The Pirate and the Amber Cat 38

Chapter 38

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The rest of the evening had passed without further mention of Cortleno or pirates in general. Suili took her obligatory place at Juriz's arm, a purely mechanical move that she hoped would demand little contact. When Maren was occupying Domici, Juriz attempted to apologize to her for fabricating the story about her being ill, but she waved away his excuse. She claimed he had only done what he believed necessary, that she didn't blame him in the least. The words seemed to stick in her throat.

Her low tone edged on contempt, but she kept from crossing that tenuous, unmarked line. Even more, she had enjoyed Juriz's thinly concealed distress when he tried to discredit Cortleno as serving King Gade in any manner. Domici was confused, he told her. Surely he had not meant Cortleno Ve D'Arkaise, not the brute who had terrorized her. She wanted to voice that while he was long-winded, Domici was also accurate in his military recounts, but she refrained.

She had pretended to let him pacify her in that belief, had smiled engagingly at the right instances, and excused herself to her rooms at the first opportune moment. After a very brief bath, she sat at the desk in her private parlor to continue an ambition she had given thought earlier that week.

The ivory and gold stylus in her hand poised over the parchment, its indigo ink collecting at the tip as she hesitated. To approach King Gade directly with Juriz's crime of slavery was a threat to her own future. An accusation by her hand would be considered more thoroughly than any allegation a pirate could make, and it was that consequence that made her pause.

She blotted the pen before it dripped and pondered the parchment again. If Juriz suspected her unfaithful but true charges she would be removed as any other burr in the cold-hearted Shaenen skin. It was not time yet, she reasoned. Better to wait until Juriz was called to court in his capacity as advisor, where she would have the security of her fellow countrymen.

She put the stylus down slowly. With such a charge presented in person, King Gade must offer her a protective immunity until the mines were investigated. It would be a swifter trial under her accusation than one made by Cortleno, she knew, and Juriz would not have time to whisk the slaves from mine to mine as he had earlier.

She sat back in the brocade upholstered chair, hearing the maid add wood to the bedchamber fire to dry the damp chill in the night air. It would be so much easier if Cortleno had followed through with his fatal confrontation with Juriz. She would be a widow, and that would settle so many matters. By returning Joshan she had extended her marriage to a natural end.

A smile crossed her face as she recalled the boy's eagerness that night. He would be going home after two long years in the mines. Even without the experience of motherhood herself, Suili could sympathize with the grief of losing a son—two sons, in fact—to such a bitter life. They would be on their way home now, or at least soon, after all of Cortleno's men returned from trailing.

Nothing in her life had given her as much satisfaction as helping Joshan that night and she knew she would think the same even if she had been found out. It was worth the risk, and the loss of the coveted jewels. And of the horse. She sighed, thinking of Juriz's heavy words before supper when he told her the gray gelding had to be put down.

She knew it would happen. When they crossed the moat in the haze of the very early morning twilight she had felt him stumble. A hoof twisted. He didn't go down, but his stride was shorter and no longer gallant. The long ride had left her numb, both physically and emotionally, and she hoped he too was as dazed. She had made one final visit to his stall for a brief moment. She had whispered in his ear her heartfelt thanks before the stableman had shown the horse mercy.

She went to the bedroom as the maid awaited further instructions, but she was oblivious to the girl. She had never run a horse to death, never demanded more heart than an animal had, and the feeling sickened her. She dismissed the maid and sat alone on the embroidered bedspread.

The ride had left her exhausted, a fatigue that didn't dissolve in the mere two hours of sleep before she had to rise and join Juriz for breakfast that morning.

Now the continuing weariness she had fought all day couldn't be ignored or counted as melancholia from news about the horse's death. She took off the signet ring as she had every night since Juriz had given it to her and put it on the dressing table. She couldn't bear to wear it any longer than absolutely necessary when she knew the mark was carved into Brons and Joshan's arms.

She untied the amber cat from under her slip and smiled at its low shine in the moons' light. Some day, she promised it silently, she would not keep it tethered out of sight.