Leslie Moore - Griffin's Daughter

“ Tell me what happened, love,” Ashinji finally asked.

“ Oh, Ashi,” she whispered.

Numbly, she told him and then surrendered to the dark.

In a small, halting voice, Jelena told Ashinji everything that had happened. The trauma of reliving the attack seemed to drain what little energy she had left, for after she finished, she slumped against him and lapsed into semi-consciousness. He held her until he sensed that she had drifted off into natural sleep, then very gently began to undress her. Tears stung his eyes at the sight of the ugly purple bruises on her shoulders, back, arms, and face. After he had removed the torn remnants of her clothes, he tucked her into his bed, then undressed and slipped under the coverlet beside her.

As Jelena lay sleeping, Ashinji stared at the ceiling, his mind seething. The intensity of his anger terrified him, and he felt himself teetering on the edge of a dark chasm. It would be so easy to let go, to fall in and allow the darkness to sweep him away into madness. Only the anchor of Jelena’s love could hold him back and keep him from total ruination.

The moon had reached the mid-point of its nightly progress when Ashinji finally gave up all hope of sleep. He kissed Jelena softly, then slipped out of bed and padded across the room to sit on the windowsill. An errant breeze, laden with the scent of night-blooming jasmine, caressed his cheek. He raked his fingers through his hair and glowered into the dark, contemplating murder.

Killing his brother would be personally satisfying, but ultimately disastrous. The penalty for murder was death, so not only would Kerala lose its future Lord, but its only other male scion as well. The House of Sakehera would forever suffer the taint of fratricide. No, I could never put the family through that horror, he thought.

You’ll not die by my hand, Brother. But somehow, some way, I’ll make you pay for what you’ve done to Jelena.

I know I promised Jelena I would say nothing about us to Father and Mother until she found her elven kin, but damn it…that may never happen! The only way I can protect her now is to make her my wife.

He glanced over his shoulder at Jelena’s still form.

Not even Sadaiyo would dare cross that line.

He considered Jelena’s account of how she had prevented Sadaiyo from raping her. Somehow, she had managed to use her ‘blue fire’ energy.

Whatever it is, it’s growing stronger, Ashinji thought. She’s going to need professional help to learn how to control it…We must tell Mother. She’ll know what to do.

In three weeks’ time, Lord Sen would depart Kerala, bound for the capital, to attend the king’s council. Both Sadaiyo and Ashinji were to accompany him.

I must convince Jelena to marry me before we go, Ashinji thought.

Jelena stirred and called out his name. He returned to bed and kissed her for reassurance.

“ I love you, Ashi,” she whispered and drifted off again. He smiled. Only those who loved him called him by his nickname, with the singular exception of Sadaiyo, who never called Ashinji anything without attaching a measure of scorn to it.

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!”