Page 53 of The Ragpicker King
“Deela tie,zia,” said Kurame. “She has certainly tried to make you feel at home.”
Anjelica sighed. “It was kind of the Queen,” she said, “to think of me, and I do love my homeland. But I do not need to live inside the national flag.”
“Lilibet enjoys a theme,” said Kel. “Possibly more than she enjoys anything else.”
Anjelica shook her head. “It will all need to be redone.”
“Lilibet won’t like it,” said Kel.
“I shall cover the costs myself. Surely she will accept that.”
Probably not,Kel thought. Lilibet would take it as an insult and a rejection of her taste—which, to be fair, it was. But he could already tell there would be little point telling Anjelica that; she would believe him, but she would not bother herself about it. The Queen would get over it, she would say. And they were her rooms, were they not, to do with what she liked?
Kel almost envied her. It must be freedom, he thought, to care little what others thought of you. And then he saw her eyes slide past him and realized that Conor had come into the room.
He had dressed for the occasion. A frock coat that swept to his ankles, lined in bright silk; a figured waistcoat and a shirt of white samite, threaded with gold. Heavy rings on his fingers, each flashing a stone of a different color: poison green, sea blue, blood red. A circlet of finely worked gold glittered with pinprick diamonds.
For the first time, he looked at Anjelica. And Kel felt immediately that he ought not to be in the room; there was something strange about being here for their first meeting. Conor’s gray eyes met the Princess’s dark ones, and Kel could see the shock of her beauty strike him, as it surely struck everyone who looked at her.
But that surprise was fleeting. What came after was a mix of consideration, calculation, and a cool appraisal that matched Anjelica’s own look. It was rare, Kel thought, for Conor to look upon someone so very much like himself. Someone who was also royal, also armored in privilege and beauty. Someone who was neither above nor below him, but exactly equal. Perhaps the situation was the same for her.
“Welcome,Ayakemi.” Conor swept a bow that made his frock coat fly around him like dark wings.
Anjelica inclined her head. “Mizuru.”
It took a moment for Kel to recall what the Kutani word meant. Not “Prince,” as she had called him at the docks, but “betrothed.” He saw Conor mark the choice of word, too, a flash of interest in his eyes.
I should leave them to spar,Kel thought. Indeed, Kurame had already left the room, having slipped away discreetly at some point. Kel made as if to follow him, but Anjelica held out her hand.
“I would prefer the Sword Catcher stays while we talk,” she said, her gaze on Conor.
“Kel is welcome to know anything I know,” said Conor. “Butchaperoning me is not his usual occupation. And I believe you made it clear you wished to speak to me alone?”
“I wish to speak to you honestly,” said Anjelica. She sat down on the nearby daybed, folding her hands in her lap. “And I know what a Sword Catcher does. For years, he will have lived with you, slept beside you, learned with you, come to speak as you speak and dream as you dream. If you are lying to me, he will know it.”
“And you think I would tell you, if he did?” said Kel, his voice carefully neutral.
Conor winked at him.
“I think I could read it in your face,” said Anjelica.
I don’t think you could,Kel thought, but Conor nodded in his direction, as if to say silently:Stay.
So he would stay. Kel leaned back against the wall as Conor turned his attention to Anjelica. “I must offer my apologies, Princess. I do not normally decline a chance to make a first impression. Unfortunately, it was not possible for me to greet you at the Royal Docks today.”
Anjelica did not move. She was perfectly still, in a way Kel had rarely seen before: the line of her body utterly motionless from her straight spine to her graceful neck. She said, “I had assumed you did not come because of Laurent.”
“Rather unfortunate you had to spurn a pirate,” said Conor, “and not, perhaps, someone else with a less dangerous profession. A gardener, perhaps, or a cook.”
“A Princess has little opportunity to meet gardeners and cooks.”
“I would have thought a Princess had little opportunity to meet pirates.”
When Anjelica shook her head, the gold net that held her hair sparked like fire. “I have seen many royal marriages. Some are good and some are bad. But I think the most important thing is that we are honest with each other.”
“I thought we were discussing pirates?” Conor said lightly, andKel shot him a warning look. Anjelica was still a stranger; she might easily take Conor’s light amusement, directed at everything in the world that he found ridiculous, as mockery of herself.
But if she was bothered, she was too well trained to show it. “It is relevant,” she said.
