The Magic Council (The Herezoth Trilogy) (23 page)

“What did you do?”

“Bennie and I took Zac to the cheapest
inn we could find, and just like I thought, we got lucky. Within a week me and
Bennie found work with a farmer, picking and separating beans, laying them out
to dry. The work was tedious, but after everything I’d been through in
Herezoth, a mind-numbing task like that, it was almost welcome. When it wasn’t,
I did it for Zac. I tried to be grateful he’d never have to worry about Zalski
again.”

“Zacry will return to Herezoth, Kora.
He’ll make that choice, if not now then in a year or two.”

“I know he will. And he should, he really
should. Lanokas, if I could come back to help you….”

“You already have. Had you not been there
today…. You were the only one Arbora didn’t freeze, weren’t you? Your shell.”

“I saw she was casting something.”

“Listen, I don’t need you to come back
again. I know how to govern, and you have other concerns. I’ll do what I can to
make sure the Fist keeps its mouth shut, because I owe you that. At the expense
of this damn council, I owe you that. The last thing I want is for you to have
to flee again, to uproot your family.”

“If it happens, it happens. I told you, I
chose to go back, me, and my husband,
well, I can’t say he agreed with me, but he accepted I needed to go, that my going
could have consequences.”

“At the least, I can get you advance
notice. I’ll send Vane if things go sour.”

“I appreciate that. Lanokas….”

“Hmmm?”

“How’s Gracia?”

“She’ll be better once the children are
back, I’d say. This mess, it hasn’t been easy on her.”

“On the both of you.”

“On the both of us,” Rexson conceded. He
said nothing more about marital troubles. In truth, Kora didn’t know why she
expected he might. She and the king had shared one conversation since he
banished her, just one, when he’d brought Vane to her family. It was losing him
that made the rumors about an affair so painfully, heart-wrenchingly ironic.

She could only say, “The friction there,
it’s not about me, is it? She doesn’t resent it was me you brought her children
to? She doesn’t think there’s anything to what people say?”

Rexson demanded, “You know what people
say?”

“Arbora told me. I’m glad she did, for my
children’s sake. But I don’t understand….”

Rexson’s tone was acerbic. “People
realized through the years that I banished you from necessity, not for anything
you’d done. Everyone knew you’d fought beside me, had supported me. What would
I have against you? And then the circumstances under which….”

“I know all that. But to leap to you
fathering my children….”

“I try to laugh about it. At the
absurdity. It’s all I can do.”

“I wish I could laugh. My children can’t
ever go to Herezoth, can they?”

“Not openly. I can tell you, the vast
majority of people wish I’d sincerely willed your banishment. They don’t mind
so much I didn’t, though, as long as you keep away from my kingdom and I keep
my word should you come back. They wouldn’t welcome your kids, especially
thinking they have blood claims to the throne. Illegitimate heirs could start a
civil war.”

“You have
no illegitimate….”

“I know this. Thank God, Gracia knows it.
As for the rest, well…. I wish there were something I could do.”

“I don’t doubt that, Lanokas. And I thank
you.”

“I wish you wouldn’t call me that.”

“Lanokas?”

“It evokes all kinds of emo…. All kinds
of memories.”

Kora tensed. “You almost said emotions.”

“I said memories. Memories best left
buried.”

“So we’re going to pretend you didn’t
just say…?”

“We are.”

“We’re going to pretend Vane couldn’t
transport you here from time to time, for a visit? Just a visit, to talk? To
maintain some kind of friendship?”

“We are.”

“We just won’t see each other again, is
that it?”

“I think that’s best, for a number of
reasons I won’t go into now.”

“Or ever. That you won’t go into ever,
just admit it.”

“What would you have me say, Kora? That I
never stopped loving you? That being with you and watching a sunset of all
blasted things is agony? None of that’s true, none of it, I swear to God. But I
did love you once. I’m not sure I didn’t love you more than I’ve ever loved my
wife, and now, now we’re both married; my marriage is in shambles; my throne
could be in jeopardy; my sons were just kidnapped, and it’s still not safe for
them to come home; people will swear ‘til they’re blue in the face that I
fathered your children, or at least one or two of them, one of the boys for
sure; and I’m honestly worried I could
fall
for you again, to borrow a phrase you once used. So forgive me for thinking my
sneaking away to come visit you is not the best of ideas. In fact, it’s the
opposite of a good idea. It’s a very bad idea.”

Kora rubbed her temple, as though it
ached. “You really do think you could fall for me again, don’t you? Because the
rest of it, the rumors, you wouldn’t care about that. You’ve always had a bit
of a ‘hang the world’ attitude. Sometimes it’s stronger than others, but it’s
always there. It’s part of you. It’s one of the things that endeared you to me,
because I was never like that.”

“Let me guess: neither is Parker.”

“Neither is Parker,” Kora conceded. “I’m
surprised you remember his name.”

“Oh, I’ve never forgotten it.”

Kora ran her hand down her face. “This
isn’t happening,” she said. “Lanokas, I do love him. I’d never have married if
I didn’t. I’d never use someone that way.”

“That’s not who you are,” the king
agreed. “And damn it, don’t call me Lanokas!”

“What should I call you? Rexson? I don’t
know Rexson. That man who beat a captive this morning, I don’t know him.”

The king turned defensive. “Dorane tore
my family apart, Kora. Kidnapped my children. Don’t you dare
….
”

“I realize what he did. He deserved worse
than you gave him, and if you want me to use your real name, fine, I give up.
It’s not as though it matters. It’s not like I’ll talk to you again. It’s not
like you’ll be able to come for your kids yourself, not with everything you
have to straighten out back home. You’ll just send Zac or Vane for them. But I
do appreciate you coming here tonight, all this way. You didn’t have to.”

“When will you go home?”

“Tomorrow morning. I can’t stay away
longer than that. Parker’s worrying, and so is my mother, I’m sure. I just
can’t go back tonight. I can’t tell Parker I was seen without having some kind
of a plan in mind to describe to him, an escape plan if we should need it.
After all, I insisted on going to Herezoth. I told him there’d be no danger
when I got back. And I don’t think there is, truly, but I should take care of
the eventualities and not throw that on him. There are other things to consider
as well, other things to come to terms with. Zac and Vane…. I just, I can’t go
home right away.”

“I understand why you’d want to think
things over first.”

“And you’re sure I’m not the cause of
your problems with Gracia?”

“It’s not you, Kora. It’s the way I
handled this entire mess. Gracia asked me numerous times not to go on the
rescue mission. She had various reasons, some centered on herself, some not at
all, and I went anyway. I went knowing full well how much she wished otherwise,
and even though I had to be there, I tried to explain that to her, she never
understood me. She assumed Gratton and Zacry could handle things just fine, and
I was mulish and insensitive and spiteful to take part. And selfish, of course.
Let’s not forget selfish. As for bringing the children here, well, I made that
decision without her. It’s not that she didn’t want them here
in particular. She didn’t want them to
leave her to go anywhere, especially not the baby, and I insisted Melinda leave
the Palace.”

“I don’t mean to pry. I just, I don’t
want her to resent me, or be jealous, or to think somehow there’s something
between us.”

“She doesn’t.”

“Does she know I came to help you?”

“She doesn’t, and I don’t mean for her to
find out. There’s no reason to tell her. That
would
make her suspicious.
I
know you quite well, Kora, or I used to. I know your leaving Traigland was more
for you than it was for me. I don’t know Gracia would believe that, though.”

“More for me? What does that mean? Are
you calling me selfish?”

“Not at all. I’m saying Zacry wasn’t the
only one who didn’t want to leave Herezoth to begin with.”

“You could leave Herezoth, you know.
That’s an option you have, though no one’s mentioned it. You could abdicate,
couldn’t you? The government’s stable now, as long as there’s a noble you could
appoint to the throne. Your chief adviser.”

“I won’t give in that way.”

“Would you really be giving in? To what?
You’ve hated ruling, always have, and don’t you pretend otherwise, not around
me. With you gone, the Fist could
stand
trial like you want.”

“They’d bring you into the thick of
things.”

“Hang it all, I told you not to consider
that! This is about you, about you and your family and your happiness. About
Herezoth’s good, not mine.”

“It’s not an option, Kora. I refuse to
abdicate. I’ll found the council if I
must, and it seems I must. Arbora’s shocked out of her senses right now, but
give her a week, and Dorane, and they’ll be back to their old selves,
threatening to reveal everything. But to abdicate, no.”

“Might it be best for Herezoth?”

“I don’t think so. The council—if I
can present it in such a way to prevent unrest, and I’ll find a way—this
council could accomplish some real good. Hypothetically. With Vane involved….”

“That’s another issue. You take care of
him. He’ll make enemies if he joins this council, powerful ones. I don’t think
he realizes….”

“He knows what he’s doing. I promise, he
knows fully what he’s undertaking. He’ll be on his guard, and so will I.”

“If something
should happen to him, if someone acts against him…. I really do fear for him.”

“Are you sure
what you fear isn’t him leaving Traigland? And Zacry, the two of them deserting
you?”

“They’re not
deserting me.”

“I’m sure
they’ll visit, but it won’t be what it was.”

“Things can’t
stay the same forever. Vane has his life to live, and so does Zac. I have my
own life here, with my children, my husband. I’m nearly done with my book now.
It’s taken some time, because I can’t work on it much, but I’m finally reaching
the end.”

Rexson smiled.
“Your history of magic. I’ve been wondering how that’s going, whether you’d let
it go.”

“I haven’t, no.
The pace hasn’t been what I’d like, but I expected that.”

“You do
have five little ones to tend to. I’d
consider that a valid explanation.”

“I suppose it
is,” said Kora. She took in the orange sky. She watched the waves come in,
steady, constant, one following the next as sure as the endless days in
Triflag. Rexson cleared his throat, not so much to catch her attention as out
of nervousness, in preparation for something unpleasant. Kora turned to him,
concerned.

“I’ve a
confession to make,” he said. “When Zac came to the Palace, some old topics
came up. Zalski, you, the League…. It was natural enough, I suppose. But in the
midst of things, I disclosed what occurred at that last conference you had with
Zalski.”

“I know the
one,” said Kora. She shivered despite the heat of the summer twilight. “What
did you let out, Rexson?”

“That you gave
up that chain for Zacry’s safety. That because of Zalski’s ultimatum, you told
him how it worked, how you’d been using it for months to invade his mind….”

“Damn it,
Lanokas: yes, you’re Lanokas again after this. Damn it, there was a reason I
kept that from Zac. He’ll feel guilty as sin. He won’t leave Traigland now.”

“He will, Kora.
That longing for home is too strong in him to resist long-term. I’ll tell him
you wouldn’t want him to consider the past in his decision. You can tell him
yourself.”

Kora repeated,
“I kept that secret for a reason. He was a kid when all that happened, a child.
Don’t you think I considered telling him the whole story? That I’ve spent days
discussing this with Parker? My mother doesn’t even know. She doesn’t know the
half of all we went through. She wouldn’t be able to handle it, and Zac, Zac’s
the last person….”

“He might have
been a child then. He’s not anymore. You don’t always have to protect him. He’s
a capable young man.”

“You had no
right to tell him, Lanokas. I wouldn’t have told you
at the time, had what I’d done not compromised us all. But thank
you, at least, for admitting what you did.”

“I figured you
should know.”