Her gaze slid to Roddy. “Your aegis?”
“I am now magically protected.” He shrugged and couldn’t hide a smug smile for her benefit alone.
“Who is your father?”
“Darros. I’m his firstborn son. He slept with my mother during a trading mission that he was promoting into the Steppes.”
She laughed helplessly; it sounded half sob, half genuine amusement. “Darros,” she repeated, almost as a whisper. “It was revenge all along,” she continued, as more and more made sense to her. “Your entire plan to conquer the Set . . . it was revenge for being denied your birthright.”
He once again appreciated her agile mind and wished she had set out to put it to good use.
“Yes.”
“Stracker has—?”
“No idea of the truth.”
She laughed again. “Priceless.”
“That’s why I’m here to see you. Stracker is here too; his Greens are marching in force as we speak. I suspect we have the equivalent of a bell before they arrive at the gates of the convent. I’m giving you a choice. You can either use the escape we are providing for all the nuns into the mountains, led by an experienced guide, or you can take your chances with Stracker. Either way now, Valya, after your attempt on the princess, I wash my hands of you. If you go with the nuns you will remain a prisoner of the empire. What happens to you if you go to Stracker is up to my half-brother, though I will remind you that I cannot be killed, so Stracker’s plan is flawed.”
“He doesn’t know that, though,” she said, her eyes narrowing as her natural inclination to hatch a plan came to the fore.
“Not yet, no. You should also know he’s traveling with another Valisar.”
Her attention snapped back to him. “Who?”
He grinned. “Piven.”
“The adopted retard?” she said, horror in her voice.
“Not adopted, it turns out. And far from the halfwit we lost ten anni ago. He’s now a strong, eloquent and hugely intelligent youth with revenge in his heart—or so I’m assured by a most reliable source. Oh and he too has his aegis.”
“So all the Valisars are safe!” she hissed.
“I cannot speak for Leonel. When I met him he was unprotected but that could have changed by now.”
Her shock was complete, her face a picture of dismay. “Well, you have been busy. I suppose you know about the princess, too?”
“My niece. Yes, I have met her. She too has her aegis in place so you can stop plotting along those lines now, too. You should be cautioned that out of all of the Valisars I am probably the one who looks least unkindly upon you. Each of the others has good reason to see you suffer. I have no desire to do that.” He sighed. “I’m sure you now regret killing my mother.”
“She was a bitch! And now I discover she was a slut too, whoring for Darros!” she spat.
He kept his expression even. It was never hard for him to control his temper, which he knew infuriated her. “Does that mean you choose to throw your lot in with Stracker?”
“Lo strike you down, and all you scheming, heartless Valisars.” Her chest was heaving with fury. “Tell me something, Loethar. Is the princess rich with her magic?”
“She is. You cannot hurt her. And while I’m sure you’ll find it impossible to believe, Genevieve is precious to me. She is the only surviving Valisar princess.”
Valya laughed and it sounded as though it had an edge of madness to it. “Is that so? I think I’ll stay right here . . . I wouldn’t want to miss the entertainment.”
Loethar frowned. “I’d urge you to go with the nuns. Stracker holds no affection for you and he answers to Piven presumably.”
“I’ll take my chances. I might yet be able to bring him around,” she said, cunning in her voice.
“You have nothing to offer him, Valya.”
“I never run out of ideas, Loethar. You of all people should know that. No, turn me loose. It’ll be the final act of kindness that I am owed as your wife. Whatever then happens, happens.”
“As you wish. Gather up your belongings. You will be escorted to the gate shortly.”
He turned and left without another glance.
It was Ravan who found her with the news that the nuns were leaving with the Davarigon woman soon. She’d discovered the apothecary and was marveling at all the medicines and salves on its shelves. It was a wonderful distraction from her sense of helplessness.
“They’ll be safe?” Evie wondered.
He nodded confidently. “She is Davarigon. No one could know these mountains, or how to survive in them, better than her. She will keep them well protected.”
“She’s wonderful, isn’t she?” Evie remarked. “I wish I’d had a chance to meet her.”
He smiled. “I’m sure you will.”
She returned his gesture. “Thanks for telling me. I feel so useless with Kilt and Corbel so absorbed in their discussions with Loethar and everyone.”
“Loethar’s currently with his wife.”
Her face clouded. “What’s going to happen about her?”
“I don’t know. But don’t worry yourself. The first thing you should know about Loethar is that he is, despite what you’ve been told, very just. His days of random killing are long behind him. He will not harm Valya for her recent actions, though, knowing Loethar, he will find a subtle way to punish her.”
She sighed. “There sounds to be a lot of activity out there,” she said.
“Right now everyone’s helping to get the nuns organized for their journey. Some are very old, most are understandably frightened.”
“What about that one they call the Qirin? Corbel mentioned that she never leaves her room.”
He shrugged. “I imagine she’ll stay. She’s blind and that is a burden Elka doesn’t need. She’ll already be trying to keep so many others safe.”
“Then we must keep her protected.”
“I am certain Loethar will see to it.”
“You admire him,” she said.
“I do. I always have. You don’t know the story of Loethar and myself, do you?”
She shook her head. “But I’d love to hear it.”
He told her briefly, and she shook her head in wonder when he had finished.
“That’s . . .” She hesitated.
“Unbelievable?”
She laughed in relief. “Well, yes! I’m supposed to accept that you were a raven?” she said. “Though I suppose it’s no more unbelievable than my story. You know, until quite recently I was someone who worked with facts.”
“And yet our world denies you that logic. Perhaps it is you who should speak to the Qirin. She might answer your questions.”
“It scares me.”
He frowned.
She shivered. “All that hocus pocus.”
Ravan frowned more deeply. “Hocus pocus?”
Evie grinned. “Stuff that’s hard to understand. Fortune telling. Magic!”
He gave a soft look of surprise. “All she will do is understand you . . . and pass on that understanding.”
“We’ll see,” she said.
“It will not be something you regret.”
“Then you come with me.”
“If she permits it, I’ll be glad to accompany you.”
They were interrupted by Corbel. “Evie, the nuns are leaving. You might want to say farewell to the Mother.”
“I do,” she said, putting down the jar of liniment she’d been smelling.
“Come on, then. The good news is the nuns will be out of harm’s way in time. The bad news is that we have spotted the army. The barbarians are now in plain sight.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Kilt stared at Lily. Her still slightly swollen eyes and bruised expression told him how upset she remained. He drifted over to her as the nuns began their own teary farewells, not because of who they left behind but what.
“Lily, you should go with them,” he urged.
“To ease your conscience?”
>
He sighed. “To ease my worry. Most of the people left behind here are either protected magically or have such an investment in this struggle that—”
“And I don’t?” she said, looking even more wounded. “You don’t think giving ten anni of my life to Leo . . . to your support of the Valisar Crown is an investment?”
“You know what I mean.”
“No, Kilt. Nothing you say any more will ever sound sincere to me. You are like the Valisars—full of secrets. You and she are well matched,” she said, throwing a glare toward Genevieve, who was hugging the Mother goodbye.
“She is so blameless in all of this,” he tried.
“But still she ended up with the man she loves.”
Kilt’s patience was running out. “Lily, you got your man too!” he growled, ignoring the way she flinched. “I was there, remember. I risked my life, risked my magic, threw everything I had into chasing after you to get you away. Yes, I made an error in asking you to keep an eye on Felt. But that certainly should not have involved any danger to you. I don’t know what drove you to your audacious and dangerous decision to pretend you were Felt’s wife. But it was not because I asked it of you, or expected it of you.”
She fought back tears. “I wanted to impress you.”
“Well you did. You made a great impression upon me—of stupidity. After all I taught you about how careful we needed to be, you risked all of us in your actions. Forget me, what about Jewd? Did you consider his life? Or Tern, or any of the other men who look up to you and have kept you safe all these years? Did you consider Leo, who all of this was all about? You risked all those people because you wanted to be heroic and impress me? That’s an outrageous claim and I refute it. You had no reason to impress me!”
“And you had no reason to love me!” she belted straight back. “Not even after I committed my life to yours. But you freely admit you fell in love with her in a heartbeat.”
He hung his head. “Yes, yes I did. There’s absolutely no accounting for love, I’m sure of that now. And I’m sure you didn’t expect to fall in love with Kirin Felt . . . but you did. I watched that love between the two of you, Lily; it was real. Don’t tarnish it by pretending losing me to Genevieve comes even close to how it feels to losing Kirin.” He cleared his throat and looked around at all the people suddenly watching their heated exchange. “Forgive me, I don’t wish to make you cry.”
“But you do, Kilt. It’s all you’ve ever done,” she uttered through her tears.
He took her hands and kissed them. “And I am ashamed and sorry for that.” He looked around. “And I’m sorry to all of you for having to witness this,” he said, unable to meet Jewd’s look of disappointment.
Lily sniffed. “The show’s over. Kilt and I are over. We were just—”
“The best of friends,” he finished and she nodded.
“But I’m not leaving. I led the danger here and I might yet be some use as bait.”
“Bait?” Jewd boomed. “I don’t think so.”
But it was Gavriel who took her hand, not noticing the big man’s scowl. “Come on, Lily. You’ve never been properly introduced to Elka but you should meet her before she leaves.”
She looked grateful for his rescue and Kilt shared a guilty glance with Loethar as they watched the pair walk away to lick their wounds of unrequited love.
They were the last to leave the side gate, neither wishing to close it on the column of women and single man but knowing they must. Janus had gone with Elka; it seemed he couldn’t bear to be parted from the Davarigon and as much as this amused everyone, Elka sourly admitted to Loethar that it made good sense to have a physic in tow. He was the only one who turned and gave a single wave farewell.
Gavriel shifted his gaze to Loethar. “I noticed no fond goodbyes. Too sentimental for you?” he said, nodding toward Elka’s back as she led the nuns away.
“You had your chance, de Vis,” Loethar cut back. “Friendship will only sustain a woman for so long.”
“Says the all-knowledgeable barbarian,” Gavriel snarled.
Loethar gave him a look of sympathy. “From what I hear it was your petulance that got you into trouble ten anni ago. You were still something of a youth then, so perhaps allowances can be made, but now you actually look like a man . . . so perhaps it’s time to act like one.”
Gavriel pursed his mouth, his teeth audibly grinding.
“You don’t love her, de Vis.”
“She is my closest friend.”
“And she still can be. Don’t be a fool and ruin that special bond you have with her.” Gavriel’s angry stance dissolved as though Loethar’s advice hit its target. Then Loethar’s tone changed. “Now what you did for that woman, Lily, a little while ago did impress me. She seems fond of you.”
“There was a time . . .” Gavriel shrugged and shook his head, frowning. “She’s been through a lot, I gather.”
Loethar eyed him. “So have you,” he said. “Come, de Vis, we have an army approaching.”
“Let them come. I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for a long time.”
Loethar grinned. “Vengeance knows no fear.”
Gavriel’s face was lacking in all humor but the tension in his body was gone. “I will never forgive you for my father’s death.”
“I know.”
“If you weren’t so magically protected I would attempt to kill you for it,” he said casually. “But I’ll settle for your brother.”
“Half-brother,” Loethar corrected with a dry tone. “But you see, de Vis, we’ve already found common ground on Stracker. Who knows where these first fragile bonds might lead us.”
And Gavriel now smiled mirthlessly.
In much the same region that Corbel and Evie had been set upon by Barro and his companions, Leo now stood looking down at the convent with glee.
“Look at that, Marth! Exactly as predicted. The Greens are here.”
“But why?”
“Why else but Loethar? I told you he was on the run from his own. He’s here; I can all but feel his presence. This will be Stracker leading his men to finish him off. Though it’s kind of Stracker to offer to do the job for us, we’re going to finish Stracker first—and all of his tribal savages—because Loethar is going to be mine. I want him to look upon me and know who killed him.”
Marth cleared his throat but before he could speak Reuth interrupted them both.
“Majesty. This is Raimon.”
Leo turned, confronted by a slim, flaxed-haired youth with even, regular features made more memorable by his pair of bulging gray-blue eyes.
“Raimon is vested with eyesight that a hawk would be glad to have,” Reuth explained. “He can see detail in the distance that we can only dream of.”
“Very good. Can you brief us, Raimon? Give us a solid estimate of numbers, where the soldiers are all positioned. From here they look like a blur to the rest of us.”
Raimon nodded. “My counting’s not good, majesty. But I would reckon them a gate of sheep,” he said, falling back into his farming upbringing.
“One hundred,” Leo confirmed.
The boy blinked, glanced at Reuth and then back to Leo. He nodded. “No more than a gate of sheep.”
Leo grinned. “Right. And what is their position?”
Raimon looked into the distance and then back again. “They’ve stopped moving. The column is spreading out.” He made a circling motion. “They’re surrounding those buildings.”
“That makes sense,” Leo agreed. “Are they carrying bows?”
“All weapons, majesty. I see bows, spears and swords.”
“None to bother me,” Leo admitted smugly. “Anything else?”
“Yes,” Raimon said. “There is a carriage with them. An ornate one.”
Leo swung back and tried desperately to see what Raimon had. “A carriage?” he repeated. “Whatever for? Describe it, Raimon.”
The boy did. “Black. Shiny. Lots of gold on it. It—”
“
That’s one of the royal carriages, if it’s trimmed with gilt, “ Leo interrupted. “Surely Stracker wouldn’t travel like that,” he mused.
Marth grunted. “Absolutely not, from my experience. Stracker shuns any regal trappings.”
“He’s climbing out of the carriage,” Raimon continued.
Leo exchanged an expression of surprise with Marth. “Are you sure?” he urged.
The lad nodded. “I know what Stracker looks like. That’s him all right.”
“Then he’s traveling with others. I would stake my life that Stracker would not be in that carriage unless forced,” Marth said. “He much prefers to ride proudly at the head of his Greens.”
Leo looked out to the blur of men and horses around the cluster of buildings. “I agree. From what I know of him he’d sneer at the notion of being cooped up in a carriage all the way from Brighthelm. Raimon, can you describe the others?”
“There are three others. Ah, one is Vulpan, the blood taster. He’s easy to recognize.”
Reuth spat on the ground.
“Go on, Raimon,” Marth pressed.
“I don’t recognize the others. One is an older man.”
“Describe him,” Leo ordered.
“Tallish, slightly stooped, gray hair. He has only one hand.”
“One hand. Wait! Is there a youth with him—someone of about your age?”
Leo held his breath in the pause as Raimon focused.
“Yes.”
Leo smacked his fist into his palm. “We are too clever by half!” The others looked at him, bewildered. “The youth is my brother, Piven. The other man is called Greven. He originally helped me to escape into the forest in the north and then he, for reasons known only to him, headed southeast and made his way to Brighthelm. There he found Piven as a young child, just five. I heard this all only recently so my knowledge is sketchy and third hand but apparently he lured Piven away and raised him in secrecy. I’ll never know why he did it or how because it turns out that Greven is an aegis. Piven, of course, as he grew out of whatever his ailment had been, recognized the magic and I heard that he trammeled Greven, cutting off one of the man’s hands and devouring it.”
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