“That’s where I lost all the blood. Why I passed out.”
Earnest nodded. “There was some bleeding on the inside. Healer thinks it’s stopped, but . . . we don’t know for sure. There’s still a chance you might not make it.” He put a hand on Venture’s arm. “But I know you will, Vent.”
I might not make it? No wonder Jade was a wreck. “Get Jade! Wake her up if you have to!”
“Vent—”
“Just do it!”
I have to live. I got out of that place and now we can have a life together. I have to live for her, he thought as he lay there alone, waiting, watching the doorway, not daring to lift his head.
Jade hurried through the door. Her long hair was a mess of tangled waves and her eyes were puffy.
He forgot, and he raised himself up just the slightest bit. “Jade, look at you!”
“Venture, don’t! Don’t try to sit up!”
“Okay, okay. It’s all right, Jadie, I’m lying down, see?”
Jade sat on the edge of the bed and stroked his jaggedly cut curls. “It’s very important for you to stay still. Didn’t they tell you? Until we’re sure the bleeding’s stopped.” She saw the concern in his eyes, not for himself but for her, and she brought her hand self-consciously to her face. “I’m sorry. I promised myself I wouldn’t cry.”
He wished he could take her in his arms. “Look at me, Jade. I can fight this. I’m going to live. I love you. There’s nothing I want more than to have a life with you.”
“I know you’ll do your part to stay alive, Vent.”
Venture heard what she left unsaid. They both knew he wasn’t the one with power over life and death.
There was a timid knock on the open door, and the woman from the carriage entered. So he hadn’t just imagined her being here. She was neatly dressed, her hair pulled back. She looked well, though she’d been marked by her ordeal—her lip swollen and marred by a half-healed cut, her chin bruised and scraped. She came to his bedside and reached for his hand. Several of her fingers were bandaged, for she’d been cut in her desperate struggle to keep the knife blade from slashing her throat.
“How can I ever thank you? Just when I was sure I was going to die, there you were.”
“It’s enough that you’re all right.”
“My husband’s been so worried about you,” the woman said. “He’ll be so happy to hear you’re well enough to see him.”
“I’d be glad to meet him. Is he here?”
The older woman gave Jade a puzzled look.
“Venture,” Jade said, “don’t you know who this is?”
“You did that for me, thinking I was just a stranger, no one of any particular meaning to you?” the woman’s voice faltered. She sank into the chair, then drew a handkerchief from her dress pocket and wiped her eyes. “I’m Felicity Fieldstone. Mrs. Grant Fieldstone.”
Venture blinked at Jade. “Your father got married?”
“They didn’t give you my letters!”
“No letters. Not from anyone.”
Jade’s eyes filled with pain for him, and he swallowed past the bitter memories of that lonely cell, of the months of silence from his friends. Venture forced his gaze away from Jade’s. He looked up at her new stepmother. Hopefully, his future mother-in-law.
“They married last month,” Jade said. “She’s been a great comfort to me.”
“Thank you,” Venture said to Felicity. “For being here for her.”
The scene of the attack played in his mind. The carriage. He hadn’t recognized it. Had Grant bought a new one, or had she brought it with her from her old home? The body. There had been a body hanging out of the carriage. Had she brought her own servant as well?
“The driver . . . ?”
“Able.” Jade barely got out the name.
Venture couldn’t speak. Couldn’t even breathe.
“He stopped the carriage for a lone man on the road,” Felicity said. “Anyone would have. The stranger hardly looked like a highwayman. A well-dressed young man, on foot, very polite, asking directions. Once Able got down to talk to him, the others came out of the brush.” Felicity’s voice dropped to a whisper. “He did his best, but he was killed before you arrived. Killed, trying to keep them from getting to me.”
Venture swallowed back tears for Able. Venture had roomed with him after his mother died. Able had sat by Venture’s side and patted his back whenever he woke up, trembling, from nightmares. He’d helped him dress when his arm and ribs were broken after he and Jade had been attacked on the road so long ago. He was such a quiet man. Compassionate, devoted. He’d given his all, down to his life, to protect the new Mrs. Fieldstone.
“Vent!” Grant rushed into the room with Rose right behind him. “I don’t know how to tell you how grateful we are to have you back. Or how brave and selfless—” Grant’s voice caught.
Felicity took Grant’s hand and squeezed it. “And there’s Jade. A courageous young lady for this brave young man.”
Grant smiled. “We’re all glad for those sword-fighting lessons now.”
“Yes,” Rose said, “leave it to Venture to give her an excuse to put them to use.”
“If he ever gives me reason to again, I—”
“It was you? You killed him? I couldn’t see straight. Couldn’t think straight. There was just your voice and a sword and blood. I thought he’d killed you.”
“Grandmother and I were on our way back from the Salemans’,” Jade explained. “Felicity had gone into town. We saw the carriage, the blood, bodies everywhere, and two men struggling on the ground. Felicity was climbing out of the carriage, and I expected her to run to ours so we could get her out of there, but instead she stepped toward the fight. And then I saw that it was you, that you were about to be—”
She stopped herself just before she fell apart, took a deep breath, and then went on. “I realized she was going to try to give you a weapon. I had your sword in the carriage compartment. I may not be allowed to carry it, but I keep it there just in case. I didn’t think. I just jumped out with the sword.”
“Frank tried to stop her,” Felicity said. “The poor man. He really thought she might strike him down if he stood in her way.”
“He was killing you,” Jade said. “I saw the light leaving your eyes. I cut right through him.”
“You shouldn’t—it was bad enough thinking I’d failed to stay alive for you, but when I thought I was leaving you to that man . . .”
“You wouldn’t leave a stranger to die. How could you expect me to leave you?”
Venture thought he’d been lying still, but now he felt himself sag back against the bed. He was too exhausted to argue with her anymore. He wanted to be alone with her hand in his, to drift off to sleep with her whispering in his ear.
But Grant asked the ladies to leave him alone with Venture for a moment.
The door closed behind them, and Grant took a seat next to the bed. He put his hand on Venture’s shoulder. “What better man could I ask for for my daughter? I hope you can forgive me for not seeing it before. Forgive me, for everything. Venture, you have my blessing. You should’ve had it all along.”
Venture clasped Grant’s hand. He didn’t speak. His throat was too swollen with gratitude and relief—that he would recover, and that when he did, he would be free, with Jade by his side.
Chapter Fifteen
Spring’s First Month, 660 After the Founding
Venture tossed little Holly up in the air, laughing right along with her. She still had that deep, baby belly laugh. He’d missed her first laugh and so many others while he was in the lockup. As soon as he’d been well enough to move into Justice’s house, he’d dedicated himself to getting as many laughs out of her as possible. He tossed her again and snatched her out of the air just before she hit the low ceiling of the little mud-brick house. Venture played it off, but his strength surprised him. He’d felt good the last few days. Almost normal.
“Vent, Vent!” Tory jumped up and down
in front of him, arms upraised, dark curls bouncing. “Throw me. Throw me too!” Venture set Holly down on her bare feet and made sure she was steady before he let go.
“Tory,” Grace said, “not now.”
Venture frowned, and Justice shook his head at him and scooped Tory up before Venture could.
Grace put a gentle hand on Venture’s back. “You’re trying to do too much, too soon.”
“I think I can pick up a five-year-old.” Especially Tory. She was solid and strong like Justice, but she hadn’t inherited his size. She was petite like her mother.
“Not yet,” Grace said firmly. Tory squealed as Justice tossed her in the air instead.
This was Jade’s fault, no doubt. There seemed to be some sort of women’s code uniting all of them in babying him. Which was why Jade knew nothing about his plans for tonight. And Grace would bar the door if she knew that.
Venture plucked his coat from the hook by the door. “Earnest and Dash are probably waiting for me.” He was supposed to meet up with them and have a few drinks at Seven Coins, their first night out together since before he’d been locked up. It would also be the first time he’d seen Dasher since he was confined to bed in the Big House. Dasher, who’d given up his campaign for Representative in order to campaign for his release. Governor Lockfield’s pardon had worked. Lockfield had won another term. But Venture wasn’t sure that had been his only reason for granting it.
Justice put Tory down. He hesitated, as though he were about to offer to walk Venture into town. But Venture gave him a look and took his sword from the high shelf. His dagger was already secured under his pant leg, where he always kept it now. At night, he slipped it under his pillow.
For Grace’s benefit, Venture said, “The guys will bring me back when we’re done, when it’s dark.”
“Be careful.”
“Sure.” He kissed her on the cheek, kissed the baby, then, before anyone could stop him, swept Tory up in his arms and threw her nearly through the ceiling too. He held her close for an instant before tossing her back to Justice.
Justice still didn’t say anything, but his look said, Please don’t be stupid, Vent.
Lightning was waiting for Venture outside the door, faithful as ever. She whined her excitement. Her wagging tail hit his legs as she circled him.
“Hey, girl. Want to come to town?”
Her answer was an enthusiastic bark. He scratched her chin and took off at a brisk walk.
Maybe it was time to move back in with the guys. It was quieter up here on the hillside, away from reporters and curious fans and critics alike. Grace got to take care of him again, and Jade was close by. But he was going to have to face the world eventually. His stomach tightened a little. Who was he to the people of Richland now? Half the time he felt as though the man he’d become in the lockup—the man who was hardly a man at all—was who he really was, like everything else was just him pretending.
In his dreams now he was fighting. Not defeating enemies, not rebelling, but fighting in the arena, practicing his sport, without anger. The pleasure was in the success, in the perfection of technique, in the discovery of new strength, not in the pain, the misery, the damage to anyone else. He yearned for the challenge of it. It was wonderful, to be able to think about fighting this way again, without the corruption of hatred. But it also scared him to remember how much he loved it. Could he trust himself to want to fight again?
The way he’d been in the lockup seemed so far away, so foreign. But it is in me, or I couldn’t have been like that. It will always be in me. I’ll always have to fight it. He shouldn’t forget how he’d been. It was too awful to forget.
Whether he could or not, whether he should or not, the desire to fight was growing.
Venture shifted to a jog. He picked up the pace, feeling his body warm with exertion for the first time in months. He didn’t care if he was sweaty by the time he got to the pub; he felt so good, so alive, moving again.
Earnest was waiting for him at the bottom of the hill at the edge of town.
“Hey,” Venture said. “Where’s Dash?”
“No sign of him yet.” Earnest shrugged, as though it were no big deal, but Venture knew he was worried.
Dasher had been away for a couple of weeks, looking into things, fishing for more information. They’d expected him back in Twin Rivers this morning. What if Dasher was wrong in believing that his fellow Cresteds wouldn’t harm him because of their code of honor?
“Maybe he’s enjoying spending some time with his family.” Venture smiled cynically.
Things weren’t going well at all between Dauntless of the Glen and his family; they’d refused to help with Dasher’s efforts to pull strings for Venture when he was accused, and again after his conviction, when Dasher was trying to get him pardoned.
Before the lockup, Dasher had even tried to get them to meet Venture, to see what he was like for themselves. He’d swallowed a whole lot of pride for Venture, telling a family he’d tried to break away from that he needed their help, asking them to privately use the same Crested influence he was speaking out against publicly.
Dasher’s campaigns—both for political office and on Venture’s behalf—had been nothing but embarrassing and problematic to the Glens. If word got out about the former bondsman’s relationship with the lady they’d nearly joined to their own family in marriage, their humiliation and outrage would no doubt reach a new peak.
Earnest shook his head. “Knowing Dash, he’s giving a speech on every village green along the way, still trying to save the country from the tyranny of his relatives.”
“Probably. Maybe I should do a few with him.”
“Vent, what are you going to do? You going to compete again?”
He’d asked himself that question so many times. Each time he thought of the injuries he’d have to train through in order to fight professionally again, he cringed at the anticipation of effort and pain, at the thought that he might never again be the fighter he’d once been no matter how he pushed his damaged body. But he couldn’t imagine not being a fighter anymore, never feeling so alive again.
When he was alone with his thoughts, when he lay in bed at night and thanked God that he was alive and free, he couldn’t help asking, Am I done? Back when the pain was still bad and he was still half afraid he was going to die, he hadn’t minded so much, not having an answer. But more and more, he needed to know what he was going to do, who he was now, who he was going to be.
“We’re going to the Fighter’s Face-Off next month.” Earnest held up a hand to stop Venture’s protest. “Not to fight. But you need to go. To see everyone again.”
“Like this? You want everyone to see me like this? I look weak.”
“You may feel weak, Vent, but you look fine.”
“I don’t look fine. I’m fat and slow.”
He’d lost a lot of weight in the lockup, and lying in bed fighting for his life had only made things worse. But as he recovered, his appetite had rallied, too. He used to struggle to add the slightest layer of fat over his muscle, to keep on even a bit of extra weight to make moving him around more burdensome for his bigger opponents. A man who ran as much as he did, who practiced as hard as he did, couldn’t help but burn up all the fuel he could shovel into his mouth. Now, Venture’s clothes fit him just the same, but it wasn’t all muscle filling them. He didn’t like it at all, feeling and looking more like an ordinary man.
“I’m glad for this.” Earnest poked him gently in the stomach. “I’ve been trying to put some fat on you for years. For pity’s sake, it’s less than a thumb’s knuckle thick. And you took care of yourself in there.” He nodded in the direction of the lockup. “As well as you could. If you can keep a little fat on and build your muscle back up some, you’ll be all set.”
Venture glowered at him.
“I’ll have you running and feeling stronger by then,” Earnest assured him, giving up on trying to convince him that a bit of softness was a good thing. “And you
know what they’ll all be thinking if you don’t show up.”
Venture didn’t answer, and Earnest let his words hang there for a moment. Then, “Listen,” Earnest said, “we’re going to go, and they’re going to see you itching to be out there. We’re going to hit every major tournament, including the Championship, and we’re going to sit in the front row, where everyone can see you.”
“I don’t want everyone to see me.”
“Do you really want whoever takes that Championship title this year to own the confidence of being Champion without a care in the world, without worrying about running into Vent Delving next year?”
Venture turned away from Earnest and groaned.
“You don’t have to decide what you’re going to do right now. But until you tell me you’re done, we’re going to prepare for your comeback. Give you the best possible chance, in case you decide to take it.”
Venture didn’t mind so much that it was this year’s Championship he’d miss, if Calling Fox decided to give it one more shot. If he couldn’t be there, there was no man he’d rather see take the title than Call. Still, he knew Earnest was right. Who knew whether his body would ever be the same? On top of everything, he’d have to fight through Day One all over again next year. If he wanted that title back, he couldn’t afford to give anyone an edge against him.
“You want to be there watching his winning match. You want to be the first to congratulate him. You want him receiving his award and thinking, ‘I shouldn’t be here. This is Venture Delving’s place, and I’d better enjoy it while I can because next year he’s going to take it back.’ You have to stay the champion in everyone’s minds.”
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