Free Jala's Mask by Mike Grinti Page A

it’s very restful.”
    â€œI’ve been resting for three days,” Jala said with a sigh. “I’m sorry, I should have asked you your name.”
    The woman smiled. “Iliana, my queen.”
    â€œHello, Iliana.” As impatient as she felt, Jala decided she probably should eat, or she’d be hungry and irritable. And she shouldn’t take her frustration out on a stranger. “The food does sound good, and the wine. I’ll take both. When I’m finished, will you tell the king I want to see him?”
    Azi came to Jala’s room two hours later. He leaned against the wall near the door. “Are you glad the ceremonies are behind us? There’ll still be a feast tonight for the other families. They’ll all drink to your health until they can’t walk straight, but it should be low on speeches. They’ll be saving that for tomorrow.”
    â€œFor the Sectioning?”
    Azi nodded. “I’ve never had to preside over it before. But you won’t have to worry about it. Just don’t drink too much, or all the shouting will make your head hurt. But I don’t want to think about that right now. How do you like the First Isle so far? You haven’t seen much of it yet, but you will as soon as things slow down a little. Just wait until there’s a cold wind blowing and you sit in the hot springs. You’ll never want to leave, I promise.”
    â€œIliana already told me about them. They do sound nice.”
    Azi’s face fell a little. Did he really think she was dependent on him to learn everything about her new home? “Oh. Well, there are other things I can show you. How about food? We have so many different things. There’s food in the cellars that no one’s even tried yet, from all over the coast and far into the mainland where there’s no river to carry our ships.”
    â€œHmm, I don’t think I want to be the first to try something no one knows how to cook.”
    â€œI want you to like it here,” Azi said. “What can I do to make your stay here better? I haven’t given you a wedding present yet. I’m king now, might as well do something worthwhile with it all. Tell me what you want and it’s yours.”
    â€œOh,” Jala said. “Thank you.” She fell silent. What did she want? The question had caught her off guard. Before, she would have said, I want to be queen , but she had that now.
    I want him to love me.
    Where had that thought even come from? She wasn’t supposed to want his love, not like this. Not if it meant she might love him, too. She’d been taught from a young age that love was something you felt for your family, and with that love came duty. While her cousins could hope to build love out of their marriages, and the villagers and sailors could marry whoever they wanted, her father always said romantic love would only blind her.
    She didn’t feel blinded. She felt free for the first time, giddy to be feeling something that wasn’t supposed to be for her. But love wasn’t something you could just ask for.
    â€œWell?” Azi said, smiling expectantly. “There must be something you’ve always dreamed of having.”
    She wanted him to love her, but she couldn’t ask for that. If he could give that, he’d give it freely. And if not . . . she tried not to think about that and instead concentrated on something else. Jewels, clothes, she had all that. She had an exotic bird, even if it did sing the worst songs. Maybe a storyteller to recite all the Forty Tales of Love for them. She’d heard most of them already from her cousins, laughing with Marjani the whole time, but she’d always tried to imagine what it would be like to hear them in some sailor’s arms.
    But no. They could have that too easily enough, if he wanted it, and asking now would only be a frustrating tease if there wasn’t anything they could actually do.
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