Rital of Proof (34 page)
Authors: Dara Joy
She viewed him speculatively. "Name-bearers generally don't, you know. They normally are allowed in afterward when things are tidied up a bit. Most don't have the—you'll pardon the pun—stomach for it."
He made a wincing face at her terrible play on words. "I would like to be there. Green. With you."
He always amazed her. How could she turn down such a heartfelt request? He wanted to see his child come into the world. "We'll call for you when it gets near. As soon as the real pains start, Mathers will induce the neural block. Go get something to eat now while you can." She grinned up at him. "It's bound to get pretty hectic around here, later."
He bent down to brush her lips with his. "Are you excited?" he whispered.
"Oh, yes!" She paused then peered up at him. "What about you?"
The aqua eyes bore into her. "I am excited about a new life, yes."
The rest he left unsaid.
Her birthing pains came quickly. Mathers, who had found out about the lack of a methodologist in the region, had wisely brought a neural block. Green was unendingly grateful. Jorlan was called for shortly thereafter, when the birthing was imminent.
Avatar and Mathers stared agog at the Marqueller.
"What is he doing in here, Marquelle?" Avatar bristled. "This is no place for a squeamish man! They haven't the stomach for it!"
Despite her exertions, Green's eyes met Jorlan's in amusement. Avatar had unwittingly reiterated Green's earlier pun.
"Stop your bellytwaddle, Avatar!" Mathers bellowed. "The child comes and I won't have you spoiling the moment!"
Jorlan took Green's hand in his own, bringing it to his lips. He whispered soundlessly against her palm.
Shocked, her gaze flew to him, just as the final contraction took her.
"Look, there it is, now!" Mathers, sash in hand, all but jumped up and down. "The new Tamryn heir!"
Even Avatar looked misty-eyed.
The child entered the world with a lusty bawl, chubby arms and feet kicking furiously.
Jorlan was overcome at witnessing the entrance of a new life into the world. A life he had helped to create. His light eyes filled with moisture. His face shone with joy. "A boy! It is a boy, Green!" An ear-to-ear grin split his face.
Until he looked up and saw the crestfallen expressions of Avatar and Mathers.
The smile died on his face as the true meaning sank in. It was not an heir.
Green lifted herself on her elbows. Her face was aglow with happiness. "A boy? Let me see him, quick, Mathers! Is he beautiful like Jorlan?"
In that moment he loved her more than he could say. "I think he is beautiful like you, name-giver." He kissed her forehead. "I am sorry I did not give you the heir you hoped for."
Green darted a glance at Avatar. The child was not a daughter. There was no heir to the Tamryn holdings. They would have to face the Septibunal without Tamryn security for the future. Green thought quickly. "Mathers, bring me the sash!"
Avatar sucked in her breath. "No! Green, you cannot!"
"Bring me the sash, Mathers!"
Muttering, Mathers handed her the same sash that had once been draped over Jorlan, claiming him to the House of Tamryn. Green draped it over her newborn squalling son.
Jorlan sucked in his breath. "What are you doing, Green?"
She flicked on the wristview on the bedside table to record the event. "I, Green, fourteenth Marquelle of Tamryn, hereby claim this child, who shall be named"—she glanced to the balcony, seeing the magnificent planet that bound Forus moon as it crested in the sky—
"Arkeus,
heir to my lands and fortunes and all that is Tamryn. He shall be known in his own right as Marqueller. Let it be noted that the deed is witnessed by two women, as is the law."
With that she snapped off the viewer to dead silence in the room. Even little Arkeus, who seemed to understand the importance of the moment, stopped crying for the occasion.
For the first time in Forus recorded history, a male had been named heir to a fortune and to his own title of Marqueller without benefit of a fastening.
"What kind of a name is Arkeus?!"
"That's all you have to say?" Green smirked up at Jorlan. He had been saying the same thing repeatedly for three months.
With the birth of Arkeus, Jorlan had changed. It was as if the boy grounded him in some way. There was a completeness to him that had been missing before.
Green had never seen a name-bearer so taken with his child. Jorlan cared for Arkeus and watched over him like an attentive Kloo. A strong bond developed quickly between father and son. Arkeus's eyes began to turn a Pale aqua.
Green wondered if her child had inherited his father's abilities. If Arkeus was a Sensitive, he would not grow up in the dark about his traits—Jorlan would be there to guide him.
It was obvious to all who could see that Jorlan loved his child.
As he loved her.
Green viewed him through her lashes as he played with Arkeus on the floor of their chamber. He had spread the coverlet over the flooring and placed the baby on his back, so he could kick hands and feet in a new position.
Jorlan lay on the coverlet facing him, resting his head in his palm as he watched the same four dark spirally hairs on the top of his head. |
"I think he has a few more hairs... " |
Green tried not to smile. Arkeus was born bald. "He doesn't."
Jorlan looked at her indignantly. "Well, when is he going to get some?"
"Anya sent a message that you were the same way until about six months, and look at how thick your hair is now. Besides, what are you so worried about? He's just a baby. He'll attract plenty of bids, I assure you."
It was the wrong thing to say. Jorlan became very serious as he viewed his son. "He won't need any bids. He'll be his own master."
Green bit her lip. In naming Arkeus her heir, she had given Jorlan a new focus for his cause. "Do not speak that way, Jorlan. You will turn his head."
The aqua eyes narrowed. "I intend to."
She was hurt by his words. "And you are not happy with your fate?"
He rose and walked over to her. "You do not have to ask me that. Not now. You have taken me, you know it."
She did know it. Knew it by what he had whispered in her hand the day their son was born. "Why would you not think Arkeus could be happy with his future, as well?"
"He will be because he will choose it himself."
"Oh, really? And who will produce that miracle of twisting convention?"
"I will."
She just shook her head. In a way, his determination excited her, made her... respect him.
A rumble sounded in the distance.
"An arc storm is coming."
"Yes. I must release Shringa from the coop. I will be back soon." He rose to leave.
Green's brow furrowed. "You're sending the Klee out
into
an arc storm?"
"Not exactly." A mysterious smile graced his lips as he left the room, carrying his son in the crook of his arm.
Later, when he hadn't returned, she went to the balcony, out into the perfectly deep-blue evening that seemed to have sprung more from an artist's palette than from nature. There in the distance she spotted her name-bearer.
He was racing arcs with the wild Klee.
And he had Arkeus with him.
"You take our child on such a dangerous ride, Jorlan?"
Green spoke low as Jorlan lifted the coverlet and slipped into bed next to her.
"He was in no danger, I assure you. He was safely cushioned against me and Shringa glided so smoothly—it was almost as if the Klee flew." He gathered her in his arms.
"Flew. In an arc storm." She raised her eyebrow.
His lips twitched. "Yes. Arkeus loved it." His mouth played with her ear. "One day I will take you, lexa... "
"No you will not! I have had quite enough of arc storms to last me for a lifetime."
He chuckled low against her throat. "Do not let one near-incineration color your opinion, name-giver."
She gasped, pulling away from him. "You know about that night? How?"
His teeth gleamed in the dark. "My grandmother told me before our fastening. She said you were so enamored of me that you rode all night into the middle of a storm simply to get that scroll signed. I thought she was trying to impress me with your sincerity. Was it true?" He batted his lashes at her. "Did you ride
all
that way through the arcs simply for me?"
Green crossed her arms over her chest. The snap-branch! Of course he didn't know
why
she had done it, but still... it did make her sound rather... besotted. "Be still! You have caused enough trouble for one evening! Go to sleep."
Jorlan threw back his head and roared with laughter.
"I cannot believe you did that, Green." He grinned at her, baiting.
Green waved her hand as if to say it was unimportant and turned her back on him to go to sleep.
He cuddled up next to her, pulling her close. "Did you ever wonder why the arcs did not hit you?" he whispered, catching her earlobe in his teeth and tugging.
She froze, then looked at him over her shoulder. "1 did wonder that, yes."
Aqua eyes pierced her in the darkened room. "What would harm you would harm me," he said enigmatically."
"What does that mea—?"
His mouth covered hers hotly. As did his body.
"Jorlan... "
"Mmm, I do favor this position, Green... " He sank into her hot and deep. Green moaned in pleasure.
She arched up against him, her hands cupping his shoulders. Whether it was to push him away or bring him closer mattered not.
He initiated whenever he chose.
He made love the way he desired.
Jorlan was in control.
The next day, a stern summons arrived from the Septibunal.
She could delay it no longer.
Green announced that they were leaving that day. No one questioned a Marquelle's prerogative.
Amid a flurry of activity, they prepared for the journey back to
"You are not taking Shringa with us?"
"No." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "His place is not with me."
What an odd thing to say. "How do you know that?"
Jorlan grinned at her, revealing two deep dimples. "He told me so. He awaits another, who is coming soon."
"You're making that up."
He smiled at her, left eye flashing with an aqua spark of amusement.
Throughout the first day, far in the distance. Green could see the Klee, following their passage along the run of the hills.
"Shringa is watching you, you know." Green rode her mount next to Jorlan and Arkeus.
"The Klee watches us to make sure we come to no harm." Jorlan adjusted the sleeping babe in his arms and bent over to pet Kibbee, who in turn tried to take a nip out of his finger. He pulled it back just in time.
"She's angry at you for running off with the foreign Klee. You'll have a time with her now." Green chuckled.
"Hmm. She will forgive me soon, won't you, Kibbee?" He stroked her side feathers. Kibbee spit a huge wad at a jinto leaf they passed. Barely missing his boot.
Green laughed. "Your wiles don't work on everyone, blaze-dragon. Kibbee has much more sense than I do."
Kibbee concurred with a loud prawk.
Jorlan gave her a sultry look through lowered lashes. "Ah, but I so like when you lose your senses—especially when you give them over to me."
Green's mouth formed an O; she quickly turned to see if any of the women overheard, but they were out of earshot. "Mind yourself!"
He shook his head and winked at her. "I have always left that to you."
Her face flushed. She pulled the reins of her Kloo forward and left him to ride with Arkeus and Kibbee. His soft laughter followed her.
Jorlan was coming into his own.
Green was not sure how to handle that.
But she damn well wanted to try. Every wonderful, fascinating, spellbinding thing she had ever seen in him was coming to be.
The journey home took nearly three weeks and was pleasant enough considering what lay before them in
Under his father's expert care, Arkeus fared the trip exceptionally well. The babe actually seemed to like being out on the land. He even grew a few more curly little hairs on the top of his head, which Jorlan and Mathers pointed out at every opportunity. The two of them had teamed up somewhere along the journey to constantly sing the child's praises.