Elthrinn shrugged and took another drink of wine. She didn't want to elaborate on the dire threats that Erkas had made against the priestesses, and Serwren and Ulli. She wasn't sure what she could say to the man who didn't want to marry her as much as she didn't want to marry him.
Gorren leaned closer, his deep voice dropped to a raspy whisper. "If you want to leave, I will help you find a way. I won't force you to stay here, I wouldn't wish to have a prisoner for a wife."
Elthrinn knew her smile was sad. "Thank you, but you've obviously never met Erkas. He's not someone whose requests you deny. I don't really have any family left..." The fleeting question of whether Jorrell would have liked Gorren crossed her mind, causing a pang that she had to swallow back. "But I would keep the people that I love safe."
"I'm not sure I can go through with this, knowing that you're here under such duress," Gorren whispered.
"Surely there would be consequences for you if we both refused this match?" Elthrinn asked.
"Yes," Gorren nodded, "but not so dire, I think."
"I think, perhaps, we should both be practical, and try to make the best of a bad situation. Any other course of action is going to turn out to be extremely uncomfortable, if not downright painful, for us both."
Gorren lifted his goblet. Seeing his intention, Elthrinn lifted her own, and allowed Gorren to knock his gently against hers in a toast. "To avoiding pain."
Elthrinn drank. The wine was easing her nerves. She found that she was able to grin, and to attempt to eat a little more of her food. Eating was a very sensible idea. She didn't want to fall over when she had to stand. She couldn't quite manage to clear her plate, there really had been too much on it in the first place, but she had made a respectable dent in the pile by the time the servants came back to clear the tables. A sweet course was served, something involving pastry and a variety of fruit, that Elthrinn found too delicious to resist.
There were a few more stilted attempts at conversation between herself and Gorren on banal subjects, but both were too aware of being on show to be able to relax into a proper discourse. Although there was no dancing, there was some entertainment. Some of the people in the room, ordinary townsfolk, as far as Elthrinn could tell, proved to be incredibly talented at playing musical instruments and singing.
The performances added to her sense of the country and the people as simple, uncomplicated folk. Gorren explained some of the lyrics to her, particularly the ones that illustrated some of the history of the country. There were references to wolves and to the moon. Elthrinn wanted badly to ask more about that topic, but she absolutely did not want to ask those questions in a room full of staring people that might be offended if they knew of how lacking her knowledge about them was.
When Rehan leaned over and asked if she wished to retire for the night, Elthrinn had to admit that the physical and emotional stresses of the day were taking their toll. Rehan nodded sympathetically, and rose to escort her back to her room. Gorren stood to wish her good night, and for an awkward moment, Elthrinn wasn't sure if, as prospective spouses, they were supposed to kiss or embrace or make some sort of parting gesture. Gorren saved her from embarrassment by taking her hand in his and pressing the backs of her fingers to his lips. She could feel him smiling behind the brush of his beard as he did so. It was probably silly, and more than likely thanks to the wine and exhaustion, but Elthrinn was charmed.
Rehan said nothing on the subject as they walked back through the hall, but Elthrinn could feel that the queen was almost vibrating with satisfaction. Elthrinn knew that she hadn't been mistaken about a schism in the family, but whatever it was, Rehan and Gorren were firmly on the same side. Elthrinn hoped that whatever the difficulties were, that she would be able to avoid the worst of them.
Rehan released Elthrinn's arm at the door to her room. "Thank you, my dear, for enduring that so pleasantly."
Elthrinn had to stifle a yawn. "Thank you, for easing my way."
"If I may, I'd like to speak to you about some of the arrangements for the wedding, but not for a day or so. I know you've ridden though half our country to get to here, but I think tomorrow that Gorren would like to show you Cranak and some of the surrounding countryside."
Elthrinn was about to ask if Gorren truly did want to play guide, or if he was about to be told that he would be doing so, but she quelled the urge. Rehan did not deserve her impudence.
"I'd like that very much." Her answer was mostly truth; Elthrinn did want to know more about the people and culture of Dorvek.
"Good, I will tell him not to call too early."
Elthrinn chose to take that as confirmation of her earlier assumption that Gorren presently had no idea about how he was to spend his day.
She and Rehan wished each other good night. Again Elthrinn experienced the sense that there should be a gesture of some sort, especially since Rehan had been almost motherly, but they hadn't even known each other for a full day. Rehan didn't seem to be offended by the lack of any such ceremony, and left Elthrinn to unlock and enter her room by herself.
Elthrinn made sure that her door was locked before she began to undress As she was tidying her clothes away, she noticed that the contents of her pack had been laundered, and stowed in the drawers. All her belongings, not that there had been many, appeared to be present. Elthrinn found her old hairbrush, and used one of the leather ties to bind her hair into a long plait.
She reflected, as she slipped into bed and pulled the blankets up to her chin, that her first day and first meeting with her future husband could have been much worse. She knew that the success of the day had rested almost entirely on Rehan's actions. Elthrinn only hoped that her future mother-in-law continued to make such efforts, because if she didn't, Elthrinn thought it entirely likely that she would suffer nothing but miserable disapproval from the king, and who knew what sort of attention from Gorren's older brother.
Nothing could keep Elthrinn's eyes open any longer. Her afternoon nap had fortified her for the evening of socialising, but now she was overcome again. She slept, and if she dreamt, she was not aware of her dreams.
Chapter Ten
When his mother had leaned over to whisper in Elthrinn's ear, Gorren had had to stop himself straining to listen to what was being said. When both his mother and Elthrinn had pushed their seats back, he had risen too, realising that his mother must have suggested that Elthrinn might like to make her escape. It had been past time, in his opinion. They had been paraded like two horses at stud for far too long. But there had been a nagging feeling of disappointment that Gorren had wanted to examine more closely when he had more privacy to do so.
His mother had said that Elthrinn was pretty; she had grossly understated the girl's charms. As Ornef had said, Elthrinn was shorter than many people Gorren knew. When they'd been standing together, the top of her head barely reached his chest. She wasn't just pretty, she was downright beautiful. Elthrinn's almond-shaped eyes were an intriguing combination of green and gold. Ornef had been right about her hair, too, mostly; it wasn't black, only nearly that dark, but it was long and lustrous. Gorren had fought a hard fight to keep his fingers from finding out if it was as soft as it looked. He had wanted to touch it, to touch her, but he hadn't wanted to make her more afraid than she already was.
It had been impossible not to notice how nervous she was. Even without the heightened sensory ability that was a genetic trait of his people, he would have been able to feel the fear flowing in waves from her. When Elthrinn had first taken her seat, those curious eyes had been impossibly wide, and he could have sworn that she had been on the edge of tears. The two thin silver rings that lay at the base of her slender neck had drawn his eye, and he had been able to see the frantic beat of her pulse through the delicate skin.
Elthrinn had mentioned dancing. There was no thought more horrifying to Gorren than to be forced to perform in such a fashion for the assembled crowd, and yet... If he'd been able to hold her, he knew he would have felt her heart flutter
ing like that of a frightened bird. He would have been able to keep her close, to shield her from the attention, to protect her, to comfort her...
There was no doubt that Elthrinn had stirred something in him, but Gorren wasn't sure that pity should be the chief emotion with which to begin married life.
They had time to get to know each other, to find something more than pity in common. Elthrinn was brave, he could respect that. She had faced the ordeal with her head up, and she had not been petulant about it. There had been quiet laughter, too. His intended bride had a sense of humour, and those little hands, so soft... She'd been awkward and unsure when it came to taking her leave for the night. He'd finally given in to his urge to touch her, even in so small a way. She'd trembled as he'd lifted her fingers to his lips, as if she thought he might bite.
Gorren was beginning to think that there were worse women he could be tied to for the rest of his life. Whatever reasons lay behind the alliance that their marriage would bind, Gorren did not expect that they would be temporary.
He had been impatient for his mother to return to the hall. He had wanted to ask her about Elthrinn. His mother had emerged after a short while, and Gorren had questioned her, but she had primly said that if he had any questions, he should put them to Elthrinn himself, and that there was no better opportunity than the following day, as he would be showing his bride around their little corner of the country. Gorren had wondered if Elthrinn knew that such a trip had been planned for her.
Since his mother had advised allowing Elthrinn to sleep late, to recover a little more from the long journey she had recently completed, and since his father had all but snarled at him when Gorren had said that he was retiring to the barracks, he had agreed to spend the morning moving his belongings back to the hall. It looked like his week of leisure was going to be busier than his usual, daily army life.
~o0o~
It hadn't taken Gorren very much longer to gather his belongings together to move back to the hall, than when he had gathered them to leave it. The chief difference was that he had found a large canvas sack to put them in, rather than tie them up in a blanket. It was preferable, but not essential, for officers to live in the barracks. Certainly Gorren would have preferred it, but the king's command was the king's command.
Gorren was sure that his friends had better things to do than sit and watch him stuff clothes into a sack. There was ale that needed drinking, bar wenches to be chased, food to be found and devoured. And yet, the three of them were lounging on their bunks watching him like he was performing a complicated trick of magic.
"So...," Jorm began.
"Fucking took you long enough," Gorren muttered as he looked up. "I wondered when you were going to start the interrogation."
"We thought you'd appreciate the night to gather your thoughts," Ornef offered.
Gorren simply raised a sceptical eyebrow.
"So, " Delban continued. "What's she like?"
"You saw her." Gorren concentrated on folding a shirt and stuffing it into his bag.
"Oh yes, we did." Jorm threw himself theatrically back onto his bunk, and put his hands behind his head as if preparing for sleep. "I'll be seeing those luscious, full lips in my dreams for nights to come."
"Me, too. And those curves." Delban leaned forward, and made a crude outline of an hourglass with his hands.
"That hair cries out to be wrapped around a fist. It must feel like silk." Ornef clenched his fingers in front of his face.
"Hey! Enough!" Gorren shouted. "That's my future wife you're talking about."
Jorm sat up again, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. "So, she's not some foul-tongued, petty witch then?"
"I hardly know the girl."
"You're defending her," Jorm pointed out.
"I'm defending both of us," Gorren huffed in exasperation. "I need to maintain at least a semblance of respect about this whole situation."
"I think there's more to it than that." Jorm leaned forward.
"Yes, I do, too." Delban mirrored Jorm's pose, sitting on the edge of his bed with his forearms resting on his knees.
"She was so shy, all a tremble." Ornef's smile was unreasonably bright.
"Yes. Imagine that... trembling. Imagine that..." Delban was looking lascivious. He licked his lips in a gesture that was positively wolfish.
"There will be no imagining about my bride," Gorren said threateningly.
"I'm sorry to tell you this, brother," Jorm sighed, "But every red-blooded male in there last night was doing a lot of imagining. Come Dythegg, you're going to have some battles to fight."
"But she's not a wolf, she can't change." Gorren could definitely see how men would be attracted to Elthrinn, but not why they would challenge him over her.
"Doesn't matter." Jorm shrugged. "She's beautiful. And we could tell, even from where we were sitting, that she wasn't some spoiled brat. There are going to be men who are going to want to take that from you."
"They wouldn't dare." Gorren felt his anger rise at the idea.
"You've got five moons to convince them that it would be the gravest folly," Jorm advised.
~o0o~
His friends' words were still burning in his ears when Gorren reached Cranak Hall. His first port of call was his old room. Apart from the fact that the door was unlocked, he found it in exactly the same state that he'd left it in, except that the water closet had been cleaned. The blankets and covers on his bed were all askew, and his dirty, vomit-stained clothes were still in a heap on the floor. He knew immediately that the leaving of the mess had been his father's orders. The king must have been certain, even then, that he could find a way to drag his son back. Gorren also knew that the water closet would have been cleaned, and the door left unlocked, on his mother's orders.
It had been almost three years since Gorren had left the hall. In that time a thick layer of dust had accumulated over every surface. But also in that time, Gorren had become accustomed to looking after himself. He dropped his bag onto the floor, and threw the curtains wide. He coughed, almost choking, on the plumes of dust that were thrown up by his actions. He unlocked the stiff catches, and pushed the window panes wide to allow cleansing air into the room. He bundled the bedding up to be washed, kicked the dirty clothes into a pile to be thrown away, and went on the hunt for a mop and bucket, and fresh linens.
Gorren found the items he needed, and also found very little in the way of offers of assistance. He didn't mind; he'd made the mess, after all, he was prepared to clean it up, but he knew from the frightened glances of the staff that his father had told them that he was to clean it himself. He minded enough to be angry, because it made him feel like a small child, not the grown man that he was. He was frustrated at finding himself back at the centre of such petty games.
Gorren found himself wondering what his mother's plans for the wedding included, specifically, when she had planned for the ceremony to take place. Gorren was not going to rely on his mother to persuade the king to allow him to leave the hall; once he and Elthrinn were married, Gorren would find them a suitable home. He would build it with his own two hands if he had to, but he wasn't going to subject Elthrinn to a life of tit-for-tat revenge.
Gorren had risen that morning with the ringing of the barrack's alarms; he'd been up and about at dawn. Even though it had taken him quite some time to set his room to rights, it was not yet noon when his mother knocked on his door. He'd left it open as he'd worked. He was making the bed, having mopped and swept and dusted, until every surface was clean.
"Good morning, son."
"Mother." Gorren gave the coverlet a final shake, and turned to kiss his mother's cheek.
"You've done a good job."
"Thank you." Gorren refused to comment on the state that the room had been in. "Have you seen Elthrinn yet this morning?"
"Yes." His mother was smiling widely. "She is awake and dressed, and currently partaking of some breakfast. Give her a chance to finish eating, but she's expecting you
. You'll find her in the room at the end of this corridor."
Gorren felt an unusual thrill that Elthrinn should be so close, but his mother's vibrant happiness distracted him. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"
His mother's sunny expression became a frown. "I don't know what you mean."
Gorren smiled and waved her concern away. "I don't mean that you're enjoying the fact that the poor girl has been dragged here against her will. I mean that you're enjoying the opportunity to take care of her."
His mother's smile returned, as bright as sunshine appearing from behind passing clouds. "Well, yes, I must admit, it's nice to be able to take care of someone again. You and your brother haven't needed my attention in years. And she's such a delightful girl, so polite."
"Let's hope that remains when the nerves wear off."
"I'm sure it will. I can tell." His mother tapped the side of her nose with her forefinger. "Now, I'll send someone up with some warm water. You smell like someone who just spent half the morning dusting."
Searching the Darkness (Erythleh Chronicles Book 2) Page 10
