Balancing the platter on my left hip, I reached out with my right hand to push the bowl of jellied rhubarb off to one side so I might slide the tray of quail in between the two. All seemed to be going well enough — until I poked at the bowl one last time to move it an inch or so more. Before I could really grasp what was happening, the bowl slipped off the edge of the slick damask tablecloth and crashed to the stone floor. Even worse, the wreck of the rhubarb startled me so much that I also let go of the platter I’d precariously planted on one hip, stuffed quail scattering everywhere.
“Oh, no!” I exclaimed, and at once fell to my knees and began desperately picking up the tiny roasted birds and depositing them on the platter. There was no way I could put them out for the duke’s guests to eat, but I also could not leave them where they were. And oh, once Brynna caught wind of my clumsiness, she would surely dismiss me! What would I ever tell Corin? Would he understand that it had been a simple accident, and that I hadn’t done such a thing to avoid being around Lord Sorthannic?
“Let me help,” said a familiar voice, and I looked up to see a handsome man sumptuously dressed in a velvet doublet and high polished boots staring down at me. A shining silver circlet set with garnets held back his heavy dark hair. Smiling, he went on, “It can be our little secret.”
My breath caught and strangled in my throat. Was I going mad? I must be. Otherwise, I could not explain the apparition who stood before me now.
The man in the velvet doublet was my husband Corin.
CHAPTER 15
No, it could not be. It wasn’t possible. As I continued to stare at him, dumbfounded, I saw that this man’s eyes were not my husband’s dark, rich brown, but a cool blue, unusual for a man of Sirlende. In fact, I thought I had only ever met one man whose eyes were that same shade.
Lord Sorthannic Sedassa, Duke of Marric’s Rest.
He must have seen my bewilderment and alarm, for he reached out and laid a hand on my wrist, his touch gentle, clearly meant to reassure me. “It is all right, Marenna. I am Corin, your husband…but I am also the lord of this estate.”
What kind of sorcery was this? I, who was rarely at a loss for words, could only stare at him, thinking this must be some kind of mad dream born of my worry about my marriage, my anxiety that I would somehow do something to embarrass myself while assisting with the preparations for the duke’s feast.
And yet the sensation of his strong fingers against my flesh was real enough. More than real — familiar, every callus, every brush of his work-roughened skin. Work-roughened? Such a detail must be a product of my imagination, for how could a duke have anything but soft hands that had never seen a day’s labor?
Those eyes, though — the color might be wrong, but in shape they were my husband’s, as were the heavy dark lashes, the straight dark brows. I searched my memories to recall what I could remember of Lord Sorthannic’s appearance the one and only time I had seen him, but truly, his face had been so covered by that bird’s nest of a beard, and his hair so long and wild, that I could not remember any details with any clarity. Only the color of his eyes, so unusual. The same eyes that stared at me now, pleading for me to understand.
It was too much. Something inside me seemed to break, and I made a panicked little sound, then pushed myself to my feet and fled the chamber and the mess I had made, ran from him. I did not want to acknowledge the possibility that his words might be true, for then I would have to also admit that my entire life with Corin had been a lie.
He caught up with me easily enough, for his legs were much longer than mine. Within the minute, I was trapped in the corridor that connected the kitchen and banquet hall — a corridor that should have been filled with servants rushing to bring the last few dishes to the serving table, or possibly beginning to take the desserts to the ballroom, if the main courses had all been put in place. However, now that same corridor was conspicuously empty, which made me think that Corin — Lord Sorthannic — must have given the order for everyone to stay away.
Oh, he looked very grand and terrible looming over me as he did now, so much taller in his fine black velvet doublet and high gleaming black boots and the heavy jeweled chain draped over his broad shoulders than he’d appeared in the simple clothes he had worn while pretending to be Corin, a laborer with no true home. I shrank into an alcove that was sometimes used to store serving carts, and wished myself a thousand miles away. Unfortunately, I possessed no magic, and so remained exactly where I was.
However, I was not so over-awed that I would allow him to speak first. “You lied to me!”
The accusation seemed to draw him up short. He crossed his arms and stared down at me, his expression one of thwarted anger. “Perhaps I misrepresented.”
“Which is the same thing as a lie,” I retorted. “How could you lead me to believe that you were only Corin Blackstone, when in fact you are the lord of this estate?”
“Because your pride and your arrogance — and yes, your unruly tongue — led me to think that you needed to learn a lesson in humility, and acceptance. I wanted you for my wife, Marenna, but I also needed to know that you wanted me for myself, not merely as the lord of these lands, someone who could give you a title even greater than the one to which you were born, along with a life of more luxury than even you were used to.”
“Oh, indeed?” Ignoring the pleading expression in his eyes, I went on, “And so your own fragile pride could not allow a wife who was impressed by your title, your wealth? Who is the arrogant one here, your Grace?”
“Sorthannic,” he corrected me at once, and then grimaced. “Thani, actually. I have a distinct loathing of my given name, no matter that it is a traditional one for the men in the Sedassa family.”
Even as angry as I was right then, I had to admit that “Thani” suited him much better. “Very well, Thani. Clearly, everyone on your estate must have known the truth. Have they all been laughing at me, smiling at my foolishness behind my back?”
“Not at all,” he said. His hand slid down from my wrist so he might entwine his fingers with mine. As much as I wanted to pull my hand from his grasp, I did not quite dare. And also…also, I did rather like the sensation of his skin brushing against mine. “Indeed, Master Brinsell made his disapproval of the scheme quite known. But I assured him you would come to no harm, and so he relented.”
No harm? I wondered if Thani would have allowed the charade to continue until my shoes were utterly ruined, and I was forced to walk to work in the kitchen in my bare feet. In that moment, I recalled how I had asked my father to bring me some of the shoes I had left behind.
My father….
Bright realization flared, and I snatched my fingers from Thani’s. His brows drew together, but I noted how he did not attempt to retain his grip on my hand. “You plotted this with my father, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” he replied, his tone even. To his credit, he did not look away, but held my gaze. Those eyes of his were so very blue, like a cabochon sapphire ring my mother had bequeathed to me, and which I had hated to leave behind at Silverhold.
A woman could drown in those eyes, I thought.
Thani continued, “I will admit that I went to your father and told him I wanted nothing more than to marry you, but that I thought you spoiled and in need of some humbling.”
“‘Spoiled’?” I repeated, not sure I had heard him right. How in the world could Thani have thought me spoiled? “When I have made your meals for you every day, kept the cottage clean, worked in this very castle’s kitchens?”
“You have shown yourself to be brave and strong, my love. No, you are not spoiled…now. But I think it is fair enough to say that you are not precisely the same woman you were when you left your father’s house a ten-day ago.”
How could I argue with such a statement when I had thought much the same thing myself? This time away from the shelter of my father’s house had taught me much about self-reliance, about throwing away my “shoulds” and “oughts” and focusing on what needed
to be done. Still, my heart ached with what I could only see as betrayal on my father’s part. How could he have done such a thing to me?
Perhaps sensing my inner turmoil, Thani once again reached out to me, both hands taking mine. I could have pulled away…but found I did not much wish to. Voice low, but warm and worried at the same time, he said, “Did you really think your father so heartless as to send you away with a complete stranger? He knows you well enough that he could tell you felt some attraction to me, despite your harsh words. When I went to speak with him afterward and tell him of my plan, he only agreed to it because he knew that I would make sure you were always kept safe. And also — ”
“Also what?” I cut in, wondering what other humiliating revelations I would be forced to suffer.
“Also, I vowed to him that I would not make you my wife in reality until you knew the truth about me. I did not want to make love to you as Corin Blackstone, Marenna…I wanted to do so only as Sorthannic Sedassa…your true husband.”
The ache in his voice as he uttered those words was almost palpable. Now I understood the forced coldness, the way he had turned away from me just as I finally unbent enough to reach out to him. He wanted me but had made a promise to my father, which meant this husband of mine was a man of his word, no matter how much it might cost him.
“And so when my father came to visit me the other day….”
“Forgive me for that.” Thani lifted my hands to his lips, kissed first one palm, and then the other. Delicious shivers rippled all through my body, and I knew I would not shrink away from him, not when he had such an intoxicating effect on me. “It was one last test. I needed to know for sure that you truly did love me for myself. I thought if you did not care, then you would eagerly go away with your father, would hurry to reclaim your title and the life of ease you’d been forced to leave behind you. But you told him no, that you would choose no other life than the one you had now. Once I heard that, I knew I could trust you completely.”
I wanted to retort that I had given him ample reason for trust, even before that day. But then I recalled how his heart had been broken by the Crown Princess, how he had been so sure of her love, only to have it rejected so she might travel to Keshiaar and marry the ruler of that far-off land. What a blow that must have been, even if Thani had done his best to convince himself that Princess Lyarris had done so only to fulfill her duties as the Emperor’s sister. No wonder he had needed to be certain of me. A heart thus wounded would find it difficult to trust in another.
“Yes, you can trust me, Thani,” I said. “I will not lie to you and say I am not still angry about this subterfuge, but I think I can understand the reasons behind it. But I would be your wife in a cottage, and I will be your wife in this castle — if you will have me.”
“Oh, yes, I will have you.” A wicked light gleamed in his blue eyes, reminding me of another question I needed to have answered.
I tilted my head up at him. “If there are to be no secrets between us, then tell me how it is your eyes are blue, but Corin Blackstone’s were so very dark brown?”
He grinned and reached into the pouch of tooled leather that hung from his belt. From within he pulled out the heavy silver ring with the twistwork design he had worn all his days as “Corin.” “This little bauble,” he told me. “A minor enchantment, one performed by my sister, who was experimenting to see whether she could cast spells on objects rather than people, and have the effects of those spells last indefinitely. A very small alteration when I wear it, making my blue eyes brown. I thought that was all the situation required, since I looked so very different already once I shaved off my beard and trimmed my hair.”
As I watched, he slipped the ring on his finger. At once his eyes darkened, and there was Corin Blackstone gazing down on me. Just as swiftly, his appearance changed again as he pulled the ring from his hand and put it back in the pouch.
“No wonder magic is forbidden,” I said, my tone somewhat shaky, “if you can perform such wonders with it.”
“Oh, this is nothing. As I said, a minor enchantment. And I rather think the Emperor is doing his best to change some of those laws. The days when the world could be broken in two by the spells of the warrior-mages is long gone, and all that are left are small magics such as these.” Thani shrugged. “But that is no concern of mine. My sister dwells in a land where magic is not outlawed, and so may do as she pleases. And we — well, we are missing our own wedding feast.”
“Our what?” I asked. For yes, I knew that Thani was absent from the very gala he was supposed to be hosting, but this was no wedding feast and dance, only his traditional harvest ball.
“It seemed the right occasion to introduce you to the world,” he said. “Do you think my encountering you just as you spilled those plates was an accident? I needed to speak with you in private, to end this game I was playing. I want everyone to see you as my wife, Marenna.”
“I am so very sorry about that — ” I began, and he smiled and shook his head.
“Do not worry. The mess has already been cleaned up, and the maids who undertook the task will find a nice reward of a silver piece each awaiting them for their trouble.”
Yet more evidence of his generous heart. There were not so many lords who would have thought to compensate their maids for doing such a thing, for most would have considered it simply part of their duties and not deserving of any additional notice. But still….
“I — ” As much as I wanted this charade to end as well, I could not help but look down at myself in dismay, at the plain clothing I wore, at the wrinkles in my skirt — and several new stains, courtesy of dropping that platter of roasted quail and having stuffing and grease spatter my clothes. “You cannot think that I would go in front of all your guests looking like this?”
“Of course not,” Thani replied with a smile. “Come, my love — let us begin your transformation into the Duchess of Marric’s Rest.”
He led me upstairs by means of a hidden staircase, up several flights of steps and down a long corridor, until we came to a large set of carved doors. Behind those doors was a suite of such sumptuousness that it quite put my own rooms at Silverhold to shame — columns of carved wood, hangings of silk and velvet, every inch of the stone floors covered in priceless Keshiaari rugs. A cheerful applewood fire burned in a hearth of warm-hued marble.
And there was Sendra, coming forth from one of the rooms beyond the sitting chamber where Thani and I entered the suite. She was smiling, but I also saw how tears glistened in her eyes when she looked upon me. Was it that I appeared now so drab and plain, so changed from the Marenna she remembered? I was not sure I wanted to know.
“Here is your charge,” Thani said, also smiling. “I know you will work your magic — but do not take too long, for our guests are waiting, and I am sure my wife is hungry after her labors today.”
“No more than twenty minutes,” Sendra promised, and I could not quite prevent myself from raising an eyebrow. Back at my father’s house, preparations for one of our own balls could take as much as three hours.
It seemed that Thani affected not to notice my skepticism, for he nodded and said, “Bring her down when she is ready.” He bent and kissed me on the cheek. “I will see you in a short while, my love. But now I must go, lest everyone think I have been spirited away from my own party.”
What could I do except murmur my agreement, and watch him exit the chamber? Almost as soon as he was gone, Sendra came up to me and said, “Oh, it is so good to see you, my lady. We do not have time to wash and dry your hair, but I have a bath waiting, and once you are done with that, I will get you dressed.”
A real bath, one that had not required me to heat ewer after ewer of water over the fire? It sounded heavenly.
I followed her into the bath chamber, and there was a tub of marble, filled with water smelling of lavender. There was so much I wanted to ask — had she also known of the plot my father and Thani had hatched between them? — but I knew we did not hav
e time for such things. I could not even enjoy the bath as much as I would have liked, for after a scant few minutes I had to climb back out again, and have Sendra hand me a silk chemise and silk underdrawers and stockings. I dressed myself in those underthings, then sat down so she might brush out my hair and arrange it in a mass of complicated coils and braids…but no curls, for we did not have time for such niceties.
Not that I minded so much when I saw the dress that had been laid out for me, silk damask in a rich wine color, trimmed in gold and embroidered in pearls. “Where on earth did this come from?” I asked as Sendra laced me into the garment.
“Oh, his Grace ordered it for you. ’Twas no great task to have it made up, since I used one of the dresses you left behind at Silverhold as the pattern.”
That made sense. There would have been plenty of time to construct such a gown during the days I had lived in my cottage with Corin — Thani, that is. And there were slippers of gilded leather sewn with gold thread and more pearls, and combs of gold and garnet and pearls to be tucked into my hair. Then at last a heavy necklace with large garnet pendants bordered in seed pearls, and earrings and a ring and bracelets to match. Even I, who had left behind a fairly impressive collection of jewelry, felt my eyes widen as I looked on the pieces Thani had given me to wear.
The Song of the Thrush Page 19