“There has to be another way for me to learn.”
“There isn’t. Not that we know of, anyway.” She sounded truly regretful, which I appreciated, but was too angry to acknowledge.
“They will attack you. Fenvitz might try to control you. I’m sure King Kajo will talk to you about that. They will try to take advantage of that weakness--”
I threw a knife into the far wall and it stuck straight out. “I am not weak!” I roared out the words and then picked up five more knives and threw them in a tight pattern around the first one. I glared at Ilisa as I finished. Her chest was heaving, fists tightly clenched. Good, she was angry at me, too.
I pointed at the blades sticking out from the wall.
“I can defend myself, Bravo Ilisa. And you can stand beside me, as you have been commanded, and you can defend me, too. And you can teach me how to defend my mind. But… You cannot control me.”
I stepped in close to her, closing the distance so rapidly that her eyes grew wide and she reached for her knife, as if sensing I might strike her, but then she calmed and stood up straighter. I stopped just next to her, my cheek close to hers, my breath on her skin, looking deep into her eyes, loving that spark, and then, I smiled. She flushed furiously, her chest heaving even deeper. I knew the effect my smile had, because I knew how rarely I gave it…
I reached, slowly, and held onto her arms. I held her tightly and looked deep into her eyes.
“You will have to find a way to teach me mental blocks that isn’t controlling my mind, Ilisa…”
“Lord Skarde…” Her words were tight, like she was biting them, her jaw clenching hard between deep breaths. “It is the only way I can protect you, and I have been commanded to protect you. Now, please let me go…”
I squeezed her a little as her muscles tensed and then I let her go.
“Come for a sail with me.”
She looked at me sharply, then nodded.
I looked at the other Bristolans.
“Have the guards clean this up. Modifi, alert Kajo we are going for a sail and tell him about the infiltration. We shall be back for the feast.”
Ilisa followed me out the door after nodding a second acknowledgement of my command to Modifi. I could sense her trepidation as I led her toward the docks. Trepidation and curiosity… I didn’t need to be able to read minds to be able to tell that she was at war with herself over me. I just needed to give her a little push… A little push into her pull toward me…
Nothing better than showing her what a master at the sails I was.
Besides… I needed to think…
Far away from anyone else who could read my mind…
Six
Ilisa
The uncertainty I felt about going out onto the seas with Lord Skarde alone was part of what intrigued me. Modifi’s mental message as I was leaving was that he would send out a boat to search for us if we weren’t back within an hour, and I appreciated it, but that also worried me: even my closest confidantes, my Bristolan Spec Ops soldiers under my command, weren’t trusting the man who was supposed to be our Duke, the Duke placed in command of Harthen by our King, the King whom we would all lay our down our lives for.
But, it was true that I wouldn’t yet die for Skarde.
Maybe this sail would be what would convince me otherwise…
Skarde chose a twelve foot sailboat, a nice little skiff that would be a fun sail, swift and sure. He climbed aboard after untying her, leaving just the guideline looped around the cleat. I was studying the gathering storm out in the open ocean. He followed my gaze.
“You scared?”
I raised my eyebrows and looked at him.
“I would not take this little thing out with the gust that is gathering.”
Even as I spoke a gale tore through the harbor and pushed me backwards so that I had to gather myself again to approach the side for boarding by a few steps.
Skarde shrugged and loosened the lines around the mainsail.
“Come with me, Ilisa. We will not be out long.”
I bit my lip and nodded, stepping into the bow. As long as we weren’t out long, we would be fine. And, as long as he didn’t lift the jib. And, as long as he was a good sailor which, I assumed he was. Besides, I could always take over. Plus, I could use telekinesis to steady us and bring us home, fighting the storm with those powers to aid the science of sailing against the storm.
“I’ll sail out, you sail in.” As he spoke, he flipped the line off the cleat, then shoved off the side of the dock a bit, loosened the main sail and pulled on the lines so that the wind luffed up into the sheet and the little boat skillfully swung away from the dock, headed out of the harbor and into a steadily darkening sea.
The clouds were gruesome ahead of us, lightning rippling through them. There were many of our larger ships moored throughout the marina, their masts swaying back and forth with the gales rushing through. Skarde artfully maneuvered through them and we were out in open waters.
The waves were getting larger, some of the cresting and crashing over the side. Sea spray was wetting my lips, my face, droplets chill down my cheeks. I brushed aside a large splash from my eyelashes and peered at the man navigating the lines.
“So, Duke Skarde. What is your intention here? Why this sail into the storm that is sure to sink us if we aren’t careful?”
“I need to be far from anyone who will read my mind, so, please, Bravo Ilisa, grant me that courtesy and keep your arts
