Page 13 of The Laws of Nature (Heirs of the Empire #3)

Behind the pages come a group of people approaching in finer clothing.

Tobi takes them to be Ambolk courtiers. Some wear harnesses and breeches like Harok’s, others tunics and gowns with fur cloaks.

Both men and women wear their hair long and all the men have beards.

Most of them wear jewellery fashioned from wooden beads dyed different colours, long looping threads about their necks.

On some of them, their threads of beads hang almost to their knees.

Some also have beaten metal medallions on leather thongs, leather straps around their wrists or leather gauntlets like Harok’s.

Or flashing pieces of metal woven into their braided hair.

Most of the men are tall and broad like Harok.

Many have weatherbeaten faces like they spend a lot of time outdoors.

But overall these people do not look much different to the people Tobi has seen in Fanost or on the streets of Ceruleum or in the audience for the Copperhead Circus.

Except for one small thing. Something hard to define.

They look as if they, like Urynwud, are part of the forest. Like they too grew as part of it.

Tobi looks up at Harok. He has the same look. His cropped beard and long hair are the colours of rich earth, his eyes the blue of the sky. Tobi shivers. He has heard stories that the people of the Amber Forest were not men, but trees come alive.

At the front of the group of courtiers is an older woman dressed in a floor length cloak of deep green velvet and fox furs, over long green robes.

She has beads of green and deep orange strung around her neck.

Her face is well-worn with age and her long hair is pure white, but she has an air of distinct refinement.

She marches directly over to Harok and drops a bow, saying something in Ambolk.

Harok greets her as she straightens with a nod and as soon as he does so, she embraces him. The way she grasps hold of Harok makes Tobi think this woman might be his mother.

The woman holds Harok for a long moment. When she pulls back, she turns and looks at Tobi.

Harok reaches for Tobi’s wrist, pulling him forward to present him to this woman.

“ Kushir ,” Harok says, “ Kushel Yaelin. ” He speaks like this is an introduction.

Is Kushel Yaelin this woman’s name? If she is Harok’s mother, is Kushel a title for the mother of a king?

Kushel and kushir . Exceli. Urynwud. He tries to remember each new word he discovers.

Tobi bows his head. Tobi is suddenly very aware that he is dressed in his revealing stage costume with its tight, low breeches and the small, open waistcoat that leaves his chest and arms bare.

His hair is mussed and tangled from riding and fleeing from their attackers.

He must smell strongly of horse. And like this he is being presented to the mother of the man he is to be married to.

Is married the right word? He is still unsure what kushir truly means.

But Harok doesn’t seem at all concerned about Tobi’s appearance. Tobi supposes he ought to be grateful Harok is not presenting him naked and oiled as a pillow slave meant only for his bed.

Harok says something to his mother in a commanding tone.

Harok’s mother’s lined face draws tight. She nods solemnly. She says something to Tobi. The only word he understands is the last one. “ Kushir .”

Tobi nods.

Harok says, “ Sho. ”

Is that what he is meant to say? Sho?

“ Sho, Kushel Yaelin, ” Tobi says. He gives the woman another delicate bow and takes her outstretched hand, placing a kiss on her knuckles in the correct greeting for an Azurian noble woman. She seems a little shocked by this, pulling her hand back more quickly than is really proper.

But Harok smiles, “ Ga, garan, garasiana, ” he says.

Tobi looks at him. He has no idea what Harok just said but it seems he has pleased him.

Harok takes Tobi around the hall, showing him to person after person.

The dogs run around, weaving through the legs of the Ambolk people.

Tobi stops to pet each one that comes close, feeling the soft calmness that always comes over him when he strokes an animal.

It makes him pine for Baby. He desperately hopes she is safe, wherever she might be out in the forest. She will be here soon, he tells himself.

He will bury his face in her fur and all will be well.

The Ambolk blur after he has been introduced to more than a dozen people in a language he does not understand.

It seems to take a long time, but they finally arrive at the foot of the dais.

Harok leads Tobi up onto it and turns. He draws Tobi close to him and addresses the crowd.

His voice is so deep and strong it makes Tobi shiver, although the only words he understands in Harok’s triumphant address are kushir and Solwen , a new word he has picked up, which he thinks is what the Ambolk call themselves.

At the end of his speech, Harok raises his voice and says, “ Kushir. Tobi Darekul. Beast Tamer.”

He takes hold of Tobi’s elbow and pulls him close. At this, the crowd cheers. Harok’s hands circle both Tobi’s upper arms as he is crushed to Harok’s chest and kissed hard.

The kiss takes Tobi’s breath. Despite the night-long ride, Harok smells delicious, rich and sweet like damp earth, with deeper scents like spice and rare herbs. Harok moves one of his hands to run a thumb gently over Tobi’s cheek. The sensation sends a shiver of pleasure up Tobi’s spine.

As Harok’s tongue slips deep into Tobi’s mouth, Tobi tries to remind himself that this pleasure is something he wasn’t allowed to choose.

He was snatched by Harok and his Ambolk warriors.

Forced to comply with their demands as they threatened people he loves.

But those thoughts melt away as he feels Harok’s body, hot against his, and the deep, suggestive penetration of Harok’s tongue, which seems to be urging him to see this situation in a wholly different way.

The kiss is quite short, but when Harok breaks it, Tobi is panting and limp in his arms. He lifts his head to look out at the crowd.

Harok slides an arm around Tobi’s waist, against the bare skin under his waistcoat and lowers his lips to whisper, “ Kushir Suskara. ” Tobi has no idea what Suskara means, but it sounds sweet on Harok’s lips.

Tobi looks at the hall and sees, through the open door into the courtyard, that more Ambolk riders are arriving. With them is a familiar cart and — the thing he most wants to see in the world — Baby in her wheeled cage.

Tobi points, “Baby,” he exclaims. “Baby. Please, can I see her?”

Harok looks at Tobi blankly.

“Baby,” Tobi says again. “My beast. My lykat.” When Harok still looks uncomprehending Tobi points again and makes a growling sound. “Baby.”

Harok smiles. “ Karran. Sho ,” he says. Then, “Bay-bee.”

He takes Tobi by the wrist and leads him down from the dais. The crowds part, letting them pass easily through the hall and back out into the large courtyard.

Harok leads Tobi to the stables. The courtyard is busy and many of the Ambolk watch them, but Harok simply marches through, ignoring them all.

The wooden doors of the stables are open and many horses are being taken inside. Harok leads Tobi with them into a large space, smelling of straw and dung.

There are a huge number of stalls. Tobi doesn’t think he has ever seen housing for so many horses in one place since he saw the Great Imperial Stables of the Rose Palace.

Many stablehands are hard at work, watering and grooming the horses. When Harok walks in they pause, bowing low, but he dismisses them, saying something in Ambolk that sends them scampering back to work.

Harok pauses by one of the stalls. He draws Tobi over to see the fine chestnut stallion they rode through the forest upon.

Two stablehands are attending to the horse’s neck.

The arrow has been removed and they are applying a paste to the wound that smells sharp.

Harok says something to the stablehands.

There is a brief exchange and Harok leads Tobi into the stable, over to the horse.

Harok strokes the beast’s neck and makes a cooing, soothing sound, before he turns to Tobi and says, “ Tamello. ”

“ Tamello ,” Tobi says. Another introduction.

Tamello — if that is the beast’s name and not simply the Ambolk word for horse — is a truly magnificent creature.

It’s flanks glossy over the great muscles of its form.

Tobi reaches up and pats Tamello, saying again, “ Lalian ary juzu, ” with gentle coos and soft clicks, thanking Tamello for bringing them safely through the forest. The words work like magic. Tamello makes a gentle sound back.

Harok nods. Softly he says, “ Lalian ary juzu, ” to the horse too in his heavy accent.

The horse seems to enjoy these words even more when Harok says them.

Harok looks to Tobi and smiles. He says something that begins, “ Tamello …” But Tobi doesn’t understand it.

He hopes Harok is telling him the horse likes him.

With Harok’s eyes on him, Tobi finds himself holding his breath, before Harok takes hold of Tobi’s wrist and leads him out of the stall and further down the aisle.

They find Baby, still in her iron cage, in a corner at the end of the long row of stalls.

She purrs deeply to see Tobi and he pulls free of Harok’s grip and rushes to her, petting her with both arms through the cage’s bars as she purrs and preens.

And when he cannot stand it any longer, he jumps at the wall of iron bars, pulling himself up with his hands and the heels of his boots until he is straddling the top of the cage.

He looks over at Harok, who is watching him with a raised eyebrow and returns it with a wink before dropping down into the straw with Baby.

Then, as he promised himself he would, he buries his face in her fur, flinging his arms around her neck and breathing her in and cooing her name.

The scent of her fills him and calms him with a deep, real feeling of safety.

Home . No matter how strange this place gets, he has her.

He has Baby. Family. He is so glad he insisted she come with him despite his fears for her as they rode through the forest. She purrs.

But after a moment, she turns from Tobi and looks at Harok through the bars of the cage. Tobi feels her stiffen. She looks right at him and makes a low, but distinct growling noise.

Tobi shushes her. He looks at Harok, who simply raises a brow.

“She’ll get used to you,” he says, although Harok clearly does not understand him, but he feels he ought to remark on his beast’s behaviour.

“She’s wary of strangers.” This is not the truth.

Tobi has never seen Baby growl at anyone quite like that, unless Tobi expressly signalled her to.

He wonders what might have riled her. He supposed it could just be the strange situation or the uncomfortable journey.

After a while Tobi rolls over onto his back, lying in the straw beside his lykat.

He turns his head to see that Harok is sitting on a low stool outside the cage watching him.

The stool is comically small, probably used by a young stablehand.

On the tiny stool, Harok’s big bare knees almost touch his chest.

Tobi looks at him. His strong stern face. Even crouched on a stool in the stables, he looks like a king. His long dark hair falls down over his shoulders. His brow is heavy over his eyes. He looks tired.

For a while they stay like that, looking at each other, each lost in their own thoughts.