Figurehead

forty-one

My kin don't react well when we inform them they were almost poisoned. Understandably, of course, but a hint of understanding fades in weariness when my Ama launches into a speech about how dangerous it is for me here.

"She would be no safer in Huistef." For once, Ama stops short at Sret's snap.

I shrug. "It's true. I'm second heir.." I glance at Dein.

"And what, queen-to-be?" Sret arches an eyebrow, a sly smirk curling her lips when my cheeks heat. Afa looks amused and concerned and a little annoyed. Ama looks very concerned and very annoyed. Dein just smiles.

"I hope so," he says.

"How did any of this happen?" Ama asks in a mutter, almost to herself as she shakes her head in weariness. The rest of us look at her, waiting. "All of it, I mean." She glances between Dein and I. "But there's a lot to ask, so let's start with you two. How did you befriend the king himself?" she asks me, incredulity in her voice. It's echoed in her expression and in those of my afa and sister.

"Sret, you remember the boy I was talking to one day, after I first started training as a messenger?" Her face is blank. "You were there. You commented on Riu's expression and I told you to be quiet. Remember?"

She frowns. "That wasn't him," she glances at Dein.

"No, that was Lus."

All three stare. "You befriended the current first heir when you were 16?" Afa asks, eyebrows raised.

"Well, I didn't know," I shrug. "He was just a visiting messenger who'd already been training for 3 Dre." I shrug again. "We were friends. He visited Huistef every month. He talked about his kin and about himself, I did the same. We were friends," I repeat.

"You didn't notice that the names of his kin were the same as those of the Escatin children?" Sret asks incredulously.

I give her a blank look, like the one she gave me. "Nobody knew the names of the younger ones, only the first heir. Lac wasn't and still isn't an uncommon name," I point out. I glance at Dein. "I only knew he was talking about the Escatin when Lac died," I murmur, taking his hand.

Ama eyes our joined hands as we lace our fingers together. Definite disapproval there.

"Yeah, but how did you meet him?" Sret asks, looking pointedly at the king.

"Well, someone gave me a message for him. So I came here, to the palace, and I gave it to him. I hadn't expected it to be actually for him, I thought the woman was trying to trick me." I shrug. "Apparently not."

"As simple as that?" Afa asks curiously.

"Pretty much."

"So how long have you been.. Friends?" Ama asks, some reluctance and distaste in the way she pronounces her words.

"I've known Janf for five Dre now," Dein answers, squeezing my hand. "And we've been friends all that time. But in terms of this kind of relationship-" he lifts our joined hands before placing them on the table- "it's been nowhere near as long. It only started around two weeks after I was crowned."

"So.." I can almost hear Sret thinking. Dein was crowned in Eri. It is now Den. "Around three months." We nod. "Isn't it a bit soon to be getting bound?"

Afa frowns. "You went to Deritri for two months, Janf." He glances at Dein. "What were you doing during that time?" Definite implication there.

Dein frowns. "I was doing what I needed to do as king. I was holding High meetings, I was meeting up with the Sirdiu to discuss things going on in the courts of other provinces, I was continuously training and doing what I could to help the people uphold the decrees my afa wrote." He pauses. "I was doing what I could to support those of my people who were at war, continuously trying to negotiate for peace and for the protection of trusted messengers of both empires."