Page 48 of Fated Flames: Volume Two
Tilly, who has moved in beside me, grins. “That means she’s equal in standing with Rally, and he’s the only one in Tirenth who can say what he likes to Soren. Though I suppose that includes you now, too.” She gives me a playful nudge with her elbow.
Princess Rosa swats at a gnat flitting about the lantern nearest her.
“Rally shared some excellent advice of yours the night of the feast,” I tell Marta. “I was most grateful.”
She was the one who said dragons and men are fools alike when it comes to women, the words calming my nerves and giving me courage when I had to face so many strangers in the great hall.
Marta’s eyes brighten at the mention of her husband. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to give it myself. A friend of mine was giving birth, and there aren’t many human women here to help.”
“Did the birth go well?”
Her hand rises to touch her necklace.“It did, Your Highness. Thank you.”
Princess Rosa has pointedly ignored us during all this, but now Marta turns to her and flashes a smile that shows all her teeth. “Hello, Rosa.”
Being equal in standing with Rally likely places Marta above most honorifics, though I can’t help noticing she referred to me as “highness.” Perhaps she and Princess Rosa are close enough to use one another’s given names?
“Good evening, Marta,” Rosa says. The disdain in her tone could be my imagination.
I doubt it, though.
“Do you need help getting back into your clothes?” Marta asks. “Or were you waiting for something?”
Rosa stares daggers at the woman.
“Oh, I can help,” Tilly says, bouncing to her side. “Rosa didn’t realize her corset was laced so tightly, you see, and she was so out of breath that we barely made it into the palace before we had to turn around. It’s a wonder she didn’t faint.”
“A miracle,” Marta says dryly.
Leaving it at that, she returns to the physicians’ drawers, locates some thick gauze, and brings it to me.
“Here,” she says. “I’ll have Rally go fetch something better for you and make sure this doesn’t happen again. My love!”
Rally appears almost instantaneously. Rosa snatches her dress up and clutches it to herself in indignation, but Rally doesn’t so much as glance her way. I watch with fascination as the giant man comes to tower over his minuscule wife, his face the very picture of a lovesick admirer.
“Yes, my dove?” he says.
Marta blushes and bites her lip. Biting back my own grin, I hurry behind the dressing screen and don’t emerge until I hear the tent flap once more. When I do, Rally is gone, and Princess Rosa is finally dressed.
“I suppose I’ll be returning to the palace now,” she sniffs, and without so much as a goodbye, she whisks out the door.
“I guess I’ll go with her,” Tilly says with a puzzled look after her friend. “Could I come see you tomorrow, Serah?”
“I would love that.”
She starts to leave, then turns back, embraces me, and hurries after Rosa. Marta sighs.
“Rally said Soren went to get you some chocolate, bless him. Could I walk you back to your tent, Your Highness?”
“That would be most helpful.” In truth, we came down so fast that I have no idea which direction my tent is.
She leads me out into the clear, cold night where, unsurprisingly, my guards are waiting. I nod to them, and they follow in silence, leaving enough distance for Marta and me to talk.
“Are you homesick?” she asks, nodding to a passing servant woman. I smile at the woman as well, but she only drops her head and fumbles through a fearful curtsy. My heart sinks. No one in Vasna was afraid to greet me.
“A bit,” I admit.
“I love Vasna. Its beauty is like no other.”
