Lady Death's Diary: Chapter 8

“I don’t know why you’re so shocked to learn about Xander.” Delphine passed me a cup of tea. “It’s not unheard of for a woman my age to have children.”

“Although if you ask,” interjected her son, “she’ll claim to be not a day over thirty.”

I took a sip of tea, hoping that they would attribute my reddening cheeks to the drink’s steam. Though Delphine’s brew was never too hot since she heated the kettle with a spell.

“It was simply unexpected.” The stiff wooden armchair I sat on creaked disapprovingly under my shifting weight.

Xander smirked at me from where he was casually lounging in my usual seat, a worn leather chair which was the only piece in Delphine’s study with legs sturdier than matchsticks . . . which I now realized was most likely his usual seat, explaining why Delphine kept it alone among her continually rotating assortment of furniture.

Up close, the relationship between the two was obvious. They shared the same well-shaped lips and straight nose, though his was dusted with a sprinkle of freckles that Delphine hid beneath a layer of powder. His hair was a brighter auburn and cut unfashionably short, and he dressed in a sober gray overcoat compared to her multihued robes. His amused honey-flecked green eyes, like those of his mother, were entirely too perceptive.

“I arrived from Anterdon a week ago.” An upwards quirk of Xander’s lips sent me the impression that he not only knew what scandalous conclusion I had jumped to upon my entrance, but that he found my current discomfort thoroughly amusing. “This was the first time I’ve been able to escape to see Mother.”

I struggled to shift through my dim memories of past lives. I must have met with the Anterdonian ambassador at least once. Most likely I had been the one translating on behalf of King Eldin, since he’d given up on mastering the language for himself after accidently referring to a diplomat’s children as “slaughter-plump piglets.” I had vague recollections of introducing myself to a bald, paunchy man—Leonidas or something similar. Yet I had never met Xander.

Delphine’s son appeared around Theo’s age, and was indisputably handsome if one could get past the red hair. His arrival at Court must have caused a commotion with noble ladies regardless of the timeline, illegitimate son of a sorceress or not. So why had I not heard of him?

At least I now knew the identity of Uncle Alistair’s friend as well as the reason behind his discretion. Unmarried noblewomen didn’t usually advertise if they had offspring, even if the scenario was far from uncommon.

“Are you a translator?” I guessed. Since my magic lessons took up time that I had otherwise spent studying languages, perhaps Xander’s services had been required in my stead and his return had been requested. After all, how was King Eldin supposed to guess that I maintained fluency from past lives?

Xander shrugged. “My position is less . . . official. I volunteered to act as Ambassador Leonidas’ guide during this trip. After all, I heard my mother had taken on an apprentice and had to meet any saint capable of putting up with her for myself.”

At least I had correctly recalled the ambassador’s name.

Delphine sniffed haughtily. “He came because I ordered him to return some books which I needed for your tutelage. One does not simply send sorcerous tomes via post.”

“You’re a sorcerer then?” That would explain Xander’s elusive answer regarding his position with Anterdon as well as his keeping a low profile at Court. Anterdon had no problem with mages, but Verdans still tended to be suspicious despite Bellcrest being more tolerant than Kothe.

Xander shook his head. “No talent, much to my mother’s dismay. Magical theory is fascinating to read about, but I couldn’t spell my way out of a shoebox.”

“The books are more theory?” Disappointment soured my voice.

“Do stop jutting out your lip like a petulant child, Tru,” ordered Delphine. “Mostthe books are theoretical in nature. Two are introductory spellbooks.”

“She used to pray to the Triad that the gift would spontaneously appear in me,” said Xander, “but those books have been gathering dust for the better part of a year. I’ll be glad for the space on my shelf.”

“It’s kind of you to come all this way to return them,” I acknowledged.

“No trouble. A few friends came along—it’ll do their spirits good to visit their families. As it was nice to visit mine, once she found an opening in her schedule.” His cheek twitched with a suppressed grin.

Delphine frowned. “I tried to negotiate my way out of tonight’s meeting with Councilor Venuda but the woman is a battering ram of agenda. She refused to let me reschedule.”

“I tease, Mother,” said Xander. “I’m aware of your importance. The kingdom would fall apart without your wisdom.”

“To pieces,” concurred Delphine. “Still, I do wish I could at least join you for dinner.”

“My family would gladly host Xander this evening.” I turned to him. “I suspect you already know my older brother.” If Xander was one of the friends that Theo had mentioned, his presence might succeed in keeping my brother distracted from our new stepsister.

A crease formed between Xander’s auburn brows. It smoothed out once he identified who I resembled. “Theo’s sister.”

“Don’t hold the association against me, I implore you.”

He tipped his chin towards his mother. “I never judge someone by their relations.”

“I suspect I’ve just been insulted,” said Delphine, “but fortunately for you both, I’m already late for my meeting with Venuda and thus choosing to ignore it.”

Xander bent down to give her a dutiful kiss on the cheek. “I’ll do my best to clear my schedule for tomorrow night like I promised. Try to stay out of trouble.”

“I am the model of good behavior,” she said.

After Delphine departed, Xander and I walked together to the northeast tower where Theo and Letty were staying. He became more formal without his mother present, calling me by my full title, and seemed content to go most the way without talking. But the silence wasn’t awkward. Both of us were caught up with our own thoughts and, sensing the other similarly preoccupied, respectfully kept quiet so as not to interrupt our respective musings.

I was trying to calculate how Xander could be an asset in my campaign of keeping Theo separate from Letty. The last thing I needed was my brother falling victim to her lies when she and her accomplice inevitably framed me for something two years from now. Perhaps I could encourage him to assist Xander with his work? Theo was as fluent in Anteren as I was, if not more so given his recent year abroad.

But Theo also hated work, and I couldn’t recall the last time he’d taken my advice. Not that he believed he knew better than me. He himself would be the first to acknowledge that I’d inherited both our shares of practicality. “Smart and fun so rarely collide,” he often said. “Can you blame me for taking the riskier road?”

I could and did, ever since his recklessness had lodged a bullet in my heart.

Xander would be a good influence: he seemed to take his duties seriously. Too seriously, perhaps, if he’d been at Bellcrest a week and only now been able to make time to visit Delphine. Odd, since she had been the impetus for his return and they appeared fond of one another. Why had it taken him so long to visit? Couldn’t he have asked the Ambassador for an evening off? Despite our tacit pact of mutual muteness, my curiosity defeated my manners.

“Did you grow up at Bellcrest?” I asked.

There weren’t enough lamps in the Courtyard to illuminate Xander’s expression, but his posture went rigid at my question. Since Delphine wasn’t a widow, politeness should have prohibited me from inquiring about the circumstance surrounding his past, even if I had tried to broach it as inoffensively as possible.

“No,” he said.

I waited a second to give him time to elaborate. He continued walking until a few feet ahead, when etiquette forced him to pause and wait for me to catch up. For the first time, the silence between us felt oppressive.

I felt more annoyed than apologetic. Perhaps it hadn’t been the most considerate topic of conversation but at least my attempt to pry had been subtle. The same could not be said of the cold shoulder accompanying his terse reply. I deliberately slowed my pace until his long legs were forced to take comically small steps to match.

It took us several minutes longer than usual to cross the Courtyard due to my passive aggressive pace. Xander stopped abruptly outside the tower’s entrance.

“You must think me ill-mannered,” he said.

“I do.”

My bluntness caught him off-guard, and he barked out a startled laugh. “In my defense, most people avoid the topic of my upbringing once they realize that I’m illegitimate.”

“You must think me ill-mannered,” I repeated back his words.

“Perhaps our mutual rudeness should cancel themselves out then, so that we neither take offense.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at his tongue-in-cheek proposal. “Agreed.”

Despite our newfound comradery, he made no move to open the tower.

“I would appreciate your discretion. Especially around your brother.”

“Theo isn’t known for his ability to keep secrets,” I conceded.

He nodded. “My father wasn’t noble born, and my mother’s reputation is a mixed bag at best due to her sorcery. I doubt Ambassador Leonidas or Theo would care, but others working alongside me at the embassy may not prove as tolerant.”

“I see. No one knows that Lady Delphine is your mother?”

“Brant was my grandfather’s—her father’s—title. Most don’t make the connection. I enjoy my work for the Ambassador, and would hate to see it compromised due to the rumor that my mother can turn my coworkers into newts.”

“You have my vow of silence, then,” I said. “Though Theo will no doubt be curious as to how we came to meet.”

“Theo will create his own distraction once I begin to lecture him on his responsibilities during our stay,” said Xander. “Lord Errans made it clear that he expected me to put his nephew to work.”

I nodded. It made sense that Xander was one of Uncle Alistair’s subordinates at the embassy given his escort across the border. It also indicated my uncle’s faith in his competence that he had been put in charge of corralling my brother.

Still, I needed to learn more about Delphine’s son and his unexpected presence in this timeline. I’d learned an important lesson during my experimentation with poisons in my last life: unknown ingredients were often the most dangerous.

****

True to Xander’s prediction, Theo readily accepted his excuse that we had met by chance in the castle library, and hastily changed the topic after Xander’s pointed statement that he expected to Theo to prove himself as studious as his younger sister.

“This is my sister as well, as of a month ago,” said Theo. “Letty, this is Lord Xander Brant, Uncle Alistair’s protégé, current drafted aide to the Anterdonian ambassador, and constant pain in my a—ah, thorn in my side.” Theo amended his language as I stepped on his foot.

Free from her mother’s critical eye and harsher words, Letty wore a dress that she’d obviously embellished herself. Embroidered bluebells covered the entirety of skirt and sparrows with tiny crystal flecks for eyes flew up her sleeves. My own frock was well tailored and immaculately pressed, but I’d deliberately chosen the black satin for its nondescript style. Its drabness only emphasized the comparative loveliness of my stepsister’s dress (and the wearer).

Xander bowed over Letty’s hand. “Forgive my intrusion on your family dinner.” Amused eyes met mine. “You must think me ill-mannered.”

“Not at all!” Letty appeared genuinely distressed by his implication that she might be at all put out by his company. “I’m glad to meet a friend of my new family members.” She smiled shyly at Theo.

“It’s almost time for dinner.” I stepped briskly between the two, taking Theo by the arm and leaving Letty to be escorted by Xander. “Shall we?”

Letty let out a small sigh of awe as we entered the dining room, its table long enough to seat twelve and illuminated by a glowstone chandelier above that cost more than most Rhys tenets made their entire lives. My father believed in sparing no expense when it came to impressing his peers, even on a dining room that languished unused for the majority of the year.

“It’s almost as grand as the one Rhys Manor—I mean, at home,” said Letty.

“Knowing Tru, she still probably takes most her meals in the kitchen,” said Theo.

He was right, of course, though my habit had more to do with fear of being poisoned than any discomfort in formal settings. It wasn’t in my brother’s nature to question things, bless his pure heart. In his mind, I was still a five-year-old hooligan running after him to the watering hole only to fall down and scrape both knees. I blinked back an unexpected surge of emotion at the memory. I hadn’t been that child in a very long time.

Two servants arrived and plated out a roast which Theo dug into like a starved hound. Letty’s tongue darted out in concentration, and her hand hovered a moment over the cutlery before she finally selected the wrong fork.

“Will you be attending the festival tomorrow?” asked Xander. He had discretely switched forks, so as to use the same one as Letty. Had I still loved my stepsister, I would have been touched by his thoughtfulness.

“Festival?” echoed Letty.

“Don’t expect to be welcomed,” said Theo. “You’re part of enemy forces now that you’re a Rhys.” His expression was serious but for a tightness around his lips—sure indication that he was biting his cheek in an attempt not to laugh.

“We can’t go?” Letty, not yet familiar enough to recognize my brother’s tells, sounded dismayed.

“The Festival of Bells celebrates the defeat of Kothen mages at Bellcrest during the Uprising.” I pushed some food around my plate in order create the pretense of keeping pace with the other diners. “Mages led by our ancestor.”

“Warren Rhys. They burn him in effigy,” said Theo. He leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table in total breach of good manners.

Letty paled. “Mama said that the Rhys family fought for the Crown during the war.”

“Tristian, his son and our great-grandfather, sided with King Corbin,” I said. “His loyalty was the only reason the dukedom survived instead of being parceled out among loyalists.”  There was a reason so many lords in Kothe remained discontent with the monarchy; their holdings had been dramatically reduced in size and power following the war’s aftermath. Their relationship with the Crown had never fully recovered since so-called “Castigation of the North.” Thus, my betrothal to Loren: an act of intended appeasement by King Eldin that put one of their own on throne.

“Family legend has it that our great-grandfather beheaded his own father.” Theo sliced a finger across his own neck. “Some claim that their ghosts still haunt this very tower, locked in eternal battle. If you listen closely, you can hear the clashing of their blades.” He tapped his knife against the side of his goblet to illustrate their supposed clang.

Letty froze, a forkful of roast boar halfway between her dish and her mouth. She set it down with a visible swallow.

“The Battle for Bellcrest was fought outside the city limits,” said Xander reassuringly. “It’s improbable that the two ever met in the castle.”

She nodded but didn’t resume eating.

Theo, on the other hand, snickered and attacked his meal with renewed gusto. “The effigy bit is true though. I’ll take you to see it tomorrow,” he said through a mouthful of food. I’d have to discuss the bad habits he developed in Anterdon with him later.

Letty perked up at his promise, though her cheeks still lacked their usual flush of color. She looked at me. “You’ll come with us, won’t you, Tru? Theo will make up all sorts of tall tales if you’re not there.”

“You too, Xan,” said Theo. “Leonidas can spare you for a single day.”

“I’ve already agreed to escort the Ambassador,” said Xander. “But no doubt I’ll see you there. Consider it your final day of vacation before I put you to work.”

Theo pulled a face but didn’t argue.

“Please, Tru?” begged Letty.

Despite my resolution to stay as far away as possible from my stepsister, my resolve crumpled beneath her and Theo’s expectant gazes. At least by going I would be able to delay Letty’s meeting with Loren by one more day.

“Of course,” I said. “Someone needs to protect you from my brother.”