Radiance (Wraith Kings Book 1)(28)
“How did I do, husband?” Ildiko said when she caught her breath.
Brishen reached for her hand and brought it to his mouth for a kiss, then bowed before her. “You make a magnificent hercegesé, my wife.”
She trailed her fingertips down his arm. “I think we both caught the message the queen delivered when she gutted that scarpatine, Brishen. Your mother hates me. I’m sorry.”
He stepped closer and wrapped an arm around her narrow waist. “If Secmis is smart, and she is, she’ll find a way to overcome her dislike and make an ally of you.” He kissed her forehead “I’ve had enough of playing the puppet on display. I crave good company and good wine. Will you join me?”
Ildiko nodded and slid her hands up his arms to his shoulders. “May we invite your cousin? I didn’t see Anhuset at the feast, and I imagine she’d enjoy your retelling of the event.”
Brishen nodded. “Despite her family’s disapproval, Anhuset isn’t one for these gatherings and avoids them at all costs.”
Ildiko worried at a thread on his sleeve with her fingers. “I envy her.”
“So do I,” he said. “I’ll send a message to have her meet us in my chamber. She’ll match my story of this feat with her retelling of our wedding celebration in Pricid. She’s still threatening to split my gullet over having to eat one of those noxious potatoes.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
A week after their arrival in Haradis, Ildiko sat on one of the benches in the palace gardens. Eyes closed and face turned up to the sun, she soaked in the late morning light that spilled into the palace garden. Sunbeams lanced through the spaces left open by climbing vines on lattice work and transformed the various fish ponds dotting the landscape into pools of reflective glass.
Except for the hooded guardsman a discreet distance away, she was alone in the gardens. The palace denizens slept, including her husband who’d wished her a peaceful sleep and left her to find his bed.
Ildiko thought she’d fall into oblivion the moment she pulled the covers over her shoulders. She was wrong. She’d lain awake in the graying dark, listening to Kirgipa’s restless sleep and Sinhue’s gentle snores. They slept on pallets on the floor at the foot of her bed. As her personal servants, both women spent a lot of time with her, helping her dress in the evening, undress at morning and change for the various gatherings the monarchs, the heir apparent, or the higher status nobles held each night. Besides Brishen and Anhuset, they were Ildiko’s greatest source of information regarding the Kai court and its many customs.
She was grateful to them and for their quick adjustment to her appearance—something that still elicited numerous fixed stares and not-so subtle whispers each time she made an appearance at one of the endless social functions she had attended with Brishen since their arrival in the capital city.
Ildiko was well-versed in the rhythm and madness of court life in general. No function was held simply for chit-chat or the pleasure of another’s company. Whether they were Kai or Gauri, the nobility used such meetings to plan, to strategize, to negotiate, and to curry favor. Sometimes there were threats; other times there were bribes, all executed in the politest terms. Outright hostility was saved for the literal battlefields where the warfare was bloodier but more honest.
She pretended not to see the sympathetic back pats and shoulder squeezes the Kai men gave Brishen or hear the low-voiced offers of a Kai mistress for the evening. Taking offense made no sense to her. In Pricid, she’d been hailed as a beauty—too pretty for the likes of a repulsive, gray-skinned, fanged Kai prince. The Gauri and the Kai were two peoples with far more similarities than differences, but the differences stood out most, and each found the other hard on the eyes, whether they were glowing or not.
While the Kai men were civil and guarded with her, the women fell into three camps. A few were friendly and curious, asking Ildiko questions about her life in Pricid and what she thought of the Kai palace and its court. Most were as reserved as the men, offering polite congratulations on her marriage and nothing more. The last few practically vibrated resentment and jealousy, and Ildiko surmised these women had been Brishen’s lovers at some point.
Her marriage was too young and too odd for her to suffer pangs of jealousy, but she was mildly curious. What about these particular women had attracted Brishen? Had it merely been their beauty or something more elusive and subtle in their character? Her husband was a good-natured man with an easy humor. Ildiko couldn’t explain why she’d been so drawn to him since their first meeting. An intuitive sense of the vibrant soul and great heart that lay behind the ugly exterior? She didn’t know, but she was grateful for his reciprocal regard. Though she was human and as yet unable to appreciate the beauty in Kai physicality, she understood why a Kai woman he’d once favored might be jealous of her for more than just her elevated rank as Brishen’s wife.
Ildiko had chastised herself repeatedly for antagonizing the queen. So far, Secmis had done nothing more than hurl insults at her, but Ildiko trusted Brishen’s warnings regarding his mother, and she remained wary. Facing these Kai women who likely considered each other rivals until her appearance at court made her glad she’d publically faced down the formidable Secmis. They might glare and scowl at her, but they hesitated to engage her in an unfriendly verbal exchange.
A solid week of this kind of combat had left her exhausted, but she couldn’t sleep. Ildiko lay on her back and stared at the ceiling of her bed hangings. Sinhue and Kirgipa didn’t waken when she slid out of bed, pulled on a robe and slippers and sneaked out of her chambers. A Kai guard bowed as she passed him in the corridor. He said nothing but fell into step behind her and followed her as she made her way to the palace gardens.