Leslie Moore - Griffin's Daughter

“ Contract! Don’t you mean bill of sale?” Jelena shot back bitterly.

Like a charging bull, the duke rushed her before she could react. His closed fist connected with the side of her head like a hammer blow, knocking her to the floor, where she lay stunned. Blearily, she saw the toes of her uncle’s boots appear just beyond the tip of her nose.

Where is it? Where is the magic!

She felt herself being hauled to her feet by the back of her dress. Her uncle shook her hard, like a terrier shakes a rat.

“ Stand up, damn you,” he growled, holding Jelena under her armpits while she struggled to get her feet underneath her.

I need the magic! her mind screamed, but it refused to come.

“ Veii leaves for home in three days’ time. You’ll be going with him. Now get out.” Jelena stumbled as the duke gave her a shove toward the door. Dizzy and sick from the blow to her head, she barely made it out into the hallway before she doubled over and retched.

“ Gods! Jelena, what happened?”

Jelena felt Magnes’s arms loop around her waist to steady her. She turned and leaned into him, close to losing consciousness.

“ Gods!” Magnes exclaimed again. “Who did this to you, Cousin? Who hit you?” He gently probed the blotch of rapidly purpling flesh on her face. She winced and tried to pull away, but he held her firmly.

“ Come on. I’m taking you back to my chambers. You can tell me there,” he said. Jelena felt too sick and disoriented to protest. Instead, she allowed Magnes to sweep her up and carry her back to his apartments, a suite of rooms that took up half of the keep’s third floor.

Once there, he laid her down on a couch in the outer chamber. Jelena closed her eyes while he disappeared momentarily, opening them again when he returned with a damp cloth in his hand. He laid the wet, cool cloth on her injured face, and she sighed gratefully.

“ Tell me what happened, Jelena. Who hurt you?” Magnes asked quietly. She studied his face for a moment before answering. Magnes, so much like his father physically, had nothing of Teodorus in his own personality. The two men were a study in contrasts.

“ Magnes, remember up on the wall, you told me Duke Sebastianus was looking for a wife?” she whispered. Magnes nodded. “Well, he didn’t come to Amsara to get one.”

Magnes looked puzzled. “What do you mean?”

Hot tears welled up and spilled down Jelena’s cheeks. Magnes gasped in dismay and gathered Jelena close against him, cradling her head on his shoulder.

“ Your father has sold me to the Duke of Veii. I am to be the duke’s concubine, Magnes…his slave,” she sobbed into the soft leather of his jerkin. “I told Uncle that I refused, and that’s when he hit me.”

Jelena felt the curve of her cousin’s shoulder tense in outrage. “He can’t do this to you,” Magnes whispered. “I won’t let him.”

“ But he can, Magnes. He has every right to do with me whatever he wills.” Jelena pushed away from Magnes and wiped her eyes. Her head ached abominably, but her mind had focused more clearly now. “I can still refuse to allow this to happen to me. No matter what, I am not going back to Veii as Duke Sebastianus’s concubine.”

“ What are you going to do, then?” Magnes asked.

“ I’m going to go search for my father,” Jelena replied.

“ You what?” Magnes exclaimed. He took Jelena’s hands into his own. “Cousin, you can’t. It’s too dangerous. You don’t know anything about your father’s people. They might just kill you outright as soon as they discover you trespassing in their territory. You may not look wholly human, but you look human enough.”

“ I’m willing to take that chance,” Jelena said quietly.

Magnes shook his head. “How do you even know where to look for him? You don’t know anything about him, except that he’s an elf. Let’s suppose you do find him, and he rejects you, what then? Jelena, this is crazy!”

“ So what would you have me do, Magnes?” Jelena asked. “Go with Duke Sebastianus? My only other alternative is a dive from the battlements.”

Magnes buried his face in his hands. “Gods,” he sighed. “Of course you can’t go with Veii.” He stood and went over to a sideboard where an earthenware jar and two mugs waited. He poured cider into the mugs and brought them over to the couch where he handed one to Jelena.

“ The last of last season’s batch,” he said. “One of our best.” He took a long pull and wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve. Jelena chose to sip hers slowly. “Have you put any thought at all into this plan of yours?” he asked, sitting back down beside Jelena.

“ No, but then I just found out a little while ago that your father has sold me.” She made no effort to hide her bitterness. “I only have three days.”

Magnes rubbed his chin the way he always did when thinking about important things. “We’ll need some supplies and weapons. I can get most of that for us. The toughest thing will be a horse for you. We might have to go on foot.”

“ What do you mean we, Magnes?” Jelena set her mug down on the sanded plank floor and looked her cousin in the eyes.

“ I’m going with you, of course. You didn’t think I’d let you go alone, did you?” he answered.

Jelena shook her head vigorously. “No, you can’t. I won’t let you pay the price for helping me,” she stated firmly.

Magnes laughed mirthlessly. “You met the odious creature who is to be my wife at the feast last night. Charming, isn’t she? That is what I have to look forward to, if I stay-marriage to that shallow, stupid girl. It makes me sick just thinking about it. I could have killed her where she sat, for her cruelty to you.”

Jelena sighed. “Magnes, you’ve been my protector since we were children. If it hadn’t been for you, I never would have learned to read and write, or handle a sword, or shoot a bow. You and Claudia have made my life bearable. I love you, and I’ll be forever grateful. I can’t ask you to make this kind of sacrifice for me. You’d be giving up everything.”

“ You’re not asking. I’m volunteering.”

“ I can’t talk you out of this?”

“ No.” The stubborn set of her cousin’s mouth convinced Jelena that further argument was pointless, but she had to ask one more question.

“ Magnes, what about Livie? Are you willing to leave her like this?” Magnes leapt to his feet and began to pace around the room. Jelena could sense the great tension within him as he appeared to struggle with some unresolved problem, a dilemma that weighed heavily on his mind. Finally, he turned to face Jelena, and she could see in his eyes that he had come to a painful decision.

“ I’ve loved Livie for as long as I can remember, Jelena. Truth is, though, the only way we could be together would be terribly unfair to her. She deserves a husband and family, a life that I can’t give to her now. If I leave, then she’ll be free to find a good man who can give her those things.”

Magnes’s words tore at Jelena’s heart. Why did the world have to be so full of cruelty to those who least deserved it? Jelena rose and embraced her cousin. They stood with their arms around each other for a long while, drawing comfort from the bond and closeness they shared. They had always been allies and would continue to be, well into an uncertain future.

“ There’s something else I need to tell you about,” Jelena said when they at last broke their embrace.

“ By the look on your face, I can see that, whatever it is, it’s big, and it’s got you worried,” Magnes responded. He sank back down onto the couch, pulling Jelena with him. “Tell me,” he prompted gently.

Jelena paused to gather her thoughts. How could she explain what she herself did not understand? For an instant, she was filled with uncertainty. What if her cousin reacted to her words with horror and rejected her? She didn’t think that she could survive that. Then, she looked into his eyes, so like the color of the rich Amsaran soil that he loved, and saw there only love for her. Her fear evaporated. Magnes would never judge her, no matter what.