Binding Spell (Tales of the Latter Kingdoms)

by Pope, Christine

* * *

  At least Kadar had shown the proper respect for Thani’s rank as the Duke of Marric’s Rest and had housed him in the finest of the castle’s guest chambers. Here, as in my own apartments, the walls were painted in bright frescoes. Warm draperies of wool velvet blocked out any wandering drafts, while a cheery fire blazed in the hearth.

  My brother had changed out of his wet things into a formal doublet of deep wine-colored wool, and his damp hair was combed back off his forehead. These improvements in his comfort seemed not to have enhanced his mood, however; he frowned as I entered the room and said without preamble, “What on earth were you thinking, Lark?”

  His disapproval hurt only a little less than my father’s would have, but I said mildly enough, “Things are not as clear-cut as you might think.”

  “Indeed? Perhaps you should enlighten me. Are you saying Kadar did not have his men kidnap you from your bed?”

  “Erm…no.”

  “And that he did not marry you against your will?”

  “Well, I — ”

  Thani turned away from me to grasp the fireplace poker, then jabbed at the logs with unnecessary force, as the fire was burning away quite happily. Perhaps he was stabbing the logs because he couldn’t do the same to Kadar. “So if he did kidnap you, and did force you to marry him, then perhaps you can explain to me why you could not speak up for yourself, urge him to abandon this madness and let you go free.”

  I made a helpless little gesture. “It is not so easy as that.” Once we had been very close, close as a brother with a sister more than five years his junior could be, but he had changed a great deal during his time in Sirlende, and I felt I did not know him as well as I used to. Surely it was that awkwardness which tied my tongue now.

  His face flushed a little. He appeared to find a small section of the carpet particularly fascinating as he asked, “Am I to understand that you are no longer a maid?”

  For a few seconds I couldn’t quite grasp what he was asking. Then I shook my head, even as a rush of blood heated my cheeks. “No, that is not the situation at all. That is — he has not touched me.”

  My brother’s expression cleared at once, and he straightened. I could almost see the burden lifting itself from his shoulders. “Then he has no claim on you at all. The marriage will be dissolved. We can leave this place tomorrow, if you will but convince him to take the settlement and let the matter go.”

  His tone left little room for argument, but argue I must. I did not recall him being this high-handed, but he was now a duke, a man of great power. Be that as it may, I knew I must state my case as persuasively as possible.

  Perhaps some small part of me still longed for escape. I knew, however, that I could not go without learning who had cast that spell the evening before, or discovering how Kadar had somehow managed to bring a person of such abilities into his service.

  I said simply, “Thani, someone here is using magic.”

  My words brought him up short, as I had expected they would. His eyebrows lifted, and he took a few strides toward me before demanding, “How do you know this?”

  “Because I could feel it, just as I always sensed when Father cast a spell back home. Only this is stronger…so much stronger,” I added, in a voice barely above a murmur. Even to recall the swell of that magic now was to shock me with its power. Indeed, I wondered how the other inhabitants of the castle had been able to ignore the strength of that magical wave, blind to such things as they might otherwise be.

  “Good God,” he said, his face paling.

  “You see? How can I leave now, without knowing who might be wielding these powers, and why?”

  “Because it’s far too dangerous! We must get you out of here, tell someone — "

  “And whom would you tell? The Emperor, who like as not would put me to death once he learned I possessed magical powers myself?”

  He gave an impatient shake of his head. “I could go to Father.”

  “Because he could do more?” I stepped closer to my brother and laid a beseeching hand on his arm. “Thani, do you not see what a unique position I occupy here? It must have been obvious to you that Kadar has no desire to let me go. As his consort, I have a far greater chance of discovering who this wielder of magic is, and how he came to be in the Mark’s service. If I leave, then we will be as much in the dark as we are now, and worse, because we will have incurred Kadar Arkalis’ enmity. Do you really want to be at odds with someone who has a mage of such power at his disposal?”

  “How much power?”

  “I do not know for certain. But what I felt was certainly more powerful than Father. More powerful than Father and I put together and doubled, I think.”

  Again my brother shook his head, only this time in wonder and worry. “I cannot leave you in such danger. To have my sister be a spy — ”

  “Who else?” I asked. However precarious my position, however great the chances I might be discovered, I knew I had to find out who this mage was and try to learn what Kadar’s plans for him might be. A man who did not scruple at kidnapping the Crown Princess of Sirlende might have very little to restrain him once he had control of powers beyond those that any other leader on the continent commanded.

  “Who else, indeed.” Thani ran his fingers through his still-damp hair and sighed. “I don’t like it at all. But I see you are not to be dissuaded.”

  “If it were someone else and not your own sister, you would see the logic in the situation. If there is only one person suited to a particular task, you let them do it. Correct?”

  “Correct.”

  He looked very weary then, and I realized he must have been riding through the rain all day to reach Tarenmar by nightfall. I reached out and gave his hand an encouraging little squeeze. “Come, you must be hungry, and I know the cooks are preparing quite a feast for you. We can fetch Lord Senric on the way downstairs.”

  “The Duke,” my brother said heavily. “And what are we to say to him, after he lent his support to this venture, and went so far as to offer for your hand?”

  My heart quailed a little at the thought of facing Lord Senric and informing him that I had chosen to stay in North Eredor, but I knew it must be done. He deserved that much, even if I could not tell him the entire truth. For while my brother might discuss magic in a somewhat rational fashion, as one who had grown up with it around him, I did not trust the Duke to do the same, no matter how kind and sensible he might otherwise seem. He was Sirlendian, and so raised in the same prejudices and blind hatreds as the rest of his countrymen.

  “I shall talk to him,” I told my brother. “It’s the least I can do.”

  * * *

  As feasts went, I cannot say it was the most comfortable of evenings, although the cooks had done their best, given such short notice. A pang went through me as I saw how Kadar’s eyes lit up when I entered the hall, my brother on my right side and Lord Senric on my left.

  I summoned a smile for Kadar, as all were watching us and such behavior was expected of me. Somehow, though, I wished I could take him aside, tell him what I had felt the night before, and ask for the truth of the situation. Oddly enough, I had little appetite for the lies I knew I must tell this night and in the coming days, even though logic told me he was not to be trusted, not a man who would steal a woman from her bed in the middle of the night and force her into marriage. Never mind that he had treated me honorably since then, had shown himself to be a good and steady lord to his own people.

  No, I could not allow myself to think such things, or I would surely say more to him than I ought.

  We took our places at the high table. I sat at Kadar’s left, with my brother next to him on the right and Lord Senric one place beyond. Despite my current unsettled state, I was amused to see that the Mark wished to keep some distance between the Duke and myself, although what he thought we would have done or said, there in plain view of everyone, I couldn’t begin to imagine.

  At least Kadar seemed to be on his best behavior. Perhaps m
y assurances I would remain with him in North Eredor had helped to mellow his mood. Whatever the reason, he managed to converse quite cordially on that year’s wheat crop and to speculate as to the harshness of the coming winter, and in general behaved so unexceptionally that several times I saw my brother’s eyebrows assume a puzzled tilt. Perhaps Thani had been expecting a bit more ranting and raving. Some would have called Kadar mad for attempting to kidnap the Crown Princess of Sirlende, but I knew he was not mad. Ambitious, certainly, and ruthless when necessary, but even in our brief time together I had come to realize a quick, restless intelligence lay behind all his actions.

  At length servants came to clear away the remnants of the roasted elk and meat pies and honey-laced tubers. There would be no dancing tonight, but musicians did play quiet tunes in the background as stronger after-dinner drinks were brought out to supplement the wine we had consumed with our food.

  I allowed myself a few sips of the strong honey-flavored methlyn — to give me strength, I told myself. I knew I must speak with Lord Senric, and this seemed to be the most likely time for it. Turning to Kadar, I murmured, “I would have private speech with the Duke.”

  His brow darkened. “Why?”

  “Because I know I must refuse his generous offer, and I do not wish to keep him waiting for my answer.”

  At once Kadar’s face cleared, and I felt him reach under the table to touch my hand. His fingers wrapped around mine for a few seconds before he released them and nodded. “Now?”

  “After the hall is cleared, and everyone has gone. Ask if he would stay behind and speak with me.”

  He said, “Of course,” and leaned over to my brother and spoke a few brief words to him. Thani’s mouth tightened, but it appeared he did pass the message on, for he said something under his breath to Lord Senric, who gave one brief nod.

  At length Kadar gave the signal for the hall to be emptied, and everyone rose from their seats and made their way to the exit. A few curious glances were cast in my direction as I lingered in my place and Kadar left me behind, but of course no one dared to inquire why I should stay there without him. At length only the Duke and I remained in a hall that felt larger and draftier than it had a few minutes earlier. He stood, and I did the same.

  “So,” he said.

  “So,” I replied. Perhaps I should have waited to have this conversation. That way I would have had more time to devise a kinder way to refuse him.

  “You are staying.”

  I glanced up at him in some surprise. His face wore only a weary sort of resignation, with none of the surprise my brother had betrayed when I told him I wished to remain in North Eredor.

  “Am I so transparent, then?”

  He smiled, albeit a little grimly. “I am not blind, my lady. I see how the Mark looks at you. Such a man would not easily give up his prize.”

  Was that how they all saw me — as a piece in a game of Castles, to be captured or traded or sold off as it pleased them? Even the Duke, for all his pleasant mien, seemed to think nothing of asking for me as one might a piece of shopworn goods that nevertheless still held some value.

  My tone was perhaps a little harsher than I intended as I replied, “You seem very certain that I had no say in this decision.”

  For the first time he appeared less than calm. The lines around his eyes deepened, and he stared down at me as if at a stranger. Then again, did he really think his brief acquaintance with me was enough to inform him of my character?

  “Did you?” he asked, his tone gentle enough, though the words were not.

  Did he consider my decision a blow to his pride, that the sister of the man he had taken into his household chose to remain with the barbarian who had kidnapped her? It was a question I would never ask. “You may not understand me,” I said, “but yes, I did ask to remain in the North.”

  A flicker in the dark eyes then, before he looked away from me, his jaw hard. “I will not pretend to understand what has happened here, but it is not my place to comment further. If you have made your peace with the situation, then there is nothing more to be said.”

  The cold anger in his voice helped to coil the excellent dinner I had just finished into an uncomfortable knot in the pit of my stomach. I wished there were something I might tell him to mend the rift my words had caused, but somehow I knew there was nothing I could say. Still, I couldn’t help blurting, “Your Grace, I — ”

  “We have said enough, I think. Thank you for your hospitality, my lady, and thank your husband as well for the accommodations he has provided.”

  Lord Senric bowed then, and left me alone in the hall. I stood in one place for a long time, as the candles burned ever lower and the servants returned to remove the last of the glasses and wipe down the long tables. I saw no point in remaining there any longer, and so I made my slow way back to the apartments I shared with Kadar.

  He sat at his work table, a clutter of books and papers around him, but as I entered the room it seemed clear enough to me he hadn’t been paying much attention to any of them. His chin was propped on his hands as he stared off into the distance, and he stood at once as I shut the door behind me.

  “Everything settled?”

  “As well as it can be,” I replied, and again I felt that worried knot in the depths of my stomach. The puzzled anger in Lord Senric’s eyes haunted me, and I no longer knew whether I was doing the right thing by remaining here. Perhaps I should have followed Thani’s counsel and allowed our father to sort out the business of Kadar’s unknown mage.

  He came to stand a pace or two away from me. “There will be no further trouble?”

  By the narrowing of his eyes, I guessed he was concerned by the apparent alliance between my brother and the Duke, and what it might mean for North Eredor. The northeast marches of Marric’s Rest were not so very far from the border. For some reason I felt compelled to put his fears at rest, and said, “If by ‘trouble’ you mean my relations interfering, then no, I doubt there will be any more trouble. My brother thinks I am mad, and Lord Senric is less than pleased to have been led on this snipe hunt, but I misdoubt that is a cause for war. If I had to predict the future, I would guess they will have a most uncomfortable ride back to Sirlende, one in which my brother will wish to expound at length upon the folly of younger sisters, and the Duke will desire to comment upon my questionable judgment. But because they are both too well-mannered to say such things to one another, they will instead spend most of the return journey being studiously silent.”

  This speech elicited a hearty laugh from Kadar, who then said, “Much would I like to be there to see it, my lady, just to verify your judgment of their character. But I do find I have more important matters which tie me to Tarenmar.”

  His gaze lingered on my lips as he said this. Rather than being alarmed by such attention as I might have been only a fortnight ago, instead I only felt a deep wave of weariness. I did not want to bandy words with him. I wanted only to go to sleep and forget this day had ever happened.

  My silence must have told him something of my mood, for his expression sobered. His tone quite formal, he said, “But it seems my lady has had a trying day. Shall we retire for the night?”

  I nodded, thankful he had not attempted to continue the conversation. It was not until I had laid myself down on the divan some time later and drawn the covers up to my chin that I reconsidered his previous statement. There had been a ring of truth in his words when he said he had important matters keeping him here in his capital. But was I really to be counted among those concerns…or had he been speaking instead of the mage who even now must be sequestered somewhere in the castle?

  I knew better than to ask.

  Chapter 8

  Thani and Lord Senric rode out the next morning, at an hour just late enough not to be construed as overtly rude. Their leave-taking was awkward at best. The Duke barely bowed to me, and Thani gave me a quick, rough hug before murmuring in my ear, “Write to Father.”

  I knew I wouldn’t
; for one thing, a letter was too chancy a means of communicating such vital information. Perhaps my brother, now used to life in the Duke’s household, had forgotten that not everyone had access to private couriers who could be trusted not to tamper with the contents of a letter. Kadar had his own couriers, of course, but I would no sooner give them such a note than stand up in the Hall of Grievances and announce to everyone there that I possessed magical abilities.

  But I only nodded at my brother, and smiled, and lifted a hand in farewell as his company wheeled their horses about and rode out through the castle gates. The rain of the day before had stopped, but the morning light was still chancy, sun and shadow fighting for supremacy in a sky that shifted from blue to grey and back again.

  Kadar took his leave of me almost at once, and I soon knew why. No sooner had I gained the sanctuary of my tower room than magic surged through the castle once again. This time I stood near a table and was able to grasp its edge to steady myself, but even so Beranne cast an askance look in my direction.

  “Is there something amiss, my lady?” she asked, and made as if to set her mending aside and rise to her feet.

  Of course there was, but I could never tell her that. I shook my head and summoned a wan smile. “No, not at all,” I replied. “I suppose it’s just that I miss my brother already.”

  “Ah.” Her expression appeared to reflect ready sympathy, if somewhat mixed with puzzlement. “All this way, and only to stay one night? Well you should miss him.”

  No doubt she was attempting in her gentle way to learn exactly why Thani and Lord Senric had left so abruptly, but I worried anything I told her would only be fodder for servants’ gossip. During my time in North Eredor I had grown to be quite fond of her. That fondness, however, would not allow me to loosen my tongue.

  “They could spare no more time away from Sirlende,” I said shortly. “My brother wished merely to reassure himself that I was well and healthy and happy.”

  She only said, “Ah,” and returned her attention to the torn chemise which lay in her lap.