The Exchange Ch. 10

Once the bottom of her cup was back on its saucer, Inka said, "I couldn't tolerate you for a long while, at least not without becoming highly irritated."

One of Nitishila's legs rose to cross over its brother. "I understand."

"But ... perhaps this marriage was still a fine idea." Inka purposely avoided his profile, looking elsewhere. "You're not truly unkind. You have your own sense of justice. However, you have a certain naïveté."

She heard his voice rise a little. "Excuse me? How can that be? I'm a man, a great and significant man."

"A man who lacks the ability to see through scheming and intrigue." Inka pretended her headscarf needed to be adjusted. Her little fingers uselessly tapped and tugged on the fabric and pins. "As for myself, I've brewed protections against myself for most of my life. You'd do well to keep me as your closest ally."

Jorun knelt before them, and she said, "Mistress, are you going to tell him your story? If so, then please permit me the right to tell it. It's so upsetting and tiring, and your lips are too golden for such words."

"Silly girl." Inka waved her fingers at Jorun. Then she shrugged. "Go on, then. Entertain my poor, confused husband."

Nitishila's seat made a grumbling noise as he leaned forward.

***

"Princess Inka's mother died soon after she was born. It was a sad period, I've heard. The previous king adored his first wife, and so, my mistress was coddled. When the king married again, he chose a significantly young bride. This new queen consort despised Princess Inka, and when the king fell ill and bed-ridden, my mistress suffered. Many schemes were arranged against her. At first, Princess Inka didn't know how to defend herself. Her brothers were easily fooled, and in order to survive, she had to learn the rules of the game her stepmother had played."

"I'll spare His Highness the minor details, but know that Princess Inka's revenge was planned over several years. Piece by piece, month by month, Inka laid out trick after trick to destroy her stepmother's reputation as a queen, as a wife, and even as a human being. She revealed her stepmother's extramarital affairs. She uncovered a plot to secretly drain royal finances to her father's estate. My mistress was even able to find incriminating letters that brought out one of the most unpleasant truths to light. The queen consort had been slowly poisoning the king. What little influence the king had left was a hindrance to her own desires. She'd wanted him dead."

"Princess Inka demanded the right to perform the execution. She'd even taken short lessons from the official executioner on how to properly use the beheading machine. And just before she released the blade, Princess Inka summoned several servants to testify her stepmother's cruelty to the public. Unfair punishments, overworking them, offenses of that nature. All to add more bitterness to her stepmother's wounds, all to be certain that nobody would believe there was ever any goodness left in that woman's heart, all to ensure that her reputation would drag behind her even after death."

"As the only adult woman left in the family, Princess Inka suddenly received great clout and higher expectations. For example, she was given the ring of keys for all the important chests, and she was the woman we servants answered to every day. One evening, Princess Inka discovered that I, a lowly scullery maid, had been harassed by some other maids. My mistress exposed their needless cruelty, and she personally beat them with her father's cane."

"Seeing the potential for a new ally, Princess Inka promoted me to be her attendant. She taught me how to read and write, and some other finer things. She gave me good food and even special creams for my hands, which were dry and worn from all my previous work. I've been loyal to her ever since, and I don't plan to betray her. It would be a death sentence for me. My mistress is far too ruthless to escape from."

***

The feminine, pretty palanquin was spared the danger of the heavy rain by being carried through the massive hallways of the palace. Then, it was set down before an indoor entrance to Princess Lataa's apartment, where twice as many guards as before stood. Jorun exited first. Then she helped Inka out.

"My mistress would like to speak with the princess who dared to frame her so long ago," Jorun said to one of the guards.

His eyelids narrowing, a guard replied, "The Empress Dowager will be informed of this."

"Oh?" Jorun's eyebrows rose. "Is this against the rules?"

With a shake of his head, the guard said, "No. Her Highness may visit whenever she desires. We won't stop her. But Her Grand Imperial Majesty will be told if she does."

"That's fine, then. My mistress wants a moment of childish gloating." Jorun smiled up at the man.

"Nothing wrong with that." The guard actually smirked as Jorun knocked on the door.

A servant answered. She looked very thin in the face.

"My mistress wishes to have a moment of Princess Lataa's time," Jorun said.

Some moments later, Inka was inside the hopelessly bare and smoky reception room.

And Lataa emerged, her feet slow, her body and head hidden in a gray cloak. A maid Inka didn't recognize was serving as Lataa's attendant. She also looked thin in the face.

The princesses sat across from each other, a low table between them.

Quiet. And more quiet. It lasted for three minutes.

And Inka spoke.

"I'm curious about your future, Lataa." Her posture was prideful, but her face was cool. "Before this incident between us happened, you could've been used for a powerful alliance. Now?" She shook her head and gave a false sigh. "The only man willing to take you would be a slipper kissing worm beneath you by several levels."

Lataa didn't move, didn't speak. She only listened, or she seemed to listen.

"I imagine when you first decided I was your enemy," Inka said, "you had no idea what I was capable of, no idea what your enemy truly was." Another sigh. "I had dealt with an enemy far more intelligent than you, Lataa, and while I was only a child. That was your greatest mistake, lashing out against someone you didn't understand. You didn't even know how overwhelmed you were."

The new attendant closed her eyes as if she was expecting a slap.

Lataa didn't respond.

"Our paths will be remarkably different from now on," Inka said as she folded her hands on her lap. "If you ever marry, you won't marry well, and I'm destined to give birth to the successor's child."

That was when a grainy voice came from the cloaked woman.

"If you could become pregnant, you'd have done so long ago. You're barren. You're barren and you know it."

Inka stood up, and after she turned around, and as Jorun also stood, she said, "I'm not sure about that. Everyone in my family is very fertile."

If silence truly could be deafening, Inka thought that, as she left the apartment, Lataa's ears might've fallen off her head.

***