Hearts in Zenith (Four Husbands and a Lover)

65. A Bird Must Soar

I despise peacocks, always did. They strut around showing off their tails, the very thing that makes them useless. Birds must soar, not saunter through the dirt, no matter if it's a manicured flower-bed or a patch of dust in the slums. It takes a woman to understand this fundamental principle. Kozima watched the peacock in our garden with rapt eyes. While he admired green, purple, gold and other colors cascading next to the trellis, I thought that I should have it reinforced. The latticework sagged under the weight of the climbing roses.

I jingled shards of ice in my glass in a subtle bid for his attention.

"Father, we're losing precious time," Xenoponta said.

His glance swept past our daughter and dropped to the mosaic on the floor of the gazebo. It celebrated my victory at Ratne nineteen years ago. Kozima was the one who had commissioned it for me. Over whatever pain my Ratne's adventure had caused him, he had commissioned it. I never understood how he loved.

Kozima sighed, lifted his eyes off the floor and extended a scroll and a small pouch to me. "The Duke of Idezza sends his greetings and a gift."

"Let's see the gift first." I upturned the contents of the pouch into the palm of my hand. It was a necklace of blue gems. The biggest sapphire I had ever held hung in the middle. Every gem was cut to reveal a star pattern in its depth. Rare. Precious. The Duke of Idezza's need must have been dire indeed.

"Read the letter, sweetheart," I asked Kozima.

My husband cleared his throat. 'Our Beloved Mistress and Grandissima. We offer daily prayers for your wellbeing.'

I imagined the eviscerating gaze of the Duke's High Scribe. Most of them sprung from the same mold, like the bricks in the factories of Maneda. They despised everyone who didn't shrivel in their Halls of Scribes, hoarding runes, spells and cures. Writing in the low alphabet must have been an affront to her already, so I doubted she held back her hissing. 'Your Grace, the woman is a lowborn from Palmyr. She's disgraced. You are lowering what little prestige you have.'

The Duke was a man, so held no prestige of his own to lose. So, why was he writing to me? "How old is the Duke, sweetheart, and why is he writing on behalf of Idezza?"

"Ah..." Kozima blinked at the unexpected endearment. I had accused him of scheming against Parneres last night. We quarreled. It was unfair, but his old betrayal still rankled.

"The Duke is twenty-three or twenty-four. I could find out if you wish."

"Duke Nirav is twenty-four," Xenophonta inserted without a hesitation.

Kozima beamed at her, his gaze no longer vacant. "Shall I continue with the letter?"

I nodded.

We got through the Duke's desire to pave the ground I walked on with the choicest jewels.

'They would pale before your glorious person,' the letter gushed.

I wrapped the necklace around my wrist. It was long enough for three revolutions and a bit. Gold glittered invitingly in the sunlight despite chilling my skin.

"How very nice of him."

'I beg you to take pity on this weak man, for I'm left without a mother, nor do I have a wife yet to intercede on my behalf,' Kozima went on.

I exchanged a glance with Xenophonta. This explained the Duke's extraordinary position. It wouldn't last. He would wed so that Idezza's turmoil might end, with a woman taking the reins of governance.

Kozima must have warmed up to the sentiments the letter was expressing. With my husband's voice, the Duke pleaded with me to come to Idezza's rescue.

Idezza, Idezza... Where was this Idezza? If memory served, it was one of the smallest city-states among the Patchwork Courts, clinging to a wide bend of the great Enzara River. It had a castle, of course. Every Court had a castle.