All the Stars and Teeth(9)
I wonder if I look half as terrifying in my crown as he looks in his.
“You shouldn’t be here, Your Highness,” Olin answers. “You should be in the gardens, readying yourself for your performance.” His attention lifts to Casem, who wilts behind me.
“And I will be, once someone tells me what’s going on.” I look around him and at the Valukan adviser who now stands tall behind Father. He said something about Kerost, and as I look over the representatives surrounding him, there’s one color in particular I don’t see: amethyst.
“Where are the Kers?” My chest tightens as Father’s placid expression slips. The more I look around, the more startling their absence is. It’s not just a Kerost representative who’s missing. In all the excitement of the night, I hadn’t noticed an entire island of my people was missing. “Are they all right?”
“They’re fine,” Father says at the same time the Valukan adviser says, “They’re revolting against Visidia.”
Father groans, turning over his shoulder to glare at the Valukan. The young man glares back at him while the surrounding advisers shift uncomfortably.
“I’m trying to help you,” the adviser presses. “The least you can do is hear me out—”
“You’re all dismissed.” The anger in Father’s booming voice causes the adviser to flinch back. He opens his mouth as though to protest, but screws it shut when his hazel eyes find mine. I try not to stare back as Father says, “I’d like a moment alone with my daughter.”
Olin and the other advisers bow before they push the Valukan boy’s shoulder to get him to move. “Fine! But don’t say I didn’t warn you!” He growls a few choice words as the rest of the advisers apologize for his ignorance and steer the Valukan away.
Eventually only Casem remains, though he excuses himself to a spot several feet away, out of immediate hearing range.
“Strange that I haven’t met him before,” I say to Father. “I could have sworn I knew all the advisers.”
Father grunts. “Lord Bargas was apparently too ill to make the journey, and sent his son in his place. Charming boy, that one. Stormed in here and demanded a meeting like he himself was king.”
Though I don’t want to, Father’s blatant annoyance at the Valukan makes me laugh. It eases the tension in his shoulders, and clears the air between us just a little.
“I wasn’t aware Lord Bargas had a son,” I say, though the adviser certainly looked like the son of Valuka’s lead representative—smooth brown skin, a strong square jaw, and an almost annoyingly straight nose. He was built similar to the baron, too. A little stocky, with broad, muscular shoulders and arms that the rest of his body hadn’t quite grown into, and the cocky look of someone with wealth to flaunt. “What did he mean when he said the Kers were revolting?”
“No one’s revolting. The Kers are only trying to make a statement; it’s nothing you need to worry about.”
“Then tell me what they’re protesting,” I argue, igniting a twitch that eats Father’s jawline. “Surely it’s something, if they’re trying to make a statement.”
“By Cato’s blade, you’re as stubborn as your old man.” He steps forward, and it’s impossible to determine whether it’s anger that lights his eyes. I steady myself, prepared to argue, but he drops his hand on my head, just before my crown, and the fire within me fizzles out.
“They want something I can’t give them.” Father’s voice lightens from the powerful baritone he used with the advisers and into the soft and quiet voice he uses at home. “Kerost has always been plagued by vicious storms. It’s why we employ groups of Valukans with a water affinity to live there, to help calm the tides and prevent the storms from destroying the island. But the Kers don’t like being dependent. A few seasons ago, I started to get reports of the Kers bribing the Valukans for training. They wanted the Valukans to show them how to control the water.”
His words snatch the air from my lungs. “They wanted to learn multiple magics? But that’s suicide!”
Father grunts, dropping his hand from my head. “If enough people were to practice multiple magics, our hold on the beast would eventually fall. Souls would be ruined, and the beast would run rampant. That’s why I had to remove the Valukans from Kerost, to end the temptation. Unfortunately, they fell victim to a bad storm early last season. And without the help of the Valukans, it destroyed part of their island.”
It’s as though a thousand leeches suck the blood from my veins, making me cold and nauseous.
“What about the Suntosans?” I press. “Did you at least keep healers there to help them?”
“I had to remove them from the situation, too,” he says, and I’m glad to see that there’s at least a hint of shame reddening his cheeks. “It was only meant to be until they agreed to stop trying to learn multiple magics. But then the storm happened, and the timing was … unfortunate.”
How could he have kept this from me? And not just him, but Mira, too. As closely as she’s connected to all the kingdom’s news, surely she would have known.
I’m to be the ruler of this kingdom, and I intend to be a great one. But how can I be expected to protect Visidia if I don’t even know what’s happening within it?