Wave-Touched, page 5
Lanis settled there, prepared to hold her for as long as she needed. “It’s all right. You’re where you belong now.”
Her words, showing she understood why Veyl was crying, made the tears come faster. For several seconds, she could do nothing but hold on and weep in the arms of this woman who had helped raise her, where it felt safe to do so. When the sobs finally subsided, Lanis supported her to her feet and dabbed at her tears with a handkerchief before handing it to her, so she might blow her nose.
“Thank you,” Veyl said, her voice altered by her now stuffy nose. “Do you know where my uniform is?”
Lanis took the soiled cloth after Veyl blew her nose one more time, frowning briefly at the two shells in Veyl’s hair. “I took it to be cleaned.”
“Will it be ready by this afternoon?”
“I’ll make certain of it. Have yourself something to eat. I headed your father off on the way here. Told him not to smother you. I can take you to see your parents if you like once you’ve eaten and freshened up.”
Veyl touched her arm. “Please don’t tell anyone about…” she trailed off, glancing at the floor where she had been weeping.
Lanis pressed her lips together for a moment, but she nodded. “If that’s what you want. Just know I’m here for you.”
Veyl smiled. “You always have been.”
Once she had eaten a light breakfast, she put on another of the open-skirted dresses, this one a satiny charcoal gray with dark purple embroidery along the bodice, hem, and lower part of the pant legs underneath. Lanis returned and helped arrange a couple of snug braids above Veyl’s right ear, which she then attached the two shells onto the ends of. The third shell, she tucked in a pouch tied to the black and silver belt, then grabbed the Thaelian agreement and followed Lanis to her parents.
They were in an elegant sitting area that looked out onto the large, enclosed garden along the western side of the palace. Jethan and his wife Keyla sat across from them, and Irith lay at her father’s feet, grooming one paw. All of them stood when she entered, a hint of relief in her parents’ eyes, as if they feared she might have vanished again in the night.
“Good morning.” She offered a smile she hoped would help put them more at ease.
They returned the greeting, settling back into their seats when she claimed a chair to one side, angling it in such a way that she could face her parents.
“It’s uncanny how much older you look,” Jethan commented.
She frowned at him. “I’m not sure that’s a compliment.”
“I believe he means you carry yourself differently, and there is more experience behind your eyes.” A hint of sorrow muted her mother’s smile as she made the observation.
Choosing not to follow that line of thought, Veyl leaned forward. “I brought the agreement I signed with Thaelis.” She held it clasped in her hands, not offering it yet. “Although there is something I’d rather you heard directly from me before you come upon it in this.” Assuming Arhk hadn’t already told them, but he had always provided her a chance to handle matters with her parents on her own before he would intervene. She suspected he was staying true to form now, given that they hadn’t confronted her with it yet. “I am bound to Ahndhomen Jinau through a zenyal bond.”
Her mother was instantly on her feet. “I will kill that calloch,” she hissed.
Her father stood as well, though with much less conviction. “Hold on. What’s a zenyal bond?”
Veyl didn’t give her mother time to answer. “It’s a type of unequal bond that allows one party the ability to inflict debilitating mental pain on the other as a means of control. I–”
Fury twisted her father’s features. “I’m summoning a Bondmaker.”
Veyl rose to intercept him when he took a step. “No. You’re not.”
They stared at her as if doubting that they had heard her correctly. Keyla and Jethan stayed seated, the latter munching on a fruit tart.
“Please sit.” Veyl waited until her parents had done so, then she sank down again herself. “There are two reasons I wish to leave the bond as it is for now. The first is that I agreed to do so by signing my name on these pages. The second is my tehnaak bond with Jaysen. In our brief time in Balarus, that bond reformed, and was severed again by the Thaelian Bondmaker. If the zenyal bond remains in place, the other cannot reform, and I don’t want it to. I still see Jaysen as my tehnaak, but I doubt either of us can stand having our pairing broken yet again, as we all know it would have to be.”
“Veyl.” Her mother’s sad look overflowed with sympathy. “I can see why you would not want to suffer such a loss for a fourth time, but to remain bound to this Thaelian…”
“I know you don’t understand, but Jinau holds the bond only because his council ordered him to do so. He would never use it unless my ability burst out of control again, which is the main reason for its creation. Honestly, until I’m confident that I can manage it on my own, I’d prefer someone to have that power. I’ve broken many people with my Frightener ability already, and I don’t want to do that to anyone I care about the way I nearly did with Gannon. What I ended up doing to him was awful enough.”
“Doesn’t this give him power over you that could be used to Thaelis’s advantage in negotiations?” Jethan asked.
“It would if I feared the bond or him, but I don’t. If that changes, I will be the first to ask for a Bondmaker, I promise you.”
“You can safely assume that none of us likes this situation,” her father stated.
“I know, and I’m sorry, but this is how I want it to stay for now, to protect people from my ability and prevent the tehnaak bond from reforming with Jaysen. I hope you can respect that.” She held out the agreement to her parents. “Here. I imagine you’ll want to go over this with the council before we start formal negotiations.”
Her mother accepted it and placed it on the table, regarding it with a look of dread.
Jethan leaned forward and took a cup off the tray on the table, setting it before Veyl. He lifted the teapot. “Would you care to sit and enjoy the morning with us?”
Veyl smiled at him, warmed by his not-at-all subtle effort to move the conversation away from problematic topics. “I would love that, Uncle Jeth, and a tart if you’re willing to share any.”
She stayed for most of an hour, and, though the northern unrest and the brewing troubles with Sarket entered the discussion a few times, they avoided the subject of Thaelis, allowing her a chance to enjoy being with them. The dynamic had changed, however. They didn’t treat her like a child in the room, instead engaging her in all aspects of the conversation and soliciting her thoughts on various topics. She appreciated that, though she disliked the price she had paid to get it.
Eventually, her father set a hand on her mother’s arm. “We should gather the council. We have a lot to go over before we’ll be ready to meet with the group representing Thaelis.”
“On that subject, I would like to speak alone with the Thaelian contingent prior to our meeting.” Veyl was more than prepared for the immediate arguments rising in her parents’ eyes. She had practiced this encounter in her head at least a dozen times. “I am supposed to be an ambassador for Thaelis. How exactly do you see that working if I cannot engage in private counsel with the rest of the group?”
“I don’t much care,” her father countered.
Veyl shifted her gaze to her mother. “Khevarin Velara, how many of the political negotiations you have been a part of have forbidden one party from holding counsel with their fellow dignitaries?”
Her mother let out a sigh. “The circumstances here are highly unusual, but,” she paused, turning to Kasiel, “she is correct.”
He clenched his teeth and glanced down at Irith, who looked back up at him, his gaze serene and bright. “All right. You can meet with them in one of the smaller council chambers for now, with an abundance of guards on hand.”
“Outside the doors,” she countered.
He gave her a scowl of warning. “Veyl.”
“The Thaelians need to feel as though our discussions are private, or they won’t be open with me. I can call for help if there are problems, but if they wanted to hurt me, do you honestly think they would be foolish enough to do so here, in the middle of our palace? Besides, I am still a khesran of Vanris. If I learn something that is of critical importance to Vanris’s safety, I will share it, and I am more apt to discover such things if they feel like they can speak openly.”
“Again, my love,” her mother said, grimacing as if her own words tasted unpleasant, “she’s—”
“Not wrong. I know.” He shook his head. “You can have a council room with palace guards outside once the last member of their group arrives, but those guards will be under orders to enter if they hear any noise that could be a sound of distress.”
That was the most she could ask for now. “Thank you. Is there anything you would like me to do in the meantime?”
Her mother, very much the khevarin of Vanris in that moment, gave her a stony look. “Since you are representing Thaelis, you cannot sit in on the Vanrian council. Perhaps Jaysen would be up for a game of Feral’s Folly.”
A hint of a cutting edge in her voice betrayed how much the situation pained her, even though she had argued in favor of Veyl’s requests. It stung to have earned her mother’s disappointment, but she meant to win her approval by the end of this. Somehow. Not today, though. Not once they read the terms Thaelis wanted. Today was only going to get more difficult.
Suddenly, searching out Jaysen sounded like a fine idea, but not for Feral’s Folly. It had been too long since the last time she sparred properly, and right then it would be the perfect activity to help clear her head.
She bowed slightly to her parents and offered a nod to Jethan and Keyla. “I hope the council meeting goes well. If you will excuse me.” Without giving them time to say more, she swallowed against the tightness in her throat and left the room to search for Jaysen.
***
“Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer to talk about whatever’s on your mind?”
Veyl didn’t answer. Instead, she shifted into a fighting stance across from Jaysen. She had returned to her rooms to change into more suitable clothing and had almost literally run into him coming to look for her on her way out. Under different circumstances, that might have heightened her frustration, but right then she had wanted to find him, and his seeking her out sped up the process.
Recognizing she didn’t intend to answer him, Jaysen tossed his head to flip his dark auburn hair away from his eyes and came at her. She blocked and shifted to the side, lunging in for a quick strike. The aggression in her attack nearly earned her a hit on him, but he leapt back at the last second, his eyes narrowing a fraction.
“Feeling feisty, are we?”
Again, she didn’t respond, taking advantage of his pause to go on the offensive and drive him back with a flurry of fast strikes. He retreated to the edge of the ring, his brows creeping up, and adjusted his grip on the practice weapon, taking her more seriously now. Veyl grinned and lunged at him. They exchanged a quick sequence of attacks, their violent dance moving them around the circle. She had trained with the top fighters in Vanris, but he had trained with those same people for several years and with some of the best Sarket could offer since, which had noticeably changed his style. Still, he couldn’t fight with both hands as effectively as she could, and that was the edge that earned her the first disarm.
Jaysen picked up his practice blade and faced her again. They both lunged in, and Veyl abruptly pivoted to a parry, knocking his weapon aside and coming in with a quick thrust. He sidestepped the attack, and her sword glanced off the side of his ribs, scraping the training armor. The tip of his blade skimmed the back of her armor when he spun around behind her. Twisting, she ducked to the side to avoid his next swing, switching hands with her weapon to find a better angle, and swept out, catching the crossguard of his sword with her blade and tearing it from his grip.
A few more rounds had similar results, with them both landing glancing strikes, but her ability to fight with either hand gave her the edge needed to slip in a killing blow or disarm.
“Havaad curse you and your changing of hands.” Jaysen leaned back against the rail for a moment, panting as he wiped sweat-dampened hair away from his eyes.
Also breathing hard, Veyl walked to the bench where they had left water skins and took a long drink from one. She used a cloth to dab at the moisture on her forehead, giving him a sideways glance when he came up next to her. “I recall you being better than this at predicting my changes.”
“In my defense, we haven’t sparred in some time, and I had no one with your particular talent to practice against in Sarket.” He took a long drink before continuing. “Are you going to talk to me yet? You’re clearly close to bursting with frustration about something. Why don’t you tell me which of the items on the admittedly long list of options is bothering you most?”
“I…” She stared at the bench where she had dropped the now dampened cloth. Living in Sarket for the last several years had changed him. Not in the best of ways, she feared. That more loving, supportive side was still there, but buried how deep? Did she have any hope of digging it out? She sighed. Undoubtedly not, at least when the subject was Thaelis. “You wouldn’t understand.”
She started turning away, but he caught her arm, keeping her there. “Then help me understand. I know you’re upset about how I handled my arrival here with the Thaelian fleet, but you’re too smart not to see why I did what I did. You can’t have suffered through the things they put us through and not see why I couldn’t stomach helping them. I realize that your experience and mine were different. From what I saw, it looked like you had it worse, but that’s not the message I’m getting from you. Maybe if you explained it to me, I could make enough sense of what’s going on here to stand beside you the way I want to.”
Looking at him now, she saw hurt and cautious hope in his eyes and recalled all the times he had followed along with her insane ideas and defended her when she landed them in trouble as children. “You’re right. You have always stood by me in the past. I became used to not having that after you returned to Sarket. The twins and their tehnaaks have long been my friends, but none of them ever understood me as completely as you did. I had to learn to live without someone like that in a place where nearly everyone has a tehnaak to fill that role. It’s also hard not to keep my guard up when I know your being here won’t last.”
“Maybe not. Almost certainly not, but I don’t want to see us pushing each other away when we both desperately need that support.” He gave her a roguish grin. “Besides, I could just stay dead and remain in Vanris.”
She answered with a wry smile. “And allow Thrasser to continue ruling Sarket?”
He blew out a heavy breath, running one hand through his hair, a hint of his distress rising to the surface. “A sound argument against it, I suppose.”
“I—”
“Khesran Veyl.”
She turned to see an attendant striding across the training grounds toward them. “What is it?”
The man stopped at the edge of the ring and offered a slight bow. “The second party from the coast has arrived. I was told to let you know that Ahnkreth Nalika from Thaelis is being provided with rooms and an opportunity to refresh. The khemron said that the smaller meeting chamber near the war room is available for your use when you are ready.”
Finally. Butterflies danced to life in her chest at the thought of seeing Kyril. She would have to find some way to stop that reaction or at least ignore it. What occurred between them in Thaelis could never happen again. “Thank you. Have the Thaelian representatives brought to the meeting chamber in half an hour and arrange for food and drink to be delivered there as well, please.”
He bowed again. “Consider it done, Khesran. It is good to have you back,” he added before hurrying off.
“You’re meeting with them?”
The disdain in Jaysen’s voice brought up a crackle of energy in her chest. Veyl closed her eyes and leaned her head back, letting the sun fall full on her face. She imagined the ocean breeze, the salty tang of sea air, the crash of waves. Her ability calmed. She opened her eyes, coming back under the scalding desert sun, and gave him a hard look.
“Maybe you could defer your judgment until after I have the chance to explain to you why I believe this is the right course of action.”
Jaysen lowered his gaze. “I apologize. I’ll try to keep my personal biases in check until we can speak more. Perhaps after dinner tonight?”
Assuming any of them were still willing to talk to her by the time they finished their first negotiation session. “Thank you for trying. Hopefully, we’ll have time to talk later.”
Veyl hurried to her rooms in the palace and washed up. She changed into the Thaelian uniform that someone had hung back on her wardrobe, knowing she might not have time to do so between this meeting and the first formal session. Then she hurried to the room a little early. A guard met her there with what turned out to be a copy of the agreement she had signed that the Vanrian council must have produced. It made her stomach flip, wondering what her parents thought of the words on those pages. Did it mean anything that they had kept the original?
The attendants had set out four mugs of Vanrian Black Mead, along with plates and utensils, on a rectangular table that could seat up to eight, with trays holding food and two additional bottles of mead in the center. Veyl set the agreement on a sidebar, then took a long drink from one mug and started pacing.
CHAPTER FIVE
Jinau and Nalika arrived within seconds of each other, both escorted by two guards, one of whom pointedly assured Veyl they would be right outside if she needed assistance.
