That worm must have been an internal manifestation of that, another creature of nightmare that she had allowed into her waking mind. Her actions recently had beaten the beast back. When it tried to push into her mind-waking or asleep-she had the power to push it back.
“It’s gone. Gone, gone.”
Not only that. So many things she had fit into their proper places recently. Aaden was back on Acacia, awake and waiting for her. She had received news of this a few nights back. Aliver walked and talked and made himself at home in the palace once again. Word of that was spreading, too. She knew her song danced over his skin, binding him to her, making him the combination of his mind and her will. What a partner he would make in the struggles to come. Elya’s eggs were maturing. Even from a distance she felt them growing. They were hers already and would soon stun the world in her name. And Delivegu should have taken care of the small thing she asked of him by now. Another threat to Aaden removed.
There were many reasons to feel confident. For the time being, it did not even matter that Mena had deviated from her orders and gone to Mein Tahalian. It sounded crazy to Corinn, but she must have her reasons. Corinn would soon ask her directly.
“Are you proud of me?” Corinn asked the reflection in the mirror, and then answered, “Yes, of course. You are strong in ways others are not. You are the queen. You are-”
A noise from the other side of the door caused Corinn to start. She moved quickly away from it. She turned, drew herself up with a breath, straightened her posture, and lifted her chin. There, she thought, seeing herself returned in the image in the mirror, no doubt at all who she was anymore, is the Corinn the world knows. Let it always be so.
The image slipped away as the door opened, a servant timid behind it, peeking in to announce the approach of a skiff carrying the head vintner of Prios. For a moment, Corinn could not remember who the head vintner of Prios was, or what he would wish to talk about. She could not ask anyone but Rhrenna such a question. Instead she called for documents pertinent to the meeting. From them, she refreshed her memory.
An hour later, Paddel entered the transport’s conference room sweating, his gait a rolling waddle. He patted his forehead and scalp with a handkerchief. The action did little to clear away the moisture but much to highlight that his scalp had been tattooed in imitation of hair. It looked like he wore some tight rubber cap on his head. The man seemed entirely oblivious to this effect.
The queen sat at the far end of an oval table, the room’s central feature. Wearing her light chain mail once again, she looked the picture of royal composure. There was a martial edge to the slant of her head and position of her arm, which was crooked to one side in a masculine manner. She modeled the posture after a remembered image of Maeander Mein, but she made it her own now.
“Surely it’s not that hot outside, Paddel.” She had no problem using his name. She remembered him quite well now, and his little project.
“No, no, not at all. It’s just that sea travel doesn’t agree with me. Turns my legs to jelly and my guts to… Oh, but you don’t want to hear my troubles. Your Majesty, I’m overjoyed to see you well. These past few weeks we’ve been so worried about you.”
“As you can see I’m fine,” Corinn said.
“Yes, you are. May I just say that you are a wonder! The talk of the entire empire. News of your triumph in Teh competes with word that Aliver has risen from the dead.”
As always with this man, Corinn decided on brevity. She cut off his babbling before he could work up momentum. “It’s all true. We won’t discuss it now, though. You brought a sample?”
The one virtue Paddel had was that he did not seem to mind being cut off. “I did,” he said, and began a fumbling search of his silken robes. He produced a small blue vial, delicate like something used for perfume. “This, Your Majesty, is the vintage. Pure. A drop of it in a goblet of wine, and the drinker is never the same again.”
Corinn gestured toward a carafe of wine on the table. Paddel, taking the suggestion, uncorked and poured a glass. Then, making sure the queen could see his actions, he let a single drop of the clear liquid land in the wine, lost instantly in its rich maroon. He swirled. “And that’s it.”
“And that’s it.” Corinn studied the liquid as it slipped around the glass. “Paddel, you have heard what I did to the Numrek. It was a demonstration of my power, and I know that word of it is flying about the empire as quick as a thousand wagging tongues. Now, that could be good, or that could be bad. In relation to power, people can choose to bow in adoration to it, or they can choose to fear it. I prefer one reaction instead of the other, understand?”
Paddel nodded, unsure.
When he said nothing, Corinn added, “I would have the people adore me.”
The vintner’s jowly face jumped with relief. “That’s exactly what the masses do. The vintage is already going down throats across the empire. Everyone thinks your acts are wonders, works of beauty, magnificent! They’ll rally behind you more than ever. They’ll go to battle-if that’s called for-with even more confidence. I promise you that.”
“Good,” Corinn said. She held up her hand for the glass. Paddel came around the table and handed it to her. Bringing it close to her nose, she inhaled the scent of it. Paddel looked like he had a word pinched between his lips, something dangerous that he wished to release. I’m not going to drink it, fool, Corinn thought. But I would know the smell of it. It wouldn’t do for me to be poisoned with it, would it?
When she was confident that she knew the scent and could build her sensitivity to it with the help of The Song, she set the glass down. “You know that I want none of this consumed in the palace.”
“Understood. Completely and utterly. Each cask and bottle carries a label marking it. I briefed your secretary on it. Gave her all the information. As I understand it, she will pass the knowledge on to those who will keep the palace free of it. You and family will remain quite untouched by it.”
“What of the question I put to you when we last met? About the effects when one who is addicted is then deprived. I told you to bring me a report on that.”
“Ah… yes, of course.” Paddel’s scalp bloomed with a new coating of sweat. “I hope that you’ll forgive us. We’ve been so very busy with distribution, with getting it out fast behind the news that you’ve abolished the quota. In all the confusion the results have been inconclusive.”
“Which means what?”
“We just don’t know for sure.”
Corinn stared at him. “Are you lying to me?”
“I would never, Your Majesty! I would die before a lie escaped my lips in your presence.” He made the Mainland gesture for death, a quick motion of mimicking plucking out one of his eyes and tossing it over his shoulder. “But it’s all a bit confused. The league tabulated the data, and they were not clear with us on wh-what they found.”
Corinn’s brow grew more and more creased as the vintner talked. “You should have told me this before.”
“A thousand pardons, please, Your Majesty. If we’d had the time, we surely would have seen it all through. But even now I assure you this changes nothing. They assured me the vintage is fine, and I assure you the same!”
Corinn snatched up the vial and stood. “This displeases me, Paddel. I asked you to do something, and you handed the job to another. That is not an action of a loyal servant. I’ve come to doubt you.” Pocketing the vial at her waist, she paused and smiled at the look of utter dismay on Paddel’s face. “But since you are confident, I propose you drink in celebration.” She pointed to the glass on the table. “Do so. Drink.”
O nce on Acacia, Corinn disembarked into the pleasantly cool air. Acacian winter at last, just chilly enough to require long sleeves and a lace scarf. She had just taken the reins and prepared to step up onto her mount, when a buzz of noise followed by a sudden hush drew her attention. She paused, stepped back, opened her fingers, and let the leather reins slip from them.
Aliver walked hand in hand with Aaden. They were talking, both to themselves and saying things to passersby. They waved and touched peoples’ hands or the crowns of the heads of those who were kneeling. They quietly beamed. Corinn had never seen a finer sight. As she rushed toward them through a sudden blur of tears, nothing mattered more in the world. Aliver smiled and Aaden lit up at the sight of her. When the boy pressed himself against her belly, and when she remembered in that moment the first time his baby arms had hugged her, and when Aliver slipped his arm around them both… in those few moments she knew joy more completely than ever
