Circe's Gifts

Chapter 37

Kalliope didn't like to talk. More talk, she felt, would get them nowhere tonight. Her voice was hoarse, her body ached, and this damned prince still kept asking his questions. If she howled, would he stop?

She hadn't enough energy left to try.

The only breaks they got were when people came to the door. Pela often came, bringing notes, presumably sent by King Gelban though Druce didn't say as much. He wrote hasty replies and sent her off again -- but those few moments of respite allowed Kalliope to rest and collect her wits.

This was starting to feel far too much like wandering into some wolf pack other than her own. Oh, not quite as vicious, but still the danger. They did not bare their teeth, but that didn't mean they wouldn't bite.

She thought Dylan felt the same way, but Pet dozed through most of the talk and Tiernan -- Gods knew what Tiernan was thinking. She thought about his homecoming and how much it must feel like just another part of his long battle.

"Forgive the intrusion," Druce said, yet again. Polite words, but he spoke them by rote with little if any real feeling behind them. She would have been angry if it wasn't for the worry he always showed.

"What more has gone wrong?" Tiernan asked.

Druce frowned as though this wasn't a proper question.

"I do know that the crown prince wouldn't be troubled with trivialities, my Lord," Tiernan said, the weariness in his voice as well. "And King Gelban would be here if he didn't have something far more important he needed to handle."

"You don't have to call me by a title, or I'll have to do the same to you."

"I am not...." Tiernan began and frowned. "I am not like the rest of you."

"You are my brother, or are you trying to tell me that you've lied about that part? That you're not the Tiernan, the boy who used to come in and steal paper from my desk?"

Tiernan blushed. "I didn't think you realized. The tutors wouldn't give me any paper of my own. They said I was too young for such gifts."

"They were fools. I went to your room after you went off to live with Aunt Frieda. I found where you hid your drawings and stories. I still have them. I was afraid either the servants, or the tutors would just toss them out --"

Tears came to Tiernan's eyes. Kalliope hadn't expected to see such a reaction, but apparently, Druce did.

"That's better," he said. "Not that I've made you cry, but that I can remind you, still, that this is your home."

"I didn't know I wasn't coming back. No one told me. And father gave me my own paper to write on. I was so pleased to have some of my own. Rolin took it away, of course. I haven't had any -- Gods, that's such a trivial bit of history that I really don't want to go into it now!"

"I know. But -- it makes me more certain, you understand? We have to be certain!"

"Oh." Tiernan nodded. His fingers brushed at his eyes. "Ask me about stuff. Or shall I just tell you what I remember? About Paris and Barlin -- are they still fostered somewhere else, then?"

"Paris is out with the army," Druce said. "He's long since come of age. Barlin is home with his wife. She's due with their first child any day now, and father refuses to let him go to war at a time like this."

"I wish them well," Tiernan said and meant those words. Kalliope could hear it in his voice.

Druce sat in the chair by his brother and looked at him for a long time again. Tiernan seemed to grow uneasy under the stare. "What do you regret, Tiernan?" Druce finally asked.