The Arranged Marriage (14 page)

She placed all of the manuscripts and
plans on the desk and hovered just a moment longer by one of the
books as if contemplating whether to take it with her or
not.

“Rohesia?” Argarth advised with a
warning tone in his voice. She quickly put the book back down and
started to walk towards them both waiting by the
doorway.

“Ouch,” She bit out as she felt a hard
lump through her slipper. It appeared to be stuffed under the rug
beneath her feet. “What’s that?” She muttered to herself. She knelt
down to press the lump with her hand and felt an odd excitement. It
seemed to be a handle of some kind.

“Wait,” She gently shouted out to
them. “I think I’ve found something.” She pulled at the rug and
lifted it from the floor, exposing the handle forged in the shape
of a ring. After shouting at her impatiently and looking at her
confused whilst on all fours, Ison and Argarth started to make
their way over to her.

“What is it now Rohesia,” Argarth
asked. “We really need to be going.”

As they neared they watched as she
lifted a handle to what appeared to be a doorway in the
floor.

“Oh my,” They heard her say as she
burrowed her head down the hatch. Ison quickly grabbed her as her
body went to follow.

“Allow me this time my lady,” He said
angrily at the thought of her risking herself again. He quickly
found footing on the steps and made his way down. She waited
impatiently for him to return, wondering what they had found. They
didn’t have to wait long.

“It’s a doorway to a tunnel,” He said
as he reappeared. “And if I hazard a guess the tunnel branches off
in all different directions,” His hair was full of cobwebs as he
made his way back to where they stood.

“Underground tunnels?” Argarth asked
astounded. “But no such thing as ever been documented, or even
rumoured”

“Well they are there, and it looks
like they are endless. Not just confined to the castle.”

The realisation of what Ison was
implicating suddenly hit Rohesia.

“Oh dear,” She sighed worriedly. “If
these tunnels run all through Ecripian then they could lead to the
caves. The rebels could have accessed them at any point if
founded.”

“Your men have been searching the
wrong place my friend,” Ison addressed Argarth. “I believe what
Rohesia said about them being intercepted is correct, and they
could be planning to use these in an attack. I think we are very
lucky to have found them in time.” He looked at Rohesia proudly and
she revelled in it.

“I don’t believe it,” Argarth said
again. “Surely they would have been documented somewhere. I mean,
every castle as the odd secret passageway or tunnel running through
it, but you think there is a possibility that these tunnels lead
through Ecripian?”

“I only went part way in Argarth but
there were twelve openings that appeared to go off in different
directions, all but one was blocked off. When I tried down that one
I found another seven openings. All blocked, but if you use that
math and if every opening has another tunnel, then you’re looking
at most of Ecripian having these underneath.”

Rohesia quickly looked at the
candles.

“We had better finish this discussion
upstairs gentleman, we don’t have much light left.” They all agreed
as they hastily shut the hatch and replaced the carpet. Ison took
no chances and managed to move the large desk using his own
strength to weigh down the hatch.

“I will sleep better knowing that is
there until the morrow.” He explained as Argarth and Rohesia gave
him a strange look. “Now let’s all go to bed.”

“Oh Ison do you believe it?” She asked
him as they returned to their chamber. At first Ison mistook her
excitement for naivety, but then he noticed the worried expression
on her face.

“It’s because of you we found them
before it’s too late.” He told her honestly as he watched her sit
on their bed, her face full of thought.

“It was only by chance that I did, you
would have found them eventually,” She told him with a sigh. It was
obvious that she had several thoughts going through her mind at
that moment and he warmed to the idea of knowing things about his
wife, watching her and learning her ways. “It’s just frightening to
think that they could have been plotting all this time to take the
castle from the inside when we didn’t have a clue about it. Father
was so convinced that they were planning to take his throne through
me.”

“They probably were,” He said, trying
hard to control his anger on that point. “But that wouldn’t have
been enough, not with your father alive. There still would have
been an attack to fully take the throne.”

She grimaced at the realisation of how
lucky they had been.

“What are you going to do now?” She
looked at him then with so much hope he would have the answers. For
a moment he was mesmerised by her innocence.

“Tomorrow I will have a meeting with
my men and with those I can trust of your father’s. We will
investigate the caves and unblock them to see where they
lead.”

“But surely that would be making the
job easier for the people whose intention was to do that in the
first place?” She stood, trying to meet his full height and walked
over to his direction. She was ready for battle, he thought as he
made his groan an inward one.

“I need to see where those tunnels
lead,” He advised her gently. “Every moment we have no knowledge of
them we are in danger. I need to see what is down there and where
they lead. We will start early on the morrow to avoid disrupting
the rebel meetings. Your father believes they are being held during
the middle of the eve to maintain secrecy.”

She shook her head as if still
concerned.

“But it is dangerous going down there
with so few of you and it cannot be done before the
ball.”

“It shall be done before eve fall
tomorrow my lady, I vow to you.” He stroked her cheek, shocking
them both with the gesture. “Now let’s go to bed, I have an early
start in the morning.”

She wanted to protest but she was
silenced by the soft skin that encased Ison’s mouth. The pressure
of his lips rubbing against her own made the surge of power run
through every vein in her body. She didn’t know how he did it, but
he managed to make her feel so much like a woman just from a look,
a stare, a kiss, his touch. The whole of him was like a fever to
her that she never wanted to stop.

Ison tasted her mouth as his tongue
deepened the kiss. She tasted of honey and a sweetness that neared
him to falling. He felt himself grow even harder as her fingers
gripped his arms for support, and he needed no more persuasion to
take this woman, his clever wife, to bed.

“Come with me my sweet.” He requested,
before picking her up and carrying her to the bedstead. “I vow you
will be the undoing of me yet.”

She didn’t make sense of his words,
couldn’t make sense of his words, but she probably couldn’t make
sense of anything right at this moment.

He laid her on the bed and took it
upon himself to undress her, slowing his motions to a tease as he
removed her gown. He would not touch her, he thought, not yet, not
until she was completely naked in his arms this time.

Rohesia needed his touch. She felt him
remove her undergarments as the fire burnt within her. His eyes
feasted on her bare skin as she suddenly felt like the most
beautiful woman in the world.

He started to remove all of his own
clothing, not stopping until he was completely naked.

“Come to me my wife.” He whispered
with a claim in his words that made her glow with happiness. He lay
down by her side, both of them unclothed, as he used a feather that
had fallen out of one of the pillows to glide down her
skin.

She felt her legs being gently eased
apart as the light tickling sensation followed. She felt silly at
first, as if Ison would start laughing at her for enjoying it, but
when she dared to open her eyes she noticed his eyes were filled
with only hunger, hunger for her pleasure as he continued to move
the feather around.

Ison couldn’t wait much longer. He
discarded the feather as soon as she started to urge herself
upwards , as if needing more of a touch than the feather was
willing to give. She felt the rush of power glide through her as
the tension built, his fingers having replaced the feather. And
when she could hold it no longer, she allowed the tirade of feeling
to flow through and push the screams out of her throat.

He managed to enter her at the end of
her heights, trying to catch it at the right pace to maintain the
tension. His thrusts remained slow, until he heard a new set of
moans escape her lips he had never heard before, and then he just
turned into a wild man. He couldn’t thrust quickly enough as she
raised her pelvis to his, matching his rhythm as the urgency of
wanting him ruled her, enjoying the new pressure that his fast
thrusts were providing.

Ison was lost. He had known it from
the moment he had grabbed her body out of the lagoon and he was
certain of it now. It was beginning, he knew, the emotion that he
had spent so many an age trying to avoid. He would just have to
find a way to deal with it when it finally got here.

He felt himself getting closer to his
own pleasure as he heard her shout something inaudible and grab on
to the pillow for dear life. He couldn’t wait, the feeling was
here, and it was only in the nick of time did she catch the heat of
it, before she finally sent him over the edge.

Ison knew that he would have to rouse
soon in fear of squashing her as he lay on top of her exhausted.
His whole body was glowing as his breathing started to slow
down.

“I can feel your heart beating.” She
whispered as she gently stroked his hair. He loved the
feeling.

“It beats only for you my lady,” He
replied, as he found the strength to roll off her and on to his
back. She came to realise that she treasured this part of her
joining with him. It was the second time he had emotionally dropped
all barriers like this, and any hard façade was gone as he allowed
his vulnerability to show. She hoped she would see more of it in
their future together.

“Should we sleep now do you think?”
She asked him, knowing full well she couldn’t sleep a wink if she
tried. But as she turned to him she heard a noise coming out of his
mouth that could only be interpreted as a snore.

“Welcome to marriage,” She said
irritably before snatching the covers over herself and turning on
her side. She tried hard to be angry at the way he had fallen
asleep without even a cuddle or a kiss, not believing that he had
just – fell asleep. But after a short while of making emphasised
noises and still failing to wake him up, she found it hard to find
the anger, because inside she was the happiest she had been in a
very long time.

* * *

Rohesia waited impatiently for news on
how the digging in the tunnels was progressing. She knew her father
had made up some story about a so-called ‘rat’ problem to get
everyone out of the kitchen, and only Nani and Dracheon knew what
was really occurring.

Her father had stayed in the kitchen,
feasting on pheasant and ale whilst waiting for the regular reports
Ison was sending up to him during their dig. She had been ordered
to stay away to avoid speculation and it was driving her crazy. She
decided on going out to the courtyard to try and find Kaya;
anything was better than being cooped up in her chamber like a
lunatic.

Ison was both elated and troubled when
they reached the opening at the back of the tunnels. They seemed to
stop at the Mount and he thought that was a blessing at least. The
tunnels could be controlled.

As he entered the cavern with Josa, he
took his time to unravel the scene in front of him. Remnants of
fires were positioned around the base of the cave, whilst the odd
pitchfork and dagger had been left lying around. It was not only
thieves, who were being rallied here he realised, but farm folk and
every day villagers.

“Josa, these meetings are not
happening just to deprive Dondayas from a few cattle and sheep.” He
voiced his thoughts to the friend who stood at his side. “They are
being gathered here for something.”

“Yes but for what?” Josa asked, just
as confused as Ison with what they looked upon.

“Roll out the orders to the men, and
put them on a rota to take turns in blocking the tunnels. I do not
want the order of these tunnels put into any man’s head but mine.
Understand?”

Josa nodded.

“What’s the next step, investigate the
other tunnels?”

“No, we can’t afford the risk it poses
to the castle, we’ve found what we needed. But I do need to go to
the Quart of Ecripian and see what I can find out about this
practice of the Quitize beliefs. I have a feeling this has
something to do with the whole damn thing.”

“Now? But it’s nearly eve?”

“No, not now, on the morrow. But
before I go I want to know everything about the history of Ecripian
and Centurias, and how the damnation these tunnels were found when
even the king didn’t know of their presence.”