"Like me."
He glanced at her and away again. "It's different."
"Because you'd never accept my counsel?"
Badru frowned, but didn't answer.
K'lrsa let go of his arm and walked over to the window. "I need to leave, Badru. As long as I'm here, they'll use me against you."
"No."
"Badru."
"No. I can't lose you. Not right now. Please, K'lrsa. You’re the only one I have left."
She crossed her arms tight against her chest. "I have to go back to my family, Badru."
"No." The muscle in his jaw twitched as he clenched his jaw. "I forbid it."
She laughed, a short, bitter laugh of disbelief. This again. "You forbid it? I'm a free woman, Badru. You freed me."
"You're still my dorana." He wouldn't look at her. He stared at a spot on the floor like a stubborn child.
"I see." Fury burned through her bones like fire. K'lrsa turned away and studied the beautiful purple flowers in the window sill—they too were where they didn't belong.
Badru grabbed her shoulders and pressed his body to hers. "It's not like that, K'lrsa. I need you. I love you."
She twisted away from him. "No. You don't love me. You don't know what it means to love someone. If you did, you'd let me make my own choices instead of trying to hold me here against my will."
His blue eyes pleaded with her to understand.
"I have to go, Badru. Someone tried to kill me last night. And most of the people in that room today think you should've finished the task. I don't belong here."
She grabbed his hands. "My family needs me."
"I need you." He pulled her close. "You belong at my side. Can't you see that? Don't you love me?"
"Of course I do."
"Then stay."
She shook her head. "No."
They stood there, staring at each other, neither one willing to give in. It was one of the hardest things K'lrsa had ever done to resist the pull she felt towards him. He was her true mate, sent to her by the Lady Moon. But she knew. She knew this is what had to happen.
She tried once more. "I swore a vow, Badru, to kill the man responsible for my father's death. I can't keep that vow if I stay here."
His face lit up with a smile. "That might not be true."
At her surprise, he raised a hand and continued, "I don't know yet, but I suspect…give me three days."
"Three days?"
He nodded. "Yes. Three days. And then you can leave with my blessing. I'll send men to escort you home. Three days. That's all I ask. Please?"
He took her hands and kissed the knuckles of each finger, staring into her eyes. She felt herself melting, her will weakening at his touch. "Three days. But then I leave no matter what."
"No matter what." Badru kissed her on the cheek and left, almost running from the room.
She didn't know what he thought would happen in three days. She didn't care.
She just knew that, finally, she was going home.
It was time.
Chapter 86
The next morning, Morlen brought the tiral and her court attire when he came to dress her. She looked back and forth between Sayel and Morlen. She knew she couldn't wear the outfit Herin had forced on her the day before, but she didn't want to be bound by the tiral and meza either.
She'd had a small taste of freedom and she didn't want to lose it. "Must I?" she asked.
Sayel nodded. "I think it would be best, my dorana. The court is still on edge this morning. It would be best if you…"
"Acted proper?"
He nodded.
"Very well."
She let them dress her, not pleased, but resigned to three more days of suffering before she was once again free. Somehow knowing that it would end soon made it easier to bear.
When the doors to the audience chamber opened and the volume of conversation in the room hit her like a physical blow, K'lrsa was glad she'd listened to Sayel and Morlen. Her outfit was like armor; it deflected anger and judgement, letting the men see her in a role they understood.
The room was packed—there wasn't a single empty seat and men were pressed hip-to-hip at each table.
Badru stood, smiling down at her, the blue of his vest matching the blue of her topmost layer. She didn't believe for a moment that it was a coincidence. "K'lrsa, my love. Here, sit beside me."
The chair that had dominated the top of the dais was gone, replaced with a large lounging couch with room enough for two.
As she walked through the now-silent room, she ignored everyone except Badru. She focused on gliding along in the way Sayel had taught her, her steps shorter by half than her natural stride.
She heard whispered comments as she passed; the words "whore", "cheater", and "murderer" ghosted along in her steps, but she ignored them, refusing to let these little men bait her once more. As she ascended the steps to Badru's side, she caught the look on the youngest dorana's face—her ebony skin and bright green eyes twisted in hate.
It didn't matter. None of it did. All K'lrsa had to do was play her part for another three days and she could ride away from this place and never look back. She'd miss Badru, yes, but the rest of it? No.
As Badru leaned in to kiss her cheek, she whispered, "Is this wise?"
He nodded. "I have to show everyone that I believe you."
Sayel removed the tiral and K'lrsa took her place by Badru's side. She scanned the room without actually looking at anyone. So many men, packed so close together, their anger throbbing beneath the surface…
She closed her eyes, forcing herself into a light version of the hunter's Core, trying to block out how the ceiling pressed down upon her. The air was so thick it was hard to breath, the sound of so many voices like physical blows. She floated there, trance-like, outside of time, until Nesbit stepped forward and cleared his phlegmy throat.
"Most honored leader. Are you ready to begin today's audience?"
"I am, Nesbit. Call the first supplicant."
As Nesbit turned to the room, Badru leaned close and whispered, "Whatever happens next, you must remain silent."
K'lrsa frowned.
"Promise me, K'lrsa. This is important. Remember where we are."
She nodded, not happy, but resigned to act the proper dorana. For his sake.
And her own.
"I call forth K'var of the Black Horse Tribe."
K'lrsa tensed as K'var rose from a far table and strode to the base of the dais. He looked around the room as if he owned it, his multi-colored cloth on full display, worn as a belt.
"Daliph Badru." He bowed low, a slight smirk on his face. "A public meeting? You honor me."
The tone of his words said the exact opposite. A small stir ran through the room.
"K'var. I trust your journey here was a good one."
K'var raised an eyebrow. "Of course, Your Excellency. A true pleasure."
Once again there was a subtle rebuke in how he spoke even though each word was proper.
K'lrsa glared at the man and Badru dug his fingers into her wrist. She took a deep breath and focused her gaze on the stitching on the hem of her skirt, reminding herself that she mustn't speak, mustn't react.
"What brings you here today, K'var?"
He bowed low. "I ask for the assistance of the Toreem Daliphate to protect our mutual trade interests."
"What kind of assistance?"
K'var licked his lips and looked pointedly at K'lrsa before he responded. "It's a delicate matter, Your Excellency. Perhaps one we could discuss in private."
Badru shook his head. "No. If you want something from me, ask for it now. Or leave."
K'var raised an eyebrow as a murmur ran through the crowd. "We are allies, Your Excellency. Would you set that aside?"
"No. But I won't deal with you in secrecy either. Ask what you will, K'var, but do it here in front of witnesses or leave."
K'var's face flushed red before he controlled himself once more. He bowed low. "As you wis
h, Your Excellency." He turned to address the crowd, ignoring Badru as he raised his voice for all to hear. "The Black Horse Tribe has worked with the Toreem Daliphate for many years now. We have led your trading caravans across the Great Desert, where none can pass with safety unless escorted by one of the tribes. And through our efforts, and yours, we have brought prosperity to the Daliphate."
"And yourselves," Badru added.
K'var nodded to him. "Yes, we have been well-rewarded for our efforts. We, too, prosper."
He turned back to the room, making sure that every eye was on him. "The food on your tables, the clothes on your back. All of this is because of us, the Black Horse Tribe."
Badru tensed, but didn't interrupt.
"But the other tribes grow jealous. They see how we prosper and they envy us our wealth."
K'lrsa wanted to attack him for uttering such ridiculous lies. Like she or her tribe had ever wanted the silks and salts that K'var and his type valued so highly.
Badru gripped her wrist so tightly she knew she'd have a bruise.
"These tribes want to end our trading with the Daliphate." Men muttered to one another around the room, the buzz of their voices like a swarm of angry bees. "They would expel us from the tribes and take away our access to the desert. This would destroy us."
He turned back to Badru. "And you."
The buzz of anger grew, weaving its way around the room until the walls were practically vibrating with the tension.
Badru raised a hand and the room grew quiet once more, but the anger stayed, hanging heavy on the air. "Why is this our battle, K'var? You are responsible for your relationship with the other tribes, not us."
"If they attack us, they attack you."
Badru tilted his head to the side, but he didn't respond; the tension in the air increased with each word he spoke against K'var.
"What would you have us do, K'var?"
"Help us defeat them."
"How?"
K'var stepped forward, resting one foot on the bottom step of the dais. Everyone stiffened at the gesture and he quickly stepped back once more. "Give me five hundred troops and another two hundred swords."
K'lrsa gasped. Fortunately, Badru laughed at the same moment, hiding the sound. "And what could you possibly need five hundred troops and two hundreds swords for? Do you even have two hundred men to wield the swords you ask for?"
"We will kill them. Every man, woman, and child of the tribes that oppose us."
K'lrsa swayed in her seat. Badru glanced at her and away just as quickly. "And what of the fifty swords my grandfather already gave you?"
K'lrsa stared at him. Badru's grandfather had given the Black Horse Tribe swords? Why hadn't Badru told her about it before?
K'var bowed his head. "They've been invaluable, Your Excellency. They've allowed us to triumph in the small skirmishes that naturally arise between jealous tribes."
K'lrsa stared at him. What was he talking about? The tribes hadn't fought amongst one another for hundreds of years. What skirmishes?
And then she finally understood.
It hadn't been the Daliph's men who'd raided her tribe. It was the Black Horse Tribe, attacking their own, unprovoked.
Sayel grabbed her shoulders, holding her down in her seat. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from speaking.
This wasn't the time. Or the place. She couldn't attack him, not in the full court garb of a dorana.
But as she stared down at K'var with his smug grin and arrogant posture, she realized something.
This man. This man of the tribes.
He was her enemy.
He and those like him were the source of the corruption. He was the reason her father was dead.
K'var continued talking, "If we want to win this battle, Your Excellency, we have to attack our enemies with overwhelming force. The tribes will gather on the next full moon. Without your help, we'll be banished. With your help, we'll eliminate our enemies and we can both continue to prosper."
"What of diplomacy, K'var? Can’t you talk to or bargain with these tribes?"
There was an angry murmur around the room at Badru's suggestion.
"No." He stood taller. "They'd have us turn away from all trade. They'd rather scrape and scrabble, barely living, than trade with you or any other of the Daliphana."
"But surely you could reach a peace? Let them continue as they want and you continue as you have?"
K'var shook his head in an emphatic no. "They would never agree to that, Your Excellency. They believe that we have a sacred trust, that we must protect the desert from all foreigners." He met K'lrsa's eyes. "They are wrong, misguided fools, that believe in long-dead myths and gods."
K'lrsa glared at him, unable to respond in front of Badru's subjects. She knew she should look away, too, but she couldn't.
K'var's eyes narrowed as he studied her.
"Thank you, K'var. We'll consider your petition. Next supplicant."
K'var flinched at the casual dismissal. He turned towards the back of the room as if expecting someone to intervene on his behalf, but no one did.
"K'var. Back to your seat."
K'var glared at Badru, the look openly hostile, and turned away.
He didn't go back to his seat, though; he stormed out of the room, a handful of men at the table closest to the door following him out, each cloaked so that his face was hidden.
Badru tensed as he watched them leave, but he allowed Nesbit to call the next supplicant.
This man walked to the front of the dais, shaking but resolute.
"Pavel? What is it?"
The man looked at Badru and then away again.
"Most honored leader. I…I am here on behalf of a number of your poradoma. We…we believe Balor was poisoned yesterday. We accuse the one once known as K'lrsa dan V'na of the White Horse Tribe of cheating and we demand her life as forfeit."
The room erupted in a roar of noise in support of Pavel.
Chapter 87
Badru raised his hand, demanding silence. It was a long time in coming, and when it did many of the men glared at Badru with sullen expressions.
"Nesbit?"
Nesbit shuffled forward. "Yes, most honored leader?"
"What are the rules of combat to the death?"
"My Daliph?"
Badru leaned forward. "The rules, Nesbit. Do they state what type of weapon the combatants are allowed?"
A small wave of sound raced through the room.
"No, my Daliph. The rules simply state that he who survives is the victor."
Badru looked back to Pavel. "There you go, Pavel. If K'lrsa did poison him, it was allowed and she won within the rules."
K'lrsa stared at Badru.
"Next supplicant."
Pavel stood at the base of the dais and stared up at Badru, his mouth slightly open. He'd obviously expected Badru to defend her or deny it. Not this.
Pavel returned to his seat, shoulders slumped, shaking his head slightly.
Others were equally stunned, muttering to one another.
K'lrsa looked around the room, noting how many men shifted in their seats, glaring at Badru and then away before he saw them.
He might think he'd ended this, but he hadn’t.
She wished Herin were there. She'd know what to do.
Chapter 88
K'lrsa spent two more candlemarks sitting at Badru's side as he listened to supplicants. None of the others were near as interesting as the first two and she spent most of the time lost in the hunter's version of the Core, trying to keep from screaming from the lack of air in the room and the feel of everyone's eyes on her while she wasn't allowed to look at any of them.
Badru left immediately after the last supplicant, with a slight squeeze of her hand but no look or kiss. As he walked through the double doors, a dozen men followed, each with at least two colors accenting their brown clothing, whispering urgently at his heels like dogs after a treat.
Sayel escorted K'lrsa back to her r
ooms and there she paced, wondering what Badru would decide about K'var's petition.
"He won't do it, will he, Sayel?" she pleaded.
Sayel turned back from staring out the window. "Do what, my dorana?"
"He won't give K'var the troops he requested, will he?"
Sayel chewed on his lip, his eyes sad. "Why wouldn't he, my dorana?"
"Because…it means the death of my tribe. If he helps K'var he'll sentence my people to die."
Sayel shrugged slightly. "And if he doesn't he'll sentence his own people to poverty and suffering."
"But he loves me."
Sayel frowned. "Yes."
"Then…"
She stopped at the expression on Sayel's face. "You don't think that matters? You don't think his love for me will change his decision?"
Sayel sat on the bench by the window, resting his hands on his belly. "I don't think it can, my dorana. Especially not now when Pavel has accused you of poisoning Balor. Badru has to make the decision that's right for his people not himself."
K'lrsa buried her face in her hands. "I should've killed him when I had the chance."
"K'var?"
"No, Badru."
Sayel flinched. "The Daliph? You would kill the Daliph?"
K'lrsa raised a hand to calm him, but then dropped it again. "That's why I came here, Sayel. To kill him because I believed he was responsible for the death of my father."
Sayel clutched at his chest as if he couldn't breathe. "Oh, my dorana. No. You…"
"I didn't do it, though, did I? I fell in love with him instead and convinced myself he wasn't responsible." She came to stand by his side, staring up at the mountain behind the palace, marveling once more at how strange this world was compared to her home. "I was wrong."
Sayel shook his head. "Wrong?"
She took a deep breath. "If I'd been strong enough to kill Badru, he wouldn't be here now to help K'var, and my people would be safe."
Sayel stood and paced the room, waving his hands in agitation. "No, no. Any Daliph would assist K'var. Those trade routes, my dorana. We must have them. They're all that we have. If the Black Horse Tribe is the only tribe that will trade with us, then we must protect them at all costs. Any Daliph would know this and do it."
Rider's Revenge (The Rider's Revenge Trilogy Book 1) Page 30
