“Oh.” Raven blushed crimson. “I didn’t think—”
“But you must think, if you want to rule.” The physician rapped the table with the base of her goblet for emphasis, then reached for the flask to refill it. “The trouble is,” she mused, as she poured, “you need time to learn how to rule—and time is just what you don’t have, with those vultures surrounding you. You need someone strong enough and wise enough—and with sufficient authority—to support you, until you find your feet. Yinze blast it to perdition! Now look what I’ve done!” Suddenly realizing that she had flooded her cup, she put the flask down with another muttered oath.
“You should wipe that up,” Raven told her with a pert grin, “before it stains the table.”
Elster chuckled. “You see—you can be sharp enough when you want to—that’s plain by the way you always keep acting like a dizzy girl so you can put Skua off from assuming the position of High Priest officially.” Fishing a very businesslike kerchief from a pocket in her robe, she began to mop up the spilled wine. “While he’s still only Acting High Priest, you have him nicely in your power.”
“Oh, Aguila told me to do that.”
The physician glanced up sharply. “Did he, indeed?” She frowned thoughtfully. “Anyway, girl, stop trying to put me off. Before I was interrupted”—she looked seriously at Raven—“I was saying that you can’t keep on alone like this. Apart from anything else, you’ll need an heir, you know. You must stop prevaricating, and take a consort.”
“What?” Raven shrieked. “How could you, Elster? How could you even suggest such a thing after what happened with Harihn…” Her voice tailed off in distress.
Elster leaned across the table and took hold of the young Queen’s hand. “You must put that dreadful business behind you, Raven,” she said firmly. “You are still young—”
“How can I take a consort now, you old fool? Winged Folk mate for life! I’m ruined…”
“Utter nonsense!” Elster retorted bracingly. “In that respect, at least, Blacktalon was right. Groundlings cannot be said to count… Or do you want to ruin your life and lose your kingdom over one stupid mistake?”
Tears overflowed Raven’s eyes and ran down her face. “But I could never love again,” she whispered tragically. The physician sighed, and raised her eyes heavenward. “You youngsters! Who said anything about love? Find someone you can like, respect, and work with—that’s all you need. Queens have no business even thinking about love.”
“Fine words, coming from someone who never took a mate at all,” Raven sneered. “So who have you decided I should choose?” she challenged bitterly. “I presume you had someone in mind before you even started this conversation. Someone else, no doubt, who will manipulate me, with you the chief puppet master of them all.”
“If you have any sense at all, you’ll choose Aguila.”
Elster’s words cut like a sword stroke through the young Queen’s ranting. Raven stared at her, her eyes wide with dismay, too thunderstruck even to protest.
“Think.” The physician pressed her advantage. “You like him—you’ve admitted as much to me on several occasions. He’s very fond of you, and what’s more, he’s loyal and commands the loyalty of the Royal Guard in turn. He’s intelligent—and he won’t take any nonsense from those other backstabbers who advise you—especially not once he outranks them as Royal Consort.”
Raven burst out laughing. “Elster, you can’t be serious.
This is a jest—go on, admit it. Why, he’s nothing but a lowborn commoner. And he’s old”
The physician raised an eyebrow. “Aguila? Old? I’m old, you little idiot! He may be a few years older than you, my girl—but that doesn’t make him ancient! And as for his birth—well, anyone who could rise from his beginnings to become Captain of the Royal Guard, is truly a man to be reckoned with! You couldn’t have anyone better on your side—and what’s more, you could always trust him to be on your side.”
She looked at the young Queen gravely. “Listen, Raven. While we are speaking of age, I must remind you that I won’t always be here to help and advise you. Being Queen is the loneliest business in the world, child—and while I’m still around to plague you, I want to make certain you’ll have someone to lean on when I’m gone.” Seeing Raven’s stricken face, she smiled to lighten the moment. “Besides,” she added mischievously, “I have no fledglings of my own. How will I be remembered if you don’t have a little Princess to name after me?”
“Oh, Elster!” With a sob, Raven flung her arms around the old physician. “You’re not going to die!”
“Not for a good while yet, I hope—unless your aim gets better with those winecups you fling at me in temper, when I tell you things you don’t want to hear.” Elster chuckled. “No, but seriously, child—do as I advise you. Take Aguila as your consort. It will be the best decision that you’ll ever make. I promise you, you won’t regret it.”
“But Elster—” Raven bit her lip. “After that business with Harihn… what if Aguila doesn’t want to marry me?”
The physician laughed-out loud. “Not want to marry you? My dear child, of course he’ll want to! Why, any one of that nest of vipers you call your advisers would cut off his wings tomorrow to become your consort—but out of the lot of them, Aguila is the only one who loves you.”
When Elster finally departed, she left Raven with a good deal to think about. The winged girl went to the window and stood, deep in contemplation, staring blindly out at the city that she ruled. Should she do as the physician advised? After Harihn’s betrayal, she had abandoned the idea of ever taking a consort. She’d had far too much to occupy her mind in these first, difficult days of settling into her rule to even consider the matter of an heir. But Elster, as usual, had spoken wisely. Raven bit her lip, struggling with her feelings. That was all very well, but after Harihn, could she bear to take another man to her side—and to her bed? The words of Flamewing, her mother, spoken in anger so long ago, came back to her: “You were brought up to recognize that you have duties to your people and to me throne, one of them being that you must marry to advantage.”
The ruler of the Winged Folk sighed. Elster had also told her that Queens had no business thinking about love. Well, so be it. They were right—both of them—and it was time she grew up and faced the facts. It could have been much worse, Raven reminded herself. Not long ago, she had been faced with the unthinkable prospect of having the cruel High Priest Blacktalon forced upon her as her consort. Then, she had had no choice, but now it was different. And Aguila had been kind to her, cheering the lonely little Queen almost as much as Elster had in these last, difficult days… Elster had even said that he loved her, which had come as a shock—but she wasn’t ready to think about that yet. He was certainly the only one who didn’t seem to want to use her, though.
Raven realized that she had made her decision. She would do it. Suddenly, she thought about the reactions of Sunfeather and Skua when they heard the news, and a malicious grin spread itself across her face. Those two were going to be so sick… She chuckled to herself, feeling more cheerful than she had in days. Elster, as usual, had been right.
21
Just Like the Old Days
In a very different city, far to the south, another Queen was contemplating her future.
Sara awakened with a jolt, torn out of the nightmare by the sound of her own screaming. Her eyes flew open, blind to everything, for a moment, but the closing scenes of her dream that were still imprinted on her inner eye. As full consciousness crept back to her, she realized that she was looking through a mist of gauzy white draperies that hung limp in the stifling heat, diffusing the bars of strong afternoon sunlight that invaded the chamber through the lattice of the shutters. Sara rolled over on the wide bed, almost weeping with relief, clutching the tangled silken sheet to herself for additional security. She was home. She was safe. It had only been a dream.