A Kiss of Fire (A Kiss of Magic #2)(103)

“I will gladly stay out of your way. After we are through eating I will begin to introduce you to every last member of the household staff. Including Heranna, the head housekeeper.”

Invigorated by this new challenge, Ariana threw herself into her goal of learning the temple from the bottom up. Everyone was directed to bring all questions and needs to Ariana from that moment on. She met all of the staff and began to give them commands.

The only hiccup was when she came around a corner and happened upon two maids gossiping in the hallway.

“I don’t know who she thinks she is. Lording it over the place as if she were raji. She’s nothing but a concubine. And she’ll never be anything more if she don’t give the raja the son he needs.

“They’re married,” the younger maid pointed out. “Under Saren law.”

“Saren law.” The older maid scoffed. “We’ve no use for Saren law here. This here’s Kilt and we go by Kiltian law here. She’s naught but a concubine warming the master’s bed. She can be put aside like that,” –she snapped her fingers—“if she doesn’t watch out. She should focus on pleasing the raja and leave us alone. I tell you, the day I listen to a foreigner tell me what to do is—“

“Is the day you get to keep your job,” Ariana broke into the conversation coldly.

Both maids startled to see her there and the older one paled. She began to fidget nervously. “My lady,” she greeted, giving her a hasty, half-hearted bow.

“I may not be raji yet, but I will be, I promise you that. And regardless of that, I am much beloved by the raja. Imagine how displeased he would be by a maid who disrespected the woman he loves.”

“I wasn’t saying nothing bad about you, my lady,” the younger maid spoke up hastily. “It was all her!”

“Go on about your duties. See that you spend less time gossiping and more time cleaning,” Ariana said to the younger maid who dipped a bow and hurried away, leaving Ariana to the other maid. “What is your name?”

“Lossa,” the maid replied.

“Lossa, I realize how difficult this must be for everyone. There have been many changes in so short a period of time…and with the raja off to war with his brother; it is an uncertain time for us all. But I need your help,” she said, clearly surprising the woman who had obviously expected to be dressed down for her remarks. “I need to get this house in order so that your master comes back to a calm and focused home. A place where he can relax and deal with the troubling things he may have seen or been forced to do. This battle pits brother against brother, and I don’t just mean the raja and the raj. This is civil war. Kiltian against Kiltian. It is a sad and unfortunate thing.”

“My husband has gone with the raja. I…I am worried about him.”

“As I am for my husband. But we cannot sit and fret about it. We must keep busy. Can we do that?”

“Yes my lady,” Lossa said, giving her a more meaningful bow this time before hurrying off.

Ariana did not expect to win everyone over overnight. She knew it would take a lot of dedicated work before the servants would see her as anything other than a foreigner…or a concubine. The very thought of the word made her shudder. Sin had insisted it meant nothing to her. She was his wife in his eyes. The one and only. Ever. To him she was raji, even if the laws of the Kiltian culture did not see it so.

He had told her he would change the law for her. He was raja. He would command the law be put aside and make her raji. But she had negated that thinking. She was a foreigner. It was hard enough for them to accept her without having her defile sacred traditions. No. She would earn the title of raji the way all of her predecessors had. By giving him a son. If not with this child, then with the next. If she were so fortunate as to have a next. Right then all she wanted was her husband home safe and sound. Then they would worry about the rest.

Ariana was tired beyond words by the time she got in her bath that night. She dozed while Mariah washed her hair for her, the sensation of fingers against scalp so soothing. She rinsed her hair clean, put on her nightgown and slid into bed. It was hard to sleep without Sin, knowing where he was…knowing that come the morning their fate would be decided. He would meet his brother in the field and it would all be over.

But it would not be so simple. There would be blood on the ground and majic in the air. Power would meet power; guns would meet guns. There would be cannons and archers and all of the distance fighting first, but then would come guns and swords and majic. Anything could happen. A stray bullet…she thought of the bullet that had nearly ended Sin’s life. If the powder had not been packed so imprecisely, he would be dead already. The odds were the next bullet to hit him would come at full velocity. There would be no lucky escapes then.

The bend of her thoughts made her nauseous. She got out of bed and began to pace. So it came to be that she was awake when a thunderous knock came on the door. Ariana hastened to open the door and found a man she did not recognize standing on the threshold.

“Harea has gone into labor!”

Vich’s pregnant concubine. She had forgotten she was with child.

“Where is the midwife?”

“They’ve gone to fetch her, but she is outside of Temple City. It will take some time and the babe is coming fast!”

Ariana grabbed for her robe and hurried out into the hall as she said, “Go wake my lady maid, Mariah. She is in the servant rooms adjoining this one. Tell her to come to me in Harea’s room.”