Dark Moon Defender (Twelve Houses) (71 page)
Read Dark Moon Defender (Twelve Houses) Online
Authors: Sharon Shinn
“Better,” Tayse said. “I think you’d be able to step it up a notch if someone truly attacked you.”
“Hope you’re there if someone does,” Justin retorted, and Tayse smiled.
When they went inside for lunch, Cammon and Donnal served the meal. Justin realized that Marney and Ellynor must have already left for the Gisseltess house; the thought made him glum enough to feel no interest in food.
“Where’s Ellynor?” Kirra asked, glancing around the table. “Is she sick again?”
“I didn’t check on her this morning,” Senneth said, sounding concerned. “She seemed so much better yesterday.”
“She’s fine,” Justin said shortly.
They all turned to look at him and he realized, with a jolt, that it was just the six of them. For the first time in months. Just the six of them sitting together in a room. Normally, that was the very thing that would put him entirely at peace, but not today. Today there was someone missing.
“Marney went to visit a sick woman, and Ellynor went with her,” he elaborated.
Kirra’s fine eyebrows rose. “Is she well enough to be healing other people?”
“I wouldn’t think so,” Justin replied. “But this is a woman she knows. And likes.” He took a bite of meat. “Serra Paulina Nocklyn.”
“She went to the
Gisseltess
house?” Kirra demanded. “And you let her?”
Gisseltess
house?” Kirra demanded. “And you let her?”
He gave her a fierce look. “She wanted to go. And it’s not my place to stop her.”
“Well, no, but you could argue her out of it, couldn’t you?”
“Apparently not.”
Senneth put a hand on Kirra’s arm to silence her. “Ellynor has a right to make her own decisions, and Justin has to respect them,” she said gravely. “Marney told me this morning that Jenetta’s out of town. None of us have seen any convent guards in the streets. Everything should be fine.”
Tayse put down his fork, already finished eating. “Another reason to leave Neft as soon as possible,” the big man said. “Tomorrow morning? Will everyone be ready by then?”
“I’m ready as soon as Ellynor’s back,” Justin said.
Cammon gave him a questioning look. “But you’re not coming to Ghosenhall, are you?”
Now all eyes were on him again. Justin shot a look at Tayse and tried not to feel defensive. “I don’t know. We hadn’t decided.”
“You’d rather go straight to the Lirrens and join us later,” Tayse said.
Justin nodded. “I would. The longer she is away from her family, without their blessing, the harder it is for her to go back and say she wants to marry me. She has agreed to leave them, leave the life she knows, and come with me to the royal city to live. I want to do something to prove that I value the sacrifice.”
“Not the best time and place for a solitary man and a woman with no fighting abilities to be traveling,” Donnal observed.
“I know,” Justin acknowledged. “But Ellynor has some skill at concealment. I think if we’re very cautious, we won’t draw any attention.”
Tayse shared a look with Senneth, then gave a brief nod. “We’ll escort you to the mountains,” he said.
Justin felt a rush of profound relief. “You will? I think we’ll be safe once we cross the border.”
“And we’ll all feel less worry about you,” Senneth said. “When you come back, try to make the crossing up near Kianlever. Or even go through Brassenthwaite and come back down toward Ghosenhall. It’s a longer trek, obviously, but you’ll be in less danger.”
Justin laughed. “Maybe I’ll bring her brothers along to protect us. Sign them up for the king’s army.”
“I’d welcome that,” Tayse said.
Senneth sighed and leaned back in her chair. “Oh, but how many more days does that put us on the road before we get back to Ghosenhall? There’s so much to tell Baryn. I sent him a message from Brassenthwaite, but so much has happened since then! I’d write a letter but unless I have a courier I can absolutely trust—”
“I can carry a message to Ghosenhall,” Donnal offered. “I can take bird shape and fly it there in a day or two.”
“Then fly back and meet us at the mountains,” Kirra said instantly. Justin grinned; she never liked to be separated from Donnal for long.
Senneth thought it over. “I like that idea,” she said. “At least then he’d understand why I’ve been gone so long. When can you leave?”
“Within the hour, if you want.”
“Stay till morning,” Tayse said. His voice was so laced with significance that they all quickly looked at him in inquiry and concern.
All except Cammon, whose gaze flicked between Tayse and Senneth, sitting across the table from each other. Then the younger man smiled so broadly he could have been laughing, but he didn’t say a word.
Tayse’s face wore its usual severe expression. “Justin knows that it’s tradition among the Riders to fail to ask their king for permission to wed,” he said gravely. “As a rule, they elope, so that when they return as married men or women, the king must accept their unions with some kind of grace.”
Now Kirra gave a little squeal and practically began dancing in her seat. Senneth’s face was flushed with color, but her smile was almost wicked. Tayse’s face and voice both remained utterly serious.
“I have obtained her family’s permission to marry Senneth,” he went on. “I had not expected to find a time so soon that the six of us were all together, and I had been reluctant to try to schedule a marriage without the four of you as witnesses. But here we all are. Conveniently, in the house of the magistrate of this town. I asked Faeber this morning. He is willing to perform the ceremony tonight.”
He stood up and bowed very low in Senneth’s direction. “So if, serra Senneth, you are willing to marry a humble soldier in the king’s army—”
Senneth jumped up so fast that her chair fell over behind her. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she said, and darted around the table to throw herself in his arms. The rest of them stood up, clapping and cheering and stomping their feet. Justin thought their voices could probably be heard all the way out to the street. That was the way of joy, he decided; it was always louder than grief.
Kirra was already making plans. “What time is it? Past noon! When do you want to have this ceremony? Senneth, you just leave off kissing him right now. You and I have preparations to make. You can’t possibly have anything to wear.”
Senneth laughed and pulled free. She was still blushing, but she looked entirely happy. “I’ll be married in travel clothes and muddy boots,” she said.
“Well, you won’t,” Kirra said firmly. “Come with me. The rest of you—oh, you all look like the rat-catcher’s cousins. Come find me half an hour or so before the ceremony. You, too, Tayse. You don’t want to shame your highborn bride.”
“No, I don’t,” he said. “I’ll be there.”
All the while he was worrying about Ellynor, wondering if she had arrived in time to save serra Paulina or at least ease her way. Hoping she would not foolishly use up what little strength she had managed to regain. Missing her.
About an hour before dark, Marney returned alone. Justin met her at the door, closing it quickly to shut out the eager wind. “Where’s Ellynor?” he asked.
Marney was rubbing her hands together, trying to generate some heat. “How can it be this cold?” she wondered.
“Where’s Ellynor?” he asked again.
“She wanted to stay till morning. It’s very clear that the serramarra will not make it through the night, but she
was
alert enough to recognize Ellynor, at least when we arrived. Ellynor couldn’t bring herself to leave.”
was
alert enough to recognize Ellynor, at least when we arrived. Ellynor couldn’t bring herself to leave.”
Justin felt something clamp tight on his rib cage. “I wish she had.”
“Yes, so do I, but she’s rather a strong-willed girl. I could hardly make a fuss by dragging her out behind me, since we were trying to avoid drawing any extra attention. But she was right. No one appeared to recognize her except Paulina herself. And she knows you want to leave in the morning. She told me to tell you she would be ready to go whenever you came by.”
“I want to go by
now
,” he said grimly. When Marney looked dismayed, he forced his features to relax. “It’s just that I’m worried.”
now
,” he said grimly. When Marney looked dismayed, he forced his features to relax. “It’s just that I’m worried.”
“I know.”
“And she’ll miss the celebration tonight.”
“Celebration? What’s happening?”
Justin smiled, trying to let go of his anxiety. “You must have left before Tayse talked to your husband. Faeber’s going to perform a marriage tonight between Tayse and Senneth. Cammon and Donnal are cooking even as we speak, and I’ve been decorating your front room. I hope you don’t mind.”
But she looked quite delighted and came to inspect his work. “Oh, I’ve got some garlands up in the attic—let me bring those down—and a couple of houseplants in my room. Not too festive, but then again, we didn’t have much time! Does she have something to wear?”
Women always focused on the most inconsequential things, Justin thought. “Kirra’s taking care of that,” he assured her.
“Then I’ll see what those young men have done to my kitchen.”
A few hours later, everything was ready. Cammon and Donnal slipped upstairs and returned, outfitted in clean trousers and starched white shirts that Kirra had manufactured from their ragged travel clothes. Justin and Tayse presented themselves next, and she dressed both of them all in black. They had dug their Riders’ sashes from their luggage, so now they each draped their embroidered golden lions over one shoulder and strapped on their sword belts. Kirra fluttered around Tayse with a small pair of scissors, snipping carefully at the most untameable strands of black hair, but she merely looked at Justin and shook her head.
“Your hair’s too long and I don’t have time to give you a good cut. Just tie it back and make sure you shave.”
“I did shave!”
“Well, you might do it again.”
Finally, most of them were assembled in the transformed parlor. Faeber had put on fine clothes of his own and wore them so easily that Justin almost didn’t recognize him. He stood before the fireplace; Marney sat at a miniature harpsichord and played a simple tune with a sunny melody. The groom and his attendants ranged themselves on one side of the room, all eyes turned expectantly toward the door. Tayse seemed taller, darker, more silent than ever. His expression was so watchful that he might have been lying in ambush. Justin thought he was merely trying to conceal a leaping emotion, an excitement almost too great to contain.
Other books
Julian's Pursuit by Haleigh Lovell
Another Shot: A Modern-Day Ruth and Boaz Story by St. James, Brooke
A Single Man by Isherwood, Christopher
Nothing Is Terrible by Matthew Sharpe
The Adventures of God in His Search for the Black Girl by Brigid Brophy
Blind Love (Sulfur Heights Series) by Brannon, M.S.
Shadow Man by Cody McFadyen
The Reluctant Film Art of Woody Allen by Peter J. Bailey
A Dark and Brooding Gentleman by Margaret McPhee