They reached the end of the corridor and his father instructed him and Chandra to stand before the Council. At the center of the tiered wall sat the Sovereign Lady, poised on a throne that was so large and imposing it made the dozens of black-robed men in the gallery look almost miniature. On her left stood two identical handmaidens. Dressed in long, rich mantles of red, their heads were bowed and their faces hidden by cascades of ebony hair. Pedants and Shield men stood guard, while priests and attendants knew their place and waited at attention nearby. It was a familiar scene, Orryn realized, and yet it was like nothing he had ever experienced in his adult life. He should have been standing with the Pedants behind the throne. Instead he was on the black tiles facing it.
Jhon took the steps and made his way to his seat amongst the others, while the rest of the council members waited, all of them staring intently at Orryn and the Taubastet girl at his side. The Sovereign seemed equally mesmerized, though more so with Orryn than the Imela. Her dark smoldering eyes had not left him since he’d first entered the room. For a long moment all was quiet. Orryn shifted his focus to the Council, struggling not to meet his Lady’s gaze. Were he to make eye contact with her, he felt sure she would reach into his soul.
The faces of the Council members seemed to dim, as if all the light in the room was suddenly focused on the Sovereign alone.
Orryn turned his attention to her, and as he did he could feel the power of her enchantment. Even with lavation he had never been able to deny the perfection of her face, from its ivory skin and heart-shaped mouth, to her coal-black eyes and the pale hair that curled around her head like a wild, golden halo. She sat straight in her high, cushioned seat, narrowing her eyes as she ran them over him. Her white gown shimmered, but otherwise all was eerily still.
“So Orryn of the House of Seth, you have broken your vows,” she said calmly, but the edge to her voice was undeniable.
Orryn bowed his head. “No, my Lady.”
A hiss of surprise escaped her lips. “You dare lie to me?”
“No, my Lady,” he said, straightening to attention. “I speak true.”
“According to Pey, he and his men witnessed you take this girl against her will.” She flicked her eyes briefly to Chandra, then back to him. “Yet here you stand, claiming you did not.”
“I wished only for them to think it, my Lady.”
“And the purpose of this . . . ruse?”
“I brought the girl to Syddia as a gift to you. But when Pey and his men forced us to the catacombs to secure the Taubastet male behind its doors, the girl began to fight me. Pey threatened to take her, and I could not allow that to happen. I had no choice but to prove I was in control of her, even if it seemed I was not in control of myself.”
“You’ve never had qualms about turning Imelas over to Pey before. Why risk your vows over this one?”
“My vows may have been at risk, but I did not break them. As to why this one, she’s not like the others.”
The Sovereign slid a critical gaze over Chandra. “You’re right,” she said with distaste. “She’s cat.”
“Yes,” Orryn said, “but she has no love for them.”
“Except, I imagine, for the one currently housed in the catacombs.”
Orryn felt his insides twist. “I don’t think it’s anything more than appreciation,” he attempted. “The cat saw that her injuries were tended, that’s all.”
“Perhaps we’ll ask the girl to prove her feelings for the male later. If he lives long enough.” She turned her eyes to Chandra. “What is your name, cat?
“Chandra, my Lady,” she said with a curtsy. “I’m . . .” She paused and leaned toward Orryn. “What is it that makes me special again?” she whispered to him.
The Sovereign laughed. “Yes, Orryn, please do tell us what makes her special.”
“She has ancestral memory,” Orryn said. “That is why the elementals gifted her to us. Clearly she’s Taubastet, yet as one of the Lost she has never known them, so has no loyalty to them. This makes her a great asset, my Lady. For that reason alone I would allow no one to bring her to you but me.”
The Sovereign Lady tilted her head. “Ancestral memory you say?”
“Yes,” Chandra said. “I knew where I was when I washed up on the beach. At first I was scared, and Orryn wouldn’t tell me anything, but then he explained why he needed me here, so I came.”
“He gave you a choice?” the Sovereign asked, incredulous.
“No,” Chandra said. “But I could have made things much harder for him I guess.”
Again the Sovereign Lady seemed amused. “Lack of lavation has made it hard enough I think. No doubt his hands tremble every time he looks at you.”
Orryn clenched his hands at his side rather than reveal they were trembling now. “I assure you, my Lady,” he said, “even without lavation, I’ve done well to keep my hands to myself.”
“Has he?” the Sovereign asked, directing the question to Chandra.
“Oh, he’s had his hands on me,” Chandra said. “But not like that.”
The Lady turned to Jhon. “I understand you interviewed her, Councilman Seth. Do you have anything to add to this?”
Jhon rose. “Yes, my Lady. The girl spoke freely of Kiradyn, as well as other historical sites. She is familiar with Tearia, as well as Meirla and Pobu and something of the Red King. There is no way she could know of these unless she has ancestral memory. Further interrogation would reveal more, some of which could be used to aid you in your new campaign. Admittedly she seems very childlike for her years, but I think this innocence, as well as her eagerness to serve you, proves she could be a great asset.”
“Are you suggesting that I bring her into court?” the Sovereign Lady asked.
“Only you have the authority to suggest that,” Jhon said. “I merely suggest that she could be of benefit.”
“Think what this would mean to the Taubastets,” Orryn said, interrupting. “To have one of their own working against them? It would surely rouse them from their dens.”
The Sovereign studied him, then turned her attention to Chandra. “Come closer,” she ordered. “Let me take a look at you.”
Chandra stepped toward the throne. She bowed her head respectfully, as Jhon had no doubt instructed her.
“Your wife cleaned her up well I see,” the Sovereign said, glancing at Jhon.
“As a favor to you, my Lady. She would not have her stand in your presence in the state she was in.”
The Sovereign Lady looked Chandra up and down. “Well, turn around,” she said with annoyance. “Let me see the back of you.”
Chandra turned in a slow, graceful circle.
Orryn glanced at the Council, realizing they were watching her with increased interest. Chandra stopped and stood facing the throne.
“Tell me, girl,” the Sovereign said, leaning toward her. “Have you lain with a man?”
Chandra gasped. “Why, no, my Lady.”
“So the tom is not your mate?”
“The tom?”
“The Taubastet male.”
“You mean Tygg?”
“If that is his name.”
“He helped me when my leg was hurt,” Chandra said, “but otherwise he’s nothing to me.”
“Do you know why he came to Syddia?”
“He came only to—” Orryn said.
“Silence!” the Sovereign ordered.
Orryn lowered his eyes to the floor.
“Answer me, girl.”
“He said he came to see that I got here safely, and to ask that I be allowed to go back to Adjo with him.”
“Nothing more?”
Chandra shook her head. “Orryn told him the elementals left me on your shores. But I don’t think Tygg believed him.”
The Sovereign Lady turned her eyes to Orryn. “Is this true?”
“It is. The elementals gifted her to us, my Lady. The cat simply refused to accept it.”
“So he came here to ask for favors knowing h
e would get none.”
“He does have an arrogance about him,” Orryn said. “Perhaps seeing the Imela at your side will finally put an end to it.”
“Pey’s men will bleed most of it out of him,” she said, then smiled. “But they’ll leave enough for me.”
“I would love nothing more than to help you put him in his place, my Lady,” Orryn said. He swallowed thickly. “I humbly request lavation so that I may continue to serve you as Pedant.”
“You know you must undergo examination first.” Her eyes narrowed. “What a pity it would be if I found you lacking,” she said.
“I assure you, I’m not lacking. If anything, this test has made me more duty sworn.”
“Test?”
Orryn went down on one knee. “Yes, and I bow to your wisdom for it, my Lady, for what greater way for a Pedant to prove his loyalty to you than to face his base desires and come out the victor over them.”
The Sovereign rose from her seat slowly. “Come to me then,” she said, “and we shall see who is the victor and who is not.”
CHAPTER 22
Chandra stared as Orryn knelt before the throne. The Sovereign’s slender white hands gripped his head, and the look on her face was as calm as his was pained. He cried out and went limp, but strangely he did not fall. The Lady’s hands were like a vise around his skull, holding him firmly in place.
Fear for Orryn swept through Chandra’s veins, sparking an unexpected impulse to save him. She looked at Jhon, her eyes seeking advice, but he had resumed his seat and was focused on the Sovereign, his face void of expression.
Orryn groaned, redirecting Chandra’s attention. A new wave of emotions clawed through her: surprise and confusion, followed by anger and frustration. Orryn was in pain, yet somehow she knew that were she to protest or allow her feelings to show, the Sovereign would make him suffer all the more for it.
Chandra fisted her hands at her side. She desperately wanted to help him, but her instincts told her one did not question the Sovereign. She closed her eyes, trying to focus on anything but the pain she knew Orryn must be suffering. The palace, she told herself. Perhaps if she accepted the Sovereign’s disciplines, she herself would one day live there, like she once pretended as a child, when she would put on her mother’s skirts and pull them up under her arms, and wear a paper crown and gaze out the window, waiting for her prince to rescue her from dragons.
A loud hiss sounded in her mind. Dragons. Chandra blinked opened her eyes, realizing the Sovereign’s form was morphing into a filmy shape. It was still the Sovereign, and yet it wasn’t. Her dark eyes were now glowing like coals, and her skin, once smooth and white, was scaled like a reptile, its forked tongue slipping in and out of her thin-lipped mouth.
Chandra took a startled step back.
Jhon half rose from his seat, but then he glanced at the Councilmen on either side of him and quickly resumed his place. He narrowed his eyes at Chandra, and like magnets her pupils were drawn to his. Jhon’s expression did not change, his mouth did not waver, yet Chandra felt a strange calm wash over her. She turned her eyes back to the Sovereign and realized how truly beautiful she was, how gentle her hands were as she cradled her knight’s head, how sweet her kiss was as she planted it upon his brow.
The Sovereign let go her hold on Orryn and he crumpled to the floor. The Lady stared down at him, breathing hard. “Councilman Seth,” she said. She sank back onto her throne.
Jhon rose. “Yes, my Sovereign Lady.”
“You may take your son home.” Her eyes slid to his. “But he is to go nowhere else unless it is to come to me.”
“Yes, my Lady.” He bowed his head respectfully. “When do you wish to see him again?”
“When he is worthy.” The Sovereign waved her hand then let it drop as two guards rushed forward to lift Orryn’s unconscious body from the floor.
“And the Imela, my Lady?” Jhon asked cautiously. “The Council was under the impression you were to examine her also.”
“It was my intent, but . . . I will consider her later.” She leaned her head back against the throne and closed her eyes. “Until then, you and the Council are in charge of her,” she said wearily. “This meeting is adjourned.”
The Council members rose from their seats and filed out of the chamber.
~~~
It took little coaxing for the Council to agree to Master Seth’s request: he would temporarily house the Imela if they would agree to discuss the possible ramifications of her ancestral memory. Within moments a carriage was called to whisk Chandra, Jhon, and Orryn from the palace, and as it did Chandra pondered the events unfolding around her. Not only was the carriage they were travelling in like something out of a fairy tale, but the handsome knight lying unconscious on the seat across from her was possibly the most romantic figure she had ever seen.
Jhon, whose hand had been on Orryn’s forehead since they’d entered the carriage, leaned back on the seat next to her.
“Is he sick?” Chandra asked with growing concern.
“Yes, very,” Jhon replied.
“He’s—he’s not going to die, is he?”
“I will do all I can for him.”
Chandra bit her lip. “Is this what would have happened to me?”
“No. This is different.”
“So why didn’t she examine me?”
“Something happened with Orryn. I’m not sure what, but it appeared to have sapped the Sovereign’s strength. This has never happened before, at least not that I know of, but it was lucky for you that it did.”
Chandra gazed out the carriage window. The scenery swept past like a movie going from fast to slow, grainy to bright. At times the carriage was slowed by crowds in the marketplace, allowing her to watch mobs of strangely dressed citizens weaving and haggling amongst stalls of produce and assorted wares. Other times the carriage swayed noisily down dark cobbled alleys, the walls on either side of it blocking the sun in shafts of darkness. As she watched the city speed past, Chandra realized it was nothing like the fantasies of her childhood. In those, everyone lived happily ever after. Here, the possibility of a tragic end lay within inches of her.
The carriage came to a stop and the door swung open. Nyal and Bren, the two attendants who had met them the night before, lifted Orryn out of the carriage and carried him toward the house.
Mayra and Tiersa were out the door before the men could reach the steps.
“Oh my God, what happened?” Mayra cried.
Tiersa rushed toward her brother. “Orryn!”
“Not here,” Jhon said. “Nyal, Bren, get him inside.”
They all hurried into the house. Jhon ordered the men to take Orryn to his room, while the rest of them followed. A rush of footsteps echoed down the corridor as the staff hustled to attention.
Chandra hovered just inside the bedroom door as the family gathered around the four-poster bed where Orryn was now sprawled.
“Draw the curtains, Tiersa,” Jhon ordered. “Nyal, Bren, keep watch outside the house. If anyone approaches—and I mean anyone—notify me immediately.” He stepped to the bed. “Mayra, alert the servants that Orryn is ill and must not be disturbed.”
“Can you save him?” Mayra asked frantically.
Jhon remained silent.
“Jhon!” She grabbed his arm.
“I will do what I can,” he said.
“What do you mean, do what you can?” Tiersa demanded. “You’re the one who put him in this state!”
“No,” Jhon said. “The Sovereign put him in this state. She examined him, then performed lavation immediately after.”
Mayra gasped. “Without time to recover? But why would she?”
“I don’t know,” Jhon said. “All I know is I closed passageways and opened others so she would see only what we wanted her to see. If she did to him what she did out of anger, then her reason for doing so was based on something else.”
“But what could he possibly have done?” Mayra asked.
“O
nly Orryn knows the answer to that,” Jhon said. “Or maybe he doesn’t. Regardless, he’s paying the price for it now.”
Jhon unclasped his Council robe and removed it, then tossed it aside. “Get that out of my sight,” he said, rolling up the sleeves of his tunic.
Mayra picked up the robe and headed out the room. “Florie,” her voice could be heard saying in the hallway. “Take this to Master Seth’s chamber, and tell the other servants that we are not to be disturbed.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Florie said. Her footsteps hastened down the hall.
Mayra reentered the room. Her eyes fell on Chandra. “The Sovereign allowed the Imela to return with you,” she said, surprise in her voice.
“Yes,” Jhon replied. He felt the pulse in Orryn’s neck. “His heart is strong at least. Tiersa, run to my study and bring me the bottle of borro.”
Tiersa nodded and hurried out.
Chandra stepped hesitantly to the bed. “Orryn,” she said. She rested her hand upon his cheek, trying to comfort him, but as she did a powerful surge of energy coursed through her veins. Images flashed inside her head, appearing and shifting, linking and unlinking. She jerked her hand away.
Suddenly she felt dizzy, disoriented. Mayra grabbed her by the arm to keep her from falling and guided her to a nearby chair. “What is it, girl?” she asked.
“I—I don’t know, pictures—in my head—so fast.” Chandra closed her eyes to keep the room from spinning.
“Jhon,” Mayra said.
He looked at Chandra with confusion. “I only linked her conscious mind to past imaginings,” he said. “What she describes makes me think something has caused the pathways to disconnect.” Orryn groaned and Jhon turned back to him. “Take Chandra to Tiersa’s room, Mayra. She just needs to rest.”
“No,” Chandra said, rising unsteadily to her feet. She took a step toward the bed. “I have to be here.”
Shrouded Sky (The Veils of Lore Book 1) Page 15
