Her equal.
Even if he were bled dry and crushed to dust, his remains scattered upon an eastern wind to be born again in Calate's realm he would not come close to such a thing. This female, loved by princes and kings, borne of a queen. Grace where he was savage. Noble where he was merciless.
He could never hope to be any kind of equal to her.
He watched her walk with sure foot and regal poise toward the council. Though she hid it well, he could sense her fear. The potent sweetness of her Calatian blood thumping wildly through her veins, a cavalry of frightened horses stampeding toward battle.
The others could sense it too, it sang a low hum that echoed off the walls around the chamber. He moved so that he could stay close behind her, no further than an arm's length away so that he might shield her from what may come.
'Princess of Calate, you are welcomed before us,' the High Visier said. 'It has been many moons since a human last stood inside these walls.'
'Then I am humbled, court of Leoth,' Fara's voice did not waver as she looked each of them in the eye and a flare of pride shot through him.
'Princess, before we can begin, we must beg your forgiveness for our servant's offence against you. A shameful violation of the laws which guide His most glorious court.'
Paeris stood in the same spot where Theodan had released him, confused and horrified at what was now unfolding.
'It would be unjust to hold the whole court liable for the actions of only one,' came Fara's measured response.
The Visier smiled faintly. 'Your beneficence does you credit, Princess of Calate.' Turning her attention on Paeris, her expression grew dark. 'Paeris of Mennir, you have broken the law of pacification intoned within these walls, and as such you are ordered from this chamber at once. Your misdeeds have brought shame upon His court and only when and if the Dark One forgives this offence, will you return to this council.'
Paeris's eyes went wide, disbelieving. 'High One, please, I beg of you.' He shook his head and looked at Orrin, desperately, willing him to intervene. The Isdar remained silent and unmoved. 'You cannot banish me from this court, I beseech you, Visier, please...'
At his plea she turned on him fully, her eyes turning as dark as the moonless sky. He felt the air cool as an ice wind blew across the court.
'I cannot?' she repeated. Her voice was low like an ancient curse. 'You would presume to tell me what I can and cannot do inside these walls, servant of Leoth?'
Paeris dropped immediately to his knees and bowed his head. 'No, Visier, I do not. I swear upon His glory that I do not, I only beg that you consider carefully and with mercy what you do by—.'
'You think I am without mercy?' she asked him, her voice dreadful and cold now. Theodan felt the chill from it sweep up his spine.
'I think you the most merciful, Visier' he replied. 'But you must understand that my offence was only that I was unaw-.'
'Silence!' she commanded, turning her face from him. 'I will hear no more. It is clear to me that you think yourself to be above His law. A flagrant disregard which is not only impertinency but contempt. You are no longer given leave to speak here, Paeris of Mennir and should you break this decree you will incur a more severe penalty than befalls you now.' It was a threat. Theodan knew Paeris to be a stubborn fool but he prayed that for once he would stay silent. 'Menodice, Remove this Leoth from my sight - I have no desire to look upon him any longer.'
This time Paeris was wise enough to keep silent, but as the Mendodice moved to surround him he sent another pleading look toward the council. When it was clear that no one would intervene he hissed something under his breath and made a show of adjusting his robes. His air was that of someone forced into some final indignity. He allowed the guards to lead him from the chamber but as he passed Theodan he shot him a look as deadly as the poison of the blackyew. This newest insult would not be forgotten, Theodan was certain of it, but he had no time to dwell upon it now. He would have a great many enemies to contend with when this was over.
Only when the sound of the Menodice's footsteps had faded did the Visier turn her focus once more upon himself and Fara.
'Son of Ishilde, you are recovered?' She asked him.
He could still feel the vision echoing across his skull. An axe through bone. Savage and violent. Yet he could recall nothing of what he had been shown. Nothing of what had caused his body to flicker out like a weak flame. The space where he knew the memory of should reside was nothing but white space. A bright endless nothing which crushed against his temples and pressed upon his eyes. He recalled the Visier asking if he had the stomach for rebellion, and then... white. Nothing.
He felt somewhat ashamed that the entire court had seen him a victim of his own mind. That Fara had seen him weakened by it. Then he wondered if she had been glad. Glad to see him crippled by his own 'gift'. Was it that weakness which forced her hand now? Did she consider him too weak to protect her so she sought to do it herself? The thought sickened him. Pulling himself to his full height he turned his full attention back on the council.
He nodded once. 'I am, Visier.'
'Then We are glad of it,' she said. He could not tell if her tidings were genuine or not. 'And so to this matter brought now before us. It seems the Princess of Calate's declaration speaks to either your ignorance or your deceit, Son of Ishilde. Tell us, of which are you guilty?'
He did not get a chance to speak.
'Your commander knew nothing of my identity, High visier,' Fara answered for him. 'Not until I spoke it here before you.'
He blinked at her in surprise.
'Then tis ignorance!' Orrin spat.
'Then Theodan is exonerated,' Caera countered.
'Exonerated? Hardly.'
'He cannot be guilty of breaking plenary Law if the female is of Calatian blood, brother.' The voice was from behind him. He had forgotten Vala was still inside the chamber. When he turned she was looking intently at her brother.
'Sister, your presence in this court is neither welcome nor necessary,' Orrin declared. He looked demeaned by her outburst. 'I bid you remove yourself from it at once. You have no voice here.'
Vala looked like she might challenge him, but unlike Paeris, Vala had long ago learned which battles she could win and which she would undoubtedly lose. Resentment simmered from her as she glared at Orrin, before she lowered her head in deference to her Isdar. He had certainly never earned her respect as a brother. Then, with a single look of intent in Theodan's direction, she turned on her heel and strode from the chamber.
'So, you testify that you had no prior knowledge of whom you had claimed as your spoil?' Orrin's attention returned immediately to Theodan, Vala no more than a passing annoyance now forgotten.
'Yes. That is my testimony - I am as surprised as this council.' He could sense Fara's look of disapproval. He would have to do better. 'She told me she was a palace maid and I believed her - I had no reason to think otherwise. Torrik had men looking in all corners of the realm for her - I certainly did not expect to find her in the slave camp simply waiting to be claimed.' He looked at Fara for approval. Her eyes glowed, better, they said, before she looked away again.
'I think you are lying.' Orrin said.
Theodan sighed. 'But of course you do, Orrin. I could tell you that Ethis himself gave life to the four realms and you would not believe it.'
Orrin narrowed his eyes at him.
'Then what is it you think has occurred here, Orrin? That Theodan knowingly enslaved the Princess of Calate?' Caera sounded exasperated. ' For what purpose? Knowing what it could mean for our realm? For our pact with Zybar?'
Orrin thought about this for several moments, his mind searching hard for an answer. 'I do not know,' he conceded finally. 'But I believe he has lied to this council and continues to do so now. Mayhaps he plots with the Princess of Calate to undermine our Pact with Zybar.'
'A plot?' Theodan mocked. 'Really? You think me so weak-minded that I would allow myself to be influenced by some Calatian female?'
'You have always been weak-minded where females are concerned, Theodan,' sneered Orrin. 'Leothine, Azurian, Asallan concubines paid for with your inheritance - think yourself above a Calatian princess?'
It took every ounce of strength he possessed not to retaliate with the words that burned like fire on his tongue. Instead, he took a deep breath. 'Tis true we have never been friends, Orrin, but this tiresome dislike has turned you into a blind fool.'
'You have insulted me for the last time!' Orrin thumped his fist on his seat and lurched forward.
'Enough!' The Visier commanded. 'We would have calm in His court, both of you.'
Orrin snarled through his teeth before snapping his mouth closed but the rage bristled over his body still. Theodan inclined his head toward the Visier in apology.
'Princess, why are you here?' Seren spoke rarely in meetings of council, preferring to observe and listen, watching others reactions to see what could be gleaned and used for his own purpose. Seren stroked a claw over his lower lip, gaze sharp and keen.
'I am not certain I understand your meaning, councillor?'
'Are you a spy?' He rephrased. 'Here to feed information of our realm to your brother the king?'
'I am no spy, councillor,' replied Fara, calm as a restful ocean.
'Then prove it to us,' He shrugged, gesturing with his hand an invitation. A Spy. The idea was laughable. If he was sat in his chair watching this then he would wonder why he had not a cup of wine in his hand to accompany this theatre before him.
She shook her head, 'I cannot. But if I am a spy then you are supposing that I allowed myself to be captured by my enemy. That I allowed myself to be marched to a slave camp to seek out the claim of the very same Leoth who executed my husband?' She turned to look at Theodan, a glimmer of pain shining in the golden depths of her eyes. She blinked and dropped her gaze from his, turning it back on the council. 'To what end I ask you? To inform my brother of that which I already knew? To inform of that which he already knows? Which all of Ethis already knows?' She laughed a little but it was empty of feeling, a hollow sound, like wind through a dry husk of bone. 'That defeat by Leoth's armies are as certain as the sun's cycle in the sky above. Think you my brother so cruel that he would assign his beloved sister such a mission in futility?' Her tone was no longer empty. It swam now with some masked emotion, some danger hiding in its stormy depths. The others would not know it for what it was, but he was no longer fooled by that which fell from her tongue which had not it's foundation in truth.
The council stared at her, part curious, part astonished.
'Perhaps then your mission is to do to Leoth what you did to Azura? To use your feminine sorcery to destroy those realms he sees as his enemy?' Sapphira now, her voice languid and salacious. 'You led the Prince of Azura to your bed and with it, to his death, his realm in ruins. Perhaps you are here to do the same to us?' Her gaze slid to Theodan.
Fara said nothing in her defence, not immediately.
Then, 'It is war which destroys realms, my lady, not love.' Her words were spoken soft like silk but he felt bruised by them.
In his mind, he saw her beloved prince fall by his sword, sea-green eyes and pink mouth wide with the realisation that the next breath he drew would be his last. How many times had that human mouth kissed her, he wondered? How many times had it spoken of love, of devotion, so many promises that would be forever unfulfilled?
He saw the women of Azura rounded up like cattle. Screaming for their men. He saw children screaming for their mothers and fathers as they were trampled beneath the feet of horse and Varveh alike. Gods, he had not the stomach or the heart for another war. What good are you if you cannot fight? What are you if not a warrior?
'Spoken with all the frailty of a human,' smirked Sapphira. 'Still, I say she poses more trouble to us the longer she remains here. I move that we eliminate the threat before it does further damage: An execution. One fit for one born of the blood, of course, we are not Zybarians.'
It was Theodan's blood that turned cold, then. His heart turning to ice-kissed rock in an instant. He heard Fara's breath catch in her throat.
Sapphira watched him closely, a small smile settled over her mouth. It was a treacherous thing that transformed her expression completely. Theodan had always thought her cruelty far outshone her beauty, though many saw nothing but the curves and ripeness of her form, noted the lush tone of her voice. Many were blinded to what she truly was. She was also clever, a quick mind and a quicker wit. What she demonstrated now was not cruelty, but tactics, cleverly devised.
Without another thought, he stepped forward and wrapped an arm around Fara's upper body and pulled close. He forced his claws to extend and brought his hand to her delicate pale throat. Her small body began to tremble in her arms, her breath hitching in her throat from shock and then fear.
'Think you I would even hesitate to end her inconsequential human life if He so commanded it of me, Sapphira?' he hissed. 'Is she not the reason my men and I were sent to fight alongside dogs? Trust me thus, she would be dead already had He not decreed her of use to Leoth. I may not have known her true name but it is of little consequence to me - she serves a purpose to our realm and that is all I require her for. If she did not then I would have gladly handed her to Torrik to do to whatever his base desires compelled.' His claws pressed against her soft throat, he looked down at Fara with all the disgust he could muster. Her eyes as they stared back at him were wide with shock and fear. It made his chest ache. 'Can you not see that He has given us a gift? Do we not now possess something sought by every realm of Ethis?'
'Azura hold no love for her, surely?' Zola asked. 'She has brought them nothing but ill-luck.'
'Perhaps, but she is also the last vestige of their dead heir. A symbol that not all is lost, that their realm could yet rise again,' he explained. 'For Zybar, she represents the same. Torrik knows his claim is weak - for no rule holds onto power gained through conquest alone. For Calate, she is the reason they take up arms against us. Her brother's declaration fuelled by vengeance and fury. A foolish endeavour which will serve only to deplete his stocks and armies. It will end in defeat which makes his own rule vulnerable to any who might try to take his crown.' Beneath his palm, her pulse radiated its power, tempting each and every nerve in his body. His claw edged against her supple flesh, eager for what danced below. He turned to face the council, fixing each of them with a hard stare. 'Whatever Leoth's part will be in what is to come, even if it means another war, then my loyalty is with this realm - and I will not have it questioned by this court again.' He let his gaze linger longest on Orrin and Sapphira.
'Then despite your earlier protests, you are prepared to lead our armies to battle against Calate?' Orrin raised a slender dark eyebrow.
'If it comes to that. If they are foolish enough to attack our shores - then they will be met with a fury to match their own, under my command.' He would do all in his power to avert such an action, for Fara's people as much as his own, but if that failed then he would defend his home against any who would harm her.
'Have you not long maintained that our shores cannot be breached?' Zola asked, glib.
'Have I not also maintained that battles are not won through arrogance or complacency?'
'And what of Torrik?' Orrin asked. 'His desperation to trade spoils with you - it was because he knew who you held, of course? At last, it makes sense... And our pact by now all but destroyed, certainly. It is a wonder Zybar have not declared war on us also.'
'Suspicions only,' Theodan confirmed. 'The princess's denial was...' he looked at Fara. '... convincing. And when the queen refused to confirm his suspicions he was left with little choice. Perhaps the pact will stand - and if not, then it is no great loss to Leoth - it was always beneath us.'
'That which is made on the blowing of the wind rarely endures,' the Visier murmured, distant.
As the council took time to consider all that had been said, Fara's heartbeat begun to calm, though her eyes still looked straight ahead, glassy and unseeing. He loosened his grip a little but kept her held close to his body.
'Visier, I think that we seek the counsel of the Dark one before deciding what is to be done with the princess of Calate.' He kept his tone impassioned, reasoned. For he must tread carefully now. He felt the delicate balance of opinion before him. Orrin would never be wholly convinced of any plan of his, but the others could be. The Visier could be. And if not, then at the very least she would not dare sanction any harm to Fara until she knew, without doubt, she was no longer of interest to the Dark One.
The High Visier was silent so long that he thought perhaps that she had not heard him speak, her eyes luminous yet seemingly removed from the court itself. Then, suddenly she stood, and the others moved immediately to stand with her.
'Son of Ishilde speaks prudently. These are uncertain times and not all paths are illuminated to us. We would do well not to act impetuously on the matter of the Princess of Calate and Azura.' All but Sapphira and Orrin nodded their assent. 'We shall await His divine guidance before proceeding upon such.'
He breathed with relief and felt Fara sag against him.
'And what of the Princess until such times?' asked Orrin. 'I move for her imprisonment until we are certain she poses no threat to the realm.'
'I have guarded her until now have I not?' Theodan countered, tightening his grip on her once more. 'Removed her from the belly of war and returned her safely to Leoth as He bid. The Dark One himself put her in my charge and I would continue my duty, Visier. With your blessing, of course.'
The Visier nodded once. 'The princess shall remain in the charge of, Son of Ishilde until the Dark One wills it otherwise.'
'And of his charges?' Orrin said, sounding almost petulant. It would be difficult for him to see Theodan walk from this chamber with such ease. 'The crimes of theft and desertion have yet to be decided upon?'
The High Visier turned her head to him, as though hearing something not inside the chamber but far in the distance. 'Alas, Isdar Orrin, with the vote of Paeris of Mennir now vacated it would be that the council's judgement on these matters cannot be determined this moon.'
Orrin glanced around him, the realisation dawning quickly, like a stone as it fell to the bottom of a shallow pond. He closed his eyes in quiet rage.
'Son of Ishilde, for now, you are free to go,' said the Visier as she began to take the steps which would lead her from the chamber to her gardens beyond. As she passed him he was certain he saw a small glimmer of a smile cross her lips. However, when he blinked it was gone.
***
Fara clung to him as Nux reared up her hindquarters and swooped downward, her wings pulled back to slow her speed. He felt her grip hold of him harder as the Varveh touched down on the wide flat rock of the courtyard, muttering whispered prayers to her Goddess against his back as the ground rushed to meet them.
The more she flew on the saddle the easier it would become for her. The more time she spent on Leoth the more her fragile human body would grow strong against its thick air and foreign character. She said nothing as he lifted her from the saddle and set her gently on the ground, but her eyes as they met his were wary, moving quickly away. The scent of her blood was close and strong, loud to his ears and redolent to his nose, and when she opened her mouth and swiped her tongue across her lips he understood why.
'You are bleeding,' he said.
'I will heal.' She touched a slender hand to her cheek, absently.
Fury twisted inside him. 'It was my desire to tear his throat out.'
Her eyes were cold as she looked at him. 'Of course, it was. Because death and slaughter comes so easily to you and your kind.'
'He sought to harm you.' Theodan gritted through clenched teeth.
'As many before him have done. As you will do when I no longer serve a purpose.'
He frowned. He thought she had understood. 'You cannot possibly think I meant what I spoke in the chamber? 'Twas was artifice. A feint. I made a vow to protect you, and I will.' He took a step closer to her and lowered his voice, as though he thought the Dark One himself may be hiding in the trees behind them. 'I will see you returned to your home and the protection of your brother, Fara - as soon as it is safe to do so.'
Her eyes widened in shock. Then she let out a small brittle laugh which only confused him further.
'To the protection of my brother...' she glanced away. He felt colder without her eyes to warm him. Something compelled him then to reach for her, to show her where his promise lay, and so he did. He reached up to touch the smooth golden skin of her cheek.
'I would see you safe. And happy once more. As I live, so does my promise to you.'
As she rounded on him, eyes bright with anger, he dropped his hand from her unseen.
'I do not understand you, Leoth. Why in the Gods would you make such a promise knowing what it means? To protect me is to disobey your God and your beloved High Visier. It is to bring dishonour upon yourself, it is to choose disloyalty and exile from his most glorious realm. Why would you ever make such a promise to one such as me?'
He could not answer that for in truth he did not know the answer. Instead, riled, he posed a question of his own to her.
'Why would you take as a husband one who was long promised to another? Why bring down a realm for something as fleeting and as futile as love?'
Her eyes widened, pain shining bright in her golden eyes before coming to settle over her lush mouth. 'You could never understand what Galyn was to me... what he will ever be to me...'
He smiled. Though he did not feel like smiling.
'Because I am a beast of Leoth?'
She opened her mouth to speak, but before a word was uttered they were interrupted by a shriek from behind them.
'Theo!! You are home!' Mor cried. 'Oh to all Gods I prayed they would see sense and so they have. Praise them all!' She rushed toward them, skirts rustling like dried leaves. 'Lumiya,' she said reaching out to Fara. 'He has returned you to us, also. Oh, His kindness...'
Fara turned and wiped her tears away with her sleeve, before turning to face Mor with a warm smile. He hated how envious it made him. How easily she found it in her to give such a small thing to another when she could not bear to give even a crumb of it to him.
'Fix the princess some food and ensure she is given leave to bathe,' he commanded, before turning from them to lead Nux to her stable. 'Install her in the Lower Keep!' he shouted over his shoulder.
When he'd put Nux to feed he went to the kitchens to find himself something to satisfy the craving that gnawed at him. It was not food he craved, he knew this. It was battle. It was blood. You fool, you know what it is you crave.
Could he ever hope to reach common ground with her? He did not deserve it, of course, for what he had taken from her he deserved nothing, but it did not stop his yearning for it. For the slow unwinding of her contempt. For a soft word or look. For the briefest touch of her.
Because death and slaughter comes easily to you... He could not say why the words cut him now. Words that he knew to be true. Words that had she spoken them back in Azura he would have lauded as truth. Why did they slice at him now with the power of a thousand small cuts?
His bedchamber was cold and dark, the hearth quiet and the bed empty, and suddenly he was annoyed at himself for allocating her the cramped servant rooms in the lower keep. A petty remove which made him look infantile, he knew. He lit the fire but felt no comfort or warmth from it, and so took himself instead to the bowels of the great rock and dove naked into the glowing hot depths of the cave pool beneath Teredia. He swam to the deepest point, to where the heat was most ancient, where the rock was older than the Gods themselves. Where even here he could scent Fara all around him. Would she be everywhere to him even after she was gone?
At the lowest point, he let out a roar that tore against his throat and bounced off the sunken stone around him. He roared until his chest felt crushed and his throat sore until he was emptied of sound. As he did so he searched for what was missing from his memory, for the message lost to him since he had awoken on the chamber floor. He found nothing but vacant and absent feeling. The Dark One had never intended for him to see it. It was the only explanation he could find.
Except if he believed that then he would also have to believe that all he had been shown thus far was for some greater purpose. When his blood was drumfire in his ears he swam back to the surface, tearing through it like thunder through a turgid sky. As he wiped the water from his eyes he turned, knowing immediately he was not alone.
Vala sat on the lip of the pool, her legs half-submerged beneath the crystal blue. Dressed in a white slip pulled up past her knees, her face wiped of its blue dye and her hair unbraided, she looked like a girl. She was angry, her well-appointed features cloaked with rage and betrayal.
'You should have told me who it was you bid me protect,' she said, her voice thick. 'Did I not deserve to know such a thing?'
He stood. 'I could not. The danger was too great.'
'So then you sought to protect me?' She looked unconvinced, but hope lit her dark eyes.
He would wonder later whether he should have lied to her, whether he should have chosen kinder, gentler words to end this thing between them at last.
'No, Vala, I sought to protect her. As I bid you protect her.' He took a deep breath. 'Had a soldier failed me as you did this day, he would not live to see the next moon.'
For a moment he thought she might cry, so awfully female was the look in her eye. Then her face turned hard, like a lake which had frozen over, whispers of ice rising from its surface.
She slipped silently into the water and moved slowly toward him.
'How pathetic I have been,' she said with the voice of a stranger. 'How clearly I see that now. A slave indeed.'
As she reached him she pressed herself against him and reached up to cup his cheek.
'Until this moment I have never been sorry for my heart's unyielding desire for you, Theodan.'
'Orrin has ever seen us for what we were, Vala' he said, offering her a sad smile. 'Ill-matched.' Guilt clawed at his throat.
Tears glimmered upon the surface of her eyes. 'Her scent is everywhere around you...'
She scraped her nails gently down his cheek, skimming them lightly over his lips. Then she reached up to press her mouth to his, soft and gentle, quite unlike the Vala he had always known. A soft moan escaped from her mouth which sounded like the word goodbye.
If the pact still stood then in a few moons she would marry her Zybar dog and begin to forget him. He had thought once to prevent her from such a fate, but he had done enough already. Perhaps Zybar's heir would make her happy. And soon she would be a queen.
Silent tears that should have broken his heart slid down her high cheekbones when she moved back from him. But his heartfelt absent of his body, misplaced, held captive somewhere under the charge of another.
Vala did not say another word. She turned from him and moved through the water away from him, before rising from it with a single smooth motion. A moonlit nymph that was his only for a moment. Water cascaded down the length of her hair, making it seem like liquid silver, her white shift transparent against her pale skin.
He waited until she was gone from the cave completely before he acknowledged what hid from sight in the darkest corner of the moonlit pool. Her scent is everywhere around you. He had noticed it only when Vala entered the water. A third heartbeat hiding beneath the surface.
Wild. Radiant. Human.
'You may come out now, princess,' he said.