Chapter Forty~two

Not What I Expected

Part One

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Late in the morning, Tamyn went to see Kazia. She hadn't resumed work yet, so he found her in her apartment, still having breakfast. When she opened the door to him, she smiled lightly, but then gave him a sharp look and her smile widened into a beatific grin.

“I'm sorry to disturb your breakfast, Lady Kazia,” he said hesitantly. I can come back later.”

“No, no,” she said, still smiling widely. “Please sit, and have some tea.”

As he poured a cup for himself, Kazia sat staring at him with a strangely joyous expression.

“Lady Kazia, was there something you wanted to talk about?” he asked, returning her smile.

She coughed lightly and pursed her lips together, dropping her gaze.

“No,” she said. “It's nothing, nothing. How can I help you?”

“Mistress Amelys will be coming to speak to you as well, but I thought we should talk privately first.”

He took a bracing deep breath.

“Abrizhen wants to defect. I intend to petition the Queen on his behalf, and I'm hoping to enlist your help as well.”

“That is not what I expected you to say,” Kazia said, taken aback. She looked closely at him. “You've spoken with him then?”

“Last night... he requested a meeting.” Tamyn glanced at her shyly. “With me.”

“And it went well?” she asked, smiling again. “Clearly.”

“Lady Kazia, you seem to have already known... How do you know? Abrizhen told me...”

“What did he say?” Kazia asked.

She stopped smiling and seemed a bit panicked.

Tamyn sighed heavily.

“He said that you are a witch, and that you know things somehow. But he was very drunk that time.”

“That-” Kazia said crossly, but she then laughed bitterly.

“Well, I am not a witch,” she asserted. She looked at him with dire seriousness.

“Tamyn, can I confide a secret and rely on your discretion?”

“Of course,” he answered. “Just as I know I have yours.”

Kazia folded her arms around herself in a protective gesture and breathed deeply.

“I am an Empath.”

It was Tamyn's turn to be shocked.

“That is not what I expected you to say,” he echoed her.

“But-” he looked at her with a sense of curious scrutiny. “There are no more Empaths. No one has heard of one in ages.”

Kazia shrugged.

“My mother was the only other one I've known. As far as I know, I may be the last. There may be others hiding their natures as I do. I would know right away if I met another, but I never have.”

Tamyn looked at her in silence for a long moment. As incredible as this revelation was, it made sense, and it explained some of the mysteries surrounding Kazia.

“Do you mind if I ask,” he asked tentatively, “what is that like? I guess this is your 'condition'? Why you seclude yourself?”

Kazia nodded.

“It can become very unpleasant very easily. Most of the time, it's just like any other sense, or just another layer of communication, like your tone of voice. But when I'm around too many people, or even one person having very strong emotions, it can become like someone screaming in your ear. It's painful, and makes me ill.”

“But the medication that you take helps it? I'm sorry I'm so curious. Mistress Amelys makes that for you, so she must know all about this?”

“She and Madame Brandra are the only ones here who know,” Kazia answered. “Tamyn, you don't seem... most people are very uncomfortable with me when they learn of this.”

“Well...” Tamyn said, thinking for a moment of how to be tactful.

Then realizing that she could tell whatever he felt anyway, he smiled ruefully.

“It is unusual. I'll admit that I'm a bit embarrassed at what you must know. But I don't think any ill of you. It's really a bit fascinating. Not that I mean to examine you like some sort of...”

He blushed, then fell silent as he saw Kazia's expression withdraw and become unsettled.

“It's alright,” she said quietly. “I'm glad you're not afraid of me.”

“The Queen doesn't know?” he asked.

Kazia shook her head.

“I will have to tell her soon, I know. Especially... Tamyn, I tell you this now because while I can feel that you are happy to be reunited with Abrizhen, I can also tell that you're skeptical, that you doubt him.”

“No, I...”

“It's alright. You should. He can be very unpredictable. Only because Gorvan's hold on him is... it muddles his mind.”

Tamyn looked at her sadly.

“I know,” he whispered.

“You probably know better than I do,” she said. “The truth is that I never really got to spend much time with Abrizhen, to know him well. But I know Gorvan's methods, and what they do to a person. I can see it in him.”

“Kazia,” Tamyn spoke softly. “I'm aware of how Zhen has been treated.”

He hesitated.

“Was it the same for you?”

Kazia's expression darkened, and her eyes began to tear.

“No,” Tamyn said hurriedly. “You needn't answer. I'm sorry.”

“If you have doubts about his motives,” she continued, “I can help. If I can speak with him, I'll know.”

“That seems...”

“Intrusive,” Kazia said, nodding. “Indecorous. He would of course know exactly what was happening, so it at least wouldn't be dishonest. But if the Queen is to grant him shelter, she'll want assurances.”

“Kazia, did you plan this?” Tamyn asked. “When you mentioned me to him, you would already have known my feelings. Is this why you did it?”

Kazia looked at him evenly.

“To say 'planned' is giving me too much credit. I played a hunch. And only for his good, Tamyn, please believe me.”

She smiled bitterly.

“I would never like to feel that I was using anyone. But if I can get him out of there, I have to - by any means. I love him, Tamyn. I think that we are in agreement.”

“Yes,” he said quietly.

“I apologize for the turn this has taken,” Kazia said. “When you came in, you were just... radiant.” She smiled. “You were like a sunrise. I've spoiled it.”

“This was never going to be an easy conversation,” he assured her.

He stood then and approached the fireplace in Kazia's sitting room to look at the objects on the mantel.

“He loves you too, you know,” he said over his shoulder.

He took the pencil drawing of the horse farm in his hands and turned around. Kazia had turned in her chair, and now looked at him with her face alight in surprise.

“You drew that!” she exclaimed.

He examined the drawing closely, smiling.

“A requested gift for you,” he said happily.

“I always thought he had done it,” she said. “He didn't say that, but he had a number of drawings hung in his room at the Manor, and I always just thought he'd done them. I didn't know where else they would have come from.”

“He kept them all?”

“Will you tell me...? she asked hesitantly.

“Yes?”

“You were together, yes, I haven't misunderstood that?”

“Five years.”

“That long?” Kazia exclaimed.

“Six if you count that first year of skirting around it.”

He replaced the drawing on the mantel and returned to the table.

“What was he like back then?” she asked with a curious smile. “How did you meet? He was so rarely at home. When he was home, he was always so kind to me until... until something changed and then he wasn't.”

Tamyn smiled and took a deep breath before speaking, and Kazia refilled their tea cups as he began.

 

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