Blood of Azura

Part XXIX

Valdr's scent hung heavy in the air around her. The memory of his touch cold and unwelcome. Fingers. Fists. Lips. Teeth.

What had he become since she'd left him? Had he given himself over to darkness complete? Or had her distance led to a healing of his poisoned soul?

You are the only one who can tame the darkness inside me... I do not dare think what I would become if I lost you...

From the opposite side of the small room, Vala whispered something in her native tongue which sounded like a prayer. Fara wished, not for the first time, that she had defied the laws of Calate and learned the language of Leoth. At least then she would feel less crippled here in this strange realm, less impotent amidst this new world she now found herself in. She felt empathy for the Leoth woman, watching unseen and powerless as the male she loved was stripped of his honour and his innocence by her own brother.

'His friend spoke well?' Fara asked her gently as she rose and came to her side.

'He did. But it will matter not.'

'You cannot think like that. If this soldier spoke to his innocence then there is a chance yet that your brother and Paeris will see reason.' Fara looked at the faces of the council of Leothine. She could see neither leniency nor mercy behind their cloaked expressions. A chill swept through her.

'Even if that were true, it is too late. Before Elyon of Lethane spoke a word it was too late.'

'I... don't understand?' Fara shook her head.

Vala turned fully to face her, her expression dark. 'Because he confessed, princess.' Her voice was harsh and cold. 'Confessed to the most abhorrent transgression a Leoth male can commit.'

'What is...?' She could think of no crime worse than murder, than rape, than the defilement of a child. She had seen Theodan kill Galyn, kill many men in fact, but the other two... somehow she could not imagine him capable of either.

'To breaking the law of the Plenary,' Vala said. When she saw that Fara did not understand the meaning, her mouth tightened impatiently. 'The most ancient of our laws; dictating that any male of Leoth, who bears an Azurian female of age to its shores under a Plenary moon, shall be subject to the full force of the Dark One's retribution.'

Theodan had spoken to her of it. Of the risk he had taken in bringing her to Leoth. It seems the risk was even greater than she had first understood it. It was my failing. I should have been more careful. I ask that you forgive me.

'But... I am not...' Fara whispered '...he knows that I am not.' She looked into the chamber. Theodan stood tall and dignified, his eyes focused on the council, his proud frame belying nothing of his condemnation. 'Why would he do such a thing?' She spoke not to Vala, but to herself, to the Gods, to any who listened.