Zander was quiet. He made his way slowly over to the bed, lowering himself down on it thoughtfully. Gently patting the mattress, he beckoned Leyna to come closer, gazing up at her with a sympathetic gaze.
Sitting down at his side, Leyna folded her hands in her lap, her eyes cast down at the floor. It was humiliating. Men never had to deal with this kind of treatment. If Zander or Kael were ever approached by the women they were spying on, they were in control of what happened. They never had to deal with the shame of being bullied and muscled into submission the way Mikel did to her. In the end, it all came down to the title bestowed upon her those years ago when Gislan first handed her over to Mikel. She had to wonder if she’d been introduced as something other than a slave, if things would have progressed differently. But there had been no other option at the time. There was no sense in thinking over what could have been.
“Does Kael know about you? About what you are? Does he know your real name?”
“No.” She hated how terrible it made her sound. “I tried to tell him that I didn’t want to go through with anything until we had an opportunity to discuss some details about me, but he insisted the betrothal ceremony happen first. My hope was that he and I would have a chance to talk while we were visiting in Siscal, away from the prying eyes and ears of the other servants in the house.”
“You cannot,” Zander stated. “He cannot be allowed to know. It could be detrimental to your mission. And to mine. He can’t be trusted.”
“Why can he not be trusted? He has been our ally since the day this all started –”
“He has dabbled in their sorcery. That alone makes him a huge risk. It has power, Leyna. Once someone experiences the strength of it, the weaker minded will find themselves wanting more. He is at a precarious stage where we have to watch him closely to see if he starts giving in to it. Practicing it on his own, even when away from Mikel. And tell me; when did he ask you to marry him?”
“Last night. After the party…”
“Did he know then that he was going to be removed from the house? Did he suspect?”
Leyna thought over it carefully. Kael had never said one way or another, though he had appeared desperate. His strange behavior at the party could have been an indication that he was fearful of the worst. He’d avoided contact with almost everyone there but her, and he was not himself. Above all, he had already been exposed to his punishment for his actions. The actions he conveniently chose not to mention when she questioned him about his use of the magic. He had to have known something. And a mistake on that level would have undoubtedly led to concerns of being removed, if not worse.
“I believe he may have, but as I said, I have not had a chance to speak with him yet.”
“Leyna, you are far too kind-hearted for this line of work. Don’t you get it?” Zander asked. “He has been using you for information all along. He might feel an attachment to you, but from the start, you were his means of getting close to Oksuva when he couldn’t. Pulling you from the cellar and arranging you to be one of Oksuva’s ladies? It was the perfect means for him to find out what was going on with her, through you. And with him being removed from his position, if you were his wife, it would allow for the two of you to still talk, without creating suspicion. You would be his means of staying abreast of what happens inside that house once he’s gone.”
It was frighteningly fitting, she had to admit. But there were so many times when Kael had shown her his devotion with such sincerity that she couldn’t doubt his feelings for her. Sadly, she also couldn’t doubt the convenience of their relationship for him. She should have known something was out of place when he was so desperate to move forward with the engagement, without regard of the secrets she insisted he must know first. And she had fallen for it.
“I had convinced myself, if any of it was true, that Kael’s actions with Oksuva were done in an attempt to get closer to her to gather more information, since I was unable to gain her trust in a timely fashion. Do you think that may yet be true?”
Wrapping his arms around her comfortingly, Zander rubbed her back, rocking back and forth. “It may be, yes. It is hard to know for sure, especially knowing him. If that was the case, then he was a fool. A fool for taking such a risk, and a fool for doing something that would hurt a woman like you. He has no idea how lucky he is – but that might have something to do with the fact that he doesn’t know who you are. But either way, he should know he has something great, and he should have been more careful.”
“You are going to make me blush,” she laughed quietly, trying to hold back the tears that flooded to the surface. Something about having someone there to confide in made her feel an overwhelming need to weep uncontrollably and ramble about all of the things she’d been bottling up for so many years. Now hardly seemed the time for it. Not to mention, she couldn’t do that to Zander. She’d worked far too hard at maintaining her image of strength. The last thing she wanted to do now was break down in front of him.
“I will change the subject, then,” Zander chuckled. Gently, he pulled her back, looking over her face closely. “You are not a rash person, in my experience. Have you thought of a plan which would extract you from Mikel’s service?”
“I have an idea, but it will need some work, and quickly,” she nodded, rising up from the bed to wander aimlessly about the room. “I think I can take advantage of the strange interest that Ven’shal man, Oran, has taken in me. But I need to be careful I do not end up in the same situation with him that I did with Mikel. Any agreement I make with him must have me as an equal, not a slave. I would be a fool if I walked from Mikel’s grasp into the hands of someone even worse. I have thought to negotiate some kind of business relationship with him, but the issue I have is that… I have nothing to offer him in return which he might be interested in.”
Zander stroked his chin in contemplation, his eyes following her idly in her movements. “You might,” he mused. “There is one thing a Ven’shal of any standing would never turn down.” Noticing Leyna’s curious gaze, he grinned slowly, giving a devious wink. “You could offer him information on the Vor’shai. Agree to try and ingratiate yourself with the Consul and Feolan in order to gather intelligence for him. I am sure we could all make up some rumors to keep his interest without actually giving him anything worthwhile.”
“That is genius!” she exclaimed, covering her mouth hesitantly with her hand at the sound of her voice echoing off the bare walls.
“Of course it is,” he smiled. “I thought of it.”
She couldn’t help but laugh at him. The hope that flooded her at the thought of having an honest chance at her plan working was overwhelming. It was all she could do to keep from breaking into a fit of excited giggling. “This is fantastic! And if it is important enough to Oran, or better yet, the man he works for – Kyros? – they might be convinced to stand up to Mikel if he will not willingly release me.”
“You will, of course, need to talk it over with the Consul before you move forward. I made sure to give you a room on the ground floor in case you ever felt the need to sneak out in the middle of the night.” He gestured toward the window. “Just make sure you lock the door before you leave, or certain people might ask questions if they find you gone.”
In a fluid motion, Zander rose from the bed, his eye twitching irritably at the sound of Kael’s voice coming from somewhere in the house. Quickly, he made his way over to the door, unlatching the lock in a hurry.
“I will try to go to him tomorrow evening after everyone has retired,” Leyna replied quietly, rushing over to Zander, her arms enfolding him in a warm embrace. “Thank you so much for everything.”
“Just be wary of Kael,” he whispered, squeezing her tightly. “And if you see the Consul, tell him I send my wishes for him to get well soon. I ran into your friend Maeri in Dalonshire before we left and she told me he was quite ill. I am not sure when I will have a chance to visit him myself.”
Ill? It was hard for her to imagine a man like
Thade falling to any sickness. In all the years she had known him, he was always the perfect image of health. “Do you know if he is alright?” she asked, unable to hide her growing concern. A feeling of guilt crept into the back of her mind. After she’d spent so long purposely ignoring her thoughts of him, only now to discover that he was ill. As a friend, she felt he deserved more than that from her. She would need to make sure she got to him, no matter what happened.
“I know very little. Maeri appeared concerned, but I told her that you and I were both returning to Siscal and that she could come back here to help look after him. We didn’t have a chance to discuss it any further.”
Nodding her head, Leyna stepped away from Zander, helping him to pull the door open quietly to avoid detection by Kael. With a half-hearted smile, she watched him slip out into the hallway, disappearing around the corner, leaving her there, alone, with nothing but the company of her own troubled thoughts.
The distance between Zander’s home and Thade’s felt longer to Leyna, traveling the roads by foot, while keeping to the shadows of the trees, not wanting to be seen. Everyone else had retired to their rooms for the evening, many of the flickering lights from the candles in the house having already been extinguished before she slipped through her window into the bushes outside. This was her only chance to get to Thade and Feolan before her meeting with Kyros the next day. It was imperative she get their approval on her change in plans for the mission before she could move ahead.
Her legs were exhausted by the time she reached the familiar porch of Thade’s house. The windows were dark all the way around, giving the appearance that no one was home, or that they had already gone to bed for the night themselves. She’d lost track of the time while waiting in her room for everyone to settle in. Judging by darkened windows of the other houses surrounding her, it was well beyond a reasonable hour for visitors. But this wasn’t just a simple visit. She hoped they would forgive her intrusion, all things considered. And after years of losing contact with her outside of an occasional letter every few months, she prayed they would still be happy to see her. Especially after she told them the news she was bringing.
A brief twinge of fear entered her thoughts at the quiet click of her shoes against the steps. What if no one answered? She couldn’t leave there without talking to at least Feolan. There was always the option of knocking on windows, but she didn’t dare wake Thade if he was ill, and she realized she had no idea where Feolan’s chamber was within the house. If she was lucky, that knowledge wouldn’t be necessary.
Lightly she rapped her knuckles against the sturdy wood, cringing at the echo it created down the deserted street. It was an eerie sound. The way it almost vibrated off the other houses, seeming to alert the whole neighborhood of her presence. It had to be her mind playing games, exaggerating the noise.
She waited, anxious, afraid to knock again. When the door opened, she nearly fell backward off the porch, her heart pounding with surprise. An equally shocked Feolan stood on the other side. Reflexively he reached out, steadying Leyna to keep her from falling. “Leyna? My god, what are you doing out at this time of night? What are you doing out at all? It is not safe.”
“A bit of an emergency… May I come in?” she asked, motioning toward the house. In a daze, Feolan stepped back, creating enough space for her to slip by him, his eyes giving one last glance up and down the street to make sure no one was watching before closing the door behind her.
He absently made his way over to the sitting area near the back of the room, a single candle flame dancing over a nearly burnt up wick. In the light, she could see that he looked wretched. His hair was mussed, the shirt he was wearing wrinkled, only partially buttoned. He wore no jacket over the white fabric; giving him an unkempt appearance that was out of place against his elegant features, which currently were drawn from worry and fatigue.
“Forgive me. I am tired and not thinking straight. It is good to see you, Leyna. It has been – years.” The thought seemed to strike him suddenly, dawning on him when he had seen her last. She’d been in Kael’s company, battered from her victory over Mikel’s man. They’d had no chance to speak to one another then. “You look better, at least. They treat you well enough, I hope?”
“Truthfully, that is why I came here,” Leyna started. She hesitated. There was no good way to explain her situation, given how detached from it all Feolan was. Zander had been easy. He knew the inner workings of those people and had seen her on a more frequent basis throughout Gislan’s socializing. It had been months since she’d written last, leaving Feolan and Thade far behind in the way of things.
She didn’t know where to begin. Feolan’s expression was filled with interest and concern, while at the same time he looked as though he would fall asleep sitting up in the chair beside the candle. “If you are seeking a means to get out of that place, you know Thade and I will do everything we can to help you. Honestly, it would comfort that poor man more than anything to know you are safe, in the event that things do not improve. For him to leave this world with that on his conscience –”
Leave this world? Her throat choked up at Feolan’s words, her voice catching as she tried to speak. “You speak as if he is dying.”
Feolan closed his eyes. In that moment, he looked serene, peaceful. She wondered whether he was still awake until he slowly re-opened them, gazing solemnly at her through the dim light. “Things do not look good at the moment. I fear the fever will take him before the physicians can arrive from Tanispa. We waited too long to send for them, I am afraid.”
“I heard he was ill, but no one told me just how precarious the situation was. They made it sound like a mere cold or chill. What is it that ails him?”
“It is hard to say,” Feolan sighed. “The symptoms resemble that of an illness which he suffered as a child, or so I am told by his mother. He nearly died from it then, but the physicians were convinced he had beaten it, and that whatever caused it was gone. In truth, it would appear it simply went dormant; though what has triggered its return remains a mystery. No one really knows what causes it.”
“So this is something the physicians are familiar with? Something they might be able to treat?” She was desperate. The trivial drama of her personal life felt so minor next to this. Thade couldn’t die. She needed him.
Oh, how selfish of her to think in such a way, but she couldn’t help it! He had been her support for so long. If he was gone, she would be utterly lost in this world. And there was still so much she wanted to tell him! Things she had promised him. The secrets of her past in the military. She’d given him her word that she would share them with him. When the time was right. But what if that time never came?
No. He couldn’t die. She wouldn’t allow it – if there was anything she could do to prevent it. Which was unlikely. Faustine had only taught the most basic of healing magic. Just enough for a Vor’shai woman to be able to care for their children when they had their own families, in the event one fell ill with a minor infection. Nothing on a scale quite so large as this… whatever this was.
“Something they have seen before, yes, but I would not go so far as to say that they are familiar with it. There have only been a few rare documented incidents with it, if it is the same thing. It was virtually unknown until the king suffered from it shortly after his marriage to Queen Vorsila.”
“And the king survived it? He had to… it was not an illness which caused his death in the end.”
“He survived, true,” Feolan nodded, his eyes drooping forward sleepily. His voice trailed off for a moment, his train of thought leaving him. He looked confused. Pathetic. Leyna realized he must be operating on little to no sleep at all, constantly worrying over the health of the Consul. It was his duty, after all. “I forget where I was going with that,” he mumbled. Rubbing his forehead, he shrugged, heaving a sigh as he gravely looked up to Leyna’s somber face. “Instances of survival are even rarer than the number of people who have contracted the illness. The king lived becaus
e he was given immediate and constant care by the best physicians in Tanispa – and the Consul also. When he was a child. His family… they had him cared for around the clock. This time, however, he has already been seriously ill for three days and it will be another two before the physicians arrive. And that is the very earliest we can expect them.”
“Can the physicians in Siscal not help him? Surely they must know something.” Leyna paced across the floor, unaware she was doing so until she caught Feolan’s eyes following her, hypnotized by the repetitive motion like someone staring idly at a swinging pendulum. Trying to calm herself, she forced her legs to stop, her hands clasping tightly in front of her. “Even the humans here are quite advanced with their knowledge of herbs and medicine. They could give him something to ease the symptoms until the Vor’shai shamans can get here.”
Shaking his head, Feolan rose to his feet, swaying unsteadily. “Their herbs did nothing. We sent word to the Queen the instant they washed their hands of it and told us he was as good as dead. Now, not to change the subject, but I doubt you came here to discuss the incompetence of the local medics. What did you have to say about the mission? Are you seeking to be released from the charge?”
The mission. She’d already forgotten. Now seemed a terrible time to spring her idea upon Feolan, seeing how drained he already was from everything. To inform him she was moving from one dangerous place to something even worse. But it was a better chance for them to find the information they needed. Though she found it hard to see how it would be beneficial if Thade was not there to see it come to fruition.
Feolan would take over. It was what he was trained to do, after all. An assistant went hand in hand with the idea of an apprentice. Everything would continue on without Thade. The only difference would be that Thade would no longer be there to greet her when she came by to share her news, or if she needed someone to talk to her, to offer guidance when things felt overwhelming.
The Myatheira Chronicles: The Vor'shai: From the Ashes (Volume 1) Page 43
