The Devil's Concubine (11 page)

Silo gaped at his king, wishing Talin hadn’t been inspired by drink to confide in

him. He sincerely hoped that Talin would not later regret it. A happier thought occurred to him directly after that, that if Talin drank enough he might not recall the conversation at all.

He could see Talin expected a response, though, and he wasn’t at all certain what

sort of response would work to his advantage. In his experience, no one wanted the truth if it conflicted with what they wanted, and, unfortunately, he could see the lady’s point.

She was not the same as they, and she had been stolen from her home. No doubt she had been brought up to believe, as most man children were, that the man beasts were all

monsters--more beast than creatures of intelligence. “She was not pleased with the

shutters?” he asked finally.

Accepting the mug of ale the servant handed him, Talin took a draught. “She is

not so terrified now. I can not see that she is especially pleased.” It occurred to him that he hadn’t done it to please her. He’d had it done to keep her from taking a fatal leap in order to escape his clutches. That realization didn’t help his feelings a whit.

Silo nodded. “She was fearful of the height,” he said wisely. “Not surprising, for

she is only a man child after all and can not fly as we can. Naturally, she would fear falling.”

Talin stared at the man in surprise for a moment. “You knew this?” he demanded.

Silo gaped at him. “I thought that was why you ordered me to affix shutters and

doors.”

Talin felt heat rise in his face. He averted his gaze to the liquid in his mug. “Aye.

I was only surprised that you had figured it out when you had not had the opportunity to observe her.”

Silo shrugged. “I was not certain. I say only that I am not surprised.”

Talin frowned. “She did not seem particularly pleased when I told her I would

send for her belongings.
You
seemed to think that would please her,” he growled accusingly.

“I--uh--I only suggested that, perhaps, that would help her to grow accustomed--if

she was surrounded by things familiar to her,” Silo said, uneasy about disputing Talin, but certain that he would otherwise be blamed if it transpired that the princess was not pleased.

“Do not hedge, man!” Talin growled. “The situation is dire! The mating is upon

me and my beast grows harder to quiet daily. How am I to go about gaining her

acceptance?”

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47

Silo gaped at him. “Sire! You can not claim a mate unless she is willing to be

claimed! It is … not done!”

Talin ground his teeth. “I know this, but my beast does not care!” he growled.

“You only
think
that now,” Silo retorted, greatly daring. “If she does not feel as you do, then she will turn from you when her true mate appears. And you will go mad.”

“I am going mad now,” Talin growled testily, beginning to drum his fingers on

the armrest again.

“This is a very bad situation,” Silo said thoughtfully. “You are wise to keep your

distance from her just now,” he added after a moment. “Allow her time to lose the worst of her fears and then she will be more receptive to the courtship.”

Talin felt his face redden again. It wasn’t wisdom, precisely, that had made him

keep his distance. It was more the fear that he would go too far too fast and bungle the entire courtship. “I have reason to believe she does not find me completely distasteful,”

he muttered.

Silo brightened. “Well, and that is a start!” he said bracingly, but then frowned.

“Of course, she is not one of the people. But I am sure it is a good sign if she does not try to shred your hide when ever you are around her. I am convinced you are on the right track. Certain of it! Once you have brought her belongings, she will be more

comfortable. And she will see you are eager to find favor with her. I will put some

thought into the garden you wish to give her.” He frowned again. “Statuary, you think?

I could not help but notice there were figures of women in the drawing.”

“There were no statues,” Talin said musingly and then brightened suddenly. “Her

ladies! They are devoted to her and vice versa, I am certain. Mayhap it is not the garden she misses at all, but her ladies?”

Silo nodded. “No doubt! She is very alone now and not at all accustomed to

being alone. I will study over this matter of a garden and see what I can come up with,”

he added, hoping the promise would be sufficient to appease Talin, for the moment

anyway.

Talin nodded, flicking a hand at him in a shooing motion. Grateful to have the

interview at an end, Silo scurried away. He was tempted to stop for another tankard, but after a very little thought decided against it. The king might decide he wanted to speak with him again and the conversation they’d already had had agitated him enough. He

rather thought he would make himself scarce for a few days--more than a few if he could not come up with a solution to the problem Talin had presented him with.

* * * *

The more Talin considered the matter, the more certain he was that Silo was right

about Aliya. A great part of Aliya’s unhappiness was her loneliness. It would not be enough merely to lose her fear. She must be happy, comfortable. She needed
people
who were familiar to her, not just things.

Talin was beginning to think the elder’s wisdom was of far more use to him than

that of his council, for they were never in agreement over anything. In any case, he would not have wanted to approach them with this particular problem. For once, they

had united--in disapproval over his actions. Not that they were against the war, or

avenging the slight. They had, in fact, demanded that something be done. He had been more inclined to simply ignore it. After all, it was not even acceptable for him to take a mate outside his kind. What did he care if the man children comforted themselves in

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their weakness with the mistaken belief that they were somehow better than their

superiors, the man beasts?

They had not been satisfied with merely ignoring it, however. They had gathered

for weeks to argue over the best way to teach the man children a lesson, working

themselves up to a fever pitch until he could see he would have no peace if he allowed the slight to go unchallenged.

In truth, he had found that he was intrigued after a time by the tales of the

princess. Not one report indicated that she was less than perfection and the more he thought about that, the more indignant he was that he had not been considered suitable and the more certain he became that, if she truly was so exceptional, then she was far too great a prize to end up in the bed of some wizened old lecher who had the coin to hire the best warrior to compete.

He did not regret his decision. If the council members were less than enthusiastic

over the manner in which he’d provoked the war they had been clamoring for, then that was their problem.

His beast had spoken. From the moment he had set eyes upon her, he had known

that she was the one and that no other would do. He was willing to bow to tradition and choose a queen among their own people to produce the heir to his throne, but he would give no further. Aliya would be his concubine, the mate of his heart and soul. It could not be otherwise. His beast did not make that sort of mistake. Instinctively and

inexorably, it was drawn to the female most perfect as his match.

Unfortunately, as a man child, she did not understand her own instincts. She

relied upon emotion and logic to guide her when there was nothing at all logical about choosing the perfect mate.

He decided he would lead his men in the raid to retrieve those things she felt she

had lost. He would know what was most important to her, after all.

Besides, his gift to her might not be as appreciated if he merely sent others to do

his bidding. He wanted to be able to bask in the fullness of her joy and appreciation.

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49

Princess Aliya would have liked to blame her restless night on most anything

except the true reason she’d had so much difficulty sleeping, but she was not prone to trying to delude herself. She’d grown restless and achy every time she recalled the things that Talin had done to her and that strange neediness had invaded her dreams when she’d finally drifted to sleep.

She felt no better when she woke and wondered if there was any real reason to get

out of bed as early as she customarily did. She was still tired and it wasn’t as if she had anything of interest to occupy her time.

That thought promptly resurrected the incident with Talin and she flopped back

on the bed, dragging a pillow over her head.

She didn’t know which was worse, her reaction to Talin, or the fact that he’d been

well aware that he’d stirred her blood.

He’d been well pleased with himself, too, she thought irritably, wishing she could

have thought of something clever to give him a set down.

After a time she drifted to sleep again. When she woke the second time she felt

considerably better. She saw when she tossed off the covers and sat up that the maids had been in, removed the breakfast tray, which she’d ignored, and left fresh water, and her gown!

Delighted to discover they’d returned it at long last, she slipped from the bed and

went to examine it. It was a little the worse for wear, having lost a few of the tiny pearls sewn to it, but she saw it had been laundered and the wrinkles carefully ironed from it.

Settling it on the bed, she went to the basin to wash up. The maids returned as she

was struggling to get into the gown by herself and moved to help. Removing it again, the younger of the two straightened her corset and tightened the laces, then drew the gown over her head again and laced the back up.

“Would you like for us to bring your noon meal up, or would you prefer to go

down to the great hall?” the other maid asked.

She had a choice? She was heartily sick of her own company, but she felt a little

uneasy at the thought of mingling with the unnaturals. Finally, she decided to have a tray brought up.

To her surprise, once she’d finished eating and the maids returned to retrieve the

tray, they offered to escort her to the courtyard to enjoy the sun and fresh air. She was still a little uncomfortable about the unnaturals, but she discovered the chance to get out was just too tempting to pass up.

* * * *

Impatient to present Princess Aliya with the gift he’d thought of for her, Talin

gathered a squad of men the following day and set out for the kingdom of Anduloosa.

There was a possibility, he knew, that King Andor had not yet moved his army, but that too was something he needed to do--learn what he could of the enemy.

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They spied the unwieldy army little more than a day’s ride, by surface beast, from

the Andor’s royal palace. A little surprised to see that they had not yet even crossed the border of their own lands, Talin circled above them for a time, dropping lower and lower to better see what was going on.

They were camped. As it was in the middle of the day, Talin found that

circumstance peculiar. He could think of no reason for it save that they were waiting for others to arrive. Climbing the air currents once more to a higher altitude, he considered the matter. Finally, summoning two of those he’d brought with him, he sent them to try to infiltrate the group gathered below, to see what they might learn from the talk of the soldiers.

Three others, he sent to scour the countryside for the soldiers they were no doubt

waiting for, with instructions to meet him at King Andor’s palace once they had gathered whatever information they could.

The castle was closed up tightly, which he had expected. It was also well

defended, which he had also anticipated.

He hadn’t entirely foreseen the ferocity with which the defenders seemed

determined to guard their king’s holdings. The moment he and his men began to circle lower toward the battlements, they encountered a hail of arrows and spears. Withdrawing to a little safer distance, he considered the situation and finally instructed his men to gather stones for a bombardment.

It had the desired effect of driving the soldiers inside, but the moment he and his

men ran out of stones to drop, the man children rushed back onto the battlements and

commenced to lobbing spears and arrows once more.

He was a little disconcerted to discover the task he’d set for himself was proving

to be a bit more difficult than he’d expected. There was nothing for it, he finally decided.

They were simply going to have to accept that they could not crack this nut without a few casualties.

The only alternative that he could see was to draw them out until they’d exhausted

their supply of weapons, and he had a feeling that would take longer than he was willing to devote to the project.

Withdrawing again, he waited until the three he’d sent off to reconnoiter joined

the fray. Taking three men with him, he set the others the task of a relay bombardment with stones to keep the defenders occupied while he and the others breached the lines to gather what they’d come for.

As he’d hoped, most of the soldiers had gathered to defend the side of the castle

under attack. Nevertheless, they did not manage to gain the roof top garden without

detection. A fairly determined assault was launched by the men still guarding the other side of the castle. He, himself, had a narrow miss, and one of the men took a direct hit, an arrow piercing one thigh.