Pendant of Fortune (11 page)

Volle looked at him curiously but decided not to ask why the wolf was suddenly eager to move to the palace. He felt a lot better after a long night of sleep, and maybe Streak did, too; he’d been very affectionate that morning. He looked past the wolf’s white muzzle, edged by the morning light, and watched the increasingly barren hills and rocks roll past.

When they arrived at the ancient castle, a mouse scurried up to the carriage as Renaldo opened the door for them. “Lord Ikling!” he squeaked.

Helfer rolled his eyes at Volle, and sighed. “Hello, Jerish,” he said.

“
Lord Ikling, Lord Alister respectfully requests your presence as he is desperately trying to determine the schedules for the next few days and especially the way the services are going to be held and what facilities you have to accommodate the King’s party and what arrangements are going to be made to accommodate your own people at the same time—” He paused as Helfer held up a paw.

“
Take a breath, Jerish. I’m coming. Volle, Streak, have fun. I’ll likely not see you until dinner.” He sighed and followed Jerish as the mouse scampered into the castle.

“
Dinner?”

Renaldo closed the buggy door. “Dinner tonight is served just after sundown in the banquet hall.You will both have places there.”

Volle smiled. “I believe Lord Tistunish is expecting us. I know the way.”

Renaldo bowed. “I am at your disposal should you need assistance, my Lord.”

“
Thank you.” Streak followed him to the front door, and inside the palace.

When the door had closed behind them, the wolf looked at him. “I can see why you want to get back to the palace. It’s just like having a whole house full of servants, except they’re polite.”

“
And you have to share them with the rest of the palace. All except your personal servant.”

“
Would—would that be me?”

Volle laughed and slipped an arm around the wolf’s waist. “No, silly. I was attended by a skunk named Welcis when I was at the palace. He didn’t leave with us, obviously. No, you would be Lady Vinton.”

“
Lady?!” Streak yelped, loudly enough to make a pair of ladies further down the hall turn around. He glanced down his front, then back at Volle. “I think I’d rather be a servant.”

“
It’s the palace custom,” Volle said. “I’m sure we could find some nice dresses that would set off your fur. White goes with anything.”

“
Oh, dresses! I see. I thought I’d have to make some adjustments to my, er, privates.”

“
No, no. I wouldn’t let anyone touch those. Except me, of course.”

“
Of course.” Streak licked his nose, then lifted his head to look around as they reached the central chamber. “Wow. This must have been really beautiful once.”

Volle nodded. “They didn’t really keep it up over the years. But it looks like they did a nice job restoring it for the King’s visit.”

Streak traced a paw along the railing as they walked up the stairs. He nodded to a bear who was lumbering down the stairs, then glanced back after they’d passed him. “Do you know him?” he whispered.

“
Villutian,” Volle whispered back. “Not well. He’s high ranking, or was when I was there.”

“
He didn’t seem to recognize you.”

“
I’m sure he did.” They’d reached the top of the stairs, and Lord Villutian had disappeared into one of the side hallways, so Volle spoke normally. “We never spoke much, and maybe he’s worrying about associating with me until the hearing’s over.”

Streak just patted his shoulder, looking at the doors as they passed them. Volle stopped in front of Tish’s door and knocked. Alcis opened the door a moment later. “You are expected, sir,” he said, and stepped aside to let them enter.

Tish and Tika were seated in the parlor, but got up as Volle entered. Tika was smiling, but Tish looked apprehensive; his ears were halfway back and he kept glancing at the door leading further into their suite. He clasped Volle’s paw, touched muzzles with him, and then turned to Streak.

“
May I present my mate, Streak.” Volle stepped back.

Streak held out his paw for Tish to clasp and leaned forward. The two touched muzzles for several seconds, getting to know each other’s scents, then stepped back. “My mate, Tika,” Tish said, and stepped back as the gray wolf stepped forward. Streak clasped her paw and touched his muzzle to hers as well.

Tika curtsied when she’d stepped back. “A pleasure to meet you, finally. I’ve heard so much about you.”

Streak smiled. “Volle has talked about you, too.”

The door Tish had been glancing at opened, and a short vixen walked out. She strode to the space between Tish and Volle, and folded her arms, eyes fixed on Volle.

He let his tail droop as he met her flashing eyes. “Oh,” he said. “Hello, Ilyana.”

“
Hello,
Volle
.” Behind her, Tish was lowering his ears and shrugging minutely.

“
When did you get here? I didn’t know you were coming.”

“
Last night, late. I didn’t plan to come until I knew you were going to be here.”

“
I’m…flattered.”

“
You shouldn’t be. I just wanted to see you nose to nose.”

“
Did you leave Volyan in Vinton?”

“
No, he’s here. He’s playing with his nurse in our chambers. Why, do you actually care about him?”

“
Why don’t we retire to the dining room?” Tika offered Streak her arm. “These two can join us when they’ve had a chance to talk.”

Volle wanted to protest, but after another look at Ilyana, he couldn’t bring himself to avoid her. He knew what was coming and he might as well get it over with. He nodded to Streak, who was looking at him with ears perked questioningly. “Go ahead. I’ll be in in a minute.”

Streak nodded and took Tika’s arm. Tish followed them into the dining room, and closed the door behind them.

“
So how was the trip?”

Volle’s attempt to stay friendly was cut short with an angry bark. “All I wanted from you was a noble lineage. Not fidelity, not much in the way of support, not a social calendar—just a noble son to take care of and a secure family. You couldn’t even tell the truth about that.” She lifted a paw and cuffed him across the muzzle. “Bastard.”

“
Listen,” he sighed, rubbing his muzzle, “I couldn’t tell you anything. I didn’t know this was going to happen.”

“
But you knew there’d be a chance.”

“
You’re automatically assuming I’m guilty.”

“
Well? Aren’t you? In my experience, when someone’s arrested and flees the country, they’d have no reason to do so if they weren’t guilty. If you weren’t guilty, why not stay?”

“
Because they were making up a case against me. Dereath thought I was a spy and was doing his best to make up enough evidence to prove it.” So far, he hadn’t lied to her.

“
How on earth would he get that idea? Why would they make up a case if there wasn’t enough evidence to prove it?”

“
He hates me.” He tried to figure out how to summarize his relationship with the rat. “When I first got to the palace, he came on to me and I turned him down. So he was mad, and then because Hef and I got to be such good friends, he was jealous of us. And so he kept trying more and more things, and getting madder and madder when they didn’t work. And then…” He fixed his eyes on a distant point. “There was someone he was very interested in, involved in some nasty business, and he and I got involved.”

“
You stole his boyfriend.”

“
They weren’t boyfriends.” He tried not to snap. “They weren’t even dating. But Dereath doesn’t have any concept of how these things are supposed to work. In his mind, he ‘owned’ him. And he was furious when his ‘pet’ chose to come stay with me.”

“
I still don’t understand how he got the idea that you’re a spy.”

“
Oh, because the nasty business he was involved in was political, he got the idea that I was deliberately interfering with it. So he traveled down to Vinton and tried to piece together how I got into the country from Ferrenis. I didn’t travel with any fanfare, so he got some of the pieces wrong and it made him suspicious. He figured I was covering up the pieces he couldn’t find, so he made them up.”

Her ears were coming back up, and he thought that maybe she was softening a bit. She’d obviously been working herself up. “What was the nasty business?”

He sidestepped the question. “How did you know I left the country? Nobody knew where I went except for Tish.”

“
And Tika, who wrote me.” Her amber eyes were flashing again. “You didn’t even think to do that.”

“
We never wrote each other. I knew you’d be safe in Vinton. I thought about you and Volyan, but I thought if I wrote it might make you look bad. If Dereath succeeded in his plan. Otherwise you could just claim you didn’t know anything.”

That prompted the first significant change in her expression. “Oh, Volle. I hadn’t thought about that. You’re right.”

He shook his head. “I’m really sorry all this happened. If I’m cleared at the hearing, things will be okay.”

“
Won’t this rat keep after you?”

“
Maybe. But after that first time, he was reprimanded pretty severely. If he doesn’t succeed this time, I don’t think he’ll dare try again.” He tried not to think about what Dereath would resort to in that case. “And he’s the Minister of Defense now, so he has a lot of other things on his mind. Hopefully he’ll just let it go.”

“
Do you really think so?”

No
. “I hope so.”

She sighed. “Does it help for me to be here?”

“
I’m glad you came,” he said, and though it wasn’t a lie, it wasn’t totally honest, either. “But are you sure you want to stand by me? If the hearing goes badly, you could be getting yourself into a lot of trouble.”

“
If you are innocent, then Canis says loyalty to the pack is our duty. And you’re my husband. We can’t be much more of a pack than that.” She glanced at the dining room. “Though it seems you’ve added another member since I’ve been gone. How long have you been with him?”

“
Just over a year. He’s the one who helped me get out of prison.”

Her ears flicked, and perked up. “Did he know you before that, or was that your introduction?”

He chuckled softly and gave her the condensed story of how he and Streak had met, fallen in love, and escaped to Ferrenis. When he was done, she shook her head. “All I made you do was go to a cotillion and wedding. This poor wolf had to break you out of prison.”

“
I wouldn’t have been much of a partner if he hadn’t.”

“
Nor much of a husband. I suppose I should thank him.” She looked down, and when she looked back up, her ears stayed down slightly. “I don’t want to annul our marriage.”

He shook his head. “I wouldn’t expect you to.”

“
So you’d be willing to remain my husband and live with him at the palace?”

“
I don’t know if he wants to live at the palace.”

She tilted her head slightly. “Don’t you want to go back?”

“
Of course I do. But we’ve been living alone on a farm, and I don’t know if he’ll want to be thrust into the insanity at the palace. He seems to be doing okay so far.” He smiled. “I guess we’ll see how he gets along with Tika and Tish.”

“
Tika can talk him into anything.”

“
I hope so…” He smiled. “I’d forgotten how easy it is to talk to you.”

She flicked an ear and gave him a half-smile. “It has been almost four years, dear husband.”

“
Yes.” He thought of two things at the same time, and brought a paw up to rub his whiskers. “Do you have a lover?”

“
I’ve had a few. No foxes. And none right now. Volyan keeps me busy.”

“
Yes, I expect so.” He looked away. “I was thinking that when I get back to the palace…it might be time to bring him to Divalia and let him start learning about court life. He will be the next Lord Vinton, after all.”

Her ears and expression fell. “Yes,” she said softly, “it is past the time. I haven’t wanted to let him go. But for his sake, I have to. That’s partly why I brought him.”

“
I’m sorry,” he said, but she waved his apology away.