“I’m starving,” Leisha said, relieved when no one asked how she felt.
“Excellent, excellent. Breakfast was just laid out in the library.”
Aniska and Andelko sat at their table already, tucking into their morning meals. They stood when they saw her, and both hugged her when she came to sit near them. Leisha felt their happiness and relief at seeing her. One more step to reclaiming her life.
Wanting to play caretaker, Symon dished up porridge and eggs, the delicious goat cheese Prem prided itself on, and several slices of bread. “Eat. All of it,” he commanded as he set the plate down in front of her. “You’re still too thin.”
It felt wonderful to be with them again, to have Symon fuss over and mother her. Between bites, Leisha ran down the list of housekeeping items she started making the day before. “I wanted to thank everyone, for saving me and for all you did to keep this running. I know you’ll say it was nothing, but I’m forever in your debt.”
“It was nothing,” Andelko agreed before returning to his meal.
She smiled. “Thank you. After breakfast, I’d like to go out and see the men.”
“Are you sure?” Zaraki asked, remembering the ride into the castle and how it upset her.
“Yes, I need to be seen and let everyone know I’m still here. They deserve to know I’m all right. We can’t have doubts now.” She turned back to everyone at the table. “This afternoon we should all sit down together. I heard Lukas and Lorant talking. Many things are jumbled in my head, and I need a bit of time to put them in order. But I think some of what I heard is important.”
They spent the rest of the meal gossiping, trying to avoid any talk of Embriel or Lukas. When the conversation veered that way, the others, by an unspoken consensus, steered it away. In the beginning, Leisha felt almost like a visitor, not knowing much of what happened over the last month. It felt foreign to be an outsider in her own castle, but her little family drew her back in with tales about the servants, who in the household had a falling-out or was suddenly pregnant.
With the meal finished, Ani and Andelko excused themselves after each embracing Leisha once more. She asked Zaraki and Symon to escort her out into the courtyard and felt an unaccustomed apprehension. Did her people think differently about her now? Did they still see her as strong and capable? Or just a captive? As she stepped in the bright morning sunlight, she stopped on the steps of the courtyard, feeling the breeze on her face.
What seemed like a good idea earlier now felt impossible. Just looking at the open gate made her anxious. Outside the walls, she would be defenseless. They could take her.
Zaraki saw the tense lines of her shoulders. “Are you sure you’re ready?”
Not this time, she told herself sternly. They had both been through enough of this. “Yes. There’s nothing here to hurt me,” she said, unsure who she wanted to convince.
Symon shooed him away. “Go and find a few guards to escort us and let them know we’re coming. I’ll keep her company.”
As he walked away, Leisha looked across the courtyard. “I think I’d like to see the horses. While we wait on our chaperones.” Walking around gave her something to think about.
Together they walked across the yard and when they stepped inside the stables, Evka and Capar greeted them with happy snorts and whinnies, thrusting their heads over the gates of their stalls.
“Hello, lovely,” Leisha said to Evka as the mare ruffled her hair with warm breath. She ran her hands down the graceful chestnut-colored neck, feeling so grateful to Eamon for saving her horse. He could easily have ridden on and abandoned Evka to Lukas’s army.
Capar pushed at her back with his nose, begging for treats and attention. “Yes, you great spoiled beast.” Leisha laughed and grabbed a small apple for each horse from the bucket nearby. Even in the middle of a war, Zaraki took care of his best friend. Leaning against the gelding’s sleek black head, she felt a surprising kinship. They had been captives together, even if neither knew about the other.
Despite her poor horsemanship, Leisha had always loved horses, and seeing her two favorites reminded her of what she nearly lost. She felt her hands start to shake and turned to look at Symon. Trying to quell the rising tide of misgivings, she asked, “Did Zaraki tell you what happened in Embriel? And what Gerolt had Edvard show me?”
“Yes, he did,” Symon said. “He came to ask me how we could help you if you decided to abdicate.” He watched for her reaction out of the corner of his eye.
Leisha made a face, hating how weak she felt. Hearing him say it, even with no hint of disappointment in his voice, made her want to take it all back. But the words, once spoken, had taken wing and flown free of her. “I’d be lying if I said it’s off the table,” she admitted. “What Edvard showed me was terrifying.”
Since she opened the door, Symon stepped through, saying, “I’m sure. It was a skillful bit of manipulation, too.”
At first Leisha said nothing as she considered his words. He held his breath, cursing and thinking he was being too obvious. But then she scowled and asked, “What do you mean?”
“Well, just that it was clever to try to intimidate and demoralize his enemy before the first battle even began.”
He watched as her eyes narrowed and she cocked her head, lifting her gaze to look out over the wall. Two fingers drummed against her leg as she considered his words. Then she reached a decision. After seeing this so many times before, her reaction did not even surprise him.
Before he could say anything else, Leisha strode out the stable door and started across the yard, a fierce expression on her face. Barking at two soldiers standing nearby, she ordered them to accompany her. They snapped to attention and hurried after.
Hearing Leisha’s voice, Zaraki looked up and saw her marching towards the gate, two stunned guards racing to catch up. He turned to look at Symon, wondering what the old man could have said to set her off. As he started to run after her, Symon held up a hand, motioning for him to wait. Once she had trooped sufficiently far ahead, they both began trailing behind her.
“Thank Aniska for this.” Symon nodded at Leisha, her back straight and head high. “She was the one who pointed out Gerolt was trying to manipulate her with those visions, not just threaten her. You know how she hates that. I believe our lovely girl is angry again.”
“She thought she had gone mad,” Zaraki said. “She told me yesterday.”
Symon laughed, but knew they should have seen that coming. It sounded exactly like something Leisha would think. “So the ship is righted now?”
“I think so. For the most part.”
Maintaining their distance, they watched as Leisha paused at the gate and seemed to draw a deep breath. Then she stepped out into the camp and began walking amongst her army.
As always, her people flocked to her. Soldiers wanted to speak to her, to tell her about how they spent day after day patrolling the Tymek, looking for any sign of her. She thanked each one for their persistence and assured them she was fine now. Once the officers in camp became aware of her presence, they imposed more order, keeping the men at a respectful distance. But Leisha did not seem bothered by the press of bodies.
And as always, the effect she had on her people was lost on her. Zaraki knew he could ride through camp and elicit barely more than a dutiful nod. A smile from their lovely queen turned seasoned soldiers into grinning boys, but Leisha never saw it.
When she looked back and caught sight of the two of them watching her, she favored them with a bright, jubilant smile.
“That’s three smiles in the last day,” Zaraki said.
***
In the afternoon, they all gathered around the table in the library.
“I’m sure you’ve heard Lukas kept me drugged for the entire time he and Lorant held me. Every eight hours, they would come back in and do it again so I could never wake up enough to kill them.” It bothered Leisha that she felt the need to explain and justify, but with the fear now held at bay, a new cl
uster of emotions surfaced. The embarrassment of being taken, worry that sprang from so many people seeing her distress, the need not to be seen as weak or a victim. Once again, she marked the further erosion of the line between her public and private selves and worried about the consequences.
Leisha shook herself out of the reverie. “But, as I said, I heard them talking. They didn’t seem to care what I heard.”
Because I was going to be dead. The realization leapt unbidden into her thoughts, surprising her and causing her hands to clench by her side. When he saw it, Zaraki put his hand in the small of her back to steady her.
Drawing a deep breath and frowning, she tried to make sense of her scattered memories, to look at them objectively, remotely. Until now, she had stuffed them away in corners of her mind she shunned and avoided. Unpacking them now, they did not all seem so frightening, but they were fragmented and felt like leaves blowing across a courtyard. “I remember them saying there are more troops coming up from the south.
“No, wait.” She shook her head and knit her brows together in a frown. “They were taking me south. Maybe there are more men headed south?”
Andelko looked unhappy. “That’s something we need to know. We may need to accelerate our move from here. The main force is still coming from the north, but with the smaller force coming around the hills to the south still, they’re trying to surround us. For now we’ll send some mercenaries to harass them, but we need to think about what our next steps are. Try to slip around them and go south towards Trillinae or risk having to retreat into Embriel.”
Aniska snorted. “I don’t think Andrzej will be friendly to us now.”
Another memory hovered just beyond her reach and Leisha closed her eyes, trying to reel it in. “Another time, they were in the room and one of them, Lorant maybe, told me Gerolt agreed to crown a puppet king. To give the throne to my cousin when I was caught.” Pausing, she tried to remember more. “I told them I didn’t have any living cousins. And they both seemed confused that I didn’t know—”
Andelko surged to his feet so fast his chair fell over and clattered to the floor. He stared at her for a moment, clenching his fists by his side. “That piece of shit just can’t leave anything alone,” he spit, then turned and stalked out of the room, a mask of fury and shock on his face. Stunned into silence, everyone watched him leave and jumped when he slammed the door to the library behind him.
Staring at his retreating form, a smile spread across Leisha’s face. “Then,” she continued, still watching the door, “Lukas said he only recognized him because he didn’t have his beard.” She looked around the table as bewildered faces stared back, everyone taking in her words. At least she understood all the years of suspecting he hid something.
Next to her, Zaraki started laughing. “Damn him. I guessed it six years ago, the first time he shaved his beard off. I just forgot about it until now. That sneaky shit. Remember the painting of your great-grandfather? I stared at it for an hour before realizing he looked like just like our Lord Constable.”
When Andelko returned, Leisha let her smile fall away and replaced it with her best concerned, but perturbed, monarch glare. He looked grim and unsettled as he walked to stand in front of her, his sword and scabbard in one hand. “I hope you don’t want this back, but if you do, it’s here,” he said, dropping his weapon on the table. It rattled as it landed, filling the silence as everyone stared at him. Some in the room thought the two of them did bear a resemblance to each other. Black hair, dark eyes, and fine Tahaerin features.
Leisha looked perplexed and very serious. “Lord Constable, why would I possibly ask for your sword back?”
“Just, please, let me explain,” he said, holding out his hands. When he looked around the room, he saw his friends grinning at him. Andelko soldiered on, confused and finally ready to recite words he had practiced time and again. Two years ago, when he helped save Leisha, she promoted him and offered him a royal favor. He could ask her for anything, and if she had the power to grant it, she would. Until now, he had nothing to ask for. “Your Highness,” he said formally. “I ask you to honor the favor you promised me. I ask for your forgiveness.”
He looked so distressed; she could not do this to him anymore. “I’ve already guessed, and so has everyone else.”
Brash, confident Andelko flushed to his ears as Leisha grinned at him. He felt worse now, knowing how much trust she placed in him. They all trusted him and they had no idea. He sighed. “You don’t know. I’m your cousin, yes. But not a distant one.” Telling this secret changed everything for him and Leisha both. But the secret had been set free and he could no longer hope to cage it.
He blew out a long breath, standing stiff and looking miserable. In his mind, this always happened a different way, and not in front of so many people. Speaking slow and careful, enunciating each word so there could be no mistake, he said, “Your father was my uncle.”
His words captured everyone’s attention. Leisha had no children and showed no sign of producing any, so that placed Andelko second in line for the throne.
“Shit!” Symon’s shocked outburst took them all by surprise. He never swore. “You’re Evarin’s little Andelko? You died twenty years ago.”
“Yes, and I would have happily had him stay dead if someone hadn’t recommended me for promotion to Guard Captain at Branik.” He glanced at Symon, who laughed and grinned back. “And if I hadn’t been promoted to Lord Constable.”
Leisha laughed for the first time in weeks—a full body, joyful expression that rose from her belly. It felt amazing. “Andelko, I’m so pleased to have a relative who doesn’t want to kill me.” She picked up his sword from the table and handed it back to him. “You won’t use your favor either. There’s nothing to forgive so long as you tell me why.”
“I never told anyone because of the trouble it would cause for you, Leisha,” he said, pleading for understanding. They all knew that eight years ago, knowledge of his existence would have meant her death. Every noble would have chosen to follow a twenty-three-year-old man over a sixteen-year-old girl. “And because I didn’t want to be found. Leave it to Lukas to screw this up, too.” He made a disgusted face.
Standing on her tiptoes, she reached up to hug him. But he closed his eyes and smiled, before picking her up and spinning her around. “Then you’re not angry?” he asked when he set her on the ground.
“Why would I be?”
Hugging her again he said in one ear, “I’m so relieved, cousin. I’ve wanted to call you that for years.”
“I love happy endings. But you owe us the story,” Ani demanded.
Andelko sighed again and looked around pleading for help, but knowing Aniska loved gossip and would not let go of this until she had it from him.
“No, you’re not getting out of this one,” Symon said, laughing and shaking his head. “You were such a pain in the ass. You set the barracks on fire.”
And so Andelko Tahaerin began his story. “My mother died of a fever when I was twelve and my father immediately moved his mistress and their two sons into our home. I was devastated. My father was always a harsh man with me and expected me to get over her death.
“When I was thirteen, I left home. I just ran away.” He shrugged now, remembering slipping out of his father’s home outside Lida, taking a horse and riding away into the darkness. “I ended up with the army because I was hungry and too proud to go back. I liked it, so I stayed but never told anyone who I was. Andelko is hardly a unique name. Somewhere along the line, my father declared me dead and Davos legitimized my half-brothers so he would have other heirs besides you, Leisha. That’s why they were killed along with him on the ship coming back from Svec.” Not for the first time, he thought of how it could have been him bobbing in the ocean.
“When you became queen, I knew any of your enemies would hold me up as another claimant. I didn’t want to make trouble for you, so I kept quiet.” He stopped and frowned, looking contrite and a bit embarrassed. “I shou
ld have come forward once things settled down, but my father was not a kind man. I never wanted Andelko, Lord Evarin’s son, to be found, and I never, never want to be king, ever. Is that clear, everyone?”
“You do, however, look just like your great-grandfather without your beard,” Zaraki said, laughing again. “I can’t believe I forgot about it. I saw the resemblance years ago.”
Andelko blushed and scratched at the month of growth on his face. “Yes, the beard became a necessity when I was promoted. Trust the Ostravan to notice. Occasionally, I get sick of it and risk shaving it off. This time it bit me in the ass. I’m shocked Lukas remembered me. I met him when he was seven or eight.”
“I suppose it explains his disappointment you didn’t come to the meeting in Embriel. But I don’t understand why they would offer to make you king now,” Aniska said.
Leisha heard Lukas’s word echoing in her mind. “There are forces at work you know nothing about. There’s no going back now.”
“To divide the nobles,” she said, understanding what he meant by it finally. Most, if not all the lords, had known about Andelko before her abduction. “It’s already worked. Lukas hinted at something being set in motion. I think Gerolt’s people started promising a Tahaerin king on the throne as soon as Lukas agreed to the kidnapping. That’s why he asked for you to come to Embriel.”
Andelko winced, thinking he had started this whole mess with Lukas.
“Yes,” Symon said, nodding now and looking concerned. “We should assume they have been telling any lord who’ll listen.”
“We have to get ahead of this before it’s too large to contain.” Leisha cocked her head and frowned. “Did you ever get a response from Lord Levent about the archers?”
“No,” Andelko said. “So far he’s just refused to reply.”
“Taking my lords’ favorite tactic—wait and see where the chips fall. He knows about you then and he’s waiting to see who holds the crown, a king or a queen.” Leisha sat tapping two fingers against her lips for a moment. “I want a show of diplomacy and a show of force. We’ll start sending letters today acknowledging Andelko and affirming his loyalty. Where are the bodies?”
As Dragons from Sleep (The Tahaerin Chronicles Book 2) Page 31
