[Books of Bayern 1] The Goose Girl Read Online Free PDF

she owes me nothing. Besides, I don't want to soil my father's mourning with greedy or offended thoughts." And also, Ani admitted t o herself, she was afraid of the answer. Was her mother really capable of taking away everything Ani had worked and worried and studied and sweated for just on caprice? Ani took Selia's hand and they leaned back on a courtyard bench, the sides of their heads touching.
    "After the six weeks, then. But I will not let you avoid it. She is fooling with your future."
    "Thank you, Selia. I would feel so alone right now without you."
    Selia patted her hand. Ani was thoughtful, watching the winter sky warm up into a bird's-egg blue. The brilliant pain after her father's death was subsiding into a mean ache, but Ani was not yet ready to let it go.
    "Selia, why do you worry so much about what my mother said?"
    It suddenly seemed to Ani that Selia's passion on the subject went beyond the feelings of a concerned friend. But Selia did not answer. They sat in silence, the question hanging between them in the chilly afternoon like a frozen breath.

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At the end of six weeks, Ani stood outside the queen's study, rallying her nerve. Selia waved encouragement from down the corridor and then went into her own apartment to await the outcome.
    "Enter," said the queen.
    Ani took a deep breath. The queen was gifted with people-speaking, and Ani knew that arguing against her mother's powers of persuasion was difficult—almost as difficult as explaining to Selia if she did not question her.
    "Mother, I ask pardon for intruding so soon after the mourning period, but I must ask you about your statement some weeks ago—"
    "Yes, yes, child, about Calib-Loncris. Sit down." The queen was at her desk, looking over a parchment. She did not glance up. This was one of her tactics. Ani had been forceful and prepared, and now she was made to sit and wait at the whim of the queen.
    When the queen at last set down the parchment and met her daughter's eyes, Ani was expecting an accusing stare and was surprised by the sorrow that weighed down her features.
    She could not tell if the sorrow was for her father or for her. A thought buzzed in Ani's head: I do not know this woman at all. Her stomach turned uneasily.
    The queen met her eyes with a firm blue stare. "You remember, five years ago we received a visit from Prime Minister Odaccar of Bayern." Ani nodded. It had been the year Falada was born. "It was not an idle visit. The prime minister does not journey for three months to have tea with the queen and king of Kildenree. There were issues of land."

    The queen stood in front of the wall map and put her left hand, fingers spread, over the mass of Bavara Mountains and the great Forest that separated the two kingdoms. She looked at her hand a moment before speaking. "Bayern has long been a rich country, maintaining their wealth for centuries by launching successful wars.
    "The current sovereign is less belligerent than his ancestors. His own father and two brothers were killed in war when he was a boy, and he has ruled differently. But war was their business, and to replace that kind of income, the king spent years financing mining in their mountains. Successfully. They are following a rich deposit of gold that brings them, each year, closer to Kildenree. At this point, five years since Odaccar visited, they must be very near indeed. There have never been roads through these mountains, so official borders have never been made."
    The queen looked up at Ani, her expression forcefully smooth. "Bayern's king was becoming greedy. He claimed the bulk of the mountains for Bayern, leaving us a thin range, weak protection from a country so much larger than ours. And stronger. Your father feared intrigue. As did I. Your father did nothing but fear. I acted."
    Her mother's magic with words was worming into Ani's mind. Already she was thinking, Yes, fine, whatever you did is fine. She pricked herself again and