and pigs and chickens. The elaborate hairstyles and well-made jewelry. Because she hated that she was plain, while the rest of them barely cared at all how they looked.
“She’s been waiting her entire life to be queen, Gemma, and nothing we say or do is going to stop her.”
* * *
Gemma became impossibly still, nothing on her moving, while her mind turned over the information Keeley had given her. For a moment, it didn’t even look like she was breathing.
Then she was coming across the room, her finger pointed at Keeley, until she stood only a few inches from her.
“You don’t think she should be queen either . . . do you?”
“She’s a spoiled twenty-three-year-old girl who has never left the house she was born in. Of course I don’t think she should be queen. Princess, perhaps, but not a ruling queen.”
“Then why are you—”
“Why argue with her at this stage? It’s not going to dissuade her. If anything, it’s just going to make her dig her heels in. And, unlike you, I know how stubborn our sister can be.”
“You need to stop throwing in my face how long I’ve been gone.”
“You shouldn’t have left.”
“I have a calling, Sister.”
“The gods speak to you?” she asked.
“Sometimes. Yes.”
“But Beatrix is the irrational one with dreams of grandeur?”
“Those are two very different things.”
“Are they? She believes she can be queen of the Hill Lands and you think you talk to gods. Perhaps be careful before throwing stones from that glass castle.”
Gemma waved Keeley’s very sound logic away and said, “If you don’t think she should be queen, then what are you doing?”
“I will be traveling with her to see those witches.”
“Why?” Gemma barked at her. “Why are you feeding this craziness?”
“I’m not letting my sister go alone with the Amichais.”
“They saved our lives.”
“And I’m grateful. I will always be grateful. But she’s still family. And we protect family. I’m not letting her go anywhere by herself.” Keeley pushed her hair off her face but was annoyed when it slipped forward again. “Especially because I know she’ll need me when this all settles down.”
“What do you mean?”
“Once these witches meet her, find out about her, they’ll change their minds. They’ll know she’s not the future queen. And Beatrix will be devastated. She’ll need at least one of us there to comfort her, and Mum can’t go.”
“You so sure that’s what the witches will say?”
“She’s a young woman who has never been more than ten leagues away from the farm she was born in. But, and this is the important part, she is brilliant. I don’t mean she’s smart. I mean brilliant. She’d been able to read when she was still crawling. She could do Mum’s books from the forge by the time she was five. She thinks this is all owed to her because she’s brilliant. You and me . . . ? If someone told us we were going to be queen, we’d say, ‘Me? But I’m a peasant. Who’s going to make us queen?’ But not Beatrix. Beatrix has always known.” Keeley gazed intently at her sister. “And she’s not going to let anyone—especially the two of us—tell her any different.”
“If she’s so brilliant,” Gemma said with great sarcasm, “then why shouldn’t she be queen?”
“Because she has no experience with anything. She knows nothing of war or battle or how to get and keep the loyalty of hard men. She has no allies and no royal connections. And none of the Old King’s sons will want to marry her to legitimize her that way. She has no friends and, from what I can tell, doesn’t want any. I love my sister, but I have no delusions about her, Gemma. She’s a good person and will want to do the right thing, but being queen . . .” Keeley frowned. “What’s so funny?”
“She’s a good person? Seriously?”
“She is to my eyes. Of course, how would you know one way or the other?” Keeley held up her hands. “I’m not going to fight about this with you. I’m going with her tomorrow. And, the gods willing, we’ll be back before the next full moon. I don’t know if life can go back to normal after that, but at least this upsetting part of our drama will be over.”
Keeley jumped off the table and headed toward the door. But Gemma caught hold of her forearm and held her. “Let me go with her tomorrow. You can stay and protect the family with Mum and Da.”