Duty: a novel of Rhynan (23 page)

“That is my point. You know me. Do you suspect me of
treason?”

“Of course not. It isn’t in your nature. You are a
man obsessed with loyalty and duty.”

“Do you trust my judgment of character?”

“Better than my own at times.” Dentin’s eyes flicked
to the side as though he hated admitting that weakness in his
skills.

“Then trust me Brielle is not a traitor. She loves
her people, she does her duty, and she is loyal beyond reason. She
has been with me practically every moment until about a week ago.
Between the time I left her and now she kept constant companionship
with Jarvin or my mother. She was the one who brought the news of
Jorndar’s treachery. Her efforts sent me riding to the king’s
rescue. If she wanted Mendal dead why would she send me to aid
him?”

“Good point.” Dentin offered open palms in defeat.
“From now on I will work from the premise that she is
innocent.”

Tomas seemed to accept this. He sat on the cot and
deflated. I watched, wishing I could go to him. It didn’t feel
right, though.

Dentin glanced between us. “I hope you two aren’t
going to be like some of those overly affectionate couples.”

Tomas rubbed his forehead as though it ached. “We
will try to keep it to a minimum for your sake, right Brielle?” He
lifted his head to wink at me. I stared at him in confusion. My
head was just wrapping itself around the idea that Dentin was a
trusted ally and not a possible foe.

“We have confused her speechless.” Dentin smiled.

I blinked. The simple act of smiling transformed him
from forbidding to approachable.

“You just made it worse, Dent. Get out of here. I
want a few moments with my wife before they pack up this tent
too.”

Dentin chuckled. “Fine, but I will expect restraint
beyond these walls.” He gathered his gloves from the table.
“Remember we leave in an hour.” Then he exited.

We sat for a few moments in silence. I was afraid to
look at Tomas. Being alone with him felt both familiar and strange.
Part of me longed for the companionship we established in Kyrenton,
but that last night together seemed so long ago.

“Thank you.” He sounded tired.

I chanced a glance. He watched me through inky black
eyes dark and inviting, waiting. Caught in their pull, my glance
became a stare. “For what?”

“Protecting Darnay, running instead of staying to
fight a losing battle, keeping your head instead of panicking—I
could list more.”

My cheeks burned. “I didn’t do it alone.”

“I know, but my mother said you were the reason they
escaped.”

“Was Jorndar successful?”

He closed his eyes, cutting me off. “The vargar fell,
but Captain Parrian was able to get most of his men out alive.”

“Did the captain bring the news?”

“He was taken prisoner.”

I remembered his sympathetic concern and feared he
would not find the same in the hands of Jorndar. “Will Jorndar kill
him?”

“Not as long as Jorndar believes Parrian is
withholding something of value.”

I suddenly felt like screaming. We kept trading lives
for lives. Loren and the other women were free, but now Captain
Parrian suffered. I could only hope that Tatin escaped in time. I
ached in ways I couldn’t relieve with movement or warmth.

“This time Jorndar will pay for his greed with his
life. The king signed his warrant of death already. Mendal is set
on peace one way or another. If he cannot gain it by fealty oaths,
he means to remove the cancer of rebellion by force.”

“You do not appear to support his tactics.”

He laughed without mirth. “I see the wisdom. I tire
of being the tool used to cut out the tumor. When he handed me the
title of Earl at the end of the war, I hoped that I could settle
down in peace, raise a family, and learn to live without needing my
sword.” Running his hands through his hair, he stood it on end.
Dirt ringed his eyes like it had the morning we first met. A
similar exhaustion marred his face. “Instead I am continuing as I
did before. Killing, marching, politicking, and the same drudgery I
endured for the past decade. I need a rest, Brielle. I am
weary.”

His face was lax with exhaustion and lined with the
scars of tension. I knew there were laugh lines somewhere among the
fatigue, but I couldn’t spot them.

Without thought, I rose. He welcomed my approach with
open arms, resting his face against my middle. I threaded my
fingers through his curls, massaging his scalp. He relaxed against
me, a pleasant weight I could easily bear.

“It will get better,” I assured him.

He didn’t reply except to pull me down into his lap
and kiss me thoroughly. The strength of his hold on my waist and
the pressure of his palm on my back, pulling me closer, told me he
still needed reassurance. I willingly returned his caresses,
offering assurances that no matter what the future held, we would
face it together.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Anise intended to stay behind in Wisenvale with the
children and help with the recovery process. Before we left, she
brought Darnay to say goodbye.

“Father!” Breaking free of his grandmother’s hand,
Darnay ran to Tomas.

Catching his son in a crushing hug, Tomas swung him
around once before setting him on his feet again.

“I missed you.” Tomas mussed the boy’s already
rebellious hair.

Curls fell into Darnay’s eyes. He pushed them away
impatiently to frown up at his father. “Grandmother says you are
going away again and I have to stay with her and the women.” He
glanced at me with the last word.

“There is nothing wrong with staying with the women.
They need someone to protect them while we are gone.”

“Why can’t you stay?”

Tomas took a slow breath. “A man has taken something
that isn’t his.”

“You are going to make him give it back, right?”

“That is the idea.”

“But why can’t Uncle Quaren take the men and do it
for you? I want you to stay.”

“Quaren isn’t the Earl, Darnay. I am. I promised the
king I would take care of what the man took. It is my duty to make
the man give it back.”

Darnay threw back his shoulders and stuck out his
chest. “A man doesn’t go back on his promises.”

Tomas smiled. “That is right.”

Darnay nodded, but then his gazed strayed to me.
“What about Brielle?”

“What about her?” Tomas turned so he could smile at
me.

“Do you want me to protect her also?”

“I will take over that duty for a bit. She is coming
with me.”

Darnay’s brow lowered and his bottom lip came out
slightly. “Why does she get to go with you when I can’t? She is a
girl.”

I tensed for the coming storm, but Tomas didn’t even
pause.

“She is my wife now Darnay. She stays with me all the
time. I explained this before. Brielle is special to me now.”

“More special than me?” He avoided his father’s
gaze.

“No.” Tomas caught his son’s head between his hands
and tilted it so they were almost nose to nose. “No one will
replace my Darnay. You are special to me in a way completely
different than Brielle. You are my son and she is my wife. I know
it doesn’t feel like it now, but we are a family.”

“My lord?” Quaren spoke from behind my shoulder,
making me jump. I hadn’t heard him approach.

Tomas didn’t look away from Darnay’s face, but he
answered. “Coming.” Stopping an escaped tear in its tracks with his
thumb, he gazed deep into his son’s eyes. “I love you, son. You are
one of the greatest gifts I have been given.”

“More important than Brielle?”

“You are my only Darnay. Irreplaceable. I love
you.”

The boy’s narrow shoulders suddenly sagged. “I love
you, Father.” He threw his arms around Tomas’ neck and cried.
Between sniffles he pled, “Please come back.”

“As soon as I can.”

“To stay?” Darnay pulled back to pin his father with
his gaze.

“To stay.”

The boy’s bottom lip trembled. “I guess Brielle can
stay too.” He still didn’t seem thrilled at the prospect.

Tomas kissed his son’s forehead and then offered his
rough cheek for Darnay to kiss.

“Don’t forget to rub it in for later,” Darnay
prompted. They both massaged the kisses into their skin.

Rising, Tomas turned to offer me his hand.

I took it with that acute awareness that Darnay
watched our every move.

Tomas knew it too. He pulled me close with a
possessive arm around my waist and pressed his lips to my cheek.
The kiss was chaste compared to the ones we shared only moments
before in his tent, but it warmed me more because of what it
symbolized. I was his wife and he meant for everyone to see it,
even his son.

He lifted me onto my horse before mounting his. We
both waved to Darnay.

Anise had already drawn the boy closer with a hand on
his shoulder. He leaned into her skirts, all dark eyes and
determination not to cry. His chin betrayed him.

“He looks so much like his mother.”

I studied Tomas in surprise as we turned our horses
to the west. “I keep seeing a smaller version of you.”

“Oh, I hope not.”

“I disagree. There isn’t a better man he could
emulate.”

Tomas avoided my gaze. “I could think of many better
men, Aiden for one, or Quaren.”

Lord Dentin rode past us absorbed in a conversation
with one of his underlings.

“Not Dentin?” I asked.

“Oh, no, I wouldn’t wish Dentin’s past on any
man.”

“I spoke not of your past. I referred to your
character. You are kind, generous, loyal, honorable–”

“–Bastard-born, stubborn, strong-willed, myopic,
exacting, and harsh,” he added. “My reputation as a demanding
commander is painfully accurate I am told.”

“Yet, I suspect, you demand no more than you give
yourself.”

He fell silent. The murmur of conversations before
and behind us filled the quiet. Even the horses contributed, with
snuffing and snorts.

“I shouldn’t have left you in Kyrenton.”

For a moment I wasn’t sure I heard him. His focus
fixated on an object far ahead on the trail. He didn’t even glance
my way. Yet, I had heard him.

“You couldn’t have known what Jorndar and Rolendis
were plotting.”

“I should have investigated his missing men.”

“And abandoned Wisenvale?”

“No,” he shook his head. “I would have handled
Areyuthian with fewer men.”

“You didn’t know it was Areyuthian then. You didn’t
know it was your father. I suspect even if you had, you didn’t know
how he would take the news that he was your father.”

His jaw tightened, but no other movement betrayed
that he heard me.

I played over the scene in my head. “If your mother
hadn’t spoken, you would’ve never told him.”

“I don’t want to discuss it.”

I pressed forward. “I need to know.”

“Why?” The flare of anger in the blackness of his
eyes as he turned to confront me induced hesitation, but not enough
to still my tongue.

“I am your wife and his daughter by law. I have a
right to know.”

The stubborn will he’d confessed only moments before
tightened his jaw and hardened his eyes. He opened his mouth to
deliver a harsh set down, but I spoke first.

“Our children are going to want to know who their
grandfather is, especially since he is their only living one. What
do you want me to tell them? What have you told Darnay?”

“Nothing. He hasn’t asked.”

“He will.”

Releasing a grunt of frustration, Tomas turned his
face away from me.

“At least tell me what you want me to tell him.”

“If you must know, I didn’t plan on even telling
Areyuthian. It would have complicated matters, not improved them. I
was attempting to work out a better solution. Areyuthian cooperated
with me until your cousin attacked me.”

“Orwin didn’t want a better solution. He wanted a
war,” I pointed out.

“And I stood in his way yet again.” My puzzled frown
prompted Tomas to explain further. “He tried manipulating Mendal
into war with the barons before. I pointed out the holes in his
fancy arguments.”

“He probably sold his loyalty to them for land if the
invasion was successful.”

Tomas nodded. “He counted on carnage and victory to
cover up the fact he was playing both sides against each
other.”

“It almost worked.” I would never forget the
collective gasp of the army around me, nor the force of rage they
summoned before charging toward Lord Areyuthian’s army set on
avenging their fallen leader. “Now that Areyuthian knows…”

“There will be no further contact between us,
Brielle. He is a high ranking noble under his king. He is trusted.
He will be forgiven for fathering a son on one of many border raids
in his wild days of youth. However, his king cannot forgive
fraternization with the enemy. Family or not, I am still
Areyuthian’s enemy. I shall serve my king, and he shall serve his.
I will continue to pray we will never meet in the heat of battle.”
Pain, deep rooted and aged, etched his features as he finally met
my gaze.

I nodded. “I will tell Darnay both of his
grandfathers were noble and honorable men like his father.”

Tomas opened his mouth to protest, but I reached
across the gap between our horses and grabbed his forearm.

“Even if you don’t believe it of yourself, let Darnay
believe it of you. It is important for a son to think well of his
father.”

Finally he nodded. “I can see the wisdom in that.
Don’t lie to him, though. I am not a perfect man.”

“I know.” Despite the knowledge, a warmth glowed
within me like the embers of a fire.

“My Lord Irvaine?” One of the many familiar men, who
I had yet to learn to name, rode back to us from farther up the
trail. “Antano wishes to speak to you about our speed. It appears
the king finds our pace too quick.”