Page 4 of The Ragpicker King
Lin felt herself going red. She always did when the Prince of Castellane was mentioned; it was very inconvenient. She began rummaging through her satchel. “Surely not all of them.”
“Oh, yes,” said Antonetta. “The Seven Skeletons of the Prince’s Seven Brides, The Prince with a Heart of Ice and a Crown of Gold, The Prince in Silk and the Lady in Rags,andThe Naughty Prince’s Cruel Laws—”
“Those titles seem very long,” Lin observed.
Antonetta shrugged. “Everyone likes a Prince, especially when he’s unmarried.” She idly examined her nails. “Though he won’t be unmarried very much longer.”
Lin couldn’t help but look up at that. “What do you mean?”
“Conor is entering into an engagement,” said Antonetta, watching Lin’s face closely. “It’s all been arranged. He is to wed Anjelica of Kutani.”
There seemed to be a rushing noise in Lin’s ears. She could not help but think of the last time she had seen the Prince, in his carriage outside the Sault. Of the last words he’d said to her.Then I am cursed to think only of you. You, who think I am a loathsome person. A vain monster who could not resist showing off and who, in doing so, has made you wretched.
She had never had a chance to reconsider those words. Certainly not a chance to tell him she did not think he was a monster. That evening,ithad happened—the massacre. The Shining Gallery slaughter. The Great Betrayal. There were all sorts of names for the attack on Marivent that night—the night Lin had declaredherself the Goddess Returned and the Roverge ships had burned in the harbor. She had woken up the next morning to see black flags flying from the parapets of Marivent, had heard the dirge-bells ringing out across the city, and had thought that it somehow had something to do withher—with her crime, her great lie.
I am the Goddess Returned.
But of course it was not that. Mayesh had come to her house, his face like a skull’s, seeming to have aged another ten years overnight. He had looked at her and said, his voice weary with strain, “A bloodbath at the Palace. And now this.” He had not sounded angry, even. Only very tired.
She had made himkarakand forced him to tell her what had happened—the attack, the death of the little Princess from Sarthe, what this would mean for Castellane—and all the time she had held herself back from asking:Has he been hurt? IS HE HURT? Is the Prince all right?
She had no right to ask. No right to be worried about Kel, either, though she had been. She had put her hands under the table, to hide that they were shaking, until he was done with the story.
“We cannot afford war,” he’d said, and she’d realized he was talking not about Castellane but about them, the Ashkar. “If Castellane is attacked from outside, it will become a passion to purify that which is inside. They will begin to ask themselves:Who are they, these Ashkar, who are among us but not of us? Where do their loyalties lie?”
“They won’t. You’ve done so much,zai.So many gains made, even in the last twenty years—”
He’d looked at her then, his eyes hard. “Do you say that as my granddaughter Lin or as the Goddess Returned?”
She swallowed hard. “I could tell you—”
“Don’t,” he’d said. “I don’t know what you hope to gain from all this, but don’t tell me. It is better if I do not know.”
She had known then that though he and the Maharam might detest each other, they were in agreement on one point: Lin Casterwas not the Goddess Returned, and no good would come of her saying she was.
“Lin,” said Antonetta fretfully, “whatareyou thinking about?” She leaned closer. “Does the news about Conor... bother you?”
“I once treated a man with an awl through his head,” Lin said. “I do not bother easily.”
“Good, because I would like to ask you to do something unpleasant.”
“What sort of unpleasant?”
“I would like you to come to my engagement party—”
“Oh, no,” Lin said, recoiling. “No more parties on the Hill. The last one—”
“I heard you danced very well,” said Antonetta. Lin gave her a hard look, but Antonetta’s eyes were wide and innocent. “I need someone there who is sympathetic, Lin. Please. Someone who is on my side.”
“What about Kellian?” Lin asked. “Won’t he be there?”
It was Antonetta’s turn to look away. “Well, yes, but he will be in attendance on the Prince. Conor likes his friends around him at parties.”
Of course,Lin realized. Conor would be at the engagement party. A small part of her shrank from the idea of seeing him, but a greater part whispered:Go. Go and face him. Soon enough you will face the Exilarch and the Sanhedrin. You must not be thinking of the Prince of Castellane when you do. See him one last time and put him behind you.
“Please,” Antonetta said again. “I will lend you any of my dresses. Whichever one you like. You will look absolutely stunning.”
And it will be easier to put the Prince behind you while armored in a glorious dress,Lin thought. “Oh, well, if you truly need me, Ana,” she said with a reluctant smile, “I will certainly go.”
