father had
There was joy in it somewhere, though in this moment she felt disoriented and afraid and in pain. The dream was like no dream she’d ever had, and she’d slept through Third Alarm. Jin Li Tam, trained in scout magicks and the arts of espionage, had slept through an attack on her new home.
The Gypsy Scout entered. “The River Woman is already on her way. I will have her come to you first.”
Jin Li Tam bit back another wave of pain. “What has happened?”
“I am not at liberty to-”
She cut him off quickly and coldly. “Aeryk, you see my present state and you know Lord Rudolfo will hide none of this from me. Do not make me stand here and ask again.” The words were sharper than she would’ve liked them, but after her first week in bed, the household and its guards were accustomed to it.
He swallowed and nodded. “Yes, Lady. We’ve been attacked. A squad of magicked assailants penetrated the forest perimeters and attacked the Firstborn Feast. Hanric the Marsh King and Ansylus, Crown Prince of Turam, have both been assassinated and their bodyguards slain.”
Panic tugged at her. “What of Rudolfo?”
“General Rudolfo is unharmed and leads the investigation.” The guard paused, guessed her next question and continued. “The attackers came under magicks we’ve not seen before. The River Woman comes to see what light can be shown on this.”
“Rudolfo,” she called, moving away from the wall now so that he would not see her needing its support.
But he did not stop. He swept past with his men and she heard him barking orders as he went. There was strain in his voice, and grief, and maybe even a touch of fear.
More pain, and Jin Li Tam swallowed it, willing herself to leave the room and follow Rudolfo into his study. But her legs refused and buckled. The servant and the scout moved nimbly to her sides and supported her weight even as the door to Rudolfo’s study opened and closed farther down the hall.
Jin Li Tam sighed and blinked back a round of surprising, sudden tears. She’d wept more the last six months than she remembered ever having wept before. Of course, she’d read the books and knew that it was normal for some.
Jin Li Tam resolved herself to meet it with what grace she could muster. She would wait in bed and breathe as the River Woman and the books had told her. She would send word to Rudolfo to join her when he was able.
She would bear the man she loved an heir and try to put the dream out of her mind. She would become a mother tonight and launch her son at the world, a sharp and true arrow for the light.
She would be brave and would not cry.
Failing utterly, and filled with rage at her failure, Jin Li Tam let the feelings of powerlessness win in their ambush of her, blushing that those who tended her must see her so weak.
Chapter 4
Rudolfo
Rudolfo paced the plush carpet of his private study and replayed the evening’s events behind his eyes. He and his men had been taken unawares by a threat he’d not conceived of in his wildest imaginings, and that reality fed his wrath. The faintest traces of their attackers’ magicked blood faded on his uniform now, smudges that seemed more like shadows next to the darker patches that belonged to Hanric, Ansylus and their men.
He paced the room and stroked his beard alone, waiting for the boy and for the girl who now had the weight of grief upon her alongside a difficult decision.
She and her people kept the secret well. Rudolfo and Gregoric had known. And certainly, the boy Neb. Beyond that, the Named Lands would all believe the Marshers were without a king.
But what of Turam? The Crown Prince’s father had lain at death’s door for nigh on a decade, his life preserved by Androfrancine medicines no longer in easy supply. Ansylus had functioned as his proxy, and now that nation would be at profound risk to forces within or without. Rudolfo dug deep into memory but could not recall the name of the younger brother, though it mattered little-the boy had been killed at the Battle of Rachyle’s Bridge during the War for Windwir. There was an uncle, however. Turam just barely balanced itself against the tide of insurrection that swept the Named Lands with the Androfrancine Order’s collapse. This news could tip the scale.
And why now? Why
He’d looked for her in the crowd that had gathered outside the Great Hall. She had been noticeably absent, and he doubted that the River Woman’s admonitions of bed rest had truly trumped her curiosity. He’d meant to ask after her or to check in on her, but the whirlwind of orders to give, people to direct, investigations to launch had caught him up and carried him until this moment.
He looked up at the knock on his door. “Yes?”
It opened a crack and Neb looked in. “I have Lady Winters with me, General.”
Rudolfo smoothed his uniform by habit. “Send her in.” His eyes narrowed and he studied Neb’s face, reading what he could there in the redness of the eyes and the pallor of his skin. When Neb met his gaze, Rudolfo’s hands moved quickly.
Neb nodded again. The young man held open the door, and Winters stepped through. Then it closed behind her.
The look on the girl’s face stopped Rudolfo’s pacing. She looked smaller than she had earlier today, her eyes red and hollow, her mouth drawn tight with grief. There were pale track marks from the tears that had scrubbed away the ash and mud of her people’s lament.
Rudolfo waved to a small sofa by a banked fire. “Please sit with me,” he said. She moved slowly and sat, folding her hands in her lap. He joined her. “Neb has told you, then?”
She glanced up, then dropped her eyes and nodded. “He has. And I have told my people.” She swallowed. “At