Epilogue

EPILOGUE

The gods give no gifts without expectations.

~ "Foundations III" Scribe Menalow

The taybarri waited in the courtyard of ranger headquarters while Kaylina looked for her brother. She glanced back a few times at the antics of the blue-furred youths showing the serene, almost sedate, elders around. More than a few watched her, however, and she knew she would have to make honey drops before getting any rest. Too bad. She felt like she could sleep for a week, if only the world would give her a chance.

She found Frayvar in Doctor Penderbrock's infirmary. It seemed to be his new home. It was even more organized than the last time she'd seen it. Someone had added shelves and cabinets above the cots, presumably to provide more room for medical supplies.

Since Frayvar had the carpentry skills of a hippopotamus, she assumed he'd drawn sketches and convinced someone else to do the building. Maybe a ranger apprentice? Given the chaos of the last few days, it was hard to believe someone would have had the time.

"Kay!" he blurted when she walked into the office in the back. "You're alive!"

"I am."

He rushed forward, and for a moment, she thought he might hug her. Instead, he thumped her on the shoulder. Acceptable touching, perhaps.

She resisted her own desire to envelop him in a crushing bear hug. Fortunately, other than greasy hair sticking out in all directions, chin stubble, and bags under his eyes, he appeared fine. Maybe the fighting hadn't made it past the walls of ranger headquarters.

"Based on the garbled reports that made it back, I… wasn't sure you'd make it." Frayvar looked her up and down. "The last we heard, the Kar'ruk kidnapped you."

"And drank my blood, yes. It was an unpleasant experience."

"Ew. That's not hygienic."

"I don't think good hygiene was their goal."

His nose wrinkled. "What was their goal?"

"Some kind of ritual in which my blood would… I'm not sure exactly, but some people seem convinced a druid hooked up with some ancestor of ours."

"Of ours ?" Frayvar touched his chest. "The taybarri haven't been standing at my window looking in."

She started to wave dismissively, but a snuffling noise at the panes made her glance over. Two sets of blue-furred snouts were pressed against the glass, and one silver-furred head also gazed into the infirmary.

"I promised to make them honey drops. Or I might have been bribed to make them. I'm not sure."

"You're not the best negotiator."

"I know. You're the one with business acumen."

"Which makes it puzzling that you keep running off without me."

"Are you upset that I didn't take you along for the blood drinking?"

"No. Being here gave me time to assemble evidence to clear our names." Frayvar gestured toward a desk with two pieces of paper on it. One held a list of ingredients. The other had a sketch of a woman who looked vaguely like Jana Bloomlong. The cloak and hood around the face were accurate even if the rest was rough. "There's a note from the poison maker too. I gave it to Captain Targon. He said he could get it to the queen when there was time."

"He did. Thank you."

"Oh, good. I couldn't tell if he cared enough to follow through. I was lucky Doc Penderbrock was with me. For everything. He and a burly ranger came along when I questioned the paint maker who crafts poisons on the side. You may owe the ranger a kiss as payment, by the way. For scowling imposingly. The paint maker remembered a woman coming in to buy this substance a couple of weeks ago." Frayvar waved at the list of ingredients—a recipe? "He was able to draw her. He also described her in the note and stated how many milliliters she ordered of Special Blend Number Seventeen, as he called it. He wouldn't admit it was poison, but I got the doctor to analyze it, and he said it definitely is. Oh, and the paint maker had seen your portrait on a wanted poster and said that if you give him a kiss, he'll go with the authorities to point out Jana personally. Apparently, she was snotty to him, so he didn't feel bound by the dealer-client pact of secrecy that's common in the poison business."

Kaylina scratched her temple. "Why do all these people want me to kiss them?"

"Your allure. Also, I'm trying to conserve funds, so I didn't have a lot to bargain with."

"Except my lips."

"Precisely. Among males of a certain demographic, they're a desirable asset, I understand." He shrugged, as if he couldn't imagine it.

"I've heard that," she murmured. "I appreciate the work you did."

"I should hope so. The city has been in chaos. I barely managed to get out for this research. Most of the time, I had to stay in and organize while planning a couple of additions to our future dinner menu. I made a grocery list. You can help me shop." Frayvar opened a drawer and held his list of ingredients up, the writing much tidier than on the paint maker's.

"There are more items than there were before. Can't you remake what we were going to serve the night of the fire?"

"I can, but that menu was revealed already. I don't want people to think we lack creativity, so I've added a couple of entrées and changed up the accompaniments. I've also talked to local farmers at the early-season market about having fresh herbs and vegetables delivered as soon as they're harvested. I'm thinking of altering my lamb-fig dish to use local ingredients—maybe cherries? I wasn't impressed with the quality of the figs I was able to get. At this time of year, they have to be shipped all the way from the south."

Kaylina had thought the lamb dish delicious, but her brother was a perfectionist. "You were talking with the local farmers while the Kar'ruk were invading the city?"

"Before. There was a brief period of time during which the streets of Port Jirador weren't in utter chaos."

"Other than the garishly murdered bodies that kept appearing by the canals?"

"That wasn't utter chaos. It was a failure of the law-enforcement system, likely brought on by conditions causing understaffed personnel to be overworked."

"It was chaos to the people who were murdered, I'm sure."

The white-haired Doctor Penderbrock walked in, supporting a wounded ranger who gripped his ribs as he limped toward one of the cots. A few more men followed, some of their own volition, some being helped or carried.

Kaylina watched, amazed she'd survived the week with so few injuries. Luck had favored her.

A warm itching sensation came from the back of her hand. The brand.

Maybe it wasn't luck so much as the plant's magic keeping her alive. That would have been more reassuring if the niggling thought didn't keep coming to mind that the thing wanted to use her.

"I need to go check on our leased castle and make honey drops." Kaylina yawned, wondering if she might be able to curl up and finally get some sleep there. Though she'd dozed on the way back on Levitke, it was hard to relax fully when the threat of falling off one's mount was a constant.

"I heard it was, uhm, active in the defense of the city."

"It shot a beam from the tower window and slew Kar'ruk." Kaylina hoped it hadn't killed humans as well. Potential customers might cheer for a cursed castle that slew enemies of the city, but one that zapped kingdom subjects was another story. No matter how enticing the mead and Frayvar's recipes, they wouldn't get anyone through the courtyard gates.

"I believe that fits the definition of active ."

"As a dictionary reader, you would know."

"Aggressively active. I'd better go with you."

"To have my back in a battle against hostile vines?"

"To run for the doctor if the plant knocks you out again." Frayvar waved toward Penderbrock, who, despite the patients needing care, was walking toward them.

Maybe he thought Kaylina had come because of injuries. He did look her up and down, his gaze lingering on her hand. But he'd already seen that injury. Nothing had changed about it, unless its ability to glow in visions counted.

"How's that doing?" Penderbrock pointed at it.

"Weirdly."

He grunted. "About what I expected. I researched a bit on your behalf. Before the Kar'ruk came and gave us something else to worry about."

"Oh?"

"Are there books on the Daygarii that cover magic beyond altered plants? I didn't think to check the library on that matter." The aggrieved look that Frayvar sent Kaylina's way suggested he considered this a deep failing on his part.

"You were busy trying to clear my name," she said.

"Keeping you from being arrested is a demanding job, but I should have thought to gather all the history books covering the druids that I could find."

"I happened to have one on the medicinal uses of local altered plants," Penderbrock said. "A chapter at the end mentioned how people used to be marked. Back when the Daygarii walked the world at the same time as men. The text implied only those with Daygarii blood were so marked." He arched his bushy white eyebrows.

"I'm… researching that possibility," Kaylina said, more because people kept bringing it up than because she had plans to do so. So far from home, she didn't even know how to research it.

"See what you find. It did say that the marks aren't always a boon." His eyebrows lowered, drawing together in a concerned expression.

"I'm not surprised."

"The druids didn't have a high opinion of humans."

"How come they were copulating with them, then?" Frayvar asked. "I assume that must have occurred for humans with Daygarii blood to exist. Unless some sort of experiments were done? Artificial insemination? Delivered by altered plants?"

Kaylina drew back—and crossed her legs. "I don't want to imagine how that could happen."

The usually unflappable Penderbrock also curled a lip in distaste. "I figured some humans might be more appealing than others and have drawn randy druids."

"May I read your book?" Frayvar asked.

"Yes. What I wanted to tell you, Korbian, is that it might be possible to remove that brand. There was an alchemical formula in that chapter for an acid created with ingredients from a number of altered plants."

" Acid ?" Kaylina drew her hand protectively to her chest.

"It might be worth a scar to make sure you can't be controlled."

Kaylina started to shake her head, the thought of acid bathing her hand horrifying, but she remembered the plant's vision about her killing Vlerion. And his belief that it might have the power to force her to carry out its will. It might be worth enduring the pain to make sure that couldn't happen.

But the brand had also helped keep her alive, and it had led her to seek out the taybarri elders. With trouble finding the city on a weekly basis, she might continue to need its assistance. And to lift Vlerion's curse, she wagered she would need the magic of the druids. She would have to figure out a way to outsmart the plant and use its power to help Vlerion instead of hurting him.

"Should I investigate further?" Penderbrock asked.

"Doc, my leg's about to fall off over here," one of his patients called.

Kaylina shook her head and waved for him to attend those in more dire need of his attention. "I'll keep it for now."

"You might regret that decision." His expression remained concerned, like he thought it was a bad idea to roam the world with the brand.

"It won't be the first. Not by far." Kaylina smiled.

"All right, then." He turned toward the waiting men, though a medical assistant was already tending them. "You sniveling youths, I've seen rangers have entire mountains fall on them who bellyached less."

"Only because it's hard to complain with a mountain crushing you."

As the men continued grousing, Frayvar eyed Kaylina's hand. "Are you sure it's a good idea to keep that? If there's an option to get rid of it?"

"No."

"But you're going to do it anyway?"

"Yes."

As dusk settled over Port Jirador, Kaylina and Vlerion stood holding hands on the arched bridge overlooking the Stillguard River downstream of the castle. They could see the courtyard walls and the towers, including the one where the glowing plant resided, its purple glow seeping out into the darkening night, but several buildings stood between them.

This was as close as Vlerion dared come to that plant, and Kaylina didn't blame him for wariness. She was glad he understood the danger and wasn't courting it. Though she'd been given the queen's blessing to open the meadery and eating house—Frayvar was already in the kitchen with fresh groceries and his menu plan—Kaylina wouldn't set aside her goal of lifting Vlerion's curse. After all they'd been through together, after all the times Vlerion had saved her, she vowed to save him .

Maybe it wasn't a selfless desire, since she was tired of wanting him so much that she ached and not being able to have him. Standing here now, with his calloused hand clasped around hers, his powerful body close enough that she could feel its heat, was as frustrating as it was comforting. She longed to invite him to join her in bed—or have him sweep her off into the woods for a passionate joining under the trees.

"Oh, Vlerion." Kaylina slumped against his side.

"Are you dejected and depressed, despite our recent victory?" His smile had a sad tilt to it.

Many had died—the numbers in the city and out on the estates were still being tallied—so maybe they shouldn't have called it a victory. But at least the fires were out and the bodies cleared from the streets. From what they'd been able to tell, the castle—the plant —had only killed Kar'ruk.

"I am a little dejected," Kaylina said.

"Because of the knowledge that humans brought this all upon themselves? Making deals with a deadly enemy instead of working to find a solution that doesn't involve bloodshed? My brother almost prophesied it in his song. Though, I suppose, as a student of history, he knew similar things had happened before and would happen again. It seems to be in our nature to destroy ourselves." Vlerion gazed pensively out at the river.

"Would it be shallow to admit I was dejected because we can't have sex, and I really want to?"

His gaze shifted to her.

"That other stuff bothers me too, but I'm kind of horny right now, and you're…" She turned to press her face against his shoulder, wishing she could wrap her arms around him for a kiss, that he would lean her against the railing of the bridge and take her, not caring if pedestrians passed or not, caring only about their mutual satisfaction.

Vlerion rested his face against the top of her head. "I would also enjoy being with you, but enough time has passed…"

"That it would rouse the beast? I know. Hence the dejection." She leaned back to look into his eyes. "I'm going to find a way to lift your curse."

"So we can have sex?" His second smile was more amused than sad.

Good. They needed some amusement to lighten their moods.

" Yes ." Kaylina gripped his arm. "And you know the other reasons. I want you to be safe from yourself and from the beast sabotaging your future so you can fully be the man you want to be."

Vlerion cupped the back of her head. "Thank you for wanting that."

"The curse isn't fair."

"No," he agreed and stroked her hair.

She wanted to scoot closer to him, to press her chest against his, but they both knew where that would lead. They might have stopped the rogue press and taken the Virt journal, but that didn't mean there weren't yet men and women alive who knew about his curse. They had to be careful. The beast couldn't arise, especially in the city.

"As I recall," Vlerion said, "I hesitated when you asked if I would have feelings for you if not for the beast in me being drawn to the anrokk in you."

"Yes."

"I wanted to think about my answer, not tell you something that I wasn't certain would be a truth."

"It's fine. You don't have to make any promises to me." Even if she longed to hear him say he would care about her no matter what. That was too much to ask for. "Maybe we won't know for sure—can't know for sure—until the curse is lifted."

"I suppose it's possible that will change our feelings, but, at this moment, I am positive that I care for you and want to be with you outside of any magical allure."

Kaylina looked into his blue eyes, and her heart sang at the statement. It was all that she'd wanted to hear, all that she'd hoped was true.

"I want to be with you too," she whispered. "Not just your allure."

"I know," he said simply.

She snorted. "Of course, because you're haughty and arrogant and full of yourself. You must think all women want to be with you."

"Careful. Dwelling on my sexy attributes might overheat you. I'll have to toss you in the river to cool you off."

"You'll take any excuse to see me with my shirt wet."

"And clinging to your body, yes." His eyelids drooped, his gaze shifting toward her chest.

By the moon gods, that look made her hot. She did have to worry about overheating around him.

Perhaps thinking something similar, he blew out a slow breath and looked toward the river.

She shifted to stand beside him, only their hands touching. It was safer that way.

As they gazed into the water, she couldn't help but ask, "Was it the taybarri vision that made you realize your feelings? Did you see the reed antennae and finally grasp that you couldn't live without someone so whimsical?"

"You are brave, determined, and loyal to your friends and family. I value all of those things." Vlerion rested a hand on his chest, as if to say he attempted to be those things himself.

That he believed she encompassed all that touched her, but she vowed to keep her tone—and the moment—light. Otherwise, it would be too easy to lean into him again, to press her body against his while gazing into his eyes…

"But mostly it was the antennae, right?" she asked. "Adding to my allure."

"They were alluring."

"I thought so."

"There remains much for the rangers to do in the aftermath of the invasion, so I need to take my leave of you again." Vlerion squeezed her hand, kissed her on the cheek, and stepped back. "I trust you can make it to the castle without a bodyguard. Especially since it has proven capable of defending itself, even beyond its borders." The wary look he sent in that direction promised he wouldn't show up for their grand opening. Not unless she could find a way to get the plant to realize he was a good guy and should be allowed on the premises.

One day, she vowed to herself.

For Vlerion, she nodded. "I think so."

"Good. I do expect to see you at dawn tomorrow."

"Uhm, why?" After all the days of missing sleep, she wanted to collapse in front of the hearth and not stir until noon. Noon next week .

His eyes crinkled at the corners. "Now that your name has been cleared, we can resume your ranger training."

"Are you going to knock me off that log into the water again?"

"Maybe." He winked before heading off toward ranger headquarters.

Shaking her head, Kaylina walked down the trail toward the back gate of the castle. Before she reached it, she glimpsed someone standing in the shadow of a tree across the river. Someone spying on the castle from under a cloak and hood.

Even without seeing the woman's face, Kaylina knew who it was. She hoped Jana Bloomlong was fuming because her vile plan had been thwarted.

Before stepping into the courtyard, Kaylina used her forearm and hand to give the woman a rude gesture.

Jana gave it right back.

"Now that the odds are even," Kaylina said as she closed the gate, "we'll see who makes the best mead."

THE END

Thank you for reading! If you want to continue on with the adventure, you can pick up Book 3, Sentinel of Time .