Page 38 of A Game of Veils

For us or for the princess of Accasy and her fellow hopeful brides.

Despite the workout, I don’t sleep much, shifting restlessly beneath my sheets. A couple of hours before the leisurely court breakfast time, I crawl out of bed and head to the library to settle my mind.

As I stalk through the halls to that vast room stuffed with books, I chart the aisles in my head. Over the past sixteen years, I’ve scoured every volume on military and political tactics, along with a plethora of historical accounts that only provided the occasional tidbit of strategic philosophy.

What’s left that might offer some new information? If there was any scrap that could topple Tarquin, Marclinus, or their entire damned empire, I’d have found it by now.

A little more insight into the culture of Accasy could be helpful, but the imperial library is sparse on materials relating to any of its conquered countries beyond the tales of the initial conquering. Would it be worth slipping into the theoretically locked records room and giving the accounts of imports and disciplinary actions another perusal?

From what I recall, those are sparse too. Accasy sends the empire some wood and wine, and occasionally soldiers to wage war on the border with the half of the continent the empire would like to regain. No significant uprisings have occurred since the first few decades after the invasion centuries ago.

They’ve turned complacent. The empire’s wild northern lapdog.

I haven’t quite decided on my best course of action when I push past the heavy door and find myself faced with the opportunity to get a much more direct accounting.

Princess Aurelia is standing by one of the nearer sets of shelves, contemplating its contents with the serene assurance that seems to be her natural state—or else her most practiced façade. When she catches sight of me, she… smiles.

With Raul’s insinuations wriggling around in my brain, it’s hard for me not to notice how that smile brightens her tanned face and adds a sparkle to her deep blue eyes. How her burnished brown hair gleams in the early morning sunlight streaking through the tall windows at the other end of the room.

How her delicate lavender gown flows over her limbs while clinging to curves an interested man might call tempting.

No, I don’t think Raul is only looking to indulge his sense of vengeance with his new proposal.

As I walk over to the princess of Accasy, I study her openly. Let her feel the weight of my scrutiny.

It isn’t as if I’ve made any secret of what I think of her presence.

If my gaze unsettles her, she doesn’t show it. When I halt a few paces away, she dips her head to me in a gesture of respect. “Prince Bastien. I hope you’re well.”

I have to choke back a guffaw. “Do you?”

Aurelia considers me for a moment. “We got off on the wrong foot, didn’t we? I’d rather it didn’t stay that way.”

I prop myself against the table I’ve stopped beside. “What does it matter to you?” She’s barely reacted to the court’s ladies being slaughtered right in front of her, so it’s hard to imagine she’s all that concerned about my feelings. Other than how provoking friendlier ones might be useful to her.

Her smile returns, soft around the edges. “I know you care a lot about your people. It must be hard having been separated from your family and your country for so long.”

How would she know what I care about or how much? An easy stab in the dark, an attempt to show sympathy.

“I’m managing as I am,” I reply.

“Then I hope you’ll understand that I am too. Simply… managing. There’s nothing that matters to me more than the people I left behind. If it was up to me, if I could choose freely?—”

Her voice catches—just for an instant, but it’s enough of a lapse that I mark it. And the fact that she never quite finishes that thought.

“I have a duty to my kingdom and the people in it,” she goes on. “What I want isn’t relevant beyond that I want to serve them as well as I can. I’m lucky that I had so long before my duty took me from my home, and I won’t insult you by saying our situations are the same. But I take no joy in any of the bloodshed that began when I arrived.”

She sounds genuine enough that a tendril of sympathy unfurls inside me before I stamp it out.

Easy words to say. And whether they’re true or not makes no difference.

I already knew she hadn’t come here for love but to serve her family’s purposes. Whatever she gains for her kingdom will be stolen from mine and my foster brothers’, and I don’t see a trace of guilt in her over that consequence.

She might not be rejoicing in the brutality of the trials, but she hasn’t shrunk from it either.

Annoyance at my spurt of compassion pushes me forward so I move incrementally into her personal space. I draw my spine up straight to make full use of the few inches I have on her in height. I can’t tower over her like Raul might, but let’s see how she reacts to a different sort of imposition.

“None of that means anything to me, Princess.”

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