One (The Godslayer Cycle Book 1) (21 page)

Somewhere amidst the morning hours, Geoffrey had woken up.  He had wandered into the room and had set upon the idea of playing with Mari, but she would not respond to his presence, at all.  She simply kept on rambling the meaningless details of her life.  Duncan had sat silently, near tears himself at the scene of innocence  displayed by this woman's son and the inability of his mother to even acknowledge her son's unconditional love for her.  After several failed attempts to get her to wrestle with him like Papa did and having her listless arm fall away, he finally headed out the front door to play, with a cautionary word from Duncan to stay in sight of the door.

Duncan was at a loss entirely in what to do or how to act.  He felt uncomfortable holding another man's wife so intimately, while his body was completely aware of the intimate contact he now shared with such a beautiful woman.  And Mari had lost none of her allure for having born a son, either.  She still had that slim figure, petite breasts and hips with wonderful chestnut hair.  Even with her eyes puffy and cheeks flushed from crying, she was still exotically breathtaking.  Duncan would never act on the attraction, of course, but he could not help but long for more than just to hold this woman.

More than once he had tried to relax his hold upon her, but Mari had clutched herself desperately to his tunic, begging him not to go, promising to stop crying or rambling or whatever it was she imagined her offense had been to make him want to leave.  Of course, his staying did not stop the crying or rambling or anything else.  Like the incoherent words spewing from her deepest self, the words were meaningless, just a reflex to not be abandoned.  Duncan was confident that Mari was not even fully aware of what she said or did.  He became deeply concerned that she had slipped into madness.

After a time, Duncan realized that Mari had actually drifted off to sleep, though she still mumbled incoherent syllables.  She had completely worn herself out and now looked only tiny and fragile.  He delicately extracted himself, ignoring as best he could the prickles running up and down his legs until he could get out the door to stomp his feet upon the ground.

Geoffrey nearly barreled him over shortly after he had barely begun, though.  The little tike growled as if he were a bear, mistaking Duncan's stomping for a signal to horseplay.  “Grrr!” roared the little man.  “I'm a mo'ster!  Grrr!”

Duncan allowed the boy to tackle him down and rumble over him for a few minutes before he noticed the priestess walking up.  Immediately, he put the boy aside and climbed to his feet, brushing himself off.

But before Duncan could speak in greeting, another voice from the cabin beat him to the task.  “Did you find him?  Is he coming home?”

Brea looked hard at the woman who was her unwitting rival.  She looked a wretch, with her face tear stained and her hair rustled.  It also had not escaped Brea's attention that the woman was still dressed in her nightclothes.  A look of suspicion passed over Brea's face, as she cast a glance between Nathaniel's wife and the man she had brought as guide.  Could her state of undress be because she had sought comfort in this other man's arms?  While Nate had been torn with grief, was she practicing her seductress ways on someone else now that she knew her ruse had been exposed?

“
I found him, yes,” she answered at last, regarding Mari with a  cold glare.

Mari saw the look and blanched.  “He told you, didn't he?  He told you that I...  what I did?”

Brea nodded once.  “He did,” was all she could manage, her own voice catching, caught between her loathing of this woman and her own deep emotions for this woman's husband.

“
Is he...  is he coming b-back home?” she hiccoughed.

“
It would seem to me there's not much reason for him to, is there?”  Brea said, putting as much chill into her voice as she could manage.  She wanted this woman to suffer for all the pain she had caused.  Brea did not care if it was justified or not, only so long as the woman felt some of what she knew Nate felt.  But she also knew that if what Nate believed were true, she stood little chance of piercing the stone heart this woman must possess.  What kind of person could marry a man, bear his child and be a scorpion in the sheets every time?  Brea had been guilty of some callous things in her own past, but what Mari had done went so far beyond even Brea's capacity to understand.

Mari's eyes sprung renewed tears, streams pouring down her face as though she had not cried a drop yet today.  She could not say anything coherent, just kept mouthing, “No, no, no...” over and again, shaking her head back and forth.

“And you,
sir
,” Brea turned to Duncan.  “Would you compound the matter by taking advantage of a man's pain to have your way with his wife?  Not that she would not deserve most of the blame, certainly, but...”

“
My Lady, you have me a'wrong!” Duncan interjected.  “I did nothin' more'n comfort the lass!”

Mari, for her own response, stopped mumbling and shaking her head, staring ahead dumbly with shock in her eyes.

“Comfort?” spat Brea.  “Is that what you would call it to bed another man's wife?!”  Anger flashed in Brea as her mind fell instinctively to the portion of her mind that possessed her magic, sifting through and calling to mind a spell to punish the two unfaithfuls in her presence.

“
I swear, My Lady,” pleaded Duncan, backing away as he saw the fire building in the priestess' eyes.  “I did nothin' of the like!  I swear I laid no hand 'pon Mari that was not of gentlemanly intent!”

Brea's mind snapped as the import of the words struck her.  Duncan's words had been true.  Imery's gift had just spared her from acting out of irrational malice, a sin that would have forever turned Nate against her for certain!  Worse, she would have been as guilty as that “priest” who had caused the death of Nate's mother, using her power to inflict harm upon innocents. 
No,
she confessed to herself,
I would have been the killer this time...

“
Is that what Nathan thinks?  Why he didn't come back?”  Mari stood pitiably at the door.

Brea could not help but feel like a heel for jumping to such erroneous conclusions so readily.  “Under the circumstances, I believe I was justified in my suspicions,” was what she said instead, though.

“What is that supposed to mean?”  voiced Duncan.

“
For a woman to commit her body to her faith is one thing, but to prostitute it in the name of faith...  Well, let me just say that there are limits any
decent
person has, even in spreading their faith.”

“
What are you saying, Lady?”  asked Duncan again.  “You walk a dangerous turf here, even for a priestess.  First accusing Mari of being unfaithful, now prostitutin'!  Why do you play at bein' so cruel?”

“
Let the woman answer for herself,” said Brea, fixing her gaze on Mari.  “Do you deny that you agreed to bed Nate in order to breed out Nate's faith in the old ways by denying his son such guidance?  And at the instruction of your father, no less?”

Mari blanched again.  Her promise to her father.  How had Nate found out about
that?
  Only her father and herself knew about that.  So Nate must have been confronted by her father while in town.  That was how he had learned everything he had, why he had taken it to heart so readily.  And everything, it turned out, really did mean
everything
.

“
By Zantel, no,” she managed.

“
That was not a denial,” Brea corrected.

“
He knows.  He knows everything.”  Mari's chin quivered as she tried to hold back sobs.  “It's really over...  He knows and there's no future...  He's leaving me, isn't he?”

“
What would you have him do?”

“
I – I need to see him.  I need to explain it all to him!”  Mari began wringing her hands together, her eyes taking on a distant, vacant look.  “Oh, how can I explain it all?  He will never understand!”

Suddenly, Mari straightened.  “Nate will need something to eat when he gets home,” she said.  “He'll not like talking until he's eaten.  And I should draw the bath, at least heat the water so it's ready for him.  And I'll make the bed, so it looks nice.  And, oh,” Mari reached up and ran her hands through her hair,” I must look a fright!  Do you think he'll be upset that I haven't dressed yet?  Oh, and Geoffrey will need cleaning and fed, so he's all nice and handsome for his Papa.  And...”

Mari just continued rattling on, looking ahead without really seeing Duncan or Brea.  Brea was about to interrupt when Duncan laid a hand upon her arm.

“
Lady, she's been like this all morning.  I fear she's gone mad with grief.  Or perhaps guilt over what she's done.  I be no judge.  But I be thinkin' that Nate's likely the only one who can have any hope of savin' her mind.”

Brea looked dumbfounded.  Insanity?  Surely the woman had done enough to bear heavy guilt, but how could exposing that guilt be enough to break her mind?  Had she been ensorcelled in some way so that now that she was outside the boundaries of the spell, her mind could not cope?  It seemed a reach, but Brea was otherwise unable to think of a reason for this turn.

As Brea stood trying to contemplate that possibility, Duncan moved past her to take Mari by the arm.  “I'm thinkin' maybe you need to lie down awhile, lass.  You do not seem so well.”

Mari turned to look at him in disbelief.  “I can't rest now.  I need to make our home right for Nate.  I've hurt him so much, you see.  I took his Mama away from him, but I love him so much.  I didn't mean anything by it.  I just want to make him happy.”

“Aye, and you can make him happier still if you would lie down, Mari.  Nate would want you well.”

“
No, I'm not the important one.  Nate is all that matters.  He's so special.  Did you know he's a really good singer?  He doesn't like people to know.  He gets embarrassed.  He's shy that way.”  Mari blushed.  “He's really so cute when he's embarrassed...”

Duncan cast a pleading look at Brea.  The priestess, for her own part, did not know how to respond.  Amidst all the rambling was utter and sincere truth.  Mari really did love Nate.  And she really believed she needed to make up for taking part in Maribel's murder.  There was actually genuine guilt in Mari's heart!

It also occurred to Brea then how closely the two women's names were to each other: Maribel and Mari, who she knew from the town was actually Mariabelle.  She wondered if Mari's name had had any kind of unconscious influence upon Nate's choice in accepting her as his bride, or whether the Gods themselves were somehow involved in this unlikely coincidence.  That the man would love a woman who had helped murder his mother, and that their names would be so similar...  Odd, indeed.  Mari could not escape the feeling that there was some cosmic significance in this, but it was beyond her mortal mind to comprehend if there were.

Without further thought. Brea went up to the woman she so wanted to hate yet now could feel little more than sympathy for.  Gently, Brea took Mari into her arms, cradling one hand behind the woman's head, pulling it to her shoulder.  “Hush, now,” she soothed.  Nate will be home soon.  He just needed a little more time before he came back.”

Mari pulled her head up to look in Brea's eyes.  Her sanity seemed to have, at least briefly, returned.  “Are you sure?”

Brea smiled affectionately.  “Yes, I am sure.  He told me to tell you that.  It's my fault that you thought the worst.  I'm sorry for that.  I...”  Brea stopped herself and corrected what she had almost confessed.  “I was worried about him, too.  I just needed to know you would not hurt him anymore.”

Mari's eyes grew wide.  “No, you don't understand!  I can't hurt him anymore!  I've hurt him so much already!”  She made to pull free from Brea's embrace, but the priestess held her firmly.  “I need to get things ready for him,” Nathaniel's wife protested.  “I have so much I need to do...”

Brea sighed as Mari once again set to rambling.  Tenderly, she pulled the woman close to her breast and opened her mind to the magic within.  As words incomprehensible by human kin uttered forth from her mouth, a soothing warmth filled Mari's body.  All at once, the woman went lose in her arms.

“Lady, is she...”  Duncan fretted.

“
Just a little sleep spell, is all,” Brea assured him.  “Take her to her bed, if you would, good Duncan.  And see if you cannot find something for the little one to eat.”  She glanced out across the field where little Geoffrey had long since abandoned the company of adults to chase after the chickens.  “I am certain he has not been fed yet, today.  And if he is made to wait much longer, he may just feast upon yonder bird, assuming he could actually catch it.”

“
And you, Lady?  Will you care for Mari?”

Brea sighed.  “I fear I need to go again after Nathaniel.  He will have to be convinced to set aside his own grief for his family's sake.”

* * *

“
The priestess will be coming for you in a moment.”

Nathaniel turned from his vantage point overlooking the valley below to look upon the Goddess that had appeared behind him.  “I was wondering when one of you would show up again,” he said.