Xander now shared his wife’s concerned expression. Kyr read from their thoughts that although they had suspected the news about the Dem-Shyr, they never considered that there were even more problems at the palace. Both of them were wondering how Kyr and Ty had come by such information, whether they were even speaking the truth, and if they had been foolish to trust them so blindly. Lore’s gaze once again drifted to the hallway, but this time out of worry for her children.
“We’ve traveled from the palace,” Ty explained, “where we saw much more than we wish we had. Believe us, we don’t want to be the ones sharin’ this news with others.”
Both Xander and Lore looked less uncertain now. Kyr could tell that they were putting themselves in Ty and Kyr’s position. Empathy filled their thoughts.
Warming to Ty’s approach, Kyr leaned forward with an earnest expression. “No one pays the Wrym any mind at the palace. We go about our business and often see things…hear things. I can personally confirm what you’ve been told about Dem-Shyr TaeDane and Ma’jah Kyr.”
Lore’s eyes widened. She exchanged a look with Xander that spoke volumes. Kyr knew she was piecing together what they’d just been told. Lore thought of how awful it must have been for the Dem-Shyr, picturing how devastated Xander would feel if he was influenced to kill her.
“When we realized what had happened, we left the palace as quickly as we could,” Ty continued, trying to distract Lore from her disturbing thoughts. “Truth was, we were worried. If such a terrible thing happened to two of the most powerful people on the planet, what does that mean for the rest of Alametria?”
Xander nodded slowly. “I take your meanin’. Great Yen-Ki. What does this mean?”
“We’ve been workin’ on figurin’ that out,” Kyr responded. “Everywhere we go, we learn a little more. People tell us stories of friends or family members who did somethin’ out of character, like they weren’t in their own minds. We’re amazed at how many stories we’ve heard, and that’s the truth. Seems whatever happened at the palace was merely one instance of this influencin’ goin’ on.”
Lore brought her free hand to her lips. “Xander, what about what Valyn told us?”
“Do you really think…Yen-Ki, I suppose it could be.” Xander frowned ominously. Looking between Ty and Kyr, he said, “There’ve been stories about the council.”
Kyr read easily enough from his thoughts that he was referring to the Wrym’s governing council. She had met the three head council members, Halda, Nevyll, and Syd, at the celebration introducing her to Alametrian society. She inferred from Xander that there had been some questionable decisions made recently. Not wanting to break character, she asked him to explain.
“As ya surely know, the council has historically been just in its decisions,” Xander told them, waiting until he received their nods. “Well, lately, that hasn’t been the case.”
“Our neighbor, Valyn, told us his cousin was sentenced to work the ditch diggin’ detail for three lunar cycles just because he was two hours late gettin’ his land leasin’ fee paid,” Lore said. “‘Twasn’t his fault the weather washed out the roads leadin’ to the council seat.”
“Land leasin’?” Kyr repeated.
“Yeah,” Xander said. “Haven’t ya heard of the fees imposed by the Ascendant?”
Kyr’s back stiffened as Xander’s thoughts reached her. Apparently the story from the palace was that she had come back from Earth where there were taxes imposed to own land, and had decided to implement that same concept on her home planet. Although Xander and Lore had welcomed the Ascendant’s return and had believed in the hope she offered their planet, the fees hadn’t sat well with them.
“Those fees weren’t imposed by the Ascendant,” Kyr insisted. Although she tried to keep the anger from her voice, she knew her tone was off when Xander and Lore blinked in surprise.
“Kaya’s right,” Ty said, embracing Kyr around her shoulders in both support and gentle warning. “Seems to reason those fees were imposed by the same person behind all of the influencin’.”
“But who…?” Xander began.
“Advisor Vycor,” Lore blurted. Everyone looked at her, prompting her to flush and look uncertain. “I’m sorry if I’m speakin’ out of turn. But the person who supposedly found Dem-Shyr TaeDane doin’ what was reportedly done to Ma’jah Kyr also happens to be the one who issued the news about the fees. He’s gotten entirely too full of himself, if ya don’t mind my sayin’.”
Xander looked a little sheepishly at Kyr. “She tends to speak her mind.”
Kyr nodded. “That’s all well and good. We confess to havin’ the same suspicion, and a number of others agree with us.”
“You probably know now why we’re bein’ rather quiet as we come across new folks,” Ty said. “This is all sensitive information. And if what we believe is true, the Advisor’s reach is long.”
“I still can’t believe what he did to Dem-Shyr TaeDane,” Lore said with a shake of her head. She rubbed her belly as if to draw comfort. “That poor young man is out in the Dark Lands somewhere, sufferin’ over the loss of the woman he loved.”
Unbidden tears made Kyr’s eyes burn. She chalked it up to the incredibly sad look on Lore’s face, but knew Ty was affected by the other female’s sympathy, too.
“We feel the same way,” Ty assured Lore in a gruff voice. “And we want to do somethin’ about it. In our minds, enlightenin’ others is the first step. But we can’t do it all ourselves.”
Xander’s brown eyes lit with understanding. “Of course. How can we help?”
And just like that, Kyr knew they had their first new allies on this side of the protections. She could only hope they could gather many more along the way to the palace. Considering Vycor had reached as far as the Wrym council already, they were surely going to need all the help they could get.
Chapter 9
Ty and Kyr slept that night on the two couches pushed together. Xander and Lore had tried to give up their bed for them, but both Ty and Kyr refused. They were grateful enough for the serviceable couches.
It wasn’t yet dawn when Xander made his way into the family room from the back hallway. He walked quietly, but Ty had been up for a while and was currently sitting in a chair watching Kyr sleep. Thanks to the damned dream, it was rare these days that he slept for longer than a couple of hours at a time. Fortunately, his quick healing allowed him to avoid any side effects from his increasingly poor sleeping habits.
Xander jumped when he spotted Ty in the dim starlight streaming in from a window, but he recovered quickly. “Sorry,” he whispered. “Didn’t want to wake ya, but I’ve got to see to the animals.”
“No problem,” Ty said in an equally soft voice as he got to his feet. “Since I’m up, why don’t I help?”
“Well, for certain I’d be a fool to turn down that offer,” Xander replied with an affable grin.
Ty and Kyr had left their boots by the front door, so Ty walked over and put his on before following Xander outside. The sky started lightening to a deep rose color as they made their way to the stables.
“I didn’t get a chance to properly thank you for takin’ us in last night,” Ty said. His breath fogged the cool morning air, floating around their heads.
Xander waved his hand. “No thanks are needed, Tavin. You and your amanti are doin’ a good thing, spreadin’ the word like ya are. ‘Tis you who deserves thanks.”
Ty wondered what the Wrym would think if he knew that Ty had entered his bedchamber during the night and used his abilities on him and his amanti to block any possible intrusions from Vycor or his minions. He’d done the same thing for each of the children. The average person would probably recoil when learning that someone had invaded the sanctity of their home and their minds that way. Somehow, Ty suspected that Xander would thank him for that, too.
He wasn’t about to test that theory, though.
“Well, after all of our travels, your hospitality is much appreciated,” Ty said.
&
nbsp; They reached the stables, ending the conversation. Ty glanced around curiously. In the first stall to the right of the entrance stood a proud black beauty of a horse. She blew air loudly at them as Xander walked up to her and stroked her white-striped nose.
“Sorry, Shelbee,” he chuckled, humored by the horse’s irritable greeting. “I know we didn’t get your evenin’ run in, but there were other things to see to. I’ll take ya out for an extra-long run today to make up for it.”
Guilt touched on Ty’s mind as he looked around the rest of the small stable. He knew he and Kyr had pulled Xander from his typical chores. A single cow stood in another stall, quietly chewing some dried grass. The faint cluck of chickens reached his ears, telling him there was a coop somewhere nearby. An even fainter sound of running water told him they lived near a stream.
It was all so simple. So domestic. So foreign.
So enviable.
He knew Kyr had experienced a similar pang of longing last night as she watched the family interact with each other. He knew she compared what Xander and Lore had with the life she and Ty had always known. Their lives had never been like this.
Would never be like this.
“What can I do to help?” he asked Xander in an effort to distract himself.
“Well, I suppose ya could gather some eggs for breakfast.”
Ty breathed a mental sigh of relief that it was a task he knew how to handle. Taking the straw-lined basket handed to him by Xander, he headed to the chicken coop.
They worked together until the sun was completely above the horizon, mucking stalls, milking the cow, feeding the chickens, and chopping wood for the fire. As they worked, Ty talked to Xander about the basics of self-defense, pointing out some of the items lying around that might come in handy, like the pitchfork or harvesting sickle. He had no idea what Vycor’s plan was, but he suspected the Wrym family could be vulnerable due to their relative proximity to the Dark Lands.
As the conversation wrapped up, Xander settled his weight on the handle of the shovel he was using to fill Shelbee’s feed container. “If ya don’t mind my askin’, Tavin, how is it ya know so much about this stuff?”
Anticipating the question, Ty shrugged. “Been pickin’ it up as we travel. The Danes were particularly helpful.”
Xander looked intrigued. “I thought ya were worried the Danes were under Vycor’s influence.”
“The ones at the palace, sure,” Ty acknowledged. “But when we crossed the Dane megai, we came across a group who was expressin’ the same concerns we shared with you. Once they knew what we planned to do, they gave me and Kaya a few lessons.”
“That was right honorable of ‘em, and that’s the truth,” Xander said, once again lifting his shovel to get some feed. “Tell ya what. I’m nearly done here, and Lore’s sure to have breakfast cookin’. Why don’t ya go get washed up and I’ll join ya once I finish with ol’ Shelbee here.”
Ty sensed from Xander’s thoughts that he wanted a few minutes of privacy to sort through everything he’d learned. He also sensed that this was usually the only time of day Xander generally got to himself, and he tended to treasure it every bit as much as he treasured his family. That thought made Ty grin, but he nodded as though the idea of breakfast was what pleased him.
Xander would make sure to spread the word about a possible attack or other form of treachery from the palace, Ty thought to himself as he headed back to the cottage. The Wrym would do it carefully because he had a family to protect, and that’s just what Ty and Kyr instructed him to do. Ty hoped they were doing the right thing, recruiting help from people like Xander and Lore. They were the people that Vycor would deem worthless and ignore. Ty was counting on it. There were a lot more people on Alametria like Xander than there were like Vycor.
The succulent smell of something baking hit Ty as he opened the door to the cottage. Saliva pooled in his mouth as he stepped inside and removed his boots. Lore was pulling a large roasting pan out of the ashes of the cooking fire. She set it on top of a small wooden table that appeared to be for food preparation. Her gaze lifted to his.
“Good mornin’, Tavin,” she said with a cheerful smile. “‘Twas kind of ya to help Xander out like that.”
“No problem,” he said. “The least I can do.”
The sound of children yelling and laughing caught his attention. His gaze moved to the hallway, where he spotted frantic shadows dancing as the children played. Something crashed loudly, making him raise an eyebrow and glance at Lore.
She smiled as she walked over to the tall dish cabinet. “Didn’t sound costly and no one’s in any apparent pain. They’ll be all right until breakfast is served.”
If she wasn’t concerned, Ty didn’t see any reason to be. The one thing he had learned in his limited exposure to children was that their mothers generally knew their young backwards and forwards. No one was more qualified to care for them, even if some people thought to try.
He started to ask if Kyr was playing with the children when he noticed her still slumbering soundly on the couch. Surprised, he stepped closer to the family room just to make sure he wasn’t imagining things. Kyr had fallen asleep the instant she sprawled next to him the night before, and she hadn’t moved an inch all night. Although he knew their hiking over the past two days had been arduous, he didn’t see how it could have worn her out this much.
“I wondered how she could sleep with all the noise,” Lore said, following his gaze as she set the table. “But then, I’ve felt like that before. Tired enough to sleep through another AI war.”
“You have?”
Her eyes moved to his. “Sure I have. A few times in my life now, I’m happy to say. I’ve a sound belief that your amanti is carryin’.”
Ty’s heart thudded heavily in his chest. “Carrying?” he repeated, dropping his affected Wrym accent in his concern. Visions of deadly viruses ran through his mind. “Carrying what? Is it curable?”
Lore tilted her head and looked at him as though she didn’t know what to make of his question. Her mouth twitched, a reaction he didn’t understand. He was on the verge of being insulted and angry when she finally answered.
“Why, carryin’ your babe, of course.”
Ty would later think that he probably looked much like a gaping fish as he tried to process her casual statement. The response of “Absolutely not” trembled on his tongue and stuck there as he realized he actually had no idea. Kyr’s Kyndred, Ullah, had been the one to administer Kyr’s birth control, and he wasn’t sure how long it lasted or even the last time Kyr had received it. They had been away from the palace for twenty-three nightfalls, so he knew she hadn’t received any new birth control treatments in that time. She hadn’t had her female cycle in all the time they’d been together since her lessons on Earth, either.
“Breathe, Tavin.”
It took Ty a few minutes to realize he was in a chair at the dining table with his head between his knees. Lore stood calmly next to him, ordering him to breathe in through his nose and out through his mouth. As the room came into clearer focus, mortification struck sharp and swift.
“I’m okay,” he said, but his voice sounded unnatural even to his ears. When Lore handed him a cup of water, he accepted it without protest.
“Xander passed out cold when he found out I was pregnant with Ivyn,” Lore commiserated, patting Ty’s back. “In light of everythin’ you’re doin’ right now, I can understand your reaction.”
You don’t know the half of it, Ty thought, but he wisely kept that to himself.
“Tell ya what,” she said, stepping away from him. “I’ve got an herbal supplement that’ll do Kaya good while you’re traveling. It’s good for females our age, whether she’s carryin’ or not.”
Ty unapologetically touched on her thoughts and verified that the herbal supplement was nothing more than a packet of all-natural vitamins and minerals that a female’s body needed. “That’d be great,” he said. “Thanks, Lore.”
“My pleasure
. Why don’t ya see if ya can rouse your amanti for breakfast? Assumin’ she doesn’t have the same upset stomach I suffered with little Rose, she’ll likely be as hungry as a warhorse.”
“Sure,” he said, praying his knees would support him to obey the suggestion.
When Lore started down the hallway, calling out to the children to get ready to eat along the way, Ty pushed himself up from the chair and walked unsteadily over to the couches. He looked down at Kyr and was struck so powerfully with the image of her growing round with his child that he almost had to sit down again.
He knew it was far more likely that she was just exhausted from all of their efforts over the past few days, which had been exacerbated by poor nutrition while in the Dark Lands. He was fairly certain that her birth control was still in effect. He also knew that this was probably the worst possible time ever for her to be pregnant.
Yet the yearning inside him for that unlikely child shocked him senseless.
Forcing himself to get a grip, he bent down and touched her shoulder. “Kyr,” he whispered. “Time to get up.”
It took him several prompts and a firm shake before she blinked awake. Smiling over her disgruntled reaction to being awakened, he pointed her in the direction of the water closet as Xander walked into the cottage. The other male’s return had Ty’s thoughts switching from what-ifs to the plan for the coming day. No matter what Kyr’s condition, they had a job to complete. They would face each obstacle as it came.
Once Kyr was ready and the men had washed up, everyone gathered around the table to enjoy the spiced egg and bread casserole Lore had made. Rose once again declared that she had to sit next to Ty for the meal. For some reason, he found himself wanting that, too. The child was full of boundless energy and joy.
He surreptitiously studied Kyr throughout the meal. She looked stronger than she had the day before, so the rest had clearly done some good. He also noticed that she ate two large helpings of the casserole, too. Lore gave him a knowing glance that almost made him choke on his water.