There were still several obstacles inmy path however. First and foremost being Mal’goroth himself, thedark god had to be dealt with before I could allow myself to rest.Millicenth and Doron also needed a permanent resolution of somesort; otherwise I’d be leaving my friends and family at theirmercy.
They were created to servemankind, not threaten it, I thought tomyself. Memories began surfacing as I followed that observation toits source. No longer bound by my fear of the past I searched forthe information I knew had to be locked within. Thillmarius hadsaid that his people created their gods, but that was only thebeginning. We followed their example andcreated our own—but when?
That question brought animage forth in my mind, a woman’s face, one I recognized, MoiraCentyr. I had never seen her human face in life, but one of myancestors had. She was beautiful,I noted, comparing her mentally to my daughter.The resemblance couldn’t be denied. Thegods couldn’t have been created without her family’s specialgift.
I began following a chain of ideas andthoughts, ideas that had led to many conversations between MoiraCentyr and the man she had loved centuries before, the ancestor Ihad been named after.
Chapter 4
The Countess di’Cameron sat in herstudy, staring out the window that illuminated the small writingdesk. She was in Albamarl, staying at the Illeniel house. TheThornbears had planned a visit to see Rose’s parents, theHightowers, and Dorian’s mother, Elise Thornbear. Lady Thornbearhad taken up residence in the capital recently, to remain near herclose friend, the Queen.
Rather than stay in Cameron alone,Penny had chosen to make the trip with them, offering the use ofher house while in the capital. In reality however, she simplyhadn’t wanted to be alone. Rose had a house of her own in Albamarl,but she had chosen to stay with Penny anyway, on the pretext thatGram preferred to enjoy time with Moira and Matthew.
All of them understood the truthhowever; no one wanted Penelope spending much timealone.
They had made the trip using the WorldRoad, which had been operating steadily for nearly a year now. Theycould have had one of the Prathions transport them directly, butPenny had preferred to make the trip using the road, possibly fornostalgic reasons. The majority of their travel had consisted of ahalf day’s ride from Washbrook to Lancaster, where one of theentrances to the World Road was located, followed by a short ridefrom there to the capital itself.
A noise from downstairs told her thatRose and Dorian had probably returned. Peter arrived at the door ofthe study a minute later to confirm her suspicion. “The Thornbearshave returned, my lady, along with a guest, Lord Stephen, son ofEarl Balistair,” he informed her.
“What?” snapped Penny, “Ispecifically told that womanI didn’t want any visitors.” By ‘that woman’ shewas referring to Rose.
Peter merely pursed his lips, therewas no good reply to her statement, nor was one desired.
“Tell them I will be down in a fewminutes, I wasn’t prepared to receive a guest,” she added in a flattone. In truth though, her attire was perfectly acceptable and shehad no reason to delay. She simply needed a moment to collect herthoughts and control her irritation.
When she finally appeared downstairsover fifteen minutes had passed, a delay that most would considerrude without good cause, especially when the guest was a nobleman.Penny didn’t care. She found them sitting in the front parlor,sipping tea and eating the dry, thin cakes that were popular assnacks in Albamarl.
Dorian and Rose sat together on thedivan, across from Lord Balistair. Despite his occasionalawkwardness in the past, Dorian looked entirely comfortable meetingwith a fellow peer; he and Rose had both been raised and trainedfor such occasions. In contrast, while Penny’s rank in the peeragewas technically greater, she had been born a commoner. She stillhad to expend conscious effort to appear relaxed in suchcompany.
Everyone stood upon seeing her. Dorianwas the first to speak, “Your Excellency, please forgive theunexpected visitation. May I present Lord Stephen Balistair? Hecame here at my insistence.” He added those words to account fortheir breach of protocol; ordinarily another noble would send acard requesting an introduction before appearingunannounced.
Penny wondered how Rosehad managed to maneuver her husband into such a situation. She hadno doubt regarding the true source of this unexpected guest. Hereyes appraised the young lord standing before her. Lord Stephen waslean and muscular with tanned features that spoke of extendedperiods of time in the training yard. He wore a sword, and thecalluses on his hands told her he had spent many hours practicingwith it. His bearing was military and his height was respectable,slightly above average though a bit under six feet, if Penny hadbeen forced to guess. Almost as tall asDorian, though definitely shorter than Mordecai,she thought to herself before wincing at the painthat observation brought.
She stared into his blueeyes as she replied, “If what Dorian says is true, I cannot hold itagainst you. You are welcome in my home, Lord Stephen. Please sit.”She made a point of not offering her hand to him ingreeting. Let him fawn over someoneelse. Penny could almost feel Roseclenching her teeth at the brusqueness of her response.
Stephen Balistair stood awkwardly fora moment before he realized that Penny had no intention offollowing the ordinary rules of introduction. “It is a greatpleasure to meet you, Countess,” he said, recovering his composure.“I have long been an admirer of your late-husband, if you’llforgive me for mentioning it.”
Penelope moved past him to take acomfortable chair that would put her farther from where the youngnobleman had been sitting than any other seat in the room. “Myhusband had many admirers and even more enemies, you did not needto present yourself here to tell me that,” she said, rebuffinghim.
Stephen’s face flinched slightly ather cold reply, though he kept his expression respectful. Luckily,Rose came to his rescue, “Actually, we encountered Lord Stephen atmy father’s house. He had come to relay news of recent disturbancesnear the docks. After hearing what he had to say, Dorian asked ifhe would be kind enough to recount his news to youpersonally.”
Penny glanced at herfriend’s face, trying to
