The Void of Muirwood (Covenant of Muirwood Book 3)(4)
And yet why else had the Medium not warned her to stay away from Comoros?
“You are lost in thought,” Suzenne said, resting a hand on her shoulder. Not her left shoulder, where the hetaera brand lurked, hidden beneath her dress. “Did you sleep much last night?”
Maia shook her head. “I dare not,” she confided. “The Myriad Ones are everywhere. I think they are waiting for me to grow weary before attacking me.”
“Do you think they will?” Suzenne looked even more nervous.
Maia nodded. “I wrestled against them all night,” she said, her voice sounding hollow even to her own ears. “I am protected by wearing the chaen, but they intrude into my thoughts most insidiously. I can hardly think without some remembrance of their power over me. Did you not feel them this morning at the execution?”
Suzenne blanched. “That was terrible. You came here to prevent Lady Deorwynn’s execution, and instead we became the chief witnesses of her death.”
Maia stared sympathetically at her friend. “Are you afraid to die, Suzenne?”
The other girl’s anguish deepened. “Yes,” she whispered in a small voice.
Maia turned and took Suzenne’s hands in hers, squeezing them. “I am struggling with that fear as well, I admit. Chancellor Walraven taught me not to fear death. That lesson is in the maston tomes as well, and yet the urge to cling to this second life is so strong. Let us remember the maston ceremony. This is not our final destiny. Knowing that makes it easier to bear the truth of what may happen.” She swallowed hard. “I am so sorry that you and Dodd came with me to Comoros. I hope my father does not kill you because of me. That would be too much for me to endure.”
Suzenne tugged one of her hands free and wiped the tears that had fallen from her lashes. She dropped down to her knees in front of Maia. “I do not regret coming with you, Maia. Dodd and I are bound by irrevocare sigil. They may have separated us in this dungeon, but they cannot separate us forever.” She blinked quickly, suppressing further tears. “I know you and the King of Dahomey—”
Maia smiled sadly. “I hardly think of him as that. He is Collier to me.”
Suzenne’s voice was pained. “Your husband is not a maston. If you die, you will not be with him. Does that not make you grieve?”
Maia gave her a sad smile before looking back out the window and nodding. If all had gone according to Collier’s plan, he’d ridden through the night from Muirwood to reach his spy, Simon Fox, this very morning. How surprised Simon would be to learn that Maia was in the city! She had not made it very far from the gates of Claredon Abbey before being abducted by the chancellor’s men. There had been no opportunity to visit Simon as she’d promised Collier she would do.
“I do not know what the Medium has in store for me,” Maia said, shuddering, “but I love him, Suzenne. I am surprised that it hurts so much to say it. Our entire relationship has been fraught with disappointments. We were trothed as infants and then my father reneged on the contract. Collier kidnapped me in Dahomey and forced me to marry him, or he would have killed my companions. Not a wonderful beginning to a marriage.” She gave Suzenne a crooked smile. “But he has changed. Muirwood has transformed him just as it did me. I am the same girl who left these shores on a ship to fulfill my father’s will. And yet I am so much stronger than I was then. I will stand up to the king, no matter what he threatens.” She felt the smile slip from her face. “Even if he kills me.”
Suzenne trembled in sympathy. “Do you think that he will?”
Maia shook her head. “No. He will try to break me first. He will let us linger in this dungeon, tortured by the freedom that is within our sight, but not within our reach, for a while. He thinks to frighten me into surrendering, but he does not know that I have already been through the crucible. I know my own strength, and I do not fear him.” She squeezed Suzenne’s hand again and then rose, stretching her tired limbs. She was sorry she could not save Lady Deorwynn from her fate. Listening to Jolecia’s shrieks and sobs after the execution was painful to endure. All of the lady’s children had been imprisoned. She knew how it smarted to be deprived of the benefits of rank after years of enjoying them. She pitied them.
“I wish they had let Dodd stay with us,” Suzenne said. “I keep thinking about what they did to his father and brothers, and I cannot stop fretting about him.”
Maia continued to walk the room, wishing there were books to read, but of course such a simple pleasure would not have been provided to two girls who were expected to be ignorant of the skill.
The sound of heavy boots marching down the hallway filtered into the room, but this was not uncommon in Pent Tower. She did not give it much thought until the sound grew louder and the steps started up the stairwell leading to their cell. Suzenne’s face pinched with concern, and she rushed across the room to stand by Maia’s side.
Moments later, the lock on the door rattled and the door opened. Two knights dressed in her father’s colors entered the room and stood guard on either side of the door. Between them entered Chancellor Crabwell, followed by the Earl of Forshee and the Earl of Caspur. To a man, their expressions were stern.
“I wondered how long before we would meet again, Chancellor,” Maia said with feigned indifference.
“When we last met, the Medium delivered us into your hands. Now it has delivered you into ours. Or should I say, it was your cunning that entrapped us at Muirwood.” He chuckled to himself and scratched the corner of his mouth. He was dressed in a sable-lined cape, felt hat, and the ceremonious golden stole of his office. His hair was going gray, and despite his bold words, he looked nervous. It did not harm the effect that he was shorter than her and had to look up to meet her eyes.