14.0

"You have never had a party in the castle?" Portia asked, her eyes wide with wonder. "Never ever?"

"No. Not in my lifetime," Cai replied, sinking into a chair in his quarters. He was exhausted.

"You have no idea how to plan this, do you?"

"Not even remotely," Blackpool's seneschal answered glumly. "We have a lot of experience planning wars, oppressing peasants and terrorizing our neighbors, though. Ask me how to collect overdue tax payments or how to put down a domestic rebellion, and I'm an expert."

"Does Blackpool even know what he wants?"

"He's convening all the northern nobility. That hasn't been done since his father was coronated. It's a big deal. It happens once or twice in a lifetime. It means that all the various aristocrats show up here with their wives and families in tow, expecting something major to happen. Historically they stay for a few days expecting the new king to feast them and entertain them. Like we know anything about hosting large groups of guests!"

Portia stared at the seneschal for a moment. She tried to visualize such an event planned by men used to battlefields and torture chambers. She burst out laughing.

"This isn't funny, damn it! My life depends on getting this right! He expects me to be planning the details of this while he's plotting his coup. This whole thing is impossible to do in a week. We need to delay it!"

"You just said 'damn it.'"

Cai rolled his eyes and ran his hand through his cropped, dark hair. He really was under a lot of stress. The sudden decision to convene the nobles in order to announce the prince's engagement and force the baronial council to call for his coronation put enormous responsibility on the seneschal. Appearances were everything in something like this. The success of the coup more or less depended on those appearances. Disorganization and poor planning could have disastrous results. To make matters worse, there was no money to pay for any of it.

Portia had reopened the magical trade gates to Lyr earlier today, but it would be days before the gold and food could be brought through in large enough quantities to matter. The Lyrian gold bullion would eventually have to be minted into kolnas, and there was no time.

Portia moved behind the chair and loosened his gray doublet. Her small hands moved along the tight muscles of his neck and shoulders, searching out the knots expertly. "You are way to tense about this, darling!"

"It's a nightmare! Fighting I understand. Finances I understand. This I don't!"

She went to work on his shoulders, muscle by muscle, leaning the entire weight of her petite frame against him as she worked. He responded with a grateful groan. "Tell me what the biggest problem is with the timing, and let's work from there," she coaxed.

"Money."

"What happened to all the gold from the arcanium revenue?"

"A demon turned the contents of the entire treasury into chocolate medallions. There is not a kolna left."

He turned around and glared at Portia as she erupted in another fit of giggling. "Stop laughing!"

"Does it at least taste good?" she grinned, straightening his shoulders so she could keep working.

"There is nothing funny about this. Ask Blackpool. See how long you live."

"Cai, money is not a problem. We could pave your roads in it and hardly know the difference. Zyrdicia blows more on a whim than your treasury could hold."

"Lyrian plats are useless here."

"One of our corporate divisions has a coin minting facility in Lyr. It runs on magic and turns coins out incredibly fast. We manipulate economies all over the world with counterfeit currency. This is business as usual for us. Give me your coin plates and alloy specs and I'll have them crunch out a few hundred thousand kolnas to get through this week. Next problem?"

"Food. There isn't any. The South's harvest was ruined; we have no harvest to speak of in the North. People are starving there, here and everywhere. That wouldn't normally interest us, except for the feast requirement I mentioned a moment ago."

"Now that the gates are open, the food shortage will soften here in a few weeks after it trickles through the peasants trade channels. As for food for your guests, not a problem. I'll get a bunch of our restaurant crew to come in and organize your kitchen, bring in a chef used to menu planning for large crowds and we're done. The last party Zyrdicia threw at the Temple had fifteen hundred people attend and lasted thirty-six hours. This is nothing. What else do you have?"

"To house them all, we'll have to open up parts of the castle that haven't been used in decades. The weather has already turned cold so we can't put up tents. We have to quarter them all inside. You saw what the South Tower was like the first time you were here. That was the only suite in the entire Tower that was fit for habitation. There isn't time to bring all those rooms up to the necessary standards."

Portia nodded, suspecting the disused parts of the castle had been permitted to fall into disrepair to free up more money for the war effort. Every kolna that came into the Blackpool treasury for two generations had gone directly to the military. Maintaining forgotten portions of the castle was simply not a priority. She reassured, "There is plenty of time! We could build a castle in a week with the resources we have. Cleaning and refurbishing one isn't a problem. Anthony's almost as good with interior design work as he is with clothes, and he's picky about details. He'll love having a bunch of people to order around. We'll take care of that too. What else?"

"We have to keep them entertained while they're here."

"That one I'll leave up to you. Anything we brought in from Lyr would piss your boss off. If you want me to arrange pyrotechnics or a light spectacle through the Magic Guild, though, I can do that. Go through and break it down day by day, hour by hour. If there are gaps you can't fill, I'll think of something. What else can I solve for you today?"

"I have no words to express how glad I am that you are here," Cai sighed, turning his face to kiss one of her hands on his shoulders. "I have never missed someone as much as I missed you."

"Oh, come on! You just need me to pull your ass out of the fire when your boss gets you in over your head!" she teased. "You have a staff full of pretty servant girls at your beck and call. It can't have ben that bad."

Cai and Portia were very open with one another about their respective wandering tendencies. Portia was the only woman Cai had ever been involved with who did not care in the least about what he did with the servants he oversaw. Jealousy was a totally alien concept to her. Possessiveness simply did not figure into her sexual vocabulary. He knew that he could do as he pleased with other women as long as he was honest with her about it. For the first time in his life, though, he had no desire to wander. Servants had nothing he wanted.

He frowned, "One of the chambermaids I used to keep my bed warm last winter knew I was depressed and tried to cheer me up. She cornered me in the kitchen after dinner a few nights ago. The thought of it did nothing for me. I just lay awake alone all night, thinking about you."

Portia moved around the chair so that she could sit comfortably upon his lap and embrace him. "I felt like I had turned into Samantha when I left here. Zyrdicia was going crazy, there were dozens of arcanium buyers furious that the supply had been cut off, everything was in a state of crisis, and all I wanted to do was hide. I cried for the first time in maybe ten years the night I left. I buried myself in work so that I wouldn't have to think about it."

"I love you," Cai murmured softly. "I really hate the fact that in order for there to be an 'us' there has to be a 'them.'"

"They are both incapable of having a relationship. I thought there was no one in the world as emotionally incompetent as Zyrdicia. There is - and she found him. Without half of Hell stepping in to force them together, this will never happen. Do you know how difficult it is going to be to keep them from killing each other?"

The seneschal smiled wearily, "Maybe we should let them. We would be rid of them at least. I have a family estate near Grogan. We could live off the arcanium money, have a ton of kids and live happily ever after never having to hear either of their voices again."

"To Hell with the arcanium money, sweetie! I have access to all of her accounts and stashes of money all over the world. Her accountants in Lyr answer to me too. We would be fabulously wealthy! We could live anywhere."

"It's settled then! We'll let them do away with each other."

"Someday, maybe. Do you really want kids?"

"Not as long as I'm working here in the castle. It's a bad place for children to grow up. Look around."

"And as long as Blackpool is in charge, you'll never leave here, will you?"

Cai shook his head, "I know way too much. He would kill me if he thought I wanted to leave."

Portia nodded. They were both involved far too deeply in their respective bosses affairs for voluntary departure to be an option.

He brightened and suggested, "After they make the announcement, let's take a few days and ride down my estate. The prince owes me some time off. Can you get Zyrdicia to let you go?"

"When she gets back, they'll have been apart long enough that they will probably be distracted with each other and all the people they want to kill. I think I could talk her into a few days. But how are we going to get there?"

"It's less than a day's ride. If we leave early, we can make it before sunset."

"Ride?" Portia asked suspiciously.

"On horseback..."

"No way," she said quickly, shaking her head vehemently. "No. I couldn't really leave anyway. There's too much going on in Lyr right now."

"What's the matter with you?"

"It's just a really busy time."

Cai looked at her strangely. He had felt her tense up in his arms at the mention of horses. "Have you ever been on a horse?"

Portia shook her head guiltily. "They terrify me. Could we just take a coach or something?"

He shook his head, smiling, pulling her against him. He kissed her cheek fondly. It was not often that she was not in total control over her world. "Going by coach would take forever. It would be hideously uncomfortable with all the bumping and jarring. As small as you are, I'll just put you in the saddle in front of me. While we're there I'll teach you how to control a horse."

"How do you know how? You hardly ever leave the castle!"

"Military training. You don't think I was knighted for being able to run the castle efficiently, do you?"

"I never thought about it, I guess. What did you do to deserve it?"

"Years ago, when King Saris was still in charge, and Dirk was leading troops like Geoffrey does now, I was at the front lines in Baaldorf. I saved his life there once, when our line was broken and he was trapped on the wrong side of it."

"I'm glad that's in your past. I would worry about you."

"Who do you think put down the rebellion in Dagonia when the prince was busy annexing Tronin?" He laughed softly, unpinning her mane of red hair from behind her head.

"You razed the castle and captured the old baron's family?"

"Those were my orders."

"You never wear weapons around the castle. I had no idea," Portia said thoughtfully. "I've never seen you sparring out in the courtyard with the other knights out there either."

"You just weren't watching on the right days." He frowned suddenly, biting his lip. "Damn."

"What now?"

"It just occurred to me that I really should go tell Prince Blackpool that we've solved the cash flow problem. He would expect me to inform him immediately."

Portia sighed. He did not have to explain the sudden need to report to his boss. She understood.

14.0.1

At this late hour, Cai knew the prince would be in his chambers. As he made his way there through the darkened, silent hallways, he glanced through a window out across the courtyard. Icy rain fell in sheets upon the cobblestones outside. Winter was already knocking at the castle gates. It would be a cold night. He smiled to himself, glad Portia was back.

He knocked softly at the door to Blackpool's quarters, then entered when beckoned. "I apologize for the intrusion, my lord," he announced deferentially as he walked into the room. He found Blackpool seated in his chair, his feet propped up comfortably in front of the fire. "I have good news."

On the small table next to the prince, Cai noticed the picture of Zyrdicia from the cover of the Lyrian tabloid. Her biography was there as well. He did not have to wonder whom the prince had been thinking about, sitting there.

A thoughtful smile spread across the prince's lips. "Good news?"

"Portia has arranged to transfer several hundred thousand kolnas from your fiancee to your treasury to cover expenses until the arcanium tax revenue begins to flow again."

Dirk nodded slowly. He knew the cost of convening the nobles was extraordinary. The sum in question would cover that, and the wages due the troops. Still, it hadn't been quite the good news he had hoped for.

Cai read his lords expression then offered, "Zyrdicia will be back soon. I'm sure she is quite eager to return." Cai bit his tongue the instant the uncalled for words of reassurance escaped mouth. He knew better. It was too personal. Portia's return undermined his sense of propriety. To Cai's surprise, however, the expected rebuke from the prince never came.

Dirk stared at him a long moment. "Of course she is eager to return," he said quietly as though there were no other possibility.

A year ago, Cai would have probably already been on his way to the dungeon for commenting unbidden about such a private matter. When they discussed women, it was always from a mocking, derisive perspective. Since their youth, they had conversed about well-bred young women, seduced and left in tears, and pretty servants, fearful and manipulated. The prince had never discussed Bethel in such a conversation, however. That affair had never quite been publicly acknowledged. Zyrdicia, on the other hand, was about as easy to keep out of public gaze as a full moon in the darkness. Everything about her demanded public notice, attention and comment.

Cai suspected that the prince missed her. He surmised that from the expression on the prince's face a moment ago. Almost a month had passed since she had departed. The seneschal looked forward to the return to the way things had been when she was here before. Nothing had been right since she left.