I haven’t seen before. I wander around, inspecting the plants until I see a lady on a sofa in front of a large square frame doing embroidery. I have to stop myself from rolling my eyes. I hate embroidery, but it’s one of the approved lady-like activities in this place.
She looks up and says, “Ah, you must be Víl?. Come and sit. Have some tea. I suspect that the long voyage must have been quite tiring.”
I struggle with words. “I’m sorry. How do I call you?”
She laughs. “When it’s like this and there’s no one around, Ina will do. When anyone else is here, it’s Your Grace, just like my husband, and I think you meant to ask me what I call you. Kenric wrote and said that you were trying to learn the language.”
“The duke told me just to call everyone ‘my lord,’ but that didn’t seem right in your case.”
Ina laughs again. “No, it’s not, and the women are a lot more sensitive about their titles.”
“I do not understand your system of titles. Can you explain them?”
Ina nods. “It’s really quite straightforward. We have the King, and he’s above everyone. He’s called Your Highness or Your Royal Highness. The King’s wife is called Queen or Her Royal Highness. Under the King are Dukes. Duke’s wives are called duchesses. Both the Duke and the Duchess are called Your Grace. The next rank is the Earls. They are typically referred to as Lord, and their wives are called Lady. Then the Viscounts, and they’re still Lord and Lady. This is what Kenric is. Below the Viscounts are the Barons, and their wives are Baronesses. Occasionally, you’ll run into a Baronet, a commoner who’s been rewarded by being made noble for his lifetime. Baronets can’t pass their titles on.”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
I nod and repeat this back to her. “This is so much simpler than the book made it sound.”
Ina laughs some more. “It gets tricky when you try to figure out what all of someone’s titles are because they’re inherited, but when it comes to ranks, it’s fairly straightforward.”
I look confused, so Ina explains. “Most titles have some land holding with them. The rank might be Earl, but the actual title will be Earl of Coventry. That’s my cousin. Where things become complex is that some families have intermarried for so long that an individual may hold more than one title or even multiple titles of the same kind. My other cousin is Earl of Prentis and Earl of Caiborg. He usually uses the title Earl of Prentis, as it’s a more affluent and more prestigious holding, but he’s still the Earl of Caiborg and entitled to use that title as well. For really formal occasions, both might be used, so you’ll hear him announced as Lord Iwan Nalis, Earl of Prentis and Caiborg. If you run into him at court, be sure to tell him I suggested that the three of you become friends. If someone has more than one title, they generally use the most prestigious one, unless it’s some formal occasion, and then you’ll get to hear the heralds roll through the litany of them.
Ina looks at me curiously. “Surely you have a title."
I nod. "Our titles don’t work like this. Our titles are more… poetic. They’re all a…" I pause, searching for the right words. "It’s not a joke but…"
Ina nods, thinking, “Play on words? Pun? Riddle?”
I nod, “Yes, a play on words. The more poetic they are, the higher our rank."
Ina looks intrigued. “What is your title?”
"Splendor of the Autumn Sunset.”
Ina looks delighted. “That’s lovely. Just how highly ranked are you there?”
"Second only to the king."
Ina raises an eyebrow. “Kenric’s marrying well above his station, then. You may find life here a bit difficult."
I shrug. “Life in our court was often difficult. What can you tell me about this king? It seems we are going to meet him.”
A quickly hidden look of distaste crosses Ina’s face. "Our king, Oskar, can be a bit difficult at the best of times. At the worst of times, he’s quite dangerous. He’s very conscious of his status, so I’ll need to teach you how to address him and some of the court manners so that you don’t offend him. His sons, the princes, are lovely though. Make friends with them if the opportunity comes. You should also try to make friends with the other dukes. I’ll tell you how to spot them. If you’ve managed to thaw my husband out enough to get him to advise you on the carriage ride here, then you’ll have no problems with the rest of them.
Sighing, I nod. “He is a king. They are all dangerous. The only things to know are how dangerous they are to you in the moment and how dangerous they will be later on.”
Smiling, Ina nods. “You have the right of it. If he ever appears angry, avoid him if possible. He’s been known to send people to the dungeons for the slightest of infractions when he’s having a fit of temper. Tell me, how did you deal with your king?”
I heave a sigh and stare into my teacup for a moment. “I could have done better with him. Mostly, he feared me. I am quite popular among our court and beloved by our people, while he is, at best, strongly disliked by nearly everyone.”
Ina laughs, “That explains it. He married you off to a middling lord of a middling kingdom out of revenge.”
I shake my head. “I chose Kenric. Had we stayed there, he’d have been a prince among us.”
Ina frowns and gestures for me to explain. “Rank, among us, is earned. We do not subscribe to the notion that birth somehow confers the ability to lead. Kenric would have done well among us and risen.”
Ina nods. “We must seem very odd to you, then.” I nod. “If I understand your marriage contracts and the like correctly, it does seem quite odd. It seems almost as if you are breeding yourselves like prize horses or racing hounds.”
Ina laughs heartily at this, almost spilling her tea. “You are not far off the mark on that. Only for us, it’s about accumulating wealth and power, not faster legs.”
I frown, “No one marries for love?”
“It’s rare,” Ina shrugs, “Mostly, it’s by contract, and some of those contracts are made even before the children are born. I take it that yours is not.”
I shake my head. “Every fiber of my being is content and happy when Kenric is near and slightly distressed when he is not.”
Ina and I sit chatting for a while before Kenric comes to find me.
Ina looks up, “Lord Kenric, you look quite well. Marriage seems to agree with you.”
Kenric grins widely, “I find it to be a most agreeable state, Your Grace.”
Ina laughs, “So your darling wife has told me. Look after her well when you present her at court. I’ve had your things delivered to your rooms. Go and change, and we shall have dinner.”
She waves a hand at another of the servants and bids him take us to our rooms.
It's all I can do to stop myself from a wail of dismay. Kenric and I aren’t even in the same part of the duke’s palace. According to their laws, we’re not married, so we’re not allowed to sleep in the same room. Even adjoining rooms aren’t permitted. It’s only for a few nights until we reach the capital for the official wedding. After that, we’ll be appropriately married, according to their customs. All these strange rules make me anxious. I dislike sleeping alone because the nightmares return. I can't imagine what this Duke will think of me if I wake up screaming. I don't even know what to wear for dinner. Kenric leaves me, and I stand there, staring at the trunks filled with things Kenric had me prepare when it was still safe to use magic.
While I’m trying to decide what to do, there’s a knock at my door. Thank the gods, Kenric’s come back. I fling the door open, and it’s not Kenric.
Instead, it’s an older woman dressed as a servant with a flock of younger women behind her. “Her Grace sent us to help you unpack. Since you haven’t gotten any servants of your own yet, Her Grace has asked us to assist you.”
Since they don’t have magic, they use more hands. That makes sense.
- If you could yell one thing at the queen right now, what would it be?