A Kiss for Queens

CHAPTER THREE

Sophia could only wait as the fleet advanced on Ashton. As her fleet advanced. Even here and now, after everything that had happened, it was hard to remember that all of this was hers. Every life on the ships around her, every lord who sent men, every piece of land from which they came, was her responsibility.

“There’s a lot to take responsibility for,” Sophia whispered to Sienne, the forest cat purring as she brushed against Sophia’s legs, winding around her with her own impatience.

There had been a fleet’s worth of ships anyway as they left Ishjemme, but since then more and more vessels had joined them, coming in down Ishjemme’s coasts or from the small islands along the way, even coming out from the Dowager’s kingdom as those loyal to her came to join in the assault.

There were so many soldiers there with her now. Enough soldiers to maybe win this war. Enough soldiers to wipe Ashton from the map, if she chose it.

It will be all right, Lucas sent across to her, obviously sensing her disquiet.

People will die, Sophia sent back.

But they are here because they choose to be, Lucas replied. He walked up to put a hand on her shoulder. Honor them by not throwing those lives away, but do not lessen what they offer by holding back.

“I think it’s one of those things that’s easier to say than to do,” Sophia said aloud. She reached down to ruffle Sienne’s ears automatically.

“Possibly,” Lucas admitted. He looked ready for war in a way that Sophia did not, a blade by his side and pistols set at his belt. Sophia guessed that she just looked impossibly round with the weight of her unborn child, unarmed and unarmored as she stood there.

But not unready, Lucas sent. He gestured to the rear of the ship. “Our commanders await.”

Mostly, that meant her cousins and her uncle. They held this together as surely as Sophia did, but there were other men there too: clan chiefs and minor lords, hard men who still offered bows as Sophia approached, her brother and her forest cat by her side.

“Are we ready?” she asked, looking over to her uncle and trying to look like the queen that they all needed her to be.

“There are still decisions to make,” Lars Skyddar said. “We know what we are trying to achieve, but now we need to decide on the specifics.”

“What’s to decide?” her cousin Ulf demanded, in his usual bluff tone. “We get the men together, pound the walls with cannon, then charge in.”

“This explains a lot about the way you hunt,” Ulf’s sister Frig said, with a wolf-like smile. “We should encircle the city like a noose, closing in.”

“We need to be ready for a siege,” Hans said, cautious as ever.

It seemed that everyone had their own idea of how it should go, and a part of Sophia wished that she could stand back, leaving all of this to those with wiser heads, more knowledge of war. She knew she couldn’t, though, and that the cousins would argue forever if she let them do it. That meant the only way to do this was to choose.

“When will we reach the city?” she asked, trying to think.

“Probably dusk,” her uncle said.

“It’s too late for a simple assault then,” she said, thinking of the time she’d spent in the city at night. “I know Ashton’s streets. Trust me, if we try to charge through them in the dark, it won’t end well.”

“A siege then,” Hans said, seeming pleased by the prospect, or maybe just that his plan was the one being chosen.

Sophia shook her head. “A siege hurts the wrong people, and doesn’t help the right ones. The city’s old walls only protect the inner part of the city, and you can bet that the Dowager would starve the poorest to feed herself. Meanwhile, every moment we wait, Sebastian is in danger.”

“What then?” her uncle asked. “Do you have a plan, Sophia?”

“We will anchor in front of Ashton when we get there,” she said. “We will send out messages for them to surrender.”

“They won’t do it,” Hans said. “Even if we offer them quarter.”

Sophia shook her head. She knew that much. “The Dowager won’t believe that anyone else would have more mercy than her. But the illusion that we are giving them time to surrender will buy us time for half our men to move around to the landward side of the city. They will take the outskirts quietly. The people there have no love for the Dowager.”

“Do they have any more for an invader?” Lucas asked.

It was a good question, but then, her brother had a knack for asking good questions.

“I hope so,” Sophia said. “I hope they’ll remember who we are, and what things were like before the Dowager.” She looked over to Hans. “You’ll lead the forces there. I need someone who can keep the men disciplined, and not slaughter ordinary people.”

 “I will see to it,” Hans assured her, and Sophia knew that he would.

Sophia turned to Ulf and Frig. “You two will take a small force close to the river gates. If the men I sent made it inside, those will open. Your job will be to help them hold it until the rest of us can attack. The main fleet will land, and we’ll move in under cover of the ships’ cannons.”

It sounded like a good plan. She hoped it was, at least. The alternative was that she’d just condemned men she commanded to death.

It is a good plan, Lucas sent to her.

I just hope it works, Sophia replied.

A third voice joined them then, coming in across the water. It will. I’ll make sure it does.

Sophia turned and saw a smaller cluster of ships approaching. They had a disreputable look to them, seeming like the kind of things mercenaries or bandits might have chosen. It was her sister’s voice that rang out from them, though.

Kate? You’re here?

I’m here, she sent back. And I brought the most disreputable free company there is with me. Lord Cranston says that he will be honored to serve.

That thought cheered Sophia almost as much as the presence of her sister there. It wasn’t just the extra fighting men, although Sophia would take all she could get right then. It was the fact that her sister was back with the fighting company she’d enjoyed being part of so much, and…

Is Will there? Sophia asked.

He is, Kate replied. Sophia could feel the happiness there. I will see you soon, my sister. Save some enemies for me.

I’m sure there will be plenty to go around.

“Kate is coming,” Sophia said to Lucas.

“I know,” her brother said. “I felt her thoughts. I’d thought I’d have to wait until we returned to finally meet her.”

“And find our parents after that,” Sophia said. She knew she shouldn’t be thinking so far ahead yet. She should be concentrating on the battle to come, but it was almost impossible to keep her thoughts there. She was too busy thinking about everything that might flow from it. She would get Sebastian back. She would free the Dowager’s people from the crushing weight of her rule. They would find their parents.

“Kate will be as excited as we are to find our parents,” Sophia said. “More. I’m not sure she even has memories of them to keep her going.”

“Soon, we’ll all have more than that,” Lucas said.

“I hope so,” Sophia replied. She couldn’t help worrying though. “Do you have it?”

Lucas nodded, obviously understanding what she meant. He brought out the flat disc made from interlocking bands of metal, glowing with bright, jumbled lines as he touched it. When Sophia brought her hand to rest on the metal too, the segments of the device spun into place, revealing the outlines of landmasses, from the Dowager’s kingdom to distant shapes that must have been the Far Colonies and the Silk Lands. It was tantalizingly close to telling them what they needed to know; there just wasn’t anything to tell them where their parents might be now. Sophia guessed that would come when Kate joined them. She hoped it would.

“Keep the device safe,” Sophia said. “If we lose it…”

Lucas nodded. “I have protected it this far. I’m more concerned about keeping you and Kate safe.”

Sophia hadn’t thought about that. The three of them were about to head into the middle of a battle. If one of them were to fall in that battle, they might never find their parents. It would be a double blow, losing the promise of their mother and father even as they mourned a brother or sister.

“You have to stay safe too,” Sophia said. “And I’m not just saying that because I want to find our parents.”

“I know,” Lucas said. “And I will do all I can. Official Ko had me trained well.”

“And Kate learned plenty from the witch who tried to claim her,” Sophia said.

“If she’s half as deadly alone as she was when she was throwing me around the castle, she’ll be fine,” Lucas said. “The question is you, Sophia. I know you have Sienne, but will you be safe in the middle of a battle?”

“I won’t be in the middle,” Sophia promised. She put a protective hand over her belly. “But I’ll do whatever I have to do to make sure my child has a father.”

“She will,” Lucas said, and there was something about the certainty of it that made Sophia look at him. She knew that she’d seen glimpses of things in her dreams. She wondered if Lucas had too.

“Did you see something?” Sophia asked.

Lucas shook his head. “I have some talent for it, but I think you got more of it. What I mostly see for tomorrow is blood.”

That was easy enough to see even without the magic that brought dreams to both of them. Sophia looked out again, and now there was a coastline on the horizon, a speck of a city sitting in it.

“Ashton,” Sophia said. She hadn’t seen it in what seemed like forever.

The city spread out like a stain on the landscape, its buildings old, its expanse sprawling beyond its walls. Part of their fleet was already breaking off, Hans moving to land further along the coast and take the outskirts.

The rest of them moved closer, signal flags flying to coordinate their movements. They anchored well out of cannon range, and small boats lowered, complete with messengers and the demand to surrender. Sophia knew that Ulf and Frig would be preparing their own small boats to sneak close to the city before the battle started, ready for the river gates to open to them.

Sophia could see the ships waiting there, ready for war in response to whatever messages had reached them. Not enough to stop a fleet their size, not pinned against the shore like that. As they approached closer, Sophia could hear trumpets sounding, see signal fires being lit.

She looked past it all to the palace and the noble quarter. Sebastian was somewhere in there, held in a cell, waiting for her rescue.

“We could still charge in, the way Cousin Ulf wants,” Lucas said.

Sophia looked at the sky. The sun was already falling, sending red fingers across the horizon. She had to force herself to shake her head. It was one of the hardest things she’d ever done.

“We can’t risk a night attack,” she said. “We need to stick to the plan.”

“Then we attack at dawn,” Lucas said.

Sophia nodded. At dawn, everything would be determined. They would see if she got her family’s kingdom back, along with the man she loved, or if they were all condemned to death.

“We attack at dawn,” she said.

CHAPTER FOUR

Kate stood with the sea breeze running across her face, feeling truly free for the first time that she could remember. Seeing Ashton approaching in the distance brought back memories of the life she’d had there for so long as one of the Unclaimed, but those memories didn’t own her anymore, and the anger that came with them felt more like a dull ache than anything fresh.

She felt Lord Cranston approaching before he reached her. That much of her powers had come back. That was hers, not something that Siobhan or her fountain had given her.

“We’re attacking at dawn, my lord,” she said, turning.

Lord Cranston smiled at that. “A traditional time for it, although there’s no need to call me that now, Kate. We’re the ones sworn to serve you, your highness.”

Your highness. Kate suspected that she would never get used to being called that. Especially not by the man who had been one of the first to give her a place in the world where she fit in.

“And there’s really no need to call me that,” Kate countered.

Lord Cranston pulled off a surprisingly elegant courtier’s bow. “It’s who you are now, but all right, Kate. Shall we pretend that we’re back in the camp, and you’re learning tactics from me?”

“I suspect I still have plenty to learn,” Kate said. She doubted that she’d learned half of what Lord Cranston had to teach in the time she’d been a part of his company.

“Oh, undoubtedly,” Lord Cranston said, “so, a lesson. Tell me, in the history of Ashton, how has it been taken?”

Kate thought. It wasn’t something that their lessons had covered so far.

“I don’t know,” she admitted.

“It has been done by treachery,” Lord Cranston said, counting the options on his fingers. “It has been done by winning the rest of the kingdom, so that there is no point in holding out. It has been done in the distant past through magic.”

“And by force?” Kate asked.

Lord Cranston shook his head. “Although cannon may change that, of course.”

“My sister has a plan,” Kate said.

“And it seems well done,” Lord Cranston said, “but what happens to plans in battles?”

That, at least, Kate knew. “They fall apart.” She shrugged. “Then it’s a good job that we have the finest of the free companies working for us to fill the gaps.”

“And it’s a good job that I have the girl who can summon mists and move faster than a man can follow,” Lord Cranston replied.

Kate must have hesitated just a second or two too long before replying.

“What is it?” Lord Cranston asked.

“I broke away from the witch who gave me that power,” she said. “I… don’t know how much is left. I still have some skill for reading minds, but the speed, the strength, is gone. I guess that kind of magic is too.”

She still knew the theory of it, still had the feeling of it in her, but the paths to it felt burned raw by the loss of connection to Siobhan’s fountain. It seemed that all things had their price, and this was one she was willing to pay.

At least, if it didn’t cost all of them their lives.

Lord Cranston nodded. “I see. Can you still use a sword?”

“I’m… not sure,” Kate admitted. That had been something she’d learned under Siobhan, after all, yet the memories of her training were still there, still fresh. She’d won what she knew through days of “dying” at the hands of spirits, over and over.

“Then I think that we should find out before a battle in earnest, don’t you?” Lord Cranston suggested. He stepped back, giving a formal duelist’s bow, his eyes carefully on Kate, and drew his sword with a hiss of metal.

“With live blades?” Kate said. “What if I don’t have the control? What if—”

“Life is full of what-ifs,” Lord Cranston said. “Battle, even more so. I’ll not test you with a training blade only to find that your skill falls apart when there’s real risk.”

It still seemed like a dangerous way to test her skills. She didn’t want to hurt Lord Cranston by accident.

“Draw your blade, Kate,” he said.

Reluctantly, she did so, the saber fitting neatly into her hand. There were the remnants of runes etched into the blade where Siobhan had worked on it, but those were dull things now, barely there unless the light caught them. Kate took her guard.

Lord Cranston thrust at once, with all the skill and violence of a younger man. Kate barely parried it in time.

“I told you,” she said. “I don’t have the strength or speed I used to have.”

“Then you must try to find a way to make up for it,” Lord Cranston said, and immediately sent another thrust at her head. “War is not fair. War does not care if you are weak. All it cares about is if you win.”

Kate gave ground, cutting an angle to avoid being pressed back against the railings of the ship. She parried and parried again, trying to protect herself from the onslaught.

“Why are you holding back?” Lord Cranston demanded. “You can still see every thought of attack, can’t you? You still know every move that can be made with a blade, don’t you? If I make the Rensburg feint, you know that the response is…”

He made a complex double feint. Automatically, Kate moved to bind his sword halfway through.

“You see, you know this!” Lord Cranston snapped. “Now fight, damn you!”

He attacked with such ferocity that Kate’s only option was to fight back with all her skill. She watched his thoughts as best she could, seeing the flickers of coming movements, the patterns of attack. Her body didn’t have the speed it once had, but it still knew what to do, putting the blade where it was needed, beating and parrying, disengaging and pressuring.

Kate took Lord Cranston’s blade and felt the slightest of weaknesses in the pressure as he presented it. She circled with the bind, applying more pressure, and his sword clattered to the ship’s deck. Her own sword swept up for his throat… and she managed to stop just a hair’s breadth short of his skin.

He smiled at her. “Good, Kate. Excellent. You see, you don’t need some witch’s tricks. You are the one who has learned this, and you are the one who will cut the enemy to pieces.”

He clasped Kate’s hand then, wrist to wrist, and Kate was surprised to hear clapping from below on the ship. She turned, seeing other members of the company there, looking on as if she and Lord Cranston were players there to entertain them. Will was there with them, looking relieved as well as happy. Kate ran down the steps from the command deck to him, kissing him as she got to him.

Of course, that got a different sort of cheer from the others there, and Kate pulled away, red-faced.

“That’s enough, you lazy dogs,” Lord Cranston yelled down. “If you have time to ogle, you have time to work!”

The men around them groaned and got on with their preparations for the battle. Still, the moment had passed, and Kate didn’t want to risk kissing Will again in case any of them were still watching.

“I was so worried about you,” Will said, with a nod up toward where Lord Cranston stood. “When the two of you were fighting, it looked as though he was really trying to kill you.”

“It was what I needed,” Kate said with a shrug. She wasn’t sure that she could explain it to Will. He’d joined Lord Cranston’s company, but there always seemed to be a part of him that wanted to be back, working in his father’s forge. He’d joined up for the chance to see the world, the chance to go somewhere else.

For Kate, it was different. She needed to push into the spaces where things didn’t feel safe, or she wasn’t sure that she felt alive. She didn’t feel like she could deal with the extremes of the world unless she went out and did it. Lord Cranston had understood that, and he’d pushed her into the place where she’d truly been able to test herself.

“Even so,” Will said, “I thought that there would be blood on the deck before it was done.”

“There wasn’t though,” Kate said. She hugged him, simply because she wanted to. She wished that there were enough privacy on the boat for more than that. “That’s the important thing.”

“And you were amazing up there,” Will admitted. “Maybe we shouldn’t bother attacking tomorrow, just send you to fight them all one by one.”