Nightshade (49 page)

Jessa looked down as Emmalyn took her hand fiercely.

“Don’t take her,” Emmalyn said. Jessa paled and Emmalyn saw that she was right. “Please, Jessa, don’t run.”

Jessa tried to pull her hand away but Emmalyn held tighter.

“Whatever must be done, Jessa, I’ll help you. I
swear
it. I’m on your side, do you hear?”

Jessa stepped back but Emmalyn followed as Jessa looked at the dance floor.

“Jessa?”

You’ll not take her from me
. Jessa was panicked.
I will see you all burn before that happens.
She returned to Emmalyn, trying to arrange her thoughts about her sudden reaction. “What do you mean?”

“That you’re backwards as well? That you love my sister? Don’t be afraid, Jess. I couldn’t be happier. She’s as dear to me as the sun, and I hold you very dear as well.”

“Who else knows?” Jessa demanded.

“Mother. Our mother knows.”

“
Darry
!” Jessa called, yanking her hand away.

Darry faltered within their dance at the sound of her name spoken in such a manner.

“Jessa, I’m not your enemy.”

Darry moved instantly, crossing the floor between them with a startled Nina close at her heels. Jessa took several steps to meet her and Darry took her hand. “She knows,” Jessa said.

Emmalyn recognized the dark expression upon Darry’s face and stepped forward. “I know you want to run, Darry. I know it and I don’t blame you. I know about Aidan.”

Darry’s left temple twitched. Jessa tightened her hold on her hand and Darry returned the pressure.

“I won’t let that happen again, Darry, do you hear me? I won’t.” Emmalyn held out her hand, seeking to calm the storm that rose within Darry’s eyes. “You promised. You promised you wouldn’t hide from me.”

Darry was torn. More than anyone it was Emmalyn she had always wanted to be like. It was Emma she had always revered as the woman she wished to emulate, if only in some small way.

“Yes, it’s only me, Darry,” Emmalyn whispered. “You’ve nothing to fear.”

“Mother knows?”

Seven hells.
“Yes.”

Jessa’s eyes were fearful as Darry touched her cheek, but above all Darry saw love, and she let it wash through her with so much strength that she felt her majik rise. “Go and find Bentley, Jess. He’ll be in the yards. Find him and tell him what’s happened.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

“You must go, Jess, please.”

“
No
.”

“If you find Bentley I’ll know you’re safe. I can’t do anything that must be done if you’re not safe, my love.”

“
Akasha
, no.”

“The game is over,” Darry said. “We must go now, we can’t stay. Our plans have changed, do you understand? We’re in danger and I’ll not have it.”

“I’ll take her,” Nina said. “I’ll go with you, Jess.”

“Go with Nina,” Darry said, never looking from Jessa. “Do you understand, Nina? Bentley Greeves and no one else.”

“Aye, Darry, I’m with you. Just like always, cousin.”

“Find Bentley, Jess, and tell him. You must tell him.”

Jessa looked long into her eyes, seeing purpose and a steady confidence, a calm strength that eased her own fear. She had been waiting her whole life and now her freedom was near, whether she was ready for it or not. She took hold of Darry’s neck, pulled her close, and kissed her with passion, deeply and without reservation.

“Amar’s breeches,” Nina said. “Bloody Darry.”

Jessa released her and walked away.

“Nina,” Darry said firmly.

Nina started and rushed forward, chasing her.

Darry turned back to Emmalyn. “Whatever you’re thinking, Em, it’s not enough.”

“You can’t know that, Darry, you can’t.”

“She
lied
to me,” Darry said. “Father and Malcolm, what they did, they’ve stolen my honor. As if it meant
nothing
, they took it. I would no more stay here than I would cut my own throat.”

“But
I
am here,” Emmalyn said. “And Jacob, and Alisha…and Mother.”

“Weren’t you listening?”

“Yes,” Emmalyn answered with force, stepping closer. “And I was also there when she told the tale and wept as she did, cursing herself to Gamar for her part in it. She is guilty of trying to spare you pain, that’s all, Darry.

“How she went about it I can’t condone, but I’m not sure I would’ve done it differently. She had nothing to do with breaking you from Aidan. She tried to pick up the pieces, that’s all. And I was there when she told me about you and Jessa, for neither of you can hide what you feel from a mother’s eyes, nor mine now that I look for it. I was there when she spoke of trying to help you both and swore an oath upon her own blood that she would see it through. Don’t run, Darry. Stay and fight.”

“Emma, you’ve lost your mind. Fight? Fight for
what
?”

“For your birthright. You’re of royal blood and you have a place here. If you don’t want that, fine. I will give you Evan’s lands and gladly, and you and Jessa may live there in peace. But don’t break from this house or the ones that love you. Don’t do it, Darry, please.”

Darry’s expression softened at the unexpected words. “She is a daughter of Lyoness, Emma. She’s Bharjah’s only daughter, don’t you see?
Bharjah’s
daughter. She is his most valuable piece of jade to barter with. There’ll be no peace for us if we stay in the open. We will be the stag in the hunt.”

“Well, yes, that’s a bit of a problem. I see your point.”

“You’d give me Evan’s lands?”

“I would give you anything you ask for,” Emmalyn said simply. “I love you. I even love her, I think, for she’s bloody well wonderful.”

“This I know.”

“Let me help you.”

Darry was torn as she felt the pull of it, the desire to have such strength on their side. “No. You would be pitted against Malcolm and that cannot be. Your children will be in line for the throne should he have no heir.”

“I’ve lost one sister already,” Emmalyn returned fiercely. “I did not like it.”

Darry’s heart gave a painful twinge. “Jacey.”

“Yes, Jacey Rose. I watched her die and could do nothing to help her. And so you would leave me as well without a backward glance? And what of Wyatt? He’s a thousand leagues away and yet when he returns home to learn that you’re gone from him forever? It will kill him, Darry, and you know it.”

“Emma, don’t put it in such a way, please.” Darry couldn’t conceal her pain. “She is my
love.
Jessa is my love, even as Royce is yours. Even as Evan was.”

“But that’s what you must do if you run. You must give up one for the other.”

“Then I choose Jessa. I will always choose her. I’m sorry, Emma, if that hurts you. If it hurts Wyatt.”

“Stay and fight for what is yours!” Emmalyn said. “You’ll not fight alone, I assure you of that.”

“There is nothing here that is mine, as it was meant to be,” Darry said with quiet truth. “That was made very clear to me. I have only what they allow me to have, out of conscience, perhaps, or guilt. Or perhaps no choice at all, for my blood is as you say and cannot be denied. What scraps they would throw me I no longer want.”

“Do you mean that?”

“Malcolm will just calmly allow the woman brought here for him
to judge to share my bed? To publicly scorn him in preference for his backwards sister, whom he hates and thinks of as diseased?” Emmalyn’s shoulders fell slightly as she absorbed Darry’s words. “No matter that he doesn’t want her, he’ll not allow it. And he’s proven his ability to sway whomever he must to his cause. Aidan is proof of that. What they did is proof of many things.”

Emmalyn’s frustration showed in her eyes. “No.”

“The end result of that, Emma, would be our brother dead and my neck upon the block. I’ll kill him if he tries to take her from me. Jessa is mine, even as I am hers. No one will break that. I won’t allow it.”

Emmalyn had no rebuttal.

“And I’ve known our father’s feelings toward me since I was twelve years old. I’m not Jacey Rose and he’s never forgiven me for that. As a girl I used to put flowers on her tomb, and I’d whisper to her of our father and how he missed her. I would apologize for not being good enough and swear to try harder.”

“Periwinkle.” Emmalyn said.
The periwinkle was you
.

“I don’t do that anymore, Emma, because I
am
good enough and I needn’t try harder to prove it. It’s he who is unworthy. For though I’m not the daughter he wanted, neither is he the father I needed.”

“No one has ever wanted you to be Jacey,” Emmalyn said carefully. “Did he tell you that?”

“Quite clearly, actually, upon the end of his fist.”

Emmalyn was shocked by the statement. “When?”

Darry could see her thinking, searching back through the years. “It doesn’t matter, Em, it doesn’t. We would be free and that can’t happen here.”

Emmalyn remembered. She remembered quite clearly Darry’s battered face and her cut hands, and their mother’s words that she had gotten into a fight and fallen. That she had struck her face against the stones and cut her hands as well. She remembered how Darry had refused to talk about it no matter how hard she had pressed. “You didn’t fall,” Emmalyn whispered, extending her hand.
And he wouldn’t touch you
.
Even at Solstice he pulled away.
“You didn’t fall.”

“I fell a great distance, actually.”

“You should’ve told me.”

“I loved him.” Darry took Emmalyn’s hand. “I forgave him.”

“Darry.”

“He wouldn’t allow me the one that I loved, though she had no true standing in the world but for her family’s good name. Do you think he’ll let me love a daughter to the King of Lyoness? That he will allow?”

“But how can—”

“What if it were
you
, Emma?” Darry said. “And they took Royce from you, because they decided in some back room that your love wasn’t pure enough? That you were sick because you loved him and it was easier for everyone if the problem just went away altogether?”

Emmalyn felt everything beneath her begin to crumble.
Father, what have you done?
“I’ll give you Evan’s lands. Don’t leave until I’ve given you the deeds. Do you understand?”

“You don’t have to do that, Em.”

“Take the land!” Emmalyn snapped, trying to wrap her thoughts around defeat. “Bloody hell, I’m sorry, love. Just take the land, Darry, please. Whether you go there or not, at least it will be yours. You’ll always have your own place. And in the meantime you may leave missives for me there, and the seneschal will see that I get them. That is something, at least, and I would know that you and Jessa are well.”

“I’ll find you, Emma,” Darry promised her. “And I’ll find Wyatt and Jacob as well. After we’re safe and free from harm.”

“And where might that be?”

Darry spun about at the deep, familiar voice, reaching for her sword.

Jessa moved along the fence, searching through the crowded yard as the sound of weapons and laughter filled the air. She saw Bentley standing by a sword post. His shirt was off and his muscled torso shone with sweat as he handed a sword to a younger man.

“Bentley!”

“Princess.” Bentley smiled beneath his mustache as he neared. His pleasure at seeing her faded quickly. “What’s happened?”

“They know,” Jessa said, and his expression hardened in response. “She sent me to find you, but I’m afraid for her. Please, Bentley, we
must
go back. I cannot leave her to face this alone.”

“Yes,” Bentley said. His eyes narrowed in scrutiny, seeing Nina. “And you are?” he asked as she stood on the fence.

“Nina Lewellyn,” she answered. “And whatever trouble my cousin is in, I’m in it with her. So would you fucking step it up, please?”

Bentley’s eyes flashed. “As you wish, my Lady.” He stepped back into the yard, lifting a hand to his mouth. The whistle that rang out was piercing. Across the yard Darry’s Boys came to attention, their weapons falling still. “To Darry!” he yelled, his voice booming and filled with command.

Nina jumped to the ground as Bentley ran to the fence, grabbed the top rail, and vaulted over. He took Jessa’s hand. “Off we go then, my Lady. Off to keep our girl out of trouble.”

*

Owen Durand watched Darry’s hand fall empty to her side.
Lucky for me, I think.
He walked across the dance floor, holding her eyes even from a distance.
But unfair yet again
. He unhooked the clasps that held his sword. When he came to within a few yards he tossed the weapon. Darry caught the scabbard with her left hand as her right curled about the hilt.

Standing in judgment at last, Owen put his right hand into his pocket and then pulled free, opening before Darry as Cecelia stepped close behind him.

Darry bared her teeth at the sight of her grandmother’s sapphire, and she pulled on the blade. The steel pinged from the scabbard as she met her father’s eyes. Her blood rose and she clutched the sword so tight she feared she would bend it. “Why?”