And Inos had given him a promise.
She attempted a smile. “Politically, I mean, of course. I wonder what is happening politically in Krasnegar now?”
Kade fumbled with a snowy linen napkin. “The Powers alone know! If Doctor Sagorn was correct, then the imps will all run away before the jotnar arrive. They may be back across the causeway already.” She did not look pleased at the prospect, but the fact that she would even admit to having thought about it showed that she was concerned.
If the Imperial troops had gone, then Krasnegar’s own imps and jotnar might well be at one another’s throats by now. The jotnar would likely win hands down, given a fair fight, but the fight would not be fair, for the legionaries were imps, and they would surely tip the scales before leaving. And when the jotnar of Nordland eventually arrived to put Thane Kalkor on her father’s throne—her throne!—then the tip would go the other way.
Or the imp half of the population might have fled with the Imperial forces, a tragic band of refugees. Or the imps might have driven the jotunn half out into the snow. Families sundered, friends become enemies . . . or . . . or . . .
Inos realized that she had stopped eating. Her hands could not keep the food moving, because her teeth had clenched. “I promised Father I would do what I could! I must go back!”
“I am sure that Sultana Rasha will be willing to advise us,” Kade said solemnly, “and possibly even assist us.”
Us? Me!
Inos thought back to the strange scenes of yesterday. “I’m not sure I like the thought of being utterly dependent on the sympathy of a former scarlet woman.”
“Inos!”
“Do you doubt that . . . that . . . he . . .”
“Mistress Zana refers to him as `the Big Man.’ ”
“Thank you. Do you doubt that the Big Man’s description was truthful? ”
“I don’t think, as guests, we should give credence to vulgar gossip!” Aunt Kade assumed a very prim expression that Inos both recognized and detested; she had seen it often during her first few months in Kinvale, but not much lately.
“The fact remains,” Kade said, “that we are her guests.”
“I am Queen of Krasnegar!”
“No, you’re not! You claim to be, which is not the same thing at all. You know no more about politics than I do, and you don’t have an army up your sleeve. Her Majesty rescued us from the imps and has provided this superb hospitality. Certainly we must trust her judgment and good intentions.” Kade took a sip of coffee as if that settled the matter.
Inos resumed her meal with a show of calm that she found unexpectedly tricky.
Furthermore, Kade added, “you did not exactly go out of your way to enlist her sympathy at your last meeting.” Recalling the rowdy scene in the dome, Inos was aghast—shouting, arguing? God of Fools! “No! I was no credit to your training, dear Aunt!”
Kade smiled approvingly at this show of repentance. “Her Majesty realized that you were overwrought. After all, she did take you up to see the looking glass.”
Inos nodded, and nibbled. “I suppose I should be glad she didn’t throw me in the dungeons. Or turn me into a frog?”
“Hardly! I am sure that a brief note of apology will be acceptable, and certainly not out of place. Apart from that, we can but wait until her Majesty is ready to grant us audience.” Kade dabbed at her lips with her serviette and glanced over the table to make sure there was nothing she had missed. She sighed comfortably.
Certainly she had earned a rest after those awful weeks on horseback in subarctic cold. Perhaps it was even understandable that a woman of her age would be content to settle down to enjoy some decadence-but Inos was not. Write a letter of apology like an errant child?
Well, yes. Maybe she had better do that much. Pride would be an expensive luxury at the moment, and she had not been tactful. Then sit and do nothing? Impossible!
“What exactly happened afterward?” Inos frowned. “Everything seems very hazy after I’d seen the looking glass.”
“She put you in a light trance, dear,” Kade said. “And sent us both off to rest. Prince Azak guided us himself, you remember.”
“Not really. She . . . she undid whatever she had done to him?”
Kade nodded, apparently to a purple-flowered bush just outside the gazebo. ”He seemed quite restored. A little shaky, was all.”
What sort of a woman was this Rasha? She had tortured Azak barbarically, right before Inos’s eyes. There lay some mystery that . . . “Great Gods! What’s this?”
Her aunt chuckled, as if she had been waiting for that. “It’s curried pineapple. I asked. Tasty, isn’t it?”
Inos took a sip of an orange-colored draft and blinked tears away. “It ought to have a warning beacon on it. Mmm. Yes, not bad, when it doesn’t jump out at you. What’s pineapple?”
“A fruit, I suppose.”
“Really?”
“I’m sure our stay here will be most educational. Travel is very broadening.”
“Fattening, you mean?” Inos nibbled at something that tasted nutty. True, Sultana Rasha had been much more tolerant of Inos than of the unfortunate Azak. If one believed what had been said, then Rasha did not approve of men—any men at all.
How far could one trust a sorceress?
“You think,” Inos said, “that our royal hostess would support the notion of a queen regnant in Krasnegar?”
Kade nodded noncommittally. “Especially if the male jotnar objected?”
“Perhaps, dear.”
“So . . . if her Majesty will forgive the way I shouted at her . . . then we can ask her to start by driving out the imperor’s cohorts—I imagine a good sorceress could do that? Two thousand men?”
“I should think so. According to the poets, the warlock Quarlin defeated three armies singlehanded. Inisso built the castle in five hours, it’s said.” Kade looked smug at this efficient recall of ancient schooling.
“Well, then! Rasha can drive out the imps, and if Kalkor and his pirates sail in, then she can blow them away again, also?” Kade pursed her lips. ”We can ask, dear, certainly.”
“And then all we need to do is to persuade the townsfolk themselves to accept me! Perhaps they’re now sufficiently scared by their narrow escape to be reasonable?”
Inos considered that program for a few moments. Somehow it lacked a sense of progress; it seemed to leave her back about where she had been two days before. ”And when I explain that I didn’t mean to bring the legionaries . . . ” She paused again. “Of course a suitable husband would still be an important factor, I suppose,” she admitted sadly. A cold wave of regret washed over her as she thought of Andor—not the real Andor, of course, but Andor as he had seemed to be. The husband problem was not going to go away.
Then she realized that her aunt was not cheering, or otherwise displaying patriotic enthusiasm. Inos eyed her crossly. Kade, unfortunately, did not recognize politics as an occupation suitable for ladies of quality.
Inos took a fruit knife and reached across the table to tap her surprised companion on both shoulders. “Princess Kadolan, I hereby dub thee our royal chancellor, chamberlain, seneschal, and . . . well, that will do for today.” In the ensuing silence, Inos heard a boy’s voice say: “And I will be sergeant-at-arms and master-of-horse both . . .” Oh, Rap, Rap!
Kade frowned at such levity. “If I am designated your chief advisor, Queen Inosloan, then my advice is to restrain your ambitions until you have consulted Sultana Rasha.”
“Why, pray?”
“Well, even though Krasnegar isn’t in the Impire, I do believe there’s a rule against using magic on the imperor’s army.” She settled back on her chair, pouting as if annoyed at having revealed even that much intelligence.
Unfortunately, on the rare occasions when Kade made a definite statement about anything, she was invariably correct. Rap had said something along those lines, too. Evil take it!
“The throne is mine by right of birth!” Inos thumped a fist on the table. “And I want it! Not because I think being queen of Krasnegar is any marvelous honor, but because I have a duty! I promised Father! Gods! If comfort is all I want, then I should certainly choose Kinvale—or even Arakkaran. Why should I want to go live in the tundra? You know that, Aunt! I’ve got royal blood. That’s a ticket into almost any noble family in the Impire.”
“Inos! What a disgusting—”
“It’s true, and you know it! I could easily find some witless aristocratic husband and settle down to growing fat and making babies in luxury for the rest of my life—if comfort was all I wanted. But our family has always given Krasnegar fair, honest government. Maybe the imps and jotnar don’t exactly live in peace together, but at least they live and let one another live. They settle their disagreements with knuckles, not blades. Usually.”