Envoy to Earth (32 page)

Gerent moved in and stood Dorgal
up, since Tor had left him all bent over and that was rude. You could beat the
person apologizing, at least in Noram, or you could let them off the hook.
Sometimes you even got the right to kill them, but there were rules to that
kind of thing.

Trice stared at him, her eyes big
enough that Tor seemed to be in good company. She didn't stop doing it for a
long time either, even after he looked away, paying attention to Tor, who
seemed to be the one having trouble in the moment.

"I don't know a lot about
family things like this, but if that's the truth, then you'll deal with it,
right?" He didn't know if that was the case to tell the truth, but Tor had
instantly accepted
him
into the family, hadn't he? That had been based
on a lie, too, and even after Gerent had killed his grandfather, he'd treated
him the same way as his other brothers.

After a bit, his face moving from
red to white and then back to its normal pale color, Tor seemed to agree.

"That's sensible. Sorry,
Dorgal, I didn't mean to be upsetting. We're friends, so this is happy news. I
guess. Let's have cake?" He happened to have some conveniently enough,
along with plates to eat it on. That worked pretty well, since it turned the
little meeting into a party of sorts, for a while. Finally Tiera took him by
the hand and moved him out the front door. He'd gotten some of the cake, a nice
walnut thing with spices and a very delicate frosting. The sweet flavor was
still on his lips, as the young lady took him down the hall a way and then
opened an unassuming little door, just off the side of the main area.

She looked at him and then sunk
to her knees. For a moment he wondered what kind of nefarious thing she had
planned, and considered letting her actually do it, except that she just wanted
to apologize for hitting him. It was slightly disappointing, he discovered.

"I was merely taken by
surprise and wanted to protect Taman. That isn't a good reason for violence.
Forgive me please. I know that I haven't yet earned such from you, but I hope
that I'll be allowed to try, in time." She didn't work up any tears, which
a really good apology would have had, but he didn't push it. After all, fake
crying didn't mean sincere, did it?

He reached down instead, and then
sighed.

"You probably want to get
up. That's a bit too cute looking for me,
and
I'm your adopted
brother... So..."

That got her to stand,
gracefully, and giggle a little.

"I can see your point. So,
are you really good with me merely debasing myself in public for a few hours? I
can't help but think that trying to hit a foreign dignitary might just be an
act of war."

He
was
one of those wasn't
he? Countier Lairdgren as well as Baker. Neither were very high positions, but
he still had them. Envoy to Earth, too, but she'd given him that job, so it
probably didn't count.

There was a lot more involved in
being him now than there used to. On the good side that meant things like cake
and attractive women kneeling in front of him, so he'd live. Almost anything
beat... Well, pretty much the entire rest of his life.

"That isn't a problem. I...
I have some things to do on Earth, in the next days. I don't know if I'm going
to be allowed to keep my current position. I have to kill some people. You
mentioned acts of war? I don't think it counts, but..."

She already knew about what was
happening, mainly, but asked for the rest of it. It took a while.

When he was done, she looked at
him and sighed.

"We'll be fine then. Just,
try not to enjoy it too much. Torture and murder... It can be addictive, if you
let it. We have to make sure that we don't give in to it. Violence too. That's
why I have to go and bow naked to everyone that passes tomorrow. Humiliating
myself publicly. So that I learn not to let my natural tendencies show through
too much."

It had the sound of wisdom to it,
if that very surface kind that young people thought was deep. That didn't make
it wrong, but only covered a tiny portion of reality. Not that he was some
grand fountain of insight that way himself. Really, his best line was pretty
much that it was better to try and fit in, if you could. That had been denied
him so solidly before that he hadn't really thought much about it. Now he could
see that being one of the group was powerful. Or, well, he'd always
seen
it, but not from this side of things. He'd just stood in front of a group of
immortals and handed them work, like he had a right to do it. They all
took
it,
too. They'd looked right at him, saw and heard where the words came from, and
agreed to do it.

He started to mention that to
Tiera when she kissed him. On the cheek, but warmly enough that he stopped
talking.

"That's how it happens, you
know. You come up with a few decent ideas, or ones that people think sound fine
in the moment, at any rate, and then the next thing you know they all name you
Queen and you have a job for life. If you aren't careful it will happen to you.
Now, we should get back or everyone will think that we're having sex. That
would look bad." She giggled like a schoolgirl and covered her mouth with
a hand. "Because, I mean, we were supposed to be doing important things,
not playing. I
guess
we could write doing that off to me being
very
thorough in my apology, but it seems a trifle overdone for this. I just tapped
your shield a few times, after all. If I use that up for something that small
now, what will I have to fall back on later when I really mess up?"

It was a point, so he nodded. The
relationship there was more complicated than he really wanted to try and
explain to her. He thought she was pretty, and would have probably had sex with
her if it was solidly hinted at. Adopted sister, or not. The fact was though
that she was more important than he was, and that meant dangerous. So far she
was handling it well, but it was only a year or so into her rule here. What
might happen in six years? Sixty? It made sense not to anger her, if he could
help it, and being a bit remote from her made that easier to do, rather than
harder.

It was very funny, but when they
walked out of the little closet space, one that held brooms and other cleaning
implements and supplies, he was set upon instantly. By Patty. She slid her arm
around his and pulled until he walked back into the closet with her, making him
spin comically, never having said a word to Tiera at all, just letting the
Queen keep right on walking. She looked back and smiled, but schooled her face
before turning and moved back toward the party that had started.

The door was shoved closed with a
thud, and the dark haired woman in front of him stared into his eyes. Hers were
a corn flower blue that didn't exactly match her decently dark tan skin. It was
flawless now, he noticed, like all the long lived people. When they'd first
met, it had been slightly mottled. Not a lot, but she hadn't been wearing much
by the way of makeup. Now she didn't need it. Her lips had some extra red to
them, but that was all.

Pretending that she'd pulled him
into the space to kiss him, he leaned in, ready to laugh when she pulled back,
but there was a touch on his lips, and she held him, arms going around his
chest. He was nearly not ready for it, and hadn't been concentrating enough by
half on the contact. That was a shame, since it might never happen again. Every
time Gerent saw her, he knew that to be the case, now. He didn't know why, but
he kissed her, hoping it didn't make her too sad. It was clear that she wasn't
exactly happy, but she didn't try to struggle or scream. She just smiled when
they finally came up for air.

"Did Tor
do
something
to you? You weren't this bold before."

He thought about it for a while
and then nodded, which got her to blink a few times.

"I think so? I don't know
what exactly, but I feel mentally clearer than I used to. Things that were
really hard before, like reading... I haven't been exactly practicing, but it's
been getting simpler for me to do. Things like that. I might be calmer too.
Less likely to get worked up over... Anything really. Less scared." It
could also be wearing a shield all the time, but she nodded, as if
understanding what he meant.

"Well, that all sounds fine.
I was wondering... How long have you known Dorgal Sorvee? You let slip that you
knew that Tim hadn't killed Rico..."

He looked at her and then around
the pale lunar rock walls and floor that made up the space. There was a giant
plate sized emerald on the ceiling, which produced light that was about as
bright as the sun. No one watching or listening that he could see or hear,
however. That meant safe, at least from other spies. Not the one in front of
him however. Not unless he could get her to work for him somehow.

"We met a few days ago, in
Vagus, when I took them their aid package. Why? Is this about his family being
the Assassins Guild?" He tried to sound innocent and managed not to smile
when she looked shocked.

"So you
did
hire them
to kill Rico. How? With Tor's gold? Not that he'd mind, I don't think, or...
Did
he
do it?" She seemed interested in it, rather than frightened.

Gerent squinted and really
considered lying to her about it.

Killing a sitting Baron pretty
much meant people would be after him. Killers, soldiers and who knew what else,
might be headed for him the second anyone found out. She was his friend
however. The only person that he'd ever really loved. After a moment he hugged
her again, still considering just holding his tongue on the topic. It was what
he
should
do. What he wanted. The words slipped out anyway, betraying
him.

"
I
killed him, Patty.
You'd married Tim, to protect you from him, but if that fell through or
anything happened, I had to make sure he couldn't harm you. Ever. So I snuck in
and used a breath stopper on him, while he slept. He never woke up. It was very
painless and peaceful." Unless all that thrashing around that he'd been
doing had indicated that he was slowly suffocating, unable to draw breath, for
nearly seven minutes. There was no screaming, so he was going with the idea
that he'd passed peacefully.

He sort of thought she might hate
him then, for being a killer, or turn him in, which could still happen, but she
held him close and didn't even ask if he were telling tales to amuse her. He
was good enough at that, but she just accepted his words. Nearly. After a bit
she leaned into him, her lips straining upward to meet his neck.

Then she whispered.

"Why?" It was a soul
rending thing. One that spoke of pain and loss, and hurt done to other people,
as well as her. There was a gentle hint of moisture on his skin above the
collar, and a scent of lavender from her skin.

That single word took him aback.
Why? Why what? Why had he killed a man that he didn't know? Why would he admit
to it now, like a fool? Why was he such a moron? The answer was the same for
all of them, wasn't it?

"Because I love you, Patty.
I know that after I failed you, over and over like... Well, you know. But I swore
that I never would again. So when there was a new threat, I made sure it would
never be able to come at you. That's why." What else could it be?

She went silent and still,
pressed up against his chest with her own. It was a close and warm thing that
he could barely enjoy, given that he was distracted. It lingered, since she
didn't move, but the tension was just too much for him to really view it as
fun. That was a shame, since he'd dreamed of someday having a moment like this
with her. Alone, and close, with her not pushing him away in repulsion. Not
that she ever had, but before, well, who would have blamed her for doing that?
Certainly not him.

There was a shuddering
inhalation, followed by several more before she took a small, but very real,
step back from him.

"You didn't fail
me
,
Gerent. Not ever. Not even once." There was a bit of shaking in her
shoulders, which was probably a flash back to the cell, the conversation
bringing to mind the large men coming, stinking of unwashed bodies and cheap
booze, to rape her.

He didn't want to think about it
either, but had to shake his head.

"That's kind of you to say,
but I never stopped them. Not
even
once. For weeks they used you, and
I... Wasn't enough. Not big enough, or powerful enough, to make them leave you
alone." He felt small in that moment, even looking down on her.

Patty, who'd once been one of the
biggest people he'd ever talked to, was smaller than he was now. She seemed
strong, most of the time, but when she'd needed him to save her, to fight those
men, he hadn't managed it. Not at all. They'd just beat him and raped his
behind in front of her, in order to prove he was worthless. No matter how hard
he tried, it wasn't enough.

Gerent knew that most people
hearing his story worried about him being used like that first, but that had
happened a lot in his life. Most of the time there weren't even words or
threats first. Some merchant man, or more rarely, woman would just throw him
down and do whatever they wanted to him. That it had never been a noble was
simple to understand. They'd simply never met. His social circle was just too
far below theirs to connect. Or so he'd thought.

When Patty had found him and
claimed to be Ducharina Patricia Morgan, he'd thought she was lying to him. To
impress someone. Not him, most likely, since large attractive women didn't have
to break the law to do that. He wasn't
that
hard to please. Later, after
they'd been caught, and he'd found out the truth, he felt even worse about
things. The only thing saving him at all then had been the fact that, even if
he wasn't enough, he
knew
that there was nothing else he could have done
to protect her from those monsters.