03 - Sworn (16 page)

“Yes.”

“The king’s hunters won’t leave them alone, will they?”

“I don’t think so. Not after your escape. They may have bigger things to worry about for now, but they’re not going to let it go.”

I leaned forward and rested my forehead in my hands. “So what do I do? Do I go back to collect them? Fight for them? Bring Victoria here to feed the village?”

“I think that would be unwise, though I can’t say I hadn’t thought about how useful skills like hers could be.” He was silent for a few moments. “It’s too dangerous for you to go back there again, especially alone. We barely made it out. I can only imagine trying it again after what just happened in the city.”

My chest tightened. “I can’t just abandon them, Aren. I know you don’t care for them, and you disapprove of what they did to me. But they’re my family. I love them. I can’t let this go, because—” I stopped.
I should be able to.
Aren would. He’d turned his back on his family for me, once.

He lay on the bed and gently pulled me down next to him. I wrapped my arms around him, a little ashamed of how much I’d missed this after just a few nights of separation. “Rowan, you wouldn’t be you if you just let this go. You have so much love and loyalty in you. I used to think that was weakness, but it’s not. Not in you. It’s what made you go back to Darmid the last time.”

“Not the smartest thing I’ve ever done.”

“No.” He brushed my hair away from my face and planted a gentle kiss on my forehead. “You think too much with your heart. It rules you. But though it causes problems, I admire that about you. It’s one of the things I love about you.” He still hesitated over that word. “I know my father hasn’t been kind or respectful toward you, but he doesn’t see what I see. You’re not like us, and that’s where your strength lies. Don’t turn your back on it.”

I snuggled closer to him. “So where does that leave me?”

“In a bit of a bind, I’m afraid. It’s your choice, but I’d prefer not to lose you again. Please don’t go back alone. We’ll find a way later, somehow.” He tipped my chin up and kissed me, then pushed up to sit on the edge of the crates. “I have to go. I don’t know whether my father heard you earlier, but if he’s awake, he’ll be watching for me.”

I’ll be watching you
, Ulric’s voice echoed in my mind.
We did not have this conversation.

Treason.

“He will be,” I said softly. “He told me he would.”

Damn the warnings, Aren deserved to know.

He sat up straighter. “When did he say this?”

“He followed me into the woods today. Told me to stay away from you. He…” The memory of the maniacal flash of his eyes made me shiver. “Aren, I think he’s a little crazy. He seemed sane most of the time we were talking, just excessively angry. But these things he thinks about me… He’s seeing threats that aren’t there. He thinks I’m going to betray him, or turn you against him.” I ran through the conversation in my head, and realized how much worse it would make things if I so much as mentioned the possibility of me going to Darmid again. “He said not to tell you we’d spoken, but I’m worried.”

Aren sighed. “I am, too. And I appreciate you letting me know.”

“Please don’t mention this to him. Not my dream, not my family, not that we talked about this. If he knew, I think he’d kill me.”

I expected a big reaction to that. Instead, Aren stood. “I won’t say a thing. Try to stay away from him from here out. I’m going to try to get him to speak to Nox. Maybe there’s a simple solution for all of this.” I heard rather than saw him move through the tent. “He’ll get past it.”

I very much doubt that,
I thought as Aren opened the tent flap and slipped back out into the night. I hoped he’d have a good sleep.

I was certain that I wouldn’t.

“
S
WING
.” Griselda ordered. “No, with control. It’s a sword, not an axe!”

I dropped my weapon to the ground and wiped the sweat from my brow. “I’m sorry, I’m not used to this.”

“Obviously. You’re sure you don’t want to try magic instead?”

“I’m sure.” Laelana had decided not to tag along when I suggested that my teacher help me with combat training, but I suspected she’d take more of an interest in the proceedings if magic was involved. More than that, though, I remembered Ulric’s face when he thought he realized I was a true threat to him. If he was watching, I didn’t want him to see anything that might reinforce that. “Magic another day,” I continued, and meant it. I would build my skills up again, and I would ask Griselda to help, but only after Laelana and Ulric lost interest in what we were up to.

Besides, if it came to battle, I planned to be fighting beside Aren. I’d need to learn to do it properly, and time was running out.

I’d told Griselda what happened during the weeks after I’d left the island, about the control I’d learned in prison, the incredible power that had filled me after I was free of the prison cell and the shackles that held my magic in, the illusions I’d used to escape the city.

I hadn’t told her that using it now made me feel like vomiting. That was still my own business, and I would figure it out soon enough.

Griselda frowned and nudged the sword with the toe of her boot. “Piece of garbage, this, but it might one day be the only thing between you and an enemy. Pick it up.”

I groaned, but complied. My arms ached, and we’d only been working for an hour. I rolled my shoulders forward. The leather armor was sitting wrong again, digging into my waist and under my arms.

“Slowly this time,” she said. “Start at the left, come down across your body. Lift your arm. No, the other one.”

She swung her own sword over her head with a flourish that clearly impressed the few folk who had gathered to watch.

A moment later, she disarmed me.

“You seem distracted, Sorchere.”

I smiled at the nickname. We hadn’t spent much time together at Belleisle, but Griselda had helped me find my talents, and I considered her a friend as well as a teacher. “I am, sorry. I have a lot on my mind.”

“Ah. Well, best that we get through this, then, so you can focus on your own problems after we get the old king back on the throne.”

“Young enough to take you on, Griselda Beaumage,” said a low, cultured voice behind me.

A grin spread across Griselda’s face at Ulric’s words. She bowed theatrically. “It would be an honor to spar with the king, if you’d care to join me.”

Ulric narrowed his eyes. “Later, perhaps.” He watched us, but I refused to move until he left.

Griselda didn’t speak again until he was gone. “Is this what’s on your mind?”

“Partly.” I swung, and she blocked me easily. “We got along fine when it was just the two of us in that cell. But now he’s watching me, waiting to catch me slipping up. He thinks I’ll betray him. And he’s chasing me away from Aren.” I kept my voice low enough that only she would hear.

“Hmm. Pay attention, now. Widen your stance, you’re going to topple over as soon as I hit you.”

I complied, and she swung. I blocked her and stumbled backward. “You don’t think Ulric hating me is a problem? He’s trying to control Aren, and I don’t think Aren’s enjoying it much.”

Griselda looked back toward Ulric and shook her head. “This is life in the Tyrean royal family, I’m afraid. I think you’re fortunate to be allowed to stay out of it. Perhaps a little space isn’t a bad thing.”

“That doesn’t help Aren.”

She smiled sadly. “No, it doesn’t. But neither does us talking about it, really.” Her voice dropped to a murmur as she stepped closer. “Perhaps Aren is doing as I am. Complying, biding his time, watching and learning, feeling out the options.”

I wanted to ask more, to know why she and the others had come and what they hoped to achieve, but she held up a finger to stop me. She waved to someone, and I turned. Laelana stood a good distance off, watching carefully.

“Now,” Griselda continued, loud enough for anyone nearby to hear and not mistake our training for anything else. “Have you ever tried archery?”

“I did well enough with it when I was younger. I never liked hunting, but shooting wasn’t a problem.”

Cassia approached from the side of the sparring ring, tying her thick hair back as she walked. “May I try?”

I handed her my sword and shrugged out of the armor. “Please do. I’ll watch and catch my breath.”

In truth, I wasn’t out of breath, and my muscles were recovering more quickly than they once would have. Months on the road and doing physical work at Belleisle had made me stronger, but I felt discouraged and even more useless than I usually did. I couldn’t make friends. Hadn’t found time to work on my magic. Couldn’t even swing a sword properly.

“I can help!” a young voice shouted. Patience dashed up next to Griselda and Cassia. Her limp was less pronounced when she ran, but as she slowed it became obvious. “I can fight.”

Griselda considered the girl, took in her missing eye, her limp, her tiny frame. “Why don’t you let me and miss Cassia work for now, eh? Children shouldn’t have to worry about these things. No one is going to send you into battle.”

Patience nodded and backed away, chin held high, as Griselda explained movements that Cassia copied almost perfectly the first time she tried. Patience sat beside me on the ground.

“She meant I won’t fight because of this, didn’t she?” She gestured toward the scarf that covered part of her face. “Not because I’m a child. Peter’s learning, and Jon. They’re not much older than me.”

I didn’t point out that the boys also dwarfed her. “You’ll get your chance.”

She sighed. “Will I? Nobody wants me around here. They feel sorry for me, but I could be a hero. I could learn to fight.”

“If it comes to war, most of the people who are learning how to fight right now will die.”

“I know. It’s just because of my mother, you know?” She wrapped her arms around her knees, making herself impossibly small.

“Not exactly. Do you want to talk about it?”

She was silent for a while, watching as Cassia and Griselda moved into slow and gracefully staged combat. I told myself that Cassia only took to it so naturally because she was a warrior at home, underwater. She was figuring out how to transfer her skills, not learning new ones. It didn’t help.

“My mother died a hero,” Patience said. “When those men came after us the second time, she told us to run. She and some of the others tried to hold the men back so we could escape, but it was too much. There was so much screaming and smoke. Crying. I hid, then tried to find her, but the big man found me first.”

Wardrel
, I thought. One of Aren’s brothers, and one I hoped I never had the displeasure of meeting.

“He got one of his men to help hold me down,” she continued. “Most of their work was done by then, I guess. He took a torch and held it under my bare feet, and he laughed when I screamed.” She closed her eye and squeezed her hands into tight balls that she pressed against her thighs. “I heard my mother calling for me, trying to find me. Maybe if I’d stayed quiet she would have got away, but I couldn’t. I was so scared, and it hurt so bad.”

I didn’t speak. The lump in my throat would have prevented it even if I’d tried.

Patience’s voice remained steady as she continued. “He got tired of that pretty quick, and he... he grabbed my head like he was gonna kiss me. And he squeezed, and his thumb went in my eye. And he kept pushing. Slow. And then the torch came again...”

My stomach twisted. I could only imagine her pain. Her fear. Her confusion.

“I thought it would kill me. I don’t really remember what happened after that. Something hit him, he let me go. Mother was screaming, but I couldn’t see anything but the hem of her nightgown as she ran. They followed her, and I crawled away. Point is, they killed her. But she saved me. Or what’s left of me. I want to be like that. I want to be brave, and fight, and save people. Do dangerous things or sneaky things and take big chances and change everything. But no one will let me.”

I forced back the tears that stung my eyes. The last thing the girl wanted was pity. “It’s a noble goal,” I said when my throat cleared. “I’ll do whatever I can to help. I’m afraid I won’t be much help with your training, though.”

She turned and smiled.
Incredible.
“Yeah, I saw. You’re not very good with a sword.”

I gave her a light punch on the arm. “Watch it, kid.”

She thumped me back. “I could take you.”

I laughed. “You probably could. And I have no doubt you’ll be a hero some day.”

She put a hand on my knee and pushed herself up to stand. “We’ll both show them what we’re worth.”

She watched Griselda and Cassia. A crowd had formed, most of them likely appreciating things other than the Sorceress and the mer woman’s battle skills.

“Hey, Patience?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you know how to handle a bow and arrow?”

She grinned. “Do I? I used to get more rabbits than Papa when we went hunting. My aim’s a little off now that I’ve lost an eye, but I’m getting better every day.”

“Perfect. I could use some help. I’m really out of practice.”

Her grin widened, and she grabbed my hand. I smiled, too, and waved to Aren as we passed them. Aren nodded back. Ulric turned away, as though he hadn’t seen me.

No matter. Somehow, Patience and I would both find our places.

10

AREN

I
watched Rowan and Patience disappear in the direction of the supply sheds. When I turned back to my father, his cold gaze was focused on me.

“How much of a problem is this going to be?”

I decided that playing ignorant would only work against me. “It’s not. Rowan and I are no longer so much as speaking, I assure you.”

He smiled and nodded at a dumpy middle-aged woman as she passed, then turned to me. Though his overall expression remained pleasant for the sake of the people, anger burned in his eyes. “I know you went to her last night.”

Of course he was watching.
I felt one step closer to being back at home, under Severn’s constant, suspicious surveillance.