Bound to the Commander

by Libby Campbell

  Pepper didn’t have to fake ignorance on the things Daedra most wanted to know but that didn’t stop the Daedra’s interrogation.

  Once again, Pepper ignored her question. “It’s lovely to see the sun again, isn’t it?” she asked.

  Daedra returned a simpering smile. “It is. I imagine the view from Brother Quinn’s house must be quite lovely in the sunshine. Do you think you will be staying long? Many of us are curious.”

  It annoyed Pepper the way Daedra asked the same question a different way, over and over. A few feet away, Quinn detached himself from the Devmaerean woman who’d been filling his head with details of the Senne monarchy. He walked over to where Daedra had Pepper cornered. He stood between the two of them.

  “Did I hear you ask if Sister Pepper will be staying long?” he asked.

  Daedra looked at him through narrowed eyes and nodded.

  “You seem to have an unusual interest in our latest asset,” he said, wrapping his arm around Pepper’s waist. “I think we can both agree that Sister Pepper has unique talents that could be a vital contribution to our capital city. So far, no one has talked about her staying beyond the time it takes to stabilize the people here who are suffering. Still, her skills may be complementary to the benefits of Senne’s magic herbs. As soon as a decision is made, it will be announced.”

  A blast of the whistle from the main battleship announced the honored guests were about to disembark. The band stopped, mid-bar, and began the Senne national anthem from the start again. Quinn held out his arm, which Pepper took with a sense that she must be dreaming.

  When Princess Gael appeared on the deck of the HMS Bonaventure, a gasp rose from the crowd. Her beauty eclipsed the sun. It wasn’t her clothes that made her so striking; she wore a navy suit with matching pumps, the sort of clothes Pepper had only seen in movies. But Gael’s tiger-striped hair, in its natural corkscrew curls, formed a massive halo around her face and over her shoulders, almost to her waist. She had strong cheekbones, a wide strong mouth, and a stunning smile. As she walked down the gangway, her movements were feline. Muscular, controlled, graceful.

  She waved to the crowed who called out welcome to Elsinania in increasing volume. Behind her, almost forgotten, was Admiral Kai Grenville. He waved to the gathered throng but Pepper was pretty sure few people noticed. She did though. Her curiosity about Devmaerean men had never been stronger. The protective way he looked at Gael, as well as the way he glanced over the crowd, as if searching for any possible threat to Gael’s safety, made her like him.

  Quinn led Pepper forward and the four of them exchanged official salutations. From there, the visitors greeted the line of dignitaries waiting to say hello to them. With the formalities out of the way, they were escorted into a waiting limo. Quinn and Pepper joined them in the same ride. As they motored away from the harbor, one truck after another was arriving to pick up a load of barrels of the prakinroot-based remedy.

  Pepper sat across from Gael trying not to stare at the princess’s hypnotic eyes, one gold, one green.

  Gael looked at Kai with a slight tone of annoyance. “How long will it take for me to stop rolling on my feet?”

  Kai smiled at Quinn and Pepper, pulling Gael closer. “This was my partner’s first time at sea. She has never experienced the sickness of disembarkment before.”

  “Is it catching?” Pepper asked, wondering if this was yet another illness spreading across the globe.

  Quinn and Kai smiled at each other.

  “Only if you go to sea for more than a day or so,” Kai said. “Have you been on a boat?”

  Pepper shook her head. “Only when I was a child, to and from Elsinania Lighthouse after my parents won a family holiday. It wasn’t a very long trip and we kids had to wear lifejackets and stay seated the whole time.”

  At the mention of the lighthouse, Gael suddenly started studying the fabric of her skirt, brushing away nonexistent fluff. Pepper felt bad that she’d mentioned it. Probably someone had told Gael how her parents had died.

  Kai ignored the mention of the lighthouse, taking Gael’s hand in his, as if to steady her. “Gael is experiencing a prolonged sensation of the boat rocking. It’ll go away in a day or so.” He rubbed her hand gently. The tender expression he shone on Gael made Pepper wonder if Quinn looked at her like that.

  “Princess,” Quinn said. “I understand you want to spend some time here with our main healer.”

  “Please call me Gael when it’s just the four of us. I’m not overly concerned with protocol. By healer, do you mean you have someone who can cure the illness?”

  “Unfortunately, no,” Quinn said. “Pepper is a massage therapist. She can alleviate the symptoms only. Has anyone been found in all of Devmaer who can do more than that?”

  Kai and Gael shook their heads in unison.

  Quinn nodded at Pepper. “My companion here, please call us Quinn and Pepper when we’re alone, is the only person in all of Elsinania who has any effect at all.”

  “The problem is,” Pepper said, “there is only one of me and it takes a full forty-five-minute treatment to have any effect at all. I’ve tried shorter sessions, but my patients report slightly better sleep but not good rest.”

  Gael leaned forward and her honeysuckle-vanilla fragrance reached Pepper. “Touch to alleviate symptoms. Now that intrigues me. What was special about your training?”

  “It was partly training and partly heritage, or so everyone said.” Pepper shrugged. “I’m a fifth-generation therapist. My mother before me, and hers before that—all the way back to my three-greats-grandmother—were all trained in the touching art. My mother said she knew from the moment I squeezed her thumb as an infant that I had the gift too. Apparently only the firstborn daughters get it. My younger sister, for instance, doesn’t have it.”

  Quinn reached for a glass from the small bar at the end of the seats. Ice clinked into it before it filled with water from the dispenser. He offered it to Gael, who accepted it with a quiet thank you.

  Handing another glass to Kai he said, “The fact that we only have one person in the entire country who can offer relief makes this delivery of your herbs so vital. We don’t have a naval fleet, so we were unable to ensure the safe passage of the ships.”

  As Gael sipped her water, her fingers left patterns in the condensation on the glass. “Like your massage,” she said to Pepper, “my herbs don’t cure the illness. The moment a person stops taking them, the troubled sleep resumes. The herbs are a stop-gap measure only.”

  Silence descended inside the limo as it arrived at the city gates. Conversation stopped in until the guards checked Quinn’s CommBand and, with a respectful salute, waved the motorcade through.

  “We thought we’d take you to see the rose fields for which our country is famous,” Quinn said. “Pepper uses an extract of wild rose in her treatments, but those roses don’t come from here. The main reason I chose this activity today is it will give us the opportunity to talk where there is no chance of anyone overhearing us. If you have any difficult or confidential questions or comments, this is the time for them.”

  “I have one,” Kai said, settling back in his seat. “Since when did Elsinania open its gates to foreigners? I’ve been coming to the Elsinanian Harbor since I was a lad and I’ve never been allowed to venture much past Tribunal Hall.”

  Quinn grinned. “As Pepper here is finding out, there are big changes afoot in our great nation. After the old president was deposed, my father enacted a rigid, isolationist system of government to minimize contamination by outsiders. He also wrote a Handbook in an attempt to codify all behavior of all our citizens. It was meant to remove the burden of decision-making from ordinary lives. To let people know what was expected of them.”

  “Maybe someone will do that in Silvelea before long,” Kai said grimly.

  “I believe my father’s actions were a necessary antidote to a country riddled with despots and crime.” Quinn took Pepper’s hand in his and she looked at him obliquely.
It seemed like he was trying to comfort her, but she couldn’t figure out why.

  “All that is official history,” Quinn said. “There’s more though. Part of our history is unfolding as we sit here.” He cleared his throat before speaking again. “Ever since my father died two years ago and I was appointed commander by the Tribunal, my sister Ezmar has been campaigning for a new, less restrictive Handbook. As Pepper can testify, these changes have not found their way much past our city gates yet.”

  Pepper smiled. “That’s for sure.”

  “In the capital city, we’ve gone off Handbook more or less. To hear Ezmar speak of it, we are totally off-Handbook but that’s wishful thinking. There are essential rules that protect people and their property and they will stay. However, it’s my intention to open our entire country to greater freedom, including the ability to travel domestically without restriction. The right to international travel is another question.”

  “Really?” Pepper couldn’t keep the astonishment out of her voice.

  “Yes, really.” Quinn squeezed her hand, filling her with joy at that open show of his affection, of his ownership of her. “In fact, I’ve been writing a new Handbook for the past month. What do you think I’ve been doing all day and night?”

  “I have no idea,” Pepper admitted. “I just wondered how you managed to stay awake doing nothing but paperwork.”

  He smiled and lifted her hand to his lips.

  “I have a question.” Gael sat up and the leather seat creaked slightly.

  “Anything,” Quinn said.

  “It’s for Pepper.”

  “Yes?”

  All color had drained from Gael’s face. “What sort of cruel country sends children to the lighthouse for a holiday?”

  Chapter Nineteen: Joining Forces

  “What’s wrong with a holiday at the lighthouse?” Pepper asked, wondering why Gael was bringing up the subject of her parents’ death. They’d been gone for the three years but that didn’t mean the memory of their loss didn’t sting.

  Gael blushed beet red. “Well, it’s just...” She coughed, looking at Kai for help.

  “Not all lighthouses are the same.” Kai wrapped an arm around Gael’s shoulders. She leaned into him, averting her eyes. “In our capital city of Grenvilleton, we have one lighthouse, on a small island not far from our city center. It’s called the Teardrop of Senne or Teardrop Lighthouse, in homage to the many tears shed by naughty wives confined there for correction.” He kissed the top of Gael’s head. Gael looked up at him, a relieved smile on her lips, as though he’d just spoken the unspeakable.

  For the first time since she’d arrived at the docks that morning, Pepper’s perfectly composed smile faded. She understood what Kai was saying. Quinn’s small smile said he did too. That’s when Pepper realized that she might not be the only female sitting in that car with a tender bottom.

  An awkward silence ensued. Pepper said, “Oh. Well. Here in Elsinania, there is a lovely lighthouse on a pretty island with its own protected beach for swimming. The facilities are highly sought after, so the Tribunal runs a lottery each year and the winners get to go there for a family vacation, all expenses paid.”

  Pepper decided she’d never tell Gael about how her parents died. It would be embarrassing for the princess to realize how she’d renewed one of the most painful wounds of Pepper’s life.

  Instead, she decided to change the subject. “I hope your herbal mix can help a new symptom I’ve seen in the past couple of weeks.”

  Gael sat up, clear-eyed, her embarrassment over the lighthouse confession forgotten. “What symptom is that?”

  “Joint pain. I have one patient who has developed deep, disabling joint pain with the Waking Illness. My therapy helps but, like always, the relief is short-lived.” Pepper didn’t mention that one patient was also her sister.

  “I’ve been worried about progression with this illness,” Gael said. “I’d like to stay here for a few days and work with you if I am welcome.”

  A rush of excitement bubbled over in Pepper’s smile. “Princess, you are always welcome. We must do whatever we can to stop this blight.”

  That decided, the party of four, accompanied by a modest security staff, spent the afternoon touring the outlying areas around Rosewyld. They visited the rose fields and had lunch at the vineyards. Gael and Pepper planted prakinroot seeds at the ends of the rows of grapes. At the next farm they sampled beer from the new harvest of hops. At sunset, Quinn and Pepper escorted Kai and Gael to the Raven’s Lair to dress for the evening banquet.

  An hour later they returned to the hotel to take their place beside their honored guests, allowing all of the upper crust of Rosewyld to be able to say they’d had dinner with the crown princess.

  * * *

  When they got home after the dinner, the speeches, and the dancing, Quinn and Pepper settled in front of the fire with mugs of hot chocolate.

  “You have a message star from your sister,” Quinn said.

  “When did it come in?” Pepper asked, trying to control her indignation that he’d been holding onto to it for any length of time.

  “This morning, shortly after we arrived at the docks.”

  “And you’re just telling me now? What the hell?” Pepper jumped to her feet. “Give it to me!”

  Quinn stood. “Patience, little sparrow. I don’t think you want to take that tone with me.”

  Pepper pressed her lips into a firm line as she contemplated the likely delay if she pushed Quinn any harder.

  “Sorry,” she said, strangling the anger and worry that had welled up inside her.

  “Do you want to have it here where I can see it or would you rather open it in the sitting room?”

  “Here is fine, being as I suspect you’ll want to know what she says anyway.”

  Quinn smiled. “Your tone of voice could be improved but I’m glad you have a clear understanding of life under my roof. No secrets.”

  No secrets. The man who’d sat next to her night after night rewriting the Handbook and never mentioning it to her was declaring no secrets. The man who’d known since before he kidnapped her from Rosemoor that there was a shipment of prakinroot herbs coming from Senne, under military escort, and hadn’t told her said no secrets.

  Obviously that rule was meant to be broken. She didn’t have to tell him hers either.

  The moment wasn’t right to point out the inequity in his reasoning, so she smiled, hoping that she’d masked her deeper frustration.

  He touched his CommBand and the message star spun through the air in a glittering arc and opened in front of them. Only it wasn’t just Lily in the frame of the message, Brinley was at her side. They both wore wreaths of gold autumn leaves around their heads. Pepper swallowed in dread. Quinn came to her side and reached for her hand.

  “Hello, lovely sister,” Lily said. “You won’t believe all that has happened since you left.” She looked at Brinley with a coy smile. “I’m sorry I haven’t written. It’s just, well...”

  Pepper studied her sister, identifying all marks of the Waking Illness she knew Lily was trying to hide. The makeup she wore didn’t quite mask the purple rings around her eyes. Her words were enunciated so carefully, it was obvious she was trying to overcome the slurred speech that was part of sleep deprivation.

  Brinley straightened his shoulders, as if to draw attention to himself. “What Lily is trying to say is that the two of us have been seeing each other for a while. We’ve kept it quiet because we weren’t sure of the depth of our feelings.”

  Pepper barely glanced at him. Her interest was totally focused on Lily.

  “But other people must have seen what we thought was a great secret!” Lily’s voice rose an octave. “Because they voted us king and queen of the Harvest Feast.” She touched their crowns just in case Pepper had somehow managed to miss them.

  “That felt so natural,” Brinley planted a kiss on Lily’s cheek, “that we exchanged vows this morning.”

  “We alr
eady have our married house.” A rosy blush covered Lily’s cheeks. Pepper hoped it was a blush of shame at taking such a step without telling her sister beforehand. Lily was only eighteen years old. She knew nothing. She was little more than a child.

  Pepper knew then why she distrusted Brinley so much. The man had been sneaking around with her sister. He should have been honoring their family connection, insisting that Lily not join him without her only remaining relative in attendance. Instead he’d waited for the first time they were separated to entrap Lily in an exchange of vows that would bind her for four years.

  Pepper swallowed, feeling the pinch of tears in her eyes. Lily didn’t need her. Now Pepper was effectively an orphan.

  “When you come back to Rosemoor, we’re going to arrange for you to be moved to the house next to ours.” Brinley smirked. “That way our family can be close together.”

  “I’d rather eat revenge berries,” Pepper muttered.

  Quinn embraced her. “None of that,” he said softly.

  “Anyway, we just wanted to let you know. I hope you’re coming home soon,” Lily said. “I really need some of your help, your special touch.” She looked directly into the frame at that point and Pepper saw the dark rings around her eyes, the lines of fatigue in her face.

  “Fuck you,” Pepper said and burst into tears.

  Brinley disappeared from the frame and Lily leaned in close. “I told my dear mate that I needed some time to talk to you directly.” She looked over her shoulder as if she expected Brinley to sneak back into the room.

  “There’s one thing you probably haven’t heard yet,” Lily whispered. “Sister Anna has disappeared. They say she’s gone to the Healing and Rehabilitation Camp. Pepper, have you ever known anyone to come back from there?”

  Pepper stiffened at that news. Dear sweet Anna. The woman who’d been her second mother. She was the most law-abiding person in all of Elsinania, probably on the entire planet. She didn’t deserve to be taken away. Pepper wiped her sweating palms on her dress.