Duty-Bound [ Lore of Penrua: Book II ]

47

Despite the wine and his true exhaustion, Matei did not sleep on his wedding night.

He lay for a while with his eyes closed until Mhera's breathing became slow and soft. He had heard her breathe thus before when she slept, first in Rhea's cabin, and also when they had journeyed together through the Duskwood toward Hanpe; that's how he knew when she crossed over from rest into sleep. When he opened his eyes, Matei was amused to see that she still slept in the same way she had when she was a child: her knees bent up underneath the blankets, her hand a loose fist held to her breastbone.

As his gaze moved back up toward Mhera's face, he noticed that the robe she still wore over her nightgown had loosened. Beneath it, the gossamer fabric of her low-cut bridal nightgown yawned open at the rise and the fall of her breath, revealing just a hint of the intimate curve of her breast.

Slowly, gently, so as not to wake her, Matei reached out two trembling fingers toward Mhera, and he tugged the edge of her robe down to afford her the modesty she had so carefully maintained while she was awake. He told himself his thrumming pulse owed to his fear that she might wake with his hands on her and nothing more. He was glad when she did not stir.

Then he turned himself to face away from her, doing his best not to disturb her rest as he moved, and he lay wakeful through the darkest hours of the night, gazing into the coals of the fire.

***

When the dawn light filtered through the curtains, Matei heard the rustle of the bedclothes at his back: Mhera, waking at last. She made a soft sound of discomfort and he felt her sitting up. A moment later, something tickled his neck.

For effect, he sighed and stretched his limbs. Mhera need not know he'd spent the night unable to sleep. He rolled onto his back and looked up at her from beneath heavy eyelids. "Good morning."

"Good morning," she said. She held up a length of ribbon. "It came loose."

Matei reached for the ribbon that had held back his hair. "Stupid of me to go to bed with my hair tied back."

"Stupid of me to go to bed without mine braided," Mhera said. With a sigh, she began combing her fingers through her long, long hair, smoothing it over her shoulder. "Did you sleep well?"

"Very well," Matei lied, smiling at her and hoping the truth didn't show in the shadows of his face. "And you?"

"Please never let me drink so much wine again of an evening," Mhera replied. She put two fingers to her temple. "I'm afraid I feel rather sick this morning."

He made a wordless, sympathetic sound. "You need water, then, and rest."

"There's too much to do."

"Believe me, Mhera; no one will think it amiss for us to lie abed a little longer the day after our wedding night. You can stay in here, and you should. Yesterday was exhausting enough—you needn't push yourself too hard."

"If you're certain," she murmured.

There was a gentle knock at the door. "Come in," Matei called.

It was a trio of maids. One of them carried a platter laden with tea and breakfast, another a pitcher of steaming water and a stack of soft towels. The third had a dress folded over her arm and a silver tray in her hands, upon which were arranged Mhera's brush, comb, and mirror. The maids busied themselves with setting out the food and washing things, carefully avoiding the sight of the sovereigns tucked into their bed.

"Her Grace will lie in a while this morning," said Matei, in no hurry to stand up in his nightshirt in front of four women. "Please see that she is not disturbed."

The three maids curtsied. "As you please, Your Grace," said one. "Has Your Grace need of anything else?"

"Thank you all very much," said Mhera with a smile. "That will be all."

With another curtsy, the girls backed out of the room, letting the door fall gently closed.

Mhera slid out of the bed, straightening her robe and cinching the belt more tightly around her waist. She went to the tray the maids had brought and poured two cups of tea; she carried one back to Matei, then sat down on his side of the bed, looking down into her cup.

"Thank you," Matei said, glad at least that she seemed less shy this morning. "I do hope it helps your head."

"Might I tell you something, Matei?"

Surprised, he paused with his cup halfway to his lips. He searched her face; she was not looking at him, but even in profile her expression was serious. Curiosity and foolish hope rose in his heart as he wondered what she might have on her mind. "I hope it goes without saying that you can tell me anything, Mhera."

But when she spoke, it had nothing to do with their marriage. "I Saw something yesterday," she said.

"Yesterday?" he echoed. "I'm surprised you had the time."

"It was just before the wedding, after I had dressed and was waiting for the bells. I was...anxious, and I thought perhaps I might See something to reassure me that this was the right course for us, Matei. That was my hope."

His heart sinking, Matei set his tea cup on the side table. "Am I to understand, then, that you did not?"

She looked at him, and her gray eyes were sad. "No. I did not See anything to give me hope."

Matei waited, trying not to guess.

"It was a darkness, a darkness all around me, and a terrible fear." She closed her eyes, shaking her head. "As I knelt there, I felt that I had lost everything dear to me...that I had lost something I would never get back, something I could not live without."

"What thing?" He reached out, closing his hand over hers, which rested beside her on the bed.

"I do not know." She opened her eyes again, her brow knit, as if she were still trying to See the vision that had come to her the day before. "I couldn't See it, and even still, I cannot bring it into focus...but it frightens me, Matei. It makes me think that all of our hopes for this world, all of the work we do and the troubles we endure, will come to nothing for us in the end. I fear that no matter what we do, some dark evil will strike us when we least suspect it, and our world will fall apart."

Matei pushed the blanket aside and slid closer to her. "You have told me before that the Sight is a fickle thing—that what you See is not always certain."

"So it is."

"Then do not let this shadow weigh you down. Can we not do our best to be happy?"

Mhera gave him a faint smile. "We can try," she said, "While we're able."

It seems our Matei has something on his mind. Whatever could it be, I wonder?

And Mhera has been bold enough to confess her frightening vision...She used to fear that speaking of her visions aloud would make them real...

With our next update, we're going to hop over and see what another character has been getting up to...