Page 14 of Winds of Destiny
Cam
I don’t know why it surprises me that Kai is agreeing with Turo. They’re not friends, I can tell that much—certainly not in Turo’s eyes—but they’re…amicable. They’re being friend ly with one another, very deliberately. Maybe to counter some of the stupidity that seems to run through Kai’s men—cut their losses and run, really? Ha. Embros would never.
It strikes me that I should maybe, possibly, potentially consider telling them that the man who tried to make off with me during the attack was Embros himself. There was too much going on back home for me to even remember after the attack was over—Doric to mourn, a proxy wedding to arrange, a betrayal to coordinate.
Which reminds me: I’m still mad at Turo. His making limpid, octopus eyes at me isn’t going to change my mind, although it is nice to be the focus of his attention. I’m angry, but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate his gaze. If nothing else, it gets Kai looking at me, too, and there’s all sorts of potential there that I’m eager to consider.
What would it be like bedding Kai? We’re proxy husbands, after all, and he’s been very upfront about how liberal Prince Eleas is, sexually speaking. There’re two whole weeks, maybe more, to go before we make it to Huridell. Surely I can convince my “husband” to give me the fucking Turo won’t between now and then.
I wish Turo would, though. I’ve wanted it since I was old enough to know what desire was, and while I might be spitting mad at him for abandoning me, that hasn’t put my desire to rest. If anything, being around another man I find wildly attractive just makes my attraction to Turo feel even sharper.
Hmm. What would they be like at the same time… Oh, now there’s a thought.
“Here.”
“Hmm?” I mentally wake up just in time to take a plateful of food from Kai. Braised fish cheeks, fresh salad, our soft, fluffy bread… It’s all the nicest food we’ve brought, the things that won’t last more than a few days on the road. After that, we’ll be eating rougher fare, but for tonight it’s not unlike eating with my family. Maybe even nicer, because I’ll be spared the scholarly arguments between my sister and father, as well as my father’s criticism of my “comportment.”
“Don’t know why anyone’s interested in that stinking swamp in the first place,” Rusen declares as he makes up his own plate. “There’s nothing out there.”
“There was, though,” I say before I can help myself.
Rusen rolls his eyes. “It’s a swamp . Your man said it himself, there’s nothing but—”
“It wasn’t always a swamp, obviously.” I don’t know when I became so bothered by ignorance, but if Rusen is typical of the level of learning back in Huridell, I’m going to have to work hard to keep my mouth under control. I turn to Kai. “What do you know of it?”
He does me the favor of seriously considering my question. “Our oldest tales speak of a night of fire that split the earth, when the ground trembled so hard that a hole opened in the middle of the vast grasslands of the peninsula and filled with pure, clean water. Years later, a city was built on the single island in that new sea.”
“Inarime,” Turo murmurs, pinching up some of the fish with his bread and eating the two items together. It’s only then that I realize we don’t have any utensils.
Lovely. Looks like I’ll be shoveling salad into my face with my fingertips tonight.
“Inarime, the legendary city,” I agree, and I meet Turo’s eyes for all of half a second before loftily looking away again. He can have a taste, but he doesn’t get any more of my attention than that. Not until he earns it. “I’ve never heard any stories go back as far as the creation of the sea, but Inarime was supposedly built long before the other four biggest were. The people who lived there were incredibly powerful in magic. They were said to draw most of their power from their city god, a chimera, but—”
“What’s a chimera?” Jeric asks.
“It’s a very special sort of beast with the front half of a lion, a venomous snake for a tail, and a goat’s head sticking up from its middle. That head was reputed to breathe fire,” I add.
“It sounds like bullshit,” Rusen puts in. “Nothing but pure imagination.”
I smile thinly. “You speak from the perspective of a man who’s never seen very many interesting and unusual things, have you?”
“Hey, I—”
“I’ve seen fish that walk on land,” I press on, because I’ve had it with this rudeness. “I’ve seen sea creatures with all their eyes on one half of their body and none on the other. I’ve seen snakes with two heads and water that lights up when you brush your hand through it at night. Zephyth’s city god is a sea serpent large enough to swallow a man whole. Antasa’s city god is a lion with wings . To say something is impossible just because you don’t have the imagination for it is rather shortsighted, don’t you think?”
It’s getting dark enough out that I can’t tell if Rusen is flushed with anger, but his posture certainly says he’s uncomfortable with the way the conversation is going.
“What else?” Jeric asks quickly. He’s so sweet. If I didn’t want to climb his superior like a mountain, I’d consider taking him to bed, too.
“No one knows exactly what happened to Inarime,” I say. “People agree that the city collapsed into the sea, but the reason is still undetermined. Perhaps they angered their god by doing magic they shouldn’t have, or maybe their god was killed. Some even wonder if the people grew so ambitious that they sacrificed their god to gain access to all of its power. Whatever it was, when Inarime fell, that’s when the everwinds began.”
Jeric’s eyes are large and wondering. “So the everwinds were a curse?”
I shrug. “That’s probably how people looked at them at first. They adapted, of course, and learned to use them to protect caravans. Some merchants even invented special types of wagons with narrow sails that used the everwinds for propulsion—we have drawings of them in our library. The everwinds continued, with very few stops, for a thousand years. Scholars argue over whether—”
“Wait, no.” Rusen is shaking his head now. “This still sounds like a load of sheep dip to me. Somebody came up with this fairy tale to explain the everwinds, that’s all. No need for a special city, or a three-headed monster god, or—”
I interrupt him again. “Zephyth has trading logs that date back to before Inarime fell. Our city was much smaller then, but it existed , and it did business with Inarime. Those documents are some of our most treasured histories, verified again and again over the centuries, so don’t test my patience by saying they’re false.”
Don’t you fucking dare .
Rusen glances at Turo, of all people, before looking down at his plate. Turo hasn’t even looked at him once tonight. Hmm. I wonder what’s gone on to make Rusen wary of him.
“It makes you wonder if the Kamorans know something the rest of us don’t,” Kai says, taking over the conversation as easily as breathing. “Their king might be a bastard, but he’s cunning, and I know he’s always been interested in magic.” Kai shakes his head. “He even came to Huridell to talk to the king about our abilities.”
Turo perks up all of a sudden. “When was that?”
“Months ago now. Why?”
“Before or after his attack on Antasa?”
“Ah…” Kai thinks about it for a moment. “Before. By perhaps a month, maybe two. Why does that matter?”
“It might not,” is all Turo says before falling silent again.
The conversation eases, and for the next while it’s just my escort swapping stories and making jokes. I’ve decided I like them, barring Rusen right now. They’re not refined, but they’re fun. If this is what I can expect in Huridell, then perhaps I really will be able to be happy there.
As long as my husband is bearable, of course.
Eventually, the dark takes over, and as stars appear across the sky unobscured by the mist that always seems to bathe the coast by Zephyth, I know it’s time to sleep. I’ve got to be ready for another day of this tomorrow, then another after that, then another after that. I prepare in privacy, then go to get my bedroll from my supplies—only to find that it’s already been laid out next to one a whole head longer than mine.
“Forgive me for taking such a liberty,” Kai says as I turn toward him with an arched brow. “But it is my sworn duty to protect you. I’ll feel a lot better knowing that my husband is within arm’s reach.”
My husband . A shiver of possibility goes down my spine. I wonder just how far I can persuade Kai that his marital responsibilities need to be fulfilled. Not tonight—I’m too damn tired tonight. But there are many more nights on the road in our future.
“I suppose I’ll allow it,” I say, lying down and pulling only the thinnest layer of blankets over my body. Once Kai joins me, I lean toward him and wrap an arm around his waist. I mean it as a goad—to him, to Turo, even to myself—but once I’m holding him, I’m loath to let go. “Ooh, it’s like lying next to a furnace,” I say with a grin. “Excellent. I hate being cold at night.”
“I’m more than happy to keep you warm,” Kai promises. He leans his head close to mine, so close that if he turned just a little bit, he would be kissing me. My breath catches in my throat. I want that.
“Your man looks ready to run me through with that wicked blade of his,” Kai whispers in my ear.
Hmph. “Let him look,” I reply, not quite as quietly and not really caring.
Let him look all night long.