In Fine Form by Eressë

Author:Eressë [Eressë]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Liquid Silver Books
Published: 2014-03-15T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Threat

In the days that followed their liaison’s ending, Jareth did as Yandro wished. He stepped back and behaved as he’d done before they started their affair with one significant difference. He dropped the subtly flirtatious manner with which he’d often teased Yandro and treated his aide as professionally as he did the rest of the staff. He spoke and acted exactly as Yandro had asked of him.

To Yandro’s relief, they remained amicable with each other. They conversed and worked together as if nothing was amiss between them. It was as he’d hoped for.

But unexpectedly, he found he missed the way Jareth had acted around him previously—even the provocative behavior that had oft driven him to distraction and befuddlement. It was contradictory of him and unfair and confusing, he ruefully admitted to himself. But the heart did not always align itself with the mind, eschewing logic for instinct even when it went against self-preservation.

He wondered when and if he would be brave enough to resume relations with the ambassador and bear the hurt and uncertainty involvement with him would probably entail. But even if his courage returned, it was entirely possible Jareth would have tired of waiting for him by then and found someone new to share his bed. Yandro tried to convince himself such a scenario would be for the best, that he would be spared worse pain.

Unsurprisingly, he failed. His treacherous heart continued to yearn for the Deir who’d captured it without even trying.

* * * *

Barely a sennight later, dire news arrived from Ylandre, as well as a royal command. Within an hour of the message’s receipt, Jareth’s staff assembled in the embassy’s spacious audience chamber in order to be briefed about the ambassador’s latest undertaking and the reason for it. It fell to Yandro with able assistance from Valin to explain the circumstances that had fed the present crisis.

“If you’ve studied our history thoroughly, you know Tenerith and Vireshe once comprised old Varadan. When Ylandre repelled the Varadani invaders and eventually defeated them, Diorn Essendri annexed the entire country to Ylandre, in effect dissolving Varadan’s sovereignty and deposing the Ferrendas.”

“Is that the reason their descendants keep stoking unrest in Tenerith?” one of the new staffers asked. “They think they can regain part of their kingdom?”

“That’s correct,” Yandro said approvingly. “But they’ve never come close to succeeding and if their latest failure is any indication of the chances of future attempts, they likely never will. Nevertheless, we can’t take them for granted and even less can we disregard their allies, even the loosest ones, but even more so those whose rulers have blood ties with the Ferrendas. For this reason did we maintain some caution with Asmara even when their Shaja was friendly and supportive and only recently have they gained our full trust. Now Teraz is even more suspect.”

The Terazian ruling family was closely related to the Ferrendas with whom they continued to marry even after the latter were dethroned. As a result, Teraz had been

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