The Jewel of Kamara (The Delthenon Chronicles) (38 page)

“You
are beautiful,” Dahlia whispered as she stood back from her friend and admired
her handiwork. Her braids were wrapped on top of her head as though they were a
crown. Her big brown eyes were lined with heavy black lines and her lips were
painted a deep red. Yes, her dress was simple but now Dahlia understood it was
to make her face shine.

The
Shiasa ushered Dahlia out of the way and offered Tempani the gift that was in
her hands. Tempani grabbed it and held it up in awe. It was a heavy gold
necklace, clusters of diamonds set evenly around it.

“I
wore it when I married your
niski
, as did my
ancestors before me. Now it is your turn.”

“It’s
beautiful,” she breathed. “Thank you.” And then she surprised them both by
bending down to kiss the older woman’s cheek.

She
scowled as her cheeks turned a deep red. “Your hair is up to show off my
necklace.”

Tempani
rolled her eyes. Her
niska
would always turn
everything into something that was about her.

Reeta
rushed in. “It’s time,” she said.

Tempani
exhaled deeply one last time and stepped outside.

Freloha’s
voice carried across the gathered crowd as she
sang the Kalaowin wedding song. The Shiasa walked ahead of Tempani and led her
down to the lake. She tried to peer over everyone’s heads so she could see Nic,
but he was blocked from her view. She gave a nervous smile to the eyes in the
crowd that met hers and hoped she seemed confident.

Aidis
was across the lake to show her approval of
the match. Beside her, Mincha and
Tilaw
stood, both
of them watching the dragon apprehensively. Kwahi swooped over them, keeping a
respectable distance from
Aidis
.

She
spotted her father standing beside Darby and thought she saw tears in his eyes,
but she couldn’t be sure. She gave him a small smile and was surprised to see
it returned. Perhaps there was hope for them.

And
then she saw him. A face so sure, so happy that her nerves disappeared. A sense
of calm washed over her as he offered his hand to her, and she gladly took it.
He rubbed his thumb across her hand as they listened to her
niska
speak.

“Today
we celebrate the joining of two hearts as a new life begins. A life that will
bring many ups but also many downs. Today you pledge to stand by each other’s
side during all these times. Your love may waiver over time, but your
commitment to one another must never.”

Nic
squeezed her hand, and they shared a smile.

“Now
you must face one another and make your promises.”

Tempani
swallowed hard and met Nic’s eyes as she spoke. “I promise to be open to your views
and not judge. I promise to be kind and laugh with you. But most of all I
promise to love you for the rest of my days.”

Nic
blinked the tears from his eyes. “I promise to spend the rest of my days making
sure you are happy. I promise to be truthful and dependable. But most of all I
promise to love you for the rest of my days.”

She
leant forward and brushed her lips against his.

“Not
yet,” her
niska
scolded as those gathered chuckled.
“You have pledged your commitment before your tribe and your Goddess. Now your
hearts are joined for life.”

Tempani
turned to her
niska
. “Can I kiss him now?”

She
nodded. “You may.”

Tempani
grinned and threw her arms around Nic’s neck as she planted a kiss on him.

“We’re
married?” He asked.

“We
are.”

He
laughed and spun her around in his arms. “Finally!”

Their
friends, family and tribes rushed forward to offer their congratulations. She
was passed around as everyone wanted to hug the new bride. At one point she
found herself wrapped up in a pair of strong, familiar arms and looked up to
see her father’s face smiling down at her.

She
drifted off to sleep that night with the memory of his hug and the bliss she
felt at being Nic’s wife. And for the first time in a very long time, she felt
at peace in this world.

~11~

Thara
scooped the baby up and hugged him to her,
patting the tufts of red hair that had been mussed by his sleep. He was crying
again, and his wails broke her heart. He cried constantly yet it never once
stirred Colbert to rush to his side. The most Colbert gave his son was an
awkward hold and that was only when Tempani forced him to.

It
made
Thara
angry. It wasn’t this child’s fault that
Leandra was dead, but Colbert couldn’t bring himself to look at him.
Thara
just wanted to shake him and tell him to snap out of
it. But she would never do that. Perhaps Tempani would. Everyone listened to
her. Even
Thara
had when Tempani asked her to care
for the baby. And
Thara
had done as she was told and
cared for the little boy, who still didn’t have a name.

What
surprised
Thara
was the love that she felt for this
boy, and he didn’t even belong to her. It was a love that swelled at the sight
of him, and it was a love that Colbert should know. The child deserved his
father. He deserved more than a stranger rushing to his side each time he cried
or needed feeding or changing.

She
sighed and walked out of her tent, rocking him gently to settle his cries. She
tried cooing to him but that only made it worse. His wails carried through the
camp. She spotted Bhatia and Tempani and hurried over to them.

“Again?”
Bhatia groaned. “All this baby does is cry.”

“I
don’t know what to do.”

“Have
you tried bouncing him? I used to see some of the mothers at Amarill do that,”
Tempani said and reached out to rub the baby’s back.

“Can’t
you just use your Power and stop his crying?”

Tempani
rolled her eyes at Bhatia’s suggestion. “I’m sure that’s good for him.”

“It’s
got to be better than him crying all the time.”

“Here,”
Thara
said and tried to pass him to Bhatia. “Can you
please try?”

Bhatia
stepped back quickly, shaking her head.

“Let
me try,” Tempani said and took him from
Thara
. She
held him against her chest and bounced him gently, rubbing his back as she did.
“
All right
, he doesn’t
like that,” she said as his screams grew louder.

“Well
this warms my heart,” Nic said as he approached them. “A glimpse into my
future.”

“You
try,” she said and passed him to Nic.

“That’s
your future all right,” Madoc laughed.

“What
do I do?” He asked, holding him out at arm’s length.

“Not
hold him like that for starters,” said Bhatia.

“At
least he’s trying,” Tempani snapped. “You practically ran in the other
direction.”

“Here,”
Nika said firmly as he appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the baby. He was
dwarfed in
Nika’s
large hands. He held the baby
against his chest and swayed gently from side to side. He rested his lips on
the baby’s head. Kwahi circled above them.

Thara
noticed he was murmuring softly to the boy.
She inched closer, unsure if she was curious or feared for the child’s safety.
All she knew of this man was that he was Tempani’s cousin. She hadn’t heard him
speak until now.

“A
Kalaowin lullaby,” Tempani whispered. “It’s working.”

And
it was. The baby whimpered slightly, but the wailing had stopped.
Thara
breathed a sigh of relief. Her nerves couldn’t take
the screams for much longer.

“So,
we’ll just leave you to it,” said Tempani. “Holler if you need anything.”

They
all left quickly, leaving
Thara
standing beside Nika.

“His
name?” Nika asked.

“Colbert
hasn’t given him one,” she stammered. “It’s his baby.”

He
stared at her, his eyes dark and intense. She found herself blushing under his
gaze. She wondered if he was going to say something, and then she realized that
he hadn’t understood her. He must not know much Kamari.

“Him,”
she pointed at the baby and tried to make her voice louder. “No name. His pa,”
she tapped his red hair and held her hand up to indicate a taller man, “give no
name.”

He
stared at her again, an amused expression on his face.

She
frowned at him, assuming he didn’t understand. How was she supposed to
communicate with him if they didn’t understand one another?

Nika
smiled thinly and handed the baby back to her. “He stop.”

She
nodded and muttered her thanks before scurrying away.

He
stood there, his mouth twitching as he watched her go.

—

After
leaving
Thara
in
Nika’s
hands, Tempani and Bhatia went for a walk in the woods to collect herbs for the
Shiasa. She had given them a long list, and they dared not return without every
item. Even Bhatia knew better than to cross the old woman.

Tempani
was silent as she weighed up whether or not to broach the subject with Bhatia. It
had been on her mind since the first time she ever saw Bhatia, and her desire
to know had only grown the more time she spent with her.

“Can
I ask you a question?” She eventually asked.

“You
just did,” Bhatia replied.

Tempani
rolled her eyes. “Be serious.”

Bhatia
sighed and sat down. “Go ahead.”

“Why
don’t you ever talk about your family?”

“Cos
there’s nothing to say about them.”

“Do
they live in the city?”

“No.”

“Oh
that’s a shame,” she said.

“Is
that all?”

“Well,
no,” Tempani said, suddenly overcome with nerves. “I just want to know how you
became,” she stammered. “You know, how did you get into…”

“You
want to know why someone would choose to be a Lady of the Night?”

Tempani
nodded, feeling guilty for even wanting to know.

“It’s
fine. I’m surprised it’s taken you this long to ask.”

“I
didn’t want to pry,” she replied. “But I am curious.”

Bhatia
shrugged. “If you want to know, I’ll tell you, but it’s not pretty.”

“I’d
like to know,” she said. “I want to know you better.”

Bhatia
frowned at her and then took a breath. “I started working there when I was
fifteen. Madame
Grayam
was kind to me. She found me
on the streets and offered me a warm bed and food. She told me to stay as long
as I wanted. I was a beaten soul back then and clung to any kindness shown to
me. Looking back I should have known that I was signing up for years of more
abuse.”

“You
were abused?” Tempani gasped.

“Beaten
by my
pa
for as long as I could remember. When he
wasn’t hitting me, he was pounding into my ma. But it was more than that. He
would call us names. Tell us we were worthless until one day we started
believing him.”

“So
you ran from home and lived on the streets?”

“I
was too stupid to run. I should have grabbed my ma, and we should have left.
There’s not a day goes by where I don’t wish I’d done it.”

“So
what happened?”

“My
pa was a drunk. He gambled every night and lost all his earnings time and
again,” she said. “He owed a lot of money to one man. A merchant from the
western coast. He came to the house a few times demanding the money. On his
last visit he threatened my pa’s life. I remember sitting there, and I prayed
to the God to let it happen. The God turned his back on me, and the next time
the man came it wasn’t to take my pa’s life but to rob me of mine.”

Tempani
reached out to grab Bhatia’s hand, but she snatched it away.

“I
screamed for my ma as he dragged me from the house. He had cleared my pa’s debt
in exchange for me,” she spat. “For months I was kept in a small room under his
house. He would visit me each day, and I would be forced to do things…
Sometimes he would come twice a day. Sometimes he would bring a friend.”

Tempani’s
eyes welled as she listened and fought against the bile rising in her throat.

“For
so long all I did was cry myself to sleep and pray that I would be saved. That
was the last time I ever prayed. You may talk about the Great Gods being
saviors
, but to me they are nothing.”

“Did
he let you go?”

Bhatia
shook her head. “I realized that no one would help me. I had to save myself. I would
not stay there and spend years regretting that I didn’t run. I broke a leg off
the chair in my room and spent days sharpening it. I practiced punching and
kicking. Doing it against the walls and building up my muscles. Any moment I
was alone I did that. I started eating all the meals his wife brought me and
got my strength back. I only had one chance at it. If I failed he would kill
me.”

Tempani
winced.

“Don’t
judge me,” she whispered.

Tempani
tried once more to hold her hand, and this time Bhatia let her.

“I
had the sharpened chair leg under the bed. When he finally rolled off me, I
grabbed it and rammed it into his heart. I held it there until I saw the life
slip from his eyes. And then I ran. For weeks I walked and walked with no idea
where I was going. That’s when I started stealing. First it was just food, but
when I made it to the city, it was easier to get my hands on other things.”

“How
long before she found you?”

She
shook her head. “You have no sense of time on the streets. I was sleeping in gutters,
stables, anywhere that was free. And there were so many others like me. All
desperate to be saved from starvation. I learned pretty quick that the men
ruled the streets and expected a cut of whatever you stole. If you were a thief
and worked alone, you didn’t have a chance of living through the night. They
were ruthless.”

Tempani
sighed. What this girl had gone through was beyond anything she could ever
imagine.

“Madame
Grayam
came for me when I was at my lowest. Later I
found out that’s how she does it. She can spot someone at the end of their
road, and then she offers salvation,” she said bitterly. “At first it was
simple things like helping around the inn. And then she asked me to fill in for
one of the girls who was sick because there was one man who hated being
cancelled.”

“It’s
him isn’t it?” She asked. “The one who gave you that.” She pointed at the burn
mark on her neck.

“He
was lovely. Very charming. Made me feel special, you know? And then after that
he kept requesting me. So Madame
Grayam
made me sign
a contract. She told me I owed her, and I believed her. I was young and stupid
and didn’t realize I was signing away my life. Once you’re in, there’s no way
out. She has people guarding the doors. If you go somewhere, someone always
goes with you.”

“But
you managed to escape. You went to Zadi.”

She
shrugged. “It didn’t take me long to learn how to give them the slip. A couple
you could bribe or sometimes slip something into their food at night to keep
them on the privy.”

“Why
not leave earlier then?”

“And
go where?”

“Anywhere.
You had money. You could have begun a new life somewhere.”

Bhatia
laughed bitterly. “Do you really think they gave us the money? We were given
food, shelter and clothing. That’s it.”

“You
went back to thieving didn’t you?”

She
smiled. “Under the protection of the inn, I didn’t have to hand over everything
I stole. But I only stole from people who deserved it.”

“And
how do you choose who deserves it?”

“If
you are a man, you deserve it,” she snapped.

“Not
all men are bad.”

“Tell
that to the girls I work with. Their bodies are violated every day by men.”

“So
you just go after the men who hurt the girls?”

“I
go after all men.”

Tempani
frowned. She didn’t believe her. Bhatia wasn’t a cruel person. She did the wrong
thing from time to time, but it seemed more out of revenge than anything. Yes,
she killed a man but that was because he hurt her. She stole the broach because
he had hurt one of the girls at the inn. She alone wanted revenge on the
nobleman who branded her neck.

“No,
you don’t,” Tempani said. “You only do it to men you believe deserve payback.
And you did have money to start afresh. You’ve been thieving for years, so you
could have left.”

“What,
you believe I stayed because I wanted to?”

“No,
I think you stayed to protect those girls. You’re a fighter Bhatia. You want to
help people who can’t help themselves. Look at
Thara
,”
she said. “And when you felt me use my Power that day, you saw your chance to
help other girls.”