Death Comes To All (Book 1) (54 page)

He
wasn’t even sure what to call their relationship yet, and
hadn’t even considered taking things to that level. He
certainly hadn’t thought that she might have.

Could
she be suggesting that she wants me to propose to her?

He
wasn’t certain what she wanted him to say, but decided not to
try and guess. If he proposed and that wasn’t what she wanted,
for instance, it might make things awkward between them. That was the
last thing he wanted. Instead, he decided that honesty might be the
best course of action here.

“
To
be honest with you, I hadn’t really thought about it,” he
answered truthfully. “I wasn’t even sure what we were
yet, if we were just friends enjoying each others companionship like
it was meant to be in the beginning, or something more than that. Now
that you’re asking me, I think that I might, if that’s
something you would want as well. Don’t get me wrong, I
understand that, with everything that’s going on, we won’t
really be able to settle down like other couples would. But if you’re
asking if I want you to stay with me, than the answer is definitely
yes.”

Her
response was completely unexpected. She pounced to her feet, the
small amount of what remained of her dinner falling to the floor
unheeded, and fell against him. Barely managing to keep his bowl of
stew balanced, he carefully set it down on the floor before it
spilled its contents on the white fur of the bear at his feet. With
his arms free, he met her embrace, pulling her tightly against him.

“
Not
too tightly, lover,” she whispered lightly, her breath softly
tickling the hair on his chest.

After
a moment he gently pushed her away from him slightly.

“
I
never thought, even in my wildest fantasies, that I would ever be
asking you this, but I think that the time would be right for me to
do so,” he began, looking deeply into her amber eyes. “I
know that there’s no way for us to know what the future might
bring us, but I know that I want to be with you in that future. Would
you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

“
Yes!”
She cried, throwing her arms around him and kissing him soundly.
After a moment, far too brief for either of their liking, they broke
away.

“
You
don’t know how happy it makes me that you want me to be your
wife,” she whispered.

“
About
as happy as it makes me that you said yes,” Drom answered with
a chuckle. “Of course, with Bloodheart and who knows how many
of the other mages still hunting us, I know it will be a while before
we can think about settling down somewhere and raising a family. I’m
glad at least that, whatever happens now, you’ll be by my
side.”

“
We
might have to give that some thought sooner than you realize,”
Raine replied, looking away from him for a moment.

Even
in the light of such a happy occasion, something is still vexing her,
he realized.

“
What
do you mean?” he asked.

“
It’s
what the bree was talking about, why I shouldn’t be pushing
myself right now,” she answered, struggling to find the voice
to say what she had known, deep down, long before the bree had
confirmed it. “I wasn’t sure if I should tell you, or how
much I should tell you if I did. I wasn’t sure what I was going
to do myself just yet, but I think I’ve decided now. I’m
pregnant, Drom. You’re going to be a father.”

Chapter
Eighteen

“
You’ve
been burned,” Loretta announced hotly, coming onto her private
quarters and plopping angrily on the chair across from him.

He
had been staying with her there for over two months, hoping that he
might find some useful bit of information regarding Martin’s
death. So far he had not learned a single thing, but that hardly
discouraged him. Loretta had been quietly looking into it herself for
over a year, and she hadn’t found anything either.

He
had also been waiting to hear that it might be safer for him to
travel again. He had to get back to Raine and Drom, and soon. By now
they would surely be worried, and would be wondering what might be
keeping him. Before much longer they might consider coming to the
city to find out for themselves, and that he couldn’t allow.

Because
during that time, Bloodheart had not relaxed his search. Instead, he
had become more diligent than ever. If Drom appeared on one of the
roads with Ocean’s Hand anywhere near him, he would be spotted
in an instant.

“
What
do you mean?” he asked, trying to keep his composure.

One
of us has to.

“
I
mean that Bloodheart isn’t just hunting for Raiste Goldstone
anymore. He’s also hunting for several of your aliases. He’s
hunting for Garan the wanderer, for Malik the smuggler, and about a
dozen other persona’s that you’ve used in the past. He
even has people hunting for your latest creation, the old merchant
named Grant. He also has his men looking for a big man named Roland
and a feral woman named Tara. His men are searching every wagon and
traveler on every road in his territory.”

“
How
could he have found out about them? I didn’t think anyone had
any clue that those men were all me, and no one should know about my
companions.”

“
They
learned about your companions by questioning someone at an inn they
discovered you were staying at in Tam. I’m guessing that the
big man they are talking about would be the battle mage, and I
already knew you have been traveling with the feral woman for a while
now.”

For
the briefest of instances Raiste thought he detected a hint of
jealousy in her voice, but it passed as quickly as it came. She was
not the type of woman inclined to jealousy, he knew, even if she did
think there was more between them than there ever really was. The
momentary thought passed, and he decided to ignore it for now.

If
she’s worried, she’ll tell me,
he thought.

He
doubted she was. Surely she had taken lovers in the fifteen years he
had been gone. He didn’t believe she would begrudge him his. Of
course, he and Raine had never been lovers, but Loretta never asked,
and he had never mentioned it.

“
What
about those aliases though?”

“
Why
do you think I’m so pissed right now?! Some of your aliases
they could have learned from people on your travels, but not your
last one, the old man Grant. They could only have learned about him
through one place,
here!
Someone
in my house is still passing information to the mages!”

“
We
already suspected as much,” he reminded her. “This hasn’t
changed anything. All it’s done is confirm what we already
knew.”

“
Don’t
even try to console me in this Raiste! A part of me had hoped that
whoever it was that killed my father would have done the smart thing
and left after his death. Now I know that the bastard is still here,
under my roof, breaking bread with my house! I want him dead!”

Raiste
understood how she felt. He felt much the same way. Whoever had
killed his master, Martin, was still here somewhere.

He
has much to answer for,
he thought darkly.

Raiste
stood and moved quickly to Loretta’s side, opening his arms to
embrace her. Only once before since coming here had he held her in a
way besides as a lover. They had talked about her father, and he
thought that she needed someone, needed
him
, to comfort her.
On that day, when she fell into his arms, he had realized that it was
the first time she had allowed herself to grieve.

She
did not want or need that now. She pushed him back forcefully, away
from her. He stood over her for a moment before turning back and
retaking his seat in the chair he had been sitting in.

“
Sorry,”
she said at once. “I didn’t mean to push you away. That’s
just not what I need right now. What I need is the traitor’s
head on a platter at my feet! I won’t rest until I have it.”

Raiste
nodded in understanding. He wanted the same thing, though he would
prefer it if he was the one holding the blade that removed that head.
Now, however, they had a chance at finding the man. He was still
there, somewhere.

If
he’s here, we can find him.

Unfortunately he knew that trying to do so would be far
too dangerous. The mages were still looking for him.

“
If
they are getting information from someone here, then they likely know
that I’m here now,” Raiste pointed out. “I should
leave now, before they come here looking for me.”

“
You
don’t have to worry about that Raiste,” she replied.
“I’ve been thinking about it a lot since you arrived.
Everyone in this building is a trained assassin. Even if we do have a
traitor in our midst, the mages wouldn’t dare send anyone to
attack us here. They would have to send every soldier that they have
just to stand a chance.”

She’s
right,
he realized.
They
wouldn’t attack here. But what would they do?

An idea began to form in his mind. The more he thought
on it, the clearer that idea became.

“
How
many people here could have found out who I was?” he asked
suddenly. “You never mentioned my real name outside of this
room and your office, and both of those rooms are protected from
outside listening, right? So the number of people that could have
known about me can’t be that high. It would had to have been
someone who saw me when I came in. That person could have guessed who
I was, but no one else would have had a way to even do that. Once the
spy figured out that much, he could find out about my other aliases
through other guild members.”

She thought about that for a moment.

“
You’re
right,” she said at last. “I’ve had my men
listening for any information on Raiste Goldstone since you showed
up. Someone who saw you come in could have made the connection. There
were only maybe twenty people or so in the guild hall when you first
came in, dressed as Grant. It must have been one of those men.”

“
Exactly.
And how many of those men would have been here when Martin was
killed?”

“
I
would have to check into it, but it couldn’t have been more
than five or six. So one of those men has to be the traitor. We can
finally get the man who killed my father! I’ll have every one
of them brought to me in chains before the night is out! I’ll
get this worm to talk!”

“
Wait.
Don’t do that just yet. I have a better idea.”

A few minutes later the cloaked man reached their
position. Calmly, the Captain barked the command, and as one fully
half his men stood and fired. The wiry assassin in the cloak dived to
the side, somehow avoiding the crossbow bolts that flew, screaming,
at the space where he had been standing.

As the man leaped to his feet the Captain barked again,
and the second half of his men followed suit. This time they didn’t
all fire at the man, but instead covered the spaces to either side of
him as well. The Captain smiled. Their target would have no where to
go, he knew.

To the assassin's credit, most of the bolts missed their
intended target, but three of the bolts struck home. The impact of
the bolts fired from the two hundred pound crossbows was devastating.

One of the bolts struck his right knee, shattering it in
an instant. A second bolt pushed deeply into the man’s stomach,
doubling him over and throwing him back at the same time. The last
bolt ripped into his shoulder a moment later, spinning him like a top
and sending him crashing to the ground.

He didn’t give any further orders. He didn’t
need to. His men knew their jobs, and knew what they had to do. Not
wasting a moment, they charged at the fallen assassin, swords raised,
ready to finish the job.

He would not escape this time.

With a strength of will born of desperation, the cloaked
assassin somehow struggled to his feet and in one smooth, fluid
motion pulled his sword. The first guard fell to his blade, then the
second. The rest of the guardsmen surrounded him, warily keeping
their distance. He had no where to run, the Captain knew. All they
had to do was wait.

The assassin glared at them from underneath the hood of
his cloak, slowly and methodically swinging his sword back and forth
in front of him. With his ravaged knee he couldn’t spring
forward to attack, and with the bolt still lodged in his stomach it
was only a matter of time.

His men did exactly as they had been trained to do
against an injured opponent, holding a wide circle around him,
darting in quickly to attack and retreating just as quickly, staying
just out of reach. It was the same strategy that wolves would use
when trying to kill dangerous prey, and was just as effective here as
it was with their canine counterparts.