The Void of Muirwood (Covenant of Muirwood Book 3) (49 page)

“Go on,” she said.

“The Aldermaston suggested,” he continued, “that instead of quarrelling with Paeiz over our shared borders, I should grant them the lands they contested in a secret agreement. That was my thought as well, so I believe the Medium had prompted us both. I sent my army marching to crush our invaders, but instead I rode ahead as Feint Collier and negotiated the treaty without the Dochte Mandar’s involvement, persuading the king to pledge their support to Comoros. We had a merry time positioning our armies for battle and then moving them hither and yon, all while preparing our fleets to sail to your aid.”

Maia could not help herself. She was impressed. “That was what happened, truly?” she asked. “You gave up a portion of your kingdom?”

He stopped pacing and gazed down at her upturned face. “I considered what I was
getting
—you—to be infinitely more important. And that land had been a source of contention between our nations for years, so I knew the agreement would benefit me in other ways as well. Having struck an understanding with Paeiz, I had time to focus on the maston test. I passed it several weeks ago and earned my chaen.”

“Weeks ago?” Maia asked, perplexed. “Why did you not tell me?” She felt a small throb of resentment in her chest.

He held up his hands. “It was a secret! I absolutely
forbade
Simon to tell you. Even though I did pass the maston test, I still struggled to pass the Apse Veil on my own. Every time I tried, I would get sick and retch, but I worked at it, very hard. I told you in my letter that I wanted to come to
you
. I wanted to surprise you, which is why I refused when you offered to come to me.” He shook his head guiltily. “Then that ship from Hautland came. Oh, by the Blood, how that tormented me! The Dochte Mandar annulled our marriage and began their invasion. Simon was murdered!” He threw up his hands. “I dared not reveal the truth then because my strategy required the armada to strike your coasts and move inland a bit. Only then did I move in on their fleet with my ships. The Naestors are
trapped
here, you understand. Their armada is no more. They require our leniency to return to their lands. While I attacked the armada, Paeiz challenged the army following Caspur. The Naestors were trapped between us, and we had the ships to move our forces around quickly. I do not think Corriveaux even understood how desperate their situation truly was. The only Void they were likely to create was their own.”

Maia closed her eyes, trying to absorb the information flooding her. Collier had been a maston for weeks. Simon had known.

“It was only
later
that I learned you had kissed the Prince of Hautland,” he said, drawing her from her reverie.

“That is not true!” Maia said defensively.

He smirked at her. “I know. Richard told me, and Aldermastons cannot lie.” He then knelt down in front of her, resting one hand on the stone railing, one hand on her knee. Even with him kneeling and her sitting down, he was nearly at eye level with her. “Then,” he said in a low voice, “I knew I had to tell you everything, so I came on the
Argiver
after I sacked the armada at Comoros. I knew that you would know it was me if I took that ship. You cannot know how it tortured me to learn that you had been abducted by that . . . man.”

Maia touched his cheek with her palm, her heart fluttering with new emotions. She sensed he wanted to kiss her. “And you cannot know how it felt when I believed I had lost you,” she whispered, her throat seizing up with tears. She moistened her lips, which suddenly felt dry as dust. The feeling in her stomach was like a whirlwind. “The dagger wound was fatal, I thought. But when you kissed me . . .” She shut her eyes and lowered her head, shuddering with the memory of those dark emotions.

She felt his fingers lift her chin.

“I was wounded, but not fatally as I supposed. Jon Tayt is quite able. When he brought me back to Muirwood, I could not stand up by myself. Within a day, I was walking. Within two, I could move freely. Richard told me that the prince’s symptoms began immediately after he kissed you. They kept me apart from everyone else after I told them about our kiss. But there was no sickness. Nothing. And then the truth struck me.”

Maia could hardly concentrate on his words. His face had gotten closer and closer as he spoke. She already knew the truth he was about to say. It sent tingles throughout her body.

“I realized your kiss would harm anyone else in the world . . . but me.” He smiled. “Or my Family, but I do not feel inclined to share you very much.” He gazed at her. “I have given you my kingdom, Maia. I have given you my heart.” He snagged her fingers with his own. “Please tell me that you are mine. Forever. Always.”

Maia stared into his vibrant blue eyes. “Forever,” she whispered. And then she planted a kiss on his warm lips. She pulled back, barely noticing the little burn on her shoulder, her tingling lips. “For always,” she whispered next and kissed him again.

Collier kissed her back and drew one arm around her waist. Then, parting from her for a moment, he gently lowered her onto the bed of tiny forget-me-nots. He joined her on the bench and proceeded to kiss her ardently, claiming her mouth with his own, claiming her heart and all that she was and wanted to be. And she kissed him back without timidity, digging her fingers through the thick locks of his hair until she was breathless.

The crushed blue flowers cushioned her hair, filling the air between them with the sweetest of fragrances. Her shoulder throbbed dully from her wound, but she could hardly feel pain through the blissful sensation of his mouth on hers. She surrendered to his kisses, feeling as if her heart would burst apart.

They both heard the creaking of the cart wheels as it approached the garden.

Collier lifted his head, cocking it to listen, sighed deeply and with exaggerated anguish, and they began to laugh.

Where there is darkness, there is courage. Where there is ambition, there is power. Where there is will, there is dominion. I thank the Medium for an unconquerable soul.

—Corriveaux Tenir, King of the Kjavik Wastes

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Irrevocare Sigil

N
ever before in the history of the kingdoms had so many leaders assembled in one place at one time. Emissaries from all the kingdoms descended on Muirwood, either by ship or by Apse Veil, summoned to a Great Council by Maia, Queen of Comoros, and her betrothed, King Gideon of Dahomey. Some of the rulers were the age of her parents. Some were older. She and Collier were by far the youngest, but they were both treated with a deference and respect that surprised her.

A meeting had been called for that afternoon, during which all the leaders of the realms would be informed of what had caused the sun to linger in the sky. Every kingdom had experienced it. The people were frightened; they were struggling to understand what the Medium was saying. As she walked with Collier, greeting the various nobles, thanking those who had sent their support and assistance, Maia noted the conspicuous absence of one person she desired to see above all—her grandmother, the High Seer.

Collier touched her elbow and pulled her away from the chatter and noise. They were in the audience hall in the Aldermaston’s manor, the same room where Collier had danced with her and declared that she was his wife.

“There is that look in your eye again,” he told her softly. “And the fidgeting. I see how you keep glancing at the delegation from Pry-Ree.”

She forced herself to stop wringing her hands and smoothing her dress. It still felt strange to her to wear a filigree coronet in her hair, but she had to admit that Collier’s crown made him look even more handsome.

“You know me too well,” she said. “I worry about my grandmother.”

He took her hand, his fingers firm and steady. “You know that my fleet captains are assembling the provisions to strike for Naess tomorrow. If the Naestors will not surrender your grandmother, as they promised they would, then I will
make
them.”

She saw his determination and did not doubt it. “Yes, but I
want
her here so desperately. I want
her
to be the one to marry us.”

“It begins with a thought,” Collier reminded her, brushing her chin with his knuckle.

“Thank you,” she murmured, feeling her heart swell with gratitude for him.

“Tell me about the King of Paeiz,” Maia asked, nodding toward the man Collier had persuaded to be his ally. “Tell me of his wife, his children.”

Collier smirked. “I know the least about those things,” he said with a chuckle. “He is a fencing master, though I think his training masters
let
him win. He was more than willing to seize part of my kingdom. Which I do not regret at all now that I know you revoked the Blight Leering.” He looked at her with awe and adoration. “The cursed shores took up
half
of my kingdom. Think of what that means for us.” He put his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him. “I am not sure I have thanked you
properly
for that kindness yet.”

“Consider it my wedding gift to you,” she answered in a playful tone.

Maia noticed Tomas winding his way through the crowd toward them. He looked flustered, and his eyes were wide with excitement. She could see the dimples, so she knew it was good news, and her heart started to beat faster in anticipation.

As soon as he reached them, he said, “The Aldermaston . . . Richard—my apologies, I cannot help but call him that still—he wanted me to let you know that the
Holk
is docking at Muirwood as we speak. Would you both come with me? He thought you might appreciate a private reunion before the others know.”

Collier took her hand, squeezing it so hard it almost hurt. “My mother arrived this morning as well,” he said, whispering in her ear. “She came so that we could be married quickly when the High Seer arrives. If she is truly here, I do not want to wait any longer. Today, Maia? Can we marry today? If the sun actually sets, of course!”

Maia’s heart thrilled at the thought. Pulling his hand, she led him out of the manor, following fast on Tomas’s heels. Even Collier’s long legs struggled to keep up with her as she hurried across the grounds. Several bystanders stood around gossiping, and Maia heard a few of their comments as she hurried toward the docks.

“The High Seer has come!”

“She is the queen’s grandmother you know.”

Maia ignored the words, her eyes searching ahead as they passed the fish pond and then rushed down the well-worn path leading to the docks. Finally she caught sight of the
Holk
, tethered to the bend of the river where there was more room to maneuver. A lone skiff manned by oarsmen clove the waters, slicing the way to where Richard and Joanna and Aldermaston Wyrich waited on the docks. Her heart began to pound as she recognized Sabine sitting in the skiff. Next to her was a wild-haired old man, a man she would have recognized at an even greater distance. It was Walraven, her longtime mentor and friend.

Maia surely would have tripped and fallen down the steps to the dock if Collier had not been gripping her hand so tightly. The skiff was already secured by mooring ropes by the time she reached the end of the pier.

Sabine looked tired as she disembarked, helped by Richard and Joanna, but her face brightened the instant she saw Maia and Collier, and she rushed over to them. Maia started to weep as her grandmother wrapped her arms around her neck and hugged her tightly, murmuring softly in her ear, “Well done . . . well done, dear heart!” Both women trembled with joy, clinging to each other for a long, sweet moment.

Then Sabine pulled away slightly and reached for Collier’s hand. “I have news for you both. News I wanted to share immediately.”

“What is it?” Maia asked, wiping her eyes. Her grandmother looked burdened, as if she had witnessed and experienced unspeakable things. But her fortitude and strength had carried her through. It was just like her to want to help someone else when she could easily have justified asking to sit and rest from a long journey.

Sabine pulled Collier closer and pitched her voice low, for their ears alone. “The Medium has taught me, through a vision, that you two were always intended for each other. While I was imprisoned in Hautland, before they sent me to Naess, I had a vision through my Gift of Seering of the Earl of Dieyre in Rostick. I saw him cavorting with hetaera after the mastons left. His
wife
was a hetaera! I saw her kiss him. So did others. But it did not harm him. The Medium taught me that his descendants are immune . . .”

But she must have noticed their flushed smiles and the knowing glance they exchanged, for she interrupted her own chain of thought.

“I think . . . you have already learned this truth yourself,” Sabine said with a wry smile. “You cannot know how happy this makes me. Come, Maia, your friend wishes to see you again and to meet your intended. Walraven was tortured in the dungeons of Naess. He was broken and maimed when I found him there. The Medium bade me to heal him and adopt him into my Family. I would like to introduce you both to the future Aldermaston of Naess.”