Tivi's Dagger (25 page)

It was growing dark outside and the insects
were singing in the grass. Kari came finally to join me, holding
his palm before a stubby candle. He set it down on the floor and
rolled over to face me. “I think it’s time we made this bed truly
ours,” he said with a soft smile. “Don’t you think?”

I stroked a finger down his stubbled cheek
and over his lips. Then I replaced my finger with my mouth, and
kissed him gently. He’d been sucking the last of the sugar root and
tasted warm and delicious. “As you wish, my love,” I whispered, and
when he reached for the little vial of oil I knew I was finally
ready to give myself to him fearlessly and completely.

He took his time shedding my clothes and
worshipping my entire body with his mouth and tongue, teasing at my
nipples and belly button, and I laced my fingers through his thick
curls and sighed with contentment as he trailed his tongue upwards
once more to claim my mouth with some vigor. In the end he took me
as he had done that night beside the river, stretching me and
filling me and torturing me with long, leisurely strokes. Through
the fog of arousal I had to give him credit for his stamina and
staying power because he kept it up until sweat began to trickle
from my brow and my prick was like heated stone lying against my
belly. He wouldn’t let me touch it, and kept me at pleasure’s peak
until I began to beg him mindlessly for release. “By the Gods,” I
breathed, overcome, “fuck me harder. I won’t break.”

“
As you wish, my Ned.” He kissed me
once more and began to slam into me so hard that the mattress began
to inch toward the wall. Our moans and grunts made a sweet music
with the chirruping of the insects outside and I almost screamed
with ecstasy as my seed shot out of me, so hard that it decorated
the wall behind my head. Kari did not last long after that and
emptied himself inside me with a shuddering groan before collapsing
into my arms.

I lay there panting for a while, stroking
his hair and his back, not wanting to let him out of my grasp. His
body shook slightly and I realized, when I came back down to
reality, that he was chuckling.

“
You have a novel approach to painting
the walls, my Ned.”

I glanced back at the wall and began to
laugh. “I suppose I will have to start scrubbing once more.”

He kissed me and rolled onto his side, and
drew the scratchy blankets up around us. “It can wait until
morning.” Then he snuggled against me and I closed my eyes. Even
though I was hungry, and would sleep on the floor for the rest of
my life, I knew I’d made the right choice.

Chapter 14

Some months later, our little home had
become an almost fully functioning farm of sorts. Winter was
approaching and I’d traded my leathers — worn as they were — for a
pregnant goat, some scrawny chickens, and a belligerent black
rooster who strode around the yard as if he owned it. The cat, by
now sleek and over-fed, eyed the birds idly from his usual position
in a plant pot of crushed stems beside the door. I was now slim
enough to wear Kari’s winter furs and scratchy woolen tunics and we
made do with what we had, although I could not help secretly
mourning the loss of my fine clothes.

One day as I was on my knees in the yard
trying to rob the chicken’s nest of eggs, a courier came calling.
He knocked on the door then shouted over to me, wiping sweat from
his brow as it was a steep climb from the border road to our
home.

“
Do I have the pleasure of addressing
Nedim Melchion of Azmara?”

It was strange to hear my full name
once more. To our neighbors I was just Ned, a poor
tiyal
from Lis who couldn’t cook and
was frequently attacked by cockerels. I straightened up and ran my
hands through my hair. “That’s me.”

“
Finally. I’ve been sent from Azmara
with a delivery for you, courtesy of a Kelthras Amillian, and I
wanted to make sure this was the right house before having my men
cart all this stuff up the hill. Some correspondence for you also,
from your home.”

I went over and received the scrolls from
him, noting with a sinking feeling that the slimmer of the two bore
my father’s seal underneath the blue ribbon. I signed the delivery
invoice and took my correspondence inside, opting to open the less
enticing one first.

“
Notice of Disinheritance,” it read at
the top, just under the crest of the Melchion house which had been
painted in fine detail: a white lion on a blue flag with a sun
rising behind. “For flagrant disregard of family duty and immoral
behavior, it is with great regret that the House of Melchion will
no longer acknowledge any claim from second son and former heir
Nedim to the title, fortune, or lands associated with the House.
Nedim remains entitled to bear the name of the House for any legal
actions arising from this decision of the Divine Court of Lis.” The
date — some two months before — was carefully printed below, and I
recognized my father’s illegible scrawl just underneath.

No personal note inside, no inquiries about
my health, nothing.

It was nothing more than I had expected, but
it came with a sour taste of disappointment and rejection all the
same. I read the beautifully printed words over and over, struck
with the realization that I was unlikely to see my father again.
And if I did, he would not acknowledge me as his son and likely
shame me in front of whoever was around to emphasize his distance
from me. I shook myself and tried to forget it. What difference did
it make, anyway? I was living with a man I adored and making my own
way in life for the very first time. That was something to be proud
of, surely.

From outside came the squeak of a crooked
wheel and I surmised that a cart of some kind was being pulled into
the yard.

I turned my attention to the second scroll
just as Kari came inside, clutching the eggs that I’d abandoned at
the entrance to the chicken coop moments before. “What are you
doing, Ned? Why are those couriers unloading so many trunks into
our yard?”

Our yard.
Those little things he said made me happy all the time. I
pointed to the notice of disinheritance beside me and focused my
attention to picking out the tightly bowed ribbon on the second,
thicker scroll. “It’s a delivery from Azmara, along with this merry
correspondence. Read it, if you like.”

When I finally unrolled the second scroll —
a gold-trimmed parchment decorated along the edges with intricate
paintings of stars and bright blue birds and leaves — I let out a
gasp of surprise. A small scrap of a note fell to the ground but I
was fixated by the gold-lined letters of the parchment before
me.

Nedim Melchion and Guest are cordially
invited to the marriage of Lana (House Destar) and Brindar
(Formerly of House Melchion) at the Destar Mansion in Azmara,
Lis.

Wedding invitations in Azmara were simple —
everyone knew the sort of functions they were, and coming in one’s
finest clothes went without saying. The date was set to the first
day of the first month of the spring. Lana…and my brother. I shook
my head in wonderment and a growing happiness. I should not have
doubted her, but as I thought back to our pilgrimage I could see
how Brin had ever so slowly fallen into her clutches. Or perhaps
they had simply fallen into each other’s. I was thrilled beyond
measure that my best friend was happy and that my brother had found
the new life he had sought. It seemed, as I re-read the invitation,
that my brother had already given up his name upon the announcement
of their engagement and I was suddenly so proud of him for turning
his back on the Protectors, who’d ruined his life after all, that
tears gathered in my eyes.

Poor Kel — no doubt he was cursing us to the
stars but I had no doubts that my cousin would see the benefit of
the situation once my father entrusted him with the key to the
collection of rare tomes and scrolls he — and his father before him
— had gathered while they were still working men and out in
society.

“
Are you all right, Ned?” Kari put his
hand on my shoulder.

I picked up the note that had fallen at my
feet and grinned widely as I saw Lana’s poorly spelt
chicken-scratch looping all over the paper.

Ned
I am sorrie!!! I did not know Kari’s Full Name. But the Prynt Maker
did NOT accept only one. I had not missed the PEDANTRIE of Noble
Life for sure!!! Brindar and I are Happie but he is a Gentle Man
and will not allow me to begin his TRAINING until OUR WEDDING
NYGHT. Your Father was Most upset to loose his sons but He has
gained Kel and even found him a STURDIE WENCH to marrie when he has
finished his studies so Kel can DISPENSE with his WOOING BOOKS
thank the Gods! Azmara is KAYOS as always but the Common People are
happier because of LESS PROTECTORS PREACHING all over the Place
because They are in another Fyght for Leadership.

Kel wants to write our Storie!!! He says it
is a PROFOUND TREATYS OF LOVE and worthie of POETRIE or some such
academic non sense! Didn’t the Dragon bring us all GOOD LUCK!!! ? I
hope you are reading this whyle sitting on a WELL FUCKED BACKSYDE.
PLEASE come to our WEDDING!!! — Your Friend evermore, LANA
DESTAR.

I looked up at Kari with a smile.
“What
is
your full name? I
must confess I’m embarrassed to ask it after all this time
together.”

“
I was a monk, Ned. I’ve never had a
family name until now. Yours is now mine, as you are, although I’m
sure the lawmakers of Lis would burn their books rather than note
it.”

Mine
. I took
his hand and squeezed it, then re-read Lana’s note and chuckled.
“Definitely. But nonetheless, we have a wedding to attend in the
spring.” I glanced outside, recognizing the trunks that had been
piled up in the yard as my own. My clothes! I sighed with
happiness, my vanity sated for the moment. “And by the looks of it,
we’ll have plenty to wear.”

END.