“Well, in some respects, perhaps it would,” Alexei admitted. “From her perspective, a marriage represents the foundation of a new future. The possibility of a new generation to aid her in protecting our people. But as her particular choice is in all other respects unconscionable, that is the least of our concerns.”
Zara sighed and threw up her hands when Alexei wasn’t looking. At least he’d managed not to insult her for a few minutes. It was an improvement. Maybe by the time this was over, he would manage a whole day.
“But why is she in such a hurry?” she wondered aloud. “Aside from providing more power, she has given no other reasons. You would think she would prefer her guardians to actually like each other. And what’s another year or two after waiting this long?”
Alexei apparently did not intend to answer her questions. “We should resume searching. As soon as we’ve finished this area, perhaps we should meet up with the others and see what they’ve found.”
Zara added Athven’s “reasons” to the growing list of things that Alexei was unwilling—or unable—to talk about. Perhaps he’d decided he’d rather be quiet and mysterious than angry and insulting. If only she could be sure the change wouldn’t prove equally as frustrating.
They combed the castle for the rest of the morning, which turned into afternoon, and then to evening. One day turned into two, and then ten, until Alexei stopped counting. The search slowed more everyday to accommodate the appearance of an increasing number of Athven’s original furnishings, which provided an even greater array of possible hiding places to choose from.
Alexei remembered uncomfortably his cousin’s statement that they could tear Athven down and search the stones and still never find the Rose. He had thought this to be exaggeration, but what if Porfiry had been telling the truth? Never mind the possibility that the castle had secrets even he didn’t know. He needed to talk to Athven directly, but it seemed clear that her bond with Zara was too weak to sustain such a conversation. And while Athven clearly had the ability to speak to him, she seemed reluctant to do so. Perhaps it used too much of her strength.
After yet another day of fruitless searching, the party gathered in the entry hall to discuss their findings. Silvay had explored the rooms where her former mistress had resided, and Wilder reported that the bannister was not very useful for sliding. Gulver had found a collection of healing talismans, and though their magic had dissipated, he was exclaiming enthusiastically about the artistry of their design. And Malichai was worried about Loraleen.
“I never thought we’d be trapped here this long,” he confided anxiously, “and she’s not the sort to run off, but I’m afraid she’ll think I’ve forgotten her.” A tear made its way down his face and disappeared beneath his beard. “She’s the only love of my life, you know. Saved me more times than I can count. I’d never leave her, but I don’t know if she believes that.”
Alexei was not terribly concerned with the welfare of the animals. They were generally more sensible than people gave them credit for. There was water and grass, and horses could do well enough without the shelter of a stable. But he heard an intake of breath from Zara and felt her stiffen where she stood, a few paces from his shoulder.
Malichai’s words had upset her.
“She’s not alone, Malichai,” Zara said softly. Upset or not, her first instinct seemed to be to comfort the distraught. “She has companions, enough to eat, and she has her freedom. And I think she knows you’ll come for her when you can.”
“I’m sure you’re right.” The bearded man swiped a hairy arm across his face.
Malichai had echoed some of Alexei’s own frustration. He had never anticipated being trapped. Though it had its advantages—no one else could enter—it had far more drawbacks. What if the Rose was hidden somewhere on the outside? Somewhere Porfiry could just walk up and take it without them ever knowing?
Would Athven still not simply open the doors and let them come and go as needed? She continued to be evasive about her reasons, which struck Alexei anew as disquieting. Had she been hoping from the first to encourage a union between him and Zara? They had definitely established that a marriage was impossible, so why not set them free?
“Zara.”
She turned to look at him warily. Even after their days of shared searching, she seemed ill-at-ease in his presence, though she’d established an apparent rapport with each of his other companions.
“How does Athven speak to you? Can you ask her questions and understand her answers?”
She looked uncomfortable. “So far, she’s only been able to speak to me in dreams. But lately, when Shadow is in the room, I feel like I know what she’s thinking. There aren’t really any words. Just a feeling.” She held up her hands to indicate confusion. “I don’t think I can describe it. And it isn’t two-way communication. If she knows what I’m thinking, she doesn’t ever acknowledge it.”
“Do you think she—Shadow—understands us when we speak?”
“Yes.” Zara didn’t even hesitate. “But that doesn’t mean she’ll answer.”
It was worth trying. Considering the vision he’d had when Zara collapsed, perhaps she would relent and speak with him again.
“Athven.” He crouched down and directed his gaze to where the gray cat was twining her way around Wilder’s feet, probably trying to look harmless. “Please. I know you can hear me. I have so many questions, but even if you choose not to answer them, I’m asking you to let us out. Open the doors. Trust us to return. We are not going to abandon you. But we would feel less like prisoners if we were allowed to come and go.”
Shadow rolled over onto her back and batted at the edge of Silvay’s cloak.
“She’s laughing at us,” Zara muttered.
“I’m not going to marry Zara,” Alexei said sternly, feeling a little silly for addressing such a remark to a cat. “No matter how long you keep us here. It would be a mistake, and would accomplish nothing other than making two people miserable. There must be another way to solve the problems we are facing.”
The cat’s tail twitched, but she continued to stare at Silvay.
“Alexei, you could perhaps have stated that more diplomatically,” Silvay protested.
“What?” Startled by her remonstration, he rose and dusted off his hands. “You mean about Zara? Neither of us is willing to marry the other, so why should I not be straightforward about it? I cannot imagine a pair worse suited to a partnership.”
There was a choked-off laugh behind him. Zara was trying to look innocent and failing. “Oh dear,” she said in mock sorrow. “You’re in for it now.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“That’s the second time you’ve disrespected your precious Athven,” she announced in a sing-song voice. “She’s going to get you for that. Whatever happened to ‘all-knowing’ and ‘has our best interests at heart’?”
His brow lowered, but before he could respond, there was a heart-stopping crash. As one, the six of them whirled to find that the great iron-bound doors at the front of the hall stood wide and gaping. The pale light of evening streamed in, and for a moment, no one spoke.
They all turned to look at Shadow, who was staring at the wall with all the hauteur that is the birthright of cats, plus a healthy helping of disgust. Or maybe that was just her face.
“Thank you,” Alexei said, feeling a little shocked. Had it really been that simple? All this time, had they merely needed to ask?
“Malichai, I believe you can go and look for Loraleen. Although you might want to wait for morning. There could be other travelers who arrived after us, and I would rather not invite anyone else in until we know their motives for being here.”
He glanced at Zara, who was gazing past him, her eyes wide and frozen. In a single flash of intuition, he saw her intention on her face, but didn’t have time to move or speak.
“Father,” Zara whispered. Before anyone had a chance to ask what she meant, she bolted out the open door and was gone.
T
hey watched her go, open mouthed, until Alexei broke the stunned silence.
“Malichai, stay!” he said sharply. The bearded man had clearly been about to race out the door after her. “You must defend the castle until Zara returns. We will look for Loraleen later, I swear it, but I beg you to keep Athven safe.”
It was a stern task, but Malichai was a warrior, and he knew what was needed. His mouth hardened to a firm line and he ran from the hall, presumably to retrieve his weapons.
“Wilder, you stay with Malichai. Gulver as well. You will be needed if anyone attempts to gain entry and there is a fight. Silvay, would you come with me?”
The older woman nodded briskly, but her sadness was unmistakable. Like him, she knew the potential consequences of what Zara had done. Like him, she had been close enough to hear what Zara whispered as she fled.
Father. She had never spoken of her father. Why would she run out into the night to find him?
Alexei took only the time necessary to find his cloak and then stepped out into the deepening chill of evening. “Silvay, do you know her signature well enough to seek it?”
“I do,” she said, “but I will only sense it if I am close.”
“Do you feel safe enough to split up?” he asked. “We will cover more ground, faster.”
“I have travelled alone many times,” she reminded him. “And I am strong enough to know when others are near, so there is little danger.”
“Even if we have not found her, we should return when the moon peaks. I don’t know when Athven might decide she is tired of waiting for us to return.”
Silvay bit her lip. “Why did she do that? After refusing to let us leave?” She was not talking about Zara.
“To prove a point,” Alexei answered bitterly. “She knew something I didn’t. Knew, or guessed, what Zara would do, given the chance.”
“Zara told me…” Silvay hesitated.
“Silvay, I swear I will respect your confidence, but if you know anything that will help us, please tell me.”
“Zara came with companions,” Silvay confessed. “One of the ones she described was an older man, with gray hair. She didn’t say it was her father, but I had the sense she was hiding something. She asked whether we had seen them, and I told her there was no one else in the valley. I could tell that it hurt her.”
Abandonment. Zara had reacted strongly when he spoke of Porfiry’s parents giving him up. She had reacted again when Malichai worried that Loraleen might think he had abandoned her.
Father, she had whispered. Had she believed he might still be out there somewhere, waiting for her?
A terrible feeling of regret clenched at his heart, matched by the stirrings of anger. Zara had indeed been abandoned. There was no one in the valley. No one waiting for her, no one hoping against hope that she would be released. And Athven had already known.
She was able to feel the presence of anyone within the valley, and should have simply told Zara the truth—that her father was nowhere nearby. But she had not, so she must have wanted this situation to unfold exactly as it had.
She had wanted Zara to bolt, in the mistaken belief that her father could never have simply walked away. Athven knew her bondmate well enough to be confident that she would not leave the valley and risk the consequences. And Athven must have guessed that Alexei would go after the runaway, because he wouldn’t trust her to return of her own free will.
And yet, if Athven still wanted them to marry, why would she give Zara the opportunity to drive another wedge between them? Was this about control? To prove that she knew best? Or was it merely the clumsy efforts of a would-be matchmaker to bring two people together?
“I never thought I would say it, but Zara may have been right,” Alexei told Silvay in a low voice. “This leads me to believe that Athven, in spite of all her power, does not truly understand the people she depends on. And she suffers from neither scruples nor compassion.”
“A dangerous combination,” Silvay noted.
“When we find Zara…” He did not say “if.” He could not accept anything less than “when.”
“Yes,” Silvay answered with a sigh. “We have assumed too much. We will have a lot of apologizing to do.”
“That’s very kind of you,” Alexei told her, smiling crookedly, “but I don’t think you meant ‘we.’”
Silvay smiled back. “Perhaps not. But a little extra apology never hurt anyone.”
Sending Silvay to circle to the north, Alexei took the road, guessing that Zara’s search for her father would follow the most obvious route. That she was strong, he knew, and from what he had just seen, probably fast as well. He would not be able to catch her simply by running. He would have to wait for her to tire, and hope that she would remember the consequences for her flight before she strayed outside the valley.
If not… He would not think about it. He couldn’t bring himself to consider such a possibility. But even as he shoved the idea away, it was not Athven’s image that lingered, but Zara’s. The thought of her lying lifeless on the ground troubled him, though he could not understand why. He regretted their misunderstandings, and owed her a debt, but she wasn’t even a friend. Was it simply that he could not bear the idea that Athven could have so callously sent someone to their death?
As darkness grew, with no trace of the ethereal lavender threads that made up Zara’s magic, his apprehension grew with it. How far had she gone? What signs would she be looking for? Any search for human habitation was as likely as not to bring her into contact with someone they would both rather she avoid. And if Rowan was lurking…
Again, Alexei’s mind shied away from the possibility.
He stopped for a moment to push outward with his senses, extending his magic farther, reaching for the edges of the valley. His magic was strong enough, but he was out of practice. He hadn’t realized how stiff those inner senses had become with lack of use. Now that they were more limber, he should consider enchanting again. Not basic items, though if he could find some hearthstones he would certainly put them to good use. No, he needed to try more complex workings, to find out if it was still possible. And if not…
A scream splintered the night. Not the terrified scream of a woman afraid for her life, but the enraged scream of battle being joined.
Definitely Zara. She probably wouldn’t have the sense to be afraid of anything she might find in that valley. As he plunged off the road into the trees and raced through the underbrush in the direction of the sound, Alexei almost laughed. He wondered whether he ought to be more worried for her, or for whatever she had encountered?
But when he stumbled into a clearing, all thoughts of levity vanished. It was Zara, indeed. She was sprawled on her side near the edge of the trees, thin moonlight reflecting off the white of her hair. Her head was up, but she wasn’t moving. And what she faced was no lurking mercenary or predatory mountain cat. Only a few paces from her boots, the enormous form of an artenu flickered and swirled, the smoky form of its body lit by an eerie internal glow.
An unearthly snarl rumbled from its throat, and its eyes flared. Suddenly, Alexei realized how Zara must have stumbled across it. She had been looking for smoke. Searching for the cookfire of anyone who might have been encamped in the wood near Athven. And her keen senses had led her straight into the path of one of the giant bear-shaped creatures who lurked in the deep woods of Erath. They were made of smoke and fire and magic and the smell of their haunts could easily be mistaken for burning wood.
Usually, they did not leave Vrendel, but this one had, and Zara would have no idea what she was facing. Named demons by those outsiders who encountered them, artenu were indeed dangerous, but preferred to stay far away from humans. When surprised, they were downright deadly, even if you knew their weaknesses. They didn’t have many.
Luckily enough, just as his brother’s affinity was for horses, Alexei’s was for fire. Most enchanters had an affinity for one element or another, but the most powerful talismans were shaped by fire, and A
lexei had been one of the most powerful enchanters in his generation.
Grasping the stone pendant hidden beneath his shirt, he reached for the fire in the bear-shaped creature’s eyes and tugged. It would have been better had his affinity been for water, to balance the fire, but he would work with what he had.
The beast grunted and turned away from Zara, sensing a new threat. Its mouth opened and flames leapt from its throat when it roared, while the smoke of its form swirled and danced in an unseen wind.
“Don’t move,” Alexei said, keeping his voice placid as a lake in summer. “It is very like a real bear in some ways. If you stay still and breathe slowly, it will shift its attention to me.” He did not voice his fear that the creature might be too much for him. He could not risk her deciding that he wasn’t to be trusted, or that he would do better with her help. She was not weak, but only magic could deter the artenu.
She listened. As the fiery gaze swung back and forth between them, she lowered her head, slowly, until it rested on her bent arm, and went utterly still. When the artenu’s attention shifted fully to him, Alexei reached deeper into his talisman and unleashed power he’d almost forgotten he had.
Flames leapt from his outstretched hand. Without the enchantment in his talisman, without the power slumbering in the earth beneath him, he could never have done it, but the latent power of the land surged to life and overflowed with something that felt like relief. The flames grew higher, outlined both hands, his arms, and then spread to his torso. Holding the artenu’s gaze, Alexei took a step towards it, and as he did so, the shape of the fire stretched and grew until it mirrored the beast it faced.
He had grown weak. Holding the shape almost brought him to his knees and sweat poured down his neck, but he took another step, and another. With a fierce joy he realized he did not need to see the form he had created with his magic. He could feel it, like a separate sense he had never used because he had never needed it. The bear took shape in his mind and when he called for more, it roared and the flames flared so brightly they nearly went white.
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