I’m bounding through the passages looking for a stairway. I find one, but it’s on the far end of the castle.
“I want him at least a little alive when we get to midden. Ah, good, this goes down, perhaps all the way.”
I’m bounding down the stairs when I sense someone coming up. I shroud myself and squeeze past them before resuming my pace down. I raise my head and sniff. I can smell the midden from here. I head toward it, following my nose more than anything else. I stop for a moment before I step out to check to be sure I’m alone.
Once I’m sure that I am, I toss Aart onto the midden.
I lean down very close to his face, “Don’t try to hide from me. I know you’re still alive and still conscious. Don’t worry. It won’t be long now. I’m just going to call your brethren to dispose of you.”
I step back and call out the rats. Gods above, there are a lot of them here.
“COME!! I have brought you a fine meal. Come and feed your little ones. Come and feast. Quickly, before someone comes to steal your food.”
The rats obey my command and follow my promise of food. Hundreds of them surge out of the midden. Aart’s eyes go wide as they rush toward him. He tries to scream, tries to fling them off.
He even tries to crawl away before I lose sight of him, until their wriggling, heaving mass. “Let your own kind have you, rat.”
Satisfied, I step back into the shadows and into the secret passage. I wipe the last of Aart off me with a swipe of magic. Now I go to reclaim Kenric.
Still shrouded, I run up the stairs and find Kenric sitting exactly where I left him. Now I can hug him. I reach out to take his hand, and he startles.
“Hush,” I whisper, “It’s only me.”
He relaxes instantly. I pull him to his feet and hug him.
His arms wrap around me. “My treasure, I knew you’d come.”
I spend a few moments clinging to him.
“We cannot stay here,” I whisper, “There are others in these tunnels, and with both of you suddenly missing, they may think to search the passages.”
Kenric sighs, reluctant to let go of me, but I have no intention of letting go of him. It is dark enough here that he can’t see at all. I take his hand and lead him. If I thought he’d let me, I’d carry him. It would be faster, but he trusts me to lead him through the darkness. We don’t speak, but my heart sings. I have Kenric back, and he’s mostly unharmed. As we go, I whisper to him the story of his leaning on a panel, falling into the tunnels, and stumbling around in the dark.
He agrees to tell them this once he’s out of these damnable passages. I lead him to a place where I know there’s a fairly public exit. It’s on Grethe’s map. It’s apparently a favorite of Oskar’s. If I weren’t shifted, I might be worried about running into him. Like this, I’ll be able to see, hear, and smell Oskar long before he’s close enough to know anyone else is here with him. I put his hand on the switch to open the panel and tell him to count to twenty before he does.
I cannot be here, so I must shrink and hide myself. I wait to ensure Kenric is released before I leave. Kenric counts, then pulls the lever. The panel opens, and I push him out of my way, causing him to stumble.
One of the guards notices and does a double-take, “Lord Kenric! Duke Jellema has been searching the entire palace for you. Everyone’s been looking for you. Have you been stuck in there the whole time?"
Kenric swallows hard and nods, “I was leaning against a panel and it gave way.”
The guard quickly gestures to his forehead and says, “Gods above! The last time someone got lost in there, we didn’t find them until we started to smell them. Let me take you to the Duke.”
Kenric is safe for now, so I dash toward our rooms. I need to get inside, shift back, and take off my armor. I rush through the door without slowing much. I slip behind a dressing screen and return to full size, dismiss my armor, and drop my shroud. I step out from behind the screen, and Inaba is already facing me.
I sign to Miyabe, who translates for the rest of my honor guard, “Kenric will be along in a bit.”
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Inaba gives me a grim nod. I flop down on the bed. Inaba asks me what I’m doing.
“Trying to decide which position I should be in to seem the most distraught,” I sign back, and Miyabe translates this.
Miyabe signs back, “Hug your pillow and pace. That’s what my first wife did when she was agitated. It was slightly terrifying.”
I’m not some wilting flower. Distraught really isn’t my repertoire.
Perhaps that is a good depiction of human distress. If something’s wrong, I find a way to fix it. It’s amazing how many problems can be solved with a good sword and a solid command of magic when either or both are used correctly. I don’t just sit around, wringing my hands and waiting for someone else to fix things. These human women have been conditioned to do exactly that. They’ve been told for so long that they’re helpless and must rely on others that they have come to believe it.
They may not be as physically capable as Fey, but I’ve met a few here who are not stupid. They don’t act because they’ve been told, over and over, that this is not their place or role. They are supposed to sit back and let men handle things. This is the most foolish thing I think I’ve ever heard. No one will look out for your interests better than you. Too many women are taken advantage of by their own families. It’s easy for them to be robbed of everything, and here in Centis, it’s often legal.
I am still pondering this when the knock sounds.
I can hear Duke Jellema in the hallway, “Open the damn door. She’s upset because her husband’s missing and he’s right here."
I run to the door and fling it open. “Kenric?"
“It’s really me,” Kenric replies.
I run to him, and he staggers back a half-step from the impact. He laughs, and his arms come around me. I am babbling.
I know it, and I don’t care. "Gods! You were missing. No one could find you. I was afraid one of the dukes or one of the earls had done something terrible.”
“Hush, Víl?,” Kenric croons into my hair, “Hush, love. It’s over now. I’m back and everything is fine.”
“What happened?” I ask him.
“I was leaning against the wall when it gave way. It dumped me into what I think are the palace's secret passages. I couldn’t figure out how to get out. I don’t know how long I wandered around in the dark.”
Duke Jellema shakes his head, “Aart tried to make it seem like he’d kidnapped you. He was trying to do what Basten and Nelis failed to do.”
“All because you got lost due to a faulty wall,” I’m practically wailing, “I couldn’t find you. I didn’t know if I should be scared or angry. Now I’m angry. Where’s Aart? I’ll pin his ears back for this. It was cruel and unnecessary."
Duke Jellema shrugs, “The last time anyone saw him, he was going into his rooms. He’s posted guards to turn away visitors."
“He’s hiding,” I snort, “He had to know we’d figure it out eventually. He’s hoping he can hide long enough that I’ll calm down.”
“That’s entirely possible,” Jellema says with a shrug, “He’s never been what I’d call courageous.”
I tow Kenric into the room and shove him into a chair. I pour him a large glass of whiskey and push it into his hand.
I look at Duke Jellema, “Thank you for trying to help. I think we’ll take a day to recover from this little misadventure.”
Duke Jellema leaves so I send Nasu and Lilli to The Violet Rose to bring back dumplings. Whiskey and those dumplings can fix most of this. I pull over a footstool and take off Kenric’s boots. Lilli asks me how many dumplings I want.
I think for a moment and shrug, “All of them.”
Lilli laughs and sets off to bring back our dinner. I shoo everyone out and crawl into his lap.
"You risked everything for me," Kenric murmurs, his voice thick with emotion, as his arms encircle me.
We’re finally alone, sealed in here. Everything else is out there, and it doesn’t matter right now. If out there tries to come in here, I am going to be very cross with whatever is out there.
I look up at Kenric, and he’s still a bit pale and shaken. I’m just glad I got to him before Aart started torturing him to make him sign things. I’m still a bit shaky myself, mostly from nerves. I was ready to go to war to get Kenric back, but now he is safe, and I can begin to settle down. I’m also starving and need to replace the energy I’ve used. We sit there for a while, with Kenric sipping his whiskey while I’m curled against him. The steady, strong beat of his heart is comforting, and his warmth is soothing.
Lilli eventually returns, carrying buckets packed full of dumplings. Nasu follows behind her with more buckets. I grab one of the stonehorn pelts and toss it onto the hearth. It’s big enough that no one needs to sit on the floor. We all sit around the fire, on the floor. We’re talking and devouring Rekke’s dumplings. It’s a calm moment after the storm.
“I told Rekke what’s been going on,” Lilli says, “I thought she gave us enough dumplings for an army, but we seem to have eaten most of them.”
I think I ate more of them than anyone else. After all that, I was hungry. Lugging Aart all the way to the midden was work.
I smirk, “They were delicious. There’s not much that those dumplings and some good whiskey can’t fix.”
Kenric laughs, “I know that I feel much better.”
We sit there in companionable silence. For this moment, at least, everything is alright. My ladies peel off, one by one, to go to bed. My honor guard departs, leaving me alone with Kenric.
“You saved me, Víl?,” he murmurs, his voice a low rumble that sends shivers down my spine. “I owe you everything.”
I smirk, my fingers tracing the outline of his strong jaw. “Everything, huh? That's a tall order, husband. But I'm sure we can think of something.”
Kenric’s gaze goes dark with desire, and he pulls me closer. He hooks a finger under my chin and tilts my head back before his lips crash into mine. I moan into his mouth, my tongue dancing with his, as his hands roam over me.
I’m impatient. With a flick of my wrist, our clothes vanish. My sound bubble goes up around us.
"I want to taste you," he growls.
He pushes me back into the stonehorn’s pelt, and I arch my back, offering. He’s on me in an instant, nuzzling my neck.
He whispers in my ear, “I can smell you.”
His kisses trail lower, and finally, he’s having his feast. I’m screaming his name as I am impaled. I let him have his way for a time, but then I flip, and now I’m riding him.
Kenric’s hands find my hips. His fingers dig in a bit as he slows my rhythm. He’s groaning, bucking to meet me, and it’s delicious. His thumb finds me, and my eyes nearly cross. It’s so intense that I’m already coming apart as he grabs for me, roaring out my name. We lay there on the skin, in front of the fireplace.
His fingers trace over my face as he whispers, “You came to save me.”
“Of course I did. Did you expect anything less?” I whisper back.
“It was dangerous,” he says.
“Not so much,” I reply.
- If you could write the next line, what would it be?