Angel of Storms (Millennium's Rule, #2)(36)

“Not at all.”

“Then I wish you a good night.” He bowed, then moved closer to his servant and bent so his mouth was close to the man’s ear. “Do not fear, my old friend,” he murmured. “It has never been said or written that it is forbidden to know his name. Even so, it would be best if you didn’t speak it aloud again.”

Pel nodded. As the lord straightened, the servant turned to Rielle and gestured that she should follow. She bowed to the lord as Baluka had taught her, then followed Pel out of the room.





CHAPTER 10





After a while the light filtering between the curtains brightened. Rielle climbed out of the bed and moved to the crack, parting the cloth to see the courtyard in what constituted daylight in this world. Everything seemed altered, yet nothing was different. The change was within herself, she realised. Do I now believe that Valhan is a thousand-cycle-old sorcerer?

No. But the Travellers did. And Lord Felomar, who would be helping her after the Travellers left. We believe different things, and I will have to learn to live with that.

Baluka had warned that people in Diama were easily offended by those who did not share their religious ideas. She’d assumed they’d disapprove of her disbelieving in what they did. This situation was the other way around. Though, I am not offended that they don’t believe in the Angels, but I would be if they tried to make me disbelieve. After all, she had all the proof Angels existed that she needed: she had met one.

But a nagging thought surfaced, as it had many times since she’d returned to bed, when she recalled Felomar’s words: “Yet no painting of him can be considered entirely reliable, since he can change his appearance.”

A tap at the door made her heart skip. She answered it to find a servant outside holding a bundle of fresh Traveller clothing. The man pointed to her forehead as Pel had done, so Rielle looked into her mind. Lejikh wanted her to join him. He would lead her to him when she was dressed and ready.

Weariness washed over Rielle as she closed the door. If she had slept at all after returning to her room, it had been in snatches she hadn’t noticed. She changed quickly, then returned to the door. The servant bowed and led Rielle to the end of the corridor then down another. He stopped at an open door, bowed, and walked away.

Rielle could see Ankari sitting inside the room within. She hesitated, gathering strength for the conversation she expected. Lejikh was standing by a window and Baluka sat opposite his mother. They were silent, each staring pensively beyond their surroundings, each looking as if they’d had as little sleep as Rielle.

Then Baluka noticed her and sprang out of his chair, smiling.

“Rielle,” he said. “Come in.”

His mind opened to her and she saw that her expectations were correct. They wanted to talk to her about Valhan. She frowned and Baluka’s smile faded. He beckoned. As she entered, Lejikh poured a red liquid from a pot into a glass. “Drink this,” he suggested, his meaning clear in Baluka’s mind. “It helps to wake you up when you’re tired. We’ve all had some.”

She took the glass and sipped. Bitterness tempered by something sweet filled her mouth. Her temples constricted but after a moment the pain faded and weariness subsided. Lejikh sat next to his wife. Rielle took a chair near Baluka’s.

“I need to tell you a story,” Lejikh said.

To her surprise, his mind was suddenly open to her. He paused to gather his thoughts and decide where to begin.

“When I was a child I looked forward to visiting one world of our cycle more than any other. The family we traded with were not as rich as Felomar, but the mother was sister to the land’s ruler. We would stay several days and the Traveller children would play with their three offspring.

“The oldest, Roslie, was a little younger than me, yet she was always in charge, always inventing games for us to play. Each cycle I would worry that something would change and we would not get along as well when we met again, but each cycle we only grew to like each other more. When we began to grow into adults we started to see life differently, but we promised each other this would not alter our friendship.

“One day I arrived to find her dismissive towards me. I sought the source of this coldness, and discovered that arrangements had been made for her to marry.

“We had never discussed or expected anything of each other but friendship. Outsiders can marry Travellers, and Travellers can leave to marry outsiders, but she was royalty and the eldest, and her value to her family was as much in whom she would marry as how she invested her wealth and power. She could never marry a Traveller.”

Lejikh’s smile was crooked. “Yet when she saw me again, and when I heard what was planned for her, we began to want what we couldn’t have. It grew more desirable the more unattainable it became.”

Ankari murmured something and Lejikh smiled. “Of course we thought we were in love. Maybe we were. It is different when you are young.” He shrugged. “I made an appeal to my parents but though they were sympathetic I could not talk them into allowing a marriage. It would have ruined trade with that world. It would have meant altering our path. I offered to do the risky work of finding another world with desirable goods to buy from a suitable source, but they still refused.

“I then approached Roslie’s parents and offered to stay in their world, my powers at their service, if I could marry her. They, too, refused, not wanting to break their arrangements with the Travellers or the agreement with the ally she was to marry.”