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.I was startled from my reverie by a knock on the door to my room."Yes?"Rei opened the door, his long hair windblown and cheeks flushed."Everyone arrived safely.One of the maids is preparing a room for Zane in the northern set," he informed me."Your mother has been staying in her own rooms, so we haven't had any trouble keeping Zane out of her sight." He stepped inside and closed the door behind him."Danica, you're pale as a dove."I put a hand to my cheek and felt the chill of my skin."I'm frightened." Rei caught my hand and raised it to his lips."I will keep you safe." The words were a promise."Even if it means defending Zane Cobriana from my own people so you can end this war as your ancestors should have, I will protect you." He sighed."Do you believe me?""I believe you," I answered.I knew my smile was tired."Good night, Danica.""Good night," I bid him softly.He left, though I knew he would not be going far.He would not leave anyone else to guard my doorway with a cobra so near.I slept well.CHAPTER 13ANXIETY WOKE ME EARLY THE NEXT MORNING.I bathed and dressed quickly before meeting up with Zane in the hall outside my room.Andreios was exchanging a few last words with Zane, detailing the scripted ceremony associated with the naming of an alistair, which Zane appeared fairly amused to hear about."Tell me, do the three-year-olds usually honor these vows?" Zane asked glibly.Rei kept his control, but the tone of his voice when he responded was sharp enough to tell me that the comment was not the first one Zane had made."Yes, the decision is usually made when an alistair is that young, but he doesn't take the vows until he is ready.Hopefully you're old enough that they're clear to you," he added between clenched teeth."If they aren't, I'm sure — ""Good morning, Andreios," I said loudly, drawing both men's attention to me before someone was hit."Good morning, Zane." If the two men ever did come to blows, the fight would be serious — deadly so — and I doubted they would both walk away alive.I glanced toward the other two guards who stood in the hall with us, and added quietly,"Karl, Erica, stand down."Both radiated tension.Erica especially trailed Zane with her eyes as if taking a sight for a notched arrow.Karl flashed what looked like a forced smile."Relax, Erica.We can always say 'just kidding' and run for our lives."One of the lightest of tone among the Royal Flight, Karl had apparently been assigned to this job today to keep my mood from bleakness.His humor and voice almost served to disguise how raptly his attention covered the area, and particularly the cobra.Erica did not appreciate the humor."No disrespect, milady," she said to me with harsh formality, "but I will relax only when I am shown proof that he" — she nodded in Zane's direction — "is harmless."I glanced at Rei, silently questioning his decision.I trusted their loyalty to me, but worried that they might not go out of their way to protect Zane if someone meant him harm.In fact, both struck me as a little overzealous.He answered the unspoken question."I trust these two to be loyal to you without fault, and they've sworn not to harm him.When there are others of our kind around who might be a threat to your alistair, I will assign other guards.When you are alone with a serpent, I won't put someone in the way that might hesitate to fight him." Erica and Karl both looked flattered by their commander's recommendation and unflustered by the implication that they were less than fond of Zane.Since Rei himself had for a moment sounded regretful that he couldn't let them kill their charge, I found it difficult to fault them.Instead I looked at Zane, who offered a brave smile and a shrug.The serpent was certainly making an attempt to look harmless.He had abandoned his normal black attire in favor of calfskin pants so light they were nearly golden, and a loose shirt several shades darker.The brown tones made his garnet eyes appear less red, and his fair skin warmer.However, clothing could not completely disguise the smooth tension of his movements, so subtly different than any avian, or completely dim the fire in his gaze.I was dreading introducing him to my people."Milady, it is time." Eleanor was slightly breathless as she darted into the room, her cheeks flushed with excitement.Zane offered his arm, at the same time delivering to me a sardonic smile."This is going to be interesting."There was some carefully controlled surprise among my people when I first descended the stairs with Zane instead of Rei, but no instant fury.It occurred to me that most of these people had never seen Zane before, and unless they caught sight of the signet ring he was wearing or met his Cobriana eyes — something he had assured me he could avoid — they were unlikely to recognize him.But as I crossed the room to the slight stage in the back of the court, I could see the ripple of unease in those nearby.Instincts.Even a sleeping dormouse wakes up and knows when the cat is nearby; so it was among the court.Zane, for all his attempts to appear harmless, would never pass for avian.They looked at Rei, and at me, and at the other members of the Royal Flight who were standing nearby, but since my guards and I were not visibly upset, they assumed their own discomfort was imagined.Only the sight of the blood rushing from my mother's face as she fainted set my heart racing.Gerard caught her, looking a little surprised and unsure of what to do with his charge.Luckily, she had been standing at the far back of the room, and only those nearest to her had noticed.I would deal with her later.Now it was time to step onto the platform."Tuuli Thea Danica Shardae," Rei greeted me."You have chosen this man as your alistair, as your protector, of your own free will and without coercion.""I have." My voice did not tremble.Rei turned to Zane."Are you willing to swear upon your own spirit and the sky above that you will protect Danica Shardae from all harm?""Upon my own spirit, I will so swear.""And do you swear you will never raise voice or hand against her?" Rei spoke the words calmly, but the expression in his eyes as he met Zane's gaze fearlessly was anything but calm.Zane hesitated a fraction of a second; whether surprised by Rei's bold action or debating whether he was willing to so swear, I did not care to know."Never would I willingly harm the woman I love."Rei caught the wording, and for a moment I saw his jaw clench against the desire to argue.He knew as well as I that Zane had made no claims of love toward me, and that his promise not to harm the woman he loved did not protect me.Rei's gaze flickered to me, beseeching, and I gave a nod for him to continue.I understood Zane's hesitation, despite how unnerving it was; if it came down to a choice of him or me, he would defend himself and his people.He could not swear never to harm me without knowing whether peace between our two peoples would work."Danica Shardae is Tuuli Thea, and so when you swear to her, you swear to all her people," Rei continued, his voice sounding strained."Will you protect the Tuuli Thea's people as you would your own family, and risk all that is necessary to defend them?""I swear upon the tears of the goddess Anhamirak, I will do everything within my power to stop the bloodshed among the Tuuli Thea's people." In those words I heard sincerity at last, and though I did not know the name of the goddess to whom Zane had made the vow, I knew from his tone that he was honest in his words.There were scholars better educated than I among the court, and as I heard their frantic whispers, I knew that some had understood the reference [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]