Bound (24 page)

His words jolted her, as if he knew things he couldn't. The others were silent for a long while as she and Tavis looked at each other, then they began to make plans to leave in the morning. After a while, when the plans were in place except for a few details, she excused herself to retire for the night. Tavis' eyes followed her as she walked out of the room.

When she woke the next morning, Fay decided she needed to thank Tavis for agreeing with her and helping her to convince the others. She dressed in her tunic and riding skirt, packing her dress away carefully. After making sure her bags were ready, she left her room. She went down the corridor to the room she thought was Tavis' but when she reached it, the door was already slightly open. She pushed the door all the way open, wondering if she had been wrong.

"Tavis?" she called. Looking around the small room, she saw his two bags sitting on the edge of the bed, confirming to her that it was the right room. He simply wasn’t there. Leaving the room, she went downstairs and wandered through the sitting room and Keari's study without finding him or anyone else. She checked the small garden, which was also empty. She returned to the house, frowning now and followed the sound of Lydia's voice to the dining room, where she and Keari were talking with Eliar.

"Have any of you seen Tavis? I can't find him. He's not in his room and I’ve looked through the house for him with no sign of him."

The others were shaking their heads, Lydia looking distinctly worried, when they heard the front door open, then close and boots moving rapidly toward them down the hall. Tavis entered the dining room, took them all in with a glance and then nodded. He turned to Keari and said, "Calder left Rianza yesterday afternoon, it seems. I'm not sure that taking Faylanna to Iondis is wise. What if that's where he's headed? It could be a trap. The danger he places Faylanna in with simple proximity... I made that mistake before and I'm worried we're making it again."

Everyone started talking at once as Fay stared at Tavis, surprised and a little angry at the sudden withdrawal of his support. It took Keari several minutes to get them all quiet again. He looked carefully at Tavis' face then said, "You can't know where he's gone from here, so why does his leaving the city, presuming you're correct, make so much difference that we should call this off?"

"Because last night, I thought we could get there with him safely distracted here. I thought we could investigate there and get out without any risk of him even knowing she was there, let alone coming within sight of her. If he's gone to Iondis, though, that doesn't seem possible, does it?" The anger and self-condemnation in his voice startled Fay.

"How do you know he's left, Tavis? Tell us how you learned this," Eliar asked, his voice skeptical.

Tavis took a deep, steadying breath. "I went out this morning, early. There was something I needed to do before we left." When Keari raised an eyebrow at him, Tavis sighed. "I was arranging to have a letter delivered to Calder, but when I got to the Messengers Guild Hall, the clerk refused my letter, said he couldn't deliver it. I had to press to get anything more, but he said that Calder's carriage rode out of the city early yesterday afternoon. It was right before orders went out to all of the gate guards that Calder was to be detained at the Emperor's command."

Before she could ask, Eliar said, "What letter? Why were you sending a letter to Calder Derrion?"

Tavis flinched slightly from the harshness of Eliar's voice, but instead of answering the question, asked, "Do we have any idea what we're going to find at Iondis? What we're walking her into? Think about the danger she might be in."

"Do you have a better idea?" Fay asked, a snap in her voice she hadn't intended. He turned to look at her, his worry and hurt making her regret her tone, but she pushed on without apology. "You said it yourself last night, my father has some kind of connection to Marcius. His leaving could prove that we're right, more so if he is going to Iondis, and I can't think of anywhere else he's likely to go right now."

"I'd like to know how he managed to leave just ahead of the Emperor's command," Keari said ruminatively.

Tavis snapped, "That connection is exactly what I'm worried about. You have no idea- We have no idea what he's capable of, what they can do together. We don't even know what this connection is, except that it allows a dangerous criminal to walk free somehow. Yes, it obviously has limits, but there's no way for us to judge what they are and their effect on your safety. Worse, I don't know what they want from you, but I'm-"

He cut himself off then, his hands clenched at his side. She could see that he was again struggling with the temper he thought was his father's. From Keari's story, she thought it was more likely from his mother. The idea almost made her smile, but she didn't. She was angry at his attempts to take this decision away from her, after thinking he was different from everyone else.

Keari looked from one to the other, then said, "We have to go. I agree that the situation now contains an unknown factor, but there's no alternative I can see. We'll be careful, Tavis. Understand that not one of us would allow any harm to befall Faylanna. Now, I want you all ready to leave in half an hour."

Tavis stared at him for a minute, then turned and walked stiffly out of the dining room. Fay thought she heard him muttering something about stubborn people refusing to listen or see. Eliar turned to Keari. "I won't be going with you on this journey. There are things I need to look into here. You'll travel faster without me there in any case. I'll go speak with him. He'll be ready when it's time."

He left to follow Tavis and, after a minute, the rest of them left the room as well. Fay went upstairs to her room to retrieve her bags, still angry with Tavis. As she stepped into the room, a scent caught her attention. She wrinkled her nose at the acrid aroma that stung her senses. A quick sweep of the room revealed no source for the aroma, which was rapidly dissipating. She turned to reach for her two packs and stopped, surprised by the folded parchment sitting on top of the one containing her personal belongings. It was a darker cream, as if it had been made in an age long passed, and the slender, sharp letters penning her name on the front were unfamiliar to her.

She picked up the letter, wondering if one of the servants had dropped it off here for some reason instead of bringing it to her. She opened it and, as she read, her eyes grew wider.

Dearest Faylanna,

I have waited so long for you, but now you must come to me, for I cannot come to you. Years I have waited, since the promise was given that we would be for each other. And yet now another threatens that. I will not lose you to him. I could not survive that. Only you, through all these years, have ever truly believed in my innocence, and I ask that you trust further. Come to me. I offer you all that I can. All that you dream will be yours. I ask only that you join with me. From the circle of my arms, all the world will lay before you for the taking. I will be yours every night, if you will only be mine through all the days. Faylanna, I await you in Iondis. Come soon, come quickly.

Marcius

Fay read the letter through twice before the sound of boots in the hallway startled her. She stuffed the letter into one of the bags and went downstairs to join the others, not sure what to think of anything anymore.

Chapter 15

Tavis had been silent but calmer since they had left Rianza that morning. Lydia and Keari, again wearing his loose robe and draped scarf, rode together but spoke little, and Fay was careful to keep them between herself and Tavis, which left him leading the group and her riding behind. She didn't trust herself to speak to him yet, though only part of it was the anger she could still feel simmering in the back of her mind. The letter from Marcius was on her mind as well. She kept running through it, though she wasn't sure that she remembered the wording of it all that well. She would have taken it out, but knew that the others might ask what it was or where she had gotten it. When she realized that her thoughts were simply going in circles, she put the letter aside, vowing that she would examine its wording again as soon as she could be alone. Once she stopped thinking about that, she found herself speculating about another letter, the one Tavis had been trying to send to her father, the one he had avoided talking about. What had he been trying to contact her father about and why, she wondered as she rode, trying to watch him without being noticed. As he almost never looked back, it was easy enough. They didn't stop for anything, eating near midday as they rode. It was only as the light began to fail that they made camp.

While they were settling in for the night, she noticed that the air was calm and frowned. Lydia saw and asked her if something was wrong, but Fay shook her head. She listened closer to the rustling sound she had thought all day was a breeze and realized it was her name being repeated softly over and over. Straining to hear, Marcius’ voice became recognizable, but only slightly clearer. The desperation in it was astounding. She tried to understand why his voice was so faint, when she had heard his words in Rianza as if he had been standing next to her. Wondering if it meant they were wrong after all, that they were going in the wrong direction, she thought about it carefully and understanding came. She remembered his words in the study and grabbed her pack, trying not to let her rush to get to it show. She dug through to the dress she had been wearing earlier and turned it over so the pocket was on top. She reached in and as soon as her fingers touched the pendant, they tingled with warmth and his words surrounded her. Over and over, he spoke her name and pleaded for her to hear him. Then it stopped, as if he knew she had the pendant again. She felt his satisfaction wrap around her like silk.

She pulled out her hair brush and, as she raised it for the first stroke, let the pendant fall into the sleeve of her tunic. She finished brushing her hair quickly and stuffed it back in the bag, which she pushed off her bedroll. She turned to crawl in and saw that Tavis was watching her again. The questioning look in his eyes made her think he had seen something. She rolled over and stared into the night, letting the fire warm her back.

In the smallest movements she could manage, she pulled the pendant out of her sleeve and clutched it in her hand, feeling the edges of the ribbons digging into her fingers and palm. She expected to hear Marcius' voice, but instead, an image of her with an arm raised formed in her mind, faint and fleeting. She tried to remember, but it stayed in her memory no more than it had in her thoughts. After a while of waiting, listening, another image appeared, only to vanish with equal speed. Marcius, standing in front of something she couldn't identify, one arm trailing behind him, except she couldn't see what he was reaching for before it was gone. She waited, but nothing more seemed to come and she fell asleep, feeling him with her still.

When she woke, she was almost disappointed to realize that she didn't remember dreaming that night. She could feel the pendant, still in her hand, before she was aware of anything around her. She got up, slid her hand with the pendant into her pocket, nodded to Lydia, who was slicing up bread for them all, and then walked down to the river they had camped next to. She looked around and saw that a nearby bush blocked her from their view. Delighted, she took the opportunity and slipped the slender silver chain over her head, pulling her hair over it and settling the pendant under her tunic so that it didn't show. She thought she heard a sigh, but it might have been the wind this time, which had picked up in the night.

By the time she had returned to the camp, everyone was up and Tavis was watching her again. They ate in relative silence and packed up. When they had all mounted, Keari nudged his bay gelding over to her and asked her to ride with him. They led the group out, and Fay didn't think it was her imagination that Lydia and Tavis kept back from them as they rode.

"You wanted to talk to me about something," she said, turning to the prince, her words not quite a question.

"Yes. But first, are you all right? You seemed distracted yesterday. I hope you aren't still angry with Tavis."

She shook her head. "I'm fine."

"And you know that we'll all be doing everything in our power to keep Calder from hurting you or forcing you to do anything."

She nodded as the image of herself from the night before passed through her mind, a little more slowly this time. It was quickly followed by the one of Marcius, but that also faded.

Keari didn't speak for a few minutes, and a new image flashed through her mind, people staring up in astonishment and wonder at something she couldn't see, then vanished. She looked over at the prince and saw something about him that made her smile. "You seem different this morning, your Highness, more relaxed."

He turned to her, laughing. "Please, don't call me that while we're traveling like this. The whole point of the disguise is that no one knows who I am, but it doesn't work well when people start using titles. Besides, in many ways, I'm no fonder of mine than you are of yours, if perhaps for different reasons." He paused, then said, "But you're right. I like to get away from the palace sometimes. It's why I have that house in the city. But I rarely get a chance like this, to just get out and ride, to leave behind the trappings and the attendants of my position, to see something other than Rianza. It's normally a fight to get a horse, instead of an Imperial carriage."

They rode in silence for a while before Keari started speaking again. "I have to ask you something, because I’m genuinely curious. Do you realize what a gift my father gave you when he agreed to your request for emancipation?" She looked over at him, confused. He shook his head sadly. "No, I can see you don't. You can do anything you want with your life now and no one can tell you otherwise, so long as it's within the bounds of Imperial Law. You can go where you choose, live the life you wish. You can love whomever your heart desires."