Lord of the Sky (The Young Ancients: Timon) (34 page)

"Hey! This is really nice. All one piece too, isn't it? That pretty much means you're one of the top twenty or so builders in the world, doesn't it?" It didn't shift or make a black line at all, meaning she knew it to be the truth. There was a chance that others who were better lived in secret of course, but there really weren't a lot of people that could have pulled it off that anyone knew about.

She let her voice shift a bit, lying to test the thing.

"I'm horribly deformed and ugly, but love cabbage sandwiches." The darkness cut across the glow like it was angry at her untruths.

"So it works. Excellent." Without asking, she shut the door, stopped glowing and after about twenty seconds had her clothing off and moved into the tub with him. There was room, but it left him feeling uneasy.

"This is good. You didn't leave the water too cold. Most people do, but what's the point of that?" She sighed and let her foot come out to touch his leg, not speaking for a long time.

Goose bumps started over his arms and legs, which shouldn't have been able to happen, given the heat. It was hard to hold still, but she didn't hold the point of contact for too long, and not being able to see her actually made it easier for him.

 "We can deliver these and get back to what we were doing. There isn't anything coming, I don't think. Galasia is being hit hard, but Uncle Richard has forces going in to help them. Rico... Hasn't mentioned me at all. It's like he doesn't even remember anything about it. That's probably too much to ask for, but now that his parents are dead, the deal is too. It was between my father and his, and didn't happen, so... Really, it's
done
. We won. We can go to the Capital in the morning and get it dissolved." She settled into the water, and let her voice sound happy about the new turn of events. "It doesn't get Rico back, if he had me raped, but that can wait. I don't need to drag you down into the cesspool of that situation."

Timon took a deep breath, feeling like a weight had lifted from his shoulders.

"Good. You make a fairly decent wife, don't get me wrong, but I'm too young and broken for this kind of thing. If either of those things were different I wouldn't let you go." It seemed a polite thing to say at least and was, really, true enough. She came with some definite benefits, not the least of which had to do with her connections. The good looks didn't hurt either. Plus, even though he wasn't there to see it, the whole situation had to be sending Tor into regular fits when he thought about it. That alone was nearly enough to make it all worthwhile, since he was mad at his brother, over what he'd done. It left him feeling upset, so he blocked the idea out of his mind for the moment, focusing on the idea of being free.

There was a bit of splashing and she stood, having only just gotten into the water.

"Agreed. Except for the lack of sex, you haven't been that bad either, you know that? You even got me flowers and helped my parents when we might have been under attack. Of course, I still look like a bit of a pervert, having married a kid, but it isn't like I'm the first one to have done that. It really hasn't hurt that you've gone around looking about twenty for the last week. Keep that up and people will forget the age difference pretty quick. Which was your point, wasn't it? Thanks for that."

"I live to serve." It wasn't the truth, but she got that part of things, didn't she?

"I'm off to get this part done then. We can leave as soon as you want. It's late, about two in the morning, but everyone knows how to use Truth amulets. Ten of them, that was the deal, right? Does that still stand?" It might not have, was what she was implying.

"Yes, that just makes sense. Heather and her people still need those deliveries." He'd even make a bit of coin off of the whole thing, so why not? The work was already done.

The air dryer triggered, making the room warm for a bit. She left as soon as she was dried and then, from the noises she made, collected the needed amulets and then exited through the side door. It was hard to track her that way, but he could manage it, if he tried.

Tim got dried himself, dressed and back into bed before Trice returned, and when the light came through the window of the craft, waking him up, he realized that he was next to the King's Palace, with his wife lying next to him, fully dressed and on top of the blue silk looking coverlet, watching him. It was creepy, until she smiled at him.

"There you are! We should be able to cage breakfast here, if we hurry. I love the toast here. I don't know what they do to it, but I haven't found anything exactly like it anywhere else."

He felt a little groggy still, but fought his way to his feet, and went to clean up, not wanting to just run in wearing his night clothes. Not that they weren't nice, but having brushed teeth and combed hair was kind of essential to Palace visits in Timon's mind. It probably meant he was shallow, but if so, at least almost everyone else in the world seemed to agree with him on that topic.

They didn't have water really, so he had to use a pitcher that had been left full. That was fine, since he didn't reek yet. It took a while, which was made to feel longer as Trice paced up and down the greatly foreshortened hallway outside the bathing room door.

When he came out, dressed in his normal work cloths of black velvet, she smiled happily.

Tim looked up at her and tried to seem playful as he crossed his arms, shaking his head mournfully.

"Really, I
get
it, you don't have to act like a child about to get your Noram Day gifts."

That got her to hug him, her arms squeezing a little bit tighter than was strictly needed.

"Hey, it's a good thing. Let's go and get both of us free. Then we can... do whatever we want. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get to see all the other lands yet, but there's a lot of work to get done."

The Royal Guards cleared them, the large man at the door smiling at him and winking at Trice.

"I hear that you two were responsible for getting me and Karina out of trouble? Thank you for that." There was no real hint as to what he'd actually done, but Veren seemed to be relieved that he wasn't going to be ordered to kill himself in shame at least. Or, and it was just as likely, the look on his face had more to do with the Princess not being in trouble for
her
actions than thought about himself.

They didn't chat about it, Timon not getting a chance to do more than nod as Patricia pulled on his arm, causing him to have to run a bit to keep up with her. They found the Royal family sitting in what was called the small dining room. It was big enough to put about twenty people at the table with them, but they were all collected at the far end, dressed for the day and smiling at them when the guard on the door, a woman that Tim didn't recognize, let them in.

Before anyone could say anything at all, Trice spoke, her voice loud enough for the listeners in the walls to hear with ease.

"The agreement that caused me to need to marry is done now, since the old Baron Gala has passed. That part is sad, since I know him to be a good man, personally, but..." She grinned, and glanced at Timon, who nodded once. The people at the table, the Prince, both Princesses, the Queen and the King, all smiled back, carried by her excitement.

Trice put her hand on his shoulder, standing right next to him.

"There's no reason that we can't have this annulled now. We haven't consummated it even, so it's a genuine thing, not just words on a piece of paper. We can pass truth verification on it. I know that the new Baron Gala might find that suspicious, but I doubt that he'd blame us for his father's death in an attack. There's no reason for us to stay married, once that's taken away." It had the sound of a planned argument, but one that wasn't well thought out. Timon could think of about twenty reasons that it could be stopped from happening and only two for the King to bother undoing the marriage.

The fact that Trice was his favorite niece was one of them, and Timon's age.

Smiling, Richard nodded.

"I'd had that thought myself. Unfortunately Count Lairdgren doesn't see it that way and has listed a lot of very good reasons for you and his grandson to stay married. The most compelling of which is simply that it's a good match and we might well find ourselves undoing our efforts, only to redo them in a few years. A year and a half? I can't afford to anger a Count over a minor issue at this time however, and he's one of my closest advisors. I'm sure you understand all of that. Plus there are other reasons for us not to dissolve the marriage at this point. Or ever. You're getting along alright, aren't you?"

Timon thought about it, and the honest truth was that they were. There was a bit of an emotional letdown, and the feeling of being trapped came back, but they weren't exactly getting ready to kill each other, he didn't think. Before he could answer, Trice spoke, her voice a bit flat.

"We
owe
it to him, Uncle Richard. He's too young to be saddled with a wife, if we don't have to force it on him. He saved me, when I was in a hard place and very little else could be done, just because it was the right thing to do. To leave him in this marriage now... Is that fair to him? I won't lie, I like him more than well enough to stay married. Even the age thing will go away eventually, but Karina had her sights set there too and he could be a Prince, if I get out of the way. That's not a minor thing."

Timon didn't know if she really meant it all, or if it was just about her getting free of him, but either way, he was committed to helping her, wasn't he?

"Also, Karina is pretty great, even if we don't count that in." It wasn't much, but the Princess actually smiled and blushed a bit at the praise.

"Good to hear. I was worried that you'd married Trice just to avoid me. I know I was coming on a bit strong for a bit there."

"Not at all."

Trice waved at them, her face light and friendly, "see? It isn't like he doesn't have better options set up already. On top of that, I'm nearly certain that Collette Coltress and Petra Ward both want to take a swing at him too. Judith Press as well."

The Queen actually shook her head and locked eyes with her niece then, but her words sounded pleasant enough. Almost gentle.

"Patricia, I have to agree with Count Lairdgren and Richard on this topic. Not that I like the loss of the potential marriage for Karina, but such things always change mid-stream. Besides, if nothing else comes around for her, she can marry Terry in a few years. Five. A bit of a wait, but he's a delightful young man, isn't he?"

Timon laughed a bit, not able to help himself.

"You always
did
like him best. He is pretty great however." That was just true, for the moment at least. What kind of man he'd be remained to be seen.

Then, the same could be said of him as well, so he wouldn't cast stones in that direction.

Prince Alphonse just waved at the two chairs on the end, on his side of the table. Princess Veronica was next to him, which meant that Timon would be next, then Trice, even if the ranking didn't work out perfectly that way. Karina was across from him and smiled at him anyway, even if it looked like they weren't going to get married some day.

It was strange, but Alphonse looked down the table, at him first, but then Trice and shook his head one time.

"I hate to pull rank, but it's
settled
. You two are staying married. Arguing this for two years before you settle into it won't help the union be comfortable, so if you need to blame someone, it might as well be me." This was punctuated by a bite of toast that seemed to have orange colored preserves on it. Peach, Timon thought.

Trice sighed, but just made a bit of a face.

"Sorry Tim. I tried. It really won't be easy to change their minds, not if they're all together in it like this." There was a pause, as she took some eggs from a dish that was moved in front of her by a man in a dark green server's uniform. She waited for Timon to get his before saying anything more. "On the good side we can finish our vacation. So far it's been a lot more work than I think it's supposed to be!"

There was a bit of explanation then, about what they'd been up to, and rude or not, she pulled one of his new Truth amulets to show everyone. It got passed down to the Prince, who tested it, making a few silly comments about being a moose. After it was passed back the tall redhead smoothed his dark red jacket, which looked like leather, and pulled it down in front a bit.

"I'd like to set up a watch here like the one you have in Duchy Morgan. I hear the craft are impressive. What would that cost, do you think?"

Before he could answer, the Queen laughed, a hollow and fake thing, with her hand covering her mouth.

The Prince held up his right hand.

"Sorry! I know the rule, no business during the meal. Sorry everyone. Um, well... Varley, what have you been up to lately?"

"Setting up the main house for Raul and I. In County Peterson. His family has a lovely stone keep, a bit drafty, but the architecture is amazing. I was thinking that I'd get Gerent Lairdgren to help me with the garden design. Have you been to see his layout outside the city walls here? You must have noticed the work, on the east side?" This was addressed to him, but he hadn't really, having been asleep when they'd come in last.

Trice had, however.

"It does look impressive, if that's what it is. There are trees already, were they moved in fully grown?"