by Vela Roth
Cassia bade Knight guard the door and stepped further inside Callen’s room. Perita appeared genuinely glad to see her. The plant was not in danger of wilting today.
Cassia nodded in greeting and took the extra chair. She studied their sleeping patient. “How is he?”
Perita kissed his hand. “Out of danger. The mages said he’s likely to wake from the sleeping draught anytime now. They left plenty of pain tonic in case he’s hurting when he rouses, and Lady Hadrian’s household has scarcely let us alone for a moment. They’ve been so kind.” A grim expression crossed Perita’s face. “Callen can’t go back to the barracks, at least not for a while yet. I fear…never mind. No sense worrying about what will come next. That’s like throwing the gods’ blessings back in their faces.”
Rivalries died far less easily than men. Perita had reason to worry about what might happen once Callen returned to his service in Lord Hadrian’s guard.
If Callen rejoined them at all. Cassia eyed the wounded soldier’s knee, but the blankets hid it from view. Kyrian magic had saved his life and his leg, but would Callen ever march again?
If Cassia had lent her aid sooner, would his fate have been different?
“Come what may, Perita, my promise to you was not merely for a day.”
“My lady…I know.” Perita shook her head, her face alight. “This morning, all the gossip has changed. It’s all over Solorum. Not the terrible things Lord Tyran’s guards were saying about me. The words you said to him, for my sake.”
“Our words. If not for you, I would not have found the words to say, or known it was time to speak.”
“If not for you, I’d never have been able to tell anyone the truth.”
“Would that I could have done more. Lord Tyran should have paid you the fine for Verruc’s crimes against you. Where is your justice?”
“The maggots, not the magistrates, can be trusted to carry out justice on Verruc, for me and all the women he wronged.”
“Well, I cannot argue with that. But Lord Tyran is still due for sentencing. I am not done with him, I assure you.”
“I’m afraid you aren’t. You promised him a favor. For Callen and me.”
“Yes, and I would do it again.”
“My lady, he’s dangerous.”
“So are we.”
Perita smiled. “Aye. That’s why I want you to know I’ll be watching your back. You’ll need my ear to the ground from now on, I expect.”
Cassia returned her smile. “Let’s make that favor backfire on him most terribly.”
They fell into their first comfortable silence.
Not long after, Lady Hadrian came by. She spoke with her usual perfect decorum, asking Perita a slew of interested and informed questions on Callen’s condition. She always had the right words to say to everyone, of any station.
“If I might pull you away for a moment, Lady Cassia. It won’t take long.” Lady Hadrian smiled. “If Perita can bear for us to leave her alone with Callen for a moment. We’ll be just within reach in the corridor.”
Perita smiled. “Thank you, Your Ladyship.”
“By all means, my lady.” Cassia accompanied their hostess out of the room.
Lady Hadrian led her and Knight into the corridor and just out of earshot of Perita. Seeing the expression on her face, Cassia feared she was about to receive more praise and gratitude for which she had no reply.
But Lady Hadrian refrained. “I hope you will join me for another weaving party the day after tomorrow.”
“Gladly. It is generous of you to include me. I’m sure my project would be hopeless otherwise.”
Lady Hadrian chuckled. “It is you and the other young ladies who show your generosity to me by consenting to be a captive audience.” Cassia opened her mouth to protest, but Lady Hadrian held up a hand. “I do not require unconditional enthusiasm, nor do I expect the pretense of it. In fact, you will find all I ask for is good company.”
“The company around you is always the best.”
“A benefit—a consolation—of my position. It delights me to have young ladies like my daughters around me. My husband must always be at the king’s side, and I at my husband’s, while our daughters are seldom at court, as you know. We could not do without Sabina to look after her younger sisters. We are so proud of how capably she assists us in the management of our households and estates. It is one of His Majesty’s generosities to my lord, that she may stay in Hadria.”
“What a boon to your younger daughters and your people, that your eldest is always there to see to their needs.”
What a boon to Sabina, that she was far from royal machinations. How Lucis must slaver to serve up for his own ends the female heir of the most powerful free lord in Tenebra. What piece of his soul had Lord Hadrian bargained away to protect his beloved daughter? How much of Lord Hadrian’s soul remained to him, after he had paid so much of it in service to Lucis? Did he, who made the king strong enough to stop the slaughter of the feuds, find it worth the price?
“Sabina is a blessing to us and our people. She has her father’s strength of will.” Lady Hadrian laughed. “And his temper.”
Cassia smiled with the lady and said nothing. Perhaps the most generous reply was silence that allowed Lady Hadrian to speak of her daughter.
Her tone was wistful. “I hope you will meet her one day. Before Sabina left court, she and your sister were great friends.”
Cassia shifted her feet to make sure the floor was still there.
Lady Hadrian had broken the silence.
Cassia had always suspected Lady Hadrian knew what the king had done to Solia, for it seemed she was privy to all her husband’s secrets. Now, after what she’d said about keeping her daughter away from the king, Cassia was certain.
For the first time in fourteen years, one of the few survivors who knew the truth had spoken to Cassia of her sister.
“I would treasure any friend of Solia’s.” There. Cassia, too, had invoked her aloud.
“We do the best we can for Sabina…and for you, Cassia, although you are not often at court with us, either. Our princess bade us take care of you in her absence. We took that to heart when Her Highness did not return. I hope we have not failed to fulfill Solia’s wish.”
Cassia’s throat closed.
Lady Hadrian gazed back at her in silence. Waiting, Cassia realized. For thanks? Or for…forgiveness?
“You have my gratitude,” Cassia said, although Lady Hadrian would not understand the full significance of those words. “No one in Tenebra has been kind to me as you and His Lordship have. Not since we lost her.”
The lady’s perfect, tense posture changed to the relaxed poise of relief. She did Cassia yet another kindness and guided them into a different subject. “My lord and I look after our own, down to the last man. The mages provided us with further details of Callen’s condition, which I thought to share with you.”
“Please.”
“By the time the mages were able to attend to his wound, it was too late for even magic to restore his leg to full strength. He has not lost his life or health, but he will no longer be able to serve in the field.”
“That is…not the news we hoped for. I cannot say how much I regret it.”
“My lord and I share your regrets. Callen came into my lord’s service as a youth and has proved himself honorable and capable. His character and ability earned him a place in my lord’s capital guard. He had a promising career ahead of him.”
“Surely he might still serve you in a different capacity.”
“The gods have seen fit to bless my lord and me with seven healthy daughters. Yet we feel we are wealthy in sons as well. My lord’s soldiers are also his heirs, who shall inherit all he has labored to achieve for Tenebra. We will not leave Callen stranded without a future, especially not now, when his and Perita’s hopes rest on his livelihood.”
“House duty, perhaps?”
“Given my lord’s position, even our house guards must be battle read
y at all times. However, service in a less demanding household would be an excellent situation for Callen. Which brings me to the favor my lord and I wish to ask of you, if you would assist us yet again.”
“If there is anything more I can do for Callen, consider it done.”
“What do you think of taking him into your employ as your bodyguard? Ensuring a lady’s day-to-day safety would be well within his capabilities.”
Cassia’s heart sank. “I would, certainly, but I fear such a decision is farther out of my hands than paying Verruc’s life price. Only the king can approve an addition to his household.”
“My lord can easily settle it with your father, if you are amenable.” Lady Hadrian gave Knight the sort of look one turned upon an ancestral tapestry that could not be taken down, no matter how ragged it became. “You need a capable man at your disposal.”
Cassia resisted the urge to protest that Knight was more than enough protection. It was the truth, but now was not the time for protest of any kind, not when she was so close to having both Callen and Perita assigned to her. It would be an ideal situation for the couple.
And a fine situation for Cassia as well. A real soldier in her service? She had never imagined such an asset. If anyone could convince the king to let Cassia have a soldier, it was Lord Hadrian.
“I cannot express how delighted I am at your suggestion, Lady Hadrian. Nothing would please me more than to have Callen and Perita by me. They would be assured of my support for their marriage.” Cassia could already predict the king’s decision on that score. It pleased him when people married. Spouses and children were means of control. He would think having Perita’s husband under his thumb would make it easier for him to extract anything he wished out of his spy within his daughter’s rooms.
He would be wrong. Cassia and Perita had each other’s backs, and Callen’s, too. None of them would be victims of the king. Never again.
“It’s settled then.” Lady Hadrian smiled.
Cassia envisioned a day when she might smile so and be assured of such things being settled by her own hand.
One hound, one handmaiden, and one soldier were not a vast household by any means. But Cassia found she felt a great deal wealthier now than she had before she had surrendered all the gold and jewels she possessed to Lord Tyran.
When she returned to Callen’s room, Cassia found Perita out of her chair and sitting on the bedside. His eyes were open, his hand clasped in hers. Cassia took a step back, unwilling to interrupt a private moment. But it was hard to be surreptitious with Knight at her side.
Perita looked up and beamed. “My lady. He’s awake!”
Cassia took that as an invitation and ventured inside. “So he is. A pleasure to meet you at last, Callen.”
“My lady.” Callen nodded his head on the pillow. A wry smile, or perhaps a grimace, crossed his lips. “I’d bow if I could.”
“Don’t give that a thought.” Cassia took her seat again.
“I owe you a great deal more than a bow, my lady.” He was quiet for a moment, and he struck Cassia as a man who spoke only well-considered words. “If there is any way I can thank you, you have but to say. My lord Hadrian permitting, I will do as you ask.”
“You owe me nothing. It is I who wish to thank you for keeping Perita safe.”
He pulled Perita’s hand closer to him. “If I’d known what was going on, I’d have put a stop to it sooner.”
“And gotten yourself arrested sooner.” Perita stroked the back of his hand.
“With no regrets,” he replied.
“Callen,” Cassia said, “I hope you will allow me to show my gratitude by promoting you into royal service. Would you consider accepting a position as my bodyguard? Lord and Lady Hadrian have given me the happy news they are willing to spare you for my sake, for I am in great need of someone of your skill.”
Perita and Callen exchanged a surprised glance, hers hopeful, his conflicted.
“Service to the king is not easy work,” Cassia warned him. “Perita has told you, I am sure. But she can also tell you it has its advantages. For my part, I can assure you I will treat you fairly and lend all the assistance I can to make it possible for you to marry as soon as you wish.”
Callen’s gaze fell and lingered on the blankets over his knee.
“Of course,” Cassia said, “you’ll need time to think on my offer and discuss it with Perita.”
His gaze lifted to Perita and finally came to rest on her hand that held his. “Thank you, my lady, but I’m fit enough to answer now. I would be honored to serve you.”
A smart man, to hold fast to that hand, instead of a lost cause.
“Thank you, my lady.” Perita was…glowing.
Cassia cleared her throat. “You can remain here until you’re on your feet again. You are to take your time healing, Callen. I’ll want you completely fit before you report for duty.”
“Yes, my lady,” he said obediently. He knew the promise of time off when he heard it, judging by that smile.
But the look Perita exchanged with Callen now was not a lovestruck one. “You should tell her what you told me. See if it isn’t something she’d want to know.”
“It’s nothing to concern you, my lady,” Callen hastened to say.
“It’s just the sort of thing to concern her,” said Perita. “My lady likes information.”
Cassia was more fortunate in her companion than she had known. “Perita is right. Any insight you have to offer would be invaluable, Callen.”
The inside of the barracks was the world of men. Cassia had few eyes and ears there…and none at all in the prison wing where men were sent to die.
Callen shifted in his bed, wincing when he let his lower half move too much. Perita busied herself arranging his blankets more comfortably. His gaze followed her, as if he sought an anchor to save him from slipping back into what he saw in his mind’s eye.
“Not every man in that place is given the privilege of waiting for the headsman. Some of them are…” Callen hesitated. “This discussion isn’t fit for your ears, my lady.”
“I have not had a soft upbringing in a lady’s tower. And you know already how strong Perita is.”
“Aye, that I do.”
“What did you see in the western wing? What are they doing to the men?”
“Torturing certain of them for information. That’s no surprise, but what’s strange is who, and how. As mad as I got with fever, I’m certain it was him I saw coming down every night. At first, when I was still lucid, I…I may have acted a great deal worse off than I was, so they’d leave me be. They thought me too ill to be of any use, even before I really was that far gone. I was still clearheaded enough at the beginning to be sure it was him. Otherwise I wouldn’t say this.”
“Who?” Cassia tried not to sound too eager.
“His Majesty’s mage.” Callen’s tone was almost apologetic. “Honored Master Amachos.”
What could the royal mage want with doomed prisoners? How could she use it against him? “What was he doing there, Callen?”
“I have to warn you, my lady, it hardly seems possible. I wouldn’t normally utter such nonsense. I’m not a fanciful man.”
“Go on.”
“He…burned them…till they talked. Shot fire right out of his hands. Just like in the legends.” Callen gestured with his own hands. “I saw him twitch his fingers at a man in the cell across from me and…never mind. Normally a man would need a hot iron for that. The length of the cell was between them, and all the royal mage needed were his bare hands. But that’s impossible, of course.” He met Cassia’s gaze. “No mages from Tenebra can do that.”
“You’re exactly right, Callen.” There was only one place where such skills were taught, and even there, only the elite learned them.
“What do you make of that, my lady?” Perita asked, nodding. She already knew.
There was only one thing they could make of it. Amachos was not from any temple in Tenebra.
He was a war mage from the Order of Anthros in Cordium with power to rival a Hesperine’s.
“His Majesty appointed Honored Master Amachos out of Namenti,” Callen said staunchly. “Everyone knows that. Isn’t that right, my lady?”
Perita patted his hand. “Of course. I’d stand before the king and answer to that.”
“That’s the fact of the matter,” Cassia agreed. “Which is why, after you have told me everything you saw and heard, Callen, no matter how strange and wild, there is no reason for any of us ever to speak of such impossibilities outside this room.”
Solia’s Secret
Cassia had known Amachos was dangerous. As soon as she noticed his passionless demeanor, she should have tried to discover what lay behind it. If she had dared venture into politics before—if she had only acted—it might never have come to this.
Now it might already be too late.
And yet she could not make a move until she had a strategy. Even with every scrap of information Callen had given her, she did not yet know enough.
She sat at his bedside awhile longer, sat useless and still in her chair and tried to keep her fear from showing, when all she wanted to do was leap into action. Callen slipped back into sleep. Perita watched him in silence. Cassia thought hard.
The king must be aware of Amachos’s activities in the prison, as surely as he already knew Cassia had been down there. She had yet to discover if there would be retribution for how she had taken matters into her own hands and whether or not Lord and Lady Hadrian’s involvement would cushion the blow. Cassia could not afford to think on it now.
The mage’s interrogations in the western wing could never have taken place without the king’s sanction. That meant Lucis knew exactly who and what Amachos was.
The king himself was hiding a war mage in their midst. The deception had been going on all along. Lio’s uncle had been right to fear. The Cordian Order of Anthros had not sent a war mage to smile and watch the king make amends with the heretics.