A Lotus for the Regent (7 page)

"What did you
mean just now?" Kamen let go of her hand but did not step away from her,
as would have been natural when conversing with a stranger.

Neither did she
step back. "The Losiengare will promise you anything because they already
plan to betray you."

"How
so?"

The woman's
blue-green eyes searched Kamen's face before she answered. Her eyes reminded
him of the sea. "They will promise you friendship on disadvantageous terms
for themselves, and then they will steal your ships to resupply their depleted
navy. They spoke of not being allowed as far south as Masnaport, but they plan,
once you have built up a sufficient number of ships north of Masnaport to guard
your border, to sail in and fire smoke cannons upon your fleet."

“
Smoke cannons?”

“
Yes, sir. They said—and I do not know the details, for they did not
speak much of them—that the human sailors would lose first their sight and then
their breath altogether, but that the Ausir would have masks prepared. I
presume the masks would purify the air for them.”

Kamen looked back
toward the closed door they had just exited. "Truly? How do you know
this?"

"They were
whispering about it in corners, between here and the meeting hall. They even
spoke of it some last night, for doubtless they knew what you, sir, would
propose."

Kamen looked down
at the woman's breasts, their full curves visible through her thin gown. His
gaze snapped back to her face. "What's your name?"

"Ajalira,
sir." Kamen's hands rose toward her, but he forced them back down. The way
she said her name made Kamen want to pull her to him.

"I'm
Kamen."

The woman's
beautiful lips curved up into a smile, and she looked down at her feet.
"Yes, I know who you are, sir."

Her hair, her
eyes. Her bare neck and shoulders. He wanted her like he had wanted no other
woman. For the first time in years, he did not think of Darien. His gaze traced
her contours, and when he looked back into her face, he found her staring at
him.

"Why do you
tell me these things?" Kamen wondered how she even understood Ausir. Did
the guildhouse teach its kitchen staff languages? Was that not the purview of
the Lotuses?

Ajalira straightened
her shoulders. "They are deceiving you. You brought them here in good
faith, and they are planning on lying to you. It is dishonorable, and I, too,
would be dishonored if I said nothing of their treachery."

Kamen leaned back
in surprise. Uncommon beauty and uncommon courage. "Thank you for telling
me and risking the Guildmaster's anger."

Ajalira shook her
head. "It was my duty to tell you. Besides..." She looked away and
smoothed down her robe with the palms of her hands, clearly a nervous gesture.

Kamen was bold and
took her hands to steady them. "What?"

Ajalira looked
into his eyes. "It is not right that a man such as you should be so
abused." She gently removed her hands from his, and Kamen did not press
the matter. Perhaps she spoke of his position as Regent, not personally.
"What are you going to do, sir?"

"Nothing."

Ajalira cocked her
head. "Nothing?"

Kamen flashed her
a grin. "Nothing. I know what the Losiengare are planning. They don't know
I know. It's perfect. Why say anything?"

Ajalira's eyes
moved back and forth, as if she did not know where to look.

"Helping me
brings you no benefit, and yet you have." A breeze blew across the porch,
and Kamen looked toward the garden. Blossoms rained from the trees. "You
live here in the guild compound surrounded by safety and beauty, and yet you
risk much." Kamen bowed low to her in the Zenji fashion. "Thank you,
Ajalira."

Ajalira returned
the bow, but she kept her hands folded behind her back. Kamen wanted to touch
her, and though he sensed some desire from her, he did not pursue. Some deep
conflict brewed within her, and he would not disturb her. Brittle strength.
That was how Kamen thought of her. It did not make sense, yet there it was.
Kamen bowed once more and re-entered the hall.

****

Kamen did not
think about what had transpired during the day's afternoon conference. At the
moment, he did not care about the Losiengare's simpering promises. He did not
care about the Kimereth's assurances. It did not matter that he had gotten the
Ausir to agree to respect Sunjaa waters and not bring their war near his
cities, borders, or coastlines. As Kamen lay in his bed aboard the
Aramina
returning home, he thought only of Ajalira. The mystery of her drew him in
further. Who was she? She could not have been a mere kitchen slave. And how did
she speak the Ausir tongue?

Sleep eluded
Kamen. Ajalira's lovely braid, her long slim neck, and those hints of curves
under her simple robe seized his imagination and kept him from resting. He
tossed and turned for hours before he finally jumped from bed. He went out to
get some fresh air, and as the cool night air off the sea braced him, as the
deck rocked gently beneath his bare feet, he looked to the ship's aft. He
looked east. The Dimadan was back there. Ajalira was back there. Had she let
her hair down to sleep? Did her golden locks lie as lovely on her pillow as
they had lain piled on her head?

"Deck
hand," Kamen said, grabbing the nearest man walking by. "Go tell the
pilot to turn the ship around."

"Around,
Sire?"

"Yes."
Kamen walked toward the quarter-deck, anticipating seeing the slopes of the
Dimadan again. "We're going back."

He had to see
Ajalira again.

Chapter
Three

Ajalira watched
the Sunjaa ships sail away. They had not even waited for the evening tide, and
their tall, proud ships were like large, black birds against the red and orange
of the setting sun.

“
Ajalira!” The Guildmaster's voice pulled her back from her place at
the edge of the compound.

“
Yes?” She refused to acknowledge any title he might hold or any claim
over her that he might make.

“
You approached the Regent at board, and you spoke to him without
leave.” The Guildmaster's quiet tone held no emotion. He was as icily immovable
as any Lotus.

Ajalira did not
bother to reply. She had undeniably done this, and she would do it again were
the situation the same. The Regent had been disadvantaged by his lack of
knowledge of the Ausir tongue, and the actions of the Losiengare had been
unforgivable.

“
I had hoped that I would be able to rehabilitate you.” The Guildmaster
shook his head, and Ajalira could almost believe that his sorrow was genuine.
“But you are incorrigible. There is no hope for you to return to the ranks of
the Lotuses. Tomorrow, your tattoo will be burned, and you will be accounted a
kitchen slave permanently.”

 
Ajalira had never been
any use as a Lotus, and she smiled at this. “I had no desire to be a Lotus.”
She lifted her chin, resolving to try to escape again.

“
I see.” The Guildmaster had reverted to his utter placidity, and
Ajalira felt a chill go through her. “Chains.”

“
Guildmaster?” A nearby Lotus was at his side at once.

“
Chain her ankles, for she is plotting her escape.” The Guildmaster
did not look at Ajalira as he swept past, and she saw him pulling the abacus
from the pouch at his waist. Doubtless he was calculating the profit he had
made from entertaining the Sunjaa and Ausir guests.

Ajalira eyed the
Lotuses coming toward her. There were four, and she did not have her knife.
Even if she had, though, she knew that at least one of the Lotuses coming
toward her had mastered the paralyzing Katipo Form. Rather than suffer the
humiliation of being shackled while paralyzed, Ajalira held herself motionless,
watching the girls who had lived with her these past six years turn from her
with alacrity.

“
Now return to your kitchens, girl.” The Lotus who spoke had the
slightest of smiles. For a Lotus that was a great deal of expression, and
Ajalira knew that the Lotuses were glad to see her cast down.

Ajalira did not
respond to the Lotuses. She walked, as well as the shackles would allow, back
to the kitchen. As she began to wash up the plates from the tea served to the
Sunjaa, she sighed. The kindness of the Regent's words still touched her. It
was true that she had offered him information, but he had been kind to her
first. He had taken her hand as though she were a fine lady, as though she were
as worthy of his attentions as any true and honorable woman.

The Regent
carried himself like a King, and Ajalira could not help but smile as she
remembered. She had never seen any man so beautiful, not even among the noble
Ausir who had been present. The Regent's long, black hair, his eyes like the
pools of darkness between stars—Ajalira flinched as a sudden blow landed on her
shoulder.

“
You're too slow, girl.” The guildhouse cook, who had until now
continued to treat her with respect, now struck her a second time. “You're no
fine Lotus anymore, and you answer to me.”

Ajalira whirled
on the cook. “I am no slave, and I do not belong here. Strike me again, and I
will break your arm.” It was not an idle boast. Though she had never mastered
beyond the rudiments of the Lotus Forms, Ajalira was a good hand with a blade,
and she had a raw strength that was belied by her fragile form.

The cook backed
away from her, and Ajalira returned to the plates. The image of the Regent
haunted her. He was not, she judged, past thirty summers, and the lithe grace
of a hunting cat was in his every movement. His broad, brown shoulders were
muscular, and he had the alert look of a warrior. But his eyes, those soft,
black eyes, held more sorrow than Ajalira had thought a human could accumulate
in a lifetime. On the broad expanse of his chest were scars, cruel and many,
and Ajalira felt a stir of pity in her heart. Who could have wanted to injure
that nobility?

****

When Ajalira
retired to her pallet in the tiny chamber off from the kitchen, her thoughts
were still on the Sunjaa Regent. His eyes, his scars, his unknown sorrows—they
would not let her go. She slipped her hand beneath the straw of her pallet to
feel the smooth chill of her knife. It was the only piece of her old life that
she retained, a small, steel knife inlaid with onyx and emerald, the royal
Tamari colors when the Tamari had been a nation. She closed her fingers around
the blade and closed her eyes. Always before at this quiet hour, she would call
up the image of her mother's body, burning and bloody on the pyre, and the
image of her father, poisoned and dead at a bridal feast. She ran her finger
along the cold metal, but when she closed her eyes, it was still the image of
the Sunjaa Regent that she saw.

“
Why?” Ajalira murmured the word and let go of the knife.

“
Why what, pet?” Evix glided in through the open doorway.

“
Evix?” Ajalira sat up, fury filling her. “You betrayed me!”

“
No.” Evix hung his head, and his eyes grew soft. “I wouldn't do
that, pet. You know how I love you.” In one graceful move, he was at her side
on the pallet. “The Guildmaster caught me, and I—I was weak. I didn't want you
to leave without me!”

Ajalira stared
into Evix's face, trying to discern his sincerity. “You thought I would leave
you?”

“
You've never said you loved me, pet.” Evix tilted her face up to
his. “I couldn't trust that you would stay for me, and I didn't want to lose
you.”

Ajalira shook
her head. “Why are you here?”

“
Because I want us to escape. Together.” Evix slipped one hand around
her waist. “I'm sure I can get the keys to your shackles. Then we can run, just
as we planned to.”

Liberty beckoned
Ajalira, but it brought with it Evix. Still, in honor she was his if he would
have her. He had had her body, and if he were willing to cover her shame with
marriage, then her honor required it of her. She could not understand why the
Regent's face flashed before her eyes as she spoke. After all, she was nothing
to him, and she would never see him again.

“
How can I believe you?” asked Ajalira, even as her thoughts leapt
ahead to the future.

“
Because I want to marry you. Right here. Right now.” Evix lifted her
wrist to his lips. “I'm no Ausir, pet, but I know their culture well enough to
know their marriage rite.”

Ajalira's breath
hitched. So Evix did care for her after all. “Then swear.” She had meant to
speak strongly, as befit a Tamari noblewoman, but the words were the merest
breath.

“
I am yours.” Evix leaned forward and kissed her brow.

Ajalira closed
her eyes and licked her lips. She did not want to marry Evix, but her honor
required it. “I am yours.”