The Jack of Hearts (House of Cards Book 1)

Chapter 12 | The Jack of Clubs (part i)

Each morning, as sunlight traced her tangerine fingers along the horizon, Lady Asida slammed her fist against the room where Rosalyne slept.

"Daylight in the foothills! Ride out on the hour."

And even after four days sleeping in inns next to Lady Kena and Lady Thabo, the jaquelle still did not understand what in the four realms that meant.

Lady Kena, already up and finished with her toilette (which consisted of a vigorous sponge bath of frigid water and naught else), shrugged. "I wish I could explain it. It's just an Asida thing."

Rosalyne stiffened, staying Dys as she plaited her mistress' hair into a crown.

The jaquelle turned her head to look at Lady Kena. "Her ladyship calls her uman by her given name?"

Lady Kena stomped her tall boot over her heel. "O'rian told me you're pretty fixated on your titles — but we don't use 'lordy lady'. They don't exist the way you're using them."

Rosalyne resisted the urge to fiddle with the wool of her skirts. "Then how do they address one another with respect?"

The-not-lady Kena thought it over. The Cluvani were identified by their clan, parents' name, and given name, though it was rare to be referred to as such.

"If it makes you uncomfortable to call us by our given names — or you just can't remember all of them," Kena concluded with a wink, "you could use familiar ones."

"How does her — eh, do you mean?"

Lady Kena winked again in appreciation of Rosalyne's effort and started tugging on her other boot. "Essentially — anyone that could be your uman or older is 'Aunti' — if he could be your abba, 'Uncle'. The rest of clan is 'Cousin' — or if you're close, 'Mfondin', which is like 'my dear cousin'." She slammed her foot on the floor a couple times. "Understand? Let's hear."

Rosalyne swallowed. "Thank you, Cousin Kena for graciously instructing my defects."

Kena stomped both feet on the floor in a Cluvani display of approval. "Now, Thabo."

Rosalyne balked. Thabo was younger than Rosalyne's mater but had two children of her own. The jaquelle decided to err on the side of formality rather than flattery.

Thabo choked on the water in her flask. "How old is your uman, Highness that you call me Aunti — or better, how old do you think I am?"

Rosalyne tried to apologise but Thabo waved the jaquelle off. "Nah, nah, Highness. I fancy being your Aunti now I'm here — might put on airs, get too big for my britches."

Cousin Kena snorted. "You already are. I know you've got a nice ass, Thabo, but there comes a point when you've got to take out the seems."

Aunti Thabo hurled a pillow at her head, and Cousin Kena flopped back on the cot to avoid the projectile.

Rosalyne glanced out the window toward the light beginning to lace the village rooftops. They would be at Fort Khadi by nightfall. She would see her new home.

Meet her new husband.

"Why did my lord-betrothed not come with my Aunti Asida's party?"

Rosalyne heard the two Iibheren women pause behind her, and she caught the spark of their trepidation. The question had long haunted her, from the steps of the palace of Erosa to this creaky inn, it had circled and festered.

"I would have thought him duty-bound — if not for the party of delegates — at least when he learned of the danger that I was in. Is my lord-betrothed unable to travel?"