Page 54 of The Ragpicker King
“I trust that it is,” Conor said. “So. Honesty among royalty. What will you think of next?”
“Only the truth,” she said. “I am one of ten daughters of the Kutani King. Not the oldest, and not the most important. But I was considered the most beautiful.”
“I, too, am my parents’ most attractive child,” Conor said.
Anjelica ignored this. “When you are a Princess who is not the oldest or the most dowried, you learn to be practical about each of your advantages and disadvantages. But there was a man who frequented the Court. Someone I saw often at parties and social occasions. Laurent Aden, the privateer. He courted me passionately.”
Conor exchanged a quick look with Kel, who shrugged. For someone who spoke of passion, Anjelica’s voice was cold and flat as a sheet of ice.
“I thought he truly loved me,” she said. “Even when my parents found out and forbade me to see him, I held fast to the belief that he was true to me.”
“Let me guess,” said Conor. “He was only interested in enriching himself with your dowry? Men who make a living thieving often cannot put down the instinct, even in personal matters.”
“It was worse than that,” said Anjelica. “One of his sailors betrayed his plan to the Palace. Aden hoped that I would let him into the Palace; he would use that access to rob the royal coffers before escaping on theBlack Rose.When this was discovered, he fled Spice Town, but before he did he dared to come to me and beg me to run away with him. I refused. I spat in his face. He said I belong to him, and that he would keep coming for me. He has not left me alone since.”
“I quite understand,” said Conor. “I, too, have had pirates obsessed with me.”
A smile quirked the corner of Anjelica’s mouth, but it vanished quickly. In a grave tone, she said, “You amuse yourself greatly,mizuru.”
“I hope to amuse others as well,” Conor said, not ungently, “though I am aware it may not happen.” He sat down on the daybed, not close enough to Anjelica to crowd her, but not as far away as he could get, either. “You feel you need to warn me,” he said. “You were afraid Aden would be at the docks today, and are afraid he may yet come for you.”
“I thought you should know. He may not leave me alone.”
Conor said, without a hint of humor, “We were made aware of the danger some time ago. There were fleets out looking for him today, but he was neither captured nor even spotted.”
An odd look passed across her face. She said, “He is clever. I expect this is not the end of him.”
“I told her this Palace is a fortress,” Kel said. “She will be safe here.”
“Surely you could not be afraid to tell me this,” said Conor. “You cannot imagine I knew nothing of it. I was told that your reputation had been marred. That this was why your parents were willing to countenance your marriage to me at all.”
Ah,Kel thought. So that’s the reason—the thing Castellane had to offer to Anjelica that no one else did. A Princess’s reputation was as important as her dowry; her botched alliance with the privateer would have rendered her unsuitable for marriage in the eyes of many royals.
It also explained why Conor had been reluctant to tell Kel the details of the alliance. It would have been Anjelica’s secret he was spilling, not his own.
Anjelica flushed. Conor said, rather gently, “Do not be ashamed. I do not come to you unmarred by any scandal myself. Surely you have heard I murder all my fiancées?”
“Oh, yes,” said Anjelica, “and that you drink, and gamble, and whore as well—though I have also heard that you have changed in these past months. But I suppose that is only ordinary behavior for a Prince.”
“You shall have whatever you require, in the way of protection,” said Conor, “though surely you would have expected that. I cannot help but feel there is something else troubling you. Something that is, perhaps, less easy to ask for than physical protection.”
Anjelica raised her great dark eyes to his face. “Laurent considered himself a great romantic,” she said. “He did everything to sweep me off my feet. He thought nothing of filling the harbor with flowers—paid for from the spoils of his piracy, no doubt. He lavished me with jewels and poetry. And all that time he was lying to me.”
Kel thought:It may not have been a lie that he loved you. In fact, I would very much guess that it was the truth.
“When I think now of flowers and declarations of love, I think of lies. I know that what we are entering into together, you and I, is a business alliance. I know that we will also be encouraged to pretend otherwise. To make a great show of adoring each other, for the pleasure of the people and the Palace. I suppose what I am saying,” Anjelica finished, “is that I am not interested in pretending to emotion we do not feel.”
“I am beginning to see why most people do not find stark honesty an aphrodisiac,” Conor said dryly. “Are you saying that in public, we must ignore each other, or perhaps stare at each other as if revolted? Because indeed, this may well present a public relations issue.”
“We can pretend to the public,” Anjelica said. “Just not to each other. You need not make any false pronouncements to me, or any great show of false passion.” She looked straight at him. “If all this sounds horrible to you, you can send me back to Kutani.”
Her head was held high, but Kel could tell from her voice that she was more nervous about Conor’s reply to this than she waspretending. It was perhaps the first real crack in her armor he had observed.
“Not horrible at all,” said Conor. “There is a cold practicality about it all that I find rather charming. Speaking of which, there is the issue of fidelity. Do you expect it?”
For the first time, Anjelica looked slightly discomfited. “I will do my duty by you,” she said quietly, “in the matter of heirs. I will take no other man to my bed, for I understand that the lineage of the Aurelians must be protected. You may do as you like before we are married, as long as you behave with the utmost discretion. I will not be seen as a fool unaware of her betrothed’s amorous activities.”
Conor said calmly, “Discretion shall be my watchword. The last thing I should want to do is to cause you discomfort when you have been so honest with me.”
