Bound (13 page)

They rolled through the city for a while after passing through the gate. Fay had expected that they would head for the quarter around the academy, but they seemed to be moving into the wealthiest quarter, where most of the nobles in the city lived, and a few merchant princes prosperous enough to bribe their way into such a gated sanctum. This quarter had it's own inner wall and guards at the gate, the Imperial Palace standing at its center. Eliar whispered back to her not to make a sound this time and then they were at the gate. Fay had only rarely been into this quarter of city, as her father was not wealthy enough to have a home here. It took a great deal of self-control once they had been passed through to keep from throwing off the blankets and looking around. All she saw were the richly dressed fronts of what seemed like small palaces and manors, and broad slate slabs covering the road that stretched out behind them. After a while, they turned into a short boulevard and the cart stopped.

She heard Tavis drop to the ground and someone leading Rain away after a moment, and then he was in front of her, dropping the gate at the back of the cart. He glanced over his shoulder and then turned back to her. "It's okay now. You can get out from under those. We're going right inside, according to Eliar."

Tavis held out a hand and helped her down after she dumped the blankets off. She caught a brief glimpse of a tasteful three-storey manor, slightly understated for this part of the city, as she was ushered quickly inside by the two men. The door closed behind them as soon as they were through. Two servants stepped forward. One relieved Tavis of their packs with only a single raised eyebrow for the tunic and trousers he wore. The other guided them to a sitting room. Fay tried to comb her hair with her fingers and, feeling the sweat drying on her skin, wished she could bathe instead. She was certain that this home must have a communal bathing room at the very least.

Fay sat down as Tavis slowly walked around the room, examining everything. Eliar remained in the door with the servant, quietly giving him some instructions. When the man departed, Eliar came further into the room, but remained standing, facing the doorway, clearly waiting for something.

"Is this your house, Eliar?" Fay asked, curious.

"Oh, no. They'd never have let me live in the Quarter of Gold. It belongs to a good friend. We're just waiting for him to arrive. It shouldn't take too long."

Fay laughed at the nickname for this quarter among the poorer residents of the city. The real name was the Quarter of Airs, a reference to the gates of the hereafter, the Veil of Airs, but most people barred from entering the quarter used the other name. She let her gaze wander the room, which was richly furnished and decorated, but could find no sign of who the owner of the house might be. She was curious if it was someone she might have known when she lived in this city. It suddenly occurred to her that, when this was all sorted out, she could choose to live in Rianza again. She couldn't decide if she liked the idea or not, though she missed the city from her days at this academy.

They had been waiting half the hour's turn in the intricate clock mounted on one wall, quite a luxury to own, when she heard boots on the marble corridor from the foyer of the house. She turned to look as two people entered the doorway, a man and a woman. Fay was hard-pressed to decide which was a more unexpected sight. The man was as tall as Tavis and seemed entirely out of place in a long loose-fitting tunic, belted at the waist, and breeches. His head was covered by a wound scarf that was drawn across his face in such a way that only his hazel eyes were visible. The rest of his face was completely obscured by the dark cloth. Over his clothes, a loose cream robe hung open. Behind him, the woman looked normal enough, dressed as a lower-ranking member of the court, but there was something about her that seemed very familiar. Her dark hair was drawn up into a careful knot, leaving her neck bare except for escaped tendrils that lay curled against her skin. Though that hair was threaded with the occasional silver strand, it did not make her seem old or diminish the mature beauty she possessed.

The man nodded to Eliar as his eyes found him. There was a formality to the gesture that again seemed out of place and went oddly with his clothes. "Eliar, it's good to see you back in Rianza, though I doubt the Council will share the sentiments."

Eliar's reply was gruff. "As if I care what they think at this point. What more can they possibly do to me, Ki?"

The man laughed, and the sound tugged at her memory, though she didn't understand why. The woman, who had been smiling when they entered the room, stepped past him with a scowl growing on her face and stopped in front of Eliar with her hands on her hips. When she spoke, her voice was edged with acid. "They wouldn’t be the only ones unhappy to see this old man in the city. What are you doing here, Grandfather?"

Fay felt her mouth drop open as she understood suddenly why the woman had seemed so familiar. She looked closer at Lydia and saw the resemblance more clearly now that she knew what to look for. His shoulders were broader, his jaw square where her entire face was more heart-shaped, and Tavis was taller than his mother, but Fay finally understood how Eliar had known Tavis so quickly. She looked over at Tavis, who had frozen in place by a bookshelf nearly as far from the door as the room would allow, looking distressed. His eyes were fixed on his mother, and there was something defenseless about them, possibly from the shock of seeing her unprepared. She almost went over to put her arm around him, but then Eliar distracted her.

"Now, Lydia," he said, his hands raised to placate her. "I think it's time we let the past be past and put those old grievances behind us. Besides, it looks like you got what you wanted in the end anyway. So you won. Are you happy, now that I've said it? Beyond that, we have something more important to discuss than our old differences."

She did not seem calmed at all by his words. "What would that be? This mystery event you sent Ki that message about?"

"No, we'll talk about that later. I've brought someone to see you. Someone you'll want to see." She made a skeptical noise, but then Eliar turned and beckoned Tavis forward. The younger man took two steps and then stopped as his mother's eyes turned on him.

The thunderstruck look on her face, the way her green eyes, exactly like her son's, widened told Fay she had recognized Tavis. Her mouth opened in a perfect o of surprise, but no sound came out. One hand rose, reaching out toward the son she hadn't seen in eleven years. She shook her head slowly, but Fay didn't think it was a denial, though Tavis' face fell as she did it. Fay noticed Ki put a hand on Lydia's shoulder, but that elicited no reaction at all. Fay was on the verge of going to Tavis when he finally moved.

He took another small step forward, and said in an uncomfortable, conflicted tone, "Hello, Mother."

Lydia lunged forward at his words and threw her arms around his chest. Tavis' eyes instantly went to Fay, and she could read in them his confusion, uncertainty and hope. She realized he had no idea how to respond to his mother's reaction, that it wasn't what he had expected. Fay smiled at him, nodding encouragingly. He hesitantly lowered the arms that had risen on instinct and gently placed them around Lydia. She didn't react, simply stood there, clutching him.

Eliar walked over to stand beside Ki, keeping his eyes on mother and son. He said, still not turning, "I think we're going to need a few minutes, Ki. Will your father miss you anytime soon?"

Ki shook his head, also watching Lydia and Tavis. Fay wasn't sure with the cloth covering most of his face, but she thought he was frowning slightly. "Not for a day or two, I think. He knows where to find me if he does."

"Then I think our business will keep for a short while. Perhaps a brief family meeting is in order, if I can pry the two of them apart long enough to get them to a more private setting." In spite of the sarcasm that drifted through his words, he was smiling fondly at them. He went over and put a hand on Lydia's shoulder, but received no reaction. Tavis dipped his head, for his mother only reached his shoulders, and said something quietly in her ear. She released him and he took her hand, leading her from the room after Eliar. Fay caught a glimpse of Lydia's face and thought the older woman had been crying.

As they left, Fay noticed that Ki was now watching her intently, utterly motionless in the doorway. Again, she felt that sense of familiarity, like he was someone she should know. He didn't say anything, and she quickly began to feel uncomfortable in the silence. She decided to try to strike up a conversation, not knowing how long Tavis and Eliar would be. "I guess I should introduce myself, since we didn't get a chance to before. I'm Fay."

Before she could step forward and offer her hand in greeting, Ki said in a low voice, "I know who you are, Faylanna Derrion."

She hesitated. So he knows who my father is, she thought, but does he share Eliar's hatred of him? "It seems you have me at a disadvantage. Eliar called you Ki. Is there more to your name also?"

"Ki will suffice."

She frowned. His tone was polite, but nothing more than that, and she thought she detected a strained edge to it. "You know, I'm not like my father, whatever you might think of me." He didn't respond to this beyond a nod, and continued watching her. She decided to try something else, determined to figure out why he teased the edges of her memory this way. "Have you known Lydia for long?"

He seemed to debate this for longer than such a simple question merited. His voice was still low when he answered. "We've known each other since childhood, though we lost touch with each other for a while." He hesitated and she would have missed his sigh if not for the movement of the cloth in front of his mouth. "More recently, our relationship has been renewed and... evolved."

Fay turned this over for a minute, then asked, "You two are bound partners, then?"

Again, he hesitated, as if considering something more than the question itself, and said, "Yes, we bound ourselves to each other recently."

"What's it like?" The question was out before she had known she wanted to ask it, and she felt herself flush a little. It had been one thing to ask Eliar in the privacy of his cottage after sharing her nightmare with him. This was different entirely. She wanted to tell him to forget it, but something about the slender eyebrow that arched up in a question made her instead clarify her own. "Finding your partner later in life, after graduating, I mean. I- If you know me, you know..."

She had trailed off, unable to finish, but she saw understanding in his eyes, which then flicked in the direction Lydia and the two men had gone and back to her. "It's not without challenges. I think that the younger you are, the easier it is to mold yourself to another person, to be flexible about who you are and the things you want. Later, well, who you are is more developed, your personality and sense of self, and your responsibilities in life place their own demands. You're more set in your ways, so it takes more effort to find that place where you can work with the other person, a middle ground, if you will. But even with all of that, it's worth it. I think having to work at it may make us value each other more."

The warmth in his voice as he spoke this last surprised her, and it tugged again, harder, at the edge of her memory. She knew he wasn't anyone she had met recently, but she was sure that this was not the first time. The silence between them spun out though, and Ki showed no sign of breaking it. He just kept watching her, and she abruptly became irritated with the whole situation.

"Who are you?" she demanded, taking another step closer to him. "Who are you that you know me? You seem so familiar. I keep feeling like I'm on the verge of remembering where we've met but I can't quite do it. I know we have met before though, I'm sure of it!"

His eyes widened as if he was taken aback by her outburst. He shifted backward a little, clearly uncomfortable with how near she was. He remained just beyond the reach of her arm. She realized this was for the best since she was at the point of ripping the scarf from across his face to see who he was and she knew that would be unpardonable, no matter what it might reveal. Finally, he said emphatically, "You don't know me, Faylanna, however much you might think it. You do not know me."

She let out an exasperated sigh, turned and went to the narrow windows on the far side of the room. She didn't look around when she heard his retreating footsteps. Eventually, other footsteps came into the room. She turned to see Lydia and Tavis standing there, looking happy, though Lydia looked a little confused and worried too.

"Mother sent Eliar to bed," Tavis said before Fay could ask. "He's old enough to need his rest, or so she told him."

The smile he flashed first to his mother, then to her, made Fay smile back without intending to. She was honestly glad to see that it had turned out well so far for him, though she was still angry and frustrated about Ki.

Lydia beckoned her over and said, "Come on. I'll show you to your room. You'll stay here while you're in Rianza."

They left the sitting room and went up the stairs to the second floor of the house. Lydia took them down the main hall and then stopped at one of the doors near the end. She opened it and gestured Fay inside.

"Thank you for helping Tavis to get here. Please make yourself comfortable, Faylanna. I want you to feel at home. You're safe in this house, so please, be at ease."

The earnest tone in Lydia's voice made Fay feel a little uncomfortable. She didn't know what to say, so just nodded and went into the room, closing the door behind her.

Chapter 9

The first thing Fay noticed when she looked around the room was that it was the finest she had ever slept in. This house might not be the biggest in the Quarter of Airs, but she had already decided that it was probably the most luxurious. The large four-post bed had its own curtains tied to the posts and a richly colored spread covered it. There was a large dresser on one side, as well as a small table with two chairs set under a window taller than she was herself. She saw with relief that someone had set her two bags on top of the dresser. Then she spied another door beside the dresser. Wondering what it might lead to, she walked over and opened it, only to discover the ultimate luxury she could have imagined; her own private bath, set into the floor. It was already filled with steaming water, as if someone had known she would want to use it the moment she saw it.