In Dreaming Bound

by J. Kathleen Cheney

  Tabita sighed. “I don’t know what to do.”

  “I guess we’ll find out in the morning,” Shironne drew her socked feet up onto the couch and wrapped an arm about her knees.

  “It already is morning,” Tabita half-whispered.

  One of the other girls shifted closer to Shironne, not bothering to hide her curiosity—Hanna. “What happened?” she asked in a fascinated tone. “You have hay in your hair.”

  Shironne felt a tugging at her hair. Hay? Now she just wanted to bathe.

  “We heard you all came back with Mr. Lee,” Hanna added, “like he’d gone with you.”

  “How did you hear that?” Tabita asked sharply.

  “Theo ran into his brother,” Hanna said. “Liam’s training as one of the infirmarians. He said you all went together into the infirmary a little while ago.”

  “What was Theo doing out of our hall?”

  “Getting tea, I think,” Hanna said in an unconvincing tone.

  More likely spying for word of our return. Shironne could hear another girl settling nearby, probably wanting to listen as well. Norah, this time. “Well, the elders told me not to say anything.”

  “Why not?” Norah asked. “What do you mean?”

  “Just . . .” Shironne paused, uncertain where to begin.

  “Remember the other night,” Tabita intervened, “when Mr. Lee was dreaming and she stopped him somehow?”

  “She went to a black’s room. I was surprised you didn’t get sent away for that,” Norah reminded Shironne.

  Tabita picked up the tale. “It’s because she’s bound to Mr. Lee and has been since she was eleven. Is that right?”

  “Yes,” Shironne admitted. So much for not mentioning anything.

  The girls considered the ramifications of that. Shironne decided a couple more had come to sit nearby. Might as well tell the whole yeargroup at this point.

  “Since you were eleven?” Hanna asked. “That’s young. How did you meet an adult when you were that age? I mean, he’s old, isn’t he? A thirty or something?”

  “A twenty-three,” Shironne corrected, aware she was being teased now.

  “Well, how did you meet . . .” Hanna’s mind calculated. “How did you meet a seventeen?”

  “I fell on him,” Shironne admitted, another thing that was well known about him.

  “You fell for him?” Norah asked.

  “No,” Shironne said. “I fell on him. It was a melee. I looked over the rail, tumbled over, and landed right on top of him. That was how we . . . met.”

  “Wait! I heard about that.” The other girl squeaked and then giggled. “That was you?”

  Shironne flushed. It had been a thorn in Mikael’s side to be the melee fighter “killed” when a child fell out of the stands and landed on him. No one ever let him forget it, particularly not Kai, making jokes about little girls falling for him. “It wasn’t his fault,” Shironne sighed, “it just happened.”

  “And you’ve been bound to him since then?” the girl asked. “What’s that like?”

  There’s really no point to this secrecy now, is there? Clearly, she was in trouble for causing every other problem in the world, so if the elders wanted to punish her for telling her friends, they could add it atop her sentence. “Fine, but don’t tell the others. It’s hard to explain. He’s been there in my head so long that I hardly know how what it would be like without him. It’s like wearing a coat, I guess. After a while you hardly notice you have it on.”

  “He’s like . . . a coat,” Tabita repeated in a dry voice.

  Shironne laughed. “I didn’t say that.”

  “You didn’t say much else,” Tabita said. “The first thing he did when he showed up was put his arms around her.”

  “That’s a bit like a coat,” Hanna pointed out reasonably.

  “Do you think he’ll ask you to contract with him?” Hedda asked from the other side.

  “Yes,” Shironne answered.

  “Has he already asked you?” Hanna asked in a scandalized tone.

  “That wouldn’t be allowed, Hanna,” Tabita said sternly.

  “No, he hasn’t asked,” Shironne said. “But he will.”

  “That’s wonderful. I wish . . .” Hanna trailed off.

  “Enough of that, Hanna,” Tabita warned her. “Theo can’t ask for your contract until the end of the year, and you can’t ask him either. Don’t dwell on it.”

  “You don’t have a heart, Tabita,” Hanna responded without malice.

  After teasing Hanna briefly about Theo, the other three girls switched to the fates possible for Maria, and how the elders were going to punish Eli and Gabriel and Tabita, too. Shironne was relieved the topic had shifted away from her and Mikael, but the morning looming ahead began to look bleaker and bleaker.

  Chapter 35

  * * *

  THE MEETING WITH the elders was one of the more unpleasant ones Mikael had endured. It should have been better than usual since he, for once, wasn’t the principal offender. Not for the initial round of the meeting, at least. All the same, he didn’t enjoy seeing Eli and his two Seconds squirm under the elder’s censure.

  Eli looked ghastly ill, which Mikael supposed came from having to tell his father about Maria. It would have been the worst thing imaginable for Eli to disappoint his father, particularly in such a now-public way. Fortunately, Master Elias wasn’t one of the elders and didn’t sit in this room, even if Eli’s mother Joanna did. Joanna was far less intimidating than her husband.

  The Lucas Family had twenty-seven elders, currently arranged in plain wooden chairs set in rows in the meeting hall. Representing different functions within the Family, most of them were older, but there were some, like Deborah, who were on the younger end. She and Noah of the chaplains were both forty-fours, Mikael knew, and Joanna of the Fightmasters was a couple of years younger than them. They were currently bickering over whom to blame for a girl’s injuries.

  Maria had woken from her drugged stupor earlier, but now refused to speak. She didn’t answer any question put to her, refusing to name the man who had beaten her—or the father of her child. Mikael wondered how long it would take before it occurred to the gathered elders that they could ask Shironne to dig that information out of the other girl’s mind.

  Shironne’s head turned in his direction when he thought that. She nodded, letting him know she’d already thought of that.

  He ignored the elders’ arguments, letting them flow around him. He knew the law as it pertained to criminals, traitors, and treaty breakers. He didn’t know how the law related to young girls who’d been brutally attacked. Was this a case the Daujom would need to take up? He wished he could borrow Eli’s brain, just for a few minutes, so that Shironne could pick through it and come up with the right answer. Eli would know.

  After the thorough excoriation he’d rather expected the three would get, the elders sent Eli, Tabita, and Gabriel back to their duties without making a final determination as to their punishment. Mikael suspected that would depend on what story Maria told when she finally spoke.

  Unfortunately, that left Mikael and Shironne alone under their collective gaze. She sat a dozen feet away from him, a lone figure in brown among a crowd of black. He didn’t think she’d slept much. He couldn’t pinpoint how he knew, but he did.

  “Mr. Lee,” Joanna said from the back row, “please tell us again how you became involved in this.”

  He didn’t want Joanna angry with him. She had personally chosen him to be her son’s Fightmaster, an uncommon trust in an outsider. Hoping to appease her, he explained as succinctly as he could.

  “And I assume that the others all took note of your incomprehensible arrival on the scene?” she asked.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he admitted, cheeks burning now.

  “Therefore, it’s safe to assume those three are aware you have a relationship with Miss Anjir that predates her arrival here, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, ma’am. It is.” This is where they send m
e back to Lee Province. He forced down his worry, placing his faith in the elder’s fairness. He had no other choice.

  Joanna’s head tilted. “Did you explain it to them?”

  He licked his dry lips. “No, ma’am. Although Gabriel, I believe, already knew, judging by his reaction.”

  “And how did he know?” she continued.

  Mikael had no answer for that. He shifted on the bench, his backside aching.

  “Um, ma’am . . .” Shironne said, her shorn hair sweeping across her cheek as she leaned forward. “Gabriel was in the infirmary one day when Master Kai took me to find Mr. Lee. Master Kai said things, and Gabriel must have . . . um, inferred the rest.”

  Mikael waited for them to censure her for interrupting, but Joanna seemed disinclined to do so. A few others mumbled behind their hands. Deborah sat in stony silence in the back, not allowed to interfere because of her personal involvement with them.

  “I personally believe,” Joanna said, “that continuing to keep this matter a secret will cause undue strain on the members of this yeargroup, particularly you, Miss Anjir.”

  Shironne’s mouth fell open.

  “I agree,” Nicanor said then. He represented Records and was also Gabriel’s father and Eli and Maria’s uncle. “It should be made known. Inform the yeargroup that this is a special case, as neither of them had intent when the original binding happened.”

  Don’t argue, Mikael thought at Shironne. Look innocent.

  Her mouth snapped shut, and her gloved hands clasped together primly in her lap.

  “Please don’t do that, Mr. Lee,” Nicanor said quietly. “I don’t know exactly what you’re doing, but I can feel it when you do it.”

  Mikael flushed. He’d forgotten every sensitive within any distance noticed when he did that; he disappeared. “I’m sorry, sir.”

  Nicanor nodded and turned back to Shironne. “Miss Anjir, I understand that you didn’t intentionally summon Mr. Lee last night.”

  “No, sir.” Her eyes were wide and convincingly guilt-free.

  “I am grateful you were able to locate my niece,” Nicanor went on. “It was fortunate Mr. Lee was there. He has more experience than a pack of browns with such injuries. Once Maria was found, he seems to have made acceptable decisions and taken appropriate action.”

  Brushing over his poor decisions before that moment, Mikael noted.

  “In all,” Nicanor finished, “I believe your presence there served to help, Miss Anjir. As such, I don’t think you should have been expected to report the others, especially since you are new to the group and likely don’t know all the rules at this point.”

  Mikael breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed they weren’t going to blame Shironne for any of the last day’s fiascos.

  The Battlemaster waited to be recognized. “I still have concerns about Mr. Lee’s actions during the drill,” Seth said.

  Mikael grimaced inwardly. Now it’s my turn.

  “Regarding. . . ?” Nicanor asked.

  “I’m told a panic was beginning on Two Down, and Mr. Lee responded by broadcasting a calming ambient.”

  “And you’re concerned because. . . ?”

  Seth crossed his arms over his chest, looking irritated. “It created a false calm on that floor.”

  “And you would have preferred that the children panic and trample each other?” Nicanor asked.

  “The purpose of the drills,” Seth reminded them, “is to teach our people to evacuate the Fortress under whatever conditions prevail. The children need to learn to control their panic themselves, not rely on him to do so.”

  “Then perhaps the children should thoroughly discuss the incident with the chaplains,” Noah of the chaplains, said calmly. “I’m certain they will recall the ambient of panic setting in and will want to learn to avoid it in the future.”

  “Are you suggesting we just turn this entire matter over to the chaplains?” Seth asked incredulously.

  “Is it not our responsibility?” Noah answered in a reasonable tone.

  Teaching the children of the Family to understand sensitivity did fall under the chaplains’ mantle of duties. The chaplains at Lee had struggled with Mikael endlessly, trying to teach him to control his broadcasting, quite without success. They had been the ones who, in the end, made the decision to send him to the Lucas Family in hopes that the Lucases could control him.

  Mikael tried to catch Deborah’s eye. He thought she might be behind this particular trend in the meeting. She often worked together with Nicanor and Joanna, the two youngest of the elders, to influence the body. He hoped they won out over Seth’s allies, who would definitely come down with a far harsher punishment for all the miscreants, himself included. Deborah didn’t look in his direction, shadowed eyes downcast.

  A few others spoke with various viewpoints, but eventually, Joanna stood again. “I think this would be better discussed without either of the children here,” she said quietly.

  Mikael cringed, but kept his response in check.

  “They should be dismissed, for now,” Nicanor agreed.

  A noise of assent started at the back of the room, and after a moment, the elders agreed that they should leave.

  Mikael rose and went to help Shironne from the room. She turned her face toward him as he approached and reached out to place a hand on his sleeve. She looked small and fragile, her dark eyes huge.

  He tried hard not to think anything in her direction, wary of angering Nicanor. They walked from the room without speaking at all.

  “Where do I need to take you?” he asked stiffly, once the sentries had closed the meeting chamber doors behind them.

  “He called you a child,” she said with a hint of laughter in her voice.

  “Did you have to bring that up?” The sentries gave him odd, but tolerant, looks. He pulled Shironne a little further down the hall, away from prying ears. “Where are you supposed to be now?”

  “What time is it?” she asked.

  Mikael had no idea how long that ordeal had stretched. He fished out his pocket watch. “Quarter past ten.”

  “Oh,” she answered. “I’m supposed to be in the infirmary, then.”

  “I’ll take you there.” He was extremely late at the office, but Dahar wouldn’t quibble over it.

  “I can find the way myself,” she said, “if you need to go.”

  “I know you can find the way, Miss Anjir.” He walked with her anyway.

  Chapter 36

  * * *

  SHIRONNE SAT NEXT to Maria’s bed, one bare hand on the other girl’s swollen cheek. She couldn’t see the damage herself, but suspected that Maria looked terrible.

  “How bad is it?” Maria whispered.

  Shironne sat back in her chair, letting her hand slide away. She’d hold it cradled in her lap until she had a chance to wash it later. “Which part?”

  Dread surrounded her sense of Maria. “My arms are pretty bad, aren’t they?”

  “Well, the cracked bone should heal cleanly. The dislocated shoulder is still swollen inside. It’s not going to heal as well.”

  “My face? I think something’s broken.”

  “Your nose, but it’s not as bad as it could be. None of the actual bone is broken, just the cartilage torn loose. I can’t find any broken parts on your skull, so that’s good.”

  “I can hardly open my eyes,” Maria said.

  This was the most Maria had spoken since her return to the Fortress. “They’re swollen shut, I think,” she told her. “That’ll go away soon.”

  Maria remained quiet a moment, mind working hard.

  Shironne sensed her hesitation to ask something. “The baby’s fine,” she told her again.

  Maria’s relief flashed around her. “Is it a girl? You said so last night.”

  “Yes, I’m fairly certain it’s a girl. How long have you known you were pregnant?”

  “A couple of weeks?” Maria seemed not to be lying, only uncertain.

  “And the father? Does he know
?”

  “No,” Maria said softly. “I hadn’t told him yet. He doesn’t know. He never will, now.”

  That was definitely more than she’d told anyone else. “Because of what they did to you?”

  Maria didn’t answer.

  Shironne waited a moment longer, and then tried a different question. “You were hiding in your mind, do you remember? When Mr. Lee called for you to answer, you did, but you called him by another name. You mistook his . . . voice for someone else’s. Who was it?”

  Maria cringed mentally, retreating from Shironne’s senses. “No one.”

  The father. She didn’t know why Maria was so determined to keep the boy’s identity a secret, but that one thing was clear. Shironne concentrated on making herself seem harmless and trustworthy, a trick Mikael used all the time. “Did they beat you . . . because of him?”

  “I don’t have anything to say,” Maria answered, repeating the words she’d said to everyone who questioned her so far.

  * * *

  Mikael wasn’t surprised when Eli showed up at the door to the Daujom’s office. It gave him a welcome excuse to get away from Sera, who was annoyed because no one would, once again, tell her what had happened. Making up his mind quickly, Mikael went out into the hall to talk to Eli instead, firmly closing the office door behind him.

  “Why don’t we go down to the steps?” he suggested, since he wouldn’t put it past Sera to listen at the door.

  The last thing he needed was for Sera to learn that he would eventually marry her cousin instead of her. He was just too tired to deal with her today, and there were other things on his mind.

  Once they were on the steps, gazing out over the snow-covered cobbles toward the snow-covered garden, Eli said, “I considered asking your advice.”

  Mikael leaned against the balustrade. “Next time, do.”

  Eli glanced down at the brown trim on his cuff that marked him as leader of his yeargroup. “I may be removed as First. My father went to the elders to suggest that.”