11

 

Intrigue

 

Someone hissed.

Kai pivoted, balanced and alert. Craelin, on Elcon’s other side, also peered down the vaulted corridor.

Aewen’s servant emerged from the shadow of the stair into a pool of torch light. “Didn’t mean to give you a start. It’s only me, Murial.”

“What business brings you?” Elcon asked. “Is Aewen well?”

Murial hesitated and then stepped toward Elcon. “Milady needs you.”

“Why say you this?” Elcon rapped out the words.

“I don’t know what to do. She places herself in peril.” Murial clutched Elcon’s sleeve. “I beg of you, come at once.” Her intent seemed harmless, but Kai shifted closer to Elcon. As if realizing she touched the Lof Shraen of Faeraven before his guardians, Murial let go and backed away, fright in her eyes.

But now Elcon grasped Murial’s arm. “Tell me, where is your mistress?”

“She has gone to the wild garden near the forest’s edge.”

“Why would she do such a thing? The forest by night is not safe.”

Murial cast a glance both ways down the empty corridor and lowered her voice so that Kai barely caught her words. “To meet with you.”

Kai read on Craelin’s face the same uneasiness he felt.

“If you will excuse me, I seem to have an errand.” Elcon faced Kai but turned his head to include Craelin as he spoke.

Craelin’s chin came up. “Surely, you do not go alone.”

“Pray do not concern yourself.” Elcon’s tone brooked no argument.

“But we must. You risk yourself, Lof Shraen, without thought.” With an effort, Kai kept his voice level. “Remember, we are a long way from Rivenn.”

Elcon gave a mirthless laugh. “If we are honest, I can no longer count on safety anywhere, even in Rivenn. But perhaps safety should not be my first concern.”

No, that should be Faeraven. Kai did not voice his thought, for Elcon was in no mood for the truth.

 

****

 

Frogs sang in the darkness, as a milky path of light descended from the full moon and crossed the pool at her feet. The flat rock shone blue at her feet. She stepped to the side, where shadow hid her. Night wind tugged her cloak and teased stray tendrils of hair from beneath her hood. Creaking in the weilos at her back made her jump, and she raised the dagger Murial had pressed into her hands.

She stood poised, scanning the dark branches, but finally spotted an owl watching her. Before she could fully recover from the fright, furtive rustlings from the broadberry thicket on the pool’s other bank sent her heart racing again. She strained to see in the dark. A jaggercat might crouch there.

After a tense interlude, she released her breath on a long sigh and scolded herself for yielding to fancies. It had been a long time since a jaggercat had actually been reported around Cobbleford Castle, and that starving creature had only come down from the mountains in a time of deep snow and little game. Still, she could not prevent herself from peering into shadows.

The back of her neck bristled, and she spun about. Elcon ducked beneath the weilo branch nearest the path. He stood before her on the flat blue stone, on his face a guarded look that shredded her heart, for she’d placed it there.

“You came.” After their last meeting, she hadn’t been sure he would.

He faced the pool so that she saw him only in profile. “How could I not offer you my protection? If harm came to you I couldn’t bear it.” He turned back to her with anger on his face. “But you should not have called me.”

“I had to. There was no other way…” She stopped short, the need to make him understand robbing her of words.

“To torment me? Does it bring you such amusement to toy with me that you would risk yourself in the wild at night?”

“No—”

“And what of your betrothed? Would he not object to this meeting?”

“You don’t understand.”

“You’ve made it clear enough.” He slid his hand beneath her elbow as if to lead her away.

She shook free. “Stop this. You must listen. I would spare you.”

“Speak your mind, princess, but then I’ll escort you back to the castle and you’ll summon me no more.”

She drew a shaky breath. “I would spare you. I saw the way Raefe looked at you tonight. I don’t know what he intends, but I think he’s guessed our attachment.”

His eyes widened, and then narrowed. “Why should I believe you?”

“Because I love you.” She hadn’t meant to blurt it out like that.

He went still and stared at her. Was that a flicker of joy in his face, or had she completely killed his love for her? And why should she care when she meant never to marry? But, God help her, she did. “Aewen.” His voice shook as he drew her to him. Their lips met in a kiss that lingered. When a nightbird whistled, they broke apart. Black wings passed across the lighter gray of the night sky, and Aewen laughed. “It was only a graylet.”

Elcon returned her to his arms. “You’re trembling.”

Her fingers curled into his woolen surcoat while she resisted the urge to shake him in frustration. “Why didn’t you listen when I asked you to leave?”

He pushed her from him. “Is your concern for me or yourself? Do you want me to leave to make sure Raefe still makes you his queen?”

She stared at him, aghast, the words she’d spoken to him earlier convicting her. She’d succeeded too well in driving him away. He no longer trusted her. Should she let him believe her so horrible she would choose all Raefe offered over her love for Elcon? The thought tormented her, but better that than for him to meet with Raefe’s cruelty. The prince of Darksea was not a man who lost with grace.

“He will make me his queen, I assure you. I want nothing better.”

Tears blinded her as she ran from him. She stumbled, and a sob escaped to betray her. Elcon caught her, and she found herself once more in his arms.

“All the treasures of Darksea cannot replace love.”

He bent his head, and she yielded to his desperate kiss.

Light fell over them as wood splintered, and they broke apart.

“They’re here!” Raefe’s voice intruded to break them apart.

Aewen blinked in the light from a lanthorn held aloft by a servant. The weilo branch that had hidden the pool from the path lay broken at Raefe’s feet.

Elcon pulled Aewen back into his arms as if to shield her, but nothing could protect her from the stunned look on her father’s face. From behind him, Mother gasped.

“When Raefe said his servant followed Elcon here and found you, I did not believe him. I had to see for myself.” Mother moved forward in fury, but when she looked into Elcon’s face, subsided. She glared at her daughter, her eyes sunken pools in the lanthorn light. “Have you lost all reason? You’ve tarnished yourself. You do not deserve to marry a nobleman like Prince Raefe.”

“She’ll not.” Raefe gritted out the words as his glare raked over Aewen.

Aewen swayed on her feet, but Elcon’s grip tightened on her arm.

“My queen must be without taint. I’ll not have her, and I’ll make certain no one else will either.”

“Surely you don’t mean to ruin Aewen!” Mother gasped.

“The Kindren you harbor has done that, not I.”

“Will you not reconsider your course, milord?” Mother wheedled. “It’s understandable that you would not want Aewen now, but to spread rumor is cruel.”

“Rumor? Is that what you call truth in Westerland? And let us not speak of cruelty. I had already come to regard Aewen as a wife.”

That Raefe should pretend heartbreak was too much for Aewen. She pulled away from Elcon. “The only thing I’ve wounded is your pride. You never loved me but merely thought to possess me as you do a fine destry or a jewel for your crown.”

“Aewen!” Mother’s shocked protest barely penetrated her wrath.

“I’m well rid of you.”

Mother turned to her maid. “Lock her in her chambers until she remembers her manners.”

Mother’s maid grasped Aewen by the arm. “Come Aewen.”

Raefe looked her up and down insultingly. “Your plain sister is worth two of you.”

Rage flared white-hot within her. How dare he speak so of Caerla? But Aewen went still. She wouldn’t give Raefe the satisfaction he sought by baiting her. “Very well, Mother. I’ll go. All I ask is that you’ll not touch Elcon.”

“Oh, I think none will touch Elcon.” Kai answered as he and Craelin emerged from the shadows beneath the weilos to flank their Lof Shraen.

Elcon touched Aewen’s cheek, his eyes deep pools. “I’m so sorry, Aewen. Never forget that I love you.”

Mother’s maid already pulled her away, but she resisted long enough to answer. “You were right, Elcon. I did lie.” His face blurred as tears hid him. “I love only you.”

 

****

 

Elcon’s hands fisted at his side as he faced Raefe and Euryon in the flickering lanthorn light at the edge of the pool. Kai and Craelin waited, tense and watchful, beside him.

Raefe stood tall. “Euryon, you should imprison these Kindren and overrun their kingdom! Look how they repay your open hand of friendship.”

A shadow of pain darkened Euryon’s face. “Well? What have you to say for yourself?”

Elcon flinched. Raefe was right. He deserved to pay for his misdeeds. “I’m sorry.”

Euryon’s eyes widened. “You repay my hospitality by frightening my wife and dishonoring my daughter, yet now you expect forgiveness?”

“I can make no defense save my love for Aewen.”

Euryon barked with laughter. “You speak of love, and yet you shame my daughter before her people. You act as the untried youth you are, giving little thought to your deeds. Aewen would have been better served had she never met you.”

“I would lay down my life for her.” Euryon was right. He loved Aewen enough to die for her, but he’d given Raefe the opportunity to forever destroy her reputation. Not only that, but Raefe’s story would also spread ill will among the Elder against the Kindren. He’d failed both Aewen and duty.

He bowed his head before Euryon. “I ask you to forgive me and let me take Aewen to wife.”