To Natalia she looks like an easy kill.
“Natalia?” Genevieve prods her from her reverie. Apparently, the pleading and lamentation is over.
“Will the queen be allowed to speak?” asks Cait.
“It is not necessary to let the children speak,” says Cousin Lucian.
“But I would speak.”
Heads turn as Arsinoe gets to her feet.
“Then of course, Queen Arsinoe,” Natalia says. “We will hear you.”
“None of this was their fault.” Arsinoe gestures to the Milone girl and the dark-haired boy. “It was my idea. I told them to do it. I made them help me.”
Natalia does not believe her for a moment. But she will pretend. It would be perhaps too much to ask of Katharine yet anyway, to poison two children so close to her own age.
“If that is true, then they will not die.” Natalia looks at the two of them, the boy afraid and contrite, and the Milone girl still defiantly scowling. Everything about her screams defiance, except the desperate way she clings to the boy’s hand. “Joseph Sandrin will be banished to the mainland until he comes of age, or we see fit to retrieve him.”
Queen Arsinoe’s mouth falls open, but Juillenne Milone begins to shout, and every Milone in the room presses forward, as if to comfort her.
“She has quite the temper, Cait,” Natalia says. “You look almost frightened!” She raises her chin to Juillenne. “The Milone girl is sentenced to the Black Cottage. She will repay this crime through service as the next Midwife to the crown.”
“No!” Arsinoe and the boy start to cry and throw their arms around Juillenne. One of the younger Milone women slumps into her seat. Another bursts through the barrier of guards, and before Natalia can stop her, attaches herself to her sleeve.
“Please,” she says. “Let me go instead.”
“You should be glad. She could be dead. And there are many priestesses who would be thrilled by such a sentence. It is more honor than she deserves.”
“She is only a child. Have you no mercy? Are the Arrons truly as wicked as that?”
Natalia looks at her council of poisoners. The ill will toward them spreads by the day. So much so that she may have to dismiss some of them and appoint new members of other gifts. A warrior, perhaps. Or even someone giftless. That ought to appease the people.
“Very well,” she says, and sighs. “That will do.”
Katharine runs to greet Natalia the moment she comes through the front door, as she often does when she is not ill from poison training. Natalia stifles a smile and takes her time getting out of her gloves before lifting the cool glass of poison juice from Edmund’s silver tray. Katharine seems about to burst standing there, hands folded and trembling over her black skirt and ankles twisting in an odd little dance.
“Yes, Kat?” Natalia says finally, and Katharine takes her by the hand.
“They tell me something has happened! Something with Queen Arsinoe!”
Genevieve catches Natalia’s eye as she slips past in the foyer. “I will speak to the servants again about gossiping.”
Natalia nods. Katharine’s memories have faded. There is little danger in speaking of Arsinoe, or even Mirabella. They are only names to her now. Rivals. Though they have only discussed it in the broadest terms, Katharine knows that the other queens must be killed, and after five more years of training, and armed with a strong poisoner gift, she will be ready to do it.
“It was not the servants’ fault,” Katharine says quickly. “I was eavesdropping.”
“Eavesdropping,” Genevieve scoffs. “It is more likely that you were just silent for so long they forgot you were there, little mouse. I will speak to them.” She touches Natalia’s arm and leaves. Natalia gave her younger sister a place on the council only recently, but it seems to have centered her. Or at least she does not seem half as frivolous as she did before.
“What did Queen Arsinoe do?” Katharine asks. “They said that she was to be punished. That you were to punish her.”
“She tried to leave the island.”
“But queens are not allowed to leave the island.”
“I do not even think that it was her fault.” Natalia sighs. “Certainly it was not her idea. She was taken in by foolish naturalists. They have never been fit guardians.”
“Not like you.” Katharine looks down. She is so meek. So sweet. They ought to train that meekness out of her, but Natalia cannot bring herself to try. Or perhaps she knows that it would be impossible. Katharine will always be a kind, grateful girl in need of looking after. “So you were merciful, then? If it was not her fault?”
“I was.”
“But you did punish her?”
“I did.” Natalia reaches out and touches the queen’s pale cheek. “I will always take care of everything, Kat. If you are tired, I will be alert. If you are weak, I will become twice as strong. I will guard your crown for you.”
ROLANTH
Queen Mirabella, I have brought you something.” Luca takes down the hood of her light traveling cloak, and the queen sets aside her book and walks quickly into the High Priestess’s open arms. She squeezes the girl tightly and steps back to remove her gloves. Fall has come early to Rolanth, so far in the north, with a chill wind rushing through the evergreens and across the basalt cliffs. In the capital of Indrid Down, from whence she came, they are still enjoying the last of a balmy summer, and the change in climate has made the bones in the High Priestess’s wrists ache. This Rolanth weather will take some getting used to.
“I care only that you have brought yourself,” Mirabella says, and kisses her hands. “But what did you bring me?”
“Iced anise cookies.” Luca holds them up, in a pretty striped box, and Mirabella takes them. She sniffs the edge. “I thought we could have them with our tea. But first, to business. I must tell you what has happened to your sister, Queen Arsinoe.”
Mirabella’s smile fades. They have come a long way from water spirits forced down Luca’s throat. Mirabella is no longer a danger. No longer kept in a basement out of fear. But the queen is stubborn. At least as stubborn as she is strong, and that makes her the most stubborn girl on the island.
“They should have known she would get herself into trouble. They should have guarded her more closely. Do they not know her at all?”
“They know her, and they care for her,” Luca says. “I have seen it.”
Luca takes her arm and walks with her through the open air of Rolanth Temple. As the years passed, she has grown fond of the elemental queen. More than fond. She has grown to love her, and the favoritism shown by the High Priestess cannot be denied. But favoritism by the High Priestess is not the same as favoritism by the temple. So she told Natalia Arron when the woman finally confronted her. She will never forget the look on Natalia’s face when she said she would be leaving Indrid Down to reside in Rolanth with the queen.
“What was the punishment?” Mirabella asks as they walk past the altar and into the dome with the mural of elemental Queen Elo, the fire breather, where they might hide from the wind. “Was it as bad as you feared?”
“It was not. It was a rare show of Arron mercy. Banishment to the mainland for the boy.” She pauses as Mirabella puts a hand to her throat. “And banishment of another kind for the girl. To the Black Cottage, to serve as the next Midwife. However, it seems that the girl’s aunt will take her place, so Queen Arsinoe may keep her companion.”