For the first several heartbeats, Vambran simply sat there and stared, having a hard time believing his own eyes. Then, drawing a deep and ragged breath, Vambran grabbed her and hugged her, just letting the emotions wash over him. Xaphira hugged him back, and they simply held that for a long moment.
Everything that had happened, all the guilt and sorrow he'd felt in the intervening years since the night she'd left, just welled up inside the mercenary, and he felt twelve years old all over again. It took him a moment to realize he had tears in his eyes.
Finally, Xaphira pulled away.
"Now," she said, "I know you have questions, but they have to wait. I'm with Kovrim. He needs to talk to you. He's hiding on the porch of a shop over on the next block and around a corner. There are people after him."
"Uncle Kovrim?" Vambran said, stiffening in alarm and half rising to his feet. "Where is he? What's the matter?"
The woman held her hands up and gestured for Vambran to calm down.
"Easy, there. Keep your voice down." As the lieutenant relaxed, she continued, "He's fine. But we all need to talk. It's urgent."
Vambran nodded and stood.
"Let's go," he said. "Tell me what's happened on the way."
"He found out what the temple is involved in," Xaphira said, also rising. "He was trying to get to you to tell you, and they tried to stop him."
"Is it House Pharaboldi?" Vambran asked.
"Yes, among others" Xaphira replied. "There's a lot more to this than you realize, but now's not the time. He's still in danger, and we've got to get him somewhere safe. I tried to talk him into going into hiding and just letting me tell you, but he refused. He wants to talk to you himself."
"Who are the other Houses?" Vambran insisted.
"First we go to him. Then you can talk about the larger problem."
"Who?" the mercenary demanded.
Xaphira sighed again.
"Ours," she answered quietly. "Matrell. And Talricci. They're all three in it together."
"Oh, hells," Vambran muttered. "Uncle Dregaul…" Then, realizing he had left Emriana by herself, he swore again. "I've got to go," he said. "They don't know."
"Vambran, wait!" Xaphira begged, grabbing her nephew by the arm. "You can't fight them all by yourself. Kovrim and I can help, but you have to wait for us."
Vambran stood indecisively, knowing the woman was right but feeling a panicky need to race back to the estate. He'd just left Emriana, left all of them. And they didn't have a clue. His desperation was overwhelming him. But he needed allies. With a great effort, he turned back to Xaphira.
"All right," he said. "Let's get him. And we don't stop until we're back at the house."
The two started walking quickly, Xaphira taking furtive looks everywhere as they traveled. She had rewound her mask around her head and drawn up her hood. Vambran kept pace with her easily, though he wondered why she seemed so jumpy. He had a million questions he wanted to ask her.
"Is Kovrim all right?" the mercenary finally asked.
"He is, but only because of some dumb luck. That, and the fact that I was there to help him."
That relieved Vambran-for a moment.
"Wait!" he said, stopping in the middle of the darkened street. "I know you've been following me since I got back into the city. It was you at the wagon yard, and again last night at the warehouse. But why? You've known something was going on for a while, now."
Xaphira raised her hands and again gestured for her nephew to calm down.
"Keep your voice down," she said, reaching out and taking his hands in her own. "Yes, I have, but I couldn't risk revealing myself too soon. There's so much more going on here, Vambran. I want to tell it all to you, but you've got to trust me that now is not the time for all this. Come on."
They continued on, keeping their pace quick without actually running. When they reached the porch where Xaphira had left Kovrim, he wasn't there.
"Now, where did he get to?" Xaphira murmured, peering in both directions. "He promised me he would stay right here and wait for me."
"Something happened," Vambran said, the panic rising again. "The men who were after him must have discovered him. We've got to find him." The mercenary struggled to keep a clear head. He was torn with fear for both his uncle and the rest of his family. He hated that he was being forced to choose who to rescue first.
"Listen " Xaphira said. Vambran cocked his head, holding perfectly still. There was a shout, muffled but distinct enough that he could tell it was coming from the alley behind the shop.
"Come on," Xaphira and Vambran both said at the same time, jumping off the porch and rushing down the street toward the corner. The pair of them raced around to the back and into the alley.
Kovrim was there, surrounded by perhaps a dozen men. Several of them were pointing crossbows at the priest.
CHAPTER TWELVE
"I can't believe he would do this to me!" Emriana sobbed, her face buried in her pillows. "He never even talked to me about it!" Jaleene sat beside her charge, gently stroking her hair and trying to soothe the girl with soft sounds.
"Your grandmother would never let this happen," the handmaiden said. "When she finds out, she'll put a stop to it."
Emriana sniffed and said, "Grandmother Hetta doesn't seem to know what's going on."
The thought occurred to her then that perhaps her grandmother was in agreement with Dregaul, that the two of them had made the decision together that she should marry Denrick. As ridiculous as that seemed, especially after the conversation the girl had had with the elderly woman only two short days before, the notion left a cold hole in the middle of her stomach. She began sobbing again, feeling like her world was crashing down around her.
When Emriana had first pieced together what her uncle had announced, she didn't believe it. She didn't think that she was remembering correctly. But there was Denrick, climbing the steps and greeting Dregaul warmly, that sickly wolfish smile on his face. And she knew. In her heart, she realized that Uncle Dregaul had sealed the business relationship with her life. He had promised Denrick that the boy could have her, as though she were some prized horse or plot of land. And she understood, too, then, in that terrible moment of realization, that Jithelle Skolotti had been slain, had been murdered with Denrick's unborn child in her womb, because the heir to House Pharaboldi was to wed Emriana. The poor servant girl had died because Emriana Matrell was waiting in the wings. It made her physically sick.
She ran, then, turned and fled the balcony, dashing past both Dregaul and Denrick, who looked on with a mixture of surprise and amusement. Dregaul called to Emriana, shouted at her, demanded that she return and show proper deference, or some such nonsense, but she ignored him and ran, all the way back to her rooms.
Jaleene had arrived a few moments later, having been a witness to the whole thing, and was trying to calm her.
"Hush, Em," the woman soothed. "It's going to be all right."
Emriana sat up and looked at her companion.
"How can you say that?" she wailed softly, her eyes burning with tears. "They killed that poor girl because of me. Uncle Dregaul probably knew about it. He probably insisted on it before he would agree to the merger. What am I going to do? He's already planned my future for me, with that, that-"
"That what?" came a voice from the doorway to the balcony. It was Denrick, standing there looking in, a faint smile on his face. "What am I?" he asked.
Emriana physically recoiled from the boy, even though he was halfway across the room leaning casually against the frame of the door.
Jaleene got up and moved to stand between the intruder and her charge.