Eimarille pulled on a pair of fine leather gloves before taking the muff Terilyn handed her to help keep her hands warm on the ride to Evergreen. After a final glance in the mirror, Eimarille left the bedroom, Terilyn at her usual spot to the right of her and half a step behind.
The covered patio that linked to the garage where the fleet of motor carriages was housed bustled with servants. The motor carriage chosen for today was enclosed in deference to the winter weather. The driver waited by the motor carriage with the door open. He bowed at their arrival and offered his hand to help Eimarille and Terilyn into the back of the vehicle.
Two other motor carriages, one in front and one in the rear, rounded out their escort. The guards seated in those vehicles were well armed for Eimarille’s protection. She’d grown out of thinking of herself as a prisoner, but there’d been a time she had chafed at the entourage always given her whenever she left the confines of the palace.
Settling into the motor carriage, she buckled the lap belt and slipped her hands into the muff again. The motor carriage was surprisingly warm despite the cold weather, courtesy of the heat spell applied by the Daijal court’s retained magician. It made for a comfortable ride to Evergreen at the outskirts of the city, the military school tucked between two defensive inner walls.
Snow dusted the sidewalks, the streets themselves cleared of it from the snow shoveling machines. Eimarille saw one in passing at an intersection, the bulky machine belching steam every now and then as the operator maneuvered the large shovel in the front to move snow aside.
People stopped on the street to watch her motor carriage pass, seeking a glimpse of Eimarille inside. Occasionally, she removed her hand from the muff to wave. The general goodwill followed her to Evergreen, and they were greeted in the wide courtyard of the military school by a rank of cadets standing at rigid attention.
High General Kote Akina met her on the courtyard, opening the door of the motor carriage and offering his hand to her. She took it with a light touch, his fingers curled around hers as she alighted from the vehicle. Kote offered the same support to Terilyn, then bowed deeply to them.
“Welcome, Your Royal Highness,” Kote said as he straightened up. “It is always a pleasure to have you here.”
“You’re too kind, High General,” Eimarille said.
Kote was a tall man fifteen years her senior, taking after his Tovanian father with his brown skin and dark hair, but his startling green eyes came from the Daijalan mother of a noble bloodline, who had given him up at birth after quite a scandal.
Kote’s official place of residence was located in the cluster of buildings making up the Department of Military Affairs at the governing heart of New Haven. Meeting him there would draw too much attention, but meeting him at Evergreen, where Eimarille got to know up-and-coming officers, had never been looked askance at.
Her visits had always been seen as quaint by the king, and he’d allowed her them without reproach, believing all she did was inspect the cadets before taking her leave. And she did inspect the cadets, a duty Kote proudly walked her through, extolling the virtues of the newest class of officers-in-training.
“You admitted more for the class this year than last,” Eimarille said.
Kote kept his pace to hers, hands clasped behind his back as he escorted her through the halls of the administration building to the office assigned to him when he was in residency. “It seemed prudent. When the Defense Council approved the extra scholarships, we had an uptick in interest from men and women with a commerce background.”
“I take it the nobility weren’t as keen?”
“I’ve trained nobles. The military way of life is not for all of them.”
Eimarille smiled slightly. “An accurate assessment if ever there was one.”
Wesley’s absence was a pointed reminder of that truth. It was tradition for some noblemen and even some noblewomen to attend Evergreen. They did so not out of an expectation they would continue their military career in any useful way, but because the uniform was a status symbol.
The Daijal court was built on status, while Evergreen was built for functionality, not beauty, a detail Eimarille never failed to note as she walked its halls. Its walls and rooms lacked decorations that weren’t historical maps of past battles, portraits or busts of dead officers who’d made their mark upon Daijal history, and clockwork replications of the army’s war machines.
Kote’s working office here showcased the accomplishments of his career, from a dedicated lieutenant getting his hands dirty in the field to a skilled captain who’d kept their eastern border whole in the face of Ashion skirmishes. He’d risen in the ranks at a fast pace, earning the rank of high general at a shockingly young age, partially due to his experience on the ground that not even Eimarille’s husband could claim.
It was the star god who stood by the window staring at the courtyard below who had engineered Kote’s road. Skill could only take one so far whose bloodline wasn’t written out in any worthwhile genealogy. That’s what came of a child born out of wedlock, whose noble family refused to acknowledge his existence.
But Innes had seen something useful in him, and Eimarille could concede the Twilight Star had been correct in that assessment. Kote was useful, and Eimarille could do so much withuseful.
She dipped into a deep curtsy, as did Terilyn, while Kote came to strict attention and saluted. Innes turned away from the window and acknowledged them with a nod and a smile.
“You’ve grown since last we met,” Innes said as he came around the desk. “I see you remain as beautiful as ever.”
A fire burning in the fireplace kept the office cozily warm, but it had nothing on the warmth of Innes’ hand when he took Eimarille’s and brought it to his mouth to kiss her knuckles. The heat that always seemed to burn in the star god’s veins tugged at the starfire that had never been extinguished in her own soul.
“You flatter me, my lord,” Eimarille said, smiling at her mentor.
Innes guided her over to the nearest chair, pulling it out for her. Eimarille adjusted the skirt of her gown as she sat, the edges of the corset pressing against her hips. She settled her hands into her lap, gloved fingers folded over each other as she lifted her chin and met the Twilight Star’s heavy gaze.
“How goes the farming?” she asked.
Innes waved his hand at her as he returned to the window, lazily pacing back and forth like a hunting cat. “We’ve acquired the necessary land in the north of Daijal. That was never going to be the issue. It’s the south that is at risk of putting us behind schedule.”
Eimarille resisted the urge to press a hand to her stomach. “Will the plains not work?”
