The Barbed Rose. Gail Dayton

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СКАЧАТЬ stood, wondering whether she was appalled for his sake or her own. Did she want this man in her ilian?

      “Is he so mad that he must be treated like this?” Torchay moved between Kallista and the chained man.

      “The mark has affected him profoundly, yes.” Serysta Reinine remained seated, tips of her fingers tented together. “However, he wears chains for another reason. He has come here from Katreinet Prison.”

      She crossed her legs and swung her foot in a leisurely fashion. “Do you not recognize him?”

      Kallista stepped forward, next to Torchay, which was as close as he would allow her to approach. Obed glided a few steps more, placing himself nearer the prisoner. She studied the man, tried to picture him with his beard shaved and his hair neat. He looked up at her, the blue of his eyes blazing bright as one of her sparks.

      Then intelligence flared in those eyes, sharp and clear, and she knew. She breathed his name. “Joh.”

      CHAPTER THREE

      The prisoner in the Reinine’s war room straightened to attention and bowed as formally as his chains would allow. “Captain.”

      Joh Suteny had been the lieutenant in charge of the guards escorting Stone as a prisoner of war to Arikon last year. He had stood as witness to the wedding that bound their original four together. And he had been the one to hide the gunpowder inside the broken gargoyle in the courtyard where she practiced her magic with Obed and Stone.

      He had fired the sparking trail that exploded it and nearly killed them. He had confessed to his own actions but refused to lead them farther in the plot. And now he claimed to be marked by the One?

      The odd rumbling Kallista had been hearing for some moments erupted from a growl into a roar, pouring out of Torchay. She jumped toward Joh—Torchay had come close to killing him the day of the explosion. But Torchay launched himself in the other direction, at Serysta Reinine.

      “Torchay, no!” Kallista spun, too late to catch him. The Reinine’s bodyguard grappled him, having to grab hold again and again as Torchay kept slipping free. The other guard moved to help and Obed stepped as if to prevent him.

      “Stop it.” Kallista’s hand on Obed’s chest held him still. She sprang at the fighting men, inserting herself between them before blades could be drawn. She shoved hard at Torchay. He tried to push her out of the way, but the attempt disengaged him from the Reinine’s man and Kallista was able to move him farther away.

      “What is wrong with you?” She snarled the words, trying to keep a semblance of discretion. “Attacking the Reinine? Is madness catching?”

      Torchay’s eyes still failed to focus on her. He panted with his rage, fists closing, opening, closing again. “She’ll no’ force that on us. Pentivas or no, we’ll no’ be makin’ that one ilias. I don’t care if she’s the Goddess Almighty.”

      Kallista glanced over her shoulder. The Reinine still sat, seemingly unconcerned, in her high-backed red velvet chair. Her bodyguards flanked her, close enough to touch, but they held their places.

      “Obed,” Kallista said. “Go see if he has the mark.”

      His eyes flashed dark fire, but he bowed obedience and strode toward the chained man who was trembling so hard now that his bonds set up a faint rattle. Obed pushed the prisoner’s head forward, brushed the matted tangles away from his neck and looked to see what might be there. A moment later, he met Kallista’s gaze and nodded, once, slowly.

      So. Yet another problem to be solved. Kallista took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh.

      “We will not have him,” Torchay said through clenched teeth.

      Before anyone else could speak, Joh did, startling them all. “Is that your choice to make?”

      Kallista held Torchay beside her with just a touch this time. “It is all of ours, his as much as anyone’s.”

      “Is it?” Joh said. “Who made the first choice, when you took a Tibran as ilias?”

      Torchay glanced back at the Reinine, but Kallista shook her head, finally following where Joh was trying to lead her.

      “It wasn’t the Reinine,” she said. “It was the One who chose to accept what we offered. The One bound us together before any ceremony was performed. Who are we to reject the gifts She brings us?”

      “Do we no’ also have the gift of free will? The right to choose where we go, what we do and who we do it with?” Torchay’s expression was as closed as his mind.

      Kallista sighed. She didn’t yet know what she herself thought about this new situation. What with the hard riding of the past week, she hadn’t truly dealt with the separation from half her family and the absence of her ten-week-old babies, much less the concept that rebel assassins wanted her death. She’d faced death before—both on the battlefield and directed particularly at her.

      Which of course was the problem, since the hand that had directed it in particular belonged to the man standing before her in chains. She needed time. More than she would be given, likely, but she would take what she could get.

      “My Reinine.” She turned and bowed to the ruler of all Adara, remaining at a distance to keep the royal ilias and his fellow bodyguard happy. “Would you allow me time and the space for privacy? I must confer with my iliasti. While I do that, perhaps—” She paused to choose her words. “Perhaps the prisoner would benefit from a bath and a shave, more suitable clothing. Then, if you will permit, I should like a chance to speak privately with this man, to investigate his claim. I think it a thing done best without an audience.”

      “You’ll no’ be meetin’ him alone.” Torchay’s north mountains accent was as thick as she’d ever heard it, an indication of the extreme emotion possessing him.

      Kallista turned her head a fraction, addressing him quietly. “No, of course not. This is a matter for the ilian. I want you both there.”

      “Do I need to order guards present to protect Suteny?” the Reinine asked.

      Now Kallista faced Torchay head on. “Must I order you to hold back your hand? Will you, if I do?”

      He did not look happy about it, but he nodded, a single abrupt jerk of his head. “Aye. I’ll no’ kill him—unless he makes the first move.”

      “Fair enough,” the Reinine said.

      Kallista looked then at Obed. She knew better than to assume he would keep any promise Torchay made. “Will you swear to the same?”

      His expression bland, Obed inclined his head in agreement, a lock of black hair sliding forward on his face.

      “Your word, Obed,” she insisted. “I want to hear you speak it.”

      A tiny smile curved his lips and he bowed deeper. “I will not kill this man, unless he makes the first move. This I swear to my Chosen One.”

      “Agreed.” Serysta Reinine came to her feet and addressed the guards officer. “Have a servant direct you to the palace barbers. When your prisoner is presentable, take him to the Noonday Suite СКАЧАТЬ