Prince's Fire by Amy Raby Page A

the worst of it. He had friends. I
thought
they were his friends. But when he became weak and needed help, they abandoned him or turned on him.”
    â€œWhat were these bad laws the Land Council tried to pass?”
    â€œThey require some explanation. Do you have King’s Lands in Kjall? Perhaps you’d call them Emperor’s Lands.”
    â€œI’m not sure what you mean,” said Celeste. “My brother owns a great deal of land, most of it surrounding the Imperial Palace. But we don’t call it anything special.”
    â€œIn my country, the King’s Lands aren’t for the royal family. They’re for everyone. Nobody owns them—well, technically my father does—but they’re maintained for the benefit of all Inyans. They are lakes, beaches, forests, mountains. Nobody is permitted to settle in them or build structures on them, but many of our poorer citizens hunt and fish in the King’s Lands. Otherwise they might starve. You have something like that in Kjall?”
    â€œI don’t think so,” said Celeste.
    â€œThe Land Council wanted to sell the King’s Lands off to private buyers—wealthy farmers and merchants who I’m certain were lining the councilors’ pockets with bribes. They tried to do this in secret, without the Inyan people knowing. But I knew. I made some speeches on the subject, and the people rose up in opposition. Land councilors are elected. They cannot afford to anger the people, so they stopped trying to sell off the land.”
    Celeste was quiet for a while, considering his words. “Before all this happened, you had promised to tell me about Zoe and your daughter.”
    â€œSo I did.” He frowned. This wasn’t a subject he liked to discuss; he knew it reflected badly on him. But hiding it from her didn’t feel right. Against his better judgment, he was beginning to take this marriage offer from Lucien more seriously, not because he was convinced it was the right move for his country, but because he really liked the woman. “I helped Zoe when she was in trouble—rescued her from someone who was mistreating her and gave her a job at the palace. Later I slept with her. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. It was a casual thing, and I thought she understood that. But then she got pregnant.”
    â€œWeren’t you warded?”
    â€œI thought I was,” said Rayn. “She ought to have been warded too. I can’t explain it, but we know that wards sometimes fail.”
    â€œIf they are mislaid,” said Celeste, sounding skeptical.
    â€œMy first assumption was that the baby wasn’t mine,” said Rayn. “But Zoe submitted to a truth spell on that account, and it turns out I was her only partner at that time. So there is no doubt. Unfortunately, the fact that I’d sired a child on her led Zoe to believe there was more to our relationship than I’d intended. I had ended things with her already. But since she’s the mother of my child, I have to keep Zoe at the palace.”
    â€œDoes she take care of your daughter?”
    â€œOddly, no.” Rayn frowned. This was something that bothered him. “I thought she would want to. But Aderyn—that’s my daughter’s name—didn’t gain much weight during her first few weeks of life, and it came out that Zoe was neglecting to feed her. So I put Aderyn in the full-time care of a wet nurse. I come by to see Aderyn from time to time, but the nurse tells me that Zoe never visits.”
    â€œThat’s . . . disconcerting.”
    â€œLet’s talk about something else,” said Rayn. “I want to hear more details about this marriage of convenience you suggested for us.” He glanced at her to see if he’d made her blush. Yes, he had.
    â€œOh—well,” she stammered. “I think I was pretty clear on the details.”
    â€œNot at all,” said Rayn.