Heart Legacy

by Robin D. Owens

  And, of course, she could and did justify the additional funds when reporting to the Residence. That slight altercation that she won also satisfied her.

  For a moment, she hesitated, pondered. She’d thought of contacting the farmers, the fishers, other relatives here on the estate and telling them of her abuse. But they’d think her a whining teenager, a weak adult. And she didn’t see them going against the house folk who’d run the estate for so many years, when it had prospered. They wouldn’t confront the Residence itself.

  After she met with the Residence, Cuspid insisted on examining her leg and testing her general energy and Flair. The former had Healed well due to the ministrations of the HouseHeart, but the maître de maison clucked over the weakness in the latter. Mostly because in the few minutes after she’d been notified of the exam and before meeting with Cuspid in the Healing chamber, Lori had used some inner reserve to ease the hurts from her first bout of sex. She hadn’t been sure Cuspid, not a Healer, would notice those, but she couldn’t take the chance.

  Then it was time to see Draeg again, and despite her own words, she found it difficult not to short her animals the attention they deserved when she wanted to stay in her lover’s company, even if he was only a paddock away.

  She noticed the animals seemed a little skittish and, since she overbrimmed with love and affection, had no problems soothing them with an excess of emotion. And in the giving, she also received love and affection and Flair from her animals.

  Draeg and she rode a pair of stridebeasts that needed a bit of special treatment, and Baccat insisted on being in a carrier basket behind her saddle. Corax flew along with them.

  Draeg set a pace of a walk and headed toward the north wall of the estate. “I thought we could go through your main eastern gate and ride along the shared greenway.”

  Lori tensed, all of her good cheer vanishing in an instant. “That’s against the rules.”

  Baccat hissed. Do you WANT us to be eviscerated, stableman? We should not be taunting the Powers of the Family and the Residence at this time. Especially with regard to that visit by the twins earlier. Her Fam turned his head to stare at her with glinting eyes, whiskers quivering. You must know they threatened ME.

  “You weren’t even here,” Draeg said.

  Just because you did not observe me does not mean that I was not present. Baccat sniffed. I will admit you gave an excellent performance as a dimwitted guard, and that subtle threat of the Sallows, quite masterful. Baccat lifted his nose.

  “Threat?” Lori squeaked. Anxiety, even fear swirled within her, her palms sweating on the reins.

  Draeg glanced at her sharply. “Why are you so concerned?”

  “I don’t want to irritate the twins at this time.” Not when her trip was upcoming, not when she might have to run when the weather remained too cold. Not when she’d discovered the pleasure of a lover.

  Stopping, Draeg reached out and took her hand. “Lori, you must begin to fight for your rights.”

  “You think I haven’t been doing that?” she spit out, his words flicking her on the open wound. “I’ve been doing that since I finished my Second Passage last year. There is a balance in managing Family politics, Draeg Hedgenettle, or don’t you know that?”

  Baccat snorted. You know nothing of what you speak, you who have only been here two and a half eightdays! Perhaps you are more dimwitted than I believed. Action isn’t always the solution to thorny problems.

  Not looking at the cat, the man shrugged before answering Lori’s question. “Give and take, compromise.”

  She heard the ugliness in her own laugh. “Those are concepts that the Residence, who has lived two and a half centuries; my elders, who raised and trained me to be D’Yew with all those responsibilities; and my cuzes, who are spoilt, do not recognize.” Too long, her words flowed too long, were too fussy to impact him. He preferred simple, effective sentences. A tinge of despair wound around her thoughts, but everyone from the Residence to Baccat spoke and thought more formally than Draeg. Perhaps another reason why she was attracted to him.

  On their private mental channel, Baccat said, He has much to recommend him, which is why I have not sent him away already, but I know his type. He is stubborn.

  With fast blinking, she rid herself of incipient tears and looked at Draeg, who frowned in confusion. Dear, he was so dear already.

  And could upset her equilibrium, cause her to upset the fragile dance she did with her Family. After a long inhalation, she addressed both Draeg and Baccat. “The twins issued threats.” No wonder the animals had been upset.

  “I got the idea that they haven’t given up the idea of using your animals as a hammer to blackmail you into doing what they want.”

  She gave him a short nod. “I should have considered that, but in the last negotiation I had with them yesterday, I lost and they won. That their victory didn’t satisfy them for even a day isn’t a good sign.”

  “What do they want?” he asked.

  She raised her brows. “Gilt, money, fortune.” And they would not be pleased that she’d talked the Residence into giving more gilt to the fishers instead of the farm.

  More power than they have now, Baccat added.

  As she straightened in her saddle, she withdrew her hand from Draeg’s. “Please, Draeg, let me handle my Family in my own way.” She heard the pleading in her tone, didn’t care for it, but her other option would have been to pull a haughty manner around her, and she could guess that that particular pathway would have strained their budding relationship. And she did want a relationship with this man.

  His jaw flexed. “It irritates me that you are not given your due. That your cuzes don’t respect you.”

  And how much do you respect her, Draeg Hedgenettle? Baccat stared at him. Enough to put her wishes above yours? Her experience above yours?

  “Yes,” Draeg answered the cat.

  She sighed with weariness, made an abortive gesture. “I am accustomed to little respect from my Family. They still consider me a child, especially the Residence.”

  “Maybe we can discuss this later, draft a plan. A plan of simple, incremental steps for you to come into your own.”

  Baccat snorted again, turned around in the basket so he didn’t face out and toward Draeg but looked over the withers of the stridebeast. Her Fam said privately, This man of action doesn’t know what we’ve done. Thinks Us dilatory in solving Our problems. I am weary of speaking with him.

  Lori had tried to implement small changes all last summer, most of the autumn, and had given up when she realized it could take years to become D’Yew in truth as well as in name. Years of patience she found herself desperately short on.

  So she’d made new plans, refined them with Baccat’s input. Now she had good plans in place to deal with the whole matter. Not the way Draeg might, but she knew the Residence and her Family better than he. And now that she calmed, she felt the flowing concern from him. Meeting his dark blue eyes, she said, “Will you let me deal with this in my own way?”

  He raised his own brows and said gruffly, “You seem to be giving me some power here.”

  “You do have power. We’re lovers; of course you can influence me.”

  His gaze warmed. “All right. I get that you walk a line—”

  “Yes.”

  “And, it seems, going outside to ride stridebeasts on the common greenway would upset that balance.”

  She nodded. “For no good reason. I must choose the battles I fight.”

  “I don’t like this whole situation. But the cat is right. I’ve been here two and a half eightdays and you’ve lived here your whole life. You know the players better than I.”

  Finally a valid assessment, Baccat said, still not looking at Draeg. I suggest we continue with our ride. The reassuring of the less sentient species took some time.

  Lori kneed her stridebeast to begin moving again. “I do need additional information from you.”

  “Yes?” Draeg asked as he urged more spee
d from his mount and Lori’s picked up pace, too.

  “What’s this threat of the Sallows?”

  The twins wished to see how healthy the horses were, Baccat said.

  Not good.

  Draeg reminded the twins that the Sallows have only given us the horses for a probationary period of a month.

  Gasping, Lori said, “What? I didn’t know that!” Once again her plans seemed to fall into ruins around her.

  “They must be well treated for a month before they become the Yews’,” Draeg said.

  Of COURSE they are well treated NOW, Baccat stated. Lori has Healed them and welcomed them into Our herd. Baccat sniffed. And so I have told Caprea Sallow. I have recorded memory spheres of My interactions with Draeg and Smyrna and Ragan for the Sallows.

  “I didn’t know this,” Lori said, her mind buzzing with how to fit this into her plans. “The Family, those who bought Ragan and Smyrna for me, agreed to this stipulation?”

  Draeg lifted a brow. “So I was informed by the Sallows.”

  Yes, said Baccat. But your Family knows you, Lori. They knew that you would care for your animals well. He dipped under the lip of the basket as he rearranged himself. But, of course, they may have prevaricated. An actual contract was not executed.

  “Oh.” She glanced over at Draeg and spoke to him mentally, since the stridebeasts were running down a wide bridle path. Have you reported to the Sallows?

  He answered her telepathically, Not yet. If you wish me to, I certainly will. The horses’ health is significantly improved since arriving here—

  You helped with that, she said, giving credit where it was due.

  You gave them love that sped up their Healing, and they return that love.

  She let out a relieved breath.

  They are well settled here, Draeg added, and that didn’t ease her dilemma. And so I will tell Caprea Sallow, and all will be well. You do not have to worry about the Sallows.

  The salient point of this conversation, and the confrontation with the twins, Baccat said, is that neither Zus nor Vi knew of this particular condition, either. She sensed that he kneaded the bottom of the basket as he thought.

  A half minute later, he said, It is my considered opinion that the twins will not move against the horses at this time. Nor will they try to intimidate or buy off Draeg. They will have checked with Cuspid and Folia and the Residence by now and confirmed that the stipulation regarding the horses was, indeed, made. And, in their requesting information of their elders, they will have indicated an interest in the horses that is suspect, especially in light of your confrontation yesterday. They will drop any plan to hurt the horses, and perhaps the stridebeasts also, since it might not bring the results they want.

  Cause them too much trouble. Not be worth the effort, Draeg said. Not that I would be intimidated or bought off. But I agree with your analysis, cat.

  I am so glad, Baccat replied. His ears twitched in the wind. I am becoming accustomed to this manner of travel. I like it. Especially when the stridebeasts STRIDE.

  That had Lori smiling.

  Her Fam glanced at her, then at Draeg, then finished his assertion. And it may be that the twins studied the stables for unknown reasons, or to evaluate the stableman and his character, or, in fact, simply to scare and irritate you, Loridana.

  To mess with Lori’s head, INTIMIDATE her.

  Manipulate me, Lori added. That may be true. They turned at the end of the path near the north wall and cantered back toward the stables.

  I have listened. A more staccato mental voice sounded in Lori’s head, along with sense of rustling that she comprehended to be wind in feathers, Corax’s voice. I can guard.

  At what price? Baccat shot back.

  For shiny stuff, like this.

  Flying overhead, it dropped an object into the path.

  What is that? demanded Baccat. Halt, stridebeast!

  Lori signaled her mount to a walk and circled back to the fallen item.

  It is a piece of trash I found on the streets of Druida City. But it has shiny bits on it.

  Baccat scratched a hole in his basket, getting out, then leapt down and trotted over to sniff what looked like a thin piece of leather with a buckle on the end. It is a collar! MINE!

  The bird swooped, but Baccat didn’t flinch. Lori wondered if his personal armor made him less cautious and more foolhardy.

  Foolish raven, Baccat sneered. This collar cannot fit you.

  “That’s true,” Draeg said. “As a collar, it’s too big for you, Corax.”

  Taking it in his teeth, the cat leapt up in front of Lori. The stridebeast’s ears twitched, but she didn’t move. Baccat grinned around the piece. Look what fate has sent Us.

  Lori rather thought it had been Corax’s scavenging skills that had dropped the collar in their laps.

  Looking at her from sly eyes, Baccat dropped the drool-bedewed leather on her thigh. FATE, her Fam insisted. Until I can wear My OTHER collar.

  Corax cawed protest from a nearby branch and flapped his wings. I FOUND that! It’s—

  MINE! Baccat shouted. Mine, mine, mine, MINE!

  Twenty-four

  Six “mines” in all. Lori knew that meant the cat would not give the thing up without a fight, and she didn’t want to reveal the personal armor yet. She hadn’t perfected it. Sighing, she picked up the collar, a leather strip with small diamond-shaped bits of metal fashioned to catch the light. Her fingers tingled. “It is imbued with Flair.”

  Baccat stretched out his neck. Because it is solid and if I catch it on some protruding object, the collar will fall away. As it no doubt did for its previous owner. Who obviously did not deserve such a piece. He sniffed. I smell low-class Cat, not a Fam.

  Corax screeched. Lori heard a stifled laugh and saw Draeg suppressing his amusement.

  “Very well, I will pay Corax for the collar.” She had two pouches of silver, one of them nearly flat, for the journey. “And for watching my herd.”

  It is an old collar, well worn, with tooth marks of a small canine as well as the scent of a different Cat. We should not pay much for it, Baccat launched into bargaining.

  It has shiny bits! Corax countered.

  After a few more rapid exchanges a price was set, much lower than Lori had anticipated.

  Corax landed on Draeg’s shoulder and stared at her, head tilted, neck feathers ruffled, with beady eyes. And you will pay me for watching, he confirmed.

  “Silver slivers,” Lori murmured. “I can spare some silver slivers.” A couple of months ago, she had given Baccat an old bill to change and he’d come back with new silver slivers. She, too, had been charmed at the gleam of new coinage she’d never seen.

  She sent a thought to the RavenFam: Would you accept a silver sliver for every night you watch? Not much payment, but what she personally could afford from the small stash of her father’s that she’d found.

  Yes! enthused the raven. Deal!

  Good. Thank you, Corax.

  You are welcome.

  I will translocate some slivers, say enough for a full week, when we get back to the stables.

  Draeg’s Fam didn’t say anything further, but she sensed the warmth of gratitude, and more, burgeoning affection for her, and that touched her. It didn’t seem as if the raven had enough shiny stuff in his life, and she would help with that. So little to please that particular Fam.

  She leaned over and stroked Cana’s neck, sending the female stridebeast love and gratitude for the ride and a resurgence of her happiness. Lori had been blessed that the little physical items she could afford to give were sufficient for those she cherished.

  This collar, and My Fam collar when We get to Our new home, is enough for Me, Baccat replied to her thoughts. You give Us all an abundance of nonmaterial gifts, which We treasure. In the final measure, those are more important than pretty jewels and shiny objects.

  Though you still want your ruby necklace, she said.

  Though I still want My ruby necklace, he agree
d.

  Yes, she began to reassemble her plan to leave.

  She did know one thing. She loved the horses, too. She dared not leave them behind at the mercy of the twins and the Family, with or without the threat of the Sallows. She didn’t know much but couldn’t believe a lesser Noble Family would challenge a FirstFamily GrandHouse, especially not for a couple of horses. Lori would take them with her. If worse came to worst, once she and the animals were settled in her Valerian estate, she’d invite one of the Sallows to come and check out the animals at her cost.

  She glanced at Draeg, believed he’d been following the emotions of her Fam conversations even if he didn’t know the exact words, since she and Baccat spoke on a private telepathic channel. He smiled at her and her insides squeezed, her sex from the slight heat in his eyes, her heart and the rest of her from the tenderness in the curve of his lips.

  As soon as they’d stopped in the stableyard, Draeg leapt from his stridebeast and offered his arms for her to slide down into. Smiling and placing her hands on his shoulders, she let him lift her down and draw her close to his aroused body. She leaned against him, listening to his steady but rapid heartbeat, feeling the strength and muscularity of his body. The sun broke through the clouds to shine brightly on them and give her this perfect moment.

  Ragan whinnied and broke the quiet atmosphere and Lori stepped away from Draeg, turning to the paddock that held the rest of her animals. Both groups, stridebeasts and horses, had merged well with each other and considered themselves part of the same herd.

  And that was due to Draeg’s efforts as well as her own, and the fact that the stridebeasts were loved and loving and welcoming and the horses had been lonely and abandoned.

  A dark shadow crossed her eyes: Corax flying to the ridgepole of the stables and reminding her of their bargain. Closing her eyelids, she visualized the saddlebag and the leather pouch that held her traveling funds. Then she lost the image she needed to translocate the little sack when she realized what she was doing, showing Draeg all her gilt, packed and ready to go. She didn’t think she could separate eight silver slivers from the rest—