Healer's Touch (31 page)

“I’ll talk to Aris. Have four horses ready.” As much as he hated to admit it, they would need Cassidy and Alvaro. Hisham could probably move through Turhmos without too much suspicion, but his dark skin would still draw the occasional questioning look. It was unlikely Jonas could do much at all without being recognised. Turhmos had wanted him dead since he’d been born – never mind how they felt after his little rampage a year earlier. Alvaro and Cassidy wouldn’t draw suspicion and would be his passport. It wasn’t unheard of for Brurun locals to visit either Turhmos or Quaver, both of which it bordered; in fact, the tourism was encouraged by both nations.

Anticipating resistance from Aris and open antipathy from Alvaro, Jonas turned indoors, figuring both men would be at breakfast by now.

He shouldn’t have left her. He should have done as he was supposed to do and kept his eye on her at all times. But right in the middle of a hallway, surrounded by well-to-do folk they didn’t know, Aris and Llew had made a spectacle of him, pulling this way and that. And Llew had the audacity to talk about
his
dreams. What did she know about his dreams? He didn’t even know about them now. He’d had dreams and they’d been crushed, and he hadn’t allowed himself to dream since. Yes, he liked her. Yes, he wanted to spend more time with her. But he didn’t dare hope that he could actually do it. His life wasn’t his to direct. He was a soldier for Quaver; he went where Quaver wanted him. Where Aris wanted him. He was Aris’ man.

He was buoyed by the plan to take Llew back to Quaver with them, since it meant he would be with her for longer. But he wasn’t stupid enough to hope it could last beyond the journey home. She was Syaenuk. She wasn’t an innocent girl to be safely escorted, she was a captive and she would be taken into custody to be kept out of the wrong hands.

And then what? What would Quaver do with her? As much as he wanted to believe they’d keep her in fine accommodation and allow her to follow her dreams, whether that be education or a family, in the back of his mind he knew that couldn’t happen. In the hands of Quaven officials, she would be studied. Some part of him knew that Quaver would almost certainly do what Turhmos would do: try to create more like her. His jaw clenched at the thought of Llew enduring such treatment, and some primal part just wanted to fight for his own claim on her.
Damn it!

Anya’s Aghacian posse was afforded the privilege of eating with Lord Tovias in his small private dining quarters while most guests were left to dine in what had been used as the ballroom the night before. They were all there: Aris, Emylia, Anya, Lord Tovias, Cassidy and Alvaro. Jonas avoided making eye contact with Alvaro when he entered. Anya watched him, eyes wide, eager for news. Stories of the altercation in the hall would have reached nearly every ear on the estate by now. A flicker of concern touched the girl’s eyes when she realised Llew wasn’t with him. Aris stood up as he approached.

“Braph got her.” Jonas said emotionlessly. “Braph has Llew.”

“What?” Alvaro’s chair skidded back, filling the room with a deafening scraping sound before it crashed to the floor behind him. Everyone in the room looked to Lord Tovias for his reaction, but he shrugged it off before returning his attention to Jonas.

Jonas ignored Alvaro, focusing entirely on Aris and what he would have to say about it, even though it would have little effect on what Jonas was going to do.

“I don’t suppose I can stop you going into Turhmos to find her?”

Jonas shook his head.

“Need I remind you that if not now, then soon Braph will be the most powerful man in the world, and you will be in the heart of hostile territory?”

“Then I need to stop him. Now.” He waited for Aris to make a move. Aris had been livid, and terrified, when Jonas had ripped through Turhmos on his revenge raid the previous year, and he’d torn strips off Jonas for days after his return. But the simple fact remained that Aris was a man past his prime, and Jonas was Syakaran.

Aris nodded slowly. He knew he couldn’t stop Jonas, so he wasn’t even going to try. They had already had many discussions since discovering what Llew was. Discussions in which the words ‘unnatural’ and ‘disgrace’ and ‘evil’ had featured heavily. And, at first, Jonas had tried to honour Aris’ advice; he’d even agreed on some level. But Llew was Llew. She wasn’t just some anonymous Aenuk, and she’d got under his skin despite his best efforts.

Jonas knew Aris was calculating how to send a whole army detachment into Turhmos with him. But there would be no way of doing so without starting a new war, and a war Quaver couldn’t afford right now. He knew well enough that there would be no stopping Jonas. The only power Aris had over him was respect, but they both knew even that had a limit. All Aris could do was try to reduce the risk of the mission.

“I need Cassidy and Alvaro,” Jonas said.

Aris nodded again.

“Hisham’s coming, too.” Technically, Jonas had no right to commandeer Hisham, as he was a lieutenant, too. Both of them needed Aris’ command before they acted. But Aris just nodded again.

Jonas nodded solemnly in return. That was that, then. He was returning to Turhmos with one Karan and two civilians. Without his knife.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“If I ran, would you need to use a crystal to catch me?”

It felt as though they had been scuffing through the long grass for hours, but Llew supposed it had more than likely only been one, if that. She was hungry. She hadn’t had breakfast.

“No.” One side of Braph’s mouth lifted. “I am Karan. You are merely Aenuk.”

“Syaenuk.”

“So you know what you are. Very good.”

“You tried to have me killed. Of course I know!”

Braph said nothing.

“It was you, wasn’t it?
You
tried to kill me.”

“I believe I succeeded.”

“How did you know Jonas wouldn’t kill me?”

Braph was silent.

“What would you have done if he’d made it permanent?”

Braph pressed his lips tighter.

Llew gave up. “How far are we going?”

A chill wind blew, but whatever snowy peaks Turhmos had, they were too distant to rise above the horizon.

“The closest town is a day’s walk. From there, it is a couple of days riding.”

“You couldn’t have flown us a little closer?”

“I took us as far as the crystal could carry us,” he growled. “Do you know how huge Turhmos is?” Llew shook her head. “And that’s the last piece of Orinia I had. You had better be worth it.” He continued muttering, but the only words to reach Llew with any clarity were “father” and “dilute”. Llew’s hand went to the hard shape in her pocket. Suddenly she stopped walking. As soon as he sensed her no longer beside him, Braph stopped too, and looked back to her.

“You used to . . . 
own
my mother?” She had believed her mother dead for all these years and had made peace with that. But now she was having visions of her mother in this man’s cage, of him coming to drain her blood once a day, or week, and leaving her in the dark. Her sorrow was coloured by guilt for the times she’d cursed her mother if she were still alive. It had never occurred to Llew that her mother might have been kept against her will.

Braph walked back, turned her and pushed her onward. “It’s a long way,” he said. “I didn’t
own
her. We loved one another.”

Her mother loving this man? She couldn’t believe it; he clearly did.

“But you kidnapped her.” She still remembered the day, even twelve years later, waiting for her mother to return from the store. Her father thought she might have been captured by the Quaven authorities, and he kept Llew indoors for several days before bundling her up and leaving Quaver forever. Quaver had no reason to keep an Aenuk alive. But there had been no rumours, no stories of an Aenuk in Quaver, and as Llew grew that lack had grown in significance, and she had clung to it – her mother hadn’t been captured, she must have left.

“I . . . I captured her to study, yes. But it grew into more than that.”

“She was
married
. And had a
child
!” She spun to face him again but he grabbed her arm roughly, turning her and propelling her forward with a shove.

“Move!” Llew tried to pull her arm free, but his grip was too strong. “You’re beginning to fray my nerves, girl. Don’t forget that I have been working with Aenuks and Syaenuks for half my life. I know how to hurt you in extremely interesting ways.”

Llew mentally cringed. She didn’t know the full extent of Braph’s powers, but his arrogance both infuriated and intimidated her.

“What happened to her?” she asked as they trudged on.

Braph didn’t answer immediately, and when she looked at him he was struggling to control his emotions.

“She was taken from me,” he said.

“By who?”

“Turhmos.”

“She’s still alive?”

“I believe so, yes.”

“You want her back, don’t you? Is that why you came for me?”

“Initially. I was on my way to find you when you made quite a splash on the telegraph with that rather public reincarnation in Cheer.”

“I didn’t exactly have a choice . . . ”

“That’s beside the point. Once that news was flying down the wires, I knew Turhmos would make their move. And Turhmos doesn’t know how to take care of their Aenuks like I do. It’s just lucky for you they had no idea what they were looking for.”

There it was. He was talking about her like she was an animal, a possession, again. When would people stop doing that? “Lucky for me I met your brother first.”

“Perhaps.” He looked at her, reading her. “Do you know how close he came to killing you in Stelt?”

A familiar chill settled on Llew. “No.”

“He thought about it. I was watching. While you lay dying, he put this blade to your back. If he’d decided to do it, I would have tried to stop him, but I’ve yet to find out if I could have succeeded.”

“But he didn’t.” The thought brought a small smile to her lips. The breeze picked up and Llew shivered, hugging herself. She was only wearing her shirt and the cold cut right through her. She turned to Braph. He wasn’t looking at her, and walked with his head down. With his whiskers growing again, he looked so like Jonas had when they’d been travelling the length of Aghacia: the same straight profile and strong brow over expressive brown eyes.

“Why do you need my blood? You must have Aenuk blood already. What do you plan to do with mine?”

Now Braph looked at her. “I must kill him,” he said. “It is too great a risk for me to attempt it without Syaenuk blood. I’ve seen him move. I’ve seen him fight. I’m strong and fast, and with my magic I could do things to him he would have no defence against. But I don’t know if I could do it for long enough to bring him down.”

“Why
must
you kill him?”

“To get Orinia back.” He half smiled at her and Llew saw love for her mother in his eyes. Then he turned his head away, lazily observing the empty expanse around them. “And to know that I could.”

* * *

“Please, sit. Eat some breakfast.” Lord Torvias beckoned Jonas to join them. “You won’t get far on an empty stomach. And it’ll give my kitchen time to prepare rations for your journey.”

Eager as Jonas was to get going, Gaemil was right. If he didn’t eat, he would need to stop sooner to find something, and it would only hold them up. If he ate now, he could ride all day without stopping. They might even make the Turhmos border. It was frustrating: Braph and Llew had flown and for all Jonas knew they could be halfway to Turhmos already.

Jonas nodded. He sat at the table and started filling a bowl, while Lord Tovias motioned to one of the servants to carry out his orders.

Jonas could feel Anya staring at him.

“Don’t worry. We’ll find her,” he said and filled his mouth with fruit and cooling oatmeal as he looked at the girl, his hair curtaining his face. She relaxed at his calm tone; he wished he felt the same. Just how far could Braph fly? Could it be possible they were over the border already? And, if so, what sort of trail would there be to follow? No-one would have seen them so there would be no-one to ask. He wondered how well known Braph’s home was. But he suspected Braph wasn’t especially popular in Turhmos or else he would have been travelling with the soldiers and Llew would have been in real trouble a lot sooner.

He sent Cassidy and Alvaro to grab what they needed for the mission, shovelled the rest of his breakfast into his mouth, then, with thanks to his host and a nod to Aris, he gathered the supplies from the kitchen, and took some clothing from his room. Then he headed back to the stable. Hisham waited with five horses saddled and ready to go.

“Got to stay optimistic that we’ll find this girl of yours.” Hisham grinned and nodded at Llew’s gold and white mount, saddled. Jonas smiled back.

He’d known Hisham since they were sixteen, the usual age for recruits, usually Kara, with obvious promise in the Quaven army. They weren’t expected to go to battle that young, but Jonas had been in the army two years by then and Hisham was eager. They fought alongside each other for five years, until Jonas’ family had been killed and Aris forbade Jonas’ return to the Turhmos border.