He offered Drummer a cup. “Care to drink?” He smiled darkly. “Pity I didn’t poison it. I could be rid of you then.”
His visitor didn’t laugh. Ozar wasn’t even certain it was a joke. Although Drummer came forward, he didn’t take the cup.
Ozar set the second cup back on the table. “What do you want, Headwind?”
“Cobalt is going to invade Taka Mal tomorrow.” He put his hands in the pockets of his jacket. “He says his wife is gone. Without Mel he is—a difficult man.”
“My sympathies. It looks as if your status as consort will last a total of three days. Pity.” With malice, he added, “Unless Escar likes boys. You’re certainly pretty enough.”
“What is it with you all here?” Drummer seemed more puzzled than offended. “You think having darker hair and more height makes you more masculine?”
“No.” Ozar had to admit the fellow had courage. “I think being a man makes me masculine.” He sipped his wine. “So why are you here?”
“To offer a bargain.”
“And what sort of bargain might that be?”
“Support Vizarana tomorrow and I will annul the marriage.”
Ozar narrowed his gaze. “How?”
“I married her under false pretenses. I’m a commoner.” Bitterly he added, “Apparently in Taka Mal, that is enough to dissolve the union.”
“What false pretenses? She knew what you were.”
“Not if I claim otherwise.” Drummer’s face clenched. “I will swear it under oath.”
“I suppose it might work,” Ozar mused. “Everyone would know you were lying. But if you ‘confessed’ in a tribunal, they would have to annul your marriage.”
“I have one condition.”
“Do you now?”
Drummer dug his hands deeper into his pockets. Although Ozar had thought the jacket was gold-hued, he realized now it had a green tinge around the pockets. Odd that.
“My condition is this,” Drummer said. “You do nothing to harm our child. If Vizarana agrees, give me the child to raise.”
It was an intelligent solution. Perhaps the fellow had some brains after all under that yellow hair. Annul the marriage and Vizarana’s baby was no longer heir to the throne, which meant her first male child with Ozar would carry the title. And he knew she was fertile. If Drummer took the baby to Aronsdale, Ozar wouldn’t be plagued with that reminder of Vizarana’s lover.
“If I agree to this bargain,” Ozar said, “what guarantee do I have that you will uphold your part of it?”
“My word is good.”
Ozar laughed shortly. “Your word.” His voice hardened. “You will return to the citadel with a contingent of my men and tell Vizarana you have offered me this bargain, so she sees it is your idea and not coerced by me. Then my men will bring you back here, where you will be a hostage. When your part of the bargain is fulfilled, you will return to Aronsdale.”
Drummer didn’t look impressed. “How do I know you won’t kill me?”
Ozar set his goblet on the table. “You don’t.”
“Then why should I agree?”
“Because if you don’t,” Ozar said, “you and your beautiful wife are going to die tomorrow.”
Drummer’s face tightened. “Cobalt will come for you next.”
Ozar shrugged. “It won’t matter to you. You’ll be dead.”
“Have your men guard me in the Citadel of the Dragon-Sun.”
“So Vizarana’s bad-tempered cousin can kill them and let her renege on the bargain?” Ozar snorted. “I don’t think so.”
Drummer shifted his hands in his pockets. “Then let her send some of her royal guards back with me.”
Ozar had to admit, the boy knew how to bargain. It was a livable compromise. He had no desire to kill when it didn’t suit his purposes, and if he let Headwind live, Drummer would take the child. He regarded the young man with curiosity. “Why not go to Cobalt and give yourself up to him? That is why he came, after all. To negotiate for you.”
Drummer spoke quietly. “I would have laid my life at his feet to stop this war. But I couldn’t get through. Your men caught me.”
Ozar went over to him. “So you were already my prisoner.”
“If you want to see it that way.”
“I like it that way. It solves so many problems.” He spoke briskly. “Very well. You will get your child. I will have Vizarana.” He held his hand out, palm to the ceiling, in the classic offer of a bargain. “Sealed?”
Drummer pulled his hand out of his pocket and set it palm down on Ozar’s. As they clasped, Ozar felt a tingle, like a residue of power. Then it vanished, and he suspected he had imagined it. No matter. It wouldn’t be long before he had far more than a residue of power. Soon he would rule an empire, for even Cobalt Escar couldn’t stand against his army and Vizarana’s combined.
Cobalt sat with Matthew on a log behind his tent, in the dark, with a flask in his hand and a bundle between his feet that included both Mel’s bloodied clothes and the packet with the dagger and her hair. Unfortunately, the ale was having no effect on the agitation that had gripped him since he saw Mel’s silks.
“Did they think taking my wife hostage would incline me to negotiate with them?” he asked, incredulous. “First Drummer, then Mel, then blood and torture and death.” He laughed harshly. “And they call me ‘The Dark.’”
“I believe the idea was to extract from you a promise not to invade Taka Mal,” Matthew said, for at least the fourth time.
“By killing my wife?” Cobalt took another swallow of ale. “This vile brew doesn’t help.” He stared into the night. With the moon out, it wasn’t really dark, but he wanted no fire, no light, nothing that would bring his pain into sharper focus.
“She was pregnant,” he said.
“You mean Mel?” Matthew asked.
“That’s right.” Cobalt glanced at him. “You could be like a grandfather to the baby, eh?”
Matthew’s voice caught. “I would have liked that.”
“Will like. Will.” He downed the rest of his ale. Then he wiped his arm across his mouth. “Ah, saints, Matthew, if she is dead, I will die as well.” He dropped the bag onto the ground. “After I destroy Taka Mal.”
“What if they claim they never had her?”
“Lies.”
Matthew pushed his hand through the gray mane of hair that fell to his shoulders. “How can we know? Maybe Kaj lied.”
“Look at this.” Cobalt picked up the bundle of silk and showed Matthew the dagger. “Taka Mal.”
“It looks Zanterian.”
“The famous Zanterian caravans. They will travel no more.” He rummaged through the bundle for answers, but all he found was a ring on a broken cord.
“Is that Mel’s?” Matthew asked. “I’ve never seen it.”
Cobalt handed him the ring. “Neither have I.”
Matthew ran his finger over the metal. “It has an inscription inside.” He peered in the dark. “I can’t read it.”
“Come on.” Cobalt stood unsteadily and walked toward his tent. Or staggered. He had a hard time keeping to a straight line. Perhaps he was drunker than he had realized.
Inside, Matthew lit a torch and held it up. Cobalt squinted at the ring. “It says…‘Remember Brazi, love Flutter.’”
“What?” Matthew scowled at him. “You’re drinking too much.” He pulled the ring away and held it close to his face. “Always remember Baraza, love Flower.”
“Flower, Flutter,” Cobalt grumbled. “It’s some woman’s name—” He stopped abruptly. “Not Melody. Flower.”
Hope flared in Matthew’s face. “Those silks belonged to someone else.”
He wished it could be true. “Only if they took them from Mel. I had them tailored and embroidered especially for her.”
“Then who is Flower?”
“Hell if I know.” Cobalt studied the ring. “Baraza is a lake in Jazid. It’s beautiful. This sounds like something a woman would give a man in memory of
an, uh, pleasant time.”
“Then why would Mel have it?” Matthew asked, perplexed. “I doubt she ran off with a woman named Flower.”
“For the shape. She took it from someone.” He stared at Matthew. “Someone in Jazid.”
Matthew sat heavily on the trunk that served as a table. “You think a Jazidian kidnapped her?”
Cobalt felt ready to lunge, to attack, to move, but he couldn’t, because he had even less idea than before where to find Mel. “If they took her, the atajazid may be part of this.”
“You’ve seen his army. It’s big. If he and Vizarana join forces, they may defeat us.”
“More evidence points to Taka Mal than to Jazid.” Cobalt began to pace, though he couldn’t keep a straight line. “Is Kaj lying? Blast! If Mel were here, she could make one of those green spell things to find out if he is telling the truth.” He stumbled on the edge of a carpet. “If Mel was here,” he muttered, “it wouldn’t matter what Kaj had to say.” He stopped, breathing hard, and felt a damnable wetness in his eyes. He angrily wiped it away. He wouldn’t humiliate himself by crying.
Matthew came up next to him. “Go to bed. Sleep. You have several hours until dawn.”
“Can’t sleep.” If he stopped moving, he would have to think. If he thought, it would be about his wife. The wife that Kaj claimed he saw die. Cobalt wanted to shout his protest.
Matthew pushed him toward the pallet. “If you plan on invading Taka Mal tomorrow, you need rest.”
Cobalt lay down on the pallet. He felt like a mammoth tree being felled. Matthew crouched at his feet and pulled off Cobalt’s boots. Then he pulled the blanket over Cobalt. “Sleep.”
“Not tired…” Cobalt mumbled.
“I know,” Matthew said softly. “Good night, son.”
Cobalt drifted with the heavy sensation that came before he dropped off at night. Then he slipped into the oblivion of sleep.
“No!” Jade whirled on Drummer, her night robe shimmering in the candlelight in the Narrow-Sun Hall. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. He couldn’t have done this. “I won’t allow it!”
“Jade—” Drummer started toward her, but his Jazidian guards brought down their ornate staffs, blocking his way.
The doors at the end of the hall slammed open and Firaz strode into the room, his robe flying out behind him, his sleep clothes wrinkled, his hair disarrayed. “What the beetling hell is going on?” he bellowed. “Vizarana, these guards of yours dragged me out of—” He broke off when he saw eight Jazidian warriors in full battle armor surrounding Drummer.
“Ah, hell,” Firaz said.
Baz ran into the room, also in sleep clothes but with his sword gripped in his hand. He jolted to a stop as he took in the scene. Spearcaster and Slate entered behind him, Spearcaster with his sword belt buckled around his sleep trousers, and Slate, who seemed disoriented as he pulled a robe on over his rumpled clothes.
“He made a pact!” Jade wanted to shout her anger at the sky. She stalked to Drummer and glared at the Jazidians when they blocked her way. “Let him go. He’s not going back with you. I don’t care what deal he made with Ozar.”
“For flaming sakes.” Baz strode over to them. “You went to see Ozar?”
“I tried to see Cobalt,” Drummer said. “I never made it. The atajazid’s men caught me.”
“See Cobalt for what?” Slate asked. His gray hair was mussed and he looked tired, older, worn down. “We were dealing with this.”
“You should have flaming stayed put,” Firaz said.
“For what?” Drummer demanded, with an intensity Jade had never seen him show before. “So I could watch Taka Mal fall to Cobalt because of my marriage?” His eyes blazed. “Ozar and I made a bargain. If he supports Taka Mal, I will annul the marriage.”
“Annul it?” Spearcaster asked. “On what grounds?”
“We have no grounds,” Jade told him.
“False pretenses,” Drummer said. “I’m a commoner.”
“Oh, this is delicious,” Baz said. Jade wanted to slap him.
“What pretenses?” Firaz demanded. “We all knew.”
“He’ll swear it under oath,” Jade said.
Drummer focused intently on her, and Jade was certain he was trying to tell her something, but he didn’t want his Jazidian guards to hear. He wanted her to go along with this for reasons he couldn’t say aloud.
“Jade, listen.” Baz took her arm. “I must talk to you.”
Spearcaster stepped forward. “Your Majesty?”
“It’s all right,” she said.
Baz scowled at Spearcaster. Officially Baz was his superior officer, but Spearcaster was thirty years his senior and Jade’s most experienced commander. It didn’t surprise her that Baz didn’t challenge him. Besides, Baz was supposed to be under house arrest. Given that he would lead her army tomorrow, though, the arrest didn’t carry much weight.
Baz drew her to the tall windows. Outside, stars glinted in the arid desert sky. He addressed her with atypical calm. “I have done a great deal of thinking.” When she started to speak, he glared. “Do not say, ‘What a change!’”
She smiled wryly. “I was only going to ask about what.”
“About you.” He spoke as if his words were daggers. “All my life I have assumed you and I would marry.”
“Baz—”
“Hear me out.” When she said no more, he continued. “Commanding the army suits me. And I won’t deny it—sitting on the throne, as your consort or as king, would have suited me.”
Would have. Past tense. “But?” she asked.
“It was true what you said the other day.”
“I said a lot of things.”
He didn’t answer directly. Instead, he said, “I could have pushed harder for marriage. I could have demanded it long ago. Slate and Firaz would have supported my claim, maybe even Spearcaster if he were convinced you would remain on the throne.”
“Perhaps.” Jade had always wondered what they would have done. She had expected one day she would find out. Yet here she and Baz were, both in their mid-thirties, and it had never happened.
“Why did you wait?” she asked.
“I have a great love for you, Jade. I always will.” He spoke softly. “But as a sister. Not a wife.”
Jade suddenly felt lighter. “I, too, cousin. For you.”
He grinned. “I would make a terrible wife. Or sister.”
“Baz!”
His expression sobered. “As the commander of your army, I must advise you to consider this bargain Drummer offers. We need Ozar. We have had no word from Jarid Dawnfield, no hint he will support us if—no, when—Cobalt attacks.”
“And as my cousin? What do you say?”
He spoke as if his words gouged his heart. “I have never seen you so happy as these past few days.”
Tears welled in her eyes. Angry at herself, she brushed them away. “I have never been this happy.”
“It is Drummer.” He didn’t make it a question.
“I love him.” She had been frantic when Clove had awoken her tonight to tell her Drummer was in the Narrow-Sun Hall—under Jazidian guard. “How can I give up my husband and my child?” Miserable, she said, “If I thought it would help, I would go to Cobalt myself and beg that he leave us alone.”
Baz grasped her upper arms and looked intently into her eyes. “Never beg, Jade. Never.”
“The Quaazera pride.” She laughed bitterly. “Don’t worry, I will not destroy it, though it may end our House. But begging Cobalt will achieve nothing if he believes we killed his wife.”
“You couldn’t get to Cobalt anyway.” Baz released her arms. “Ozar has too many patrols. They would catch you, too, just like Drummer. The only way to get through is with a full envoy of armed warriors, and even that may not be enough.”
She looked to where Drummer stood watching from across the room, his forehead furrowed, too far away to hear them. “I have no proof Ozar would honor his part in this hateful bar
gain.”
“Until your husband swears in a tribunal that he married you falsely,” Baz said, “Ozar must keep him alive and well. If you assign your soldiers to Drummer, they can escort him to safety after the tribunal. That way, you are better assured of his reaching Aronsdale.”
Jade averted her eyes, unable to look at Drummer while they discussed the end of the miracle he had brought into her life. “Ozar swears to spare my child if Drummer takes it.”
“The child will be much safer in Aronsdale.”
“I cannot give up my child!”
“And if the alternative is its death?”
A betraying tear ran down her face. “I hate this.”
“Maybe Cobalt won’t attack.” He spoke with difficulty. “I will go with the envoy at dawn and talk to this subjugator of lands. See if I can convince him to negotiate. If he agrees, Drummer’s bargain with Ozar becomes meaningless.”
Jade knew how much it cost him to make such an offer on behalf of her consort. Sending the head of her army into the camp of her enemy was a risk if Cobalt chose not to honor the codes of war that protected conferences between opposing commanders. So far Cobalt had struck her as harsh, driven, and relentless, even obsessive, but he hadn’t acted without honor. And sending a royal son of Quaazera would show him respect.
She spoke quietly. “Thank you. It is a courageous offer.”
“Don’t thank me yet. Cobalt hasn’t agreed. And we would be wise to ensure Drummer is well guarded before telling Ozar of any agreement to negotiate.” He regarded her steadily. “But if you don’t send Drummer back tonight, we will lose Ozar’s support completely. It will be the final insult after you answered his proposal by marrying another man.”
Jade knew what she had to do, however much she hated it. She forced out the words. “I will send him with my best warriors.”
“And I will do my best with the envoy.”
“I am indebted to you.”
He reddened. “Just have a healthy, hearty baby, eh?”
She managed a smile. “I will.”