“He speaks of Whitewood,” Deley said, though the words didn’t carry the justification they held in her head.
“Mmm,” Tobiano hummed, though he was clearly not surprised. “Come.”
He patted her shoulder and she obediently rose to her feet.
“You will stay by my fire tonight,” he wrapped his arm around Deley’s shoulders and led her away, though not without a backward glance.
The half-elf wasn’t the only one curious about those dreams. Despite his reprimand, Tobiano itched to know what secrets captured the rogue’s attention so intently.
Crimson
Jaspur was tired. Very tired. And he knew as he walked through the doorway inside his mind, he was stretching magic that was already thin, but the rogue had to finish what he started.
He met the spirit of light who guided him through the Veil and back into Whitewood. Soon, he was behind Rayhan’s eyes once again, seated at a small, round table in one of the guest quarters alongside Pip and his two advisors. The rogue settled into Rayhan’s thoughts, which mulled over the fact that they had spent the last hour weighing the pros and cons of their visit thus far only to agree the results were poor.
Pip drummed his fingers against the table. “Your mingling with the common folk may have made a few heartwarming stories, Captain, but overall it is a waste of time. A few empathetic civilians will not pull the tide of hatred away from our kin.”
“Your lieutenant is right,” Gwan agreed. “We should aim our efforts on individuals with more influence. Nobility, Lords…”
“General Redwood,” Pip added.
Silence fell over the table as Rayhan’s advisors looked warily at one another.
The lieutenant leaned over one arm of his chair. “What are you not telling our captain, Gwan? Neither you nor Terreen have even mentioned General Redwood since we have been here, and yet he is the bride-to-be’s father. That would make him an influential player in all of this, don’t you agree?”
“I think,” Terreen began, then paused to clear his throat. “How can I put this…?”
Gwan, the more eloquent of the two, took over. “What Terreen means to say is we should start with smaller hurdles.”
Pip rolled his eyes. “Like who? Rayhan is a fine ambassador. We know this. But unfortunately he is a Mendeley. His task is not a hurdle. It is a mountain, and that mountain is full of lions salivating at the sight of him.”
The door creaked open, interrupting the rahee’s discussion. Rayhan turned in his chair to see Nadel’s emotionless visage.
“Pardon the interruption, but Lady Elessara has sent a servant to the door with a message for the captain.”
“Again?” The lieutenant rolled his eyes. “That is twice today.”
Nadel’s expression didn’t change. “Lady Elessara is expected to accompany Captain Mendeley at tonight’s gathering with the nobility and the king’s council. It is customary at these formal dinners for an escort’s ensemble to match the woman he accompanies. She merely asks that you notify her of the color you shall be wearing.”
“Tell her the color is crimson,” Rayhan replied. “And that I look forward to her company this evening.”
Nadel nodded and left the room, closing the door behind him. Slow smiles crept across his advisors’ lips and relief softened the wrinkles on their foreheads.
“Alas, I think we have a spark,” Gwan stated cheerfully.
“Indeed,” Terreen agreed.
“She is warming up to me,” the captain said. “That is what matters, is it not?”
“Must I reiterate that she is the general’s daughter?” Pip grunted, his expression lacking Terreen and Gwan’s enthusiasm.
“Perhaps that stands in our favor,” Rayhan added.
The lieutenant hung his head dramatically over the back of his chair. “Oh, sure. Until tonight, when General Redwood sees his daughter on the hip of a Mendeley. He will see red, and we will go home ambassador-less while the bards sing of how Halin Redwood castrated the horse that rode his daughter.”
Rayhan launched to his feet, his hands planted on the table as his even temper strained against the lieutenant’s bawdy remarks. “Your tongue wags too freely, Pippit Delgone.”
“Be at ease, Captain,” Terreen insisted. “Please. We all know the lieutenant has a colorful way of displaying his opinions, but none of us question your honor.” He glared fiercely at Pip. “Do we?”
“Of course not, but what I said is precisely what the general will think when he sees a Mendeley betrothed to his daughter.” Pip stood to match Rayhan’s fury. “Your advisors have been shielding you from something, Captain, and you deserve to know it because everyone here in Whitewood does!”
“Out with it, then,” the captain commanded in a sharp tone.
“Your father raped and murdered General Redwood’s wife. She was found with his blade in her back and his seed inside of her right before the war ended. Halin Redwood has since sworn to rid this realm of the Mendeley name, and he returns tonight to be a part of this gathering. Thus, I suggest you keep an extremely formal distance from Lady Elessara. At least until the king settles this betrothal with the general first.”
Rayhan stood very still, his jaw taut in a sweep of emotion. It was as if all of time had come to a crashing halt. He replayed the looks he’d caught in the city and how they changed at the sight of Elessara’s acceptance.
Suddenly, it all made sense, from her initial fear to the weight of her influence. After all, if Elessara could find it in her heart to accept him, who held the right to turn him away?
Rayhan pushed back his chair. “This meeting is adjourned.”
“Captain,” Pip started again, clearly not finished.
“I said it is adjourned,” he repeated and walked out the door.
* * * * *
Rape.
The word curdled in the captain’s stomach, and Jaspur felt it keenly. For the first time, he truly understood why Rayhan had always put so much distance between his own legacy and his father’s.
In life, his cousin refused to speak his name. He removed every portrait and shield hung in Siren’s memory from his office. Had Jaspur known, the rogue would have wiped the royal scrolls clean of the old general’s honors as well. Siren Mendeley had been the owner of many foul deeds, but neither of them had fathomed anything this heinous until Pip spilled the truth.
That night as Nadel escorted Rayhan to Elessara’s chamber, his mind was still adrift with the unsettling revelation. The lieutenant wasn’t known to give way to lies or gossip, and he had shown himself to be unyieldingly loyal in the years they served together. Rayhan trusted that his words, though brash, were spoken with good intent.
But rape?
The notion made it difficult for Rayhan to focus.
“Captain,” Nadel’s voice broke into his daze.
“Hm?”
The elf stopped before the door and in front of his charge. “Are you ready for Lady Elessara to join you, or do you need a moment?”
Rayhan shook his head as he tried to push the troubling revelation aside. “I am fine.”
By the tight line in Nadel’s smirk, the captain could tell he wasn’t buying it. Still, he knocked on the door and announced their arrival. Meanwhile, Rayhan gave himself a mental pep talk. He could not change what happened in the past, but tonight could be different. The tables could turn. He had the choice to be a better leader than his father.
I am the code, he closed his eyes and thought to himself, and the code is chivalry.
His eyes opened with the door where a maid greeted them. “My lady is almost ready,” she explained. “Would the captain like to wait for her in the sitting room?”
Rayhan smiled kindly as he answered for himself. “Of course. Tell your lady she needn’t rush on my behalf. I shall wait as long as she needs me to.”
The maid stepped aside so the captain and his guard could come in. Thus far, Elessara had downplayed much of her noble heritage, her grounded nature matc
hing Rayhan’s demeanor, but it all rushed into perspective as the captain stepped into her quarters.
Just outside of her chamber, a sitting room larger than his guest room opened wide before them. A vibrant tapestry hung across one wall of a bare red tree circled in a crown of vines. Nadel strode passed him to plop into an arm chair adjacent to a maroon loveseat with feet curved like falling leaves.
Rayhan chose to remain standing, his gaze exploring the room. He wandered to a tall statue of a centaur standing at proud attention. He reached out and touched the hair shaved like a mane across the top of its head, then drew his fingers down to the point of the spear in the figure’s right hand. A subtle smile twitched at his lips when he noticed it matched the quartz point he kept inside his pouch.
Turning away from the statue, he slowly walked the perimeter of a wall built to hold shelves from ceiling to floor. Books were squeezed into every opening while others were stacked face down on the lips of the shelves. There were more books than Rayhan could count, some in languages he’d never seen before, yet he had a hunch she’d read every one at least twice.
“Captain.”
Rayhan turned to see the maid had returned. She curtsied in his presence. “May I present to you my lady, Elessara.”
She stepped aside, and Rayhan’s breath fled from his lips in a silent rush. It wasn’t often words were stolen from the young captain, yet at the sight of Elessara his voice evaporated.
He approached and bowed gracefully, his hand extending slowly from his forehead to her. The captain said nothing at all, yet his expression moved even the maid. She took a step back as Elessara slid her fingers into Rayhan’s offered hand. Only then did the captain rise, slowly pulling the elf to him.
“Qun yiwavei,” he whispered. A common phrase among rahee which meant beyond words, though only Elessara understood that.
He was right, too, for she had taken Rayhan’s choice in color and chosen an alluring satin dress. A dark crimson corset lined in golden thread pressed her chest into a heart-shaped bust, her shoulders straight and bare above them. Long sleeves draped the length of her arms and over her hands while a sash hung upon her hips, its fancy lace joining just below her naval before getting lost in the folds of a double-layered skirt. Her light skin reminded the captain of moonlight, and he longed to touch her hair, its smooth brown strands swirling in large, loose curls.
“Leave us for a moment,” Elessara commanded. The confidence in her voice had Rayhan nipping at the inside of his lip. He watched the maid depart, Nadel trailing behind her.
She then reached out and touched his arm. “My father will be present tonight.”
Rayhan’s ears fell back. Her father. The man whose wife his own sire had ravaged and slaughtered.
Elessara gently touched his cheek. “Captain?”
“Rayhan,” he corrected, his voice hoarse.
“Rayhan,” she whispered. “What is it?”
The captain’s palm reached up and covered the hand on his cheek. “Forgive me… I do not think I have it in me to say what I am feeling right now.”
Elessara’s expression fell, and so did his heart as her hand slid away from his grasp. He reached out to her, not wanting to push her away. “Tell me something.”
She looked up at him, confused. “What do you want to know?”
“When you first met me, you were terrified.” He sat down upon the loveseat and Elessara did the same. “Even when we went to the city, you were timid and almost resentful of my presence, and you had every right to be.” He looked at her now with eyes so full of sadness it nearly tore Elessara’s heart in two. “Tell me… what changed your mind?”
“I saw your childhood,” she leaned her shoulder against the couch’s back, her eyes glassy with emotion. “And I realized you weren’t a continuation of your father. You were a victim of him, just like my parents and I were. But unlike us, you lived with Siren’s cruelty and it made you a better person.” She watched as the brave young captain blinked away his tears, but one managed to escape. Elessara went to wipe it away, and he kissed her palm. “You are exactly who your reputation claims you to be, Rayhan Mendeley. I was wrong to judge you. This whole city is wrong to judge you, but you and I can teach them to see beyond their assumptions.”
Elessara brushed her fingers across his cheek, then his lips. “I have spent hours thinking of what our options may be, and I see now why your goddess showed us what she did. The emotional baggage between our kingdoms is too heavy for words. An alliance will depend on a marital union to seal its promises.”
Rayhan stiffened, remembering his duty. It was an easy decision on his part. Elessara was beautiful, clever, well-educated, and attractive. He could easily love her, but would she feel the same?
“If you are certain—” he started to say, fearful of locking the elf in a fate that would haunt her for decades to come.
“I already spoke with King Mekkai,” Elessara interjected and Rayhan let her talk. “He was shocked, but elated to hear of my willingness to accept his proposed arrangement.”
She looked up at him with the kindest eyes he’d ever known. “I do not know you well, Rayhan Mendeley. Still, I believe you have a good heart. I would be honored to take your name and unite our kingdoms as allies.” She smiled. “We could make history, you and I. Having been born into families of great influence, we can show our people that the rahee and the elves can live harmoniously with one another.”
Rayhan nodded, suppressing his elation. “And what of your father?”
Elessara shrugged. “He will fight it, but he cannot defy the king's orders.”
There was a pause between them as their eyes met, and something beyond words stirred within both of their hearts. Was it hope? Fate? Love? Neither of them knew, but it was deeper than anything they had ever felt for another person.
“So what say you, Captain?” Elessara asked. “Shall we accept the path Tennakawa has set before us?”
Rayhan smiled and stood, offering her his arm. “It would be my honor, Lady Elessara.”
* * * * *
Elessara walked with Rayhan into the Great Hall. The moment Captain Mendeley’s name was announced, it was as if a cold breeze swept through and stole the voices of everyone present.
Rayhan tensed as all eyes fell upon them, judgment weighing heavily in their glances. Elessara squeezed his arm, attracting his gaze. For the first time since his arrival, the captain realized he didn’t stand alone. He placed his palm over hers as they walked together down the steps toward the long, communal table.
Elessara did her best not to flinch at the clack of their heels resounding against the high ceiling. The heads of nobles, lords, and military leaders moved with them, their gossiping whispers following in the couple’s wake. Rayhan’s attention remained upon their destination as he led Elessara to a pair of chairs near the front of the table.
“Welcome, Captain Mendeley and Lady Elessara,” King Mekkai greeted from his place at the head. “Thank you both for joining us. Please, make yourselves comfortable. Everyone at this table will have their share of time to talk politics in the morn. Tonight is for us to get to know one another.”
Rayhan pulled out a chair for Elessara, seating her before taking his own place on her right. Directly across from him was a face he’d never seen before, but the rank on his tunic and the murder in his eyes identified him well enough.
“General Redwood,” he acknowledged. Elessara straightened in her seat and Rayhan felt an objecting heel sink into his foot. He pushed her leg aside with his knee.
“Captain Mendeley,” Halin Redwood placed an inflection upon Rayhan’s title as if he questioned its validity. “How many winters have you seen, boy?”
“Twenty-one,” the rahee replied, unabashed. Pip turned toward the pair from his place beside Terreen and Gwan three seats down.
A tsk slid between the general’s teeth in poorly masked disdain. “Nevaharday promotes them younger every generation, do they not?”
“
Positions within King Donovan’s royal military are earned by skill and deed,” Rayhan calmly explained. “Not by seniority.”
“Well… Your reputation speaks well of you, though your father didn’t set the bar very high.”
Elessara spoke up, her voice stern. “Father, please.”
Rayhan held the general’s gaze. “Siren was not the role model I wanted. Unfortunately, he was quite the opposite. Yet I learned from his mistakes. I will never repeat them, so perhaps he was a fine teacher, after all.”
A jagged cut of rich, red hair hung strategically over the right side of Halin’s face, its edges layered to reveal his gaze while shielding his cheek. Still, the deep scar that drew from the inside of his eye to his jaw told Rayhan this was a man who’d be slow to empathize. “I will determine that for myself, Captain.”
“Stop it, Halin,” King Mekkai spoke and the table fell silent. “You shame us with your remarks.”
His Majesty stood, commanding the attention of the room. “Tomorrow we will rise and join one another at this very table to speak not of the past, but of the future.” He looked pointedly at Halin. “Rayhan Mendeley is not Siren Mendeley. One generation does not define the other, just as this last war should not doom us to a future of quarrels and bloodshed.” He gazed upon the room like a father, each one of his guests feeling the weight of his disappointment. “If any of you cannot sit among King Donovan’s ambassadors without Whitewood’s best interests in mind, then leave now. There is no room here for personal grudges.”
He sat and waved to the minstrels stationed in the gallery near the door and lifted his cup. “Now get up, all of you. Eat together; drink together; by the gods, find common ground in something!”
One by one, the company rose from the table, their drinks in hand. Servants were quick to fill glasses in an effort to soothe the tension in the room. The elves started first with Terreen and Gwan, then the other soldiers in Rayhan’s company. One even dared to approach Pip over the option of speaking to the young captain.
Although Elessara and Rayhan couldn’t hear their discussion, it didn’t last long. Within a few words, Pip managed to say something to make the elf reconsider his choice. Reluctantly, he made for Rayhan.
The Rogue Trilogy Page 63
