The Gift (2)

Prince Mikhail stepped back and snatched the chair from where it lay overturned on the floor, setting it quietly upright.

"Enter," he growled.

Grieta bustled in and swept the room with sharp eyes, her gaze lingering on Talia's flushed cheeks before she turned to consider Mikhail with a frown.

"Forgive me, but I thought I heard a commotion. I was concerned, Princess," she explained.

"I was just about to send for you," Talia assured her. "I hope that you will accept my apology for what I said before. I was... distraught to learn these things about my sister, and I..."

Grieta bowed low.

"There is nothing to apologize for, my Princess, I took no offense. If there is anything else you would know-"

"The Princess has other obligations. We will take our leave now," Prince Mikhail interrupted.

"No, we will not!" Talia argued, turning to glare at him. "You promised me answers, and there is still more I would know. Why-"

"I promised you that you would hear the truth of Queen Ora's death, and that was all," he reminded her.

In the tense silence that followed, Talia lifted her chin and crossed her arms over her chest, affecting the posture of one who would stand their ground.

It was nonsense of course. He was twice the size of her, and even if she planted her feet, he could easily lift and carry her out. From the way he was glaring at her, he seemed to be considering doing exactly that.

"Do you intend for the Princess to be your wife or to remain your slave, my Prince?" Grieta asked, cocking her head to one side as though confused.

"Neither. The Princess is my charge...my responsibility, and I will not risk the safety of one I am sworn to protect by letting you drip poison into her ear," Prince Mikhail's dark eyes burned with rage, but when he spoke, his low deep voice remained cold and calm.

"Your charge..." Grieta repeated and smirked. "Is that what she is to you?"

Talia noticed that Grieta's demeanor toward the Prince had changed abruptly. Her respectful and polite manner to him had seemed forced before, but now it was nonexistant. She could not help but wonder what exactly the relationship was between the two at this moment. The woman appeared entirely confident in how far she could push him, and that was knowledge that only came from time and a certain level of... intimacy. The realization left Talia more than a bit annoyed.

"I will not be questioned by one who sees the Princess as nothing more than a tool... as a flag to rally the troops, and just as disposable when the battle begins," he growled, taking a meancing step toward Grieta.

The older woman stood her ground, narrowing her eyes in disdain as he approached.

"You think I don't know what you see when you look at her?" she taunted. "Obsession isn't love, Mischa. It's far more destructive. You'll be lucky if she ends up fearing you only half as much as-"

"I will not be spoken about as if I am not here!" Talia snapped. "I am Princess Talia of Vezda, the only daughter of the ancient and noble House of Eosin, and the last ruler to take the Alulian Oath, and I will not be treated as a child or as a charge! I will have my questions answered by this woman, and I will decide what to believe or discard."

Talia paused long enough to give each of them her most disapproving glare, and was relieved to see that both appeared to be somehwat chagrined.

That woman had called him 'Mischa'. Was it a pet name? Something intimate she called him as his lover? How dare she address him as such while his future wife stood silently in the room between the two of them! It was enough to make Talia want to slap her.

But she was the Princess of Vezda, and jealousy was not an emotion that she could allow herself. She lifted her chin a little higher.

"Prince Mikhail, I warn you that if you try to move me by force, you will destroy the trust I have in you, and Lady Grieta Kend do not speak so informally to the man I am betrothed to. No matter what previous relation the two of you may have enjoyed, I count it as an insult to me that you would dare address him without any deference. "Now sit!" Talia motioned to the chair which had been lying on the floor only a moment before.

Grieta obeyed at once, sinking into the chair and bowing her head as if she were ashamed, but Talia was beginning to suspect that all of her bowing and scraping and apologizing was little more than an act.

Prince Mikhail remained standing, his expression still dark, but Talia ignored him as she took the seat beside Grieta's.

"My princess, please forgive me if I-" Grieta began.

"Nevermind that now," Talia interrupted. "There is something you said that I found a bit odd. You said that when you last visited Queen Ora, she knew where she was being sent, and she knew what awaited her there-- how did she know? I understand how she would come to the conclusion that the Emperor had allied himself with the ancient ones- there are plenty of clues to one who has any knowledge of history-- but how did she come to learn that the Emperor would offer her as a blood sacrifce?"

Grieta nodded excitedly, as if this was a question she was longing to be asked.

"I will do my best to explain, though it is a bit difficult. You see, the Emperor and even the Emperor's father, Alexsi, owe a great debt to ... those... those creatures. Emperor Alexsi required a son and heir. I doubt that anyone knows the exact price he agreed to pay, but many know that from the time his son Grigori was born, palace slaves began to disappear-- sometimes up to three or four in a year. It was always said that they escaped or ran away, but people talk..." Grieta sighed and rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "It did not go unnoticed that the palace slaves who disappeared were always Vezdans-- though in those days, I did not suspect what it meant."

Talia fought the urge to clasp her hands tightly together in her lap. It had been so ingrained in her to never speak about the blood of House Eosin, that even Grieta hinting at the suggestion of Vezdan blood having a special meaning was causing her stomach to tie itself into knots.

Still, the Emperor obviously knew about the blood of House Eosin. It might aide her to know how many others did as well. She nodded, urging Grieta to continue.

"It was after I was marked for the third time that I.... that I learned..." Grieta winced and took a deep breath. She leaned forward, poured herself a glass of wine and downed the enitre glass in an impressively short time.

"It helps," she explained, noticing Talia's shocked expression. "It dulls the pain somewhat."

"Of course, do as you must," Talia mumured.

"As I was saying, I was marked three times. The first time, the spell did not work at all. The entire process gave me nothing but an infection and a fever. The second time, the blood that the Emperor used burned like fire throughout the ceremony. I was left in near constant pain afterwards, and yet I could not be controlled. The third time... the blood felt different on my skin... almost soothing. I have difficulty remembering the ceremony at all. Afterwards, the old pain returned, but it became infinitely worse whenever I tried to speak on anything the Emperor had forbidden. Each time, the ink was the same, the tools were the same, the markings were similar, and even the spells that were said seemed to be about the same. It was the blood that felt different.

"To be honest, I might not have ever figured it out. By chance, the night after I recieved my third marks, I visited the royal apothocary to get a remedy for my pain, and I happened to overhear the servant girl of the fifth queen asking for medicine. She complained that the royal physician had bled the Queen twice in the last week for her health, and had taken away bowls of blood, leaving the queen weak and barely able to walk."

"The fifth queen?" Talia repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, Queen Aleswhite-- the Emperor's fifth wife whom he married during the 12th year of the Vezdan War. She was the daughter of Lord Regis of Blackside, and also... a distant cousin to both you and Queen Ora on her mother's side. It was her blood that was taken for my ceremony and then again later for Prince Mikhail's."

Talia stiffened at the silent implication the woman had just made, but did not speak to confirm or deny it. Although House Eosin had not allowed their children to marry outside the borders of Vezda since the days of Queen Tasha, it was generally acknowledged that their ancestors had certainly followed no such rules, and that there might be, among their distant relatives, some who carried the blood of Eosin beyond Vezda. However, they had always assumed that since no tales were ever told- any descendants of Eosin were either smart enough to conceal it, or had died out entirely.

Considering it now, Talia realized that this was certainly a large oversight on the part of her family.

"A relative of mine..." Talia repeated and frowned, "and does she remain in the palace?"

"No, my Princess. Queen Aleswhite was sent to the northern territories many years ago. Back then, it was announced at court that the fifth Queen was pregnant and suffering from ill health, and that the Emperor, playing the part of a concerned husband, was sending her to Pirchburg to rest and take advantage of the benefits of the thermal pools and clean air. She was never seen in Pirchburg, and never heard from again. A few months after her disappearance, the Emperor called for a day of mourning, and announced that the fifth queen had died in childbirth," Grieta frowned.

"And you assumed... that because she was sent to the north, where the ancient ones are known to reside, and because she was never seen or heard from again... that she was sacrificed there?" Talia prodded. "That seems to be a awfully large jump in logic. Anything at all could have befallen the fifth queen."

"Her blood had power, my Princess, just like your own. I am not making an assumption about her fate. I am quite certain of it, for I was there when she was delivered to the very hands of the... of those... those creatures," Grieta winced again and reached for the wine bottle.

Talia caught her wrist and leaned forward, forcing Grieta to look directly at her.

"You've seen them?" Talia whispered.

Grieta nodded and swallowed nervously.

"I have, and they are every bit as terrifying as the stories say."