Free Sorcery Rising by Jude Fisher Page A

alluring. You mustn’t smile like that when you meet Ravn. Solemn and intense, that’s the way to win his heart.’
    She composed herself rapidly and returned to her favourite reverie.
    Holding the mirror about a foot above her head, she gazed up under her fair lashes and addressed his invisible presence, mouthing softly:
Yes, sire, my name is Jenna Finnsen, daughter of Finn Larson of the Fairwater clan, who supplies your royal household with the finest seagoing vessels
.
    To this the King always replied,
Had you not told me your name, I would have guessed it from the graceful curve of your neck, as noble as a swan’s, and surely your father’s inspiration for the prows of his lovely ships
.
    And at this, Jenna would look modestly down, thus drawing the King’s eye to her rounded bosom, nestling like a pair of goose-eggs amid all the fine Galian lace, and he, overcome by her extraordinary beauty, would take her by the chin, and after murmuring even more wonderfully poetic compliments would address the assembled crowd (which would, of course, include all the so-called friends who told her such a thing could never happen, as well as all the young men from the local skerries, especially Tor Leeson who had once, when they were thirteen, told her she looked like his mother’s milch cow) and announce that he had chosen his bride – the exquisite Lady Jenna – and that they could all now leave, as quickly as possible, so that he could be alone with his love. Then he would sweep her up (she could imagine the hard-packed muscle of his arms, the ease with which he would crush her to his chest, the thump of his excited heart) and—
    Lowering the mirror until it was level with her face, she closed her eyes and kissed it passionately. The cold tin misted like a blush.
    ‘You like your mirror, then?’
    Guiltily, Jenna clutched it to her and whirled around to face the speaker.
    ‘I— I thought you’d gone.’
    Halli grimaced. ‘I went outside with your father for a few moments to discuss some business.’
    Jenna’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. She hoped it was not the business she thought it might be, for she chafed at becoming part of some inter-clan land transaction – the codex to a bargain struck between men. ‘What business?’ she asked rudely, going on the attack before he could pursue the matter with the mirror.
    ‘I am thinking to commission a ship from him.’
    ‘My father’s ships are the best in the world – they’re not for just anyone!’
    Halli blinked. ‘Our money is as good as the next man’s,’ he said mildly. When she did not deign to answer, he went on: ‘King Ravn is calling for men with their own ships to pioneer a passage through the Ravenway with the Far West, and I thought to volunteer my services, and,’ he looked into her face intently, ‘to make a sufficient sum that I may buy a parcel of land and take me a wife . . .’
    ‘And you have someone in mind for this . . . honour?’
    Halli met her gaze steadily. ‘I might.’
    ‘Pigs might fly.’
    Halli had sparred too much with his impertinent little sister to allow such churlishness to throw him. ‘You know, at the midsummer fair at Sundey a couple of years back,’ he said, ‘I seem to remember there was a man who claimed to be able to make you see pigs fly – aye, and sheep, too.’
    Jenna scoffed. ‘That’d just be some potion he’d be selling – made with spotted toadstool for the truly gullible.’
    ‘More than likely.’ He let a pause develop. ‘But when I had my two coppers’ worth it was a maid that I saw flying: set her heart on the moon, she had, and was leaping up and down with all her might, and making quite a show of herself into the bargain; but no matter how high she flew, she just couldn’t make that lofty old moon notice her.’
    She stared at him in disbelief.
    ‘Wasted right away, she did, for want of what she could never have,’ he finished softly.
    Comprehension dawned slowly. A hot and heavy red