“Indeed,” nodded Aysayn, sipping from his own goblet. “The thing was done with sickening ease, requiring no more than your absence and Ladayna’s assistance. It will not again be so easily done, especially through Ladayna. The time has come to teach her the consequences of spiteful, petty vindictiveness.”
“Perhaps you should not have taken her unwilling to your chambers,” said I, regarding no more than the goblet I held and drank from. “Had you left her to her own devices, she would not have been able to betray you—nor me.”
“Ladayna—unwilling?” scoffed Aysayn, stirring in his seat beyond Mehrayn. “Ladayna was most willing when she came to me, seeing herself with power and station far above any other wench in the city. The station was hers without question, yet power does not belong in hands which will abuse it. She attempted to ignore the restrictions placed upon her, and gave orders which were not hers to give, thereby attempting to usurp my rights and privileges without formally challenging me for the position. For this reason was she placed in silver chains, to remind the warriors about us that her word was not as final as she believed it to be. I now realize it was Pinain urging her to these actions, that he might replace me without having to face me. It was he who changed the guard before my apartments, intending to snare me upon my return. Had Ladayna not been so concerned with her anger toward me, she would have seen through Pinain and his urgings.”
“And yet,” said Mehrayn, “this fails to account for her having sent you to the Caverns, brother. Spitefulness does not condemn a man to a place from which there is no return. The emotion behind such an action is more often hatred.”
“Hatred was indeed the reason behind my condemnation,” said Aysayn, pleasure in his tone. “Pinain, not Ladayna, had my warriors take me to the Caverns; Ladayna merely named me impostor, childishly thinking that I would be thrown into the streets as though I were a beggar. After she returned to her apartments, Pinain gave the orders he had intended the entire time. This was told me by the warriors he commanded as my chief guardsman, all save my supposition concerning his thoughts.”
“Then Ladayna was a pawn,” said Mehrayn, his voice containing the same satisfaction which Aysayn had shown. “Her betrayal was no betrayal at all, merely foolishness.”
“Foolishness which nearly took my life, and her own as well,” said Aysayn with a good deal less pleasure. “I will be a long time punishing her for that foolishness, Sigurr take me if I do not.”
“An excellent beginning,” laughed Mehrayn, adding his amusement to that of the other males within the chamber. I moved my gaze from the goblet I held, and immediately saw that Ladayna had entered the chamber with a black-clad male as escort, yet was she considerably altered from the Ladayna I had last seen. Gone was the long, black covering she had worn, replaced by the red half-covering of a slave female. Too, the tips of her breasts had been dyed the red of a slave, and no longer was she draped in silver chain. No chain whatsoever restricted her movements, yet was she constrained by the trappings of a slave and the hand of a guard male upon her arm, which hurried her forward despite her deep consternation. Directly to Aysayn was she taken, and put to her knees before him.
“Have you completed your tasks already, wench?” he asked with visible approval, smiling down upon the female. “As you work so assiduously to please me, I shall now allow you to join the feast.”
“Oh, do not force me to remain here!” begged the female from where she knelt, mortified by the laughter and amusement about her. “Have I not been punished enough? Aysayn, I am in agony!”
“Agony of the soul is no more than that which you have earned,” said the male in a low voice, his hand beneath her upturned face. “You will learn to think and behave as an adult rather than as an overindulged child, else shall I release you to go elsewhere, likely as a slave. My patience with you is now exhausted. You will remain here at the feast, and will serve my guests and myself if your services are required.”
“Aysayn, you must recall your promise!” whispered the female urgently, reaching up to grasp with both hands the wrist above the hand at her face. “By cause of your other punishment, I am desperately in need of easing! You promised to see to me when my tasks were done! You promised!”
“Wench, I spoke of the possibility of seeing to you when your behavior was to my satisfaction,” he corrected, holding her anxious gaze with the steadiness of his own. “No promise was given you, for no promise need be given a slave. Should I find myself displeased, the time will be longer yet—which is all too likely to occur. How have you been addressing your master?”
The female’s gaze widened at the words spoken to her, and her full lower lip trembled. A long moment passed during which she seemed unable to look away from Aysayn, and then, at last, she ventured, “Master?”
“Excellent,” smiled Aysayn, releasing her face and leaning back in his seat. “Now let us see if there will be any services requiring your performance. Should there be any, I shall expect to feel satisfaction over that performance.”
“Perhaps there is one already awaiting her,” said Mehrayn, looking down upon the female as Aysayn had done. “Jalav was considerably inconvenienced by cause of her actions; does she not owe an apology over the matter?”
“Indeed brother, indeed she does,” agreed Aysayn with a grin as Ladayna shook her head pleadingly, stricken. “We must see to the omission immediately.”
“I was not inconvenienced,” I interrupted their amusement, swallowing the last of my drink before turning to my right to look upon them. “I was offered deadly insult, the sort which may only be wiped away with blood. Is it this wrong which you seek to redress?”
The two males quickly lost their laughter, stirring in discomfort in the same manner that Chaldrin stirred in his seat at my back.
“Should you count insult, wench,” said Chaldrin, “Aysayn and I are equally guilty of such actions. Do you mean to hold us accountable as well?”
“You two and this one beside me,” I said, nodding toward an expressionless Mehrayn. I then rose to my feet, pushed my eating board at a nearby trembling slave, then turned to face the three males with goblet in left hand. “Which of you will be first to face me?”
Aysayn and Chaldrin exchanged a glance the while Mehrayn studied his eating board. Another moment of silence ensued, one which spread throughout the entire chamber, and then Aysayn made a sound in his throat.
“Come, wench; surely you know we may none of us face you,” said he, great discomfort upon him. “Mehrayn and I, loyal followers of Sigurr, would be committing sacrilege if we were to draw weapon against his proven messenger. Chaldrin, believing as he does that Sigurr has turned from him, nevertheless also knows you as chosen by the gods. Even were he in full health, he would not again draw against you. Should you wish to end us all where we sit, you may do so; it is otherwise pointless to pursue the matter.”
“Indeed is it pointless,” I agreed, looking upon all of them and seeing their surprise. It was not known to them that all blood debts had recently been consigned to oblivion by another, one they were unacquainted with. “It is as pointless as offering apology for a blood insult. Had I considered the matter one to be pursued, apology would not have sufficed. Should it be your wish to continue tormenting this slave female, involve another in your foolishness. Jalav has matters of greater import to concern her.”