The Enemy's Triumph Page 5

  “A healer’s honesty,” Rain muttered.

  Mave had heard enough. She stood up without saying anything and started walking for the other room.

  “Mave?”

  “I’ve got him. You can escort the healer home. Come back and visit your father tomorrow—”

  “No. Leave him for the rest of the day,” Rain said. She heard the chair screech across the floor, and the young male grabbed her. “Let him wallow and come to you or one of your males. If he doesn’t by dinner tomorrow, beat him into the ground and get him working. He just had a nasty spill.”

  Mave sighed heavily, reining in her anger once again. “And what do you recommend I do until then?”

  “I wanted to hang out with him for the day, but I was also hoping to talk to you,” he said, giving her a somewhat pissed off smile.

  “About?”

  “I was…I was just hoping we could talk about some things,” he said cryptically.

  “Okay. We can go on my morning walk to clear my head. Would that work?” She was totally focused on him now. Rain wanted her time and attention, and he could have it.

  “No. Somewhere more private,” he said softly.

  “Okay.” She looked around him and saw the healer standing there awkwardly. “You’re dismissed. Travel safe. Thank you for coming here on such short notice.”

  “My pleasure, Champion.” He walked out quickly, probably grateful to be freed from the turmoil of her household.

  “My room?” she asked.

  “Uh…” Rain shook his head a little. “I don’t want to be anywhere near your private room with them, sorry.”

  She couldn’t blame him for that. It was a mess.

  “I’m certain I’ve got a spare room in this monster building somewhere we can relax. Let’s go find it together.” She smiled and got a real one from him in return. Her building had four floors, and her room was on the third, picked out by her husbands. She knew the bottom floor well, but Zayden was currently taking up the best room, and she figured Rain didn’t want his father to hear this conversation.

  On the second floor, they found an extra bathing room Mave had never seen before and a library full of Elvasi works. Mave looked at one title, rolled her eyes, then put it back. Whoever claimed this house after she was gone could figure out what to do with the leather-bound books.

  “This works,” Rain said, nodding at the space. “Other than the bad tastes in reading, it’s comfortable.”

  “It is,” she agreed. “Can you read Elvasi?”

  “Nope.”

  “Lucky you,” she said, touching the spines of more of the books. Luykas had made her push to read all three of the languages, and now she could passably well. Some bigger things she needed help with, and her vocabulary was building every time she opened a book, but she knew the characters of all three languages now.

  “I can speak a little of it.”

  “You can’t know the language of the gods until you can speak Elvasi with the same class and skill as the Empress herself,” Mave said softly in Elvasi.

  “What?” Rain frowned, obviously not understanding what she had just said.

  “Something I was told when I was little,” she explained, switching back to Andena. “What did you want to talk about?”

  “The gladiators could show up any day now,” he reminded her.

  “I know. I think about it every day,” she said, finding a seat, leaving the books on the shelves behind. Memories from another day, another time. “Are you worried?”

  “Not yet,” he admitted. “But…I don’t know how I’ll be when they get here.”

  “I’m…mostly certain that everyone who hurt you is dead,” she said, thinking back on it. She remembered from that day Rain’s joy at seeing her and Mat, the males around him, the bodies piling up, the guards coming in to break up the fight. Mostly, though, it was a flurry of steel and opened bodies, red walls and red vision. The entire day was covered in red.

  Her memories kept rewinding to Rain’s face, though. She closed her eyes and tried to fight off the visceral anger and pain she felt—the heartbreak.

  He’s right here. He’s safe. No one got to him, and he’s stronger than ever. It’s okay. They don’t ever get to do that to him again.

  “Mave?”

  “They won’t hurt you ever again. I’ll tell Alchan about them, and if they try, we’ll cut them all down—”

  “Alchan already knows,” Rain said quickly. “I…I told him before Bryn came back from his mission with Seanev and Leria. He knows…what happened to me.”

  “That was brave of you,” she said softly. “He couldn’t have been an easy person to tell.”

  “He wasn’t, but he deserved to know. He’s a dominant male, and it would be too easy for him to accidentally…send me back there. He’s really careful about it, honestly. Too careful sometimes.”

  “I’d rather him be too careful than not careful enough.” She saw no problem with that. It reminded her that she served an amazing king. Alchan was a good male, and she was constantly honored by his insistence at her inclusion into his family, the royal family, a signal he trusted and respected her. Now, she was learning how patient he was with Rainev when it probably went wildly against his nature.

  He’s the best male I could have found to serve. Maybe I’m even a little glad he’s not female, not like Shadra or even Leria or Allaina.

  “Yeah, well, it gets a little annoying,” Rain said, smirking. “I’m supposed to protect him, not the other way around.”

  “Oh well,” she said, shrugging. “It’s better than having Zayden breathing down your neck, right?”

  “Much. Baba is getting better, too. He’s been different in the last season than he was when we first escaped the Empire. I think he needed time, and we’re good. I wish he didn’t do stupid shit like this, but anyone in the Company is capable of this idiocy. I bet Mat would have done similar if he suddenly couldn’t fly.”

  “He does seem like the type of male who needs more time to process and adjust,” she agreed. “And you didn’t behave like this when you were out of the sky.”

  “I had Alchan breathing down my neck,” Rain reminded her. “A bit different.”

  “Then Zayden can live with you and Alchan—”

  “Absolutely not. No. That can’t happen.”

  Mave started to laugh as Rain’s face went into some mix of incredulous and terror. She was able to bring it under control quickly, covering her face as she tried to smooth out her face. When she looked back at Rain, though, the laughter started up again.

  “It’s not funny,” Rain mumbled. “I’m glad he and I don’t live together anymore. I feel more…adult? Mature?”

  “I wish I could relate,” she said finally, taking a deep breath to hopefully stop laughing at Rain’s horror. “I never had much of a defined childhood.”

  “You were the handmaiden for the Empress during your youth, weren’t you?”

  “Yeah. Living in the palace. Dressed all proper and shit. I can only begin to imagine what my life would have been like if I hadn’t defended myself that night.”

  “Safer?” Rain’s head tilted to the side in that curious young way.

  “Not really,” she said, sighing as she continued to consider it. “I defended myself from rape and killed the Elvasi guard who tried. I would have been their toy, but without the power I was able to earn in the pits.”

  “You talk so easily about it now. All of that. The pits, the palace, the Empress. How do you do it?” His voice went soft.

  “I’m here, and they’re not,” she answered. “Though, that won’t be true forever, will it?”

  “No.” Rain seemed worried for a moment. “Do you have any plans for today?”

  “Like?” She raised an eyebrow, wondering if she was going to get to hang out with him for long. “Don’t you need to get back to Alchan soon? You’re glued to his hip.”

  “He’s working on a problem with a wild wyvern, and I’ve done all I can. I
’m pretty sure I can take the entire morning to myself, and he wouldn’t mind.”

  “Um. We could go see what Mat, Bryn, and Luykas are up to?” She gave a half shrug.

  Thinking about it, she let the invisible force of her blood bond force her to look inland, knowing Luykas was out there with her other males. Mat and Bryn worked with a different set of warriors every day, making sure everyone was keeping up with their training. Luykas had mentioned when they left, he wanted to join them as a surprise inspection from someone a bit more important. Mave figured he just wanted male time with anyone except his brother.

  “You could also keep Zayden company with me. Or stay here as long as you like.” She didn’t mind him in her home at any time.

  “I’ll come with you to visit the guys. He can stew alone on his bad decisions without me.”

  They walked upstairs to the rooftop together, and Mave took the chance to look out on the horizon, able to see the bay from her rooftop.

  “Rain.”

  “Yeah?”

  “They’re here.”

  He spun to look in the same direction. Mave’s eyes were fixated on one thing.

  Flags on the horizon.

  5

  Mave

  The gladiators were here. They all said the freed Andinna would be there any day, and there they were. Mave felt frozen in place as she breathed slowly, knowing her past was about to catch up and come crashing into her new life.

  “Get Alchan,” she ordered. “Tell him I’ll be waiting for them, and I want to head them off before he sees them.”

  “After that?” he asked softly.

  “I don’t want them to see you. Fly overhead in wyvern form after that.”

  “Mave?”

  “Do it.” She didn’t look at him, only knowing she was going to be the first thing those Andinna were going to deal with when they got off the ship. None of them got near any of the Company until she was certain they knew her place.

  At least I wore the armor today as he asked.

  She touched her chest, feeling the pin there—royalty, part of the most important family of the Andinna. Would it be enough?

  “Should I run down and tell my father—”

  “No,” she snapped. “Tell him, but he has to stay here. He’s vulnerable, and if a fight breaks out, I don’t want him there and being an easy target.”

  Rain ran back inside. She was momentarily surprised that he chose to tell his father first, but if the ships were in sight, someone from the docks was probably already running to Alchan.

  Mave jumped into the air and went straight for the docks, her hands restlessly looking for her swords at her waist. She wore them every day. Kerit wasn’t home and didn’t feel secure the way their home village did.

  She landed on the docks to surprised faces, none of the Andinna there working. She watched the ships, unsure what to do. Like the Andinna around her, she was still somewhat in shock. She didn’t say anything, walking to the longest pier and looking off at the ships in the distance with some of the Andinna following her, giving her silent back up or maybe just taking her lead. Several moments later, Alchan was there with Nevyn.

  “Attention on me!” Alchan roared, his hand touching her shoulder for a second, reassuring in its own way. Nevyn stepped up next to her. The warriors hanging around the docks turned toward their king. “I want a small group to direct the ships to the long pier. Tell them flying directly into the city is not allowed because I want a headcount, and we need to find them proper sleeping arrangements. The captains of the ships will come off first and talk to me for a moment, then the Andinna can come off. Is that clear?”

  “Trevan and Dave,” Mave added quickly, looking at Alchan, who nodded in agreement. Turning back to the Andinna before her, she knew they needed more information than that. “A pure Elvasi with auburn hair and pale gold eyes and a pure human with brown hair and brown eyes—they need to come off those ships as quickly as we can get them. We need to secure them.” She hadn’t forgotten them, but with the crushing weight of the gladiators arriving, she didn’t have space in her head or in her heart to think about them.

  “Yes sir!” they said in unison. Mave turned to see Rain panting, giving her a look of annoyance, probably because he’d flown hard to get to Alchan, only to find the king here already.

  “Two Andinna per ship. Watch your backs. We don’t know if they are the right ships!”

  Pairs jumped into the air, and Alchan grabbed her shoulder with a bit of firmness now.

  “What?” she asked softly, looking at him, pushing down her feelings already. Cold. She had to remember how to be cold. Anything else with these Andinna could be a sign of weakness.

  “What do you want to do?” he asked.

  “I sent Rain to tell you, but you beat him here. I want to be the first person they see coming off those ships. I want those gladiators to have to look me in the eye before they set foot on Anden soil. I want to gauge them before they get anywhere near any of you. Rain, get in the air as I asked.” She had to look around Alchan for that last part. Alchan’s eyebrows went up.

  “You don’t trust them.”

  “Never,” she whispered. “If they react poorly to me, they don’t leave the pier alive unless you feel the need to step in.”

  Alchan nodded once. “Rain, being a wyvern is quite the display of power. If they have any ideas of acting like fools and criminals while here in my land, they’ll have to answer to the might I command. Between you, Rain, and the Company, it’ll be a very strong display.”

  “That’s what I’m hoping.” Mave took a deep breath. “I think you should wait on land. I’ll be further down the pier. Can they all dock here?”

  “One ship on either side and one at the end on the top. That’s why the pier is shaped this way.” He gestured toward the end. Mave nodded. She knew it was in the Common language T shape, but she wanted to be certain. This got harder if they had to separate the ships to different areas. “I’ll be waiting, Champion. I’ll keep the Company with me. Nevyn?”

  “Varon is on his way. He’ll pick up everyone else.”

  Mave pushed her feelings through the blood bond, a clear message she wanted Luykas to show up. She received a flood of worry in response. Most of the time, she and Luykas couldn’t feel emotions unless they touched when the flow was uncontrolled. Now, they used it more freely, communicating feelings over the distances.

  The ships were drawing closer but slowly. Everyone moved into position, and Mave found herself without back up from the Company, the lone high-ranking warrior on the pier. Other Andinna were in front of her, waiting to help the ships dock.

  She looked over her shoulder to see Luykas standing beside Alchan, holding a pair of breeches and a set of boots, which must have been Rainev’s. Mat and Bryn were behind him. On Alchan’s right, Nevyn with Varon flanking, and Kian watching from behind them. Leshaun hadn’t come to Kerit, leaving the Company feeling incomplete to her, but the strongest were there.

  Alchan was right. It was a strong display of power.

  When the ships were close enough, the experienced Andinna jumped into the air and helped the clearly Elvasi and human sailors. Mave could see some Andinna on the ships lining up at the rails, all male. Females and children would be hidden below for the moment.

  A pity. I would have loved to see a strong female or two come out of the Empire this time. At the same time, it’s a good sign to see the males willing to test the new surroundings before risking the few females left and any possible young.

  Complicated. Mave knew the whole thing was complicated, and that would be the case for a very long time. Having been both a slave and a free Andinna, she could see the rot of the Empire and the survival concessions made by the Andinna. Former female slaves hid, unsure of their own power and children too precious to be risked. Both in Olost and in Leria’s community, the females were powerful, even if there was a difference between those groups. The startling contrast made Mave keenly aware she needed to
put the males in their place and give the females back theirs.

  Ramps were put down, but none of the Andinna moved. Off each of the three ships, which also stuck out to Mave because there were supposed to be five, came the captains, looking tired from such a long journey but like Sen, no worse for wear. They were used to the voyages. They eyed her and stopped before her when she didn’t move from the center of the pier. Behind one of the captains were two people, two very important people—Trevan and Dave. Her heart clenched painfully at the sight of them. Dave looked half-starved, his eyes wide as he took in Kerit and Anden beyond it. Even from the pier, anyone could see the land’s infamous mountains riding up in the distance. Trevan looked tired and wary.

  When they were all before her, she knew she couldn’t dwell on Trevan and Dave. Things had to keep moving.

  “Were any of the Andinna a problem?” she asked professionally.

  “No, ma’am,” each answered after a beat of silence, in hurried ways, obviously intimidated. Trevan shook his head slowly. Dave didn’t answer, but she didn’t take that as a sign. He still seemed awestruck.

  “Go on. King Alchan Andini is in the black armor with the white dragon. His brother, General Luykas Andini, is in the white armor with the black dragon.”

  “Thank you,” one of them said in a hushed voice, and they walked around her, each giving her nods of deference. Trevan’s eyes lingered on her longer than she figured was needed, but she made no move to stop the stare. She was doing her best not to stare as it was, looking away before he did.

  Mave never had to stand like this, flexing her position in such a way. Seeing the deference from the captains she had never met made her uncomfortable, but she knew it wouldn’t be the case with the Andinna.

  With her own people, she knew where she stood, and she had to make sure they all knew as well. There would never be a day when she lowered her eyes to any of them.

  And I’ll never feel guilty for that.