Sorrows of Adoration (47 page)

I cried out some
incomprehensible shout of disgusted alarm. Jarik’s hand was
immediately on his weapon when he heard my cry, and he looked about
frantically to see where the threat was. I grabbed his arm and
dragged him with me to where the man continued to beat the woman on
the ground. Once Jarik saw what was occurring, he understood why I
had cried out. He swung his fist and sent the man to the hard stone
ground.

I knelt beside the
woman and tried to calm her. She shrieked at my touch, her face
hidden under her bone-thin arms. “Hush,” I said over her cries.
“I’m not going to hurt you. I’m not going to let him hurt you any
more,” I said in as soothing a tone as I could with my fury behind
it. She soon looked up at me, and I could tell she had no idea who
I was. I had spent all of my recent days in full view of these
people, and she stared at me as though seeing my face for the first
time. I suspected that she had not set foot out of her old home
during any of the construction.

Jarik had his sword
drawn and pointed at the man on the ground, who stared up furiously
in return. Guards had surrounded us, as had a crowd of gawkers.

“Arrest that man,” I
shouted. “He was beating this woman. I witnessed it myself.”

The guards held their
ground, looking at me in obvious discomfort. One asked the man if
he was married to the sobbing woman I shielded in my arms. The man
declared that he was.

“That makes what you
just did all the more hideous,” I snarled.

The guard who had asked
the question went on his knee beside me and said, “Majesty, we
cannot arrest him if she is his wife.”

I looked at him,
stunned into momentary silence. Then I proclaimed, “You can and you
will!”

The guard shrank back a
bit at my angry stare but kept his eyes respectfully on mine as he
said, “Majesty, the law allows for a husband to punish his wife as
he sees fit.”

My eyes grew wide in
shock. I had seen no such law in my studies, though I recalled that
Kordos had required me only to read a specific few books of law. I
had not bothered to read beyond that, having been much more
interested in getting my hands on the books of biology and other
sciences that he did not want me to read.

I looked to Jarik, who
had lowered his sword but still held it ready in case the man saw
fit to attack me. “Did you know of this, Jarik?”

He glanced at me
quickly and then turned his eye back to the man, who was rising to
his feet. “Yes. But never before have I seen such a revolting
interpretation of that law. A man who strikes any woman lacks
honour. A man who strikes his wife is a filthy mongrel. But, yes,
Your Majesty, the law technically gives him the right to do
so.”

I looked down at the
woman in my arms. Bruises and scars covered her arms, her hands,
and her face. I had to suppress a shudder when I imagined what
marks covered the rest of her poor, thin body. Clearly, she had not
just been beaten; she had been kept locked up somewhere out of the
sun and likely without a great deal of food. She had heard the
others refer to me as “Majesty,” and thus knew now who I was. She
removed herself from my embrace and sat up on her own, looking at
me in shame.

I stood and brushed the
dust from my dress. Then I looked out on the people who were
gathered around and loudly proclaimed: “That law ends today.”

“Forgive me, Majesty,”
said the guard who had informed me of it, “but it is not a law of
Endren. As a law of all Keshaerlan, it can only be changed by a
majority vote of the entire Council. We cannot hold this man, nor
can we take his wife away from him unless she requests
sanctuary.”

I looked to the woman
and said softly, “You can do that. You can ask me for sanctuary,
and I’ll grant it. I’ll have a physician see you and ensure that
you are kept safe and well and are given full meals. Do you wish to
ask for sanctuary?”

To my surprise, she
looked to her husband instead of answering. When he glared at her,
she withered in fear and whispered, “No.”

“You don’t have to fear
him. I won’t let him harm you if you ask it,” I said in empathy.
She kept her face to the ground and said nothing as her husband
came to her and roughly grabbed her arm. I stepped between them and
smacked his arm away. He looked at me with a great hatred, which
prompted Jarik to jump in front of him and shove him backwards.

“She is my wife, and by
your own admission you cannot keep me from her!” the man shouted.
Jarik remained in front of him. I suspected Jarik was giving him a
cold look of violent threat, because the man looked at him, paled
slightly, and backed away.

I was struck by an
idea. I asked the woman, “Did he keep you locked up in your home?”
She looked at me but did not answer. “You can tell me this. Did he
keep you locked up, unable to leave of your own free will? Did he
make you work for him while keeping you under lock and key?”

She hid her face in her
hands and nodded.

I turned to the guard
who seemed so familiar with the law. “Is it not an offence under
Keshaerlan law to keep a slave?”

“Yes, Majesty,
but—”

“And do the laws not
define a slave as any person who is forcibly confined for the
purposes of unpaid labour?”

“Yes, Majesty, but she
is his wife.”

“
Ah, but the law
says ‘anyone’ and does not allow for the exclusion of wives under
that definition. I declare then that this man has broken the law by
keeping a slave. That should be sufficient for you to arrest him
and keep him under arrest until the Council meeting in three weeks’
time, at which point I shall do whatever it takes to convince the
Council to repeal that barbaric law and replace it with one making
it illegal to strike one’s spouse except in self-
defence!”

I helped the poor woman
to her feet and put a steadying arm around her. She sobbed. “He
won’t ever harm you again. I promise you that,” I said.

The guards arrested the
man, and he began calling out curses against me. Jarik shouted over
him to add treasonous threats against the Queen to his charges.
They dragged him away, and at the sight of it, the woman fell
against me in her grief. I held her up, trying to soothe her, but
she was inconsolable. Jarik came to me, and I asked him to lift
her. She looked tiny in his arms, more like a child than a
woman.

“We shall take you to
the Temple,” I said to her softly. “They shall care for you there,
and when you are well you can come to me, and I’ll help you begin a
new life. You aren’t alone anymore.” I held her hand as we carried
her through the streets of Endren to the Temple. We created quite a
stir, but I didn’t care.

Once she was in the
able hands of several priestesses, I let Jarik take me home.

* * *

Convincing the Council
to change the laws was not as difficult as I had anticipated.
Aelwin and Cael of course agreed with me immediately, Aelwin being
particularly horrified at the tale I told of the woman in the
market. The only real dissension besides questions of how to
carefully word the law came from Bresh. The old man infuriated me,
but thankfully his diatribes of women as “property” enraged the
honourable men present enough to turn their votes in my favour. I
thought more than once that Aelwin was going to strangle him for
his words, and I would have gladly supported her in the act.

Kurit said little on
the subject, but I suspected that was more out of anger at me for
raising yet another unpleasant issue than out of any disagreement.
He voted in favour of the change in law with the others.

After the meeting, I
spoke at length with Aelwin. I told her that I was upset with
myself, for I kept discovering terrible things, such as this law
and the east end, that I had been completely ignorant of until I
found myself immersed in them. She told me that I should be proud
of myself for doing something about them, but I replied that I
feared what other ugly laws or dirty little secrets I would
discover.

“Aenna, you can’t know
everything,” she said kindly.

“I know. But this whole
unpleasantness makes me wish I had the time to comb through the law
books to find other injustices.”

Aelwin chuckled.
“You’ll go blind trying or insane from the drudgery of such a task.
I have an extensive law library in Maellorn, two adolescent sons
who could well use tasks other than running about wildly after
young ladies, and a seven-year-old who loves to read. They are
good-hearted boys, and I have raised them to have a healthy respect
for what is honourable and decent, so I am sure they will devote
their energies willingly once they hear of this outrage. Let me
take on the task and share it with them. Then perhaps I can be the
one to bring this ‘silly women’s talk’ to the Council,” she said,
mocking Bresh.

I laughed. “You imitate
him too well.”

“‘Women are too soft.
You’d let the nation fall to the Wusul if they brought you a pretty
hair comb’,” she continued, puffing out her cheeks the way Bresh
did when he became angry.

“Stop!” I said,
laughing loudly. “Oh, Aelwin, you should have seen the look on your
face when he said that! I thought you were going to rise and
strangle him.”

“I wanted to! But did
you see your Kurit? I’ve never seen such a cold, hard stare. Not
from that boy. I remember when he used to laugh at everything.
There was a time when he would have laughed out loud at Bresh’s
nonsense, and—why, Aenna, dear, whatever is the matter?”

Her words had cut my
laughter short, and I struggled to maintain a pleasant smile. “Oh,
nothing,” I said as though it were true. “It’s just been a very
long day.”

“Then it is true,” she
said quietly, touching my arm softly. “You and Kurit are having
problems.”

“What?” I said, stunned
that she knew. I tried to laugh it off, but the older, wiser woman
saw right through my attempt. “How silly. We’re fine. Whoever told
you there were problems?”

“Aenna, your marriage
is the most watched in all of Keshaerlan. And anyone who knows
Kurit can see he has changed. I had thought perhaps the boy just
grew up and stopped being so flippant. But there’s more to it,
isn’t there?”

I shook my head.

“You know, Aenna, men
sometimes change after they are wed. Sometimes they court with all
the love and pageantry that they can muster, only to be bored
within the first year of marriage. I don’t mean to pry, truly I
don’t, but I can see you’re unhappy. I mentioned his name and your
face went pale when it used to light up. He hasn’t taken a
mistress, has he?”

I reacted in shock to
the suggestion. “No, of course not! Far from it.”

“Forgive me for
suggesting it. My Daeren would never have done such a thing either,
rest his soul. But his brother did so, as did both of mine.”

“Kurit does not long
for another woman,” I said, wanting to add that he didn’t even want
the one he had.

Aelwin smiled sadly at
me. “Well, then don’t fret, dear. Perhaps he’s just fussy because
you’re out all day with your wonderful expansion project and he is
stuck inside. I’m sure things will be better once you’re
finished.”

I nodded and forced a
smile and then said a quick goodnight and went to my chambers. I
considered speaking to Kurit of the fact that our problems were
becoming noticeable, but I realized it was probable he would only
ignore me. So I went on with my days and tried to shut it all out
of my mind.

The construction
continued, and I hardly spoke to or saw Kurit. The few times that I
did spend in my workroom were distracting, as I would usually
overhear Kasha speaking to Kurit in his own workroom through the
thin door between us. She would drone on about how I was being
foolish, how I had not provided him with a second child, and how he
should better control me. He hardly spoke back to her, and I wished
I knew what his facial expression was. I hoped he was angry with
her, but I feared he was silently agreeing.

The week before the
final touches were to be put on the new marketplace, Jarik started
to behave very strangely. He insisted I spend more time in the
palace gardens relaxing and playing with Raelik, even though I told
him I had more important things to do. When I tried to leave the
palace to go to the site, he stopped me.

“What is it?” I asked,
becoming worried. “You’re keeping something from me, Jarik.
Something has gone wrong, and you don’t want me to learn of
it.”

“Nothing has gone
wrong, Aenna. You saw yourself yesterday that the market is almost
complete. The people are settled into their new homes and
constantly express their delight in that. The rubble of the old
houses is being carted away, opening up the new area wonderfully.
Your idea has become a great success.”

“Then why can’t I go
partake in it?”

Jarik had the oddest,
almost mischievous look on his face.

“What is it?” I asked
again. “Why do you look like a rascal?”

He smiled. “Do you
trust me, Aenna?”

“Implicitly, of
course.”

“Then trust me now, and
don’t ask questions. Go fetch Raelik, and we shall take him to the
gardens and play. You shall relax. You shall have a pleasant few
days. You shall stay here at home, and everything out there shall
take care of itself,” he said softly, still smiling.

I did not smile. “You
are wrong, Jarik. You speak of contradictory things. I am relaxed
and have pleasant time when I’m out there working. I am miserable
when I have to stay in the palace. And don’t bother to ask why,
because I know you have seen me upset.”

His smile faded. He
touched my arm softly and said, “I know. I wish there was something
I could do about that. Truly I do, Aenna. I wish you would open up
to me and rely on me, but I understand that you need to shut your
pain away and concentrate on your work. But don’t think of my
request for you to stay here for a few days as an imprisonment. I
really want you to take some time to be with your son. And I shall
remain by your side. We shall go to the gardens. We can stand on
the west wall and watch the training grounds behind the palace, if
you would like. Or you can go read in the library, and I’ll stand
outside and make sure he doesn’t come in to bother you.”