Raven shook her head. “It’s dusk, Ren, we’re dead tired, in a strange land, and they’ve had one go at a royal princess today already. Let Bounder search for the cannons. Or do you really want Odelia to be Eldest?”
The last made Ren laugh, but she conceded the point. “Okay. Okay. Halley, though, is two months older than Odelia.”
“No one has seen Halley for four months,” Raven said quietly.
Ren sighed, closing her eyes against the pain that truth triggered. “There is that.”
Jerin and the boys moved to his bedroom to ride out the royal storming of the house. Heria brought him progress reports, as well as complaints of hunger growing among their younger sisters.
The Princess Ren was pleased at finding her sister alive and well. When Princess Odelia had gone missing, she had feared the worst. Seeing that the younger princess was not fit to ride, it was decided that the royal party would spend the night. Knowing their mothers would have a fit if Princess Ren was housed in the barn, Corelle offered up both the youngest and the older sisters’ bedrooms. They were graciously accepted.
Nothing had been said, Heria complained, about dinner, and all the baby sisters were starting to whine and cry. Knowing full well that his sisters couldn’t organize dinner to save their lives, Jerin came down from his bedroom to take control of the kitchen.
Heria had only one pot on the stove, just breaking into a boil. It contained peeled and sliced potatoes.
The youngest were divided between raiding the pantry and peering in at the goose, trying to decide if it was done.
“Is that enough potatoes?” Heria asked, chasing girls out of the pantry.
Jerin dodged the little girls to consider what they had on hand for dinner. “How many are in Princess Rennsellaer’s party?”
“Fifteen. Ten privates, two lieutenants, a captain, and the two princesses,” Heria reported. “All of the guard are fathered out of the military cribs-Order of the Sword tattoos range from second generation to sixth. One of the privates is sister to the younger lieutenant; otherwise, there are no other sibling pairs. All but Princess Odelia are currently armed with a pistol, a brace of knives, and a saber. They also have standard-issue rifles and bayonets, but those are geared with their personal items upstairs.”
“They each have a hundred rounds of rifle ammunition, and only fifty rounds of pistol ammo.” Blush’s tone indicated she thought it was a paltry supply. “They have no food supplies nor grain. Each woman has a personal purse, totaling sixty-seven crowns, eighty-six gils, and fifteen quince between them, but they’re not carrying a cashbox.”
“Blush!” Jerin hissed in surprise. “You didn’t search their gear?”
Blush looked at him with surprise and hurt. “They won’t be able to tell.”
Leia, who was younger than Blush by an hour, and twin-close as a result, added in, “Princess Rennsellaer has a royal seal in her traveling desk, and Captain Tern has hers secured against spies.”
It was difficult to tell which desk created the most interest. Immediately plans were laid for a series of reconnaissance missions to see said desks by the rest of the youngest siblings, Doric included.
“No!” Jerin stated firmly. “You will not invade the princesses’ privacy or that of their guards any further.
They’re guests in this house, and they will be treated with respect.”
“Oh, pooh,” Heria risked grumbling, but the rest held their tongues in the face of his glower.
“And that’s plenty of potatoes,” Jerin told Heria.
Fifteen hungry women. There would be no leftover goose for lunch tomorrow. The potatoes would make things stretch, but one could eat only so many before getting bored. “Get a bushel of sweet yams scrubbed up, and we’ll put them in the oven after the goose comes out.” He handed out gathering baskets. “The rest of you, out to the garden. Pick a full basket of peas, and cut a quarter row of asparagus-make the stems long as possible.”
Summer hurried into the kitchen just as he set the goose out. Her eyes went wide at the sight of him.
“What are you doing?” she whispered fiercely, throwing a look toward the front of the house, where the royal party gathered in the parlor.
“I am cooking dinner.” Jerin picked up the tray of now scrubbed and pierced sweet yams and slid them into the empty oven. “Roasted goose, sage dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, blanched asparagus, boiled peas, sliced winter apples, cheese, fresh bread, butter, and yams.”
“They’re going to see you and the boys!” Summer cried.
“Not if they don’t come into the kitchen,” Jerin said. “And you middle sisters handle the serving in the dining room.”
If Summer’s hair had been longer than the military crop, it seemed she would be pulling it out by now.
“How are we going to keep the royal guard out of the kitchen? They’re probably going to check the food for poison.”
Jerin got out their largest platter and dual meat forks. “Like we keep poison on hand to kill off visiting princesses.”
“Jerin!” Summer wailed.
He closed his eyes and counted to ten. “Summer, the goose was going to burn if I didn’t get it out, and the youngest are hungry, and we have guests-royal guests. If Corelle did the cooking, truly we would be poisoning the princesses.”
“What if they see you?” Summer frowned at the door as if she expected the royal guard to burst through it any moment.
“Then they see me!” He lifted the goose out of the roasting pan and onto the platter. “She’s the crown princess. She’s not going to ride off with me.”
“One of her guards might grab you and desert,” Summer said.
“I’m sure the army knows where their families are located,” Jerin said.
Summer glared at him. “Jerin, will you take this seriously!”
“I am!” He drained the drippings into a cook pot and set it to boil. “Only the creme of military are picked for royal guard. If they see me, the worst that will happen is that they’ll offer for me-and frankly, I think that’s a better fate than the Brindles.”
“Don’t be naive, Jerin.” Summer crossed her arms and gave him a level look. “There are things to be done with a boy that have nothing to do with marriage.”
He stared at her, and then blushed hot. “I wouldn’t do anything like that.”
Summer glanced at the little girls around them, listening intently, and whispered, “You wouldn’t have much of a choice. It’s why they call it rape.”
He rolled his eyes at that. “Trust me, if any of them were carrying crib drugs, our little sisters would know.”
As a distraction, it worked. Summer turned on the youngest in a full rage. “You little brats! You stay out of their rooms!”
Jerin moved on to the potatoes, which needed to be drained by now, and mashed. “Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes or so, though the sweet potatoes will be coming out later. The boys and I will eat in the keeping room, and then go upstairs right afterward. Heria can make sure the little ones eat, and Corelle can clean up with the girls.”
“I will make sure you have a clean kitchen for morning,” Summer said.
“Thank you, Summer. I’ll make sure our mothers know who acted the idiot and who didn’t today.”
Summer suddenly caught him into a hug. “Oh, Jerin, I was an idiot! I knew we were leaving you and the babies alone! I let Corelle bully me into going. What if they had been raiders? We could have lost everything.”
“I know. I know. Now, let me finish dinner.”
Jerin had picked at his dinner and then left the kitchen without thinking of taking a snack. Later, he found himself so hungry that he couldn’t sleep. Finally, he couldn’t take it any longer. The house was silent. No one was up. He could slip downstairs, he told himself, grab something to eat from the pantry, and return with no one being the wiser.
He crawled out of bed. and stood a moment in darkness. Normally he’d pull on his trousers in addition to his nightshirt before going downstairs. Tonight, though, his three younger brothers were in his room, restless in their strange beds. He would have to light the lamp to find his trousers. He could imagine a cascade of events, starting with the lamp waking the boys and ending with the rest of the house awake.
It would only take a minute to run downstairs and raid the kitchen. I don’t need trousers. My nightshirt
