The Drifting (38 page)

The double door just to our left opens and Tharin walks in.  Without thinking I rush to him and he takes hold of me, hugging me tightly.  Suddenly…I can’t explain it…but my world seems right somehow.  Is that even possible?  He nuzzles at my ear until I turn to him and he kisses me lightly.  It feels so natural as if we’ve been kissing all our lives.  I can get use to this.

He pulls away from me and whispers, “I missed you.”

I smile up at him and snuggle his chin.  He squeezes me one last time before releasing me, asking “Are you all right?  I heard about the lutimi.”

Instantly, all lovey-dovey emotions disappear and I step back from him giving him a hard look.  I point at Milina without taking my eyes off him, “Did you tell her she needed to watch after me?  And Alorn and Ziri and Mellis, too?”

Tharin sighs, looking over at Milina who shrugs her shoulders at him.  “It’s Alorn’s fault, my prince.  It was he who made her aware of your instructions.”  She gives him a sweet, satisfied smile, her way of getting back at Alorn.

Tharin turns to me doing that whole “straightening up, chest out and arms folded” stance he seems to always do when I question his motives.  “Lily, that’s what they’re here for.  It’s their job to look out for you.”

“First off, I can take care of myself.  And, second, they don’t work for us…have you paid them a salary?”

He releases his arms and stares at me dumbfounded, “Of course they work for us and no they don’t have a salary.  I didn’t hire them, the Good Mother herself did, and I’ve already explained that to you.”

“You just contradicted yourself, Tharin.  She asked them to protect me, not you.  You don’t have the right to instruct them to do anything.”

“Um…my princess,” interrupts Milina, taking a step forward.  “Actually, you’re right.”  I give Tharin a look.  “But she also instructed us to follow our prince’s lead and commands.  We are here to keep you safe, even from him, but we are honor bound to follow him as our prince and future king.”

I turn on Tharin as he looks at me smugly.  I shake my head and say, “It doesn’t matter.  I don’t need you to have Alorn, Ziri and Mellis at my side like I’m some diva with an entourage.  It’s ridiculous.”

Tharin goes back to his position of looking down at me, arms folded as if waiting for a child to calm down from a tantrum.  Oh my God.  That’s it.  Even though he loves me, he sees me as a teenager who needs to be looked after.  And I’m falling right into his hands, acting like a spoiled brat demanding to be treated like an adult.  Crap. 

I shut my mouth, looking at the women who are willing to give their lives for me and
I
nod at them.  Fine.  I move to turn away from Tharin when he catches my arm.  He steps closer to me asking, “And…?”

I look up at him, not sure what he’s talking about.  “I’m assuming there’s more?” he asks waiting.

I stare into his eyes and realize how silly I’m acting.  I smile at him, shaking my head.  He gives me dubious look, “You sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.”  I turn from him again to see Ka sitting at the seating area smiling at us.  Or is he laughing at me?  I sigh and move forward, finding a seat opposite him.  Tharin joins us and when I look for Milina and Glynnis, they’re sitting at the large table talking softly between themselves.  I sigh inwardly and a bit sadly.  I was hoping to have new friends, but I know now that they will always hold back and will only look at me as their princess and soon to be queen.  Is this also my new destination, not to have any friends?  Friends…I sit up quickly, “Tharin where’s Julia?”

“She’s been sent for, Lily.  She’ll be here soon,” offers Ka.

Suddenly I’m antsy, becoming anxious to see my friend.  I realize just how much I’ve missed her.  I don’t have to wait long. 

The double doors open and Tolan and Julia walk in.  I’m up off the chair, standing and waiting for Julia to acknowledge me.  It’s then that I notice what Tharin meant by “distance” between her and Tolan.  It’s as if they’re complete strangers.  I look at Julia, checking out what looks like a uniform. Her pants are dark brown and hug her nicely and outline her body’s shape.  The top is also snug, dark brown and looks seamless from the waist up.  She wears a belt that loosely hangs on her hips and
her
boots come up just below her knees.  Her hair has gotten longer, and she wears it with the front pulled into a topknot like Mellis’ while the back hangs at her shoulders.

It takes Julia a second to scan the room, look over the sisters at the table who also rose when I did, the wall with the map and finally over to the seating area. When her eyes fall upon me, the hard look she came in with goes through a variety of emotions.  One of shock, then disbelief, then joy and then sorrow, back to disbelief all wrapped into one.  No longer able to hold back, we rush over and catch each other in a hard embrace.  I hold on to her feeling her body tremble as she cries against my shoulder.  I rub her back, trying to calm her down.  How did I make it through these past weeks without her by my side?  I finally move back, but Julia doesn’t move.  I put my hands on her face as she continues to cry, unable to look at me.  I kiss her cheek, then the other, then her forehead and pretty much the rest of her face, I’m so happy to see her.  She hugs me to her again, afraid to let me go. 

I squeeze her tightly before releasing her again softly saying, “It’s okay, I’m here.”

Julia is unable to speak, shaking her head at me, looking down at our hands which she grasps tightly.  “I’m sorry, Julia…I’m so sorry.”  Still unable to talk, she looks at me, reaching up to touch my face, my hair and finally dropping her forehead forward to touch mine. 

And then she stops.  She straightens, stepping back, anger quickly overtaking her emotions.  She turns to Tolan who remains at the doors and before I know what she is doing she purposely walks over to him.  He remains still watching Julia approach him.  His face is hard and without thinking he lifts his chin ready for whatever’s coming.  She comes to a sudden stop when she finds Tharin standing before her, blocking her from his brother.

“I gave him the command not to tell you.  It was me, if you remember, who told you Lily was dead.  I did it to protect her, to keep the bounty hunters and assassins from tracking her down.  If you’re going to lash out at anyone, it will be me.”  His words were quietly spoken, but firmly. 

I make my way to stand next to Tharin and Julia looks over at me, confusion and anger conflicting on her face.  “I’m sorry,” I say gently, “I didn’t know until just recently that you didn’t know.  I would never do anything to hurt you, you know that.  And, you also know Tolan and Tharin would never hurt you intentionally.”

“But they did,” Julia quietly chokes, trying to hold back the tears. 

“Well, that isn’t true, exactly,” says Ka from behind us.  Julia turns toward the old man as we all do.  “I was the one who made that decision to keep you in the dark, Julia.  I am sorry for that, but if you’re going to blame anyone, it should be me.”  He gives Julia the saddest old man look I’ve ever seen.  Julia looks back at me and I take her hand.  Silently, she casts her eyes downward and nods, looking betrayed.

I turn to Tharin, “I want to stay with Julia tonight.”

“Of course, but remember,” he says to the both of us, “you’re supposed to be dead and have to remain that way until the Seating.”  He says it more for Julia’s sake than mine.  “We have a private suite where the servants are not allowed to enter.  Sema is here and she will take care of all your meals and preparations.  I’ll let her know that Julia will be moving in with you.” 

I give him a quizzical look, “What suite is that?”

“My mother’s.”

I smile gratefully and turn to look at Julia, also grateful to have her with me.  For the first time, I see a small smile appear on Julia’s face and she puts her arm around me as I hug her by the waist.  She seems slimmer if that’s even possible, but she’s definitely lost weight.

Taking her hand, I lead her to the sisters and make introductions.  “Julia, this Milina and Glynnis, they’re…um…my bodyguards.”  I’m still not used to the idea.  Julia looks at me with raised brows and then checks out Milina, weighing silently.  Even after all this time, I can still read her expressions. 

“Mistress, it is my pleasure to meet you,” says Milina as she gives a slight bow.  Glynnis follows suit, showing her respect.  Julia keeps quiet taking each greeting with silent observation.  She looks over at Milina, “Where have you trained?”

“With the Molker Guild, mistress.”

Julia gives me a look, then back at Milina, “The Molker Guild?  Isn’t that a criminal organization?”

“Yes, mistress, there’s a chapter in every city.”

“Huh,” replies Julia, looking over the sisters one more time before shrugging her shoulders at me.  I laugh as I push her toward a large chair that’s obviously a one-seater.  We sit in it together holding hands tightly afraid to let each other go.  At first we sit quietly, my head on her shoulder as
she lays her head on top of mine
. 

I lean back, looking at her excitedly, “I’ve missed you so much and I have so much to tell you.”

She nods eagerly, “Me too.  Oh my God, Lily, when I thought you were…that you were…you know…” she stops, her emotions taking over again.

“I know, I know,” I comfort, hugging her again.  Her pain saddens me and I can feel my own emotions coming through, too.

Sniffing and wiping at her eyes, Julia moves back, continuing, “I just didn’t know what to do.  I thought I was all alone here and when I thought of trying to find my way back home, I realized without you and Mom, there was nothing for me to go back to.”

“I know, Julia.  I was going through the same thing.  When Sema, Ka’s wife, told me Lucas was dead, I was crushed and didn’t think I could go on.”

Julia looks at me shocked, “Lucas is dead?”  She turns to where Tolan is talking softly with Tharin and Ka.  Her face becomes hard again as she glares at him.  I shake her hands gently to get her attention, “I didn’t know either, Julia.  Tharin kept it from me too, but Sema did say that he didn’t know until after he came for me.”  Julia snorts, shaking her head in disgust.  I lower my head trying to make eye contact.  “I don’t like what they did either, but I understand why they did
…
kind of.”  She glances at me still unsatisfied, but she’s less angry than she was a second ago.

The doors open once again and Alorn, Ziri and Mellis walk in carrying platters of food and drinks.  They make their way to the large table, placing the food before Milina and Glynnis.  The sisters quickly go about making sandwiches from the breads and meats platter.  One large platter has nothing on it but fruit, tons of it.  My stomach grumbles at the sight of the food and my mouth waters, but I don’t want to move from our seat in the large chair.  I stare at the platters hungrily, but Julia only gives it a cursory glance.

“Aren’t you hungry?” I ask.  She shakes her head as she looks around the room again.  “Is this your first time in here?” I ask distractedly as I continue to stare at the feast on the conference table.  Thankfully, I watch as Glynnis and Milina carry plates full of food toward us.

They make their way over and place the plates on the long, wide coffee table
in the middle of the small area
.  Once they place the dishes down, they turn to leave.  I stop them, offering, “Milina, why don’t you and Glynnis join us?”  She starts to shake her head, but I stop her, “No, I really want you to, please.”  After looking at her sister, they turn to us both nodding and smiling.

“Here,” says Julia getting up and pulling me up with her.  “Let’s move these chairs back and we can sit on the floor around the table.”

“Great idea,” I add, happy to see Julia becoming more relaxed since she walked in the room.  Glynnis and I move the chairs aside while Julia and Milina work together to push the big chair farther back.

“What are you doing?”  We turn to see Tharin and the others watching us as we prepare to sit and eat. 

“Yeah,” pipes in Mellis copying Tharin’s stance giving us an exaggerated scowl. “You can’t move the furniture around.  This is the king’s seating area.”

After pushing one of the chairs back, I turn saying, “It’s too big at that table.  This is more intimate.  Come join us.”

It only takes the
guys
a second to think about it before they’re sitting on the floor.  Glynnis returns to the large table for more food.  Ziri and Tolan follow, helping with the large platters. 

Once the food and drinks are in place, the chatter starts and we’re lost in news, memories and stories from the
guys
too unbelievable to believe.  Although Julia and Tolan sat as far from each other as possible, I didn’t miss the glances they threw at each other when one thought the other wasn’t looking.  Still, the lack of communication between them didn’t bring down the mood around the coffee table.  We were in the middle of laughing out loud at an incident Mellis was telling involving him, Alorn, Ziri and Tolan, when a booming voice instantly cut the laughter off.