Her lips were so soft; her small hands rested against his chest, and without opening his eyes he kissed her again, groaning into her mouth. The feel of her mouth against his went straight down his body; he pulled her closer, but her back tensed under his touch, and he realized her hands on his chest meekly pressed him away.
Jenks came to his unwilling mind: "Promise me you'll leave Miss Dannikson and the other maids alone." But then, there was Fennows: "You can tumble a maid any time." Fennows was a prat.
And then there was Allis.
He looked down into Arta's flushed face and saw Edmerka, aroused and horrified at the same time. He let Arta go.
Arta slumped in relief, and brought a hand to her throat. "I'm very sorry, sir," she whispered. "This is all my fault. I'm so sorry!"
"Ask me not to tell Affton and I swear I will," said Temmin in a false, jolly tone; she gave a rueful laugh. "This is no one's fault," he added.
"I s'pose. I just needed to know that even if Fen doesn' think I'm pretty any more, someone did. And then, everyone thinks you an me--already--"
"I'm sure Fen still thinks you're the most beautiful girl in the world. I've told you a dozen times now how beautiful you are."
"Oh, sir, you can't mean that, not with you an the Holy Ones--oh, I've gone too far again!" she fretted.
"What do you know about that?"
"Servants see things, sir," she murmured.
Temmin threw his hands up in exasperation. "Privacy. I have none!"
"But sir, we're all so very happy about it! I mean, assuming you qualify," she stammered. "But I'm sure a handsome young man as you--"
"Don't tell anyone, Arta, but I do qualify. I'm serious. Don't tell."
"Oh, I never should, sir! Such good luck for the common folk it'd be--well, it's just an expression as far as I know, but my gran used to say, when Nerr gets the Heir, our fortunes really will change, an my gran was always right about those things!"
"You really believe that?"
"I do, sir," she declared.
"So does Jenks," he said, "and he's always right about those things, too." He glanced at her face, nearly restored to its usual open cheerfulness. "Arta, you are a prize, and if your Fen doesn't come to his senses, I'll beat some sense into him for you."
"Oh, please don' do that," she said, alarmed and delighted in equal measure.
"For your sake, I won't. Let me walk you back to the Keep," he said, helping her stand.
"No, sir, oh, please don'! If anyone sees us alone together again--especially coming out of the Woods--!"
"Listen," he said. "You hold your head up high against the gossip. You and I know it's not true." Yet, said a tiny, insinuating voice in his head. "If I can help dispel any rumors, I shall."
"If you chase the Lovers, no one'd believe you an I had any dealings a-tall, sir!"
"But we will have dealings, Arta." She gazed up at him anxiously, head turned to one side. "I want you to consider me a friend."
"I could never do that, sir!"
"Nevertheless, you will come to me when you need me. I command you," he grinned.
She drew her eyebrows together, happy but puzzled. "Yes, Your Highness!" she curtsied, answering his grin.
"Now, off with you. Go back to the Keep and make up with your young man." She curtsied again, and ran down the path to the Keep.
Temmin watched her go with regret. He knew where to find her if he changed his mind, he supposed, but more and more, his path seemed to lead to the Lovers' Temple.
As it happened, Temmin was the topic of a pressing conversation at the Lovers' Temple among the senior staff at that very moment. "The Heir?" said High Lover Gan, shifting to find a more comfortable position on the pillows of his low couch; his old body seemed to complain the loudest in the spring. "Are you sure that's wise?"
Issak and Allis stood before the couch, nodding. "Teacher has promoted his candidacy to us, and now that we've observed him twice, I am inclined to agree," said Allis, "though we will learn more about him before we decide. The signs are subtle, but we see them."
The High Lover shook his white head. "I don't know. There has never been an Heir of Tremont accepted as a Supplicant in the thousand year history of this Temple. Is he willing?"
Issak smiled. "Oh, yes, he's willing. He doesn't understand what it entails, but even once he does I'm sure he'll be quite willing."
"I don't know," Gan repeated. "Usually we don't even look for Supplicants at this time of year--they've been chosen by now. We thought we'd give you a chance to settle in, let you pick one next year."
"Royal patronage is always good for a Temple," said High Beloved Malla beside him, patting his knee with her wizened hand. "Princess Finnia was a Supplicant."
"Finnia's been dead some 700 years, sweetheart," said Gan.
"Ah, but she became High Beloved. It was this Temple's golden age," Malla said. "Even without a royal Supplicant, our most influential times have been when members of the royal family have joined our clergy."
"It's true," said Gan reluctantly. "But should we aim so high, then? The prophecy--the nobility are bound to object, the fools. Why not pursue Princess Ellika? She's already a devotee, isn't she?"
"Nominal at best," said Issak, shaking his head. "I fear the Princess is not the most serious of ladies. She hasn't even taken her training."
"What's this young man like?" said Gan, flexing his aching hands. "He can't possibly qualify. A virgin nobleman, at age eighteen? I find it extremely hard to believe."
"You wouldn't if you'd met him," said Issak. "For some reason, he's been quite sheltered growing up--innocent as a puppy."
"Puppies have teeth, no matter how innocent," said Gan. He sighed. "Old age is making me suspicious and cranky." Malla brought his hand to her lips and kissed his bony fingers, and he gave a happier sigh. "Well, we will see, eh, dear? Has he declared chase?"
"I'm to go riding with him soon, and I expect it then," said Allis. "At the least I'm sure I can persuade him to tour the Temple."
"And that should be that," said Issak.
"Hm. What do you think?" Gan asked his partner.
"I am of two minds," said Malla. "The sacred mind says, I trust the Embodiments to make this decision on the Temple's behalf. The secular mind says, I must encourage acquiring the Heir as a Supplicant at all costs for the benefit of this Temple, regardless whether he is a good candidate."
"And which mind is winning?" said Gan.
Malla raised a wispy eyebrow. "The secular mind says, now that I have planted the thought, let the sacred mind prevail."
Gan laughed and kissed her. "You are still the same girl who seduced me in Kennerton."
"You seduced me!" she said demurely.
"No, you only let me think I had," said Gan. "Took me a few years to realize it, but we've had a few years, haven't we?" Gan turned to the twins. "Examine him thoroughly and make your best decision, keeping all we have spoken of here in mind. Now," he added, lying his head in Malla's lap. "Your Most Highs are tired. This Most High is, at any rate. Off with you, pretty children. It's time for our nap."
Every Lover and Beloved the twins passed in the hallway murmured greetings and bowed, but Allis paid no more than polite attention. "You look disturbed, sister," said Issak. "Are you unsure?"
Allis shook her head. "No, not exactly. The Prince is qualified. He shows the beginnings of talent in observation. His effect on people is immediate and rather startling, and it's more than just his being the Heir. He has presence. And he's completely unaware of it."
"Your hesitation?"
"His lack of awareness. It's been some time since we've dealt with a man so young, let alone one so..."
"Innocent?"
"Easily led!"
Issak laughed. "Come in, we shouldn't be talking about this in the hallway." He escorted her through the red door leading to his apartments, and addressed the plump young woman inside. "Anda, tea, please. Now," he said, once they were settled and alone in his sitting room, "d
'you really think he's so easily led?"
"I feel as if I have a puppy on a leash, trotting along behind me!"
"That's infatuation. You've seen it a thousand times, with the old and battle-scarred as well as the young and inexperienced. Remember the Duchess of Barle?"
"This is different." The tea things arrived, and Anda bowed herself out.
"Here, now, drink your tea, steady yourself," said Issak. "It's not any different at all. He'll come to, and then we'll see what we'll see."
"But is it fair to lead him to Supplicancy when he's like this? Ah, it's hot!" she said, putting the cup down and shaking her hand. "Once he's taken his vows, he'll wake from his little spell and find he's bound for two years. What then?"
"He'll find himself bound in very pleasant ways. Difficult ways at times," he conceded. "But he won't have any regrets. I'm sure of it."
"So you have no qualms at all?"
"None."
Allis let her hair fall around her face, and breathed in the fragrant steam from her cup. "I worry we're being mercenary about this--that between Teacher's wishes and the advantage for the Temple, we're convincing ourselves he'll be a good Supplicant."
"Allis, I face a Master, just as you face a Mistress. If we make this choice for the wrong reasons, we will be held responsible when They take us on Neya's Day, and a long while after. I don't want to risk Their displeasure any more than you do. It hurts enough when They're pleased with us. Ah, the post. Thank you," he said, dismissing the servant. "For you."
Allis took the crisp, little white packet and broke the seal. "As expected," she said, "an invitation from His Highness to go riding this coming Neyaday."
"He's convinced himself already."
"Possibly," said Allis, running a finger along the lines of exuberant handwriting--the Prince's own, she thought. "Perhaps he'll convince me as well."
As Temmin walked to the Keep's mudroom from the stables, he saw Ellika in the gardens, cutting carefully chosen roses in fastidious little snips. She wore a dress of tiny pink and white stripes, with a neckline that would have gained their mother's strong disapproval without a modest lace fichu tucked into it. Atop Ellika's pile of blond hair balanced a wide straw hat covered in a ridiculous mound of silk roses, tied under her chin with trailing pink ribbons. Trotting after her in nervous, guilty adoration came the redheaded footman, Fen Wallek, holding a rose-filled trug basket.
"Temmy!" she called. "How d'you do! Isn't it lovely out? You'd hardly know Neya's Day hadn't come yet!"
Temmin ducked under the avalanche of silk roses and kissed each cheek. "How about giving me an early tea? I rode through lunch and I'm famished. And I'm hoping you can tell me more about--about someone we both know."
"Allis Obby, perhaps?"
"Behave, Elly," he said in an unsuccessful attempt at severity.
"Oh, I never behave," she answered, winking at Fen. The poor footman turned crimson under his freckles. He glared at Temmin, who returned the glare with interest. Fen dropped his eyes to the trug basket and kept them there.
"Somehow I can believe it," said Temmin, offering his sister an arm. She laid her shears in the basket full of roses, and sent Fen into the Keep with instructions to take the flowers up to her rooms and give them to her maid with instructions to expect His Highness at tea; Fen bowed, eyes worshipful, and sprinted into the mudroom. Temmin scowled.
Once safely in Ellika's sitting room, he said, "You really shouldn't torment the footmen, you know."
"Oh, nonsense," she said. "They like to look at me, and I like to be looked at, and there's an end to it. Thank you, Iddie, we'll have tea in here, please," she said to her maid as she sailed into her private sitting room. She perched herself on a spindly gilt chair at her spindly gilt tea table. "Wallek's attached to little Dannikson in any event, or so Iddie tells me. Don't they make a sweet pair? I'm hoping he declares for her soon so we can throw a little wedding party for them. Servants' weddings can be so diverting and sweet! And then perhaps we'll have little ones with curly red hair come of it, how charming! I shall take one as a page!"
"You're not breeding lap dogs."
"You shouldn't scold me if you want to hear more about Allis," she said.
"Miss Obby isn't the subject, though I wouldn't mind hearing more about her. We're going riding this Neyaday--do take off that hat, I feel as if I'm talking to a centerpiece--thank you. No, I actually came to talk to you about this footman, Wallek. Don't lead him on," he said, ignoring her tiny grimace. "He has a sweetheart, you know."
"I'm the one who told you about them!"
"You need to start acting as if you know about them. He's starting to take you seriously."
"He couldn't possibly!" exclaimed Ellika.
"He broke up with Dannikson over you." A partial fib, no more, he told himself. "They were to buy their promise rings in town today, but he stayed behind to move your furniture."
"How d'you know all this?"
Temmin paused, and said, "I heard it from Dannikson herself. I found her crying in the woods."
"You did, did you," she said, eyes narrowed. "You realize there's servants' gossip about the two of you."
He closed his eyes in consternation. "I swear on our mother's head there's nothing to it, and I'd hope you would pass that knowledge along--especially not as coming from me! I've only talked with her once or twice, and it was completely innocent."
"Oh dear. Dear, dear," murmured Ellika. "Wallek is a dunderhead, but he's an endearing dunderhead. One of my favorites. And little Dannikson is adorable. Well! We can't let this state of affairs stand, especially if we're partially to blame."
"You, not we," he grumbled.
"Leave it to me, Temmy, this is the kind of project I love. I'll have them back together in no time! Now that I've satisfied you, you must satisfy me," she continued. "Have you made up your mind about the Temple? Do you intend to see Her Holiness before--or after?"
"Before or after what?" he said uneasily. Ellika leveled a gaze at him until he shifted in his chair and blurted, "I don't know yet. Papa says after. Jenks seems to think before, but I haven't talked with him directly about it. And don't really want to."
"What does Mama say?"
"I'm not going to ask Mama! It's bad enough having this conversation with you!" he said.
"Pfft. I worry about you, either way."
"Why? Is there something wrong with Allis?"
"Oh, not at all! I'm the highest-ranking patroness of the Lovers' Temple, and I've gotten to know both Embodiments very well. Allis and her brother are the most amiable, sympathetic pair in the world," she declared. "I dare say you could tell them anything. Well, you can--they've taken vows of confidentiality, haven't they? Allis loves to ride almost as much as she loves to dance, so you could not have invited her to anything she would enjoy more. Now, tell me you love me, and pass me one of those butter cakes before you eat them all." He did so, and snagged the last lobster roll in passing. "I'm very glad I warned Iddie you were coming," said his sister. "Speaking of warnings! What happened last night? You never said, and I was half asleep on the ride home or I would have asked you then."
"It's a bad business, Elly. I don't really want to talk about it."
Ellika cocked her head at him. "I asked Mama this morning about any spare uncles I might have. She said something about Grandpapa scattering children across the country. I suppose we have a few bastard uncles we don't know about?"
"You'll have to ask Papa about it. No, don't cajole me--girls shouldn't ask about such things. Besides," he added, "I don't like the word 'bastard.' It's not the baby's fault, is it?"
The Sign of the Owl was one of Reggiston's best inns, and certainly its best post house. For the quality, the Owl kept a neat set of rooms, and a neater set of post-horses and chaises for hire. The one leaving this morning for the northwest was hired by a young woman and her mother, a woman who seemed to be in a tearing hurry.
"I don't understand, Mama," said the daughter. "I don't want to lea
ve! Why are we moving so far away, so suddenly--to Corland of all places? How can we afford to go post instead of on the mail, or even the stage--new clothes--where did all this money come from?"
"Don't ask questions, Mattie, just get in," said Tellis, shooing Mattie into the carriage. Tellis looked over her shoulder, let the ostler hand her in, and sighed as the door closed behind her.
Tellis Dunley was not given to nerves, and her only child settled into the unfamiliar plush seats, disturbed. "Something must be wrong, Mama. Are you ill? Is there some sort of healer in Arren? I can't believe we're moving to Arren, it's right on the border. We'll freeze! And the Corrish sound so funny!"
"They think we sound funny, and you'll be used to it soon enough. And I'm not ill, I'm fine--for the time being. Now be quiet! We can talk once we're under way!"
The horses took off from the Owl's courtyard at a smart trot. Mattie stared mournfully out the window as the streets of home slipped away, and they turned onto the main road north to Corland. "Now, Mama," she said, "now we can talk. Please tell me true: it's because of me, isn't it. It's because of me and His Highness. I'm sorry, Mama, I didn't want his attention, but I didn't try to stop him, either! That groom Nollson promised me I wouldn't get sacked, but..."
Tellis pursed her lips until they paled; she turned her wedding ring round on her finger. "You didn't get sacked. Mr Crokker never said a word to me. I know I lied to you when I fetched you from Meadow House, but it's nothing to do with any of that. We came into a small inheritance. A stroke of luck. No one's to know for fear they'd try to take advantage. We can't stay in Reggiston if we're going to get on in life. A fresh start is what we need, dearest, a fresh start among people who don't know us. Mattie," she said, leaning forward and emphasizing every word, "a fresh start is what we need. And so we are changing our name."
Lovers and Beloveds Page 12