Just before sunrise, he closed his eyes and managed to sleep a little.
Haggard from the long, restless night, Ashinji stalked the castle grounds, searching for Sadaiyo. He had left Jelena curled up in a nest of coverlets, still deeply asleep. After what she’d been through the day before, he doubted she’d wake any time soon. Her traumatized mind and body desperately needed the rest.
Ashinji struggled hard to control his anger; only a cool head would serve him now. He knew Sadaiyo’s attack on Jelena had been, in reality, an indirect attack on him. Jelena as an individual was irrelevant; only the fact that Ashinji cared about her really mattered. It had always been Sadaiyo’s favorite method of assault-do harm to his younger brother by harming any person or thing that Ashinji loved. When they were children, it had been Ashinji’s pets and toys. Now, it was Jelena.
He found Sadaiyo down in the stableyard, taking inventory of the wagons that would transport baggage to Sendai. He noticed Sadaiyo favoring his left leg and caught himself wishing that Jelena had sliced a little higher and toward the center. Sadaiyo glanced up, spotted Ashinji, and limped over to where his brother stood, arms folded and stony-faced.
“ Come to help?” Sadaiyo asked mildly.
“ You know why I’m here,” Ashinji replied.
“ Let me guess. She told you I attacked her. Well, Brother, I’m afraid your little mongrel is a liar. She attacked me.” He pointed to his injured leg.
Ashinji stared at his brother with disgust.
“ I’m sorry you have to find out about her this way,” Sadaiyo continued, “but the truth of it is, she’s been pestering me for quite some time now. She came up to me the morning after my wedding and practically threw herself at me, begging me to take her as my concubine. I said no, of course.”
“ I don’t believe you,” Ashinji stated flatly.
“ Yesterday, I went for a walk in the woods,” Sadaiyo said, speaking as if he hadn’t heard Ashinji’s rejection of his story. “She followed me…practically ambushed me…then demanded that I take her on, and when I once again refused her, she pulled a knife and attacked me! I managed to disarm her but not before she took a few nasty knocks. Then she ran away, obviously back to you, so she could give you her version of what happened.” He winced for dramatic effect and rubbed at the wound in his thigh.
“ If this is true, then why didn’t you tell Father what really happened when you came in last night, instead of claiming that you had wounded yourself by accident?”
Sadaiyo shot Ashinji a pitying look. “If Father knew his favorite messenger had attacked the Heir in a jealous rage, he would have had no choice but to throw her out on her delectable posterior. I felt sorry for her, really. She can’t help it if she wants to be with a real man. But don’t worry, Little Brother. I’ve forgiven her. I promise I won’t tell Father the true story.”
A terrible sadness settled over Ashinji like a clammy gray fog. He stared into his brother’s eyes, searching for any evidence of remorse and saw only the usual mixture of amusement and contempt. “I don’t think I’ve ever hated you as much as I do at this moment,” he said slowly. Sadaiyo merely shrugged.
“ You are, without doubt, lying about all of this, but if Jelena goes to Father, he’ll have no choice but to believe you over her.” Ashinji paused to draw in a deep, steadying breath, then said, “Mark my words, Brother… One day, you’ll pay for this.” Ashinji turned his back on Sadaiyo and walked away.
“ Don’t you forget, Little Brother,” Sadaiyo called after him, “One day, I’ll be Lord of Kerala!”
Jelena had risen and dressed by the time Ashinji returned to his apartment. She sat on the windowsill, chin in hand, looking out over the bright rooftops. At the sound of his entrance, she turned toward him, face alight.
Ashinji shivered as a wave of remorse rolled over him.
It’s my fault Jelena got hurt! he berated himself. I should have done more to protect her!
“ What is wrong, Ashi?” Jelena’s voice brimmed with concern as she slipped down from the sill and came over to him.
He took her hand and drew her down beside him onto the cushions surrounding his dining table. “I’ve been with my brother,” he said.
Jelena gasped, and her hand flew to her mouth. “No, Ashi, you did not fight with him!”
Ashinji shook his head, hating to see such fear in her eyes. “No, no, love. I didn’t…although I wanted to very badly.” He paused, and took a deep breath before continuing. “Nothing but… shit and…and lies pour from his mouth. I knew he wouldn’t tell me the truth, but I had to confront him anyway.”
“ What…what did he say?” Jelena asked softly.
“ It doesn’t matter. What does matter is protecting you from him. Jelena, we have to go to my parents now and get their permission to marry. It’s the only way. Sadaiyo won’t dare try anything more if you are my wife. He may be twisted, but he’s not stupid.”
“ Ashinji, your father he is kind, good. But you…you are favorite son. He wants special…pure… elf girl for you. I am not special…”
“ Don’t ever say that!” Ashinji cut Jelena off before she could finish. He took both of her hands in his and brought them up to his lips. Tenderly, he placed a single kiss on each palm. “Jelena, you’ve given me the greatest gift that I have ever received…the gift of your love. I wish to honor our love every day with my body and my soul. I know you feel you are not worthy…of me, of happiness…It’s not true. You deserve to be happy. Allow yourself to be loved by me.” He leaned forward and breathed into her ear a single word. “Please!”
Something inside of Jelena seemed to shift, to melt. Ashinji watched her face intently as she wrestled with her emotions. Her hazel eyes went soft and unfocused as she lost herself in her thoughts, then they sharpened up and fastened onto his eyes, filled with a new resolve. “I do love you, Ashi, more than you know. But marry you now…I cannot. Wait! Hear me!” she commanded, raising her hand as Ashinji opened his mouth to object. “I want to marry you…so much, it is painful to me, but I must have a name first. Even if…I find my family and they do not want me, at least I will know who they are… who I am. Then, I will feel right to ask your parents to let me join their family.”
“ Damn it, Jelena…That may not happen!” Ashinji exclaimed, profoundly frustrated with her stubbornness. “I understand your need to know who you really are,” he continued more calmly, “but not knowing shouldn’t stop us from marrying. Once we are wed, you’ll have a name and the protection of our House.”
Jelena remained silent, looking tired, hollow-eyed and scared.
“ You are afraid of Sadaiyo, of what he is capable of. So am I,” Ashinji said quietly. “Have I ever told you why I believe my brother hates me so?” Jelena shook her head. “Sadaiyo had my parents all to himself for many years. I think he believed, naively, that they would have no other children and that he would never have to share their attention or their love with anyone else. My earliest memory of my brother is of him leaning over my cradle and spitting in my face. I was too young to truly understand just what that meant, but in time, I learned the depths of his hostility toward me.
“ Sadaiyo has always been very clever and skilled at tormenting me. I eventually learned to cope-to fight back, even-but it made life needlessly difficult for me.”
“ Why did not your parents stop him?” Jelena asked.