“That’s what I thought,” said Myrceria softly. “I like Collarn. He has a vicious tongue when he wants to, but he’s always polite to the people who can’t defend themselves.”
Tier heard the grief in her voice. “This is more than a caning or a beating,” he said.
“All of the boys are forced to participate in the Disciplining in some way—and the punishment can be anything,” she said. “Telleridge is very creative. Whipping is the most common, but some of the others are worse. One boy they forced to drink water… he passed out, and I think he died. They poured water on his face while he choked and gagged. And when he stopped, they just kept pouring.”
“Can you make sure I know about it before it happens?” he asked.
She kept her eyes averted, but nodded quickly. “If I know in advance. I don’t always.”
“Can you get word to Collarn?” If they could warn him…
“Tomorrow,” she said after a moment. “I have to do it myself—I can’t trust any of the girls with a message like that. And I can’t leave the Path’s rooms anymore than you can. Tomorrow should be soon enough.” She spoke those words quickly, as if she could make it true just by saying so. “It should take a day or two for them to arrange to get word to everyone anyway.”
“Right,” he said. “Tell him to find a reason to leave town for a week.”
She nodded, started to get up to leave, but then settled back, wrapping her arms around her middle. “Would you play something for me? Something cheerful so I can sleep?”
He was tired, but she was tired, too, and no more than she could he have slept—not with the knowledge that the Masters had decreed that one of his boys was going to suffer for what Tier had done.
“I’m not going to sleep anytime soon either,” he said. “Music would be nice.”
He sat on the other end of his bed and started to tune his lute again. He’d just finished bringing the second course of strings in accord with the rest, when the door opened unexpectedly.
Tier’d grown used to the respectful knocks of his captors—even Phoran knocked. It was too early for a visit from Phoran. Tier opened his mouth for a reproval but stopped, shocked dumb when Lehr entered the room wearing Tier’s own sword.
Joy lit Lehr’s face, then dimmed a bit when he looked past Tier and saw Myrceria. He made a move to block the door—perhaps Tier thought with a touch of amusement that threaded past his astonishment, to allow Tier to assume a less compromising position. Did Lehr actually think that his father would take a leman?
But the door popped open wider before Lehr could reach it, and Jes took two full strides into the room. The comfortable temperature of the room plummeted until Tier could see his own breath, and Myrceria let out an abortive squeak.
Tier got to his feet slowly, because it was never smart to move too quickly around Jes in this mode, and opened his arms. Jes’s glance swept the room comprehensively. But he apparently didn’t see anything too threatening in Myrceria because he took two steps forward and wrapped his arms around Tier.
“Papa,” he breathed as the room warmed. “Oh, Papa, we thought we’d never find you.”
“Of course you did.” A woman’s voice, deep, rich, and beloved filled the room like the sound of a cello. Tier looked over Jes’s shoulder to see his wife enter. “Ever since Hennea told us that he’d been taken alive. Are you well?”
Seraph looked so much like the empress-child he’d first met that it made him smile. An ice princess, his sister had called her with contempt. Being a straightforward person herself, Alinath had never seen that the cool facade could hide all manner of emotions that Seraph chose not to share.
“I’m fine,” Tier said, and seeing that she was not going to run into his arms immediately, he continued speaking, “and much happier than I was a few minutes ago. Lehr, come here.”
Lehr had grown in the months since he’d seen him last, Tier thought, hugging him tightly. So had Jes for that matter; his oldest son was a little taller than Tier now.
“We missed you,” said Lehr, returning his hug.
“I missed you, too.” He held him for a moment more.
“Lehr killed some people,” said Jes. “He saved Mother.”
Lehr stiffened in his arms, but Tier merely hugged him tighter. “I’m sorry, son,” he said. “Killing another man is not something that should rest easily on your shoulders.”
When he stepped back at last, he looked at Seraph, who’d stayed by the open door. “Is Rinnie out there, too?”
As was her habit with him, she answered the real question he asked. “She’s safe with your sister. Frost, it seems, was the only family casualty of this mess—though we were quite worried about you until just now.”
“They killed Frost?”
She nodded, “To make it look as if the both of you had walked into one of the Blighted Places. We might have believed it if a cousin of mine hadn’t straightened us out.”
She hadn’t looked at Myrceria, but he knew that she didn’t have any cousins. She must have met another Traveler.
“It’s not safe for your cousins here,” he warned.
She smiled like a wolf scenting prey. “Oh they know that,” she said. “I just hope these solsenti of the Secret Path choose to try their tricks again.” Her tongue lingered on “Secret Path,” making it sound childish and stupid, which, of course, it was.
“You know about the Secret Path?” he said.
“We know about the Secret Path,” said Lehr. “They’re killing Travelers and stealing their Orders.”
“What?” said Tier, looking at Seraph.
She nodded. “They take them from the dying Traveler and place them in a stone that they wear on jewelry so that they can use them.”
“How did you find out so much?” he asked.
“Hennea told us,” said Jes helpfully.
“My cousin,” agreed Seraph.
“They have someone in Redern who has been watching our whole family,” said Tier.
“Not anymore,” said his wife coolly.
“Mother killed him.” Jes had found a perch on top of a small table and was playing with the vase that had occupied the table first.
Tier glanced back at Myrceria. “I told you they’d be sorry if they ever ran afoul of my wife. Myrceria, I’d like you to meet my family. My wife, Seraph; my eldest son, Jes; and my youngest son, Lehr. Seraph, Jes, Lehr, this is Myrceria, who has helped make my captivity bearable.”
Jes nodded with the shy manner that characterized him in front of strangers, Lehr made a stiff bow, and Seraph turned on her heel and walked out the door.
Lehr’s smile died, so Tier took a moment to explain to him. “She knows me too well to think I’ve taken a mistress after all these years—as you should. Myrceria is an ally, so be polite. I need to take a moment with your mother.”
He followed Seraph and closed the door behind him softly. Seraph was studying the stone wall of the hall as if she’d never seen stone laid upon stone before. They were safe enough, he thought. Anyone who walked down this hall was coming to see him—and at this hour that meant one of the Passerines. There was time, so he waited for her to show him what she needed from him.
“There is death magic in these stones,” she said. She didn’t sound as if it bothered her.
“They’ve been killing people for a long time,” he said. “There’s a message awaiting you in Redern telling you that I’m still alive. It should have gotten there by now.”
“Hopefully someone will direct the messenger to Alinath,” said Seraph, without looking away from the wall. She set a palm against it and said, “Once we convinced her you were alive when you left, she was most eager to hear if you’d stayed that way.”
She pushed away from the wall abruptly. When she turned toward him he thought she’d look at him at last, but her eyes caught on the floor and stayed there.
“We need to get you out of here,” she said in a low voice. “This place is a labyrinth, but Lehr found you, wh
ich was the difficult part. He’ll be able to backtrack on the way out.”
“I can’t leave, Seraph,” he said.
Her face came up at that.
“There’s a boy about Jes’s age who’s going to be hurt because of me if I can’t put a stop to it—and they’ve put some sort of hex on me anyway so I can’t wander around at will.”
She reached out to touch him for the first time since she’d appeared at his door. Gripping his hands lightly, she turned his hands over to look at his wrists.
“I can break this,” she said positively after a moment. “But it will take time—and will do us no good, since as long as this boy of yours is in danger you won’t leave anyway.”
He twisted his hands until he could grip hers. “Seraph,” he said. “It’s all right, now.”
Her hands shook in his but he could only see the top of her head. “I thought you were dead,” she said.
She looked up, and the empress was gone, lost in a face wild with emotion. Unexpectedly he felt the lick of her magic caress his palms.
“I can’t do that again,” she told him. “I can’t lose anyone I love again.”
“You love me?” He moved his hands to her shoulders and pulled her close. She leaned against him like a tired infant.
It was the first time she’d said that to him, though he knew that she loved him with the same fierceness that she loved her children. She had been trained to maintain control, and he knew that she was uncomfortable with the strength of the emotions she felt. Because he understood her, he’d never pushed her to tell him something that he’d known full well.
He knew it would make her angry but he had to tease her. “I had to get myself kidnapped by a bunch of stupid wizards and dragged halfway across the Empire to hear that? If I’d known that’s what it would take, I’d have gotten myself kidnapped twenty years ago.”
“It’s not funny,” she said, stomping on his foot in her effort to get away from him.
“No, it’s not,” he said, pulling her tighter. The ferocious joy of holding her when he’d been half-certain he’d never see her again kept him teasing her beyond prudence. “So why didn’t you tell me you loved me before? Twenty years didn’t give you enough time? Or did you only figure it out when you thought I was dead?”
“Oh, aye, if I’d have told you—you’d just have said the same back,” she said.
Her answer made no sense to him—except that she really didn’t find anything amusing in the situation. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings, so he tucked the laughter of her presence inside his heart and tried to understand what had upset her.
“If you had told me that you loved me,” he said carefully, “I’d have told you the same.”
“You wouldn’t have meant it,” she said firmly. “Haven’t you spent the last twenty years trying to make up for marrying me by being the perfect husband and father?”
Her words stung, so his were a little sharp in return. “I’d have meant it.”
“You married a woman you thought a child, married her so that you would not have to take over the bakery from Alinath and Bandor. You felt guilty.”
“Of course I did,” he agreed. “I told them we were married. I did it knowing that you were too young for marriage and that you would have to give up your magic and your people. I knew that you were frightened of rejoining the Travelers and having to take responsibility for so many lives again—but I knew that was where you felt you belonged and I kept you with me.”
“You did it to save yourself from being forced into the bakery,” Seraph said. “And that made you feel guilty. If I’d told you then that I loved you—you’d have said you loved me, too, because you wouldn’t hurt my feelings.”
Abruptly Tier understood. He pulled her back to him and laughed. He started to speak, but he had to laugh again first. “Seraph,” he said. “Seraph, I was never going to be a baker—even Alinath knew that. I wanted you. And I was extremely glad that circumstances forced you to turn to me. I don’t know that I loved you then—I just knew that I couldn’t let you get away from me.” He stepped back so he could look into her face. “I love you, Seraph.”
He watched, delighted, as tears filled her eyes and spilled over, then he kissed her.
“I was so afraid,” she said when she could talk. “I was so afraid that we’d be too late.” She sniffed. “Plague it, Tier, my nose is running. I don’t suppose you have something I can wipe it on?”
He pulled back and stripped off his overshirt and handed it to her.
“Tier,” she said, scandalized, “that is silk.”
“And we didn’t pay for it. Here, blow.”
She did. He wadded up the shirt and wiped her eyes with a clean spot. Then, the expression in his eyes holding her motionless, he tossed the shirt on the floor. He put a hand on either side of her face and kissed her, open-mouthed and hungry.
“I love you,” she whispered when he pulled his head away, breathing heavily.
He kissed the top of her head and hugged her close. “I know that,” he said. “I’ve always known that. Did you think that you could hide it by not saying the words? I love you, too—do you believe it now?”
Seraph started to answer him, but then remembered that he’d know if she lied. Did she really believe him when he said that he loved her?
Whatever he believed now, she knew she was right about the reasons he’d married her in the first place—he needed a reason to leave the bakery that would allow him to stay near enough so that he didn’t feel that he was running away from his family again. But that didn’t mean that he wasn’t attracted to her. It didn’t mean he couldn’t have grown to love her.
Yes, she believed him. She started to say so, but she’d waited too long.
“You know, for an intelligent woman,” he said, exasperated, “you can be remarkably stupid.” He threw up his hands and paced away from her. “All right, all right. Maybe if I married a woman and felt I’d taken advantage of her, if she asked me, I might tell her that I loved her. Maybe I wouldn’t want to hurt her feelings. You could be right about that. But why do you persist in believing that I couldn’t love you even if I felt guilty about marrying you so young? Is it impossible that I’ve lusted after you since you stood on the steps of that inn and defied the whole lot of grown men who’d just gotten finished killing your brother?”
She tried to hide her smile, but he saw it, and it only made him angrier.
So he did what he always did when she’d pushed past that air of pleasant affability he showed the world. He dragged her back against him and kissed her again. Hot and fierce he moved his lips on hers, forcing his tongue through before she could welcome him. The stone was cold on her shoulders as his hips settled heavily against her midriff and demonstrated quite admirably that, if nothing else, his lust was quite real.
“All right,” she said mildly, if a bit breathlessly, when he freed her mouth at last. “I believe you love me. Likely our sons and that poor woman you left with them believe you love me, too. Shall we go see?”
He laughed. “I missed you, Seraph.”
CHAPTER 15
Inside Tier’s cell (for that’s what it was, even decked out in luxuries befitting royalty) Seraph saw that she had been exactly right about what everyone had been doing. Lehr looked uncomfortable, Jes, inscrutable, and the woman, Myrceria, looked vaguely panicked.
“I am sorry,” said Seraph sincerely to Myrceria. “I meant no insult to you, Myrceria, but crying in front of strangers is not something I do willingly. We had all but given Tier up for dead these months past and I could hardly believe that he is here safe.”
Myrceria looked distinctly relieved at Seraph’s calm manner. She got to her feet. “Of course I understand; I’ll leave you, Tier, to your reunion.”
“Thank you,” said Tier. “Let me know about the Disciplining.”
She paused by the door. “I won’t tell them that your family is here,” she said.
“I didn’t think you would,”
said Tier. “Sleep well.”
“I think I will,” she said and closed the door behind her.
Tier sat down on the bed, pulling Seraph down next to him and tucking her under his arm. Lehr sat on the other side of him, not quite touching, but close.
“So,” said Tier. “Tell me about your adventures. Not you, Seraph, I want more than the bare bones. Lehr, what happened? You thought I was dead?”
Seraph was happy to let Lehr do most of the talking. Tier seemed to think that they were all safe here for now, and she was content with his assessment. She closed her eyes and breathed in Tier’s scent, felt his warmth against her side.
At the end of the story, Tier shook his head. “My love,” he said, and she saw the laughter in his eyes. “You have changed: you brought a whole Traveler clan out to Taela to rescue me. When did you learn how to be so persuasive?”
She scowled at him. “When I discovered it was more useful to have pawns to do what I wanted them to than it was to kill them all and do it myself.” Triumph flooded her when she saw that Tier wasn’t absolutely certain she was joking until Lehr laughed.
Tier rolled his eyes. “Leave for a season and see what happens. The women and children don’t remember the respect they owe you. What are you planning on doing with a whole clan?”
“We’d have never found a way into the palace without them,” said Seraph.
Lehr laughed. “Turns out that one of the emperors hired Travelers to work some magic for him a few generations back. He didn’t want to be seen consorting with them, so he brought them in by a secret way.”
“We went under the ground,” said Jes, his voice dreamy. “Fungus hung from the sides of the tunnel like strings of melted cheese.”
“Jes found a girlfriend,” said Lehr.
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