I had plans for when we returned to the capital.  They weren’t grand or particularly important plans, but they were mine, and I was determined to carry through with them.  First, a long bath.  Obviously.  Then I thought I’d lay on my bed for a while.  I’d send Opnie to fetch me snacks and tell her to take her time so that I could have a good long time to wallow on my very comfortable bed before they arrived.  When Opnie returned with the food (mostly sweets) I’d eat until I was sick and then lay on my bed some more.

The general populace probably thought I spent all my time in the capital praying for a god to assume their rightful place in the city.  They’d be scandalized if they knew the truth.

Regrettably, when I emerged from my bath, I had neither a comfortable bed or sweets waiting for me.

My father was there instead.

I immediately turned around and went straight back into my bedroom.  I would have closed the door on him, but he was clearly expecting this as he had a hand on it before it was halfway shut.  Exasperated, I turned my back to him and threw myself on my bed.  Fine.  If he was going to be here, there wasn’t much I could do to remove him, but I wasn’t going to let him interfere with my very important plans for the afternoon.

“I haven’t seen you in over a year now,” he said.

“I know!  We had such a good streak going.  Why break it now?”

My words came out a bit muffled, as my face was in my pillow, but I think he understood what I was saying, for his voice went terse.

“I know you’re angry, Alyere, but you can’t keep avoiding me like this.”

“Angry?  Angry doesn’t even begin to describe it.”  I rolled over so I could look at him.  “You ruined my life!”

“I made you the Beloved!”

We glared at each other from opposite sides of the room.  I didn’t look much like him.  He was thin, mouse-like, and dark haired.  I took after my mother.  He didn’t wear fury as well as we did.  It looked a bit pathetic on him.  Like a mouse trying to lecture the cat.

“Did I ever indicate I wanted to be Beloved?” I asked icily.  “Did I ever show an interest in royal politics?  No.  In fact, if you’d been paying attention, you’d have noticed that I was very careful to not involve myself with the royal court any more than was necessary for our station.”

“You went to plenty of parties-”

“Not the royal ones.”

I sat up.  Fine.  If he wasn’t leaving, then we’d have this confrontation that he seemed to want so bad and maybe that would drive him off for another year or two.  I needed to find out how he got in.  The temple guards had been instructed to keep him out.  Maybe they had someone new manning the entrance today.

“If you thought for an instant that I wanted to be Beloved,” I continued, “you wouldn’t have deceived me.  You’d have told me as soon as the queen confirmed the appointment.  You always did give me whatever I wanted, didn’t you - except where it really mattered.”

He tugged at his collar nervously.  This conversation clearly wasn’t going like he’d expected.  He looked at me furtively, as if I were a feral wolf and he was just now recognizing it.  Of course he didn’t realize that I had a will of my own.  He’d grown so accustomed to Alyere being the obedient, agreeable child that he hadn’t stopped to consider that I might be playing a game even within my own family, just like I’d been taught, just like all noble children were taught.

“The queen requested you!” he said uncomfortably.  “What could I have said?”

“You could have said ‘no’!”

“But our reputation-”

“Piss on our reputation,” I snapped.  “It hasn’t done us much good except make us the queen’s favorite source of blindly obedient-”

“Did I come at a bad time?” an elegant voice interrupted.

I immediately forced a smile onto my face.

“No, your majesty,” I said sweetly.  “My father was just leaving.”

Queen Misht breezed into the room.  Neither of us had heard her enter the sitting room.  Misht could be like that sometimes.  She enjoyed surprising people with her presence and would forgo being announced.

“Oh, how lovely,” the queen said, clapping her hands together.  “The father and daughter are finally speaking to each other.”

“Yes,” I grimaced.  “I’ll speak to the temple guards to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

“No, you won’t.”

That made me pause.  The queen was rarely so direct in her orders with me.  When she was, it meant that she was serious.  Her expression had grown hard.

“I can’t have my Beloved openly spurning my most loyal noble family.  I don’t care if you two never reconcile, but I want people to believe you have.  I want fond smiles and hugs in public.  I want you to be seen with each other.”

“How often?” I asked through clenched teeth.

“You’re smart, Alyere,” Misht snapped.  “What makes sense for a daughter who actually loves her father?  Figure it out.”

“Fine.”  I turned my attention to my father.  “Let’s have lunch tomorrow in the city where people will see us.  I’ll prepare a list of acceptable topics of conversation.”

“I’ll bring a gift,” he replied with a soft bow.  “I still remember your favorite flowers.”

I fell backwards onto the bed as soon as he was gone and covered my face with my hands.  I groaned dramatically.  The bed shifted with the queen’s weight as she sat down on one side of it.

“I didn’t think you were excited to be the Beloved,” she said carefully, “but I didn’t think you’d hate it so much that you’d sever ties to your own family.”

“I’ve never been close to my father.  I was the easiest child to manage and that meant I needed the least attention.”

“Well, I don’t regret my choice, although I am sad by how things have turned out with your family.  What happened in Manere is… alarming, and I need someone capable by my side for whatever comes next.”

“I could be married by now,” I said, stubbornly refusing to acknowledge the reason the queen was here.  “I could be happy.”

“You wouldn’t be happy.  You don’t actually want to get married.  I remember you saying you wanted to marry someone that wouldn’t mind having separate rooms - no - separate manors - so you could live your own life.”

“I was drugged.  I was delirious.”

“You were honest.”

“So when I called you a soulless monster, was that honesty too?”

“Maybe you were a little delirious,” she conceded.

The bed shifted again as she stood.

“I’m sending you to visit all the gods surrounding the capital,” she said.  “Inform them of the situation and ensure they understand to be especially vigilant about who passes through their territory.”

Strengthening the capital’s borders since we didn’t have a god of our own right now.  Sensible.

“And take Ambassador Gristil with you.”

Now that was interesting.  I’d have to concoct a reason to convince him to accompany me and that wouldn’t be easy.  But if Misht was singling out a particular ambassador, that meant she had a suspicion about who was responsible for murdering a god.

And she wanted me to confirm it.