Forest of Ruin (Age of Legends 3)

"I do not doubt that. Even alcohol can influence behavior. My shock, Kitsune, comes from the fact that after receiving such a threat, you still believed he had no intention of actually forcing you to marry me."

"He did not. As he said, it was a matter of political posturing."

"And he would never insist on your marrying me to accomplish the other purpose?"

"What other purpose?"

She had to shake her head sharply before she could find the words. "To produce heirs."

His mouth opened. And stayed that way.

"I did not make the connection," he said finally.

"Between marriage and babies? By the ancestors, Gavril, I find it hard to believe you spent two summers in barracks and can still be so naive. Your father hoped to push you into taking me as a lover, and when that failed, he moved to marriage. He wants heirs."

"From a Keeper? To force one to bear his grandchildren is an insult to the goddess and to the ancestors and . . ." He seemed to run out of words, sputtering into silence.

"To your father, an arranged marriage is a fact of life. You would wed me, and I would do my duty as a wife."

Silence for at least ten paces.

"The shadow stalkers have escaped his camp," she said.

"What?"

"I am reverting to the original topic of discussion. Your reasoning is sound. Your father would not risk killing you before you produce an heir. Therefore, he did not set those shadow stalkers on our captors. The shadow stalkers escaped."

"My father would never be so careless."

"Then the magics have gone awry. I told you to make note of the wagon driver. Something is wrong there, some reason the stalker is trapped. Think of Toman. His condition--and the similarly affected rodents--are a sign that the magics have unwanted consequences. Ashyn, Tyrus, and I saw more of that on our journey to Fairview. We met monks conveying mummies to a shrine. Spirits had become trapped within the corpses."

"How is that connected to this?"

"The monks had passed close to Fairview, presumably as the shadow stalkers were loosed on the town. The magics are too strong even for your father. He has, presumably, left others in charge of his undead army?"

"Sorcerers, yes. They cannot raise the stalkers, but they can control them."

"Or fail to control them."

He nodded grimly. "Yes."

"The question now is, do we flee to the imperial city? Or return to your father as planned?"

He fell into silence as they tramped along, the morning light illuminating an empty plain and equally empty path, leading nowhere. She looked over at him and caught something like panic on his face. Both choices were equally dangerous, equally difficult.

She softened her voice. "Tell me what you'd like to do, Gavril. Even if we cannot do it. Let's begin there."

"What's the point?" he said, his voice hollow with bitterness.

"Just tell me."

"You already know." He looked straight ahead. "I told you in the courtyard, Keeper. I admitted to my cowardice, and I'll not do it again."

The imperial courtyard. The night she'd discovered his betrayal. She'd been taking the seal to the library to have it identified, and she'd found Gavril in the gardens. He'd been out of sorts, fevered even, telling her he was leaving and asking her to go with him, bring Ashyn, forget everything and leave the problem in the emperor's hands and flee with him.

She'd thought he was unwell and overworked from the journey. She'd shown him the seal and told him her intentions. He'd tried to stop her, but not hard, seeing she was resolved. He'd only asked her to spend a little time with him before she researched the seal. Before she discovered what it meant. That's what he'd wanted. Some last time together before she realized his betrayal.

"Oh," she said. And that was all she could manage.