Rangers of Linwood (The Five Kingdoms Book 1) (16 page)

“He is rather charismatic,” Ryder admitted with a sigh. “Well, I will always believe Tesni.”

“And so will I,” Arya said.

“So will I,” Rowan said. His sudden presence made Ryder and Arya both jump. “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to startle the two of you.”

“Well, we can’t afford to have the camp split over an argument between two teenagers,” Ryder said at last. “The first thing we have to do is get the marriage annulled, somehow. The second thing we have to do is prove that Tesni is in the right and that Aeron really is in Agrona’s employ.”

“The annulment shouldn’t be too difficult,” Arya said. “After all, as magically binding as the vows are, the magic should recognize that she was coerced and that Agrona was performing the ceremony for evil reasons.”

“How do we find out whether or not the magic recognizes that?” Rowan asked.

Ryder glanced over at his protégé, a thoughtful look on his face. “Rowan, I’m going to tell you the exact same thing Tesni told me when she was eight. Kiss her. Or, rather, get her to kiss you.”

Rowan gulped. “Is this a trap?”

“Absolutely not,” Arya said, half glaring at Ryder, half smiling. “There are certain provisions within the magic surrounding marriage, ancient as the rite itself. The first is that if one spouse cheats on the other in a valid marriage, both spouses will feel great pain in their chest, as if their hearts are literally breaking.”

“The second,” Ryder said, “is as much a test of the validity of a marriage as it is an exception to the first rule. If the marriage is invalid, then there is no pain. In addition, if a marriage is forced, coerced, or arranged, whether it is valid or not, if the kiss is between the spouse who wants out and his or her true love, the one he or she was always meant to be with, then not only is there no pain, but the marriage is dissolved immediately, and both partners can feel it. There’s a bit of a gentle, pleasurable, tingling sensation when one is kissing one’s true love.”

Ryder and Arya were looking at each other tenderly at this point, and Rowan knew instinctively that the two of them were knowledgeable about the subject from first-hand experience. He wondered if he and Tesni had that special connection. As much as he worried that he and Tesni would only ever be friends, he sincerely hoped that she would eventually return his love.

“What about the hard part?” Rowan asked at last. “How do we prove that she is the one telling the truth?”

“Well, for one thing, if Tesni kisses you and Aeron feels no pain, that would be a good sign,” Ryder said, still obviously uncomfortable with the idea of any boy kissing his little girl. She was still a teenager, damn it! Why did she have to start taking an interest in courtship?

Arya squeezed Ryder’s hand and smiled. “I know a priest of Harena who can help us, as well. He knows his herbs, and he can help us by producing a truth potion. We simply have each of them drink it. If we only have one drink it, there could be accusations of it being an invalid test if the one who drinks it is able to stick to their story.”

Chapter 14

Rowan was there that evening when Tesni woke up. He didn’t speak. He just smoothed her hair, smiling at her. Tesni launched herself at him, hugging him tightly. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“What are you sorry for?” Rowan asked, confused.

“I’ve hurt you, haven’t I?” she asked, resting her head on his chest.

“You could never hurt me,” he lied.

“Don’t lie to me.”

Rowan sighed. “Alright, I won’t lie to you. Yes, I was hurt when you chose Aeron over me, but it’s alright. I know a lot of it was my own fault. When you’re ready to try again, Tesni, if it’s alright with you, I would like to try courting you, myself.”

“Just give me some time, Rowan. Right now I just want to get this current situation figured out and taken care of.”

“Of course,” Rowan said, hugging her close. “I am willing to give you all of the time you need.”

He was still holding her when Arya came into the tent. “Alright, Tesni, are you ready to have your marriage annulled and prove that Aeron is no good?” she asked.

Tesni nodded her head. “Absolutely.”

“Come with me, then,” Arya said.

Tesni and Rowan both followed Arya out. She led them to the center of camp where Liam had also brought Aeron. All of the Rangers were gathered there, and Enid held up two small vials. “These,” Enid said, “are bottles of a truth serum. Tesni and Aeron are each going to drink one, and then each tell their story.”

“What?” Aeron cried. “I never agreed to this!”

“This is the first I have been told about it, as well,” Tesni said, calm. “However, I am more than willing to take the truth serum if it will help to free me from the nightmare of being Aeron’s wife by proving that he serves Agrona.”

“Fine, let Tesni take it,” Aeron said. “If it works, she will tell the truth. If it doesn’t, she will continue sticking to her lies so that she gets out of trouble.”

Tesni grabbed one of the vials out of Enid’s hand, popped the cork open, and fearlessly swallowed the contents. She waited for a moment to ensure that it was taking effect. She could tell it had when her mind began to cloud up. Instinctively, she understood the reasoning for this. If she could not think, she could not come up with a lie, and so she would have to tell the truth.

“Aeron convinced me to elope with him last night,” she said. “I don’t know how. Every time he looks in my eyes so intently, I just feel the urge to do as he asks. We slipped out, found a house where Aeron said a priestess of Herana was waiting, and the woman there married us. Then it turned out to be Agrona. We were carried off, and I figured out that Aeron was working for her. He made me swallow a potion and then tried to rape me.”

“See?” Aeron said. “It didn’t work. She still sticks to her story.”

“And yet you are unwilling to take the potion yourself,” Enid said shrewdly. “We need both of you to take it, for exactly this reason.”

Aeron stared hard at the old healer. “Fine,” he said at last, grabbing the vial. He swallowed the liquid as well.

“Do you, or do you not, work for Agrona?” Tesni asked a minute later.

“I do,” Aeron admitted.

“And did you, or did you not, try to impregnate me?” she asked.

“I did.”

“And what was that potion you made me swallow?”

Aeron frowned. He knew exactly what was happening. “It was a fertility potion, to ensure that you would get pregnant.”

Gasps were audible all around the camp. “Now tell them what the plan was,” Tesni ordered.

“It was to put you into a situation where you were dishonored and unable to train, so that you would steal the orb for Agrona when you turned to her for help, because we assumed that even your own father would kick you out,” Aeron admitted.

“You assumed wrong,” Ryder said, placing a hand on Tesni’s shoulder. “I would have been a little disappointed, at first, but Arya and I would have supported her all the way, no matter what.”

Those who had always believed in Tesni, like Arya, Rowan, Fiona, and Enid, stood by, smiling at Tesni’s vindication. Those who had believed Aeron, like Liam, were standing around muttering. They had clearly trusted the wrong trainee.

With Aeron’s final admission of his own wrongdoing, he was tied up and hauled out of camp, taken to the prison in town.

Tesni turned to Arya. “What about the annulment?” she asked. “Those vows were magically binding.”

“Don’t worry about that right now,” Arya said. “Once you find your true love, you’ll feel a warm sensation that makes you feel good all over. At that moment, when you first kiss him, the annulment will be immediate. As it is, you can be considered single and ready for courtship right now. It was clear that it was an invalid marriage in the first place.”

The rest of the Rangers began to disperse to their evening duties, then. Tesni ran off to the stables, to her horses. She needed something familiar, and though she knew that the others wouldn’t judge her, she felt that the horses were the best choice to be able to talk to, as they wouldn’t talk back.

Arya turned to Ryder. “Well, that worked out better than we could have hoped,” she said.

“Aye,” he agreed, “it did.” They walked hand-in-hand back to their tent, where Arya noticed something glowing from her trunk. She and Ryder knelt down together to look at it. She opened up the trunk and pulled out the scroll, the glow of which was fading.

It was Tesni’s bow scroll. Every Ranger had one. It listed off the things a Ranger had to do to earn their weapon, whether that was bow or blade. Much like the parchment that recorded the times and scores for the obstacle courses, the parchment of the scroll was imbued with ancient magic.

This scroll had been created as soon as Arya had made Tesni her protégé. It was something to be kept secret from the protégé, so that they wouldn’t look at the scroll and go seeking ways to fulfill the requirements before they were really ready. However, when one was inadvertently fulfilled, it was magically crossed off the list and the scroll would glow.

Two things, Arya found, had been scratched off of the list, and she showed them to Ryder. “Self-reliance in a dangerous situation when help is not available, and grace under pressure,” he recited.

“There isn’t much left,” Arya admitted. “Five known items, and then the mystery quest.”

The mystery quest was just that. When all of the other items on the scroll had been completed, the magic in the scroll would set a mystery quest for the young Ranger. It would no doubt be dangerous, but it was sure to be a fair test of Tesni’s abilities and all that the girl had learned under Arya’s tutelage.

“At this point, she’s earned her sash,” Ryder said.

“I know,” Arya said. “When do you want to hold the ceremony?”

“It’s not as big a deal as the jacket or bow,” Ryder said. “It’s something small that we can do tomorrow night.”



The ceremony was, indeed, a small one. It didn’t stop Tesni from being surprised, however, when she was pulled up in front of the entire camp. Her dress sash was tied at her shoulder, her day sash around her waist.

The Rangers, however, never missed an opportunity to throw a party, and a Ranger earning her sash was definitely a good enough reason to throw a big one. Yet another bonfire was lit. Instruments were pulled out and dancing began.

“I am so proud of you,” Ryder said, hugging Tesni. “To earn your sash at sixteen is a big accomplishment,
anelya
. I’m also proud of the way you handled yourself yesterday. You’ve begun proving yourself to be very capable.”

“Thanks,
atar
,” Tesni whispered.

“You’re growing up so fast. Before I know it, we’ll be celebrating you earning your bow,” he said, ruffling her hair.

Tesni smoothed it back out. “How does Arya know, anyway, when I’m ready?”

“We have our ways of knowing and keeping track of our protégés’ progress,” Ryder said. “Trust me, she monitors you far more closely than you realize.”

Tesni was swept away, then, by Rowan, who was finally claiming a dance with her. “Congratulations,” he said, twirling her around.

“My thanks,” she replied, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek.

“Be careful, Tesni,” he said, drawing her close. “I might get used to that.”

“Didn’t we have this conversation six years ago?” Tesni asked.

Rowan grinned. “Aye, we did, and everything I said then still holds true. The only difference is that now you’re old enough for courtship.”

Tesni laughed. “I thought you were going to wait until I was ready?”

“Well, maybe waiting is going to be difficult for me,” he said seriously. Then he kissed her.

It was not the rough, demanding kiss that Aeron had always given, Tesni realized quickly. This was a pure, gentle kiss, full of love, respect, honesty, and genuine affection. She found herself returning the kiss, and suddenly they both understood what Ryder had said, earlier. They felt a warm tingling all over their skin. It was a pleasant feeling, and suddenly, they just knew.

As they broke apart, she looked at Rowan through new eyes. “Did you feel that?” she asked.

“Aye, I did.”

Tesni was suddenly feeling overwhelmed. Just the morning before, she had escaped, once again, from Agrona’s clutches, ensnared for her by someone she cared about, someone she thought actually loved her. Just the night before, she had proven to everyone exactly how bad Aeron was. Tonight, she had been presented with her sash, and now here she was, faced with feelings she was unfamiliar with, knowing that she was face to face with the one she was meant to be with. It was all too much, so Tesni did what she always did when faced with something she wasn’t ready to handle.

She ran.



Rowan stood there, confused. What had he done wrong? Had he moved too fast? Should he have made himself wait? She had seemed to enjoy the kiss. She had kissed him back. So why had she run? His eyes followed her through the crowd, and he saw her run into the stables.

“Where’s Tesni?”