“Reister, I’ll speak to her about it—she must see reason—it’s—”
“Don’t bother. It’s already in hand. But I tell you, I have the distinct feeling I shall regret listening to you about all of this.”
“Give it time, Reister. I saw the konunger speak to her just an hour past.”
“What?”
No audible response. Then their voices rose just enough for me to hear them, without making out the words. I didn’t dare peek through the door to see what they were doing.
After a few moments, I heard Mother Tora say, “If I had known she put the boy in her room, I might have told Sveinn—”
“Nonsense,” Reister interrupted. “It wouldn’t have happened. But it can’t continue, of course.”
“You have it in hand, you mentioned?”
“Should have seen to it a year ago, but how was I to know she wouldn’t manage it herself?”
“She seems unnaturally attached to him.”
“She took care of the estate without my intervention,” Reister said. “I just assumed she knew to send him off. How can she be so improper?”
“I warned you not to marry an Asterlunder…”
For a moment, Mother Tora’s voice faded in my ears as my mind caught hold of the last thing Reister said. Send him off? Send who off? Not Bersi. He didn’t mean that I should have sent Bersi off somewhere.
“…people with no sense of propriety,” Mother Tora was saying.
“You said yourself, she’s a valuable asset.”
“You’re lucky she’s beautiful.”
“I wouldn’t have married her otherwise, would I?”
I walked in.
“Send who off?” I asked.
Reister’s brow wrinkled and he locked his cold eyes on me. “Myadar. I told you to remain at the ball.”
“Send who off?” I persisted.
“Myadar, really. What are you doing back here?” Mother Tora asked.
Reister closed his mouth and glared at me.
I met his eyes and crossed my arms over my chest, jutting out my chin. “Send. Who. Off?”
“Bersimund, of course,” Mother Tora said. Reister shot her a sharp look and she took a step back.
“No,” I said. “It’s out of the question. No one is sending Bersi off anywhere.”
Reister took two strides and was at my side. He grabbed my arm above the elbow in a grip so tight it hurt. “I told you to remain at the ball.”
“Let me go,” I said. “Reister, stop it! What does it matter if I left the ball? I wasn’t the only one. People were disappearing. I’m exhausted. Reister, release my arm at once.”
He tightened his grip, raising my arm at an awkward angle. “What made you think you could ignore my instructions?”
“I came back here to rest and prepare for our return home, Bersi and I. You can’t force us to stay!”
He barked a laugh and thrust my arm away from him, finally letting go. “You see, Mother? She’ll be nothing but trouble.”
“Myadar, you are Reister’s wife,” Mother Tora said. “He can make you stay if he likes. He is your husband.”
I rubbed my arm. You could see the imprints of Reister’s fingers on it. I wondered if they would turn into bruises. “Thank you for clarifying my marital status, Mother Tora,” I said, putting as much acid as I could into my words. I glared at Reister. “You’re quite right, Reister. I shall be nothing but trouble to you. Your mother is right. I’m nothing but a barbarous Asterlunder—”
“Myadar, honestly!” Mother Tora exclaimed, her eyes darting to Reister, who stood still, glowering at me.
“Well, whether or not it’s due to my ancestry, the fact is I don’t know how to behave here at court. This place is so foreign to me. I shall be embarrassing you from one day to the next. It’s in no one’s best interests that Bersi and I stay.” I raised my hands, palms out, in a placating gesture. “Let us make peace, Reister. I’ll go home. I’ll take our son with me. I’ll continue to tend to the estate and raise Bersi as I have all these years. You won’t have to put up with my gracelessness anymore. It will all be for the best!”
Reister narrowed his eyes and leaned towards me. “You do not have the right to make demands,” he said.
“But Reister—” I started, but a knock on the door interrupted me.
A chill touched my skin, creeping over my back. I knew that whoever was at the door, I didn’t want them to come in.
“Reister,” I said.
He marched to the door and swung it open. Two men and a woman stood there. They wore strange, dark brown uniforms.
“Good,” he said to the woman. “It was wise to bring extra hands. I suspect they’ll be needed.” He gave each man a nod.
The woman stepped in first. She wore her short hair slicked in even waves against her head, and small round glasses on her nose. She had a short, broad frame, and the uniform did little to soften it. “Where is he?” she asked.
My throat closed and I put a hand to it as if that would help. “Reister, who are these people?”
“Through there,” Reister answered the woman, pointing towards my room.
I felt like all the blood was draining from my hands, legs, and face. I felt like I was bleeding to death right there.
“Who are these people? What do they want?”
“Hurry up about it,” Reister told the woman. He turned to one of the men. “You may have to restrain her,” he said with a jerk of his head towards me.
“Reister,” I said, feeling breathless. I moved my feet with effort, trying to intercept the woman as she headed towards the door of the hall that led to my room. “Wait. Please, tell me who you are. What do you want?”
The woman pushed past me and I grabbed her sleeve. The fabric was coarse wool and the cuff of the sleeve was adorned with arrows embroidered in silver thread. The woman pulled away, but I clung to her sleeve.
“Pruder,” she said, and one of the men appeared at her side. The other joined him, and together they pried me off of her.
“Wait!” I cried. “Wait. Why are you here? Don’t go in there. Leave my son alone!”
The woman turned away from me and let herself into the hall. My heart was in my throat as I struggled uselessly in the iron grip of the two men.
“Reister, don’t do this!”
I heard Bersi exclaim in surprise, and then start to cry.
“No,” I gasped, wrenching my arms.
The woman emerged. She held Bersi by the wrist, dragging him behind her. “Come along!” she snapped at him.
He saw me and his eyes widened. “Mama!”
I couldn’t breathe. I saw the scene through his eyes—the men holding me.
“Don’t be afraid,” I said to him. “They aren’t going to hurt me.”
“Mama,” he said, and tried to pull away from the woman to come to me.
She caught him across the chest and lifted him in her arms.
“No!” I shouted, struggling.
Bersi kicked the woman with all his strength and she dropped him. He wailed and scrambled to his feet, running to me. He threw his arms around my waist and clung to me, but I couldn’t hold him because the men still had my arms.
“Let me go you bastards!”
“Mama, Mama, Mama,” Bersi moaned.
Reister and the woman closed the gap between them and Bersi, and Reister helped her pry him off me.
“Reister, stop this! Stop this now! If you don’t stop this I will never forgive you—”
“Mama!” Bersi howled. I felt like his cry disemboweled me. I fought the tears that came to my eyes. I didn’t want to make it worse for him—he’d panic if I cried. But he was panicking already.
“Get him out of here, woman!” Reister barked.
I looked around wildly, finding Mother Tora, who stood back against a wall with her hand on her chest, her eyebrows raised high.
“Mother Tora!” I pleaded. “Please! Please, you have to make them stop! Bersi needs me! Please,
don’t let them take him away!”
The woman hefted Bersi over her shoulder. He kicked but she grabbed his ankles, so he pounded her back with his fists. But he was still such a little boy. He couldn’t hope to even bruise her that way.
“Please, Reister!” I begged. “Please!”
“Go on,” Reister said to the woman.
She gave him a nod and strode out the door. Bersi screamed over her shoulder, and the image of his face burned itself in my eyes.
~~~
I couldn’t believe it. My mind would not accept it. Bersi was not gone—it was not possible. Surely it was all a bad dream. I would wake up in Söllund again, and I would creep to his room to find him sleeping in his bed, one arm hanging off the side, like so many times before.
Sitting at the silver trimmed dining table in our apartments, I stared across at Reister and Mother Tora, but neither of them met my gaze. Not that they avoided it, particularly. Neither seemed the least bit troubled. Reister read a newspaper and Mother Tora a book. Occasionally her hand with its nails covered in rose-colored gloss reached over and stirred her tea, in a fancy cup gilded all around the rim and handle.
Sveinn appeared, gleaming in the artificial light of the chevron-shaped sconces, carrying a silver tray. He bent down by Reister’s side and Reister took a card from the tray. He looked at it for a moment and then set it by the side of his plate.
“You’ve been invited to a soirée with Jarldis Vaenn, Myadar,” he said without looking at me.
I tried to comprehend this. I tried to remember Jarldis Vaenn’s face. I couldn’t do it. Last night, the ball, it was all a blur. I couldn’t think about any of it.
Instead, I stirred my own tea.
None of this was real. None of this was happening. I was at home, dreaming. I would wake up in my own room. I would walk two doors down to Bersi’s room. I would stand in the doorway as I sometimes did and watch him sleep, both arms up by his ears, his face smooth and peaceful. Perna would walk by and whisper that Gasi had some questions about the orchard, and that Arinn wanted to buy mushrooms when the seller came by. I would nod and walk into Bersi’s room, give his forehead a caress—soft, so as not to wake him—
“Mother, you’ll see to it that Myadar meets with the dress maker today,” Reister said.
I blinked at him.
“I don’t need any new dresses,” I murmured.
Reister’s eyes slid to meet mine at last. “Don’t start that nonsense again. You will not embarrass me like you did at the coronation, Myadar. Am I understood?”
I shook my head. “I don’t belong here, Reister,” I said, and my voice felt like it came from somewhere else. I felt detached from it. “Don’t you see? Let me collect Bersi and we’ll leave. We’ll go home. Everyone will be happier for it.”
Reister rose from his chair, leaned across the table and slapped me so hard my ears rang. I gasped, bent to the side from the impact, my hand traveling to my cheek. I had known it was coming, of course. When I righted myself, he put his face so close to mine that I felt his breath brush my throbbing cheekbone. One of these days, I thought with no emotion, I would gouge out his eyes when he did this. “Listen to me, Myadar. I will not say this again. Your home is here now. You will not be returning to Söllund. You will do as you are told. You will not bother me about Bersimund. You will play the part of a good wife to me. Is that understood?”
In a flicker of my mind, I saw myself lashing out—raking his face with my nails. But I sat still instead.
“Is that understood?” he repeated, leaning just a little closer in.
I clenched my jaw and looked away from him.
He gave an exasperated sigh and sat back in his chair. “Mother, see to the dress maker,” he said.
“Of course, dear.”
Did he think I would just sit here and do nothing? Did he think he could take my son from me, and I would do nothing? No. I couldn’t afford to spend any more time dreaming that this wasn’t happening. I would go to the authorities. I would report him to the police, and I hoped they put him in jail for the rest of his awful, twisted life.
~~~
After breakfast Mother Tora tried to engage me in a conversation about fabrics, but I ignored her. She gave me a pinched look as I walked away to my room, but I ignored that as well. I rummaged through my trunks and found the dark grey wool ensemble I had in mind. It was nicely tailored, although the skirt was no doubt longer and more fitted at the waist than was fashionable—but it should still give the impression of wealth. In it, I looked pale and grave, although one cheek was redder than the other. I powdered it. I wanted the police to see me and take me seriously. I also put my ruby bracelet and earrings in my purse—gifts from Reister when he was courting me. Or, to be more precise, my family and our money. Oh, how excited everyone was that I would be a jarldis. How stupid they all were.
The jewelry I could use as a bribe if it came to it. I didn’t know how things ran in the capital. In Söllund the police were sometimes lazy but generally honest. Still, it sometimes took a little extra to motivate them to work a bit harder. I didn’t know what to expect here, but perhaps the offer of an earring in advance—and the rest of the set when they returned Bersi to me and had Reister behind bars—would work in my favor.
The immediate problem, once I was dressed and ready to go, was finding my way out of the palace. And after that, through the city. I didn’t know my way around at all, and getting lost would do me no good. Nevertheless I left the apartments briskly. Mother Tora was not there anymore, for which I was grateful. I had already decided that if she asked me where I was going I would ignore her, but it was just as well not to have to deal with her at all.
Once out in the corridors, I wandered until I spotted a robot dusting a table with a vase of white lilies. It was silver with pearlescent panels on its cheeks and forehead. As I approached, I noticed that the lilies were silk, not real.
“Excuse me,” I said to the robot. It turned and stood straight, facing me. “I was wondering if you could tell me how to exit the palace?”
“Certainly, Jarldis,” the robot replied with a woman’s voice. “You must walk all the way down this corridor, and take the door on the left. That will be the staircase. Descend four flights and exit the staircase. You will have a choice of three corridors. Take the one on the right. Follow it to the end, and you will emerge in the Great Hall. You may exit the palace through the doors of the Great Hall.”
I nodded, biting my lip. The robot stood still, as if waiting. “I’m sorry, I should have been more precise,” I said. “I wish to exit the palace while avoiding as many people as possible. Is there another way? A more private way?”
“Certainly, Jarldis,” said the robot. “You may prefer the service passage and lift. It is only used by robots.”
“Yes, please direct me that way.”
The robot did so.
“Good. And when I reach the street,” I continued, “how do I find the police headquarters?”
“Forgive me, Jarldis,” the robot said. “I do not possess that information.”
Well, one mountain at a time, I told myself.
I headed back the way I came, to the narrow side corridor off to the left that the robot had indicated. I descended several flights of stairs, then came to the service lift and I stepped inside. It was the first time I had ever ridden in a lift, and anxiety rushed me. Why did only robots ride in lifts? Were they very dangerous?
It made no difference. I couldn’t afford to waste any time.
I studied the buttons on the lift’s panel and selected the one with a “G” for ground floor. The compartment lurched violently, sending my stomach into my ribs. I grasped at the wall beside me but there was nothing to hold on to. The lift headed down. When it arrived at its destination, there was another lurch, but this one didn’t jolt me as badly. I opened the heavy door and exited.
Just two more corridors and I would be out of the palace. The thought sent a thrill through me. To be fre
e of this place, if only for the time it would take to find the police headquarters! It would almost be like being free of Reister and his mother.
As I turned a corner into the second corridor, three robots came in the opposite direction.
“Excuse me,” I said. The robots held baskets full of fruit and vegetables—they must have come from the market. Perhaps the robot in the corridor upstairs had never left the palace. She might be solely tasked with cleaning, after all. These robots obviously had been in the city, in order to buy food for the palace kitchens. “Excuse me,” I said again, and the three of them stopped. “Please tell me how to find the police headquarters.”
“Forgive me, Jarldis,” all three said at once. “I do not possess that information.”
I frowned. How strange. Was there some notion that robots would never have interactions with the police? What if they witnessed a crime or were victims of a crime themselves?
I pointed to the robot in the middle. “Where do you go if you have to report a crime?” I asked.
“I report it to the palace guards, Jarldis,” the robot responded.
“Even if you are in the city, far from the palace?”
“Yes, Jarldis.”
“Where do you go for help if you need it in the city? If someone is injured?”
“I seek the nearest Officer of Tyr, Jarldis.”
“Officer of Tyr?”
“Yes, Jarldis.”
“Who enforces the law in the city?”
“The Officers of Tyr, Jarldis.”
“Are there no police officers, then?”
“No, Jarldis.”
I stared at the robot. “When… how long has this been the case, that there are no police officers?”
“The konunger granted authority to the Officers of Tyr two months and three days ago, Jarldis.”
“The late konunger, or Eiflar-Konunger?”
“Eiflar-Konunger, with the approval of the late konunger, Jarldis.”
I chewed on my lips. “Very well, then,” I said. “Where are the headquarters of the Officers of Tyr?”
“In the Temple, Jarldis.”
Of course. And I would have no need of directions, then. I need only look for the gigantic prism.
The City Darkens (Raud Grima Book 1) Page 5
