Oathbound: The Emperor's Conscience, Book 2

by Michael Combs

  “She thought you were dead. Your father told her you died in an accident, and your chaperone was so distraught she took her own life to keep from having to deliver the news.”

  Tessa burst out in uncontrolled laughter.

  “Distraught,” she said. “That’s funny, because I stabbed the noisome bitch to shut her up.” She became wistful and her voice nearly purred. “It was the day I proved my love for Prince Papa. Oh, he rewarded me greatly for my loyalty.” A faraway expression went over all the girls’ faces at that moment. Their eyes were wide, longing, and lustful, each remembering the act they had performed to endear themselves to their Prince, if I was any judge.

  “Regardless, she thought you were dead,” I said, breaking their reverie. “She grieved for you until I told her differently.”

  “She left me for dead!” Tessa screamed. “What did she ever do for me?”

  “She grieved,” I said. “Then she grinned when I murdered your father.”

  Tessa stilled, shocked at the bluntness of my words.

  “So, he’s dead then?” Tessa giggled.

  “Quite.”

  “From what you said, your oath was for her, not for us,” Marjory said.

  “That is correct,” I said. “My oath was specifically and only for her. Technicalities mean nothing to me in this, however. Even without my oath, I always intended to return all three of you to the empire.” I wasn’t going to tell them about my brief moment of doubt.

  “We will not be separated,” Litha said.

  “Then you and I are in agreement.” I rose and returned my chair to its place near the hearth. “I will bring you food when it is ready. I am sure you are hungry.”

  I left the room. Shani had already crept back out. I had work to do.

  We spent the day sweeping, mopping, and polishing. Everything needed to be as right as we could make it when we performed the dedication ceremony. Brother Balinar was still working diligently on the etchings required for the actual ritual. Shani worked at polishing the pews, stands, and candle fixtures for the devotionals. Like most Trulari, she was not the religious sort, but she understood things like ‘polish everything made of wood’ and proved an invaluable asset to the endeavor. Willem placed the candle holders, then promptly disappeared, opting to slack about rather than seek work when his assigned task was complete. He had worked hard lately, however. I figured he could use a break.

  Balinar entered as we were finishing for the day and announced that dinner was ready. We stopped what we were doing and moved toward the kitchens. I filled four bowls and made for the warehouse wing to feed the Sisters and myself.

  They were mostly where I had left them. I had purposely restrained them so they could sit or lie on the carpets as they chose. Litha and Marjory were waiting expectantly, but where Tessa should have been, I found a bound and gagged Willem in her stead. I set down the bowls of food and rushed to him, jerking the gag from his mouth.

  “Willem, what did you do?” I snapped.

  He didn’t answer me. He just stared with a stupid grin palstered across his face. I smacked his cheek to get him to respond, and he looked at me but didn’t speak.

  “What happened? Willem!”

  “It’s no use,” Litha said. “Tessa worked her magic on him.”

  “What do you mean?” I growled. “I wasn’t aware that any of you girls possessed magic of any sort.”

  “We all have magic,” Litha laughed. “She told him she would show him her tits if he untied her.”

  I cuffed the stupid boy on the back of his head, which sent him to the rug. “Idiot!” I fumed and started for the door. It was the only way she could have gone.

  I hadn’t made it three steps when I heard Willem behind me.

  “Worth it!”

  Escape and Evade

  I burst through the doors and into the lane bordering the new temple. There was no one on the street in either direction. I locked the doors. The last thing I needed was the other two escaping while I looked for my runner. She had a head start on me, and I wasn’t certain how much. I knew I wouldn’t get a straight answer from Marjory or Litha, but the thoroughness of Willem’s stupid grin told me she hadn’t been gone long. I didn’t know where she was, but I had a good idea where she was going.

  These women were well trained, but I wondered as to their level of experience. Yes, they were deadly, but had they ever considered that they could lose? Overconfidence and complacency could cause them to make avoidable mistakes. Would they have fall-back positions, places they could hide? Or would they head directly for the one place they could feel safe? I wagered the latter and headed toward the Palace and their Prince. I hoped I was right. If Tessa made it back to the Palace, I would have the entire Jerean army hunting for me before morning.

  I ran at a dead sprint until I came to the major thoroughfares and had to slow to a walk. It would do me no good to draw attention, running like a maniac through the broad streets of Jerea. I turned into the nearest alley, jumped, eyes silvered from my draw, and grabbed at the floor of a balcony. In seconds, I was running full tilt along the slate roofs of the tenements, jumping from rooftop to rooftop in search of my prey. My Aspect sensed the hunt and was eager to join in, content with lending its instinct and strength to my cause.

  I leaped from eave to eave, ever nearing the palace, when I spotted my quarry. Tessa was running through the streets along the same route, apparently determined to beat me to her home and safety. I slid down one roof and caught myself on a windowsill to arrest my momentum, then dropped to the ground. She was not fifty feet from me now. She heard me and paused in an intersection between two large avenues. The sun had just set, and at this hour there would be people about. Granted not many, but witnesses were witnesses, depending on how drunk they were.

  She looked at me, then to her left down the narrow street, then back to me. A slow, malicious smile spread across her face. Tessa reached up, grabbed the neckline of her shirt, and jerked, tearing it viciously and exposing half her upper body. She smiled again, then ran with a limping gait down the alley. All the while, she screamed as though her life depended on it.

  “Help! Rape!” she called as I chased after her, only to see her hobbling toward a patrol of Jerean City Watch.

  The watchmen took one look at her, then fixed me with angry stares as I rounded the corner and skidded to a stop. Tessa bounded to them, trying and failing spectacularly to hold her shirt together, as fast as her feigned limp would carry her. She crashed into the leader of the patrol and clung to him in desperation. I couldn’t hear what she said, but her tear-streaked face darted from him to me, and she pointed my way. I could only imagine her words as their faces darkened with violence. She pawed at him, no doubt begging him for help. As she clutched at him to secure his protection, she reached to his side and slipped a dagger from his belt. He was none the wiser, taken in by her act. He gave the order for his men to advance. She grinned triumphantly at me as he shoved her behind him, then he, along with his men, drew their swords and charged. She gave a mocking wave and ran, her laughter dancing on the wind.

  That clever little bitch.

  I dragged her down two blocks from the scene of the slaughter of the Jerean patrol. I had nothing against those men and assigned the blame for their deaths to Tessa. The last of their spirits caught up to me as I hooked a talon around her foot and tripped her up.

  She spun in my grasp and stabbed at me with the dagger she had stolen from the now-dead corporal. She changed the direction of her attack at the last moment, and as I blocked, she thrust the blade through my hand. Only then taking in my Aspect, she scrambled and fought, sheer terror filling her face. I screeched in pain, my Aspected voice emanating from all about us.

  We hit the ground and tumbled across the stone alley. We were dangerously close to the wide avenue leading to the palace. She scrambled and clawed at the paving to get clear, but I dragged her toward me and quieted her yells for help with a taloned fist.

  I gathered
the unconscious girl and draped her across my black-skinned shoulders. My shadows gathered about us to hide our retreat , and so I could find my damned clothes.

  Tessa, now thoroughly restrained, regained consciousness as I dumped the last of the watch in a nearby storehouse not far from the battle. They would be missed at muster, but the building was abandoned and it would take some time to find them, depending on the temperature over the next few days and the traffic on the street. Yet another thing to move up my timeline. I would have asked how much worse it could get, but one of Master Brenn’s sayings popped into my head: ‘Don’t invite trouble, or it will move in and bring your in-laws.’

  I wrapped my Aspect in bands of magic and dressed. Tessa mumbled something through her gag as I finished tying my trousers. I roughly untied her gag.

  “What?” I asked.

  “What in the hells was that...thing? And why are you so testy?” she asked.

  “Why do you think?” I snapped.

  “I was just trying to escape. Weren’t you taught that if you are ever captured, your first duty is to escape?”

  “There is no need to escape from me.”

  “Then why have I been tied up for the last several hours?” she asked. “You are preventing me from returning to my Prince. That is the definition of captured.”

  “Your place is not with your Prince,” I said, pulling my shirt over my head. “Your place is in your family home with your mother and brother, people who thought you were dead for ten years. Don’t you see? The duchess has hope in a heart that only held ashes for a dead daughter.”

  “A daughter whose father sold her for a promise of treachery,” she spat. “Whether I was sold to the Prince’s bed or some other noble in marriage, that was always going to be my fate—broodmare to some lord or another, grateful for whatever attention I could garner for as long as it took to bear an heir. Pfft. No thanks. Here I am loved. He trained me, he taught me. Here, I can help my Prince achieve his dream of ruling Trular before he is too old to do any good.”

  “That is someone else’s dream, not yours,” I said.

  “What’s the difference?”

  “The difference is you have a choice.”

  “What choice is there when you intend to deliver us back to Arul?”

  I hated to admit it, but she had a point. As Balinar had pointed out, they were adults and could decide for themselves. But after the torture I received for trying to forsake my oath, I dared not renege on it now. An idea came to mind as I regarded her thoughtfully.

  “I will make a bargain, then: you go willingly, you meet with your family. Once done, I will provide a purse of gold and transportation back if you wish it.”

  “What about Marjory and Litha?” she asked. “We won’t be separated.”

  “I will extend that offer to them as well. I had always intended to bring you all three back to the empire. If you don’t want to stay, that is your concern.” I waited for the blinding agony. When it didn’t come, I surmised merely bringing Merey home would suffice in satisfying the oath to my goddess.

  “You don’t understand,” she said. “We cannot be far from Prince Papa.”

  “The offer stands,” I said, “and I meant what I said. You will go back to Arul even if I have to put you in a box.” With that, I replaced the gag in her mouth and hoisted her on my shoulders for the long walk back to the temple.

  “Tell me you killed them,” the Mata said as I slid into the large marble tub in her bathing chambers.

  “All is as it should be, Galateia. Don’t fret.” I grinned darkly and pushed off the wall, gliding through the water toward her. “I always keep my promises.”

  “About that,” she said. “I would have more from you.”

  “What would you have of me, my dear? I am yours to command.” I walked my fingers up her thigh and she splashed us both, trying to bat them away.

  “Stop that,” she said. “You’re trying to distract me.”

  “I am trying, and you are resisting. What is the matter?”

  “You are more than you seem,” she said. “You can’t tell me you are merely some pretty whore.”

  “You really think I’m pretty?” I asked with a grin.

  She rolled her eyes. “What I am saying is that you are more dangerous than any prostitute has a right to be.”

  “Does that bother you?”

  “No. In fact, I intend to use that. Besides, you owe me.” Her voice turned sour as she glared at me in accusation. “Thanks to your interference, I find myself in need of a Hound.”

  “Will I get my belly rubbed and my ears scratched?” I asked.

  “Be serious for once!” she snapped.

  “I am deadly serious, Galateia,” I said, my voice firm. “Do not mistake the terms of our relationship. You are the Mata. You have responsibilities. I understand that. Whatever duties I can perform to aid you, I will. But I will get mine as well.”

  The Mata was taken aback at my rebuke. She reconsidered me. “And what is it you want, my love?”

  "Nothing more than to be involved, as a partner. I will not be some mindless lackey. I am your Consort...your equal. No less."

  She considered me for a moment and smiled. “You are, aren’t you? I should apologize. It is rare to find someone that I can rely on. For that person to be consistent as well? Yes. You will get your belly rubbed.”

  She crawled into my lap, and we enjoyed the bath. We played and teased for a time before she leaned back with a serious look.

  “You have come to their attention, my Hound. They heard of our little display at the Palace and are concerned about your motivations, your involvement. I was reckless. I never should have let down my guard.”

  “Shh,” I said, trying to calm her. “You did nothing wrong by discarding that anxiety-riddled façade you call your guard. And who is ‘they’?”

  “The Prefects from the regions supporting our efforts.”

  “I thought you ran the restructuring efforts, so to speak.”

  “I do, but not without concession. My husband controls the army, but that army is supplied by the Prefects. No one takes or holds power alone. It requires cooperation and promises. A meeting has been called.”

  “What would you have of me?” I asked.

  “One who looks to supplant me is causing trouble. We need them dealt with once and for all.”

  “Let us show them your new Hound's teeth.”

  Balance of Power

  “So you are the Mata’s new Hound,” Nan said.

  “Among other things,” I replied with a grin.

  “There is no part of that that isn’t bloody terrifying.”

  We sat in her office with a tray of wine, meats, and cheeses between us, as we had so many times before. The clients had left, and the girls were abed. Mongo would see to it the place was locked up. Nan tossed a piece of cheese to the tray and took up her wine glass. She drained it and poured another.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “She is dangerous enough on her own, but if she truly got her hooks into you, there would be no stopping you.”

  I smiled at that. “Are you saying you trained me too well?”

  “I am saying that you had better mind your heart and your purpose. Are you falling for her?” Nan asked. She watched me carefully.

  I took in a breath to respond, then stopped. Was I? I did enjoy her company, and I had learned much about her since we became bound to one another. She was indeed the horrible person that everyone accredited her of being. She was also much more. I wouldn’t describe her as sweet, and I nearly laughed aloud at the idea of a loving Mata. She had a passion about her, however, that I found more than attractive. She was driven to take what she wanted and devious in her schemes. She held grudges and plotted vicious revenge. It was damned sexy. As I considered that, I wondered if being attracted to such a passionate, driven woman would not be my downfall one day.

  “No,” I said. “I wouldn’t say that.”

  Nan loo
ked at me warily. “You just keep your head on straight.”

  I refilled our glasses and filled Nan in on what I had discovered regarding the plot to place Prince Kaden on his father’s throne. I saw her mind spin as the missing pieces I revealed snapped into place, completing the rest of the puzzle.

  “I am going to be meeting with some of the Prefects involved,” I said. “They are disgruntled at my addition to the team and Palasia’s sudden departure. If I didn’t know better, I would think they suspected me of something.”

  “Well it isn’t like you are trying to infiltrate their ranks and disrupt their efforts or anything,” Nan said with a grin.

  “Disrupting them is fine for now, but it isn’t enough. I need something long-term, or the civil war in Trular will be followed by an invasion of the Empire. Atroscine might be dead and their plans delayed, but Atroscine couldn’t have been working alone. One man alone cannot hope to overthrow an empire.”

  “That isn’t your mission. Your mission is to rescue three girls, and bring me back if you can.”

  “That may be the reason I came here, but things have changed. I cannot, in good conscience, leave while the threat of war remains here, not with the promise of it following us back to Arul.” Nan shook her head. She seemed to struggle against her own thoughts. Something resembling regret washed over her face before she nodded her head in reluctant agreement.

  “You are not ready for the next lesson,” she breathed. “You won’t like it.”

  “I don’t see a choice, Nan,” I said. “I don’t know what else to do. What lessons are left? What do I have to do to see this done? Help me.”

  Nan closed her eyes tightly as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Tamil, you bastard. Why did you have to send him to me?”

  Then she told me. She was right; I didn’t like it.

  Two days later, I was scrambling up the wall toward Prefect Torin Alyster’s apartments. The Prince kept apartments for visiting dignitaries when they came to court, but some wealthier nobles maintained estates within the city. Alyster was not one of those. The rooms he occupied were on the third floor and were lavish enough for a middling Prefect, but no more.