raised and pulled the bow in one smooth motion, and let fly. The shaft struck dead center. He sent a second one after it and it struck so close on the left that it shaved a bit of fletching off the first. The third embedded itself just to the right of the first one. The feat was greeted with uneasy silence among the courtiers until Elani began to clap. As the others joined in, she raised an eyebrow at him. “You certainly took me at my word, my lord.”
He bowed, at a loss for words and hoping he hadn’t put his foot in it right off the mark. He was glad he hadn’t gotten carried away and split one of the arrows, which he could very well have done on such a calm day.
A page cleared Alec’s arrows from the target and Elani took her place at the line. To Alec’s considerable relief, she let fly three of her black-and-white-fletched shafts in quick succession and landed them in a grouping just as tight as his own.
“Well shot!” Alec cried, as the courtiers applauded. As soon as the words left his lips he wondered again if he’d overstepped.
Yet Elani looked pleased. “Thank you, my lord. Shall we have another go?”
They shot several more times, with Elani proving herself Alec’s equal each time.
“May I try the Radly?” She could have commanded him, but instead asked with the respect one archer accorded another. You didn’t ask such a thing lightly.
“Of course, Highness.” Alec traded with her, and held hers carefully as she sent half a dozen arrows unerringly into the target, making a star design.
When she was done she ran a hand over it again. “It’s a thing of beauty, Lord Alec. You must tell me where I can get one like it.”
“Please, accept this one, Highness,” he said, though the words came with a twinge; this would be the second one, another gift from Seregil, that he’d lost.
But she shook her head and handed it back. “No, it would be as wrong to part you from it as to take one of your hands.”
“Then at least accept these, Highness.” He untied half a
dozen of the best shatta dangling from his quiver and presented them to her, a collection of carved gold, silver, ivory, two jades, and a carnelian. “They’re from Aurenen, and they’re called shatta, which means ‘prize.’ Archers win them from one another in matches like this.”
Elani held them up, admiring them. “Yes, I know. Aunt Klia has some, from her time in that land. I gathered from how many you have that you must be very good. Thank you for these. Perhaps I’ll start the custom here.” She turned to her uncle in the next list over. “How are you and Lord Seregil faring, Uncle?”
Korathan gave Seregil a wry grin. “If we’re going to start that custom today, my dear, then Lord Seregil owes me a good many more shatta than that.”
They sat in the shade of a large grape arbor after that and drank chilled wine, then it was clear that Alec and Seregil were expected to take their leave. Alec left with a parting promise to send directions to Radly’s shop in Wolde and set off for the stables.
Reltheus excused himself and accompanied them.
“You’ve certainly made a favorable impression on the princess,” he said as they walked along. “Especially you, young Alec. You should be careful, or you’ll make your lover here jealous.”
“He has no reason to be,” Alec replied, coloring a little.
Reltheus chuckled at that. “Many young men would be pleased with such a conquest.”
“I’d hardly say he conquered me,” Seregil said with a smile.
Reltheus blinked, then got the joke. “I’ve heard you called the most amusing man in Rhiminee, Seregil. Since I’ve gotten to know you, I think I may just agree. Will you dine with me tonight, gentlemen?”
“Why, we’d be delighted!”
“I’ll send a carriage for you. I don’t suppose you could bring that actor fellow along?”
“I believe he’s onstage tonight, unfortunately,” said Alec.
“Let’s go and see him, then! My wife has been badgering me to take her. We can dine afterward.”
Bidding the duke farewell at the stable gate, they got their horses from the liveried stable boy and set off for home.
“Well, how did I do?” asked Alec.
“Very well, tali. But you noticed we weren’t invited inside with the others? Korathan whispered a little warning to me while you and the princess were shooting.”
“Really? What did he say?”
“Just that while Elani has taken a liking to you, Phoria will most likely put a stop to it when she comes home. We’re not the sort of company she’ll want her future queen to keep. Then again, maybe Elani will have some say in the matter. We’ll just have to wait and see. Enjoy it while it lasts!”
“Are you certain you’re all right with this?” asked Seregil as they waited for Reltheus’s coach to arrive that evening.
“Stop asking!” Alec muttered, less than happy with the night’s plan.
The duke and his wife soon arrived, and they set out for Gannet Lane.
Reltheus introduced Palmani, who was out of birthing confinement. She was very young and quite pretty. Alec felt bad for her, knowing what her husband got up to on his nights out. She was also a little shy, but Seregil soon had her laughing and talking about her baby son.
There was a large crowd gathered in front of the theater, and the playbills hung on each side of the doors promised a comedy tonight called The Wife’s Revenge. It seemed appropriate, although Alec was fairly certain from the way Palmani fawned on her husband that she knew nothing of his philandering ways.
A few people muttered as Seregil led his guests to the head of the line, but the man taking the money knew them and bowed deeply as he ushered them in.
“This is quite wonderful!” Palmani exclaimed, looking around excitedly as they settled in the finely appointed patrons’ box. “I’ve been asking my husband for weeks to bring me.”
Reltheus raised her hand to his lips. “And here we are, my love, courtesy of my good friends.”
“He speaks of you so often,” she told Alec.
Young Van soon appeared with chilled wine and a plate of sweets. “Compliments of the house, my lords,” the boy said with a deep bow.
“Thank you, Van,” said Seregil. “Tell me, do you know if Atre is free after the show tonight? We’re dining with the duke and his lady and they would very much like to meet him.”
“I’m sure he is, my lord!”
The play was, as always, excellent, with Atre playing the cuckolding husband and Merina the triumphant wife. Brader played the husband’s roistering companion with more humor than Alec had thought the man capable of.
It ended with the unfortunate husband locked in a cupboard with a malodorous servant, played by Teibo, and a flatulent hound. The crowd loved it and threw all manner of favors onto the stage when the cast came out to take their bows.
“Oh, they were wonderful!” Palmani exclaimed, wiping away tears of laughter. “I do look forward to meeting this handsome actor of yours.”
The footlights were extinguished and the crowd milled out, talking and laughing, while Seregil and the others waited in the box. Atre soon joined them, dressed in an elaborately embroidered blue coat and silk breeches.
“Your Graces.” Color flashed from the jewels of his earring and the numerous rings he wore as he bowed. These were almost always different, and Seregil very much suspected that he wore whatever jewels his host or hostess for the evening had given him, to please them and curry favor. The one constant, Seregil noted, was the amethyst ring Atre wore on the little finger of his right hand; the one Elani had given him. That had been quite a coup, and it seemed Atre was happy to remind people of it.
“What an honor to offer my humble services!” Atre was saying, not sounding particularly humble.
“You can thank your patrons, Master Atre,” Palmani said, offering her hand for him to kiss.
“They are unfailingly generous, Your Grace.”
There was little overt sign of the war deprivations in the Noble Quarter, or at least not in Reltheus’s huge Silvermoon Street villa, where a sumptuous feast awaited them. They ate in the elaborate garden, enjoying the cool night breeze as they dined on courses of venison and hare from the duke’s hunting estate, and jellied eel and lobsters from the bay. Seafood was still plentiful in Rhiminee, since it didn’t travel well. The bread, it was true, was made from coarser flour than one might expect, and there were candied fruits rather than tarts for dessert, but no one commented on such lacks.