He shook his head. “That's not true and you know it! Look at that sap, Charles...”
“Which?”
Daniel thought about his wording. “The sap. The fool.”
“What an odd expression.”
Daniel shrugged, continuing, “He has been taking his whole life. From what I hear, he has been pressuring you for years.”
Clara was flustered that he may know so much. “I do not know who has given you this account...”
“Sarah,” he said, putting his large hands on muscular hips, long boots laced up calves that had seen physical labor aplenty.
Oh, Clara thought, Sarah.
“Doesn't she tell the truth?” he asked rhetorically.
His eyes sparkled, he knew the answer.
“Aye, she speaks true,” Clara admitted, not liking where the conversation was leading.
“I don't know what Matthew has said. But the courtships grow old with him. He is Band. He is more purely Band than I. If he feels more than I do for you, it would be an exquisite torture. Daily.”
Clara shifted uneasily under his scrutiny. She had never been one for ambivalence but now found herself mired in it. She was pulled in so many different directions. Who should she choose? It would make her mother happy to have her with Edwin, to connect their people and hers with Massachusetts. It would strengthen the alliance with President Bowen and the Clan of Ohio if she chose Matthew. It would be of no benefit to choose Daniel.
“I've got nothing to gain, except my feelings for you. Maybe that fool Charles has that one thing right. Possibly your allure is not for you as an individual but what you bring to the table.”
Clara understood the core of what he said but the delivery puzzled her.
Seeing her expression, Daniel rephrased, “Mayhap what you are is more intoxicating for the political advantages than who you are.” It was blunt but effective.
Clara bit her lip, it was a terrible possibility. Of course, had she been any different? She had been thinking about herself second to all the variables of her position and what the kingdom needed. And now the clan.
“Do you see my point?” Daniel asked, then quickly added, “The possible objective?”
He moved forward very deliberately, until the space of their bodies were but a hand's length apart. He put a finger underneath her chin and lifted it until their eyes met. “Tucker has seen the Travelers. He knew where the Pathway lay. He used it to further his end. Ask yourself this: do you think if you're the key for their sustainability, that they'd allow him that knowledge?”
Clara shook her head. She knew that somehow she was vital to their future, but not exactly how.
“It is foretold by the Travelers that the key would be the one to change the face of all we knew. Tucker knew who you were and had a plan that included your termination.”
Clara shuddered, stepping away.
He prowled closer. “Do you think this will all be here forever?” he threw his hand around, encompassing the greater sphere.
The spheres had been all she had ever known.
“You need to be with someone that is adaptable to the climate of change the fragment had foreseen.”
“What has been foreseen?”
“The demise of the spheres. All of the people coming together to forge unity.”
Clara scoffed, “That would never occur. There are too many factions that war, who collide with their ideals.” She turned her back on him.
He whirled her around and cupped his hands around her shoulders, slightly stunned by her size. She loomed so fierce and large in a delicate package, a paradox. “They would not be so unwilling if they had a pair that led them with everyone's blood running in their veins!”
Savage.
Fragment.
Clan.
Daniel watched her mind work and was ready for her retreat when she grasped the logic he presented.
“Maybe they would follow a mixed pair...”
Clara pulled away from him. In that moment she hated him.
Loathed him.
Just as she was settling into a mindset that may actually work for her he threw this in her face.
Once the seed of the logic took root, it spun out of control in her mind. Bashing about and letting her think of nothing else. She actually put her hands over her ears.
“What do you think already happens in your sphere? Half your males gone. No Royal Guard. The clan-dwellers are in dire need of females. You're vulnerable here. Now, because of circumstances set in motion, you must accept clan-dwellers and the Band's protection. They will soon meld into the population of the sphere. There is not another way now.”
She knew he was right. She had hoped to gradually integrate their peoples. But with the fragment's genocide of her people, it had greatly accelerated her objectives. And Tucker had escaped. He would not stop until she was dead. Her existence somehow threatened his. It was a fact she could no longer dispute. That Prince Frederic had given up coercing her and progressed to attempting her murder proved it.
He pulled her into his arms. “Let me in, Clara. Let me try to be the one that helps you, protects you.”
She squirmed in his arms, feeling an echo of the attraction she had with Matthew and the intense guilt which followed it. “And what of your brother?”
His face clenched, his eyes tightening at the edges, his hands around her arms. “He is kin. I acknowledge this. But there's something greater at stake here. If my joining with you saves the future, or gives it a greater chance of survival, then the feelings of my brother are not as important in the face of that. As it should be for you also.”
He looked down at her intensely. She made a move to step away and then his lips were crushing hers with bruising force, it was open to him or be hurt. She did and his tongue came into her mouth, his hands jerking her forward and she gasped at the thinly veiled violence of his kiss, the hands on her body. Their blood became warm between them, the song of it trilling a note that their bodies knew, her mind rebelling against.
Matthew entered the room and saw nothing but his brother, bending Clara back in an embrace she looked entirely too comfortable in and he charged, reaching around Clara and yanking Daniel's head back in a savage jerk.
Daniel pulled away from Clara and gently pushed her away.
That is what struck Clara, his hard mouth and firm hands, grabbing and holding her with a violence that shuddered just beneath the surface then moving her out of the way as his brother came for him.
So she would be unharmed.
Clara sank to the floor while they beat each other until neither was standing.
She wept.
*
As she gazed at Daniel in all his half-naked glory her face turned red at the memory of those last moments together with him. The tension between the brothers was a thing she could reach out and touch. Clara elected to make a decision to ignore them both for the moment.
“I have asked the kingdom come together this eve for a mandate about our future. I believe my people are ready to hear what they can expect with regard to the integration of our peoples. The circumstances...” Clara faltered, tears welling in her eyes as she thought of the grievous loss of the males of her sphere.
Matthew and Daniel reached out for her at the same moment and glared at each other. She sighed.
Still ignoring, she thought with determination. “Our neighboring spheres do not offer help in the rebuilding of what has occurred and do not see the integration as beneficial.”
“Prejudiced bastards,” Daniel said in his easy way.
Clara gasped at his language even though she agreed completely.
“Aye,” Matthew agreed.
Clara soldiered on, “We meet this night at six chimes.”
“Has the great clock been repaired?” Matthew asked.
Clara nodded. “It was one of the first things I asked to be done, besides the...” her eyes took in the mass of graves, the whitewash of the crosses standing sentinel above their char
ges.
Matthew nodded curtly then Daniel said, “We will get done with what we can today and attend your side tonight.”
“All of us,” Matthew said, his eyes narrowing.
“Yes, all,” Daniel agreed without rancor.
CHAPTER 34
The metal of the crown she wore still felt cold, Clara thought. Of course it had been Ada's. Her things always felt awkward to Clara. Nevertheless, Clarence had come to her and was acting as adviser since her falling out with Charles. He had said it was important to look every bit the Queen tonight as she was determined to go through with her foolish plan.
She did not think she was foolish, but pragmatic. It was exactly as Daniel had outlined: her men were dead, there were not sufficient enough to protect the sphere from future assault. The horrible Tucker was still about with his mind festering as an open wound to kill her. She needed the support of the sphere firmly seated at her back.
Clara had never worn violet. Instead, she chose a gown of aquamarine and as Olive laced up her corset, Clara had thought how nice it had been having not worn one these months past. She made her way to the Gathering Room with trepidation.
Finally, she stood on the dais and finished the last of her words as the face of the crowd looked upon her. Hope and expectation squeezed her heart so she could hardly breathe.
“As you can see, a melding of our two peoples in this manner will allow several things needed for the continued viability of sphere-life as we know it.” She swallowed, suddenly desperate for water. As the next thing would be a surprise of the nastiest variety.
“I have since returned in a most unconventional way from a distant clan of the sea.” Clara gestured to Rowenna who gave a regal nod, but a foot away from where Clara stood. “Many may have wondered about the purpose for my journey. Queen Ada,” and there were groans and mutterings of dissension in the crowd which Clara quieted with a raised hand, “Queen Ada revealed with her final breath that she was not my natural mother.”
Total silence filled the Gathering Room. Clara went on in the middle of it, a wave unbroken on the shore.
When she had finished speaking it was Charles who was the lone subject who raised his hand. She held her breath, expecting him to make a comment that would undermine her goals.
She was not disappointed.
“Queen Clara, you ask much from the people of the Kingdom of Ohio. We are to welcome the clan-dwellers and Band alike into our bosom. It is because of their involvement that the fragment could do as they did. Further,” he spoke quickly as Matthew made his way to him, “you yourself have admitted to not being of pure sphere-dweller ancestry. Savage blood runs in your veins. How are we to know that you advocate solely for us? That it is not their interests that you promote even now?”
Much of what she felt must have shown on her face, her body numb with shock. No, he would not hit her with his fists, but his tongue lashed against her and she stood bleeding from the whipping.
Clarence looked at Charles in horror. Sarah began walking toward him as Matthew latched onto his arms and she saw Charles' death in his eyes.
A boy that she had loved and cherished, a man that now hated who she had become.
Sarah stood in front of him, shaking with rage. “Do not talk to her like that! She cannot help all that has transpired. Can you think past the end of your nose long enough to see what she must sacrifice for you? For us all?” She whipped her hand about, taking in the subjects. Clarence looked at her with a measure of wariness. Sarah's temper was a keen thing.
Charles looked down at her smugly. “And you benefit as well, a tart like you. Already you have one of the Band who chases you about like you are a bitch in heat.”
The slap rang out in the Gathering Room, the sharpness swallowed immediately by the soft ceiling of the sphere, hissing steam the only noise which replaced it.
Good Guardian. Clara ran to Sarah as Charles wrapped his hand in her wheat colored hair and jerked her to him. But suddenly Philip was there with his blade laid against Charles' throat and Matthew released Charles and intercepted Clara.
“No! I have listened to you about him for these months past. He is not who he once was. He has let his heart grow black with hate.”
He held her as Clara screamed, “Do not kill him Philip!”
Philip's eyes did not leave Charles'. “Release her or die. Queen or no, I will not allow you to harm this female.”
Charles thought about it, the silk of her hair wrapped in his fist. His gaze rose to Clara's and he read the fear, disgust and anger there. He came back to himself, suddenly realizing that he had raised his hand in anger at a female and was ashamed. He shifted his eyes to Sarah's and hers were wide with fear.
Of him.
He let her go and the blade came away from his throat. He looked around him for the support he knew his comments would garner.
The people backed away from him, suspicion and bewilderment on their faces. He was disgusted with them all. Could they not see that Clara was under the spell of the Band? That she no longer acted like herself. Who was this defiant creature who listened to him no longer? Her supposed best friend since childhood. Her defender?
Clarence took his elbow and he wrenched it away. “Fine,” he looked around. “Believe her ideals. Nothing has been proven. Do not come to me when things begin to unravel and suddenly she is not who rules here but another. And it may not be someone of our sphere. Most definitely, it will not,” he finished, striding off.
Matthew gave a nod to Maddoc, who followed Charles as he pushed and surged through the crowd.
Matthew said nothing, but he did a splendid job of holding Clara up.
*
Clara had slipped out of her chamber between the changing of the guard at her door and followed the smells of bread baking. The moon was setting Outside.
She pushed the solid wood door of the kitchen open, the convex glass portal at the top reminding her of Jack and Lillian's dwelling. It swung closed behind her and she met Billy's eyes. Flour dotted his face and a rolling pin was clutched in one hand.
He said nothing of the late hour, or the fact she was in her immodest nightdress. He set the roller on the floured wood bread table and opened his arms, she ran to him and buried her face in his broad chest.
“I am a wretched Queen,” Clara sobbed.
He patted her back and flour got over everything, her hair, her nightdress and she sighed with comfort. This is where she had gone when there was nowhere to hide. When Ada had been in the throes of one of her rages, Clara would hide in the kitchen.
Billy had saved her from additional abuse. As he saved her now.
“There, there girl. It will be alright,” he said, stroking her hair.
“What Charles said is true. I may not be able to bring what I envision to fruition! I may be making the wrong decision...”
“Clara,” Billy smiled at her and put her on the nearest stool, “have some bread.”
She shook her head. “I am not hungry.”
“A hungry Queen is something we do not need,” he said, pushing the plate of steaming bread, lathered in butter, toward her. He gave her a disapproving look. “You have come back from your journey a starved waif. Did no one see to get you decent food?”
She shook her head, tearing off a hunk of bread and shoving it indelicately in her mouth. He grunted in satisfaction, rolling out the next loaf, kneading then covering it with a loose weave cotton cloth.
“They did feed me. You know that I am not one to eat when under duress.”
“That fool Charles did not help matters, methinks.”
Clara's face grew red.
“Do not take that man's sentiments to heart, Queen Clara.” He lifted up his knife, pointing at her and the bread lodged in her throat. “He has had a hankering for you many years now. That he cannot have ya, is not something you need to fret over. I would not have thought it,” he muttered.
Clara took a sip of warm milk and cocked an eyebrow, stuffing another hunk
inside her mouth. The delicious flakiness of the bread melted inside her mouth and a nostalgia for days past came over her. She smiled around the emotion, swallowing thickly, the tears at bay for the moment.
“Thought what?” Clara asked, taking another sip. The warmth of the milk made its way through her, calming her.
“That he would use your sense of duty against you for his own end.”
Clara looked up at him startled.
He nodded at her surprise. “You never saw what we saw. Was he there to comfort you when Queen Ada took after you? Aye. But what of it? Any dolt could have held your hand. He had his eye on the crown. You were a sweet thing he thought he could control.”
Clara thought about Charles and all they had been together.
“You are different, Clara. You are more what you were intended to be. You are King Raymond's daughter,” he made a fist and placed it above his heart for a moment, honoring his memory. “Apparently, you have more than sphere-dweller running in those veins of yours. You come from something that is fierce and wild. To deny that is to rule without truth. Use what you were given. Make decisions based on how you feel. Your compass leads true Clara. It always has.”
Clara looked down at the last piece of bread that sat in her hands, twisting it about.
With deliberation, she put it in her mouth and chewed, her gaze locking with Billy's.
He smiled. “You will do fine, girl.”
“Thank you, Billy.”
He put the roller down again, the bread beginning to rise under its shroud. Covering her hands with his big ones he said what she needed to hear.
What was true.
“We believe in you. You were always our Queen.” His fist stood above his heart again.
Clara swallowed past the lump in her throat.
CHAPTER 35
A routine of sorts had developed in the sphere. Bracus had made an effort to divide the Band's time between the sphere and the clan. Rowenna used the dove of their clan to send a message to hers that she would be wintering at the sphere then travel back when spring's warmth had taken the last of the inclement weather with it.
The SAVAGE Series, Books 1-3: The Pearl Savage, The Savage Blood and The Savage Principle Page 53
