The Immortal Prince (56 page)

It was late in the evening on the day before they were due to depart for Herino before Stellan saw his wife again. Certain she was deliberately avoiding him, he finally decided to visit her room as she was preparing for bed, knocking as he entered although he didn't wait for permission.

Dressed in a long pale blue nightgown, Arkady was folding down the covers as he opened the door. She turned to face him, but he was unable to read her expression in the inadequate light coming from the single candle on the bedside table.

“Come for your regular conjugal visit, husband?” There was an edge to her voice, the ritual greeting a cruel parody of their former easy companionship.

Stellan closed the door and leant against it. He'd been expecting her to be angry, but not so cold. Not so distant. “Actually, I came to apologise.”

She shrugged and turned back to the bed covers. “As you wish.”

“I truly am sorry, Arkady,” he said, walking toward her. He stopped when he reached the bed, reaching out to her, hoping to convey his remorse. She ignored the gesture.

Disappointed, he dropped his hand. “What I said the other day…you didn't deserve that. I was angry. Declan Hawkes scares the life out of me, and with you disappearing like that, forging my signature…him breathing down my neck…”

She stopped arranging the bed covers and turned to face him. “It's all right, Stellan. You don't have to explain.”

“He came to see me about you.”

She didn't seem surprised. With a sigh, she sat on the edge of the bed.

He sat down beside her. “He told me I was being a fool.”

Arkady smiled thinly. “Really? How did he know?”

“I'm not sure. You do know he's in love with you, don't you? It's one of the reasons he frightens me so. I took you away from him.”

“That's crazy,” she scoffed. “Declan's my oldest friend. There was never anything between us.”

Stellan shook his head, wondering why people never saw what was right in front of them. “You married me before Declan had a chance to declare himself, I fear, which is why every time he steps foot in my palace I start to worry. He's the King's Spymaster, Arkady, and even for a man without my secrets, that makes him a very dangerous enemy.”

“Declan doesn't suspect a thing and if anything, our marriage brings you an added layer of protection. To bring you down, Declan would have to bring me down too, and he wouldn't do that.”

Stellan nodded slowly. “I hope you're right. Did you say something to him…about your kidnapping?”

She hesitated, which made him wonder how much of her crazy theory about immortals she had shared with Declan. Not much, he concluded, given Declan had done nothing but praise her courage.

“We had a very…enlightening…discussion at breakfast a few days ago,” she admitted finally. “He's very interested in tracking down Cayal.”

Stellan nodded. “Yes, he told me that. Said you were to be admired for your bravery, actually, and that your contribution to his eventual recapture will be vital.”

“You didn't tell him your suspicions about me having an affair with the Immortal Prince, then,” she remarked. He had the feeling she was still not quite ready to forgive him.

“I'm truly sorry, Arkady,” he assured her, taking her hand. “You've stood by me without complaint for six years. I should never have suggested anything so callous. I don't know what I was thinking. If you're not with child, then so be it. We'll tell the king you miscarried, as I originally intended.”

“I slept with Cayal once, Stellan. Don't get your hopes up.”

“Do you love him?”

The question took Arkady by surprise. She thought about it for a moment and then stunned him with her answer. “I don't know, Stellan. Is longing a sign of love? The inability to concentrate? The inability to think of anything else but those haunted blue eyes?”

He looked at her as if seeing her for the first time. Was it really like that for her? He knew all too well the agony of a love that could never be acknowledged, never even suspected. Stellan would never have wished the same pain on Arkady. “There's no future for you down that road, Arkady,” he warned gently.

Arkady smiled and nodded. “Now that I
do
know.” She squeezed his hand apologetically. “Never fear, Stellan, I'm not planning to run off with my immortal lover anytime soon.”

He frowned. There was love, and there was blind foolishness. He had never thought Arkady likely to fall victim to a confidence trickster, not even one as accomplished as this one apparently was. “You're still insisting he's immortal.”

“And I fear you'll find out the hard way I'm not as deluded as you imagine,” she predicted, almost defiantly.

Stellan let it go. He didn't come here looking for another fight. Instead, he put his arm around her, hugging her gently. “We're a fine pair of fools, aren't we? You fall for a convicted murderer and me for a blatant fortune hunter.”

“Speaking of your blatant fortune hunter,” Arkady asked abruptly, “what will happen to him when we go to Torlenia?”

And just when I thought we were going to be friends again
…“I was planning to leave him here in Lebec.”

“He'll die of boredom a week after we're gone,” she warned. “And he'll likely go looking for his fun elsewhere.”

“I'm surprised you care.”

She looked at him, her expression serious. “I care about
you,
Stellan. And despite how undeserving I might think Jaxyn Aranville is of your affection, I know there's nothing I can do to prevent you loving him.”

Well, that's something.
Arkady wasn't usually so willing to accept the inevitability of his relationship with Jaxyn. “What do you suggest I do with him? He can't come to Torlenia with us.”

“Actually, I've been thinking about it quite a bit,” she said, shifting on the bed so she was facing him. “Why not send him to court?”

“To Herino?”

She nodded. “With you out of the country, Reon Debalkor will be looking for any opportunity to diminish you in the eyes of the king. I know you have friends at court, Stellan, but you need someone there whose job it is to look out for your interests specifically.”

Her suggestion astounded him, as much for its brilliance as its unexpectedness. “You would trust Jaxyn with such a role?”

She hesitated and then nodded. “Yes, I would.”

“It would mean I'd have someone there to keep an eye on Kylia, too,” he mused, which was an angle Arkady probably hadn't even considered. With everything else going on lately, she'd barely spared his niece a second thought since she got back from the mountains, he suspected.

“Will you give it some consideration?” she asked.

He nodded. “It's not a bad idea, actually.”

“I'm not entirely blinded by my infatuation, Stellan.”

He looked at her oddly. “Are you suggesting I am?”

“I don't know. Are you?” she asked with a raised brow.

He hugged her gently and let her go, rising to his feet. “I think we'd be doing ourselves a favour by staying out of each other's affairs. Neither of us seems to approve of the other's tastes.”

“I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble, Stellan. I didn't mean to.” The apology was genuine, the edge gone from her voice. Things might yet be all right between them.

“I know you didn't,” he assured her. “Fortunately, there appears to be no lasting harm done. That canine you released hasn't caused any problems and your immortal—even if he isn't dead—is apparently no longer a threat. Declan Hawkes is satisfied I was only lying to protect Kylia's engagement and Jaxyn is a hero. Things could be a lot worse.”

“Yes,” she agreed. “They could be.”

“Are you all ready for the trip to Herino?”

“Pretty much.”

“It should be a pleasant enough trip. The weather's been very nice of late.”

“Yes, it has, hasn't it?”

Tides, we've been reduced to discussing the weather! Is this how it's going to be from now on?
“Smooth sailing all the way, I suspect.”

They were travelling by boat rather than on horseback. From Herino they would be sailing down the Lower Oran after the wedding, through the lock to the Upper Ryrie and then down the Lower Ryrie to Whitewater City in the south. From there they would travel through the dangerous Whitewater Narrows to the coast, where they would take another ship for Torlenia.

He smiled, hoping for a sign that things really were back to normal between them. “Well…I guess I'll see you in the morning.”

She nodded. “Goodnight, Stellan.”

He hesitated for a moment longer, wondering if Arkady had something else to say, but when she offered nothing further he turned and left the room, leaving her alone with the one thing he couldn't make better with an apology—her pain.

 

Stellan found Jaxyn with Declan Hawkes in the library. The two of them had liberated a decanter of his best brandy (Jaxyn's idea no doubt) and were discussing the relative merits of punishment and rewards when it came to training Crasii.

Jaxyn was lamenting his inability to get any sense out of a canine before they were fifteen years old, which was rather ingenuous of him—he got remarkable results with all the Crasii. Better than anybody Stellan had ever seen. In fact, Stellan had never witnessed Jaxyn so much as raise his voice to a Crasii, who all seemed to hunger for his approval in a way that made Stellan quite envious.

“Don't listen to him, Master Hawkes,” Stellan warned with a smile as he took the seat opposite Declan. The men were sitting in the deep leather chairs by the hearth but the night was warm enough that it remained unlit. “Jaxyn has a remarkable way with the Crasii.”

“I don't doubt it, your grace,” the spymaster agreed, taking an appreciative sip of his brandy. “Lord Aranville's reputation as a Crasii handler has reached even the salons of Herino.”

“I really don't do anything special,” Jaxyn said with a self-deprecating shrug. “Anybody could get the Crasii to respond to them if they took the time to study their behaviour.”

“Have you been studying them long, Lord Aranville?”

“Longer than you'd imagine,” he replied with a smile. “I'm older than I look, you know.”

“And wiser too,” Stellan agreed. “At least you are, according to my wife.”

“How is dear Arkady?” Jaxyn asked. “Still recovering from the trauma of her kidnapping?”

Stellan frowned. He didn't need Jaxyn taking that tone in front of Declan Hawkes. “She seems to have weathered it very well. And she suggested something by way of a reward that I'm rather inclined to grant you.”

“Really, Stellan, I didn't do it for payment,” he assured him. “Seeing Arkady safe in your arms again was all the reward I needed.”

“I'm curious what Lady Desean thinks her rescue was worth,” Declan said. If he had any suspicion there was a double meaning to their conversation, he gave no sign of it.

“She suggested I appoint Jaxyn as my ambassador to court while we're away in Torlenia.”

Jaxyn looked stunned. “
Arkady
suggested that?”

Stellan nodded. “You don't like the idea?”

“No!” he objected. “Quite the opposite, in fact. I'm just surprised that…after all the trouble she's had lately, and the ordeal she's been through, that her grace would take the time to think of such a thing.”

“I imagine she had plenty of time to be impressed by your abilities when you rescued her and on your return journey to Lebec, Lord Aranville,” Declan remarked. “Perhaps she saw a side of you she hadn't previously suspected.”

An odd expression flickered over Jaxyn's handsome young face and then he smiled. “Perhaps she did at that. And if you're offering, Stellan, I'd be delighted to represent Lebec's interests in Herino while you're away.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, a little surprised at how quickly Jaxyn had jumped at the opportunity. Given his initial reaction to the news they were leaving soon for Torlenia and his ambivalence toward Arkady, he was expecting a lot more resistance to any plan conceived by his wife.

“Quite sure,” Jaxyn insisted. “Besides, who else is there to look out for Kylia while you're gone?”

“I rather think that would be the concern of her new husband, my lord,” Declan suggested.

Jaxyn smiled. “You know what I mean. But it's an excellent idea for any number of other reasons. You don't want your enemies benefiting from your absence.”

“What enemies would those be?” Declan enquired curiously.

“I imagine I'll find out soon enough,” Jaxyn said with a laugh, neatly dodging the question. “Besides, while at court I might even find myself a wife. I'm getting to that age, I suppose, where a man needs to think of these things.” He turned to Stellan with an innocent expression. “Do you suppose I could find myself one like Arkady?”

Arkady is right,
Stellan decided.
Sometimes, Jaxyn is a fool.

“I'm sure the young ladies will be flocking to you in Herino, my lord,” Declan remarked. “A man with your prospects…and an ambassador to boot.”

“Well, that settles it!” Jaxyn declared with a grin. “I'll take the job!”

Stellan smiled, not sure if he was worried or relieved. “You'd better get packing then,” he suggested. “We're leaving tomorrow morning.”

Jaxyn nodded and rose to his feet. “I suppose I should,” he agreed. “And I'd better get it done tonight. Goodnight, Master Hawkes. Stellan.”

Declan waited until Jaxyn had left the room before nodding his approval of Stellan's decision. “I think Lord Aranville will do well at court.”

“I'm glad you approve.”

“It's not my place to approve or disapprove of your appointments to the king's court, your grace. I was merely expressing a personal opinion.”