The Will of the Empress - By Tamora Pierce Page 0,135

among the great mages. I want you to stay. I need you to stay."

"Why won't you come with me?" Daja asked, her voice cracking. For the first time in her life, she understood all the love poetry, all the passion that described a lover's kiss and a lover's touch. I always thought magic had burned that kind of excitement right out of my veins, she thought as she traced an embroidered rose with a fingertip. I always thought that was why boys' kisses left me feeling odd, not faint, and boys' hands didn't make me feel anything but distant. Now I know I wasn't looking at the right people. Now I've found someone who's right for me, and that's her. "How can you feel this way and not want to come with me?" she asked. "Don't you love me?"

"I do," whispered Rizu. "You're so strong, and sweet. You make beautiful things, you sing me songs from distant places.... I do love you."

Daja looked up and saw the rest of the answer in her friend's averted eyes and pale lips. "You love the empress more."

"Not the way you mean," Rizu protested. "Not in bed. I would never feel that way about her. But don't you see? She is all that is bright and beautiful in Namorn. She saved me from a marriage I didn't want. She made me a gift of lands and income of my own, so I didn't have to rely on my family — or obey my family's wishes for me." Rizu sat next to Daja and took her metal-gloved hand in both of hers. "I have power in her household. I'm part of something splendid. She builds bridges, hospitals, libraries, dams, you name it and she has built it, for the glory of the empire. How can you not want to belong to that?"

"She does all these things, and yet she lets the empire's women be preyed upon," Daja replied, yanking her hand free.

"I'm not preyed upon," Rizu said. "Not me, not Caidy, not Isha, not any of the women of her household. You would be safe, too, Daja. And we'd be together." She leaned forward and kissed Daja, promising love with the kiss.

Daja got to her feet. "Do you know, I even believe I'd be safe in her household," she told Rizu. "But Sandry isn't. She won't ever be, as long as the empress wants her bound to Namorn. And Sandry is my sister. We are closer than you can begin to imagine — Sandry, Briar, Tris, me. We are the same person in a way you have never heard of."

Rizu looked up, reaching a hand for Daja. "It doesn't have to be settled like this. Persuade Sandry to finish the summer, at least. Then we'll all understand one another better."

I understand well enough, thought Daja. I understand as much as I need to. So I should talk Sandry into staying — if I even could, which I doubt — so that other men may have a chance at binding her to a marriage contract? Biting her lip so she would not cry in front of the kaqs who walked the halls, she went back to her bedroom to pack.

*

The news that Sandry meant to leave for Emelan within the week made Landreg House buzz like an overturned beehive. The servants soon learned that when the normally kind Sandry was this angry, it was best simply to get out of her way. Ambros and Ealaga were made of sterner stuff. Their discussion with her ended in a shouting match that drove Briar out into the rose garden. He had little to pack now that his things from the palace were bundled up. He placed his personal shakkan on a stone bench so it could soak up sunlight while not moving and proceeded to give the garden a last inspection.

Ambros found him while he strengthened the roses against parasites. "I had thought she would finally see it is her duty to stay and represent her people," Ambros told Briar without preamble. "To represent them in the Noble Assembly. You must reason with her."

"She's in no mood for reason, or didn't you notice?" Briar asked, viewing one rose's leaves and stems from every angle. "Besides, she's got duties at home, too. Didn't she tell you? She's one of His Grace's two top people. She keeps his castle for him and advises him as he governs the country. If he goes out of Summersea, she stays there in his