“ I’ll come with you,” Thessalina said.
The joyful mood engendered by his morning’s work had completely dissipated, to be replaced by one of almost unbearable sadness. All of Magnes’s hopes and dreams for a simple life were being consumed, destroyed on the pyre of his father’s ambition. Thessalina followed him out of the study and closed the door behind them.
As Magnes turned towards the staircase, Thessalina reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder. “Magnes, wait,” she said. He turned back to face her. “I’m sorry for what happened just now,” she began. “Despite our different beliefs, you are still my brother, and I love you. Father is thinking only of his purse, not of your happiness, or of mine.”
Magnes sighed. “What are we to do, Thess? Is there no escape?”
“ Well, I’m going to go change out of these clothes. I’m sure I must reek of horse. I was out breaking that new Raks’sh’Am stallion Father bought me last week, when Horsemaster Nolus came up to congratulate me on my upcoming marriage to Lord Artos! Imagine my surprise, since it was the first I’d ever heard of it.”
Magnes laughed. “How do the servants always seem to know things even before we do?” he said.
“ Huh!” Thessalina shrugged her shoulders by way of an answer.
“ I think I’ll go up to the top of the wall awhile, to clear my head,” Magnes said. He had a lot to think about.
“ I’ll see you later, at the feast.” Thessalina turned and headed off toward the staircase leading up to the third level where both she and Magnes had their private quarters. Magnes went down and out of the keep, back across the yard, and up the narrow stairs to the battlements atop Amsara Castle’s curtain wall.
Up here, so high above the earth, peace and quiet reigned. Magnes could look out and see the whole of Amsara, or so it seemed. At the base of the hill upon which the castle stood, the small cluster of houses and workshops that made up Amsara village nestled. Below the village, the fields and orchards began, spread out like a green and brown patchwork quilt. He placed his palms down flat against the rough stone of the wall, and took in great breaths of the sweet spring air, and slowly, slowly, the anger and sorrow roiling his heart began to settle down to a dull ache.
“ Happy Sansa, Cousin,” a familiar voice said, breaking into his reverie. “We always seem to end up in the same place when we need to think.”
Magnes smiled. “It does seem that way. Happy Sansa, Jelena.”
Chapter 3
'By the look on your face, Cousin, I know you need a drink,” Jelena said.
Magnes laughed. “Is it that obvious? What are you doing up here?”
“ The same thing as you. We both of us need a place to hide once in a while.”
“ That we do. Life is so difficult sometimes.”
“ Just sometimes?” Jelena’s voice was sly and teasing.
“ Yes, yes, I know. I, of all people, really have no cause to complain.”
The cousins rested their elbows on the parapet and gazed out over the outer wall, watching the horizon in companionable silence. A hawk screamed overhead, held aloft on rust-brown wings. The spring sunshine bathed the backs of their necks and shoulders with gentle warmth.
Jelena, with her keener vision, spotted the approaching party first. “Look there! Coming up the road,” she cried, pointing to the group of moving specks that soon resolved into a sizable party of both mounted and un- mounted people. The group appeared headed straight for the open gates of the castle.
“ Must be the first of our guests,” Magnes said. He strained to make out the device on the fluttering pennants. “Looks like an azure field, a silver ibex
Veii was Amsara’s immediate neighbor to the south, famed for the quality of the horses bred there, second only to the fabled Raks’sh’Am of the southern deserts.
Magnes nibbled thoughtfully on a fingernail. “You know, Duke Sebastianus was widowed recently,” he said. He turned his head and spat out a nail fragment. “He’s been putting it about that he’s in the market for a replacement wife. The last one failed to give him an heir, even after seven years of marriage.”
Jelena sighed. “Poor woman. He probably had her poisoned to get her out of the way.”
Magnes turned to his cousin with a look of feigned shock. “My dear cousin! Such cynicism, and in one so young!”
Jelena rolled her eyes.
“ For your information,” Magnes continued, “Duchess Trina died of a fever, or at least that’s the official story. Anyway, he’ll not have much of a selection. Most of the girls of noble families in this area are either already spoken for, or they’re too young.”
“ Maybe he’s come to ask your father for Thessalina,” Jelena suggested.
“ Ha! Not bloody likely. Veii isn’t nearly rich enough for my father to even consider the idea of an alliance between our families. Besides, he already has a husband picked out for my sister, but I’d lay a sizable wager against Thessalina marrying any man not of her own choosing. She’d sooner throw herself off the battlements. Maybe that’s what I should do. My situation’s not much different…” Magnes’s voice trailed off into silence, his face pensive.
“ What do you mean, Magnes?” Jelena asked. She already had a pretty good idea, though, of what he was referring to. She and Magnes had been confidants since childhood, and Jelena knew of his intense love for the chief game warden’s daughter.
Magnes let out a soft, bitter chuckle. “My father has been very busy matchmaking lately. Seems I am to be betrothed this very night. The lady in question is from an old, very rich family, and this alliance is going to be extremely profitable for both houses. For you see, cousin…” Magnes fixed Jelena with such a look of hopeless sorrow that it pierced her heart and caused tears to start in her eyes, “I and my sister are but pawns to my father, to be used at will, for the maximum benefit of both himself and Amsara.”
Jelena leaned close and placed her small, slender-boned hand over Magnes’ larger one. She felt powerless to help him, for she had even less status and influence with her uncle than Magnes had. “Magnes, I…” she stammered, but he shook his head and smiled at her.
“ It’s all right, Jelena. I know.” He gathered her into his arms and held her close. He smelled of old leather, musty wool, and horse. “I just wish things could be different.”
Jelena wished, with all her heart that things could be different as well, for both herself and her cousin. They were each trapped by the circumstances of their births, the courses of their lives dictated, not by free will, but by the mandates of others more powerful than they were.
After a few moments, Jelena squeezed Magnes hard then slipped out of his embrace. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and straightened her dress. “I’ve got to get back to the kitchen. I’m going to catch hell from Cook for sure.” She turned and headed for the stairwell that led down from the wall.
“ It’s not fair how my father treats you, Jelena,” Magnes said. “You should be living as a noblewoman, not as a servant.”
Jelena turned and shrugged. “I am just a stupid little tink bastard, after all. Isn’t that what everyone has always thought of me?” she replied, matter-of-factly.
“ Stop it, Jelena. Don’t talk about yourself that way,” Magnes retorted angrily.
Magnes cocked his head to one side. “You don’t seem all that excited about this,” he commented.
