Chapter Three.

Dear sister,

I am glad to hear you are well, if finding the weather oppressive. Thank you for your letter and I apologise for not replying more frequently; situations in Tortall have not been the calmest, as I am sure you are aware.

Shinkokami is well and she begs me tell you of the new cloth she is embroidering for the ritual table in the Yamani Temple here (she's never forgotten how interested you were in the Yamani fashions). She hopes to have it finished by autumn and asked me to include a description of it for you- but you know how poor my interpretation of art is.

Liam is courting a new lady. He's still as flirtatious and charming as he's ever been but I do believe this young beauty has got him caught around her finger, so to say. He showers her constantly with expensive gifts- as he does with all his lovers- but I am sure this one is determined to become his wife. (And he has only been back at Court a mere few weeks, to boot.)

One of the young pages (I remember you always were fascinated by those boys) started a fire in the Pages Stables last week. My Lords haMinch and Provost are investigating the matter but it seems it was part of a large disagreement between a few boys. One horse was unfortunately killed; 2 were slightly burnt, but most escaped. I thank Daine's affect on them; a stablehand said he watched the mounts undo their stall doors and march from the burning building a great deal calmer than normal horses would have done.

I have a meeting to attend to now so I will end this letter here.

Take care, sister dear,

Your loving brother,

Roald.

The Crown Prince read the letter over and blew on the ink to dry it. That done, he folded the parchment and sealed it with wax: dark blue for the son of the Royal family, stamped firmly and perfectly into place with his coat of arms.

He addressed the letter next: Empress Kalasin Iliniat of Carthak, and set it aside. Twiddled his fingers. In truth, the meeting wasn't for another one and a half candle marks, but it had been a good ending to the letter when he was running short on things to say.

Roald rose and crossed his study to lock the door. As it was off his private suite of rooms, no-one should enter but Shinkokami, but he wasn't about to take any chances.

Returning to his desk, he shifted the chair to the left slightly and crouched down. There were bookcases here against the wall, as there were in most of the room, and he ran his thumb across the spines of the books. In the far corner of the bottom most shelf he found what he was looking for: a single, small, leather-bound book.

Flicking through it, he sat at his desk again, picking up a pen. His eyes ran over the topmost line of the pages as he turned them: September 17th, September 22nd, September 25th, October 9th, October 21st… until he reached the latest entry.

His journal. It was not something he wrote for romantic reasons- mainly a way to clear his mind, as he had always found meditation particularly difficult. He didn't keep them either- not even for sentimental reasons. They were simply a way for him to express his feelings without causing any damage.

May 12th

Replied to Kally today. I miss her still, and every letter I write just makes it worse. And I can't tell her. She would be so upset if she knew I let it affect me.

I still can't believe that I will probably never see her again. She's married for the good of our realm, and yet it's like she's been exiled. I only hope she doesn't feel this way too. I hope she likes her new home.

I would let Shinko visit the Yamani Isles if she wanted to. If she wanted to go home for a short while, to visit her family, I'd let her. And I thought Kaddar was supposed to be a good man. Surely he'd let Kally come home.

Unless she doesn't want to. I don't think the others get letters from her very often, if at all. If they do, they keep very quiet about it. Maybe Kally only writes to me to keep me happy. Maybe she feels sorry for me, knowing I'll have to rule a country one day just like she does it.

Kally… an Empress. I wish I could see it. I wish I knew she was truly, wonderfully happy.

Mother misses her, most awfully. I caught her the other day, crying. She was in the paddock with the Rider's spare ponies, calling to the Horse Lords. Of course, I haven't told Kally.

I wonder at Mother. Surely she's known since she was a girl that she would marry someone powerful and that any children she had would have to marry for alliances too, not for love. And yet she seems to be finding this hard to cope with. I would have thought she'd had plenty of time to prepare herself.

I think it's even created a little rift of sorts between Mother and Father. He's the only person she lets her guard down around (apart from the odd times I catch her, and then I'm just a substitute for him), and I don't think he quite empathises with her. Father's always been realistic about Kally; about her dreams for knighthood and her marriage, and because Mother's usually so practical I don't think he can understand her grief now.

It makes me wonder what will happen to Lianne. She won't make as good a match as Kally, but there are still choices. I even heard mention of some Yamani Duke being interested to strengthen our tie.

Yet I have a feeling Mother won't let Annie be sent off, not after Kally. Plus Lianne hasn't had the right training and she's already sixteen. I can see her marrying some high Tortallan Courtier. Which of course beggars the question: who? For whichever family it is will suddenly have gained a dangerously advantageous position.

Perhaps Lianne will marry for love. It would be nice to think one of us would. I can see that Liam, womaniser that he is, will marry whoever Father tells him to (so long as she is relatively pretty) and then continue in his flirtatious manner with every lady that pleases him.

Well, we shall see.

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