Lady Smoke (Ash Princess Trilogy #2)(62)

“We’re like sisters, don’t you think?” she asks.

Considering that we haven’t spoken for more than five minutes total, the word sisters seems a bit much, but I respect the tactic. She can’t know that the word chafes against my skin, that it reminds me of the last girl who called me her sister.

I force myself not to think about Cress, not here and not now. I can’t miss her, I can’t feel guilty. Wherever she is, she certainly doesn’t miss me.

“What does your title mean, Salla Coltania?” I ask her to change the subject. “I’ve heard others use it but I’m afraid I don’t know its origin.”

Coltania smiles. “It’s simply a term of address, like Lady or Miss,” she explains.

“A bit more than that,” Dragonsbane laughs. “It’s an Orianic honorific. It means she’s an expert in her field.”

“Oh,” I say, surprised. “I didn’t realize, Salla Coltania.”

She shakes her head, cheeks reddening. “It’s a silly formality.”

“What field are you an expert in?” I ask.

“Science,” Chancellor Marzen says. “She’s studied with the best minds around the world to learn all about biology and chemistry and things I can’t begin to pronounce.” His self-deprecating smile is as charming and practiced as everything else about him.

“I admit, I don’t know much about science,” I say, leaning forward.

“It’s all quite boring,” Chancellor Marzen laughs. “She’s driven off all her suitors with talk of chemical compounds. It’s a talent, really.”

“One I employ intentionally,” she replies, but her smile is warmer this time. “As women, we must have our weapons in this world, whether they’re our minds or our fists or our wiles or our tears.”

My own smile feels more real as I lift my wineglass. “I couldn’t agree more,” I say.



* * *



—

“I don’t like him,” I tell S?ren later that afternoon, while we walk together through the palace’s roof garden, which S?ren says is renowned across the world. I can see why—there are more flowers here than I can name, in a prism of colors that I didn’t know could exist in nature. Gold-paved trails wind through a veritable maze of foliage while fingers of sunlight filter down through the branches of trees overhead. A complex web of piping stretches over the garden like a canopy, letting down a constant stream of light mist to negate Sta’Crivero’s dry air. There’s no one else in sight.

“The Chancellor?” S?ren asks, his brow creasing. “He doesn’t seem too terrible. He’s certainly ambitious, but that isn’t a negative trait.”

“Not in and of itself,” I admit, stopping to examine a cluster of white flowers shaped like stars. Pretty as they are, they smell of nothing. I straighten up and take S?ren’s arm again. “Something about him and his sister troubles me. They’re a team—he’s smooth and well-spoken, but she’s the attack dog when his charm isn’t enough. I don’t think one knows how to function without the other.”

“Do you think there’s something untoward between them?”

It takes me a moment to realize what he’s insinuating. I wrinkle my nose. “Gods no, I didn’t mean that. Just that they’re like two halves of one person, each distilled.”

He’s quiet for a moment. “There were rumors surrounding the election he won, though I’m sure they were twisted and convoluted by the time they made their way to me,” he says carefully.

“What sort of rumors?”

S?ren shrugs. “Bribes. Threats. Hired assassins, in some of the more outlandish tales. They say she carved his way to the chancellorship and the path is lined with blood and greed. I doubt the veracity of most of the claims—they have many enemies in Oriana. Many wealthy, old families still bristle at the thought of a young upstart taking their highest seat. Rumors usually have only a grain of truth to them, if that.”

“I think we know that better than most, given what people are saying about us,” I point out with a laugh.

For an instant, S?ren looks like he wants to say something, but he only shakes his head, as if he’s clearing the thought away. “Do you have any favorites yet?” he asks instead. I let out a groan and he quickly rephrases it. “Are there any who aren’t as awful as you expected?”

I consider it. “I know Erik, I trust him more than the others, and he would accept an alliance without marriage, but that alliance would get us nothing. Goraki is too weak after the Kalovaxian invasion. They can’t protect themselves, let alone declare war on another country.”

Though I know it’s the truth, my heart sinks when S?ren doesn’t contradict me.

“Of the suitors with enough power to help me take Astrea back, I prefer the Archduke,” I tell him, though saying the words aloud makes me want to vomit. “Haptania has a large enough army to be of assistance, and he treats me with more respect than any of the others. I think we could be friends, in the long run.”

I can’t bring myself to even think about what it would mean to join our countries, to give him and his country some slice of control over mine.

S?ren considers it for a moment, his brow creased deeply in concentration. This is what he looks like on a battlefield, I think, surveying the terrain and coming up with strategies. When he turns his head to look at me with that same intensity, my stomach flutters. For a moment, it feels like we’re back in Astrea, before we betrayed each other and salted the earth between us.