Page 54 of Ties of Dust

“He’s just angry because I didn’t respond how he wanted to his…offers,” she blurted out. “That’s all. Nothing to do with Sir Keavling or anyone else.”

“His offers?” The prince’s voice was ominous. “What kind of offers?”

She didn’t answer, and his brow darkened. Clearly he understood what she wasn’t saying.

“Is that supposed to reassure me?” he asked, the quiet menace in his voice sending a strange thrill down her spine. “I’ll have him thrown from my guard within the hour.”

“That would be an overreaction,” she assured him. “He wasn’t the first, and he won’t be the last.”

“I’ll have every one of them thrown out.” He still spoke with the calm of submerged anger.

“What will that achieve?” Flora asked him. She hoped the exasperation in her voice hid the foolish satisfaction she took from his eagerness to defend her. “I won’t pretend to enjoy that kind of attention, but your guards don’t know how to react to me. And why would they? Our circumstances are so absurd, they’re a farce.”

She held his gaze in a silent challenge. His eyes remained stormy for a long moment, until suddenly he deflated. With a groan so soft she barely heard it, he ran a hand over his face.

“It’s certainly a mess,” he acknowledged.

“Which is news to neither of us,” she reminded him. “Now, don’t you have an appointment with Her Majesty?”

“Not precisely,” he said, although he turned away from the training yard at last. “I have an appointmentformy mother.” Taking in her confused expression, he sighed. “A fitting with the tailor. For tomorrow night’s ball.”

They rounded a corner, and Cassius glanced at her.

“You’ve had a busy morning, haven’t you? You’ve managed to antagonize both the servants and the guards.”

Flora chuckled, the sound a little pained. “I don’t think the courtiers are too fond of me either. I don’t have much success at making friends, do I?”

“No one knows where you fit,” Cassius said. “You’re not a servant, not a guest, not anyone’s idea of a guard…”

“My position is awkward,” Flora conceded. “But I manage.”

“You manage very well,” Cassius agreed. “But that doesn’t make me feel better about the position you’ve been placed in.”

Flora disregarded this. “Do you really not refer to magic as Dust in Carrack?” she asked.

“No, we don’t,” he said. “I’m not sure I understand the logic of doing so.”

“Oh, you know, it’s because of…” Flora made a sweeping motion with her arm. Cassius just raised an eyebrow, so she added, “Movement stirs up Dust the way a puff of breeze might stir up literal dust. Just then, for example, I could sense the tiny cloud generated by the movement of my arm.”

“I suppose I can see that,” Cassius said doubtfully.

“It’s not just Siqual,” Flora told him. “Torrens and Dernan both use the term as well. I don’t know about Pulau, I suppose.” She named the island kingdom to the west of Torrens.

“Well, we don’t use it in Carrack. We just say power.”

“Hm.” She gave him a look. “Maybe your kingdom isn’t naturally grouped by customs with the rest of the Peninsula after all. Maybe your father and Sir Keavling are right that it should be considered part of the continent.”

Cassius made a disgruntled noise in his throat. “Not you, too.”

Flora grinned at him as they reached their destination. To her surprise, he waved her into the tailor’s room with him.

“Your Highness.” The tailor bowed, his eyes drifting toFlora then brightening. “Ah. This is the young lady in question, I take it?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Cassius confirmed.

Flora looked warily between them.

“Allow me to check your garment first, Your Highness,” the tailor said.

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