Chapter 87
In a noble effort to lift Her Majesty's brooding spirit, I straightened up and steered the conversation elsewhere.
"Ah, yes," I said brightly, "Why, precisely, were you in Zalvanica last year? Rumor had it you and the prince were courting. Courting! I had long assumed swordplay was not quite to your taste. Until, of course, you mentioned that you had agreed to marry him. Do you realize you nearly sent me into apoplexy in that alley yesterday?"
At last, she chuckled. Victory, sweet as honey, coursed through me.
"Swordplay," she murmured, her face nestled in the crook of my neck, her voice rippling with quiet amusement. "Florence, you truly must stop using that word."
"Well, it is accurate. You may not be dueling with steel, but something is certainly being unsheathed. So then, tell me, who proposed to whom?"
"He did. It appears he holds a certain fondness for me."
"Does he know that you come equipped with a blade likely far more formidable than his own?"
She chuckled again. "He is aware that I possess a male organ. Or, as you so artfully put it, a sword. Apparently, he is quite taken with me, regardless of such anatomical details."
I squinted. "So then… who was meant to be the one getting, ah, pierced in the rear?"
"If you are curious, I would be delighted to demonstrate such techniques on you."
"Absolutely not!" I barked. "Wait, wait, tell me you had no intention of actually consummating the marriage?"
"Well, such duties do fall under the banner of marital obligation."
I paused.
Ah.
Right.
Marriage obligation. A topic I knew all too intimately.
I cleared my throat and changed course. "Is it truly that simple to end things with him? The engagement has already been formalized."
"Prince Kaldric is a rather rational man. I shall write to him and explain the circumstances. We have been on agreeable terms for years. He will understand."
"So you travelled all the way to Zalvanica just to loiter with him? Do you have that much idle time? Have the affairs of state grown so dull?"
"I was in Zalvanica because Prince Kaldric is preparing to adopt Ivoryspire's anti-slavery statutes. He requested my presence to advise him directly."
"That is marvelous! Truly, I am so proud of you." My woman's influence now extends beyond her duchy, how could I not rejoice? Ivoryspire's justice becomes Zalvanica's future.
"Would you like me to share some of the statutes?"
"I would love nothing more."
"As you are aware, Zar stones are strictly prohibited. As for Vessit stones, their use is permitted only for criminal sentences not severe enough for imprisonment or execution, typically temporary contracts offered to those convicted of petty theft, minor fraud, or comparable misdemeanors. The stone binds them to whichever noblehouse strikes the agreement, and only for the duration of the sentence prescribed."
"Well, that is certainly a revelation regarding Vessit stones. Why have you never disclosed that to me before?"
"You never inquired," she replied. "And at the time, I did not yet realize that your lack of inquiry stemmed from unawareness rather than disinterest."
"You read the entire book, did you?" I asked. The book. That book. The Lorynthall butler's little ledger. The one where every moment of my and Cecilia's miserable captivity had been dutifully recorded. A catalogue of cruelty masked as domestic records. And the very thing that had cleared my name of every false charge.
"I did. And I offer you my sincerest apology. Reading it… it gave me a measure of understanding. Of how you and Cecilia were raised. Of the cruelties you both endured. I had believed quite arrogantly that you were merely coddled and thus ignorant. I failed to see that you were denied knowledge. I never considered that you were doing all you could to keep your beloved friend alive. That must have been unbearable."
A lump rose in my throat. I clung to her tighter.
"It was," I whispered. "A nobody like me, trying to preserve a life. It was hard, Millicent. So terribly hard. When we were younger… I once had a thought. A wicked one. I wondered if it would be kinder for us to just die together. I was never perfect enough for my father, and each of my failings was carved into her skin. I was exhausted."
She looked at me then, and her palm cupped my cheek with such care I nearly broke.
"You did well, Florence," she said. "In the end, you saved her."
My vision blurred, but a fragile smile found my lips. "No. You were the one who saved her."
She reached up, wiping the tears from my cheek with the back of her hand, and returned my smile.
"I was but the instrument," she said gently. "It was your will that wielded me. And thus, by reason, it was you who saved her."
I gave her shoulder a light poke, my smile widening as the air between us grew less suffocating. "How, pray tell, did you manage to get your hands on her contract and that wretched book?"
She rested her chin on my shoulder, and her lips curved into that infuriating smile I have grown rather fond of.
"Do not tell me you traded a diamond mine for it," I said, squinting. "My father is a greedy man, and I do not imagine he surrendered that book out of the goodness of his rotting heart."
"Were you aware that your father has been bedding an entire village of women?"
"What? No. And I shall thank you never to say those words again."
She chuckled. "Apparently, he is desperate for an heir."
How touching.
"So," she continued, "I sent him a particularly attractive soldier. Highly trained. Thoroughly compensated. She seduced him, earned his trust, and when his guard slipped… she took what we needed."
My eyes widened. "I thought you were the Duchess of Justice. You? Stealing?"
"I was not stealing, I was correcting a moral imbalance. You, as we have established, are innocent."
I blinked. "By that logic, you are entirely correct."
She kissed me. "Mhm."
I paused, the lightness faltering. "How is Cecilia?"
"She remains unchanged. Charlotte sends word every fortnight. They are safe, and all is calm."
I cast my gaze down. That is good. I pray she never remembers. Our past was not merely dark. It was crude, something meant to be forgotten.