First Lord's Fury (Page 35)

Another flash of rage slapped against Isana’s senses, as Araris took half a step forward from his position by the door. This time it was sharp enough that Aquitaine felt it, too. He turned to blink at Araris several times. Then he looked back and forth between them, and said, "Ah. I hadn’t realized."

"I think you should leave, Attis," Araris said. His voice was quiet and very, very even. "It would be better for all of us."

"What’s happening outside these walls is more important than you, Araris," Aquitaine said calmly. "It is more important than I. And while your penchant for defending women for the wrong reasons remains undimmed, your emotions are completely irrelevant to the problem at hand."

Araris’s eyes flashed, and another surge of anger pressed against Isana. She fancied she could feel it bending back her eyelashes. "Odd," Araris said. "I don’t see it that way."

Aquitaine shook his head, a precise and meaningless smile on his mouth. "We aren’t a pack of schoolboys anymore, Araris. I have no particular desire for any intimacy beyond that which is required for the sake of appearance," he said. "As far as I am concerned, I would be well pleased for you to live your private life in whatever manner you chose, Lady Isana."

"Araris," Isana said quietly, and held up her hand.

His eyes remained on Aquitaine for another hot second. Then he glanced at her, frowning, as she silently urged him to understand what she was going to do. After an endless number of heartbeats, Araris visibly relaxed and returned to his position by the door.

Aquitaine watched the swordsman withdraw and turned back to Isana, frowning thoughtfully. He stared at her for a long moment, then slowly lowered his hand, and said, "Your answer is no."

"Your offer is… reasonable, Lord Aquitaine," she said. "Very, very reasonable. And your arguments are sound. But the price you ask is too high."

"Price?"

She smiled slightly. "You would have me give my world to this plan. Abandon things it has taken a lifetime to build. Embrace deceits and empty ideas. It would leave my mind and heart a wasted heath, as burned and empty and as useless as all those farms you destroyed to slow the vord."

Aquitaine looked thoughtful for a moment. Then he nodded, and said, "I do not understand. But I must accept your answer."

"Yes. I think you must."

He frowned. "Octavian knows he must protect himself against me. And I, for my part, must similarly protect myself against him. If it is possible, I will avoid a direct confrontation. I have no particular desire to do him harm." He met Isana’s eyes. "But these things have a way of taking on a life of their own. And I will see the Realm whole, strong, and ready to defend itself."

She inclined her head to him, very slightly, and said, "Then your wisest course will be to accept the will of Gaius Sextus, Lord Aquitaine."

"Gaius Sextus is dead, lady." He bowed just as slightly in reply. "And look where accepting the will of that old serpent has brought us."

Aquitaine nodded once to Araris and strode from the room.

Araris shut the door behind the High Lord and turned to Isana. He exhaled slowly, and only then did he lift his hand from his sword.

Isana padded over to him and their arms slid around one another. She held him very close to her, leaning her cheek against his chest. She stayed there for several moments, closing her eyes. Araris’s arms tightened around her, holding her without pressing her too hard against the steel links of his armor. As they stood close, Isana felt the cool reserve of the metalcrafting he’d been using to contain his emotions as it receded.

For some time, there was only his presence, the warmth of his love, as steady as any rock, and Isana let that warmth push back the cold of her worries and fears.

After a little while, she asked, "Did I do the right thing?"

"You know you did," he replied.

"Did I?" she asked. "He had a point. He had several."

Araris made a growling sound in his throat. After a moment, he said, "Maybe. So ask yourself something."

"What?"

"Could you live a lie?"

She shuddered. "I’ve done it before. To protect Tavi."

"So did I," he said. "I was there." He gestured at his scarred face. "Paid a price for it. And when… when I got out from under that burden, it was the best thing that had happened to me since Septimus died."

"Yes," Isana said quietly. She lifted a hand and laid it on his scarred face, on the old coward’s brand burned there. She leaned in and kissed his mouth gently. "No. I can’t do that anymore."

He nodded and rested his forehead against hers. "There it is, then."

They were still for a while, and Isana finally asked, "What did Aquitaine mean about defending the wrong woman?"

Araris made a thoughtful sound. "Something that happened after Seven Hills," he said. "Septimus had led one of the cavalry wings personally, in the pursuit of the enemy after we’d taken the field. The rebel command staff had fled to half a dozen different steadholts where… where they hadn’t used their slaves kindly."

Isana shivered.

"One in particular… I forget his name. Tall, lanky fellow, a Count. He was good with a blade, and his retainers fought to the death to defend him. It took me, Aldrick, Septimus, and Miles to break their last line of defense. And we barely managed it." He sighed. "It was ugly before it was done. And this Count had kept a number of body slaves in his chambers. One of them had killed herself when she saw him die. The others weren’t in much better shape. Wasn’t one of them older than sixteen, and they’d all been fitted with discipline collars."

Isana felt suddenly sick.

"We took the steadholt’s staff alive, mostly. One of them had put the collars on them. So we got them off three of the girls, but the fourth one…" Araris shook his head. "She might have been fourteen. She’d been wearing the collar since she was ten. And she was…"

"Wrong?" Isana suggested gently.

"Broken," Araris replied. "She had no idea how to relate to other people unless it was to offer herself. She could barely dress herself. She’d been regularly given wine and aphrodin. A beautiful child, really, but you could see it in her eyes. She’d been damaged, and she wasn’t coming back.

"Of course, the Princeps extended his protection to her. But she was getting more upset and desperate every day. Like her world had been inverted. She didn’t know where she fit, or what to do. By the time we got back to Alera Imperia, she just shivered and screamed a lot." He glanced up at Isana. "She was a watercrafter, a strong one."