By Fire and Flood, page 28
“Lord Tryamon!” Trey stiffened at the sound of Faris Broffet’s voice colliding with his back. He considered continuing down the stairs and slipping through a side door, but something in the other man’s voice made him pause. He curled his lip against his displeasure before huffing out a breath and spinning to face him. Faris nearly collided with him, reeling backwards to avoid smacking into him.
“What do you want?” he asked coldly, studying the Water Realm captain through narrowed eyes. He hadn’t seen Faris since his Blood Oath, and now, it was all that he could do to stem the flood of bile that churned in his stomach
“Have you seen Nissa?” he asked. Trey narrowed his eyes, confused.
“Not since yesterday morning.” He squinted further. “Why?”
“I can’t find her,” Faris said. Trey huffed out a breath and shook his head, moving to turn away.
“Maybe she’s avoiding you. I don’t have time for this.” He took a step before Faris gripped him on the shoulder and spun him around. “Take your hands off of me,” he ordered. Trey’s eyes flashed with cold fire as he surveyed the man. Faris dropped his hand and stepped back, nostrils flaring.
“Something’s happened to her. She doesn’t have a friend in Sel’veren, except for you and me. If neither of us have seen her—”
“And Tanyl and Baloriel. Have you checked in with Liana?” Trey crossed his arms. “Look, I really don’t have time for this. If she wants you to find her, then she’ll let you. For now—”
“We were drinking,” Faris blurted, color rising to his cheeks. Trey’s heart dropped a fraction as he fixed Faris with a stare.
“You were drinking?” he prompted slowly. The color in Faris’s face deepened as he shifted his weight between his feet, fidgeting with the sleeve of his tunic.
“We were drinking. She was upset after, well…” he trailed off, waving his hand. Trey had the sudden desire to snap it at the wrist as his stomach tightened with dread. He pressed his lips into a tight line as he crossed his arms.
“Yes, she was upset. Out with it,” he huffed.
“She was upset about the Oath, and I understand why. Where we’re from…” Faris shuddered. “It’s a serious thing, and...” He trailed off again, and Trey fisted his hands in his shirt to keep himself from wrapping one of them around Faris’s throat and shoving him into the wall. “There was wine. We were drinking, and neither of us had enough to…” Faris took a deep breath. “Look, I knew she was upset, so I brought her a drink. We had a few, and then the room started spinning. I know it must have been for her too, because she fell over.” Faris’s eyes fixed at a point near Trey’s shoulder, as though he was reliving the memory. The dread was shifting, ice-cold, into his chest as the first darts of fear threatened to puncture his heart. He took a deep breath, hoping that his hunch was wrong.
“Were you drugged?” he asked shortly, closing his eyes as he awaited the answer.
“I don’t know. I just woke up in her room, and she’s gone.” Something in Trey ruptured. He turned on his heel and stalked for the stairs, taking them two at a time as he plunged down through the hearthstone of Sel’veren. He was conscious of two things as he made his descent: Faris’s footsteps behind him and the roaring of his own pulse in his ears. He gritted his teeth as he fought to leash his rage, his fear.
“Where are you going?” Faris’s voice sounded miles away behind him, as he stalked toward the hallway where he knew the guards stayed. He slammed open the third door on the right, and the impact of it hitting the wall shook around him as he stepped over the threshold.
“Trey, what’s wrong?” Tanyl was on his feet in an instant, his light eyes wide with worry.
“We’re leaving,” he snarled, as the waves of rage and fear crashed into each other within him. He took a deep breath to staunch the surge as it threatened to overpower him like a tidal wave. Tanyl’s eyes fixed on someone behind him, and Trey repressed a growl of annoyance.
“What happened?” he asked.
“Nissa’s gone,” Faris said, his voice suddenly clear. Trey rounded on him, and the other man backed up a step.
“You couldn’t have led with that?”
“I tried. You didn’t have time, remember?” Temper sparked in Faris’s eyes as he met the challenge. Tanyl shouldered his way in between them, shoving them apart.
“This isn’t helping,” he snapped.
“He gave her drugged wine, and when he woke up, she was gone.” Every instinct howled within him to tear the house apart, stone by stone to find whoever was responsible.
“I didn’t give her drugged wine; I was drugged too,” Faris snapped.
“Semantics,” Trey said nastily.
“That’s enough,” Tanyl snarled, fixing both of them with a threatening stare. In a twitch of movement, a dagger appeared in each hand, procured from some hidden place. With a rough sound of frustration, Trey tore himself away and stalked across the room.
“Where’s Baloriel?” he demanded.
“Out on a patrol. Raenon wanted him to help plan perimeter security for the wed—” Trey stiffened as another surge of wrath threatened to wash over him, and he closed his eyes to steady himself.
“Don’t say it,” he warned with a growl.
“He’s not here,” Tanyl amended.
“I’m coming with you,” Faris said. “I’ll be your third.” Sparks winked at him within the roiling sea of his rage, and Trey took another breath. It wouldn’t take much for him to lose control completely. To his surprise, it was Tanyl who protested.
“Not a chance,” Tanyl’s eyes narrowed as he turned to face Faris, both daggers gleaming. “I haven’t forgotten your role in the Blood Oath.” Faris fell back a step, looking stricken.
“I didn’t know that’s why I was here. I was a pawn in that as much as either of you.” Trey barked out a noise halfway between a snarl and a mirthless laugh.
“And the drugged wine?” he pointed out. Twin spots of color appeared on his cheeks.
“Drugged me too. My fault, but not my doing.” Something in that admission stemmed the next riptide of temper that threatened to drag him away, and Tryamon paused, considering the man again.
“Fine,” he snapped. “But you’re coming with me to talk to Aella.” Tanyl blinked at Trey in surprise.
“Too scared to ask your fiancée for permission by yourself?” Faris sneered. Tanyl took a threatening step forward, lofting the one of the daggers again. The raging tide within Tryamon froze as he looked down at the other man, whose chest rose and fell with rapid breath.
“This is your mess. You get to help explain why we need to clean it up.” He shoved past him, not knowing or caring how close the other two men were behind him.
48
As they neared Aella’s chambers, Trey gave the order for Tanyl to get the horses ready. He had lingered only for a moment, glancing distrustfully at Faris, before he followed the command, hunching his shoulders with every step he took away. Faris, to his credit, had no response to the dirty look. In fact, he swallowed nervously as Trey raised a fist and pounded on his fiancée’s double doors. The latch between them clicked faintly as they opened inward, and it was only Faris’s hand on his upper arm that kept Trey from launching forward and knocking over Aella herself as she answered. He inhaled sharply at a thought. Would Liana be inside already, tittering about invite lists and the political capital of one guest or another? As Aella glanced between Trey and Faris, however, only silence poured from the room. She arched a pale brow delicately over one silver eyes, her dark skin seeming deeper and richer in the shadow of the door. Trey swallowed heavily.
“Good morning,” he began. “We were—” He stopped short as she turned and took a step back, beckoning them into the room.
“Come in,” she invited before saying lower, “it doesn’t do to have sensitive conversations where other ears can hear.” Tryamon cast a wary glance around the seemingly empty hallway before stepping wordlessly in to join her. She stepped away as Faris slipped in after him and turned to shut the door, looking him up and down with a suspicious look of her own.
“Why is he here?” Her normally low voice rose with the question as her eyebrows climbed across her forehead, and Trey cast a dismissive glance back at Faris before shaking his head impatiently.
“Consider him our chaperone.” He let out a breath. “Look—” She held up a hand, her eyebrows bridging together in question.
“You think we need a chaperone?” she asked incredulously. He blinked at her. Gone was the careful, deliberate voice he had become used to hearing in meetings with her father. He winced as he took a step back from her.
“That’s not what I meant, Aella. I just—”
“What did you mean? You think you’re so charming that you could just knock on my door and I would—” Faris stepped forward as Trey fell back another step with wide eyes.
“Look, with all due respect, that’s not why he’s here. I’m sure you’ll have plenty of time to discuss what you’d do alone in a room together once you’re married. For now, we have other things to worry about.” He looked sharply between Trey and Aella, whose jaw hung open for a moment before she collected herself. She drew herself up to her full height.
“You dare to—” Faris let out a short laugh, the color high on his cheeks.
“Yes, I dare. I’m going to cut to the chase to save you both the misunderstanding. Lord Tryamon is not here to make any sort of advance on you or discuss your upcoming nuptials. Lord Tryamon, Aella has no interest in sleeping with you right now, so don’t flatter yourself by trying. Does that about cover it?” Their eyes were wide as they stared at Faris, and Trey knew that he should say something to defend himself, to defend his fiancée. He took a deep breath to run interference, but a choking sound from beside him had Trey wheeling around in alarm. Aella had one hand pressed to her abdomen and the other across her mouth as she twitched back in forth, her knees threatening to buckle. Another choking sound escaped here, and he knew that he should—wait! She was laughing? As though his realization had severed the last of her control, Aella buckled forward, rocking with mirth as she glanced between the men with howls.
“No one has ever… spoken to me with… that kind of candor… before…” she said between bursts of mirth. Trey stared at her. Who was this? The Aella he knew was quiet and serious and soft-spoken. This woman, with glee glistening in her eyes, was a stranger.
“Happy to oblige,” Faris said with a wry sort of grin. Trey exchanged a glance with him and the grin dropped. When they turned back to Aella, her laughter had faded into concern.
“What is it?” she asked cautiously, eyeing them both. Trey swallowed the lump in his throat as he fumbled for the right words to explain their predicament.
“It’s Nissa,” Faris chimed in, ignoring the glare that Trey shot him. Tryamon did not miss the way that Aella stiffened at the name.
“Nissa as in the woman you brought here trying to pass off as Elyssa Broffet?” she asked with another raised brow. Trey squinted at her.
“You knew before the Oath?” he asked in disbelief.
“Liana knew. She passed along the information.” Aella said with a lift of her chin. “She recognized her from a summit.”
“You didn’t say anything.” Trey’s mouth was suddenly dry.
“I assumed you had your reasons. I hope they aren’t what her family is convinced they are.” Trey groaned, putting his face in his hands as he rubbed his eyes.
“Does your father really believe all that nonsense, or was he bluffing earlier?” he asked. Aella snorted.
“He would have to pay attention to something beyond his own plans to notice something like that. It was a bluff.” Her amusement faded again. “What about Nissa? What happened?”
“She’s gone,” Trey said.
“Disappeared,” Faris clarified. Trey raised an eyebrow at him and the other man stepped back, lifting his hands apologetically.
“And this involves you because…” Aella trailed off. Trey closed his eyes and took a deep breath, forcing himself to steady before he opened his eyes again. It was a gamble, but he would have to trust her.
“It’s my fault she’s here.” Aella’s full lips pressed into a skeptical line, and he shook his head. “No, let me finish. She was in a bad situation back home. She left the Water Realm before she even met me. I caught her crossing the Fire Realm border… with Cyril,” he paused. Her mouth twisted slightly, but she motioned for him to continue. “We ended up taking her to the Singed Keep. Ward found out she was there, and—well—you’ve seen or heard how Ward Chantara is, I imagine.” She nodded, so he continued, “I couldn’t let him drag her back there after hearing how he talked to her, and it was my fault that she wasn’t already long gone. So, I helped her escape to Domogién.” He raised his eyes to meet Aella’s, expecting judgment, but what he found next was understanding.
“Then you brought her to Sel’veren?” she asked pointedly, although not unkindly. He fidgeted slightly as Faris’s head swung between them, waiting for him to continue.
“I didn’t trust Cyril. There were incidents in Domogién. Close calls. I felt like it wasn’t safe for her to stay there once I left, so I offered to bring her to the Air Realm. We were planning to go our separate ways once we reached the city,” he offered weakly. Hearing it all laid out like that really made it clear just how much of this mess was his fault. She’d been so close to a new life, and he’d gotten in her way at every turn. It was all he could do to keep from hanging his head in shame. Aella nodded slowly as though the pieces were falling into place.
“And then Elrand Waera met you outside the walls,” she finished for him, her mouth twisting into a wry kind of smile.
“I think she’s been taken back to the Water Realm.” The words escaped Trey, and he could have sworn at himself. There were more diplomatic ways to make his request. Aella’s smile faltered.
“You know we can’t interfere in another realm’s business. Not like that,” she said, the space between her brows creasing worriedly.
“They came into your home and took her, Aella. They threatened your hospitality and your father’s. What will their actions say about your family’s might? About their ability to protect their guests?” He held his breath once the last question slipped out, and her eyes hardened.
“Everyone should know not to question the strength of my house.” Her voice dropped dangerously as her eyes narrowed at him.
“More so if they know that you can protect those within your walls.” He held her gaze evenly, meeting her challenge as Faris hissed in a warning breath. Aella tilted her head slightly as she beheld him, and Trey felt the first wings of hope flutter in his chest. She isn’t saying no.
“What do you want from me?” she asked finally.
“We want to go retrieve her.” She raised an eyebrow.
“We?” she asked. Trey cleared his throat.
“Tanyl, Faris,” he made a face, “and myself.” Her mouth twisted slightly as she considered.
“Why you?” she asked, watching him closely. He swallowed heavily as several responses battled to be the one that leaped from his tongue.
“This is my mess. I’m the reason she was found at all, and at the end of the day, I’m the reason she was in Sel’veren. I owe it to her to fix my mistakes.” Aella’s eyes sharpened.
“You see your interactions with her as a mistake?” she asked, tilting her head again. Beside him, Faris crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, but he mercifully remained quiet as Tryamon shook his head.
“No. I don’t.” The admission lifted a weight from him that he hadn’t known he was carrying. Of course he didn’t regret meeting Nissa. He regretted that it ruined her escape from her realm, but how could he regret meeting her? She was the first one to challenge him, the first one to make him laugh for as long as he could remember. She understood his plight with his engagement better than anyone should. He’d sought her out after he’d taken the Blood Oath because she was the one place that he knew without a doubt that he would be safe. Regret his interactions with her? He could sooner regret each breath he’d taken in the weeks since.
Some measure of what he was feeling must have shown on his face, because in the next moment, the carefully-blank mask Aella always wore had slipped over her face once more, and the only sign of the emotions she had worn was the chill that lingered in her eyes. Faris shifted from one foot to the other as they each awaited her response. Trey resisted the urge to count his breaths; the longer they stood here debating it, the greater the danger to Nissa.
“Alright,” she said finally. “I’ll make a bargain with you.” His heart rose hopefully even as something hardened in the pit of his stomach. He felt his own unreadable mask slip into place as he met Aella’s contemplative gaze.
“The terms?” he asked.
“You will go to the Water Realm, and you will release Nissa Chantara if she is, in fact, there. But after,” he felt his stomach clench, “you will return to Sel’veren, and you will focus on building the alliance between our realms. No more of these split loyalties. We took an Oath, and you need to honor it.” He considered for a moment, his heart flying and falling in equal measure. The terms of her bargain were vague, which left them open to interpretation, but her meaning was clear. There would be no more of putting Nissa’s safety before his own responsibilities. Trey swallowed heavily. The terms were fair, given that Aella owed them nothing. He put out his hand.
“We have a bargain,” he said clearly. She looked hard at him for a second before placing her slim hand in his. They shook once before he released it. She glanced between Trey and Faris for a moment before turning away, squaring her shoulders.
“Go, and return quickly.” A sideways glance at Faris showed the other man staring at Aella’s back with a curious expression. Trey shifted; he didn’t want to give her a chance to change her mind.
“Thank you, Aella.” He inclined his head to her turned back, even though she couldn’t see the gesture.
