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“There,” Jaker said, pointing at the winding road that led up to a mansion. “The Lalindar estate.”
Josetta let out a breath, feeling the tension leave her body at the news. It wasn’t as though she felt like Jaker was lying. He and Barlow had shown, time and time again, that they had meant every word they said to Zoe about keeping herself and Corene safe. And then, of course, there had been Foley along with them.
So, really, she had felt safer out on the road with two strange men than she had felt in Chialto in a long time, which said something about how crazy her life had been as the oldest princess of Welce.
No, the relief she felt now was at the idea of seeing Zoe again. Zoe had irrevocably altered their lives when she took her place as the coru prime, upending the tidy little routine that court life had fallen into because no one had told her that she couldn’t. She had saved Josetta’s life, then saved Corene from being married — at twelve! — into ... well, the best word for the Soeche-Tas culture was creepy. A very, very creepy culture that looked at children and youth in a way that was abhorrent to most people in Welce.
A woman who could flood the Marisi to save a girl from a horrible fate — save Josetta’s sister, for despite the fact that their mothers despised each other, that they were always being compared to each other and pushed to regard the other as their rival, Corene was her sister. This trip, the time together, where they weren’t princesses in a palace but two girls on the road needing to contribute where they could — it was irrevocable, now; a fact of Josetta’s existence. Corene is my sister.
The elaymotive made the climb, slow and steady, up to the front door of the Lalindar estate. Zoe’s home. A place she had never been, and yet instinctively knew would be a haven for her.
When Barlow parked, and they all started getting out, Zoe was there, her arms open wide to receive both Josetta and Corene as they flung themselves at her.
“We’re not King Vernon’s daughters?”
It should have felt more like a betrayal, something to shake the very foundation of her being, but it didn’t. Not for Josetta, at least. Perhaps it was because her father had never been involved in her life that much, not in the day-to-day. He was this distant figure that she saw in the palace, that occasionally asked her how her studies were going. Not someone who was interested in her life, in educating her so that she could one day inherit the kingdom that was her birthright.
Corene was fidgeting in the chair, sweela girl that she was, as though by fidgeting she could make herself process the information that much sooner. Josetta stared at Zoe’s face instead, so intent on how they received her news, this latest revelation and disruption to their lives.
“You are not,” Zoe said. “The information is now widely known in Chialto, so it will be known across the rest of the country before too long. You are not Vernon’s daughters. Romelle carries the only known child of Vernon’s blood.”
“So we’re disinherited?” Josetta asked.
Zoe nodded. “Effectively. Formally, as soon as I return to Chialto to join the other four primes in ratifying Romelle’s child as the heir. I was waiting for you both to come back first.” She hesitated, then grabbed Josetta’s hand and squeezed it tight. “Josetta, you’re my sister.”
Electricity flowed through her veins as she stared at Zoe. “What? I’m … how? How do you know?”
“Coru prime,” Zoe said. “I suspect the other primes can do it too, but for me, the first time I touched you, I read your blood. We share a father, Josetta. You are my sister, and if you want it, the Ardelay name is yours.”
“And me?” Corene asked, her voice small, tentative. “Do you know who my father is?”
Zoe shifted her weight again and took Corene’s hand. “You are my family in a different way, Corene. He told me it was all right for me to be the one to tell you. I don’t think he knew how to break the news. Darien is your father.”
“Oh,” Corene said. “He’s always been nice to me.” Another breath, and then she started crying. Zoe was out of her chair in an instant, gathering Josetta’s sister (who was not, actually, her sister; not by blood, anyway) into her arms.
Foley came forward to lay a hand on Josetta’s shoulder. She reached up to cover it, then turned her face away to give Corene and Zoe some privacy. “Will you still protect me?” she asked her guard. “Even though I am not a princess any more?”
Foley bowed, his face as grave and serious as always. “For as long as you need me, I will be at your side.”
It made Josetta feel better to hear that. Foley felt solid, constant; the world had turned upside down but he was still there with her as always. “Wait,” she said, a moment later, feeling a smile spread across her face. “If Darien is Corene’s father, how is she your family too, Zoe?”
“Well,” Zoe began, blushing. She blushed! And looked unsettled! Josetta had to giggle at that. “Darien has — he hasn’t proposed, but —”
Josetta squealed her delight and ran forward to join the hug that was still ongoing. “I knew it!” she said. “He always looked at you like … like he couldn’t decide whether he wanted to scold you or kiss you. So you are going to marry him then? Maybe you should propose to him!”
It was so heartening to see that wicked gleam back in Zoe’s eye. “Maybe I should,” she replied, loosening her grip on Corene a little. “After all, I am the higher rank of the two of us. He is merely a king’s adviser, while I am one of the primes of this land.”
Josetta giggled again, knowing Darien was not merely anything, but happy to be in on the joke with Zoe nonetheless.
Zoe took a step back and gestured for the two of them to follow her. “I’ve had rooms made up for the two of you, and Jaker and Barlow. We’ll leave for Chialto in the morning.” She sighed. “As for what happens when we get there… I don’t know. But I want you two to know, both of you, that you will always have a place at any house that is mine or Darien’s. As I said, you are both my family.”
Josetta looked at Corene, and then at Foley, and then back at Zoe. She had a feeling that she might like being Josetta Ardelay much better than she had ever liked being Princess Josetta.