Chapter Four

I Know Why You're Here

Part One

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In room number 9 at the House of Stelenis, Abrizhen sat on a cushion at the low table, sipping a small cup of dark, rich coffee and tapping his fingers nervously on the tabletop.

In his mind, he ran through various scenarios of how he might behave, of what he might say when Tamyn arrived.

Passionate embrace?

What if Tamyn had decided that the events of their last meeting had been a moment of poor judgment?

Abrizhen knew that he had overstepped several times during that encounter, been perhaps a bit too enthusiastic. He had practically proposed marriage when they hadn't even seen each other in eight years.

But so many things had seemed to fall right back into place, as if none of that time had passed at all. Still, he cringed at some of the things he had said.

Perhaps he should just play cool and let Tamyn make any first moves. Yes, let Tamyn say what he wants, and Abrizhen would do his utmost to comply.

He took another sip of coffee and swallowed too much at once.

As the hot liquid formed a burning knot in his throat and he began to cough, there was a disturbance in the air and Tamyn appeared, his arms linked with two unexpected persons.

Abrizhen jumped up in surprise.

“Kitzi!” he cried out.

He threw himself toward Kazia, but his path was instantly blocked by an intricately carved ebony cane. He glanced at the cane's owner and stumbled backward a step to stand looking at the floor in a humble posture.

“Mistress Thanelin,” he mumbled nervously, glancing again at her, then quickly at Tamyn and Kazia, who both regarded him with a cold reservation, before returning his gaze to the floor.

“Lord Devratha,” Amelys said sternly, “it has been quite some time.”

“Yes,” he agreed quietly.

Amelys stared at him intently for a long moment.

“You look tired,” she said finally.

“Yes,” he whispered.

Amelys looked around to all present.

“We all look tired,” she said.

“Why don't we all have a seat?” Tamyn suggested, extending a hand toward the table.

He turned the chair at the nearby desk around to face the table and as Amelys settled herself into it, everyone else took seats on the floor cushions.

Abrizhen suddenly reached across the corner of the table to grasp both of Kazia's hands in his.

She gasped and tried to pull away, but he held her firmly.

“No, I know why you're here,” he told her hurriedly, squeezing her hands together. “You get the strongest connection this way, don't you? Ask me anything. I won't lie to you.”

Kazia studied his face for a moment, then nodded and turned her hands to reciprocate his grasp. Tears began to form in her eyes.

“Are you alright?” she said, her voice trembling slightly.

“You're asking me that?” he said. “Kazia, when I thought you were -”

“What is your relationship to Yilina Vysda?” Amelys interrupted.

Abrizhen looked up at her in confusion.

“She's just an Alchemist who works for Father,” he replied. “Has she done some-”

“Is she your fiancee?” Amelys asked.

Tamyn shot Abrizhen a sharp glance, but Abrizhen only laughed quietly.

“No,” he said firmly.

“She and your father seem to think that she is,” Amelys said.

“She may think that,” Abrizhen replied, “but to keep her at his side, Father has given her all sorts of promises that he has no intention of keeping. I... may have let them think I'd be willing, for my own purposes, but only because I know it's impossible.

Trust me, if Father were to force me into a marriage, it would be the daughter of a Principal household or maybe a foreign Princess, someone who offered a major political advantage. It would never be Yilina.”

Kazia gave Amelys a slight nod, as if to verify his honesty, but then looked at him with expectation.

“There's more, though?” she prodded gently.

“I suppose you could say that she's been something of a friend to me,” he admitted, “if you can befriend a snake. She often... helps me with Father. She mediates - advises me on keeping to his good side. She's quite good at smoothing things over.”

“You trust her?” Amelys asked.

“Oh, no. Yilina is obsessively ambitious, and a true believer in this so-called 'reformation'. I'm not sure that she's entirely sane, and that paired with her formidable skills in Alchemy, she's... kind of terrifying.”

“That sounds like the girl I remember,” Amelys said with a sigh.

“You know her?”

“She was my student at Azeva Academy back then.”

Kazia gasped. “Mistress, then-”

“Later,” Amelys admonished.

“Was Yilina involved with the attack on the University, though?” Abrizhen asked.

“That is unknown,” Amelys answered. “We just received a report that made mention, and I wanted to clarify.”

Kazia's expression darkened momentarily.

“Don't worry about that just now, Kazia,” Amelys said gently. “I believe you have more to discuss with your brother?”

Kazia drew a deep breath and looked at Abrizhen with a pained expression.

“Did you have anything to do with that bomb?” she said in a rush.

“No,” he said adamantly. “I swear.”

“Someone...” Kazia swallowed hard, her chin wrinkling as her lips trembled and the tears began to seep through her eyelashes. “...someone I cared for... died...”

“Oh, Kazia,” Abrizhen breathed, tears of his own threatening now.

He suddenly thought back to what he had said to her at their first meeting in the castle, that no one would ever want her.

“I'm so sorry. Was he...?”

“I didn't say 'he',” Kazia said, her voice rough.

“It seemed...that it might be...” he said lowly, “It wasn't me. I promise you it wasn't me.”

“Did you know?”

“I didn't. I can't even think of anything that should have made me suspicious. I was here that night, they didn't give me so much as a warning not to go out.”

“Did you tell them about Eaphan?”

“Who is...?”

“You were here in the restaurant the night that a Valeskan refugee was brought through.”

Kazia's voice was low and measured, but she clearly strained to keep her simmering anger from boiling over.

Abrizhen only looked confused.

“I don't know what you mean...”

“It was that night I found you drinking in the banquet room,” Tamyn said softly. “That's what I was doing here. I went in to keep you distracted.”

Abrizhen stared at him in thought for a long moment, then shook his head absently.

“I was so drunk that night - even if I'd seen something I wouldn't have known what it was.”

Kazia suddenly pulled his hands forward and kissed his fingers.

“I'm so glad it wasn't you!” she sobbed. “I didn't want to think it could be.”

 

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