Cursed by Ice (16 page)

She was still damp as she dressed and sat impatiently as the serving girl braided her hair. But as she was finishing, Sarielle’s thoughts drifted back to Garreth. What would happen now, she wondered. Would they continue to be lovers or was this a one-time thing for him? He was a soldier on the move, who had an army to lead and cities to conquer. She had no real place in his life. She would simply have to accept that if this were to continue, she was to safeguard herself. It would not do for her to become too attached to him. Her priorities had to be her and her sisters’ well-being. Garreth could be a delightful distraction, but nothing more. She would be sure to keep him out of her heart so she would not be affected when it came time for him to leave her behind.

Satisfied with her thoughts and with her hair, she flew back down to her sisters’ room. Their governess had dressed them to go out of doors and they were waiting for her at the table, again with their hands folded calmly in front of them. It was as though they weren’t even excited to be going out. It truly was strange.

But Sarielle knew they had simply been through a traumatic experience at the hands of the bennesah and the mage. She was glad those awful men were gone from their lives forever. They needed to get back to a normal way of living. The children needed a chance to become children again.

“Let us be off on our walk, my little loves,” she said gaily. She swept up their hands and led them out of the room. She chatted with them happily, trying to encourage them to talk to her.

“Why aren’t we going to the fields?” Jona asked after they had been walking a few minutes. They were headed toward the city center.

“Because I thought you would like to go to the bazaar first,” she said with excitement. She wanted to see the bazaar too. She had spent so little time outside the keep. She and the girls had often imagined what it would be like to visit the bazaar with all its vendors and spices and colorful cloth tents. She could see the tents from the keep, the colors alluring and fascinating.

“We want to see the fields first,” Isaelle said. Both girls suddenly drew back, pulling her in the other direction.

“But I thought I would buy you some candy. We’ve always wanted to try different candies. Remember that one time I was given candy by the bennesah? I shared it with you and we thought it was the most amazing—”

“Maybe later,” Jona said. “Can we go please?”

“Well, all right,” Sarielle said, puzzled once more by their behavior. But she shrugged it off and they began to walk toward the city gate. Sarielle continued to speak with them, though they gave her minimal answers. But as soon as they had passed the guards at the city gate, they became a little more animated. Sarielle took this as a hopeful sign and her heart soared with relief. The girls pulled her toward the field, eventually breaking away from her and running ahead. The army was to the north, leaving all the western fields untouched. The girls ran toward them and Sarielle had to run to keep up.

They reached the tall huff grasses, the huff grain heavy on its stalks. The girls disappeared in the grass and Sarielle immediately grew concerned. She could hear them giggling, but she could not see them.

“Girls! Come back to me!” she called.

“Come and find us, Sarielle!” she heard them singing out.

She smiled. They were playing and happy, she couldn’t have wished for more. Overall she had to say she hadn’t been this happy in a long time. As she ran in the grasses, chasing after children she couldn’t see, she thought of how else she could express her gratitude to Garreth. It made her smile a secretive smile as her thoughts turned back to him and to their lovemaking.

That was when she ran out into a clearing. To her surprise, there in the middle of the huff field was a covered wagon with two horses hitched up to it. The girls stood beside the wagon, waiting for her.

“What have we here, my little loves?” she asked as she headed toward them.

And suddenly, right before her eyes, both of her sisters disintegrated into nothingness. Sarielle cried out and went to her knees, blinking her disbelieving eyes rapidly.

Then, from around the side of the wagon came a figure in dark robes. She looked up and immediately recognized him.

The mage.

“No!” she cried out, scrambling to get to her feet.

“Yes!” he hissed as he grabbed hold of her.

She fought him for all she was worth. Kicking him and screaming.

“No one can hear you!” he spat at her. “They hear only what I want them to hear! These fools with their simple minds are even easier to control than Kithians!”

“Where are my sisters?! What have you done to them?!”

“Your sisters are safe in the back of my wagon, where they have been all along. And if you want them to remain safe, you will stop fighting me!”

Sarielle quieted at that. “Let me see them!”

“Of course,” he said. “But you will let me bind you first.”

Sarielle had little choice. She had to know her sisters were all right! She let the mage tie her hands and then he led her to the back of the wagon. He pulled back the hanging tarp and there, bound and gagged, were her frightened little sisters. The real girls, not the doppelgängers she had thought were her sisters. The changelings the mage had used to lure her out there. Now she was under his control again, she realized. A captive once more. And that meant he would control the wyvern through her. Garreth and his brother were in danger! And this time they might not fight the wyvern for fear of hurting her in the process. That is, if they even cared about hurting her. They might not care at all, might think that she was against them, that she had tricked them all along. Tears filled her eyes for her plight and that of her sisters. But also for the danger Garreth was in. The danger Koro was in. In all of an instant, everything had changed.

She had been a fool. She should have known they were changeling children. I fact, she
had
known. She simply had not listened to her instincts.

“There,” the mage said. “Now you are more tractable.”

“Don’t do this, Vinqua. I don’t know what you hope to gain from this! You cannot take the city back like this!”

“I do not care about this city,” Vinqua snapped. “But if I am to become mage to a new ruler in a new city, I must prove to him that I am the most powerful mage he has ever seen. And for that I will need to be able to call the wyvern. Now, that will be a spectacle! That will ensure me a new position of comfort far away from these invaders. Now get into the wagon! And remember, if you do not behave, I will take it out on your sisters. And I do not think their tender young bodies will accept the whip very well at all.”

“I will obey you,” Sarielle promised quietly. “You may keep your whip to yourself.”

“If it so pleases me. Perhaps I will use it on you as another way of ensuring your behavior. Just keep that in mind as we travel.”

He shoved her into the wagon and she hurried to sit beside her sisters. They fell on her, sobbing and trying to hold her, but the way their little hands were bound made it impossible. Vinqua had also bound her hands in such a way that her fingers were wrapped as well and she would not be able to free her sisters’ hands if the opportunity presented itself.

“Vinqua! Unbind them please! You have me bound. You do not need them to be tied like this! Please!”

Vinqua seemed to think on it a moment. “No. Do you think me a fool?” He huffed. “Untie them, they untie you. You’ll try to escape and we’ll just be wasting my time. I warn you, it will not be tolerated. But I will remove their gags. No one will hear your screams anyway … and I am not entirely cruel.” But his smile belied his claim. He removed the sisters’ gags. Then he left the back of the wagon and went up to lead the horses away through the fields.

“My little loves,” Sarielle whispered to the girls. “Don’t worry. We’ll find our way out of this and away from this man.”

“Oh, sister!” Jona cried.

“Shh, shh,” Sarielle said to her. “I know. But we are together now. It will be all right. We will find a way out of this.”

“But how? Vinqua keeps anyone from seeing us. He is so powerful. We were there when he sent you the changelings and when you killed the bennesah. We saw him fly through the air! Did you do that, Sarielle?”

“Vinqua kept us from your sight. When he saw what you did …”

“How did you do it, Sarielle?”

“I do not know,” she answered honestly. “I wish I did. I would crush Vinqua and take you home to safety.”

“We wish you did too. He has been very mean to us.”

“We’re very hungry. He doesn’t feed us very much.”

“My poor little loves,” Sarielle said, pain filling her heart and tears filling her eyes. She blinked them away. She would not let her sisters see her cry. She would make sure they knew she was strong, that they could take solace from that. “I am here now. I will make sure you are fed and well cared for.”

“How will you do that, Sarielle?” Jona asked.

“He needs me for what he wishes to do. I will not cooperate with him if he doesn’t care for you properly.”

“But he will whip us if you do not cooperate,” Isaelle said with tears and a trembling lip.

“Trust me, my little loves. I will not let that happen,” she assured them. “Now rest against me. There’re my good girls. Do not worry. Back at the keep, there is a man … a very good man. He will see I am missing and he will come for us.”

“But how? Vinqua will make him not see us.”

“I have an idea, but it will take a lot of work. Now hush. Rest. It will all work out in the end. I promise.”

“Okay,” the twins said in unison.

The little girls hunkered down against her and tried to be quiet, but Sarielle could hear them crying. They did not believe that Sarielle could help them.

And she didn’t blame them. She wasn’t all that sure she could help them either.

CHAPTER
TWELVE

Garreth awoke shortly before dusk, having slept the entire day away. He sat up sharply, realizing he would have very little time to make it out to the orchard where he suffered his punishment away from any prying eyes. During the time he was frozen, he was helpless. Anyone could walk up to him with a god-made weapon and take his head, and that would be the end of his immortality. The end of his life.

He looked to the bed beside him and saw that Sarielle was not there. He admittedly felt a little consternation about that, even though it was helpful that he would not have to explain a sudden departure to her. If she remained this close to him, eventually she would start to ask questions, would come to realize that there was something going on. But for the moment, he wondered where she was.

Of course he had been asleep all day. He should have no expectations that she would stay there if she were awake when he was not. That was just ridiculous.

So why couldn’t he shake this feeling that she should be there with him? Safe, where he could see her. Where he could just drink her in, like a fine mulled cider, sipping and tasting over hours of time. She was a passionate
creature, so open and so starved for the smallest bit of affection and life. It was wrong of him to take advantage of that, to take advantage of what was probably more about gratitude than anything else.

But he could not seem to help himself. He could not seem to turn himself off to the idea of being with her. It was a dangerous pastime, to be sure, but it was there nonetheless.

He would search for his new mistress once juquil’s hour passed. But he would not go to her immediately. He knew his body remained cold for quite some time after he returned from his curse, and he would not want to bring that to her bed. He did not want to bring anything to do with his curse into their time together.

But the truth was, his curse came attached to him. If he was in her life, then so was the curse.

He hastened to dress and order his horse. He thundered out of the city and he was already beginning to freeze up by the time he tethered the horse and ran to the center of the orchard.

Dethan watched his brother go and could not help the chill that walked his spine. Not too long ago it was Dethan who had raced at dusk to be alone where he would conflagrate and burn to his very bones hour after hour until juquil’s hour. But at least it was summer yet, he thought, which meant the time between dusk and juquil’s hour was shorter than at any other time of the turning. But already the nights were growing longer, dusk coming all the sooner.

Dethan was writing another letter to his wife, whom he sorely missed. He expressed his concerns about Garreth and his new liaison, expressed his pity for Garreth and his curse, expressed how damn grateful he was to her for helping him break free of that curse. He wrote on and on to her: