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ChapterEleven
Sebald
It was the most depressing gathering of friends I’d ever been a part of. But it was still a gathering of friends. Close friends. As we all ate the food that Lady Rozynov had so grudgingly had sent down to us from the palace, we fell into conversation, even laughing.
Magnus, Jorgen, and Hati seemed to understand that the meetings were over and all that was left was a social gathering. The only thing of even slight importance that they discussed for the rest of the meal was when a faire should be held and how they could spread the word as quickly as possible throughout the forest.
Lefric struck up a conversation with Gennadi, asking what else Gennadi had noticed in the house that he’d taken the seal from. It proved to be frustrating on Lefric’s part, because Gennadi had fallen into a mood where he didn’t want to talk. Jace finally had to put an end to that conversation with a few, snapped barbs that had Lefric looking hurt. Olympus seemed more than happy to console him, though.
Premila’s baby began to fuss in earnest, so she left with Ox and Katrina to go back to their cottage. Just a few minutes later, Katrina returned.
“Ox and I are going to pay a visit to Premila’s house to gather a few things for her,” she said, then glanced to me. “She accepts that she will never go back to that house and that she is your ward now.”
I blinked at the word. Premila was my ward. I peeked at Avenel, wondering what he thought of that. I had a pup and a ward now, but neither moniker felt comfortable to me.
“Thank you,” I told Katrina. “For being willing to do that for her.”
Katrina nodded, then winked at me. “You know, in Inverhaus, where I grew up, when a man became the protector of a woman who had a child already, that man was thereafter considered legally to be the father.” She grinned at me, then said, “Congratulations, Papa.”
My heart shuddered at the idea, at the implication of responsibility. But at the same time, the idea of being a father sent a warm feeling through me. I had never dreamed something like that would be possible, but it also felt like a matter of course.
A moment later, I caught the others looking at me and felt self-conscious.
“And here I thought Peter, Neil, and I would become fathers before anyone else,” Magnus laughed.
“You, a father?” Hati teased him. “How do you think you’ll manage that. I’ve never seen you look twice at a woman.”
“I never have,” Magnus said with a matter-of-fact shrug. “But we in the Wolf River Kingdom have ways of making the impossible possible.” He winked at Peter and Neil.
That comment set Magnus, Jorgen, and Hati off on a discussion about babies, how to get them, and the necessity of having them for the future of the wolf kingdoms of the frontier. Katrina wandered off to run her errand for Premila.
I glanced to Avenel, who had finished his lunch and leaned heavily against my side. We needed a nap. We needed to take off all our clothes and twine our bodies together, for comfort if nothing else. All of us needed a rest. Jace and Gennadi looked like they were about to drop, and it was only the middle of the afternoon.
I wasn’t the only one thinking along those lines.
“Er, I think Olympus and I are going to go lie down,” Lefric said, rising from the table as Olympus did.
“We’ll speak later,” Olympus told Magnus.
Part of me wanted to joke about what Lefric and Olympus intended to do once they were lying down, but I didn’t have the energy for that.
“I wish we could take a nap,” I said, looking at Avenel, but speaking loud enough for Peter, Neil, Jace, and Gennadi to hear, “but we still have something to take care of.”
I glanced across the garden beside my and Avenel’s house and on to the overgrown garden of the empty cottage. It was almost laughable that Barthold’s body had been somewhat visible through the entire ordeal with Lady Rozynov, and throughout lunch. Jorgen and Hati had moved it all the way up against the wall, covered it with a blanket, then heaped pulled up weeds and garden refuse on it to make it appear to be a rubbish pile.
It occurred to me that we could have just left it there. No one came through this part of the city most of the time, and if we ignored the body, it would decay or be consumed by scavengers and no one would ever be the wiser. Particularly since, by the sound of things, we were all about to abandon the cottages and head back to the Wolf River Kingdom, with a stop at Good Port first.
Silence spread through those of us left around the table, and I exchanged a guilty look with Jace. I also happened to look at Peter, who was watching me with an unreadable expression. That was another conversation I needed to have. We never had resolved things when it came to the issue of pupdom the night before.
On top of all that, Magnus inadvertently reminded me of yet another concern of mine when he said, “It would be reasonable to dispose of the body where it is, particularly if, as Sai briefly mentioned during one of our less interesting conversations, this area ends up being demarcated as a home for ambassadors to the Kostya Kingdom.” He looked right at me as he spoke.
For some reason, the question or suggestion hidden under Magnus’s statement was the final straw for me.
“I don’t know what to do,” I said, more distress in my voice than I wanted there to be. “Magnus, I get the feeling that you want me to become a permanent ambassador here, and I’m not saying that I don’t want the job, but I can’t stay here any longer right now.” I glanced to Avenel, my heart feeling sore and battered, and said, “Maybe we could come back in the spring. This does feel like a home to me. It’s a very special place.” Avenel smiled fondly at me, warming my heart even more. I smiled back, but I couldn’t hold onto the good feelings Avenel gave me. I glance to Magnus again and said, “I…I would like very much to take the people I am now responsible for home to…to Gravlock. If you’ll give me leave to do so.”
“But of course,” Magnus answered with a kind smile, much faster than I would have expected him to. “You have done quite a service to the Wolf River Kingdom these past two months. While the outcome with Sai has been disappointing, without your shrewd actions and assessments of the situations you found yourself in, it is unlikely the three most powerful kingdoms on the frontier would have sat down to meet like this.”
Magnus’s words had my insides twisting in knots. The three most powerful kingdoms did not include the Kostya Kingdom. My overtures to Jorgen, the ones that had brought him here, had been accidents. Nothing had turned out as it should have, and yet, I couldn’t deny the truth of what Magnus said about good coming out of the situation.
