Wave-Touched, page 8
His brow furrowed. “That information could be extremely relevant to these negotiations.” Stepping closer, he put his hands on her arms and looked her in the eyes. “You’re a smart young woman. I believe you can do this, but you’re going to have to tread delicately. If your suspicions are correct, they would be admitting treason.”
“Ahnkreth Kyril already faces accusations of treason against his country. The other two don’t have that hanging over them. Regardless, I will figure it out.” She let him pull her into his arms and rested her head against his shoulder, closing her eyes. “I’m just glad you can still love me when we aren’t in that room.”
“We love you inside that room too,” he whispered, his arms squeezing tighter around her. “More than you could possibly imagine.”
***
Veyl had just finished dressing the next morning when there was a knock on her door. The muscles between her shoulder blades pulled tight, and she briefly considered pretending not to be there. But no attendant had delivered the usual early meal, which meant someone, almost certainly her grandfather, had told them not to. Chances were good it was him outside her door now.
“Come in.”
When Arhk walked in, the tightness in her back eased some. Whoever it was she so desperately dreaded seeing, it apparently wasn’t him. Was it Jaysen and the difficult conversation they needed to have? Or perhaps her mother after the meeting yesterday?
Arhk looked her over once, taking in the finely made but functional attire she had selected in case an opportunity arose to spar with someone. The amount of nervous energy she had buzzing through her gave the idea significant appeal.
“Good morning. I hoped you might join me for something to eat.”
“Because you’re worried I’ll Frighten someone to death during negotiations later?” The query, meant to be jesting, came out far sharper than she intended, exposing some of her underlying stress.
Arhk nodded, a disconcerting trace of pleasure in his smile. “That possibility had occurred to me. But you are also my granddaughter, and I am glad to have you home, regardless of the complicated nature of your return.”
Veyl lowered her gaze. “I’m sorry. I need to work on concealing my emotions better.”
“No. Not when we are alone, at least. You should never have to hide yourself from your family.”
If he only knew the things she was hiding.
She drew a deep breath and let it out.
One corner of his mouth quirked up. “Except for whatever that was, apparently. You cannot carry all the weight of the world on your shoulders alone.”
Veyl grinned. “I find it ironic to hear those words coming from your lips.”
His smile held the familiar hint of sorrow he had carried with him her whole life. From talking to others, she got the impression he had carried that weight alone since the day a group from Sarket murdered his wife and kidnapped his son—her father—as a child. Getting his son back twelve years later hadn’t erased that pain, though she hoped it had eased it some.
“I am always the exception to my own rules.” He gestured toward the door. “Shall we?”
“Lead the way.”
He didn’t take her to the sitting area of his chambers as she had half expected him to. Their route led them past the hall that split off to the guest quarters. Three of the doors in that first section had guards in front of them, Kyril’s with four compared to only two each on the others. Did Ceris find their wariness of him amusing? Those rooms weren’t located where she could reach them using the rooftops, not that she should even consider doing so. Besides, her father would be keeping an eye on the palace from inside and out with the aid of his many creatures while the Thaelians were there.
Arhk took her to the same sitting area looking out on the vast enclosed garden that she had visited her parents in the day before. Attendants were finishing setting up a selection of food with hot tea and sweet wine to accompany the meal. Once they left, she settled in a chair facing Arhk, each of them taking a moment to sample a few of the offerings from the table.
Veyl washed a bite down with a sip of wine and asked a question that had nagged her since his intervention on the ship, when she had become trapped by her power. “Typically, mind-crafters can’t affect or be affected by someone who shares the same ability. How were you able to use your ability on me to break me free of my own?”
“In ordinary cases, that is true. In that specific situation, your ability had taken control of you, which left you vulnerable to outside influences, even those of a like nature. Normally, you would have been immune to my efforts.”
Veyl slathered jam across a piece of bread and took a bite, delighting in the natural sweetness of the berries used to make it. Despite the comfort she got from enjoying familiar meals being prepared for her, she missed the simple pleasure of discovering new dishes. She missed Kitria, under whose patient tutelage she started learning to cook some of those unfamiliar foods for herself.
“Would you care to share the thoughts that bring that wistful smile to your lips?”
For a second, she considered whether he might hold the truth against her, but she had always enjoyed a bond with her grandfather, whom so many people feared—a bond that took on new depth with the awakening of her Frightener ability.
“I was thinking of a woman in Thaelis, a little younger than me. Ahnkreth Kyril’s sister Kitria, who welcomed me into her home and was teaching me how to make some of the traditional Qwilki dishes.”
Arhk chuckled, biting into a juicy orange wedge.
“What do you find funny about that?”
He swallowed, then a faint, teasing smile curved his lips. “I am merely trying to imagine you cooking for yourself.”
“It was fun, and I wasn’t half bad at it,” she answered with a deliberately dramatic pout.
“You excel at most of the tasks you put your mind to, though I have gotten the impression your Frightener ability is proving more resistant.”
She gazed past him into the jungle of foliage beyond the glass wall, thriving within the carefully managed enclosure. Plants that provided food or medicine, and some simply for decoration, in a vibrant garden that burst with life year-round.
“Have you ever broken someone’s mind with your ability?” she asked, finally meeting his eyes.
“Yes. A few times after it first awakened, and on several occasions in the months following the loss of Kasiel and his mother.” Though his tone remained almost disinterested, she caught a quick tightening around his eyes and in his jaw before he moved on. “Most abilities have the potential to destroy a mind in that way if they are powerful enough. As a Frightener, I am afraid you will find few who appreciate the strength of your ability.”
Veyl nodded, poking at a savory pastry on her plate that had looked far more appetizing a moment ago. “Do you see their fear?”
“I do. You must learn to accept that fear and blend it into a single experience in your mind the way the sounds from an array of different instruments can come together to create a song.” As he spoke, he applied jam to a piece of bread, meticulously spreading an even coat to every edge. “Then use your ability to play that song back, if you will, to the people you wish to influence. When your ability—your song—takes hold of them, their minds will transform it into whatever sparks terror in their hearts.”
Veyl stared at him. “When you speak of it, you make it sound much more beautiful than it is.”
“Because I learned to accept what I am. You must do the same if you wish to control it.” He passed the bread to her and picked up another to spread jam on for himself. “Master their fears. Give them a form, an image or sound in your mind that pleases you. One that will help keep you focused and in control.”
“Like the ocean breaking upon the shore.” She took a bite of the bread, delicious enough on its own that the jam made it an overindulgence of the most delectable kind.
His brows rose a fraction. “If that pleases you.”
They finished the bread in companionable silence. Before they could resume their conversation, the door opened, and her father entered with Irith at his side.
“A pleasant morning to you both.”
Arhk stood, so Veyl did the same, though, given the familial bonds between them all, the formality seemed out of place.
“Good morning, Kasiel.”
“Father,” Veyl added, letting Arhk’s greeting serve for her as well. She glanced past him to where three of his personal guards, including his Evoker Yserra and Dampener Minera, stood waiting on the other side of the wide hall. “Are you going somewhere?”
“I’m meeting…” He trailed off, his focus turning inward in the way it did when one of his beasts passed information to him, and Irith glanced back down the hall, his ears swiveling in that direction.
After a second, Veyl heard several sets of footsteps approaching. Then Kyril and Ceris came into view, stopping outside the door in the company of four guards.
Her father faced the other Feral. “I was heading out to visit the habitats, and I thought your wave dancer might enjoy an opportunity to stretch his legs.”
Kyril bowed his head respectfully. “Your consideration is appreciated, Khemron Kasiel.” His hand came to rest on Ceris’s head. Though he never looked directly at her, somehow she could feel his attention on her, like the heat of the summer sun.
“We shall go then.” Kasiel glanced back at her. “Why don’t you join us, Veyl?”
Panic twisted her gut, and she turned to her grandfather. “I would, but we were having…” she trailed off when Arhk extended a hand toward her father.
“Feel free to accompany them. I have other business I should attend to.”
She realized then that she hadn’t thrown her father off the scent after all. This was a trap, set up to try figuring out what sort of connection, if any, existed between her and the Thaelian ahnkreth. Kyril’s wary look said he saw it too, but there was no reasonable way to escape it now that wouldn’t draw more suspicion. She couldn’t even use her need to meet with the other Thaelians as an excuse to beg off because her father was taking one of them with him.
Forcing the appearance of composure, she inclined her head. “Thank you, Father. I would enjoy the walk.” She accepted the arm he offered her.
They wandered out through the garden, her father’s guards and the four accompanying Kyril falling back far enough to offer some privacy for conversation while staying within range to react to threats. Veyl strode along next to Irith on her father’s right, while Kyril walked on his other side with the wave dancer between them. Ceris peered over at Irith now and then, ears perked with an eagerness that made her wonder how young the beast was.
“Dhomvalen Arhk was helping with your Frightener ability, I assume?” Her father inquired, breaking the uneasy silence.
“We discussed it a little?”
“The dhomvalen is a Frightener?” Kyril asked.
Her father nodded. “The strongest in Vanris.”
Kyril gave Veyl a sideways look. “Even now?”
Her father glanced at her as well, his brow furrowing. “You incapacitated the crews of three Sarketi ships, as I understand it. That’s no insignificant feat.”
“You should have seen the fleet of Ukhen’kya she drove off.” The glimmer of pride in Kyril’s tone brought warmth to Veyl’s cheeks.
“I should like to hear more about that.”
Veyl had told him some of that experience, but Kyril was more than happy to indulge him in a retelling from his perspective without embellishment, while still framing it as an extraordinary accomplishment. To her relief, he emphasized his gratitude for her selfless defense of his people, which might lend a more straightforward legitimacy to his desire to help her.
At the cliff cat enclosure, they let Ceris out into the recovery area to run. He sprinted around the perimeter twice before settling into pace along the barrier between him and the rest of the habitat to observe Irith and a few other big cats. The cats watched Ceris from a distance, curious but wary of the strange amphibious canine.
“You attempted to interact with my tethdraks in the meeting chamber yesterday,” her father commented a short time later as they were leaving the habitat.
“Apologies, Khemron, I meant no disrespect.” Kyril smoothly deflected the accusation in her father’s stern regard. “It was merely curiosity. I have only ever seen them in illustrations in our history books.”
Opportunity lit her father’s eyes. “Then you’ve never seen a kanodrak either, I assume.”
Veyl caught a trace of almost childlike eagerness in his voice. A boy who had just discovered someone to whom he could show off the toy he took the greatest pride in. Not that Niskenya was a toy, or even his in essence, but the effect was still quite similar, allowing tension between the two Ferals to fade for the moment. If Kyril were Vanrian, she suspected they might easily learn to get along.
“You assume correctly,” Kyril answered, a flicker of cautious interest in his eyes. Next to him, Ceris’s ears perked up, the animal responding more openly to his companion’s emotions.
“Come with me.”
Her father led them to the enormous building that overlooked the tethdrak canyon. It took them a few seconds to get Kyril past the life-sized kanodrak statue in the center of the structure. When they reached the open back wall and viewing platform, he stood gazing out at the habitat, lost in awestruck contemplation for several minutes before they led him to the complicated lift mechanism that would carry them to the canyon floor, which created another prolonged distraction. At the bottom, they passed in front of the tethdrak habitat, and a few of the reptilian beasts approached the barrier, watching the wave dancer curiously. Ceris bounded closer, giving off some of the strange calls he had used with the whales. One of the younger tethdraks sprinted back and forth along the bars several times, excited by the new sound.
Ceris bolted back to Kyril, looking immensely pleased with himself. The Feral ahnkreth sank to one knee in the dirt and scratched the beast behind both ears. “Are you trying to make friends again?”
Ceris licked him on the nose, and Veyl smiled, glancing over in time to catch the thoughtful look on her father’s face. The sun brought out the lighter shades in his long red hair, pulled back into two braids like the ones she wore. In his case, it exposed one of his ears, which ended in flat scars from being cut short by the people who kidnapped him as a child. Did he remember what it was like to be ripped away from his home? Her mother said he had been almost five when it happened, and the trauma of the event seemed to have erased most of his memories of that time and his life before it. Regardless, she could see how the experience wouldn’t endear him to Kyril or his people. Arhk either, who had his son stolen away as she had been, only at a much younger age. They faced an uphill battle with the two men.
Kyril stood, the sunlight drawing out the blue in his black hair. He looked at the canyon habitat, then back at the lift they had ridden down on. “This place is impressive. Thaelis is a much simpler land. I’m afraid our isolation has encouraged a certain level of ignorance about the world beyond our shores.”
“No amount of ignorance should lead your people to believe that stealing others from their homes is acceptable,” her father remarked, his tone cutting, though Veyl caught a slight softening there of the teaching voice he often used with her when she got into trouble. Something she suspected he had picked up from his tehnaak. Speaking of whom.
“Why isn’t Uncle Jethan with you?”
He faced her. “Jethan and your mother are having a conversation with Ahndhomen Jinau.”
Charmers for a Charmer, naturally, and a Feral to handle the Thaelian Feral. Maybe he wasn’t still suspicious about Kyril’s support of her after all. But then, why would he have brought her along if he didn’t have an underlying motive?
“Divide and conquer.” A smirk curved Kyril’s lips, the barest hint of admiration in his tone. “I have to ask, who did you subject to Evoker Nalika’s sharp temper?”
“Evoker Zafyr and Dhomvalen Arhk should be able to handle it,” her father answered, and Veyl instantly felt sorry for the Thaelian Evoker. “Come, I’m curious to see how your wave dancer responds to the kanodraks.”
At the door leading into the tunnel that cut through to the kanodrak canyon, he ordered Kyril’s guards to wait, taking only his three elite ones with them. It surprised her he was letting the wave dancer come, but, as a Feral who could control almost any beast, she could see where his curiosity regarding the creature might be too much for him. Perhaps he sought Niskenya’s impression of it.
When they stepped out into the canyon on the other side, the kanodrak was at the front of the enclosure, waiting. No matter how many times she saw the beast, Veyl remained in awe of her. Larger than a horse, but built more like a cat, she had long upper canines that dipped below her jaw, a silver-gray scaled hide, and exposed bone armor over part of her head and neck. There was nothing like her, aside from the other kanodraks, one of which lurked several yards away, curious about them, but respectful of the alpha female.
Kyril took a few steps toward the bars and bowed to the beast. Niskenya watched him with her milky white eyes, letting out a low growl at his approach. His gaze turned inward for a second, and he chuckled when she growled louder.
“Quite forceful, isn’t she?” he asked, not taking his eyes from the kanodrak.
“Kanodraks choose their companions and let no one in without permission,” her father explained, watching the Thaelian Feral intently. Then his gaze lowered to Ceris. “Much like your wave dancer, it turns out.”
“Hm, yes.” Kyril touched the tall canine’s shoulder. “No wave dancer has ever been forced to do anything.”
Kasiel nodded, a thoughtful furrow forming in his brow. “This is Niskenya.”
“It is a great honor,” Kyril said, looking her over with open, almost childlike awe.
Ceris trotted forward, approaching the bars without fear, and made a trilling sound. Niskenya lowered her head, sniffing at him, and answered with what sounded like a purr, only a little higher pitched than anything Veyl had ever heard from her. The wave dancer reared up on his hind feet, placing his front paws on the bars, and pushed his nose between them to lick her head. The kanodrak responded with another high purr, rubbing her face forcefully against the bars.
