The Myatheira Chronicles: Volume Two: Beyond the Veil (10 page)

“Well, you are in luck. Mother says Callum is expected to visit this morning. We could get him in on the match. It would be like old times.”

“Callum is not coming over to play games,” Aiva sliced with a precise motion toward Edric’s abdomen, the tip of her sword brushing the fabric of his tunic. Barely avoiding the blow, he blinked at Aiva, surprised by the accuracy of her strike.

“I detect anger in you, dear sister,” he replied, an uncertain smile crossing his lips. “Does something trouble you?”

Raising her sword, Aiva motioned for her brother to continue their match. She didn’t want to stop. It was easier for her to remain calm while focusing her negative emotions through a blade. Fighting was the perfect outlet when all she wanted was to break everything in sight. Edric’s question was genuine. She was surprised to think that her parents had managed to keep their intentions a secret.

They exchanged a flurry of strikes. Aiva gave no response to Edric’s inquiry at first. It wasn’t a topic she wanted to discuss with anybody, though of everyone in her family, Edric might be the most understanding. “If I tell you what is on my mind, you must promise not to let Mother and Father know.”

“Know what?” he asked curiously, parrying Aiva’s sword to one side. “Have you done something you should not have? If so, then I already know about it.”

Eyes flashing, Aiva stepped in, wrapping her arm around Edric’s sword hand, tugging upward on his elbow to disarm his blade. In his distraction, he fell to the technique easily, tapping his hand against her shoulder in defeat. “What do you already know about?” she hissed angrily. Had Callum told him about her and Dacian? It had been difficult enough to face Calie with the truth. A confrontation with her brother was the last thing she wanted.

“Calm down, Aiva,” Edric stated calmly, watching closely as Aiva released her hold on him. “I am not going to tell anyone, so there is no need to break my arm. In truth, I never would have said anything if I hadn’t thought it was your intention to tell me yourself.”

“Did Callum tell you? He doesn’t seem to know when to keep his mouth shut, it seems.”

“Callum?” Edric shook his head in confusion. “I found out from Calie at the party last night.”

“At the party?” Her uncertainty left a knot in her stomach as to what Edric referred. Calie knew the details of both secrets in Aiva’s mind. Had she told him about the marriage? But he’d specifically mentioned her having done something she wasn’t supposed to. It was more likely he implied Aiva’s actions with Lord Dacian, though on the same token, it was also inappropriate for her to eavesdrop on a private conversation between their parents. “Tell me what you are talking about, and I will let you know whether there is truth in what Calie said or not.”

“I wasn’t supposed to tell you.” Edric stepped around Aiva to retrieve his sword, holding his hand up to signal his disinterest in continuing their match. “Come sit with me,” he motioned toward a small bench along the walkway. “This topic may be better discussed while not wielding weapons.”

Keeping her sword at her side she moved toward the bench, taking a seat beside her brother. “I don’t understand why Calie told you anything.”

“Because I asked her,” he started to laugh, the sound trailing off with an awkward clearing of his throat. “I noticed she looked a bit rough when she returned to the party. Imagine my confusion to see her alone, when I knew you were on her arm when she left. I was concerned, so I approached her to ask of your whereabouts. You know how she can be when she is nervous. It didn’t take much effort to get her to admit that you were in the garden. I was going to come find you, but she insisted I shouldn’t. That only heightened my concern.”

“You shouldn’t worry about me so much.”

“On the contrary, I think I have reason to worry,” he frowned. “You have been acting strange lately. Ever since Callum returned from Siscal. We all thought you would be excited to see him again. When he left, you spoke of him for months.”

“I was a foolish little girl. That has nothing to do with what Calie told you.”

Edric paused, looking her over carefully. Afraid of what he might see in her eyes, Aiva looked away, staring blankly into the lush greenery of the surrounding garden. “Yes, well – I insisted that I would come find you unless Calie gave me a reason why I should not. She finally broke and told me about you and Dacian – which I am not about to let slide, by the way. But she also informed me of what you two eavesdropped upon between our parents and General Cadell. That news was the only reason I left you both alone.”

Aiva grimaced. He knew everything. In a way she was relieved. It spared her the embarrassment of being the one to tell him, while at the same time it was to her chagrin to discover he had known the truth all morning and said nothing to her on the matter. He was her only ally. The only person who might be able to sway the King and Queen into changing their minds. She needed to make him see what a terrible decision the marriage was. “Please,” she whimpered quietly, her walls slowly starting to crumble in her desperation. “Edric, you must tell our parents that this wedding cannot be.”

“Why not, Aiva? Callum is an ideal match.”

“Ideal?” she gawked at him, horrified. “How is he possibly ideal?”

“Callum is far more suitable for you than Lord Dacian – and he has always been fond of you. He is a good man.”

Frustrated, Aiva clenched her fists, fighting back tears to hear her brother arguing on Callum’s behalf. How was he supposed to help her stop this catastrophe if he was convinced it was a good idea? He knew nothing of Callum’s behavior toward her. If he knew the truth of what Callum had done to her before he left for training, he might be less inclined to believe him so chivalrous. “I have reason to doubt he is any better than the other soldiers. You said it yourself before our parents’ celebration that you were not comfortable letting those men near me.”

“I also told you that not every soldier fits the mold of a scoundrel. Callum has done nothing which would place him in the same category as the lowly men who give the military a bad name.”

“You are sure of this?” Hesitant to continue, Aiva let her eyes sweep the courtyard, fearful to discover someone to have approached without notice. She was in enough trouble as it was without adding anything more to it. “I know you have always been close to Callum,” she sniffled, a tear escaping her eyes against her wishes. “You speak of him having been fond of me, but – did he ever tell you about what he did? The way he took advantage of me before he went away?”

Edric sat up straight against the back of the bench, chest rising with a sharp intake of breath. “Took advantage of you? Aiva, what happened?”

There was no turning back now. Edric needed to know the truth. “He kissed me.” Another tear rolled over her high cheekbones, impossible to hold back her emotions any longer. She had kept her feelings inside for years over what Callum had done. It felt good to finally let the emotions out. “He followed me to the gardener’s shed to put our swords away after practice. I was so young, I didn’t even know what he was doing. It happened so fast. He was talking and then suddenly he placed his lips upon mine.”

She didn’t want to tell her brother any more. He didn’t need to know that she had enjoyed it. That she had made no move to stop Callum that day. He had been so gentle with her. And she did care about him. At least she did back then. He’d been her best friend, and a part of her had always been somewhat attached to him, though in her young age she’d never fully understood what the attachment meant. It wasn’t until she was older that she realized the truth. She’d loved Callum. Which only made it hurt that much worse when she realized he’d dismissed her friendship so coldly. It was why it hurt so much now to see him again. Under any other circumstances she might have been content with her parents’ decision to the marriage arrangement. To consider the distance between her and Callum now, it would never work.

A soft laugh came from Edric. He made little attempt to conceal it, glancing over to Aiva with a smile. “I told you, he was always fond of you. There is no harm in a kiss, Aiva. Not with an honorable man. That is the difference between Callum and Dacian. Neither one of us was pleased to see you spending so much time with Dacian at the ball. It was I who suggested Callum step in during your last dance. We were afraid of what he might try and convince you to do.”

“I am capable of taking care of myself.”

“Really?” Edric’s lighthearted expression vanished. “Does taking care of yourself account for taking a man you only just met into a darkened shed and letting him put his hands all over you?”

“It isn’t like that, Edric – ”

“Then what is it like? Because according to Calie, that was exactly what it was. You are better than that, Aiva.”

Aiva’s head lowered further, embarrassed. He made it sound so awful when in truth she knew her plan had not been to behave so inappropriately. “I let him kiss me, yes, but I had no intention of anything more. I admitted that much to Calie and her brother. That was all I wanted. Just an innocent kiss in order to get back at Callum.”

“An innocent kiss? From that man?”

“Is there something about Dacian you know and I don’t? You keep referring to him with such negativity.”

Leaning forward, Edric rested his chin in his hands, elbows propped on his knees, thoughtful. “Aiva,” he started. She could tell he was thinking over his words very carefully. “You remember our discussion about soldiers before the ball. Lord Dacian is one of those men I spoke of who gives everyone in his profession a bad reputation. He conducts himself like a gentleman in front of a crowd but if allowed anywhere alone with a beautiful young woman, he behaves like a common criminal. Of all the men you could have allowed at your side that night, alone, he was possibly my largest concern. After you disappeared, Callum told me he was going to check on you. As one of Callum’s soldiers, he felt it his responsibility.”

“Then why did he say nothing when he found us? How was that protecting me?” she sobbed. The confusion was overwhelming her senses. It was all too much to take in. If Dacian was the scoundrel Edric claimed him to be, why would Callum not have forced him out of the shed to protect her?

“He found you?”

Aiva’s heart crashed inside her chest. He didn’t know? “I thought you said Calie told you everything.”

“No, I was under the impression Callum never found you. He denied any knowledge of your whereabouts to his father as well as ours.”

“Oh gods, Edric, you cannot tell them any differently,” she breathed, grabbing onto her brother’s sleeve in desperation. “If I had known you weren’t already aware, I never would have said anything.”

“That means you lied to Mother as well. On two accounts. I am ashamed, Aiva.” Edric shook his head, disappointed. “You denied your actions when confronted, which is bad enough, but you also attested to the validity of Callum’s statement when you knew it to be a blatant lie? Is this what the two of you were discussing in the garden last night which Calie was so worried about me interrupting?”

“I – ” she stammered, fumbling over her words, her earlier sadness forgotten. She couldn’t continue the lie. Edric already knew the truth. Further dishonesty would only hurt her worse. “For the most part, yes.”

“Did you strike him?”

She blinked at him, surprised by the question. “I beg your pardon?”

“It is a simple question. Did you hit him? When Callum returned inside, he was attempting to conceal a rather large red mark on the side of his face. It isn’t normal for a man to be assaulted while attending his own party. What did he do to deserve that?” Edric twisted on the bench to look into Aiva’s eyes. He was serious. Almost angered by the possibility of what she might say in response. “Did he lay a hand on you in any way? You need only tell me if he behaved in any fashion other than a gentleman should and I will go to Mother and Father this instant to abolish the engagement plans they have begun.”

Releasing the air in her lungs in a long breath Aiva lowered her eyes to the ground. If she was willing to be so evil, it would be a simple matter of telling Edric some story of Callum taking liberties with her while in the privacy of the garden. Edric would see the wedding called off and Callum would be punished. But the truth was that Callum was innocent. Resentful or not, she couldn’t use him to such horrid extremes to get what she wanted. It would be downright cruel. And that wasn’t the type of person she was. “No, Edric,” she replied, quiet, her voice barely above a whisper. “Unless a few insulting words count, he never touched me. We were arguing over what happened between Lord Dacian and me. Things got heated and I – I slapped him. In hindsight, it may have been a bit much, but he was being impossible. He had no right to insist on any explanation. I do not answer to him.”

“No right to ask for an explanation?” Edric stared at her in disbelief. “He has every right to an explanation. He was witness to it. He lied about it. That is considered treason – ”

“Yes, I know. I was aware of it before he pointed it out, and twice as much so before you mentioned it now.”

“Have you not considered what that means? He is at risk of losing everything if his dishonesty is discovered. The Captain title would be stripped of him, without doubt. Dishonorably discharged from the service of our family at the very least. Our parents would be within their rights to see him banished from Tanispa. It would ruin him and his family.” Edric exhaled. Calming himself. “You owe him at least an explanation for what he saw. For what he then in turn did you the favor of concealing. How dare you be so unappreciative of his friendship? The sacrifice he risked in protecting you.”

“So I should just tell Callum that I kissed Dacian to get revenge?” Aiva breathed, rolling her eyes in disbelief. It was a ridiculous thought. Callum would think her a bigger fool than he already did.

“As childish as that sounds, it might be a good start.” Edric rose to his feet, extending his hand to take the sword from Aiva’s grasp. “You are destined to be the Queen of our people, Aiva. It is time you started acting like one. Tell Mother the truth of your actions with Lord Dacian – though I recommend you leave out the part about Callum finding you. Withholding information is not quite the same as lying.” He gazed heavenward, shaking his head. “I cannot believe I am encouraging you to hide anything from our parents, but you and I both know the importance of that detail. Most of all, you need to stop playing games and tell Callum how you feel. Tell him why you are upset with him. I imagine he has good reason for anything he did – or didn’t do – which has you so angry with him.”