The Sartious Mage (The Rhythm of Rivalry) (36 page)

Thankfully, she emerged from the trees surrounding our belongings. “Took you long enough.” She gestured at us with a book. “What happened?”

I breathed. “Had to travel a bit farther than expected to find a safe enough place along the river,” I answered.

Her eyes squinted skeptically. “Mmm hmm.” She made her thoughts quite clear: You two kissed again, didn’t you? I avoided her face as best I could while bringing the water pouches over, trying to hide the answer I knew she would figure out soon enough.

The three of us made a fire and prepared food. Kalli and I expressed our worries about Sannil, as he’d promised to be back before nightfall. He still had plenty of time to follow through with his promise, but I felt a hollowness in my stomach that no food could satisfy. I knew it would remain until he returned.

Eventually, Kalli announced that she’d been itching to play her lute but had to wait until we returned in case Exo was close enough to hear it. She went to the trees to retrieve it before anyone had time to argue. Lisanda looked at me curiously, wondering what I had to say about that.

I shrugged. “If Exo did find us, it would be better now instead of when we’re sleeping.”

“There’s always a chance that Kory killed him,” Lisanda said, though her tone was pessimistic.

“I suppose there is that chance,” I replied with even heavier pessimism.

Kalli emerged from the trees holding her lute with childlike excitement. “Music is the best way to make emotions tangible. Rather than stewing in our worry about Father, why not sing about it?” She looked at Lisanda with an inviting smile. “Do you know
Come Home
?”

At first I thought it was a strange choice, as the song was told from the perspective of a wife whose husband was a shotmarl player sent to battle the desmarls. But then I thought of the words and the melody, and a tingle came from my stomach, spreading to the rest of my body. It was perfect.

Lisanda spiritlessly glanced at her feet. “I do, but I’ve never sung it, and I don’t think I would do well to try. The song has been known to make me cry. It’s too close to Jessend’s experience with her first betrothed. When I hear it, I always see her face in my mind, painfully weeping.”

“I’m sorry,” Kalli said. “We can sing something else.”

Lisanda waved her hand. “No please, I would like to hear it.” She smiled at me. “If Jek wouldn’t mind singing alone.”

I reached out to take her hand but stopped myself halfway toward it. My hand quickly retreated to my lap. The motion had looked awkward, creating an uncomfortable silence. I cleared my throat and stood, trying to ignore what had just happened.

“It’s fine,” I said. “I would be happy to sing.”

Kalli nodded with a wry smile, choosing not to comment on my awkward hand movement. Then her eyes seemed to find something over my shoulder. She squinted and a hand came up to point cautiously in a way that made it clear she didn’t know what she saw. “Something’s moving out there.”

Lisanda and I turned. It took some straining to see what Kalli was referring to, but soon my eyes detected movement between the trees. Too distant to see clearly enough, I couldn’t decipher what it was or even which direction it was going.

Kalli returned her lute to its case among the cluster of trees, then joined Lisanda and me on a log as we sat and watched, waiting to see if we could determine if it was man or beast. I could feel Kalli sharing my hope that it was Sannil, especially when she wrapped her arm around mine tensely.

The sun had begun to set behind the trees, and the grass ahead of us was covered in specks of light drowning in a sea of shadow. Eventually, it became clear we were watching the silhouette of a man on a horse, and he indeed was coming toward us.

Warmth slowly crept over my skin, and a smile broke through my tightened jaw. It was Sannil.

Kalli slipped her arm from mine and jumped to run toward him. Unsure exactly how it happened, Lisanda and I were standing with one arm around each other, mine around her shoulder and hers around my back. I leaned over to kiss her head, and she brought her other arm around to squeeze me as I pressed my lips down. We parted as smoothly as we’d come together and walked forward to meet Sannil and Kalli.

Coming closer, I realized he was on a different horse—wait, I recognized that strong, ageless horse. Where from?

Lisanda pointed at it. “It’s not the same horse.” She spoke with intrigue. “This one is magnificent, and why does it looks familiar?”

That made me even more curious. Why would Lisanda get the same familiar feeling as me? We’d been on only two horses together, the one I stole…and the other was—oh, that was it!

“Father, what are you doing with that horse?” I yelled from twenty yards out.

Sannil stopped his conversation with Kalli and shot me an expression of utter shock. “Do you know this horse?” he yelled back.

“Yes. How could you have brought it here?”

Sannil’s face held curiosity. “How do you know this horse?”

I ran to close the distance between us and embraced my father with a strong hug before delving into what I knew would be a revealing conversation, to say the least. Lisanda caught up while my father and I each waited for the other to begin.

“What a lovely horse,” Lisanda said, walking over to its head to pet it. “Are you the one Jek was riding when he took me from the palace?” She had a cute voice, as if speaking to a child. “Did you see him when he was behaving like a vile reprobate and reaching up my tarp?”

She kept her words quiet, so as not to disrupt any conversation the rest of us were having. But Sannil and I still were waiting for the other to start and used listening to Lisanda as a stalling method.

Lisanda looked around curiously when no one spoke. “What’s his name?”

Kalli leaned toward her in an obvious manner, whispering loudly so all of us could hear.

“Sannil told me his name is Bam, and neither Sannil nor Jek is supposed to know of this horse, yet both do.” Kalli’s gaze shifted toward us. She folded her arms judgingly. “I thought the Traydens didn’t keep secrets from each other.”

I turned toward Sannil. “I would’ve explained it back at the farm,” I said. “But it didn’t seem important at the time.”

I decided to leave out that Lisanda was bathing in the next room, able to overhear everything, and that was the main reason I’d left it out. But everything was bound to come out now, and I had no idea how she would react. My body stiffened.

Kalli shifted her stare to Father. “Why don’t you start?”

Tension in Sannil’s face was evident as he started a deep breath, but it slowly drained out of him when he let the air from his chest.

“I suppose I have a confession.” He looked toward us apologetically and then turned his glance to Lisanda. “There’s someone I know very well who works for Lisanda’s father. His name is Micah Vail.”

“What?” I interrupted. “How long have you known him?”

Sannil’s eyes became slits. “Did you meet him?” he asked reluctantly.

“He…” I stopped myself before revealing that he’d helped me escape, taking a moment to judge Lisanda’s expression.

She looked perfectly comfortable…for now.

“What’s wrong?” she asked with genuine confusion. Concern slowly spread across her face. “I never asked how you escaped with me from the dressing room. Did you hurt Micah after I was unconscious?”

I waved my hands to let her know she was on the wrong path. “Nothing like that. Well, I did punch him in the face, but only after he told me to do it.”

“You punched him?” Lisanda squawked.

I noticed Sannil’s hand coming over his forehead. “I had a feeling he might be involved in this.”

“Lisanda, he helped me get you out of the palace.” I wanted to reach out and take her hand, but I stopped myself before lifting my arm this time.

Her face went blank, emotionless. “No, but he screamed when you came out and blew the dream dust in my face.”

“That was just an act,” I explained. “He’s the one who gave me the dream dust and told me to do it.”

Trouble came into her eyes. She lowered her head and pushed her dark hair from her face, seemingly lost in thought. Quickly, she looked up at me again. “This is no joke?” I could tell by her tone that she already knew the answer.

“No. I was looking for the cure and someone else—the young Prince of Zav, who I’d brought there earlier—but I found neither of them and was catching my breath in the dressing room when you came in.”

I could feel Lisanda grasping onto every word. Her mouth and eyes were flat but ready to explode into some emotion, though I didn’t know if it would be anger or betrayal—one of the two for sure. My stomach climbed toward my chest.
Again, I had to stop myself from reaching out to hold her as I continued.

“When you pulled out the wardrobe and went into the tunnel, I came out to leave the dressing room, and Micah came in right then. He saw me. But then he heard you coming back into the room, and he gave me the dream dust and told me to use it on you when you came back.

“He knew I would stop at nothing until I had the cure I was promised, so he told me you were the best way to get that. He convinced me to take you, Lisanda. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to tell you.”

Anger…no, wait…betrayal. Perhaps both. Lisanda’s eyes fell to her feet. “Why would he do that?” she whispered to the grass. “I always thought he cared deeply about Jessend and me.”

“He does,” Sannil said to my surprise. “Lisanda, he thinks of you as family.”

Lisanda lifted her head to Sannil, tilting it curiously as she waited. I realized soon after that my head was in the same position.

“How do you know him?” I asked.

“Bastial hell, Father!” Kalli’s burst of annoyance startled me. “Why didn’t you tell us you knew someone on the King’s council? After all the trouble Jek and I had with guards in The Nest when we were younger—we could’ve had them disbanded!”

“And
I
still need to know what he was doing sending me off like that.” Lisanda had her arms folded and complete anger had taken over her face. Kalli had the exact same look. It would’ve been comical if I was in the mood to laugh.

Sannil glanced between Kalli and Lisanda, guilt creasing his brow. He put his hand up politely. “Perhaps if I explain a few things.”

“Yes, that would be best.” Kalli spoke with bitter anger, as if abruptly remembering all the torment that came to her as a result of guards ignoring her pleas for justice. Or perhaps she was remembering their insults and laughter about the extra weight she’d carried when she was younger.

No matter what it was, it was clear she believed our father had had the power to stop it, for she now was directing that anger at him. I could feel it when I looked into her hard eyes.

Lisanda’s eyes, though watching my father carefully, were more distant, less sharp and aggressive. Her anger was focused elsewhere, I figured toward Micah Vail.

Sannil squeezed Kalli’s shoulder. “I’m sorry about the secret, but it’s been safer this way. If word got out that I’ve met with Micah in private every so often, it could damage his reputation. The King knows nothing about it.”

Sannil’s eyes sank to Lisanda. “Though, I suppose that’s going to change.” His voice trailed off.

“That depends on what you have to say about Micah,” Lisanda said. “I’m not one to side with my father unless it’s deserved. In fact, I’ve had more luck getting what I want from Micah than from my father.”

“That’s because Micah cares about you and your family.” Sannil was using what I came to think of as his fatherly tone, deep and calm, confident. “He tries to do right by everyone, and sometimes his methods can be extreme. On the contrary, he can also be coy, secretive. It’s in his nature, making his actions confusing at times.”

“How do you know him, Father?” I asked. I wasn’t as upset as Kalli about this secret, though it was hard to be angry when curiosity overwhelmed me.

Bam leaned down between our disfigured circle and started nibbling on the grass. Sannil ran his hand through the horse’s mane idly.

“I met Micah before you and Kalli were born.” His mouth went flat. “I’m not sure ‘met’ is the right word. He was just a child then and without a home. I was living alone, and I started noticing food missing every so often, but it was always such a small amount I wondered if I was imagining it.

“One night I finally caught him, a filthy runt with hair blacker than the bottom of the well. He must’ve been eight or nine years old.”

“He stole from you?” Lisanda seemed dumbfounded. “I always thought he was wealthy and noble.”

“I’m afraid not, though he
was
always clever…brilliantly clever. I never knew how he was getting in and out of the house. In fact, that was the first question I asked when I finally managed to catch him and pin him to the ground.” Sannil laughed to himself.

“The proud bastard wouldn’t tell me. It felt like this secret was all he had, and he cherished it. I suppose he had many secrets like this. The food he took from me wasn’t enough, even for a child. There must’ve been many houses…many secrets.”

Sannil turned to Kalli. “As I said, it’s in his nature to be secretive, always has been since I’ve known him.” Sannil shrugged. “He asked me to respect that, and so I have. I told no one about our relationship. I think he may be worried about our past, as a known thief serving the King is likely to cause problems not only for him, but for the Takary family as well.”