Beneath the Veil Read online

  With my face washed, my teeth brushed, and my stomach unfilled, I was bored and restless. I was unused to inactivity. With no task to set myself to, I again wandered around the room looking at Daelyn's luxuries. I picked up books and put them down, dusted trinkets that needed no such attention, scuffed at marks upon the polished floor.

  I went again to the door and called a folly to bring some food. The door creaked as I opened it. The prince stirred.

  "Mother's Milk," he said irritably from his nest of blankets and pillows. "What are you doing?"

  "Calling for something to break your fast."

  He grimaced. "I'm not hungry."

  He'd never suffered from the affects of too much drink or herb before. "Some tea?"

  "Fine." He sighed and grumbled under his breath. "Fetch me a new nightrail."

  I'd already laid out a morning outfit for him, and his request surprised me. "My lord?"

  Daelyn sat up against the headboard and cocked a brow at me. "Today I can laze about in bed until after the twelve chime, if I wish. Today, I'm required to attempt procreation."

  I lowered my eyes at his comment. "Ah...."

  "Don't blush. You know I must beget an heir. My councilors are after me to keep trying, keep trying, for the love of my prick, keep trying! The only thing that makes it at all bearable is being able to stay in bed and be waited on hand and foot."

  The only time I'd ever lain abed was when I was ill. I was not, however, a Prince Regent. "I wish you luck?"

  I'd meant to content him, but he scowled. "I'll need more than luck."

  I took the breakfast tray from the folly and put it on Daelyn's lap. He picked at the food without much interest, yelled for some hot cacao and tossed a biscuit on the floor for being too hard. He definitely seemed out of sorts.

  As I scrutinized him, I noticed one eye bore a scrape above the brow, small but nasty looking. On the back of one hand, a set of bruises, again small but fierce.

  "Were you troubled by dreams?"

  He raised a brow at me. "Did I cry out in my sleep?"

  "Nay, my prince." I didn't give the name quite the affectation Lir did, but I could tell my address pleased him. "Your eye and your hand. Did you fight against a nightmare?"

  His face went suddenly, carefully blank. He curved the fingers of his unwounded hand over the bruises and sat up straighter in the bed. "Perhaps."

  "Let me get the salve." I whirled before he could speak and brought forth the small pot of medicinal salve I'd used on my own wounds. "Let me put it on you."

  I grabbed his hand and began to apply the minty smelling ointment. He didn't pull away or make a protest, but a tension in his fingers made me look up. He watched me with no sign of the amusement I was used to.

  He stroked the ointment glistening on his skin. "A woman would never dare touch a man in such a way, though her instincts might be to caretake."

  My heart thudded, and I had to force myself not to blink. "Follies aren't worthy."

  He toyed with his tailored, high-necked collar. His glorious autumn-colored hair fell over his shoulders in loose curls. Though sleep still smudged his face, he looked no less handsome clad in the simple linen nightrail than he had dressed in his finest silks and satins. He looked....younger. Watching him, I recalled something I'd not thought of before. Prince Daelyn was only my senior by three years.

  "Do you really believe that?"

  I regarded the question warily. "It’s common knowledge, my prince."

  "Ah." His smile was but a ghost of its normal radiance. "But that which many men claim to know as truth is not necessarily such. Do you believe women are not worthy?"

  "No. I don't." I waited for his anger or scorn, for him to call the Book Master's guards and have me clapped in irons for heresy. Yet I couldn't have answered otherwise. He'd sense a lie no matter the skill I used in its telling.

  Prince Daelyn looked again to the hand I'd smoothed with salve. "Women are caregivers, Aeris. Nurturers. It’s their nature to be such. It’s the nature of men to expect to be taken care of. It’s a natural balance between the care giving and receiving. And if you believe that, must you not believe there is another natural balance between dominance and submission? That it’s the place of men to dominate, control, to make the choices for those who are unable to? Must you not also accept that women have not the intelligence nor the strength to fend for themselves?"

  "Strength and wit shouldn't determine worth." I bit my tongue as soon as I said it, but the prince just looked at me.

  "Pray tell me then. What should determine it?"

  I'd gone too far. I fell back. "That’s not for one such as me to decide, my prince."

  Daelyn looked at me without smiling for a full, very long, moment. "I'm in a terrible mood this morning. In less than one chime, I'll be humping away with a partner whose name I won't even be told. We won't even undress. She'll probably weep when it's over. Sinder's Folly, I most likely will, too, if I'm not sick to my stomach. And for what? The sake of getting an heir? Maybe I'll just be Prince Regent until I die, and never take the name of King!"

  "Don't you want to have a son?"

  He shrugged. "I can't say as I've ever cared much for children, as I was barely allowed to be one myself."

  I knew how he felt. My childhood had been a web of deceit and constant fear. "Should I help you prepare for your audience?"

  "You may comb my hair." He seemed to offer this as a great privilege. I didn't mind.

  Without announcement, Lir entered Daelyn's chamber. My back stiffened, as it always seemed to do in Lir's presence. He, on the other hand, didn't even acknowledge me.

  "Good morrow, my prince."

  He gave a showy bow more mocking than honoring, but Daelyn laughed. "You're here for the debacle, bless you."

  "Have I ever failed you?" Lir made himself comfortable in an overstuffed chair next to Daelyn's bed. "I thought you might have the lad stay in my place."

  Daelyn gave me a sideways glance. "Of course not."

  I tied off the end of Daelyn's braid and got up. "Is there anything else?"

  "Now you've hurt his feelings." Lir grinned.

  I held myself stiff, not wishing to give in to the urge to retort. I ignored him and focused my attention on Daelyn. "My prince?"

  He clasped my hand briefly. "I couldn't ask for a better fetchencarry than you. My last one was a complete idiot."

  "You're just hard on fetchencarries. You expect too much from them." Lir laughed.

  Daelyn scoffed. "He's fair grateful to me for taking him away from that awful joba melon stand. And despite his rather crude upbringing, he's done rather well."

  "You're insulting him again, Dae. Can you not give a compliment that has only one side?"

  Daelyn rolled his eyes. "You're just jealous."

  I took the tray to the hall. I didn't like being discussed like I was an inanimate object. I didn't like Lir, or his crude jokes. Daelyn was right; I was grateful to no longer be working for my uncle. But I had bigger plans for my life, and they didn't include being anyone's servant for very long.

  "Is there anything else?" I asked instead.

  "You can send away all those people hanging around outside my door. I hate being gawked at."

  That earned a hearty laugh from Lir. "Aeris, don't listen to him. Daelyn wouldn't know how to live without constantly being surrounded by admirers and hangers-on."

  "That's not true!" Daelyn frowned. "I'd adore some time alone!"

  Lir shook his head and rolled his eyes at me. "So he says. But put him alone and you'll see how fast he seeks company. He lives in the public eye, and he ought to admit he loves it."

  "It’s my duty to live in the public eye, Lir."

  "And you love it."

  A knock on the door interrupted their argument. The small, dark-skinned man standing outside looked surprised to see me at first, then pushed past me and into the room.

  "Most gracious morning, to you, my lord. 'Tis my pleasure to bring you three fine