“Hey, Kheled!” Kylorian drawled, raising a hand in greeting. “Figures you’d be here too.”
Ren’s adoptive brother had already partaken of the evening’s festivities. A half-empty mug rested between his hands.
“Am I early?” Kheled asked as he slid to sit beside Kylorian.
“No,” the other man answered, “they’re late, but I think we can forgive them. Being King and Queen would make anyone inordinately busy, and those two like to bite off more than they can chew. They’ve probably stumbled into a new charity project, even though today is supposed to be their day of leisure.”
“Seems you’d understand, given your own proclivities for charity work,” Kheled retorted.
With a mild glare, Kylorian slurped his mug’s contents, leaving Kheled at a loss for words. He and Ren’s adoptive brother had never gotten along. For Kylorian, that general dislike had further deepened when Kheled had dropped the Keltheryl disguise following Uduli’s capture. Apparently, the man didn’t take kindly to being misled, and Kheled’s deception had nettled whatever good will he might have harbored for the Eselan.
As for Kheled, he’d never quite forgiven Kylorian for causing Raimie unnecessary distress. Despite his friend’s dismissal of the years of rivalry and hostility, Kheled couldn’t bring himself to pardon them as easily. Kylorian rankled his good mood whenever they occupied the same room.
“How goes the ministry job?” Kheled made himself ask.
“Busy,” Kylorian answered, and the conversation seemed ended, but then, he continued. “During peace or war, keeping the streets safe is hard enough without added complications, so when the King issued a proclamation to the world which welcomed Esela to Auden, I cringed. Within a year of that announcement, a transient flood settled in Uduli, and my job’s difficulty jumped a thousand-fold.
“I personally believe opening the border to the Esela is an exceptional idea, but the city’s human population isn’t as willing to accept it. You’ve no idea how many crimes against Esela I’ve processed in the last year. Every night, an excessive number of officers patrol their city quarters to ensure no one murders them in their sleep, and every day is spent handling complaints of harassment or vandalism. Tell me, how am I to safeguard Uduli when one problem binds half of my resources?”
A hooded individual plopped to the bench beside Kheled. “I suppose I should have consulted with my Minister of Public Safety before making the proclamation, huh?” he musingly asked. “Sorry to have made your job more challenging.”
Kylorian jumped to his feet. “Your Majesty!” he exclaimed.
“Sit down!” Raimie hissed, scanning the tavern for heads turned their way. “I’m here incognito. Try not to make such a fuss.”
Chastened, Kylorian slowly returned to the bench.
“How are you, Ky?” Raimie asked. “How’s the family?”
“I’m fine,” Kylorian replied before his face creased. “The family, not so much. Since the investiture, Dury’s struggled with the idea that he’ll be bedridden for life, and he blames his predicament on everyone else. He faults you for holding the ceremony where he was injured, me for moving to Uduli so I could work for you, and Ren for the marriage…”
He trailed off, leaving the table in awkward silence.
“My condolences to Eliade,” Kheled blustered forth. “Marriage to someone that irritable must be a handful to manage.”
Raimie and Kylorian laughed, probably remembering the kindly woman with her home cooked meals and her ability to silence Riadur into shame.
“Mother’s adapted quite well to the situation,” Kylorian said, “but I’ll pass on the sentiment.”
“Good! Eliade deserves every kindness she receives,” Kheled exclaimed. “Raimie, where’s your wife? We only need her presence to commence our evening.”
“She’ll be along shortly, I’m sure,” Raimie assured him. “She visited Chela this afternoon, and you know how the healer can be.”
“Healer?” Kheled asked. “Is she sick? If she’s sick, why hasn’t she come to me?”
“Ren’s perfectly healthy, Khel!” Raimie laughed. “Stop your fretting, and keep a lookout. She’ll be here soon.”
Kheled did as asked, scanning the tavern, but worry distracted his watch. Ren only ever visited healers when she was extremely sick. She’d rather court death than go near someone who claimed to heal for a living, too many traumatic experiences as a child prompting her visceral fear of them. Raimie insisted Ren was well, but… she’d fooled others before him. Discovering his sister had duped her husband wouldn’t surprise Kheled in the least.
Despite his worry, one person did catch his eye, slouched by the tavern’s door.
“Did you mean to let Pointer follow you?” he asked Raimie.
Most escapes beyond the palace walls first involved a long game of losing the bodyguard.
“This dinner was sanctioned. By which I mean I told Oswin we’d hold it without his knowledge if he said no, and the spymaster promptly acquiesced,” Raimie explained.
“He didn’t insist on joining you himself?” Kheled asked.
The hood shook a negative. “Too busy planning security for the ball.”
“Ah.”
Of course, the spymaster of Raimie’s Hand would take charge of that duty. The Anniversary Ball would host thousands of people from multiple nations. On that night, the risk to the royals would be great. Oswin and his spies would be extra vigilant throughout the Ball’s festivities
The Ball… Kheled couldn’t decide what he thought of the Audish people’s frantic abandonment of watchfulness. On the one hand, he approved of their revelry in freedom and life, but on the other, he feared what would happen when Doldimar made his return. Each year sans the Dark Lord built the Audish people’s vineyard of hope and delight. When the inevitable occurred, it would crush them like grapes beneath a vigneron’s feet.
Casting aside his fears for tomorrow, Kheled returned to his inspection of the tavern. After the entry and departure of several other patrons, two females strolled inside, arm in arm, while laughing at some unheard joke. Recognition failed to register for a moment, but when it did, he smiled.
Since the official wedding ceremony fourteen months past, Ren and Ring had become fast friends. In the weeks following her ascension to Queen, his sister had been miserable, bogged down by other’s expectations and judgment. She’d especially hated the necessity of a bodyguard and had mercilessly tormented the men of the Hand, but with Ring…
For some reason, the two had clicked. Ever since then, the female spy had become the Queen’s permanent bodyguard, excluding the times she was required for other, undisclosed missions.
Tonight, the women’s happiness made them glow. Ring was gorgeous as always, but Ren, something about her outshone the other woman. Perhaps her beauty stood out as a bonfire in a room of candles because he hadn’t seen her in four months, too preoccupied with the primeancer school to devote time to anything else. Perhaps it was her clothes, her favored leggings and a tight tunic rather than a stuffy gown, or… or… maybe it was neither of those.
The ladies stopped beside the table, and was that a…? Yes, it was. Ren boasted a bump where a flat stomach had lain not five months ago.
“You’re with child,” Kylorian hollowly muttered, eyes wide.
“You’re WITH CHILD!!” Kheled shouted, jumping to his feet and twirling her. “How many months along are you? Who knows? Do we have an approximate due date?”
“Slow down, Khel!” Raimie exclaimed. “Let her sit first.”
His friend was on his feet too, and the hood had fallen back, and look at that beaming face! Kheled grabbed Raimie, squeezed him tight, and let happy tears flow free. Many cycles had come and gone since… this. A creation of new life between two of his loved ones. He wanted to climb atop the table, shout the news, run while screaming it down the streets. His friend and his sister were…
“I’m going to be an uncle,” he whispered, aghast.
Hands helped him to the bench, and he thunked against its wooden seat.
“What’s wrong with him?” he heard Kylorian ask. “You’ve brought fantastic news!”
More jostling on the bench indicated the others had settled.
“Give him a minute, Ky. He needs to process,” Ren said somewhere nearby. “Let’s you and me talk, brother. How’ve you been?’
Their voices merged into a useless mishmash.
An innocent baby directly related to him. When Doldimar found out… The child hadn’t even been born, and it was doomed. Ren’s continued survival was a miracle he blessed and feared every day. She defied the cycle’s grind, daring it to crush her. Thousands of cycles and every family member murdered. All but her. Could he trust a baby to be added to that count?
A mug and dish filled with mouth-wateringly aromatic potatoes and meat slammed into Kheled’s hands, and a rough voice commanded, “Drink first, then eat!”
Raising the mug, Kheled sipped at foam, making a face at the horse piss taste. The brew was enough to drag him from his despondency, at least partially. He faced Raimie, who’d failed to draw his hood up.
“Did that help?” his friend asked, nodding to the awful ale.
“Enormously, thank you.”
Despite the taste, Kheled swallowed another draught before descending on his meal like a ravenous beast.
“My child will have the highest protection,” Raimie interrupted Kheled’s attempts to inhale mashed potatoes. “She’ll have an army to guard her youth, a school to teach her if she attracts a splinter, a dual primeancer father to guard her sleep, and the Champion of Ele to watch her when her other protectors can’t. Doldimar won’t touch her. She’ll never hear of him if I’ve any say in the matter.”
“She?” Kheled asked, crooking a strained smile.
Flushing, Raimie dove into his mug. “I always wanted a daughter,” he muttered to its contents.
They silently drank and ate, watching the women and Kylorian excitedly chatter on the table’s far side and yet a world away. Raimie might be confident in his ability to protect his child, but Kheled couldn’t join him. His brash overconfidence… it wouldn’t end well.
“It won’t be enough,” Kheled said.
“Maybe not,” Raimie acknowledged, “but I can’t live in fear of Doldimar. I will always be vigilant for his return, but I won’t obsess anymore. You should join me.”
“Maybe,” Kheled muttered.
The barmaid brought another round of drinks for the table, leaving the space before Ren conspicuously empty. She shot a strange glance at Raimie before departing.
Her brief interruption had given Kheled enough time to finish his meal. As the contentment of a full belly spread, he let it brush aside terror and rising despair. Disaster didn’t threaten this night. He’d enjoy it while he could.
“How far along is she?” Kheled asked.
“Somewhere between four and five months,” Raimie replied. “We’re not certain.”
“Why’s that?” Kheled asked.
The timing should be easily determined if Ren kept track of her bleeding sequences, but Raimie blushed and ducked his head again.
“Things have been rather… animated in the bedroom, and running a kingdom keeps us unreasonably busy outside of it,” he mumbled. “When she gave me the news, Ren told me it had been two or so months since the last… bleeding.” He shuddered.
“Ah.”
Yes, vibrant intimacy and a lack of free time would account for their uncertainty. As if fueled by awkwardness, their second round disappeared faster than the first. The barmaid was extremely attentive to their needs, pushing through the crowded room with a third round. When she’d deposited their drinks, she leaned closer to Raimie, squinting.
“I could swear…” she muttered.
Raimie reached for his mug, and the movement shifted his cloak to reveal a pair of bumps, black and white, on a navy-blue collar.
“Alouin, you are,” the barmaid breathed, her mouth a little O.
Turning, she inhaled to yell, and Raimie snatched her wrist.
“Please, don’t,” he pleaded.
“But… you’re the King,” she whispered. “You should have the nicest table in the house, the best ale-”
“I don’t want any of that,” Raimie said. “I want a quiet night in a regular tavern with my closest friends.”
“Friends?!” Kylorian sputtered.
“Friends and rivals,” Raimie amended with a scowl.
The barmaid pursed her lips, thinking. “If you want me to keep your anonymity, you’ll have to pay me,” she demanded.
“Very well,” Raimie conceded, digging through his pockets. “I think I’ve some spare chits somewhere.”
“Not with money, silly,” the barmaid giggled. “With a kiss. Always wanted to kiss a king.”
She leaned forward invitingly.
“Oh!” Raimie stammered, eyes flicking around the table for help. “Uh…”
Kheled snickered. He couldn’t help it. The scene was straight from one of the silly fairy tales his friend loved, and Raimie had fallen into the midst of it.
“Hey, wench!” Ren snapped as she struggled to her feet. “That’s MY husband you’re propositioning. Hands off!”
The barmaid’s head whipped toward the noise, taking in Ren’s apparel with a sneer. The ugly look dropped when she encountered gray eyes.
“You’re the Queen!” she whispered.
A throwing knife had appeared in Ren’s hand, and she tumbled it between her fingers.
“Yes,” she growled, “and this queen will filet you like a fish if you don’t STEP the HELL away from my husband!”
The barmaid fled.
“Thank you, love!” Raimie said.
Socially awkward fool probably would have gotten himself in enormous trouble if his wife hadn’t been here to save him. Reaching over the table with difficulty, Ren yanked Raimie’s hood up.
“Keep it on!” she snarled.
Then, she gracefully sank to the bench and resumed her lively chat with Ring and Kylorian.
“She’ll be fun for the next four-ish months,” Kheled commented.
“I’m already terrified,” Raimie confessed, reaching for his third drink and downing it in one go.
Someone else brought the next round, a wise decision on the barkeep’s part, considering. Ren, Kylorian, and Ring’s lively chatter eventually drew Kheled and Raimie into their circle, and soon enough, their table roared with laughter and spun tales. At some point, Kheled gave up on keeping track of the delightful hours, instead indulging in a contest with Ele regarding whether he could escape sobriety. When he achieved his goal and the room began to fuzz, he stopped drinking, and soon after, the King and Queen made their farewells, his friend leaning on his sister as they departed the tavern. Two spies silently followed, their tread in a much straighter line than their charges.
“I think I’ll go too,” Kheled told Kylorian with a slight slur. “You?”
“I’ll stay a while longer,” the other man replied.
He looked so melancholy Kheled was almost reluctant to leave him alone, but he’d an early morning lesson planned for the Ele students as well as a field trip at week’s end. He should sober up and rest beforehand.
“Khel,” Kylorian snatched his sleeve before he could go, “keep them safe.”
“That’s what I do, Ky,” he said, cocking his head at the other man’s excessive concern.
Kylorian slowly nodded, releasing him.
“Good night, Ky!”
The outside air was crisp, fall signaling it would soon turn to winter. Kheled headed for the palace, absently humming to himself. Alcohol’s pleasant buzz added a skip to his step, its rarity making it all the more appreciated.
He took a detour through one of Uduli’s few abandoned districts. He’d wanted to climb the palace’s cliff face for years now, and the warmth in his belly gave him the courage to try. He was sure he could handle the height so long as h
e didn’t… look… down.
Kheled slowed to a stop. Something felt off, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what. It tickled his awareness, set his nerves on edge, but he couldn’t…
“Really, E, I thought you’d have noticed me by now.”
The voice made him bristle. It was so familiar, almost as recognizable as his own. Who? Turning toward the voice, Kheled stumbled upon the world’s spin.
“Are you… drunk?! That’s priceless!”
Manic laughter filled the night, and Kheled knew who spoke. He tried to reach for his source, but it chose not to respond in this, the moment of his greatest need.
“Draw from me, Erianger!” Creation exclaimed.
He was already doing it, pulling enough Ele to banish intoxication and no more.
“Oo! Neat trick! Can’t wait to try it on Corruption.”
“Why are you here?” Kheled asked, circling and scanning empty windows and doors.
“I hear congratulations are in order. You’re to be an uncle, E! How sweet!”
Not hidden in a house. On one. The rooftop on his left. Kheled leaped and jumped until he landed on the pinnacle, and there he was.
“Answer the question, Doldimar.”
His enemy (friend) made a face. “You’re no fun, but if you insist, we'll commence with business. Have you noticed how different this cycle has been? Of course you have. You sent me the note. Your messenger’s fine by the way. He’s my newest Enforcer.”
Kheled pinched the bridge of his nose. When he’d caught the boy stalking him following Teron’s death, he’d sent the kid running with a message for Arivor. Turning the boy Enforcer wasn’t the end Kheled had intended for him.
“What do you want?” he barked.
“You’re always so bitter, E. It’s almost enough to hurt my feelings.”
“Do you intend to harass Raimie again?” Kheled asked, hardly expecting an answer. “I won’t let you hurt him or the baby-”
“Hardly. My plan for the upstart king is already in motion.”
Kheled became a man-shaped carving, his thoughts the only piece of him to stir as they skittered against the ice of his skull. Returning to the palace would be his first action. Warn Raimie, take him and the family somewhere safe, somewhere they could hide and wait. Make a plan to-
A King's Caution (The Eternal War Book 2) Page 57
