Naamah's Blessing

heir. Whoever wielded influence over the choices she made in life might one day affect the course of the realm.
    That, I’d never considered. Stone and sea, I just wanted the poor child to have a measure of happiness.
    Although her eyelids were growing heavy, the young princess did indeed manage to stay awake and alert through the pageant. We all cried out when the horologist called the hour, the Winter Queen in her crone guise hobbled into the center of the room, and almost every lamp and candle in the great hall was extinguished, plunging the hall into darkness.
    Then came the pounding on the doors, and the Sun Prince in his chariot drawn by a pair of matched white horses rode into the hall, gleaming in his gilded armor and sunburst mask. Servants with lit tapers waited poised next to intricate series of braided wicks.
    The Sun Prince leapt from his chariot with a lithe twist, pointing his gilded spear at the crone.
    Everyone cheered as she threw off her ragged robes and crone mask to reveal herself as a young, beautiful maiden. The servants lit the wicks, and light was restored to the world. The royal pair mounted the chariot, wherein it was evident that she overtopped him by a head.
    “He’s kind of puny for a Sun Prince,” Bao whispered to me. I hushed him, although I was thinking the same thing.
    The chariot made a circuit of the hall, stopping before us. The Sun Prince leapt down once more, going to one knee before Desirée.
    “Joy to her highness on the Longest Night!” he cried, taking her small hand and pressing his lips to it.
    Overwhelmed, she tried in vain to stifle a giggle.
    “And here we are,” Duc Rogier announced with pride, coming alongside them. The Sun Prince raised his gilded mask, revealing a handsome, youthful face. He couldn’t have been much more than thirteen or fourteen years old. “Your highness, may I present my eldest son, Tristan.”
    The lad rose and bowed, smiling at her. “Well met, my lady. I hope we will see more of each other, but for now, I fear duty beckons.”
    With that, the shining Sun Prince returned to his chariot and his rather irritated-looking Winter Queen. They exited the hall to cheers, with an underlying murmur of speculation. Desirée gazed after them in awe.
    I looked at the Royal Minister. “I thought your family preferred to remain in Barthelme, my lord.”
    He gave a graceful shrug. “I changed my mind. I thought it was time Tristan began learning the ways of the Court, so I sent for him to winter here. Besides, it will be good for her highness to have some younger folk here at the Palace, don’t you think? I hear she’s quite precocious, and her tutor is very skilled. Mayhap they can take lessons together.”
    “Your son is at least ten years older than her,” Bao said in a flat tone.
    “And you considerably more, Messire Bao,” the Duc observed. “Yet you appear to benefit from it. Young highness, would
you
like Tristan to study with you?”
    Her cheeks were pink with pleasure. “Yes, my lord!”
    “Well, then.” Rogier Courcel smiled at all of us. “It seems the matter is settled.”
    I smiled back at him. “So it does.”

TWENTY-TWO

    I don’t like it,” Bao fretted.
    Neither did I, but there was nothing I could do about the situation. On the face of the matter, it was a perfectly logical thing for the Royal Minister to do; and a thoughtful gesture in the balance. And so young Tristan began spending time with Desirée during her studies.
    He was a pretty lad with golden hair and vivid blue eyes, and he was unfailingly charming to the princess. In the manner of young children being flattered by older children everywhere, she delighted in the attention.
    My father assured me there was nothing untoward in the matter.
    Lianne Tremaine was less sanguine. “He’s courting her.”
    “She’s a child!” I protested.
    The former King’s Poet shrugged. “It’s common practice in Aragonia to arrange betrothals between children in royal families. And it’s been known to happen here, too.”
    “But would it not violate Blessed Elua’s precept here in Terre d’Ange?” I asked. “Love as thou wilt?”
    “That’s why he’s courting her,” Lianne said cynically. “Oh, please! The dashing young Sun Prince in his gilded armor bending a knee to her? What better manner to plant a seed of girlish infatuation in her heart? I couldn’t have crafted a better storyline myself. And there’s a long history of politicking surrounding the