Carol Berg - Rai-Kirah 03 by Restoration

Author:Restoration
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-02-10T22:05:59+00:00

CHAPTER 25

Catrin, a member of the Ezzarian Council that administered the demon war, stepped outside the boundaries of Ezzaria only in the rarest instance. But I could not stay in the garden long enough to find out why she happened to be playing waiting woman to the banished Princess of the Derzhi. Considering that the last time I had seen her, she had been consenting to my execution, the story would likely take more than a moment’s telling. And considering the words this normally reserved woman whispered as she clasped me to her breast, I wasn’t sure I should be in any hurry to hear her tale. “Holy Valdis give you strength, Seyonne.”

I returned her embrace stiffly, unsure of what it meant, unsure of my feelings about a friend who had left me to die. But I had to postpone any exploration of Catrin’s heart or mine.

Danger stalked the Princess even within the Marag house, so the women reported. The Emperor had sent his own man to reside with the Marag to intercept “any who might harass or threaten the noble, distraught lady wife” of his “murderous cousin.” Lydia spent most of each day in seclusion, walking and sitting in the garden only in the earliest morning when no one was about. Only her father, brother, and two loyal servants knew of the coming child… and my mentor Catrin.

Leaving the women with a sufficiency of warnings, I slipped back into the garden and transformed. Blaise and I returned to our alley outside the walls, and I told him what had come about. “We need to get the Princess to Taine Keddar,” I said. “Every moment she remains in Derzhi hands, she’s in mortal danger. She has nowhere else to go.”

Blaise sat against the alley wall, his face in sunlight, the rest of his body in shadow as the sun crept higher over Zhagad. “Are you trying to get us all killed? You and your royal friends are like a plaguey corpse—like to draw all sorts of vermin after you. No, the lady cannot stay at Taine Keddar. But”—he raised his hand to quiet my protest—“there is another settlement. I’ll have to ask permission, but I don’t think they’ll refuse me. It’s a better place to birth a child and at least as safe.” He pulled a biscuit out of his pocket and eyed its unappetizing gray color. “Though safety and comfort are not in great supply anywhere at present.”

We spent the rest of the day acquiring two more horses. We had nowhere near enough money with us for this unexpected expense, and no man who valued his skin would consider stealing horses in Zhagad, so the acquisition was a matter of great delicacy, involving strong drink, a game of ulyat, and a bit of enchantment. Once we had the horses, we acquired extra waterskins, along with provisions for a two-day journey and an emergency childbirth. Remembering Vanko’s dead infant, I could not shake the imagining of Lydia’s being brought to term before-time on a journey in the desert.

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