Unbroken (Unarmed Trilogy #2) (6 page)

"He said my father..."

"I know what he said," Tamzin said as she placed a finger on his lips. "I don't know what was said between those two, but you and I need to trust each other."

"I do trust you. I trust you more than anyone," Will said as he kissed her finger. "I'm sorry for how I acted, but I felt like I was being attacked. I know your father hates me."

"Will, it's not hatred. It must be hard for him. We've been married less than a year and I suddenly show up and I am swollen with child. Add that onto everything else that has happened, my father must be stressed," Tamzin explained as she continued to run her fingers through his hair. "If you think he is going to dissolve our marriage, you are mistaken. I would never let that happen."

"You still want to be my wife and my Queen after everything that has happened?" Will asked as he steadied her hand. Tamzin's brown eyes widened slightly.

"I meant what I said on the riverbank," she said as she cupped his cheek. "I want to be with you forever. I love you, Will."

His kiss against her lips was urgent, but loving. Her lips melded against his as his hands drifted up to rest on ribcage, just below her breasts. Tamzin's hands drifted into his hair before a sound behind them stopped them.

"That is disgusting," Thom said with a slight lip sneer. "Can't you do that in your room?"

"When you have a wife you love and I catch you doing this, I will say the same thing," Tamzin teased as she felt Will's hands descend down her body to rest on her hip. "Thom, you remember Will?"

"Yes, and now I will never forget his profile from watching you two kiss," Thom rolled his eyes as he began walking to a door on the other side of the hallway. "Just be happy it was me and not Father. He is on his way up to help me with my sums."

"Will is fantastic with sums. Perhaps he could help you?" Tamzin offered with a bright smile.

"I will what?" Will asked as he looked from Tamzin to Thom. "I'm sure your father is much better in sums than I am."

"Nonsense, Will!" Tamzin interrupted as she pushed him towards Thom's door. "You two are brothers now. Don't you need to bond?"

"No," both Will and Thom said at the same time, which only made Tamzin smile more.

"Look at that, you both don't want to spend time with one another. That's the best reason to do so. Will, spend some time teaching him sums and I will fetch you when our dinners comes," Tamzin said as she tossed her hair over her shoulder. "Honestly, get that look off your face."

Will fiddled with the quill in his hand as he watched Thom from across the desk. Thom's room was a bit more boyish and meant for a student; his bed wasn't as large, to make room for the desk and chair for his schoolwork. Like Will, he had a chess table and a table for the map of the Realm. Will could see the similarities between Thom and himself, though Thom was very much Tamzin's little brother. He certainly had her stubbornness.

"I'm not that bad at sums," Thom said as he twirled the quill between his fingers as he stared at the numbers on the paper. "Sometimes, the numbers aren't right."

"You invert them?" Will asked as he looked up and focused his full attention on the boy.

"Yes," Thom said with exasperation. "Do you do that?"

"Not so much. Your father probably makes you spend hours doing these problems," Will said as he picked up the parchment and stared at the easy problems. "I used to have a difficult time memorizing maps and my father made me stare at the maps for hours on end to memorize them."

"It's hard to memorize sums. You can remember formulas, which is easy, but if the numbers don't look right..." Thom said as he put the quill down on the desk. "I have more pressing matters to worry about."

"You're twelve years old. What are these 'pressing matters?'" Will asked with a grin, which earned an irritated look from Thom.

"I'm in love! Have you ever been in love?" Thom asked with a defiant smirk.

"You were just making noises of disgust at my acts of love," Will said with a raised eyebrow. "Aren't you a bit young to be in love?"

"You're only six years older than me. Tamzin is only five years older and no one asked her if she was too young to be in love, or a mother," Thom said as he looked to his door. It was shut and he took that time to continue his questioning. "How do you make a girl like you? How did you make Tamzin like you, because you were very unlikeable when we first met."

Will chuckled.

"I would talk to the girl. If you're nice to her and find you have things in common, then it isn't difficult," Will said as he removed the cloak from his shoulders. "Your sister is very understanding. She can find the best in people."

"You would know," Thom replied as he reached for the parchment. "If you hurt her, I will hurt you."

"Got it," Will responded as he leaned forward and pointed to the first problem. "I suppose we should get started, or your sister will be very cross with me."

Across the hall, Tamzin paced in her chambers. Her room was larger than Thom's, with a completely open room. She lacked four walls and if she took a few steps down, she would be on her balcony. Instead of a fourth wall, she had columns instead, in case the rainstorms came. Her large bed was up against the wall and if she laid on her side, she would be able to look out at the view of the ocean.

There was a knock at her door and Tamzin turned to see her father walk in. He was alone but the look on his face told her he had received a verbal lashing from his wife. He would receive the same from his daughter.

"Was all of that necessary?" Tamzin asked as she crossed her arms and rested them on her belly. "Will didn't deserve half of what you said to him in there."

"Your condition has left you sensitive, Tamzin," Turner said as he took a seat in a chair by one of the columns. "Your husband did a very stupid thing and you're lucky you're alive. I don't take kindly to men who allow my daughter and grandchild to be put in danger."

"What about you?" Tamzin asked as she took a step forward. "You didn't find it odd that I hadn't written to you in over three moons? Especially after the last letter I sent was telling you that the Northerners knew about Lucy?"

"I was receiving letters from you," Turner responded as he looked up at her. "I thought your letters were odd, but I never thought you were being held captive. I certainly didn't know you were swelling with child. I'm a King, so I'm not going to admit to my own faults, but Johansson has humiliated me as well."

"I didn't appreciate the way you spoke to Will, especially in front of the nobles. He already believes no one respects him," Tamzin said as she began to pace again.

"It isn't my problem that your husband has an inferiority complex," Turner said with slight irritation. "I had every right to kill him. I hope you know that."

"If you kill him, you will lose me as a daughter. He is my husband and he is the father of my child. You made me marry him and now I want to stay married to him. I love him and when you humiliate him, you hurt me," Tamzin said as she placed her hand on her belly and struggled to sit in the seat opposite Turner.

"As uncomfortable as it is for me to ask this, but he treats you well? Your child was placed there in a consensual act?" Turner asked this with a slightly nauseated look on his face.

"We love each other, Father. I hadn't intended to swell with child so quickly, but after my poisoning, they said I had to conceive as soon as possible. Will is a good man. He loves me, truly. He has never hit me or raised his voice to me in anger. It may be hard to believe, but he is affectionate," Tamzin said as she felt her face flush and the feelings of a giddy little girl rise up in her.

"I have many words to describe Will Thurston, but affectionate is not one of them," Turner said as he watched Tamzin's face. "I will never be fond of him. I cannot forget how he treated you when I first brought you to his territory and there will always be a part of me that wishes I married you off to..."

"I don't love him, Father. Even if I never met Will, I would never be able to truly love anyone else. Will is whom I am meant to be with. I know this as sure as I know everything else," Tamzin said with a gentle smile. "I can accept that you won't ever like him, but recognize that he is my husband and he will be the father of my children. Be angry with the men who tried to kill me. Go after them," Tamzin pleaded.

"You are a wise girl," Turner said as he looked to the door. "Your husband best be learnt in sums. I won't have him setting Thom back a number of years."

"Will is a smart man, whether you like it or not," Tamzin teased as she touched her belly. "Do you remember Mother when she was like this with me?"

Turner looked taken aback by her question.

"I know it weighs on you. You've never said it, but I know you feel slightly disconnected from our family. Your mother is your mother, but it still isn't the same. She does treat Thom differently, loves him just a little bit more, and you see it. But your mother loves you, both of them. She may be dead, but you're alive because someone was watching out for you," Turner said as he leaned back in the chair and his hand began to massage his forehead. "I think you're going to be a fantastic mother."

"Will you tell me about her? Not right now, but before I leave?" Tamzin asked as she continued to run her nails over her belly. "Before I become a mother, I want to know what she was like. Please."

"I will, I promise," Turner smiled gently as he looked at her stomach. "Have you decided on names yet?"

"For a boy, he will be named after Will, but I will call him Liam," Tamzin said fondly as she looked down at her large belly.

"No Roth or Southern names?" Turner asked with slight dissatisfaction. "You are the wife of a Northerner and you will be a Thurston Queen, but you were a Roth first."

"Will a 'William Turner' make you happy?" Tamzin asked before she heard a quiet knock on the door. The door opened to reveal Will, who had not expected Turner to be sitting with Tamzin.

"I apologize, sir," Will said before he gave him a slight bow. "Thom has finished his sums exercises. He is very intelligent."

"Save your compliments for my daughter," Turner said with irritation as he stood up from the chair opposite from Tamzin. "Your meal should be here shortly. I will speak to you in the morning, Tamzin." Turner's tone was curt and impatient as he walked toward the doorway and pushed past Will.

Will stood awkwardly in the doorway for a moment longer until he walked into Tamzin's chambers, a look of awe on his face.

"How did you ever leave this place? I'm ashamed that I didn't make my castle more inviting," Will said, but he stopped himself. Tamzin watched, with sadness, as a frown overtook his face when he remembered his lost home. Will didn't finish his statement as he walked towards the balcony, where he watched the sun set. "What is that smell in the air?"

"It's probably the salt water in the ocean," Tamzin said as she clumsily stood up. She walked towards him and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Have you ever seen the ocean?"

"No, just the lakes up in my aunt's territory," Will said as he took a deep breath. "It's a nice smell."

"It used to be my favorite smell," Tamzin said as she kissed his shoulder. "I like the smell of leather more."

"Why leather?" Will laughed and turned to look at her, where he took her in his arm.

"Because you always smell like it," she purred as her small hands reached down and untied his breeches. "Sometimes, when I was locked in that tower, I would smell it and I would hope that you would come for me." She suddenly became sad again and Will watched as she focused on the chair in front of her. Her memories were flashing before her eyes again. "I don't understand it. Sometimes I feel so happy and then I remember."

"I can't tell you that you will forget these memories, but you will come to terms with them. You will learn that what happened to the Thurston people and Kendall were not your fault and that it could not have been prevented," Will comforted as he swept his fingers into her hair. She leaned into his hand.

"Then why haven't you come to terms with your memories?" Tamzin asked. "You can't tell me these things when you don't say the same thing to yourself."

"I don't know," Will said uselessly as he looked back to the water. "Can you swim in that water?"

"Yes," Tamzin almost laughed. "But you cannot drink it. The water tastes awful and makes you thirstier. While we are here, we will go swimming."

"You are happy to be here, then?" Will asked as the door opened and a servant girl pushed a cart full of food into their chambers. Tamzin didn't answer and pulled away from Will to greet the girl. She moved effortlessly in her dress and Will knew that the North was stifling for her sometimes. Will felt the same about his life as well. Will noted that the Roth Palace never had four walls, keeping it open for a breeze and the heat. Turner Roth was openly affectionate with his children, something Will never experienced with his father, even in private. Though Will knew Turner despised him and would watch and scrutinize his every move, Will still felt freer here.

"I get to watch you eat Southern food. This shall be interesting," Tamzin smiled broadly as she took the cart from the servant girl, who curtsied for Will before she scurried out of the room. On one of the plates was a large amount of fruit, most of which Will did not recognize. He licked his lips when he saw the meat on the opposite plate. Some of the meat was glazed with a sauce, while others had a red dusting on the meat. "Apples aren't in season yet in the Northern territories, as you know, so we have not received our shipment yet, but we have bananas, mangoes, and my favorite, pomegranates."

"You no longer love blueberries?" Will asked before he bit his tongue. Tamzin didn't seem to mind as she reached for a plate and placed the red meat on the plate, along with an array of multicolored fruit. "What is this red dusting?"

"A seasoning," Tamzin said with a devious smile as she placed a knife and fork on the plate before she handed it to him. "I know you will love the sauce on the other meat, but I'm curious about this one."