“Yes,” was all Seraphis said. She said the single word with such sincerity and simplicity that Kae looked back at her. The warrior princess idly rubbed at the mage markings on her wrists. “You know that I’m the younger of two sisters. I’m no mage, but my proficiency is with the sword. I function within Sagna as its Warmaster, the head of its military. After all that, I am still a princess. I have a kingdom and a people to look after. And…” she took a breath. Kae saw tears forming at the corners of Seraphis’s eyes. The warrior princess’s grip on her marked wrists tightened. “I have someone waiting for me back home. In Sagna.” Seraphis raised her head and met Kae’s skeptical gaze head on. “A slave girl, from the Eastern Shores.”
“What?” Kae leaned towards Seraphis, sure that she had misheard. “Did you say a slave? And a girl?”
Seraphis’s chuckle was hollow. “Are you surprised at the relation between two women? You’re on the fence about pursuing one yourself, huntress.”
“I didn’t think that royalty — what about the line of succession? Wouldn’t you need to produce heirs?” Kae flailed her arms, confused and astounded. If Seraphis was a princess in love with a slave, then perhaps it was possible that she and Loren… Kae couldn’t hide her smile born from a little spark of hope.
“The subject of heirs is tricky, but in Sagna no one really cares.” Seraphis said. “Remember, the founder of the kingdom was a lunatic. Whatever he said, went. That was a tradition that endured all through to the current generation.”
“I understand.” Kae calmed down a little. Sagna seemed to be such a wild kingdom where the usual rules didn’t apply. Aldoran looked like a rigid monastery by comparison. “So, the slave girl?”
“Her name is Elysia. She was brought to us by a band of raiders: Hamilcar the bandit king and his men. They’re good friends of mine, and so are allied to the Sagnian crown. They brought back tribute to the Red Sisters one day, saying they had raided the Eastern Shores.”
“Eastern Shores?”
“You’ve never heard? Fair enough. Far past the capital of Sagna and Mount Volknar lie the Eastern Shores. White sand and clear, sparkling water stretch as far as the eye can see, disappearing behind the rocky hills and mountains of the north. There is a port town there that accepts trade from all around the world. From Aldoran and Kespia and wherever else. Hamilcar and his band tend not to bother the rich merchants so much, as they’ve long struck an agreement for protection against other bandits once their trade takes them inland. However, the bandits have no such agreement for the fishing villages that dot the Shores.”
Kae nodded, understanding. “They raided one of these villages?”
“Yes. It was a village with no name; they raided it for their silks, fish, women, that sort of thing. They knew of mine and my sister’s…” Seraphis paused, trying to find the right word. “Taste, I suppose. Preference. They singled out a few villagers they had captured and offered them to us.”
“What happened to them?”
Seraphis leaned back, a slight smile on her lips. Her fingers fiddled with the little braids in her hair. “The bandits had them kneel before us, in the throne room. I was standing at my queen’s side, as always, and when I saw her…” she chuckled. “She took my breath away. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She had the most perfect, beautiful, shimmering bronze skin. The instant she looked up at me with those deep, dark eyes, I knew. I knew I wanted to protect her. She shook like a leaf from fear; she had spared me only a second’s glance and refused to look to my sister entirely. Most of the time she knelt there, her eyes were to the ground and she kept her dark, wavy hair over her eyes. She tried to hide but she stood out to me all the more. My dear sister, she took the lot. She thanked the bandits for their gifts and set her new slaves to work doing menial tasks: cleaning the kennels of my hounds, working in the kitchens, nothing important. But Elysia, my Elysia…”
Kae’s eyes were wide and curious, listening to every word Seraphis said. “Did she work in the kennels?”
Seraphis shook her head. “I wouldn’t let her. She was assigned to care for my hounds, but I went to the kennels myself and told her that I didn’t want her shoveling shit all day and smelling of dog. She deserved better than that. So I asked her where she wanted to work instead, as my queen demanded that all of the slaves from the Eastern Shores be busied. She told me, in the shyest voice, that she was a healer. I took her out of the kennels and to the head healer that very second.” She chuckled again, twisting one of the small braids between her fingers. “I visited her often, I brought her gifts, I made sure her forced life within the castle was good, if not enjoyable. She did express interest in a soldier once. I backed off then, her happiness came first. But one night I found her crying, hidden in the gardens.” Seraphis trailed off, and Kae noticed her tap her knife belt. The huntress had an uncomfortable hunch about what happened to the soldier.
“In time, we grew closer. We were happy.” Seraphis continued, and her wistful smile faded. “Until my dear sister caught the two of us in bed.”
Kae’s hand flew to her mouth. “Did…Did Haedria kill her?”
Seraphis shook her head slowly. Her fingers traced the dark swirls and burns around her wrists. “Elysia is fine. But that night… The queen flew into such a rage. The stones
