Prince of Swords (25 page)

“No, she's not.” Lyr caught her eye and held it. “Unless that's what she truly wants. All her life she's been told how to live, what to say and do, and even what to think. She'll have no more of that. I would never keep from her that which she most desires. The decision is hers, not mine and certainly not
yours
. What do you want, Rayne?”

“I told you minutes ago, I don't know,” she said, and then she caught her breath and blurted. “But that's not entirely true. I know very well what I want, I just don't know if it's possible.”

Lyr took her hand, and for a moment Rayne waited for the others in the room to go still, she waited for Lyr to use his gift to separate them from the rest of the world, to cut them off from all those who watched and listened. That didn't happen. “I know what I want,” he said without hesitation. “I want you. It's that simple, Rayne.”

She remembered her mother's words, as well as Lyr's assertion that he had no heart to give. “Will you give me the keeping of your heart?”

“You already have it.”

Devlyn, blast him, had to interfere again. “If you think I will allow you to ride off to Tryfyn with my Earth Goddess…”

Very smoothly, Lyr drew a short bladed sword and pointed the tip at the emperor. He did not rise or take his eyes from her, even as sentinels moved in to protect their ruler. People who were close enough to see the threatening move gasped. Ariana uttered a disgusted, “Lyr!” The music stopped, inexpertly and with a screeching of a shrill wind instrument.

Devlyn held the soldiers off with a lift of his hand. “You dare to threaten me?” Rayne wondered if the others heard the hint of teasing in his voice.

“Yes,” Lyr answered.

“Draw blood and there will be war.”

“Then I suggest you back away and leave us be. This does not concern you.”

Devlyn raised his eyebrows slightly. “Would you go to war over a woman, Prince of Swords?”

“If that woman is Rayne, yes,” Lyr responded. “Yes, I would.”

Out of the corner of her eye Rayne saw Lyr's cousins and their men headed this way. Ariana did not looked pleased, but a smile touched Keelia's golden eyes and the corners of her mouth. That good humor eased Rayne's fears. Judging by the Anwyn Queen's expression, all would be well tonight.

Devlyn backed away, a smug smile on his face. Others in the immediate vicinity looked concerned, but the new emperor dismissed what some might've considered a threat. Even the cousins, the other two warriors called by the Prophesy of the Firstborn, halted their rush to Lyr's side.

Lyr stood and sheathed his sword. “Tell me now, Rayne, what do you want?”

“I want all of you, heart and soul and body.”

“That you have.”

She wanted no more secrets between them. “I want the baby I carry inside me now, and in the years to come I want more.”

For the first time on this long evening, Lyr smiled at her. “Baby?”

Rayne nodded her head.

She had forgotten that others were listening, until Lyr's mother said, “Stars above, I'm going to be a
grandmother
.”

“Marry me,” Lyr said, his voice lowered. He sounded so confident it was possible no one but her heard the uncertainty.

Rayne smiled. “Yes.”

“Now.”

She laughed. “Now?”

“Can't the emperor perform the ceremony?”

“You don't even like him,” Rayne whispered.

“If he marries us, I will make myself like him well enough.”

Devlyn looked to Sian for guidance. “Is it allowed?”

Sian nodded once, which was enough.

Devlyn raised his voice. “I admire this woman extraordinarily well, and I'm uncertain about handing her over to a Tryfynian cretin who would dare to threaten me with a sword, at my own party, no less.”

“If I'd wanted to harm you, you wouldn't be speaking at this moment,” Lyr said confidently.

“Yes, yes, I'm sure that's true,” Devlyn said dismissively. “Still, I wouldn't be doing my duty if I handed one of my most precious subjects over to a foreigner who might not care for her properly. I must conduct a proper interrogation to assure myself that you are worthy.”

“Interrogation?” Rayne tried to get the emperor's attention and call a halt to his foolishness, but she was ignored.

“Do you love her?” Devlyn asked.

“Madly,” Lyr responded without hesitation.

“Will you treasure her as she was meant to be treasured?”

“Yes.”

“Will you dance with her if she wishes it?”

“If she will teach me, yes.”

“Will you…”

Lyr held onto Rayne tightly as he waved one hand to bring time for all others to a standstill. “I wanted to do this in front of everyone, to be open and honest and to put everything I am before you and all these people. But by my way of thinking, some things should be just for us,” he said. “I love you. I can't imagine spending a single day of my life without you in it. Something good came out of this horrible war with Ciro, because it led me to you. I love you,” he said again.

“I love you, too.”

“Tell your friend to speed things up, if you don't mind. We have better things to do tonight than provide entertainment for his coronation festivities.”

Time began again, and all continued on as if it had never been interrupted.

“…see to her safety in all…” Devlyn continued.

“M'lord,” Rayne said, interrupting the emperor in mid-sentence. “Lyr will care for me well, I assure you. Can the ceremony proceed?”

“Now?” Devlyn asked.

Rayne smiled at Lyr. “Yes, at this very moment, if you please.”

“A wedding to mark new beginnings!” an unseen reveler said with glee, raising a sword high in the still ballroom.

“To peace,” another said, raising yet another sword.

“To new life,” Ariana said. To be in keeping with the others, she smoothly snatched a sword from a nearby sentinel, and with a grin she raised it into the air.

“To the new emperor!” a tipsy minister cried, raising a small dagger above his head. A few—including Devlyn himself—laughed at the pathetic blade which was lifted among the swords.

It seemed everyone had an idea of what should be celebrated here tonight, and one at a time they called out their hopes and dreams and joys. Peace, babies, family, loyalty…all were saluted in preface to her marriage.

Lyr drew his long sword and looked Rayne in the eye. “To love,” he said, and though his words were loud enough for all to hear, she knew they were meant for her ears alone.

She drew the short sword Lyr wore at his side and raised it high, gently touching the blade against his. “To love.”

N
OT LONG AFTER
E
MPEROR
J
AHN TOOK HIS PLACE IN THE
palace, a prisoner locked in a cell on Level Twelve gave birth to a little girl. Though the baby came early and was very small, she was extraordinarily pretty. Diella—or perhaps Lilia—died shortly after delivering her child into the world. Right before she passed, she named the little girl Ksana.

Knowing that Diella had been involved with Ciro and the Isen Demon, the parentage of the child came into question. Young as she was, the baby bore a striking resemblance to the deceased fair-haired prince. There were those who wished to do away with the baby girl, as it was possible she was not entirely human. But of course, it's difficult to see evil in a child, so Ksana was taken by a kind woman who could never see darkness in a newborn's face. Sophie Fyne Varden.

When Isadora revealed to her youngest sister that the Ksana flower which grew in Tryfyn was beautiful but deadly, Sophie insisted on changing the baby's name. She honored the mother's wish in naming the girl for a flower, but she chose one which was sweet and touched with good magic. Linara.

Sophie and Kane adopted Linara, knowing well that she might be very different from their own children. The years to come might not be easy, but Linara was Arik's granddaughter, and Sophie still had very fond memories of the former rebel and emperor. Besides, she believed with all her heart that love could conquer anything, even the blood of a demon.

She had expected to travel for home with no one but her husband and a wetnurse for company. That would've suited her just fine, but Isadora and her husband Lucan decided to travel to the Southern Province and visit for a short while. Sophie did not say so, but she knew her sister wanted to keep an eye on Linara to see that the baby grew and behaved as a baby should. It would be good to spend more time with Isadora, time when they did not have a curse or a prophesy or a momentous task at hand.

As she and her traveling party left the palace heading for home Sophie asked her husband—only once—“What if there are more like her?”

Kane did not respond, but she knew what he was thinking. Maybe there were more children like Linara, but that was a problem for another day.

This day was fine, and there was no room for borrowed troubles which might or might not come to pass. Sophie, Juliet, and Isadora would all become grandmothers in the coming year, and that was cause for celebration.

Yes, all was well. Ariana and Sian were settled in the palace, at least for now. Sebestyen's sons would need their assistance for a while longer. There had been a time when Sophie had hated the imperial palace, but the palace did not feel as dark as it once had, in spite of what had happened there in the past year. Love in abundance had returned light to a place which had once been dark. Ariana and Sian and their child would be happy there, until the time came for them to make their life elsewhere.

Keelia and Joryn were on their way back to the Mountains of the North, where they would marry in The City. They would work to bring their people together, and they'd have children who would be both Anwyn and Caradon. Joryn very much wished to find his friend Druson along the way, and Keelia assured him that they would. Or rather, Druson would find
them
. To bring Caradon and Anwyn together, they would need the man who was now called Grandfather, a man who possessed the knowledge of the ancients. Juliet and Ryn traveled in that direction, too, but as usual they had taken off alone. That was their way. It suited them.

Lyr and his bride, Rayne, traveled in a leisurely fashion toward his home—now her home, too—in Tryfyn. Wherever they passed, flowers bloomed. When the bride laughed, it was not at all unusual for a few sparkling snowflakes to fall. Just a few. Rayne had spent her entire life in isolation, and Lyr gladly shared his world with her. If they wished for fruits or vegetables that were not in season, those wishes came true at a whisper. If they wanted to stop for an entire day to enjoy a perfect view and make love with leisure, they did so. Now and then, time stopped for a kiss. Life was good.

The newly married couple loved often, laughed frequently, and argued with light hearts about names for their first child. They discussed the possibility of introducing Emperor Jahn and his brother Alix to one or two Tryfynian princesses.

And they stayed far, far away from anything resembling a swamp.