Eris stormed through the palace, hands gripping her dress so it didn’t flutter about her as she raced to the garden. Today she would find a flower to satisfy Lira. What did it matter she’d failed every day for the last few months?

“Another wasted day?”

Eris looked up with a flash of annoyance. Her sister Jasi stood in a doorway leading toward the center of the palace, blue eyes blazing with condescension. She wore a gown of light blue and held her back straight and stiff. Her golden hair, so like their mother’s, shifted in the soft breeze.

“Mother send you on another errand?” Eris asked.

Jasi frowned, barely a shifting of her lips, holding all her disappointment in her eyes. She was like their mother in that as well. “I’m going for a few perisals for my arrangement. Perhaps, if you would find your flower, you will be allowed to learn what we do.”

Eris bit back her first reply. Jasi would never understand she didn’t want to be like her. “And that’s all you do?” Jasi could have any one of her handmaidens run for the flowers. Why would she come herself?

She shrugged. “Mother asked me to check on you. She worries about your progress. Especially since you chased off another handmaiden…” At nineteen, Jasi was permitted more freedom than Eris, even though only two years separated them.

“I progress just fine.” Eris hadn’t wanted someone following her around. It was fine for her sisters, but she had no interest in such things.

Jasi tilted her head, turning it slightly to the side in her attempt to look dignified. “Indeed? Is that what you want Mother to hear?”

“You’ll tell her whatever you want anyway.”

Jasi shifted her hands, moving them from where they were clutched behind her back to hold them in front of her. “You should worry as much about Lira. How much longer will she have patience for you? At some point you will fall so far behind us that you cannot keep up with the lessons.”

Eris looked away. “How do you know what Lira will do?” But she feared the same.

“Well. Perhaps today will be better for you.” Jasi paused. “You know, you don’t have to be so difficult. I mean, the Sacred Mother knows you’re so much like Aunt Rochelle!”

Eris glared at her. Jasi didn’t say it, but Aunt Rochelle had always been odd. Even when she’d lived with them in the palace, she never really fit in, always disappearing for days at a time before she finally disappeared for good. Worse, Eris looked more like Rochelle than her own mother. Yet her aunt always had made her feel special, like being different was a good thing rather than a curse. Since she’d been gone, Eris no longer felt the same way.

“Really, Eris, just ask Master Nels for help. He knows the garden quite well. Finish this foolishness of picking your flower and join us in lessons.”

Jasi studied Eris for a moment more before nodding and sliding past her. Eris watched as she hurried down the hall and out into the garden. Annoyance churned her stomach. Her sister had made a point of coming just to taunt her. Typical of her. And she always knew where to prick Eris to have the greatest effect.

Eris sighed before following Jasi down the hall.

As she neared the doors, the booming voice of her father drew her attention. She hadn’t seen him in a few days, though he often left the city of Eliara to visit other parts of the kingdom. Eris glanced at the massive garden visible through the doorway, knowing she should begin her search for the day. The sooner she attempted to find her flower, the sooner she could fail and move onto something else.

“The north hasn’t pressed an attack in years,” her father said. There was urgency in his voice she hadn’t heard before. “Why would they move now?”

Eris frowned and made it to the cracked door before she knew what she had done. Peering in, she saw her father sitting in front of his council table, the smooth rivenswood surface gleaming from the bright sunlight streaming through the upper windows. His wrinkled face wore a tight expression, and his eyes flashed from one person to the next.

“Perhaps they simply bided their time while consolidating their position.”

Eris couldn’t see who spoke, but it sounded like Tholen. The old general had a distinctive rough voice that carried even when he spoke softly.

“But what do they want? Attacking from the east is a fool’s game.” This from a nasally voice, likely Eldan. “And they haven’t the ships to sail south first. My lord, I think this is nothing more than bluster. We have no reason to believe the Kelths and Vardens would even unite, let alone push south together.”

“You would risk losing the eastern edge of Errasn because Eldan doesn’t think it’s anything? Do you know what happened the last time we underestimated Varden? How much we nearly lost?”

The speaker stood off to the side and out of view so it took Eris a moment to recognize the voice. It was deep and rough, different than Tholen, and sounded more like his throat had been burned. A hint of a scarlet cloak could be seen from where she stood, not enough to make out clearly, but enough that she recognized Adrick. Her father’s advisory magi often disagreed with Eldan. She didn’t know what he meant about country Varden. When had they been a threat?

“Father—let me take a company of cavalry. What better way to simply see—”

Adrick cut Eris’s brother, Jacen short. “We cannot risk the prince, my lord.”

“You think I’ll be at risk leading men across our lands, Adrick?” Jacen asked.

Eris wished she could see Jacen, but the door obscured him.

“I could accompany him, my lord.” Tholen shifted in his seat to face someone at the opposite end of the table. “This would be an opportunity for him to prove himself. You said yourself he needs to gain experience. Something like this would be an ideal way for him to gain it and prove himself to the men.”

There was a moment of silence before her brother answered, “I’d never pass on the opportunity to learn from you, Tholen.”

Her father slapped a hand lightly on the table. “Just a scouting mission. Nothing more. If you find evidence of northern movement…”

Tholen nodded.

Someone murmured something so soft that Eris couldn’t hear, and then chairs pushed back. Most of the men filed out the back of the room, disappearing. Her father sat motionless in his chair. For a moment, Eris considered going in and speaking to him, but Adrick spoke, and she halted.

“Have you considered my other proposal?”

Her father sighed. “I have. And the boy is here. As unusual as that is, I haven’t prevented it. Jasi will make up her own mind on this.”

“Of course. But you can…encourage…her to see the benefit of this arrangement.”

“I can encourage her all that I want, Adrick, but my wife offers her own council. And listens to the Mistress of Flowers.”

At the mention of Lira, Eris leaned forward. She knew Lira had her mother’s ear, but counseling her as well?

And an arrangement? Had she managed to overhear plans for marrying her sister off? Eris knew it was time for Jasi to marry, but always before her father had delayed. What had changed?

And what did it mean for her?

“You think it wise to let Lira have such influence?”

Her father laughed lightly. “If I value my safety.” He laughed again. “She has proven herself useful many times over. Surely you can see that.”

Adrick sniffed. “I see the mess she’s made of the courtyard since she’s come to Eliara. That is the extent of what I’ve seen.”

“A mess? I think it quite lovely. Other than needing to move the barracks outside the palace yard, it hasn’t really created any inconvenience. And Elayne finds it pleasing that she added onto what my sister started. My wife is not always so easy to please. Besides, Lira needs the garden for her instructions with my daughters.”

“Perhaps their time might best be used in other ways,” Adrick said. “Especially if this arrangement is accepted. Jasi, at least, will have much to learn. She shouldn’t waste so much time learning about flowers that won’t even grow—”

“I leave the education of my daughters to Elayne. As should you.”

Silence held for a moment. “Of course. I was just suggesting—”

“I know what you were suggesting. Besides, what harm is it that they are distracted by pretty colors? After Jasi, I’ll have to start planning for the others. Finding a match for Desia is easy, and if this business in the north isn’t what you fear, she would make a suitable match for a high lord of Varden. Perhaps even Haenish. His land abuts ours and would strengthen any alliance we can craft.”

Eris tensed, waiting for what was next.

“What of the other?” Adrick asked.

Eris noted he didn’t say her name.

Her father smiled. “Eris will be challenging for many reasons.”

Adrick huffed loudly. “Not the least because she’s—”

She turned away before listening to the magi finish. She didn’t need any reminders of what she was not. She was not like her sisters—golden-haired and pretty. She was not like her mother—regal and proud. Eris didn’t fit in anywhere in the palace. Not even in her classes. Unlike her sisters, she hadn’t even managed to find a flower Lira accepted. Always so different, just like Jasi said.

She hurried away from the door without looking where she was going and ran into Jacen.

Her brother wore deep blue pants with heavy embroidery down the side. The pattern made Eris think of their mother, which she suspected was Jacen’s point. His green shirt buttoned up to his square chin. A few days of growth covered his face. Brilliant blue eyes smiled at her as he caught her.

“Better be careful they don’t see you spying on them,” he said.

She shook him off and looked toward the council room. She didn’t want her father—or Adrick—to realize she’d been listening. Jacen catching her was no better, really. “I’m trying to reach the garden before Master Nels disappears for the day,” she said. Eris didn’t really expect Jacen to believe her, but as long as he didn’t question her more, it didn’t really matter.

A wide smile split his mouth. “You think the gardener has someplace to be other than the garden?”

Eris stood and planted her hands on her hips. “And where are you heading?” She wondered if he would admit that he was going north. Or would he think to protect her and not share the information?

His eyes narrowed. “Serving the realm, of course. Isn’t that what the crown prince is supposed to do?”

“Well…yes. That’s exactly what you’re supposed to do.”

Jacen shrugged. “Then it’s what I’m doing. Father wants me to head north. There’s a concern about the border with Varden. Probably nothing, but with the damn northerners, you never really know.”

“We haven’t had trouble with the north since before I was born. Why would they start now?” She realized she sounded like her father, but like him, she couldn’t understand what the north would gain by attacking. Maybe if she’d paid more attention in her studies she might better understand the intricacies of politics.

“Who knows with Varden? Or Kelth.” He said the last with a hint of contempt that surprised Eris. “But you shouldn’t worry about it here, Eris. We’re protected by the eastern range. It would take…something significant…to cross over and be a threat to us.”

“What kind of something significant?”

Jacen took a deep breath and ran his hand through his long golden hair. “Not sure. That’s why I’m going north.” He patted her arm gently. “Don’t let me keep you from playing in the garden.”

He said the words kindly—Jacen always supported her, regardless of how odd she might be—and she slapped his hand away. “Careful, or I’ll make sure your room is covered in thorns.”

Jacen laughed and turned away. “See you when I return, little sister.”

Eris watched with envy as he made his way down the hall, a purposeful stride in his step. She’d never have quite the same purpose as Jacen. Even if her father managed to marry her off, as he apparently intended, she’d never have the same sense of urgency or responsibility. And marrying some distant lord wasn’t what she wanted. Would she spend her days trying to look pretty, like Jasi? Or would she turn to collecting tapestries and paintings like her mother?

Eris sighed. Nothing suited her, but there wasn’t anything she could do to change it. It would be one thing if she knew what she wanted. Instead, she wasted her time trying to work with Lira.

She turned back to the garden. At the least she could find her flower. But then what?