“I ask mercy for my men,” the little man said gruffly.
“You are in no position to ask for anything,” Garreth said harshly. “Your army is mine, and before the winter sets in, your city will be mine as well.”
“We will surrender to you. There is no one left to defend the city of Zandaria. It is yours already. We were so foolish. We did not … We were so foolish.”
“You thought we would make an easy target. It was a sound idea overall, but you did not take the time to learn with whom you would be doing battle. Your impulsivity was your undoing.”
“Please. I beg you to show mercy to our city. We are not a warring people by nature.”
“I will show mercy only when and where it is due. You are prisoners of Kith now. Come passively to our dungeons or die here on the field. It is your choice.”
“We will come,” he said, his tone as defeated as he was.
On the walls of the keep, Sarielle could see that the battle was finished, but she was not sure which side had been victorious. She could see the overall picture, but the details escaped her.
But after a while it became very clear who had won. The city walls erupted in cheers and she felt her heart leap with relief and joy. They had won!
Koro, do you see Garreth?
At first Koro could not tell the difference between the “shiny” men. She told him to look for the armor with the wey flower emblazoned on the front of it. After a moment Koro came through to her, telling her that he could see him.
Is he all right? Is he moving?
He was, according to Koro.
Koro, come to me!
Koro banked in the sky in the distance and then came rushing toward her. He reached her within a minute and settled down, his clawed feet gripping the keep’s walls, his nails digging into the stones. Sarielle hurried up to him.
“Bend your head to me!” she said.
Koro did so and she awkwardly climbed on top of his head, trying to move in the unfamiliar bulk of her armor. She straddled the back of his neck as best she could and gripped one of his scales.
“Take me to him!”
She had flown with Koro only once before. It had been the most terrifying and exhilarating experience of her life. Nothing had ever compared to it … until she had met Garreth. It was dangerous for her to ride him like this. The scale she held could come loose or she could slip and fall to the ground, which rushed beneath them, but her desire to find Garreth outweighed her fear of flying with Koro. She closed her eyes tight, so she wouldn’t make herself sick watching the ground beneath her, and let Koro lead the way.
Just take it easy! If I fall, that will be the end of me!
Koro heeded her warning, flying very gently from the keep walls to the battlefield. He settled down beside Garreth and lowered his head to the ground so she could dismount.
Garreth could not believe his eyes. Had she just flown with that beast?
“Are you mad?” he barked at her. “I told you to stay on the keep walls! What if you had fallen? What if—”
“I didn’t! The battle is over and it is safe now. I had to make sure you were all right.” She reached to touch his neck where he had been wounded. He was short of breath from his exertions and from his compromised lung, and he was in a considerable amount of pain, but still he jerked away from her.
“Get back to the keep. Now!”
“But I—”
“Do not argue with me! It is not safe for you here! Get back to the keep and remain in your rooms for the rest of the night!”
“Are you banishing me?” she demanded of him, her shock profound.
“Sarielle, just do it! I cannot have my focus split. I need to know you are safe. Go!”
Sarielle felt the burn of tears threatening her eyes. “I just needed to know you were safe too,” she said, her tone thoroughly wounded.
She turned to go from him but he grabbed her wrist and drew her back. Thinking nothing of doing so in front of his enemies, he gently kissed her on her lips.
“I understand,” he said. “Now go. Be safe. Walk through the gate, not on Koro’s back. You nearly took my life in your hands when you did so. If anything were to happen to you … I do not know what my actions would be.”
This mollified her a great deal, and she gave him a wavering smile. She walked away from him, ambling toward Koro’s underbelly and giving him a hug.
Thank you. Now go home and be safe.
Koro sent her an impression of utter devotion that made her smile. At least she would always know exactly how he felt about her.
The same could not be said for Garreth.
She was in danger, she realized. She was in danger of falling in love with him. As she walked back to the keep, completely ignorant of her surroundings, she realized the magnitude of what she was thinking. Of what she was feeling.
It was hopeless. To love that man was a hopeless endeavor. He had warned her more than once that he was not free to give himself to her, that she had to be satisfied with what she could get. And she had thought she would be. She had thought she would be happy with the way things were.
But the truth was he would be leaving soon. Perhaps even sooner than she had realized, now that the Zizo army had been destroyed. It had been different when the possibility of them wintering there and battling the Zizo in the spring had been on the table. Now Garreth could walk into Zandaria without any opposition whatsoever. And that meant he would need to find a new city to conquer.
Oh, not right away. She knew that much. It would take time before both cities were strong enough and secure enough to be left on their own. But it would happen eventually.
Before that time came, she would need to leave. Leave him before he could leave her. She would pack up the twins and go. They would spend the winter together, but come the first touch of spring, she would go and never look back. Not too far. She didn’t want to leave Koro too far behind her. But far enough. Just far enough.
If such a place even existed. She was afraid that nowhere she went would be far enough to escape the way she felt about him.
She wished she had the strength to leave right away. That very instant. But she didn’t. She needed more time with him before they parted for good. She couldn’t bear to go otherwise.
Dethan was sitting in the main hall when Davine entered the room on a cloud of soft perfume and wearing a silken gown. She never wore full skirts with layers of petticoats like most women in Kith did. She always wore floor-length gowns of free-flowing silk that most other women would wear in the privacy of their bedrooms, if they even dared to wear them at all.
The truth was that she was a very beautiful woman. Had Dethan not been married and in love with his wife he might have bedded her by then. Might have. There was far too much cunning in the woman. He had considered setting her loose on his brother, but that was beyond the pale even in his desperation. But what was he to do? Weysa would be furious if Garreth did not abide by his agreement with her. And when a goddess grew furious, bad things happened. As much as he respected Sarielle, as much as he did not want to see the girl hurt, Dethan would die before he would see his brother punished again because he failed Garreth once more. He had to find a way to keep them all happy.
It had been ten days since the Zizo had been defeated. Their army was split between the two cities of Zandaria and Kith … a position he was none too comfortable with. The mages were all in Zandaria with Garreth and Sarielle, handling any trickery the remaining rylings might come up with. Garreth and Dethan had been taking turns between the cities, but Dethan was growing uncomfortable and impatient. How was he to manage his brother if they were not in the same room with each other?
Fall was closing in and it was high time he was on the road and traveling back to his home and his wife. Selinda was asking for him in their missives to each other and he yearned to go, but he could not in good conscience leave his brother for a multitude of reasons. Sarielle being one. The fact that he was trying to control two cities bei
ng another. He did not know which of these two reasons took precedence, but they were equally bad.
“What is it?” he asked Davine shortly.
She smiled in the face of his surly mood.
“Do not fear,” she said gently to him, trying to manage him. “Things will work out for the best.”
To Davine’s mind, she had things well in hand. She had spent the past days making very good friends with Sarielle. The girl was beginning to trust her advice implicitly. Davine had put herself very firmly in Sarielle’s corner, and it was helping her to set the girl up for the heart-wrenching betrayal to come. When Davine was through with her, she would never love or trust anyone again.
“It does not seem so from my perspective,” Dethan bit out.
“Then you are not looking with proper eyes.”
“My patience wears thin, Davine.” He cocked a look at her. “What are you still doing here?” he asked her archly.
The query settled a cold sensation in Davine’s stomach. She could not afford to anger this man or outlive her usefulness. She was still young and beautiful and could become mistress to any powerful man if she worked the situation properly, but she did not want to sleep with another odious man like the bennesah, his chubby hands fumbling around on her body. She wanted comfort without having to sell herself in the process. Then she could take whatever lover she desired rather than whatever lover would best serve her.
At first she had thought to coax one of the handsome and manly brothers to her bed, their power and money supreme enough to bring her the comfort she sought … and they would clearly know their way around a woman’s body. A man could not have that much virility and come up short in the bedroom. They were confident and strong and it gave her delighted chills to imagine one or both in her bed.
But she could be just as happy without one of these brothers, as long as she could buy pretty things, be safe and warm in the luxury of her rooms in the winter, and be catered to by serving girls all throughout the turnings.
And all it would take was destroying the trust of one innocent girl.
“I hope I have made myself useful to you,” she hedged.
“You have,” Dethan agreed readily, giving her a small sensation of relief. “But I don’t see what is in it for you.”
“I’m sure I can be helpful to you in many ways,” she said. “Ways that you may not yet realize. Keeping me close is purely to your benefit, I assure you. I only ask that my rooms be comfortable and my belly full of food. That is my only aspiration.”
“Hmm,” he voiced thoughtfully as he took her measure. “Well, you will have your comforts, Davine. You have earned them. See that you continue to be useful and those comforts will continue. There is always a place in a new regime for someone with clever intelligence and the ability to grasp situations quickly. Someone not afraid to take the initiative.”
“It is my hope,” Davine said softly, “that I can fill those requirements for you.”
“Good.”
Dethan left the room and the scheming girl behind him, not realizing the flurry of anxiety he had left in his wake. Davine felt time and opportunity were escaping her grasp. She needed to act and to do it quickly.
She took a breath, trying to force patience on herself.
“Easy,” she murmured to herself. “Opportunity will come. Then … then he will see your true value.”
She hoped so.
She was counting on it.
“Sarielle!” Davine cried when her friend came into the hall some hours later. Sarielle ran up to her and the two women hugged each other in delight.
Garreth, who was hot on Sarielle’s heels, chuckled. “One would think you have been gone a full cycle of the moon rather than a mere pair of days, the way you two behave. We haven’t been in Zandaria that long.”
“Do not make fun of my sister,” Davine said with a grin as she hugged Sarielle once again. “I will have to defend her if you do.”
Garreth held up his hands with a grin. “I am defeated. I will let you two women catch up while I find my brother.”
With that, Garreth left the room. Sarielle and Davine hugged again and Davine touched her face warmly.
“You look very happy,” Davine noted.
“I am. He grows more wonderful by the day. I think …” Sarielle trailed off.
Davine led her to the furniture by the fire and sat her down. “What is it you think?” she encouraged her.
“I think he might be growing to love me a little,” she said, turning her face down and coloring softly.
“What’s not to love?” Davine asked warmly. “But … be careful. He is a man, and men tend to not be as emotionally invested as we women are. Do not mistake his lust for you as love for you.”
Sarielle frowned and then bit her lip. “Do you think I am wrong, then?”
“I think you should be cautious. Protect your heart. But”—she smiled brightly—“how can he help but love you? You are beautiful and wonderful!”
The women laughed and hugged once more.
“How are the twins? I do hate to leave them, but I’m comforted that you are watching over them when I am gone,” Sarielle said.
“They are well and grow happier by the day. They love to run about in the fields and go to the bazaar. I swear they utterly exhaust me as I try to keep up with them!”
Sarielle laughed. “No doubt! I thank you for watching over them.”
“What are friends meant to do?” Davine asked with a warm smile. “I know one day you will return the favor. As it is, you have convinced Garreth to continue to keep me in comfort and for that I am grateful.”
“You keep yourself in comfort,” Sarielle insisted. “You have proven yourself very valuable to the brothers. Far more valuable than I am.”
“Nonsense. You are a wrena. You are invaluable. The defeat of the Zizo proves it. Now, tell me all about Zandaria. I have heard that everything is encrusted with the gems they mine.”
Shortly before dusk, Garreth was in the main hall poring over papers that tracked the troop placements in both cities. He was fortunate his army was so large; otherwise, he would be taking an inexcusable risk splitting it between two cities that did not want their encroaching presence. Even so, their army was drawn tightly between the two locations and their lieutenants were being heavily depended on. Luckily he and Dethan trusted the men. Men like the stalwart Tonkin were easy to trust. They were loyal and unshakable regardless of the tasks the brothers set for them. They came through every time. Without these men as leaders, the battle would have been one of dissonance and discord.
Davine entered the room just when he was beginning to think about leaving to attend to his nightly torment. He needed a little bit of lead time to make it to his place in the orchard, assuring he was alone and distanced from anyone who might see him or come to harm because of him. For when he froze, everything around him froze as well.
Davine approached, her hand coming to settle on his back between his shoulders. She often did this; he no longer thought anything of it. She was the sort of being who liked to touch others in whatever way she could, almost as if it were second nature to her. It did not seem as though she were trying to win him into her bed, as he had begun to suspect before she became friends with Sarielle. But he now knew, through Sarielle, the women were close, so he could not suspect Davine would think of betraying her. In fact, Sarielle chattered on about her adventures with Davine almost endlessly, and he was grateful to the other woman for befriending his otherwise friendless Sarielle. She had sorely needed a companion, and Davine fit the bill perfectly.
“You seem weary,” Davine observed as she leaned over him and began to read over his shoulder. Again, he thought nothing of it. She had always done this as she helped to advise them on matters of great importance in the city.
“It has been a long day,” he confessed.
“Is there anything I might provide for your present relief?” she asked, her hands drifting up to his shoulders, where she
began to massage away the tension in his neck. He tensed a moment, finding the intimacy a little disquieting, but then he reminded himself of Davine’s nature and of her devotion to Sarielle. He relaxed and allowed her to give him the small comfort.
“What I need you cannot provide,” he told her honestly.
What he needed was Sarielle. It was a need that grew more intense with every passing day. And with that need came the desire to find a way to continue to be with her. Oh, it was a dangerous pastime to be sure. He was risking the wrath of a goddess. But surely there was some way he could satisfy both desires—his desire to serve Weysa and his desire to have Sarielle.
He had labored over and over this problem and had yet to find a solution. It was disheartening and frustrating, and on top of trying to manage two cities and his brother’s growing dissatisfaction with the situation, it was exhausting. His only solace was Sarielle. And now perhaps a brief massage by Davine.
He closed his eyes and allowed himself a moment of relaxation. Soon enough he would fall under the sway of his curse. He was allowed a brief respite, was he not?
But brief was all it could be. Dusk was almost upon him. After a minute or two he reached up and stopped Davine’s thoughtful work on his tension. He took her hand in his and drew her around to his right side so he could see her.
“Thank you, Davine,” he said. “You have been a great treasure to me.”
And it was true. She had helped him gain control of this city and she had been kind to his Sarielle. She helped care for the twins when he and Sarielle were away and she was thoughtful in every other way.
He stood up and moved around her, leaving the room.
In the entryway on the other side of the hall, standing slightly in shadow, was Sarielle. She was blinking her eyes, trying to absorb what she had just seen. Trying to make sense of it. She had seen the intimacy of Davine’s massage and had heard the intimacy of Garreth’s words. It was everything she could do to keep herself from jumping to wild conclusions and a feeling of betrayal.