Lord Kaspar’s face drained of all colour, his eyes wide and terrified on Simon’s fists, as a sudden pool of wetness stained the front of his trousers. Earning a derisive snort from Simon, and a cold, terrifying laugh from John.
“You are conquered on all sides, you cheap fool,” John hissed. “Now yield. Atonce.”
Lord Kaspar finally seemed to wilt, his shoulders dropping, his lips mouthing uselessly, his bulging eyes still fixed to Simon’s huge fists. “I —” he choked. “Fine. I — I concede. I’ll do it.”
Rosa exhaled, harsh and shuddery, the relief so visceral she felt herself collapse back into John’s solid strength. Lord Kaspar would do it. He would try to stop the war. She’dwon.
At that very moment, the library’s front door flew open behind him — and in strode Susan, the library’s morning-maid. Looking blithe and bright-eyed as she shut the door behind her — until she turned around, caught sight of the four orcs, and screamed.
It was shrill, deafening, piercing through the room. And at the sound, Lord Kaspar’s already-swaying body tilted, swerved, and staggered — and then dropped to the floor in a dead faint.
39
The next few moments were pure chaos. Consumed by Susan’s bout of hysterics, Salvi’s frantic attentions to Lord Kaspar’s limp body, and Simon’s loud, uncontrollable guffaws of laughter.
Rosa focused on calming Susan, a task which proved deeply infuriating, particularly as Susan kept threatening to call various guards and regiments to forcibly oust the orcs from the library. A vision of blood and ruined books that still curdled Rosa’s insides, and even her sternest scolding wouldn’t seem to shut Susan up, especially once she realized that the prostrate form on the floor at the orcs’ feet was none other than Lord Kaspar himself.
Finally Salvi managed to revive Lord Kaspar, who then proceeded to vomit onto Lady Scall’s expensive shoes. Earning in return a fierce, eloquent earful from Lady Scall about pathetic lords who couldn’t control themselves, or accept when they’ve been defeated, or stop contributing to the unholy stench that emanated from this damned odious library.
Lord Kaspar soon sat up, clutching his head, and yelled at Susan to stop screaming, unless she wanted to be bodily hurled under the wheels of the next passing wagon. Which gained them all a moment’s respite, at least until Lord Kaspar fainted again, and Simon broke into more hoots of uproarious laughter, while Susan launched another chorus of ear-splitting wails, and John — who was standing beside Rosa, his arms crossed tight over his chest — appeared on the verge of tearing someone’s head off, probably Susan’s, or Simon’s, or Lord Kaspar’s, or all three.
“You should go, John-Ka,” interrupted Tristan’s voice, close behind John. “We shall address the rest of this from here, ach?”
John’s angled glance down at Tristan was sheer, unabashed gratefulness, and he immediately nodded, his hand clasping at Rosa’s arm. “I thank you, my brother,” he said, low and fervent. “Come, pet.”
Rosa twitched and blinked at him — come,pet, he’d said — and his taut form seemed to brace even tighter, his eyes briefly closing. “I ought to say,” he amended, his voice thick, “should you wish to come with me, Rosa, I should be honoured to bring you home. To our mountain.”
Home. To ourmountain. Every word a deep striking bell, ringing turbulent and powerful, and Rosa stared at John, at the bared, naked uncertainty in his eyes. Waiting for her to speak. To —choose.
Rosa’s eyes kept blinking, prickling with sudden whispering hope, and her head somehow jerked a nod, all on its own. Flaring a surge of unrestrained relief across John’s face, and within a breath he snatched her up into his arms, close, warm,safe.
“I shall meet you at the mountain, brother,” he said to Tristan. “Again, I thank you.”
Tristan only beamed at them with unmistakable satisfaction, and then turned back toward Salvi, who was currently cursing at Lord Kaspar’s still dead-eyed face. A sight that made Rosa grimace, and thankfully John abruptly spun away, hoisting her closer as he strode for the door.
Rosa watched him open the door a careful crack, smelling the air beyond, waiting — and then he sprinted them out into the sun. Into a world that had felt surprisingly bleak and empty, earlier that very morning, but suddenly looked lush and bright and alive, flickering with whispers ofhope.
John didn’t once falter in his stride, careening straight for the cover of trees. And as he dodged and leapt, darting over rocks and under branches, it was almost like time had slipped, reversed, turned back and forward and back again. All the way down to the familiar firm grip of John’s hand against Rosa’s arse, the relentless grind of his hip between her spread legs.
But it was different, this time. John carried no books. There were no more secrets. And this wasn’t a wild rescue mission, or a reaction against a night’s ill-thought weakness, or a foolish attempt to research a war. It was —what?
John’s gaze slanted down at Rosa, at where she’d been openly searching his harsh profile. And it was almost as though he could see her very soul, the awareness flickering across his narrowed eyes.
And with a hard jerk of his body against her, he stopped. Halted entirely, here beneath the dappled morning sunlight, caught in the forest’s whispering, watching silence.
“Ach, pet,” he said, his voice cracking. “I must — speak with you, I ken.”
Rosa blinked at him, her thoughts flashing back to Hanarr’s words that first day. We Ka-esh do not oft offer vows. One’s mouth may speak any number of empty words, but one’s acts speak only truth.
And John’s actions today had surely spoken any number of surprising things. He had come to the library. He had been there when Rosa had faced Lord Kaspar. He’d nearlykilledLord Kaspar, to keep her safe. And he’d helped her conquer Lord Kaspar, his truths fierce and blistering alongside hers.
And, too, he’d said those things to Lord Kaspar. All those lovely, impossible things, about Rosa being kept safe, and running her own library, and pursuing her own interests as a scholar. About her being the mother of the last of the Ka.
But he hadn’t said such things toher. Good gods, the last time they’d truly spoken, they’d both said all those awful things to each other, and he’d hollered at Rosa toleavehim.
She could see the awareness of that in John’s eyes, and he shifted her in his arms so that she faced him head-on, her legs twined around his back. His chest rising and falling, gently heaving her along with it.
“You ought to know,” he said finally, uneven, “the truth of why I first came to your library. I did not come to woo you, or harm you. I only came” — he sighed, and squared his shoulders — “to learn more of this foul man. We have long sought to research all these lords and their spoilt sons, and I have long wished to visit this library. So thus, I went.”
