Orphan's Blade (22 page)

A knock sounded at her door. Now might be the chance she was waiting for. Valoria took a deep breath and prepared herself for judgment. “Come in.”

The sight of Nathaniel brought a dose of relief mixed with reticence to speak with him. Since seeing him with Blanca, she did not want to interfere. She’d thought he might have felt something for her, but she’d been wrong. It was fortunate she hadn’t explored her own feelings. She could have brought down both kingdoms for no reason.

“How are you feeling?” He stood by the door. His arm had been bandaged and an ugly red spot had blossomed under the white cloth.

“I’m well enough.” She pulled the blankets up around her as if using them as a defense. “How’s your arm?”

“It aches, but it will heal. Amok said I was lucky. The claw could have sliced the entire arm off.”

She cringed, thinking of him with only one arm. “Who knew our captain was a healer as well?”

“He’s a man of many talents.” Nathaniel stepped forward. “May I sit down?”

She hesitated. What was the point of carrying on with their lengthy conversations? She would be with Brax soon, and he with Blanca. “I am very tired.”

Nathaniel did not move. His face turned solemn, almost stern. “I know you used black magic again.”

She glanced at the hallway behind him. Keeping secrecy was something he had to work on. Her tone turned annoyed and insistent. “Very well, close the door and sit down.”

Nathaniel closed the door and took a seat beside her bed. There was no judgment in his face, only concern. He had such a pleasing face, it was hard not to want to caress it. “Did the necromancer find you?”

“He did.” Valoria shivered. “But, I pushed him away.”

Surprise lit his sharp features, making him all the more gorgeous. “How did you do it?”

Valoria tightened her fingers into a fist. She would have to limit their time together. He grew on her each minute until she couldn’t get him off her mind. “I found out who he is…or was.”

“Who is he?”

Valoria pursed her lips. Should she drudge up the past? What’s done was done. What meaning could it have now? It would only explain the darkness in the man’s soul. Not that she condoned it.

“You have to tell someone.” Nathaniel pleaded with her. “Even if it’s not me.”

Tears threatened in the corners of her eyes. She wanted it to be him so badly. She wanted him to be the one she told everything, the one she spent all her time with, the one… “He is Sybil’s lost minstrel love.”

He gasped and covered his mouth with his hand. “How do you know?”

“I saw his memories. I watched as he returned to the House of Song with Sybil on his horse. The minstrels shunned him. They couldn’t accept him stealing Sybil from the King of Ebonvale. I felt his anger, his remorse, and his shame.”

Nathaniel reached out and took her hand. His touch was warm and insistent. “That must have been horrible.”

“It was.” She sniffed. She wasn’t the minstrel. She hadn’t made such an indiscretion. “I’d rather die than be unwelcome in the House of Song.”

“You will always be welcome there, and in Ebonvale.” His eyes were so kind, they almost made her forget all obstacles between them.

She had to remember her father’s wishes and her promise to the queen. And Brax. “If I do what is expected of me, yes.”

Nathaniel took his hand away and set it in his lap.

This was the impasse they’d come to all along. Why did he have to keep pushing the boundary and making her wish her life was different? Didn’t he already have his own love?

Valoria glanced away at the waves lapping around the boat. At least they were free of the urchins. “I am tired. Leave me be.”

Nathaniel’s face turned solemn. “You must tell Sybil when we return to the castle.”

That weak waif of a woman? She was already halfway to being a ghost. “It would kill her.”

Nathaniel stood and pushed the chair back. “She would want to know. Besides, she might have a way to defeat him.”

“Would she act against her one true love?”

“If he placed Ebonvale in danger, she would.”

Lady Love

Nathaniel leaned against the railing, staring into the horizon. It had been two days since the Sea of Urchins, and nothing had changed. The horizon lay bare, the waves lapped in an endless tide, Valoria avoided him, and Brax was as irritable as ever. Ebonvale would crumble and fall, and the dead would plague the ends of the continent before they even returned to shore.

“You trust this man to reach the Sapphire Isles?” the warrior grumbled beside him as he shaved his head with his dagger and some soap.

“He’s brought us this far.”

Brax used the tip of his dagger to point at a new scar above his left ear. “Right into the mouth of a giant beast.”

“We brought him there. You forget, not many would sail us through the Sea of Urchins. Half his ship is torn to shreds.” Amok had been drinking from that flask frequently these past few days, but Nathaniel couldn’t blame him. The attack had frayed all their nerves.

Brax shrugged as if it were nothing. “I’ve already told him we’ll pay the damages once he delivers us safely to the Isles and home.”

His brother didn’t understand sentimentality. A ship was an object that could be replaced, much like a town could be rebuilt. He didn’t understand the melancholy feeling of losing something so close to you, you lost part of yourself with it.

“Do you miss your father?”

Brax stopped in mid shave and gazed out at the sea. It took him a moment to answer, yet his face remained plain. “He fought bravely and died with honor. I am proud to be his son.”

“That is all true beyond a doubt. But do you miss him?”

Brax continued to shave. “That is the difference between us. You allow your thoughts to wander where they make you weak. I might miss him if I allowed myself to dwell on his absence. Instead, I think of the great deeds he has accomplished and it motivates me to pick up my sword and follow in his footsteps.”

It was wise advice, but Nathaniel could not take it. To disregard his own feelings would be to tell himself a lie. No, he relished sentiment. It was what made him human. It gave him compassion for others. He took those feelings head on. Brax might call him foolish, but in his own way, he considered facing the darkest part of his emotions brave.

“Ahoy! Land ho!” Amok called from the bow.

Nathaniel turned, hope rising inside him. A speck of land so green it could have been carved from emerald rose above the sea. He ran to the bow, leaving Brax to finish shaving. Two more specks materialized on the horizon, and the sea shone scintillating blue around them.

“The Sapphire Isles.” Valoria spoke with awe beside him, making Nathaniel step back in surprise. She hadn’t left her room since the attack.

Her hair blew across her face in streaks of auburn as she approached the railing. She still wore her nightgown, and it blew against her body, showing her curves in the wind.

Nathaniel looked away, stifling the urge to hold her against him. “How do you know it’s the right place?”

“The water. ’Tis so blue it bests the sky on a clear summer day.”

“’Tis beautiful.” But, truly he didn’t speak of the water.

“And dangerous.” She placed both hands on the railing. Her knuckles were white. “No algae grows in these parts. No fish swim, or seaweed floats. The mermaids eat everything in sight. They wipe the sea clean.”

Nathaniel imagined a sparkling, empty sea as a chill settled in his shoulders. “You did not speak of this before when you told us of this quest.”

She turned to him, her silver eyes vulnerable and wide. “Would you have still come?”

“Yes.” He didn’t take a second to think about it.

“Ahem.” Amok approached them and glanced at Valoria’s nightgown. “Best dress in your battle gear, you might need it.”

Valoria nodded. “How far will you take us in?”

Amok shivered and brought his hands around his shoulders. “Not far, lass. The mermaids prey upon men who don’t have a lady whom they love. They find empty hearts the easiest to trick. I’d be a goner.”

“You’ve never had someone?” Valoria’s tone turned wistful.

“Me?” Amok wrinkled his bulbous nose. “I had a girl I liked a long time ago. Got this to impress her.” He pointed to the tattoo on his neck. “You see, she liked this tough lad with ink all the way up both arms, pictures of creatures much like the one we met a few days ago. Anyway, turns out she didn’t like my tattoo, and I was stuck with the ugly thing.” He wiped at his neck. “Taught me you can’t change yourself for love. If it’s true love, you won’t need a tattoo.”

Nathaniel studied the old man, impressed by the wisdom of his words. He was off the mark with many things, but on this occasion, he spoke the truth.

Amok turned to Nathaniel. “Concerning those mermaids, you won’t have anything to worry about, now will ya?” The old man elbowed him in the side.

Nathaniel stepped away, disgusted. Just because Blanca kissed him didn’t mean he was in love. But, he nodded all the same, avoiding Valoria’s gaze. “I’ll be fine.” He didn’t mention the true reason.

Amok gestured toward Brax as the warrior ran his hand over his freshly shaved head. “What about your friend, does he have a love?”

Worry crawled into Nathaniel’s heart. But, he couldn’t speak of his doubts in front of the princess. To say Brax didn’t love her would be underhanded. “I cannot speak for him, but he should.”

Amok pointed his gnarled finger. “Make sure he does. If he goes out there with a free heart, then he’s nothing but bait.”

Brax caught them all looking at him and stood. He wiped the soap off his dagger and returned it to the sheath on his belt as he approached them. “What is this matter of which you speak?”

“True love.” Valoria approached him with stoic determination. She set both hands on her hips. “If you do not have it, then the mermaids will capture your heart for themselves and eat it raw.”

Brax didn’t flinch. He crossed his arms with a bored look on his face, as if they told children’s stories to scare each other at night. “They will not get the better of me.”

“Very well.” Amok moved to the side of the ship where a small boat lay underneath a tarp. “Get your things. You should move in while the day is new and the sun shines bright.”

“Do they attack at night?” Nathaniel squinted into the water, but he couldn’t see anything moving underneath the sparkling surface.

Amok handed him a paddle and rolled his eyes warily. “They attack every minute of every day.”

* * * *

For her sake and his, and that of the quest, Valoria hoped Brax loved her. He certainly wasn’t as annoyed by her as he’d been when he first met her. She’d like to think she’d earned a small degree of his respect. But love?

There was only one way for her to learn the truth.

Amok lowered them to the water in the small boat. Brax and Nathaniel held paddles, and she held her harp. She remembered the songs she’d learned as a child. “They are weak out of water, and they have no true power over humans. ’Tis all an illusion. In reality, they are mere fish in the sea.” She said it to comfort herself as much as inform the two men.

A cool layer of mist hung above the water, making it difficult to see anything farther than a few feet away. Valoria pulled her cloak tighter around her. This was the place they’d traveled miles to reach, yet reaching it sent shivers across her arms and legs.

“Did you bring the pearls?” Brax’s muscles bunched as he began to paddle.

Nathaniel tapped the upper pocket in his vest. “I’ve kept them safe.”

“Let me see them.” Valoria held out her hand. If anything, it would keep her mind off the fact they were paddling through mermaid territory.

Nathaniel dug into his pocket and pulled out a crimson velvet bag tied with gold cord. He upended the bag over her hand and five violet orbs shone in the sunlight. They were heavier and silkier than she thought.

“What makes you think these mermaids will trade their most precious commodity for a piece of jewelry?” Brax huffed as he paddled.

Valoria resisted the urge to glare at him. Sometimes, the brute was too logical for his own good. “The tales say these are precious stones of wisdom passed down through the generations. It is said King Pradarian, the great grandfather of King Artemus, tricked the mermaids with a deceptive peace treaty and stole them.”

Brax snorted. “Ha! No King of Ebonvale would behave in such a manner.”

“That is why the song is not sung in Ebonvale.” She raised an eyebrow, challenging him.

Brax stopped paddling. “Are you accusing my bloodline of being thieves?”

Valoria straightened in her seat. “I am.”

Nathaniel raised his hand. “Hold on. Stories can be twisted over time.” He gave Valoria a knowing look. He believed her. She could feel it.

She wasn’t going to surrender so easily, though. “We’ll see when we meet them, won’t we?”

“Shouldn’t you be playing some music to keep them at bay?” Brax grumbled as he continued to paddle.

Valoria shook her head. He knew so little. “They are creatures of illusion and magic. Songs won’t work on them.”

“Then why did you bring your harp?” Brax curled the right corner of his mouth.

Valoria shifted uncomfortably. He’d pegged her with that one. “I feel safer with it.”

Brax shook his head as if she’d disappointed him. “Two warriors around you, and a piece of wood with a few strings brings you peace of mind?”

Frustration built inside her. If he was any more insensitive, she’d climb off that boat and take her chances with the mermaids. Then, she noticed a small smile curve the corner of his lips. He was teasing her, almost flirting. Valoria raised an eyebrow. “Warrior skills will not help you in this place.”

“No songs, no swords.” Nathaniel rubbed his forehead. “We’re doomed.”

* * * *

The lush vegetation of the island hung over them as they approached. Vines hung from trees so tall they blocked the sun. Small black birds flew in a v shape overhead. Distant whoops of monkeys echoed from the hills. The waves that bore them closer crashed against steep ridges of rock. Their boat rocked in the turbulence.