~ 8 ~
He was supposed to be brutal and domineering, not charming and insouciant. Now he really wasn’t living up to his reputation.
The intensity in his gaze was too much. She reached for his knife, and he let her take it. “This is supposed to be heated, but I like it cold too.”
Using the tip of his knife, she fished out a piece of ravioli and ate it with relish while he watched her, still smiling.
When she swallowed, he rubbed the corner of her mouth gently with the ball of his thumb, then licked it.
Dear goddess. Warmth washed over her skin.
He smiled. “Tell me the story.”
She surveyed the contents in the can. “I’m not actually from Ys. I used to live in a place called southern Indiana.”
He puzzled over that information, then said, “The language on the can is English.”
“Yes. Indiana is in the United States, in North America.”
Opening a jar of caviar and a packet of salt bread, he dipped a corner of a wafer in the jar and then popped it in his mouth. Around the bite, he said, “You must have had quite a journey. Ys doesn’t have any crossover passageways to America.”
“No, all our passageways are connected to Europe.” She looked into the cheery flames leaping in the fireplace. How could she tell this story quickly? “My early childhood was… complicated. When I was a toddler, we were poor, and we lived in a small town. My mother drank, and she had several men come and go until one of them stayed. He cooked meth, which is a very addictive, illegal drug.”
As she spoke, his subtle playful attitude had disappeared, and he watched her intently. “That doesn’t sound like a good home for a child.”
“No,” she said. “Mind you, I was too young to comprehend most of it. When the abbey took me in, the priestesses scried to find out where I was from and what had happened to me. I’m sure I breathed chemicals I shouldn’t have, and I was mostly left to my own devices, but I didn’t really understand, you know? I do remember that one of my favorite meals was Chef Boyardee and a packet of M&M’s—which is a kind of chocolate candy—for dessert. Occasionally I still like to eat them.”
He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “How did you get from there to here?”
She blew out a breath. “Camael led me here. I was a strange child, and… Let’s just say I saw things that weren’t physically present. I still do.”
He frowned. “Didn’t your mother ever have you tested for magic?”
She said wryly, “I don’t think she was that functional. Anyway, one night a shining woman walked into my bedroom. She kissed me on the forehead and said, ‘Come with me, little love.’ She was so beautiful, and I was very excited, and I asked if she would be my new mommy. She told me, ‘In a way, I will. But you must be brave as a lion and do as I say.’ So I did. I took my pillow and my stuffed bunny, and I walked out of the house.”
“How old were you?” He took the can from her, scooped out a ravioli, and ate it.
Laughing at the face he made, she replied, “I was three. Outside, the shiny woman disappeared, but I could hear her voice, and I could feel when she nudged me. Our house sat at the edge of town, and she led me into the forest, past the ruins of a building, and along a creek—and as I walked, everything around me changed. Suddenly it was daylight, and I was in a field, and there was no creek, nor were there any ruins. I had walked down a crossover passageway.”
At this point in the story, his gaze never left her face. “Were you frightened?”
Shrugging, she told him, “Sure, a couple of times. But at first I was too excited to get to my new home and mommy. Then I was bored. After that I got used to it, I guess. When I was found, apparently I’d been wandering the countryside for more than a month.”
“This story is killing me. You were three?” He shook his head. “It’s a miracle you survived. What did you eat?”
She took the can back from him. “I ate the mushrooms and the berries the goddess told me to eat and drank at streams when she told me to drink. I had my bunny and my pillow, and I slept in the woods.”
He blew out a breath. “Nobody can survive on berries and mushrooms for a month, especially not a small growing child.”
She laughed. “I know, right? They told me I was in remarkable shape for everything I’d been through—my teeth were perfect, and I was healthy, and fit, and very, very dirty.”
“In Ys.”
“Yes, in Ys.” Scraping the sides of the can, she carefully licked the sauce off the blade. “Since discovering a new crossover passageway is officially a very big deal, Raella sent priestesses to verify everything in person. They interviewed everyone in the town and searched for ten miles in every direction.” She paused. “They found the creek and the ruins—they learned it had once been a courthouse—but there was no passageway. The house where I’d lived had burned to the ground early one morning. The fire had killed my mother and her boyfriend in their sleep, but they never discovered the body of a child. That’s all I know. The abbey took me in, and I’ve been here ever since.”
Setting the empty can aside, she avoided looking at him. While the consternation and awe she saw at times in other people’s faces was understandable, it also made her feel lonely and isolated. She didn’t want to see that in his expression.
Long, lean fingers came under her chin, and he coaxed her around to face him. Feeling cranky, she complied. Fine. How he felt about her was irrelevant anyway.
What she saw in his gaze melted away her crankiness. His eyes were alight with… admiration? Respect? “I am beyond honored to meet that brave little girl.”
That was a stupid thing to say. She had no business feeling touched by it or warmed in any way. “That little girl has been gone for twenty-four years.”
“Of course she’s not gone. She still lives inside you, and you have her magic and her bravery.” He caressed her cheek. “My advance scout reported that, while he was here, he heard people talking of the new Chosen. They said she was kind and thoughtful and a true visionary in every sense of the word. Your people love you.”
Despite the harsh words she and Gennita had exchanged, she knew it was true. Her people did love her. The ones she had sent out to fight and die loved her. Wulf’s face disappeared in a blur.
He said, “Don’t let those demons back in, Lily.”
She had to push her lips together hard before she could whisper, “I sent people out to fight today. I sent friends out to fight today, and some of them won’t come back.”
A long silence greeted those words. “Was this your first time?”
Nodding, she swiped at the tears that spilled over. “Like I said—this is mine to deal with. But today was a hard day.”
Cupping the back of her neck, he kissed her forehead. His lips were warm and firm. “In case you were wondering, no, it doesn’t get easier. You’ll need to find ways to cope with it.”
“I know. And I need to find ways to better handle opposition and conflict. I had a bad run-in with one of the elders on the council earlier. I don’t think our relationship is ever going to be the same.”
He murmured as if to himself, “You’re not going to let me ride in and fix all your problems, are you?”
With a snap of focus, she met his gaze. “What do you think?”
He chuckled. “I think I just came up against one of those boundaries again.” Sobering, he continued. “I might not be able to fix your problems, but I’ve been in command for a lot longer than you. If I might offer a small piece of advice, don’t be too nice tomorrow. Discourse and disagreement are one thing, but don’t let anyone challenge your authority or show you disrespect. You’re the one in charge, not them.”
She groaned and clapped her hands over her face. “She was one of my teachers. I used to sit on her lap for story time.”
“Poor Lily.” He rubbed her back. “Do you still need to sit on her lap for story time?”
“What?” She straightened and glared at him. “No!”
Wulf loved watching how her gaze sparked, so much so that he was tempted to needle her further. But behind that flash of fire, there was real exhaustion, and dark smudges circled her eyes.
Instead, he shrugged. “Sounds like you know things have moved on. While you haven’t told me what you two said to each other, maybe she needs to be reminded of that too.”
The corners of her mouth turned down. “I’ll think it over.”
“Good.” He was still hungry. Now that she no longer needed his knife to eat the appalling orange food, he spread more caviar on salt bread and ate. “Don’t mind me. Go ahead and help yourself to the chocolate.”
While he braced for another argument, this time she surprised him and reached for the candy. “You have destroyed my integrity. I won’t forget this.”
He nudged her shoulder with his. “No one need ever know about the chocolate and that other weird orange stuff. Your secret is safe with me.”
Giving him a lopsided smile, she broke a chocolate bar into pieces. “We’ve talked more than enough about me. What about you? What was your childhood like?”
“Mine was as straight and uncomplicated as an arrow. Nothing cutthroat, no funny business, no disappearing crossover passageways. I roamed a little too far sometimes, I was cosseted by everyone, and my curfew was my stomach. I was always home by supper.”
“Your mother was lady of Braugne, correct?”
“That’s right.” When he finished the caviar, he ate the last of the salt wafers, then looked around with regret. He was still hungry. “Her first husband died after she had Kris. After a few years, she remarried and gave birth to me. I was always thrilled that he was the heir. There was no way in hell I wanted to rule Braugne.”
He still didn’t. Now he wanted to rule all of Ys.
She hesitated, then said, “You’re so sure Varian had your brother killed… Do you have proof?”
Instead of answering right away, he leaned back on one elbow as he regarded her. Scooting around, she turned to face him and leaned on her side too, propping her head on the heel of one hand.
The glow of the firelight gilded her skin with gold. At first he hadn’t noticed her in the group on the dock. All his attention had been on her pretty, fiery prime minister.
Then, gradually, Lily had captured more and more of his attention, until now he couldn’t look away from her.
He couldn’t believe how beautiful she was, and how sophisticated the subtle play of her expressions were. And he couldn’t stop touching her.
Capturing her hand, he played with her fingers. “Braugne has always been a cash-poor kingdom. Our country is mountainous, splendid, and unforgiving. We can feed and house our own, and our goats and sheep are some of the hardiest stock a farmer could ever hope to have, but to date, our biggest exports have been iron, a little copper, and salt from mining.”
She played with his fingers too. It was such a small intimacy, but her touch sent a trail of liquid fire running through his veins.
“That’s about the extent of what I know about Braugne,” she admitted.
“We also have no access to the advantages that crossover passageways can give to a kingdom. Neither do Karre or Mignez. Those advantages have been largely enjoyed by Guerlan, Calles, and Chivres. Not only are those passageways further out of reach for the rest of us, most of them levy taxes on the usage of them.”
A frown creased her forehead. “I never considered that inequity before. Sometime I would like to discuss ways we might change that.”
Bless her. He almost kissed her.
He intended to change that too, to level some of the inequities in the richer kingdoms while bringing more opportunities to the poorest. She had been right. He had the soul of a conqueror and the drive to see the conquest through.
But he was unwilling to steer things in that direction, and he didn’t want to rile her. He wanted more of this calm, private conversation.
So for now he compromised and pressed her fingers to his lips. “I would like that. But to get back to your question, last year Varian approached my brother. He offered a treaty to lease several thousand hectares of land to Guerlan for a hundred years. Varian’s envoy said it was for hunting purposes. His king was eager to explore the vast and magnificent challenge of hunting the wild boars, mountain lions, and firedrakes in Braugne.”
Her eyebrows rose as she considered that. “Are firedrakes difficult to kill?”
“Extremely. Their bodies are about the size of a large mastiff, not counting their tails, and they have teeth almost as long as the length of my hand.”
She eyed him curiously. “Do they really spit fire?”
“It burns like fire, but it’s more like an acid that will eat your flesh from the bone if you let them spray you. They’re also smart like feral cats, and very fast, so hunting them is not a safe pursuit, yet apparently Varian was eager to try it. Kris told him he would take the winter to consider the proposal. Signing a hundred-year lease wasn’t something to do lightly. Plus it bothered him. Why a hundred years? Varian’s in his midthirties. By the time forty or fifty more years have passed, he won’t be hunting anything. Still, the money was tempting. There was a lot we could do with it.”
She muttered, “I’m waiting for the story to turn bad.”
He squeezed her hand. “Events transpired over some time, but the story does turn pretty quickly. Kris thought about the treaty while Varian’s envoy wintered at our court. He was funny and charming and persuasive, and yet why the hundred years? Why that tract of land? The only thing it had ever been good for was a salt mine that everybody knew was almost played out. So Kris set me to the task of finding out why.”
“And did you?”
Wulf thought back over the long, painstaking investigation. Having the Guerlan envoy followed, intercepting messages, uncovering, bit by bit, a network of Guerlan spies that had insinuated itself into the kingdom, and the slow build of incredulous anger at what he discovered.
“It took me and my team of investigators several months, but I did,” he told her. “Over the past decade, Varian has quietly developed a presence in our mining towns, and he’s been spying on our explorations. It turns out the mine on the land he wanted to rent was almost played out for salt, which everyone had already known. But the real news was, the miners had struck gold instead.”