The Sorcerer's Concubine (The Telepath and the Sorcerer Book 1) (7 page)

“What is it that you like to do?” Velsa asked.

“I’d join the military if I could. Like Grau. Or maybe even the navy. I’ve heard that they’re building spectacular new ships in Nalim Ima, powered by steam. I know the seafaring life isn’t as romantic as it sounds, but I can’t help imagining. As it stands, I agreed to the marriage because at least it would get me out of this backwater.”

“Grau seems to miss the backwater.”

“But, you notice, he doesn’t stay.”

They traded a few moves as they spoke. Velsa thought the game was actually quite interesting, the way each piece had different ways of navigating the board. There was a lot of thinking to be done. Preya obviously had no interest in actually playing the game, though. “You’re really very pretty,” she said.

“We’re made to be admired,” Velsa said. “But I have nothing to do with it.”

“All the Fanarlem around here are kind of scary to look at.”

“Are there many Fanarlem around?” Velsa had seen very few Fanarlem since she left the House. Occasionally, they might pass a laborer or a servant girl on the street.

“We have two house servants and a few more working the farm,” Preya said. “They almost never speak but they’ll
stare
at you. When Papa said Grau was going to buy a Fanarlem girl I thought they were crazy. But now I see.” She moved a piece into a pretty bad position. “I suppose you’ve probably had an exciting life.”

“Not at all,” Velsa said. “I grew up in one building and we rarely left.”

“Oh. I imagined those Perfume Houses…the better ones, anyway…were a decadent party every night, with famous people stopping in, and music and wine…”

Velsa shook her head. “I was only in the House proper for two weeks, anyway. The mistresses of the house are nice, but they’re eager to get rid of us. I suppose eighteen years is a long time to sit on investments.”

“If you’re created specifically to be a concubine,” Preya said, “then how do they know, when they create you, that you’re really a girl?”

“They don’t,” Velsa said. “They have some tests, but sometimes they get it wrong. There was a girl in my year like that. She started out in the house of male concubines, but she acted like a girl, and said she was a girl, and talked like a girl, so they moved her into our House. Male concubines aren’t worth quite as much, so they get upset when it goes the other way, but there’s no use trying to sell a girl if she won’t act like one.”

“Did Grau tell you about me?”

“No…”

“I’m attracted to women. Not men.” Preya was blunt, but she said it like she was confessing a curse. Velsa supposed she was, considering how much flesh and blood people spoke of marriages and heirs.

“I’ve heard there is a house for Fanarlem girls who favor other girls, and Fanarlem men who favor other men,” Velsa said. “Maybe your husband would let you have a concubine.”

“But I still have to sleep with
him
. Besides, he’d hate that idea. He’s very traditional.” Preya looked sly. “Who would have guessed I’d be jealous of Grau’s concubine?”

Velsa felt a twinge of embarrassment, but then, Preya’s flirtation seemed so different than any man, even Grau. And she looked so very much
like
Grau.

“It is strange,” Velsa said. “No one ever asked me if I liked men or women. And really, they made it sound like we
would
be afraid of men and find them unpleasant.”

“Was it all right…with Grau?”

Velsa fumbled with her game piece, realizing she had steered the conversation in a bad direction. She had no idea Daramon women were so interested to ask about these things.

When Velsa didn’t answer immediately, Preya said, “He better not have hurt you!”

“No, no. We haven’t even…”

“Oh.
Really
?” Preya hissed. “Stars! You’re getting better treatment than I will when I marry
Morilan Hohren
.” Her tone was scathing. Velsa couldn’t imagine what the wedding might be like. Preya didn’t seem like the type of girl who could pretend to be something she wasn’t, not even for a night. “And Grau must be completely mad about you. Magic has always fascinated him.”

“I hope I’m more than just an interesting
spell
,” Velsa said.

“Of course. I always say the wrong thing,” Preya said. “I just mean that I think any girl Grau spent time with would need some magic in her blood, because that’s what interests him. He’s not very good with parties and dances, and he gets bored easily, and once he decides he doesn’t like something, he’s over the entire experience and everyone involved.”

Velsa had never noticed Grau getting bored. In fact, he seemed interested in everything, but she realized in their short time together, every day was a new place with new people. “I hope he doesn’t get bored with me…”

“I mean, like card parties. Frivolous stuff. We’re just stubborn. Grau and I have always been close, you know, being the youngest and the strangest members of the family.”

Velsa finally stopped trying to think about the board. “Your parents are really going to marry you to a man when you like other women?”

“Yes. I told Mama. I haven’t ever said anything to Papa, and I won’t dare, but it wouldn’t matter. Mama said I need to master my feelings.”

“I never realized flesh and blood women had so little freedom either…” Velsa’s understanding of the lives of real women had, until now, been confined to novels. Some of the women in novels had arranged marriages, but they always seemed delighted by them. Of course, the House library would not have been stocked with novels about women who defied their fate and behaved willfully.

“My brothers’ wives seem happy,” Preya said. “I just can never be happy marrying a man, especially Morilan. Still, at least he won’t own me…though I’m sure Grau will never treat you poorly.” Velsa saw denial in Preya’s eyes, as if she could not quite accept that her brother owned another person. But she didn’t seem to have any such qualms about the family’s Fanarlem servants. Because Velsa was beautiful and educated, they could forget that she had the same damaged soul as every other Fanarlem. 

“When are you supposed to marry Morilan Hohren?” Velsa asked.

Preya laughed. “Isn’t his name alone just awful? Oh, I have some months yet. I’m trying to think of another plan. I do wonder about the Kalanites recruiting women…but I’m not sure I trust Kalan Jherin. He’s the one who started all of this. It wasn’t so shameful to be a lesbian a century ago, but he promoted marriage and large families during the War of Crystals.”

“Everyone talks about Kalan Jherin,” Velsa said. “I thought he was the leader of Nalim Ima, not our country.”

“Kalan Jherin isn’t the leader of Nalim Ima either,” Preya said. “Not exactly. He’s the
Wodrenarune,
the most powerful sorcerer in all the known world, and the fates have chosen him to guide us. All the leaders listen to him, in Atlantis and throughout the islands, in Nalim Ima and New Sajinay… Nalim Ima is simply where he lives.”

“What is he guiding us to? Standing against the Miralem?”

“Yes, and one must admit he’s done a good job of it. I never know what to think, because Miralem women have so much more freedom and they can love whomever they want, but just the thought that they can get in your head with telepathy…” She shuddered. “And they think they’re better than us. It must be nice enough to be a Miralem woman, but it wouldn’t be nice at all to be a Daramon woman in a Miralem world. I can’t win.”

Velsa kept talking to Preya for hours, eventually winning the game to Preya’s indifference, while Grau spent time with his parents and brother. When they were still talking well past dark, Preya offered to style Velsa’s hair.

“Hair is my favorite right now,” she said. “I just bought a pamphlet showing all the latest styles.”

“If you’re gentle,” Velsa said, protective of her hair. “It doesn’t grow back. I need to wash it, at some point…” Velsa gently brushed all the dirt and dust out of her hair every morning, but over time it tended to look a little flat, especially lately with all their traveling and sleeping closer to Grau.

“I could wash it too! I’ll be oh-so-gentle,” Preya promised.

Velsa was happy to pass this task onto someone else. Her hands were waterproof, but not her arms, and handling water made her nervous. Preya heated some water and brought a pitcher upstairs to her room, and had Velsa lean back over a washstand. She was very careful, working soap and water up Velsa’s hair from the ends to her scalp so her face didn’t get a drop on it. Her touch was soothing, almost sensual.

Velsa thought again of Preya’s blunt admission that she liked women rather than men. This was still the difference between a girl like Preya and a girl like Velsa. Preya had enough freedom to realize what she liked, even if she couldn’t have it.

Velsa didn’t dare consider what she liked, beyond Grau. 

However, this was also the first time she had been away from him for any stretch since he acquired her, and she missed him by the time he came to bed late. She had already been sleeping.

They woke late, well rested. Grau sprung out of bed and parted the curtains. “Perfect…the rain is over. We can go out roaming.” Her clothes were pressed and folded neatly, as if by magic, but likely by invisible servants. Fanarlem servants, perhaps. She wondered what they thought, pressing the clothes of a Fanarlem girl.

Best not to think of that and cloud the day. She slid out of the covers, drowsily tugging on her pants. Grau wore a long belted coat, boots and hat, quite similar to her own outfit, and was entirely dressed before she’d placed a foot on the floor. He fetched some food from the kitchens and soon they were stepping outside, to the chill mist and beautiful rosy light of morning.

The sky today was mostly blue, and she had a better look at the stone house and barn, which stood alone with fields of grasses in every direction. Here and there rose forests of bushes, with long-necked water birds perched on the branches. Occasionally a lone tree stood, and farther in the distance still, soft hills swathed in low clouds. Out here, it seemed hard to believe the city even existed. Surely the grasses must go on forever. 

Wind whipped gently at their clothing. Grau led the way down a path cut through the grass.

“I can’t believe the Marnow land is sold,” he said. “And there’s nothing I can do.”

“How much does land cost out here?” she asked.

“I don’t know, but certainly more than I have, and what does it matter if Kalan’s army is willing to use any means necessary?” He thrust his hands in his pockets. “Reading the pamphlets last night, I saw that Kalan Jherin is also looking for sorcerers. It’s awfully tempting to try and go there, when my patrol stint is over. They say Kalan Jherin rewards his magic users very well.”

“Would you want to work for him? Considering all this?”

“I don’t really know if Lord Jherin is aware of what goes on all the way out here,” Grau said. “This must be a pretty unfavorable posting. I hear it’s very different in Nalim Ima. Even more cosmopolitan than Atlantis. I’d have the chance to work with some of the best sorcerers in the world, without paying for schooling, and if I manage to impress some higher-ups, perhaps I could assure the safety of this land.”

“In that case, why wouldn’t you do it?”

“Because any spells I develop would belong to him. I couldn’t take credit for them, and I couldn’t sell the instructions. Of course, spells are always pirated, so it isn’t as if I’d lose much money there, but…I
do
want credit.” He scuffed his boot through the dirt. “I suppose if I was a good citizen, I wouldn’t care.”

“Why wouldn’t he allow you to take credit for your work?” As she spoke, her eyes scanned the path. The grass all looked the same at a glance, but up close she noticed the monotone sea of brush was actually comprised of many different plants. Mixed in with the light brown grass were shrubs with tiny red leaves, and thorny plants with little black berries. She gathered a few different seed pods into her hands as they passed.

“I’m sure they’d say it undermines the unity of Kalan’s followers. Promotes jealousy. But I can’t like it. In business, you have to be a little bit competitive.”

She smiled a little. “I’m learning a lot about you here.”

“Oh? What did Preya tell you?”

“She said you get bored easily.”

“Well—”

“But you won’t get bored of me. That’s what she claimed.” She had never teased him before. It might’ve been a risk, but honest words slipped out so easily here.

“As Preya goes, I suppose that was pretty restrained. But I’m sure I won’t get bored of you. I knew from the first moment, something about you would suit me, that you’d like the marshes…” He stopped and took her hand, the one that clasped the seed pods.

For a moment she thought he might kiss her.

She wasn’t sure why she would think that. Men didn’t usually want to kiss the dry mouths of their Fanarlem concubines.

He was just looking at the seed pods. “You can use these for protection spells,” he said. “I like to brew them with the bark of the eagle trees, like that one in the distance. They make your skin more resistant.”

She half-smiled. She was thinking of kisses and he was thinking of brewing spells out of bark. She realized she was constantly preparing herself for the moment when he would drop this preamble and transform into the man she had always expected to have as her master, the one who saw her as a strictly sexual being.

Would he wait for weeks, months? Years? Until she made the first move?

She wondered what he would do if she kissed him. But no one had trained her for that.

“What would you think about going to Nalim Ima?” he asked.

“I don’t know much about it. I don’t think we had any customers from there. It’s pretty far away, isn’t it?”

“Yes. It’s a large island across the sea.”

“What do they…think of Fanarlem concubines there?”

“I really don’t know. It would be an adventure, and if it was really terrible I guess we could come home. I can always sell fish if I have to.”

He came to a spot where the path curved and sloped downward. It was really less of a path and more of a puddle by now, after the rains.