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Now she sucks in gasping, ragged breaths as she struggles not to break down right here in front of him and Lord Gargaron. Twenty years have been cut loose with casual words flung in her face.

Father will not even look at her. He has already made up his mind.Advertisement

“How could you? You selfish pig!” I scream.

“Jessamy!” Mother’s voice shatters into coarse slivers. “Do not humiliate us.”

Lord Gargaron sighs. “I cannot spend all day enduring a woman’s tears. Steward!” He rings the handbell.

The door opens and Polodos enters, bowing. “My lord?”

“Take the concubine away,” says Gargaron.

Father says nothing.

Turning so I don’t have to see the man I have looked up to all my life, I help Mother toward the door.

“The girl stays,” adds Gargaron. “She will come with me.”

I stop dead.

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Mother’s shuddering and silent tears cease on the instant. Her gaze rises to Father’s shame-ridden expression.

“Esladas, you cannot mean to hand Jessamy over to this man?”

“Lord Gargaron is my lord now and thus my household is his to order as he wishes,” says Father in a tone so rough I suddenly realize he is on the edge of weeping.

She steps between us. “I will not allow it! She stays with me!”

“Ah,” murmurs Lord Gargaron. “Now at last we see the scorpion. Defiant and disloyal when her true face is revealed!”

“Mother, it’s all right.” I am so afraid that Gargaron will demand Father punish her that my thoughts tangle up in a dead-end maze of terror. But I can sluggishly think through what Gargaron has already said. “He just wants me to go train for the Fives in the Garon Palace stable. That’s all.”

“Of course that is all.” Gargaron laughs. “Please do not believe I would ever touch a woman of your blood and breeding, much less any of your litter. If I need a concubine, I can engage a woman of my own people. Ottonor has died in such destitution I can pick and choose from among the prettiest of his young kinswomen. Now, if you will, remove the concubine to her quarters.”

“I won’t let you go, Jessamy,” Mother cries, clinging to me.

“You must let her go,” says Father in a brutal voice. “She is mine, Kiya. I allowed her to live, so I hold the power of life and death over her. Let it be that if the girl was willing to defy me by running the Fives without my permission then she can live with the choice she made.”

I see Lord Gargaron fingering his whip. He’ll whip her, I know he will. I tug on her arm frantically. “Mother, I’ll be all right. You have to go.”

Polodos peels her away from me. The young steward’s expression is closed and disapproving. He obeys without a questioning word and leads her out of the room. I hear her sob with wrenching despair before the door closes.

I stumble, overcome by fear and grief, and barely catch myself against the door that has locked me away from my mother and sisters. The whole world has broken apart around me.

“Very good, Captain,” says Gargaron in the pleasant tone of a man who approves of the bread and wine set before him. “You will not regret this. Together we will do very well.”

“Yes, my lord.” So easily he acquiesces! The thought of Mother’s grief-stricken face keeps me silent. I will not cause more trouble for her. “But if I may, my lord. It would be dishonorable of me to leave before Lord Ottonor’s mourning procession and his journey to the City of the Dead. As one of his sponsored men, I am required to attend with my household.”

Lord Gargaron waves a hand as if brushing away a fly. “But you are no longer Lord Ottonor’s man. You are mine now, so you are not required to observe this obligation. Besides, I stand among Ottonor’s creditors. Clan Tonor owes my clan a great deal of money. By taking on your sponsorship I do his memory and his household a service by erasing part of his debt.”

“My lord, I obey. But…” His hesitation lasts only a moment before he forges on. “Legally I have no further obligation. But Lord Ottonor supported me in my early years when I came to Efea with nothing but the clothes on my back and a hope to make my fortune here. Honor declares that I must show my gratitude properly. Had Lord Ottonor not given me the chance to take up a military career I could never have gained the honors I did and thus come to your attention.”

“Your honor does you credit, Captain. I will make sure that members of your household are granted the honor of sitting the overnight vigil with Ottonor on his first night in the City of the Dead. However, I need you to depart right away. I received word yesterday that there has been an attack on the outpost of Seperens, beyond the Green River. I need a reliable and intelligent commander there as soon as practicable, so today you will be escorted by an honor guard of Garon soldiers to my villa at Falcon Hill. My niece will meet you there. You will sign the marriage contract. After Ottonor’s funeral we will celebrate the wedding feast and you will sail east to the war.” pqdm.com