Chapter 30

30

That which is different draws curiosity from some and scorn from others.

~ Lady Professora Nila of Yarrowvast, Port Jirador University

Having Jankarr riding beside them on the way back to ranger headquarters kept Kaylina from speaking much and certainly not about anything important. She would wait until she and Vlerion were alone together for that. Assuming they got a chance to be alone together.

"At some point, are you going to regale us with the tale of how you became nude?" Jankarr asked as the gate to headquarters came into view.

It had been a short ride—the night's chaotic events had happened near the core of the city—but Kaylina was impressed he'd gone that long without bringing up the matter. The weary slump to Vlerion's shoulders and grim set of his face might have staved off earlier quips.

"I am not," Vlerion said.

Jankarr looked back to Kaylina.

"I actually don't know where his clothes went," she said.

"No?" Jankarr arched his eyebrows.

" I didn't take them off."

"Is that true, Vlerion? Your pretty lady friend didn't remove your clothes? From the way she's hugging you, it's hard to believe she had nothing to do with it. Why else would a man remove his clothes?" Though Jankarr smiled easily as he joked, the set of his eyes reminded Kaylina of the way he'd looked when he'd been trying to puzzle things through in the preserve.

"I bathe occasionally."

"Such as before going into battles?" Jankarr eyed the burns, blood, and bruises all over Vlerion's torso.

"Yes. So I'm not too distastefully begrimed when I arrive in Doc Penderbrock's infirmary." Vlerion brushed soot off his arm.

"Maybe you should avoid walking through explosions if you want to arrive there in a tasteful state," Jankarr said.

"I'll consider your advice."

"Doubtful," Jankarr muttered.

"Speaking of your doctor, I hope you'll ride straight to the infirmary." Kaylina squeezed Vlerion gently, glad for his solid and reassuring presence even if she worried about the future.

"I will. Targon can receive his report there as easily as anywhere else. It won't be the first time."

Kaylina almost suggested Vlerion should consider a less dangerous line of work, but the night's events hadn't had anything to do with his career choice. Because he cared about her and his mother, he'd been drawn into Sabor's web.

She felt guilty that he'd been wounded because she'd been used as bait again. At least Sabor was dead. Whatever befell her in the future, she wouldn't regret that. Though if something awful befell Vlerion, she might.

She leaned her face against his back and gently kissed him, wanting him to know that she understood the sacrifice he'd made for her. His career might be forfeit. His life might be. What would his mother think of Kaylina once she learned of the sacrifice Vlerion had made for her?

He patted her hand again.

"Why is Lord Vlerion naked?" the gate guard asked when the two taybarri arrived. Despite his curiosity, he didn't hesitate to open the way for them.

"Apparently, he bathes before going into battle," Jankarr said.

The gate guard looked to Kaylina with the same raised eyebrows that Jankarr had. She shook her head.

"I also thought the clothing removal might have been for her sake," Jankarr said, "but she says not."

"Huh."

Vlerion helped Kaylina dismount, then followed, taking the sword with him. Where his own blade was Kaylina didn't know—with his clothes, perhaps—but he seemed disinclined to let this one go. Maybe he didn't want anyone to associate it—and what it had done—with her.

After he patted Crenoch, promising to feed the taybarri soon, Vlerion walked to the infirmary. Despite the late hour, the door stood open. White-haired Doctor Penderbrock leaned against the frame, as if he'd been expecting them.

"You look like someone lit a fire on you after you were run over by a herd of taybarri." Penderbrock's gaze drifted from Vlerion's damp, sooty hair down to his bruised and burned bare feet. " Two herds . "

"That's about right."

Penderbrock looked Kaylina over, his gaze pausing on the bloody rip in her shirt and then lingering longer on the brand he'd once offered to help her remove. But it hadn't had anything to do with her troubles, not tonight. Now that the plant had told her that it had only placed the brand to help her access her power, she loathed the mark much less.

Penderbrock's gaze shifted to her shoulder. "Is that seaweed?"

"I think so," Kaylina said. "One of the taybarri sniffed it earlier but must not have considered it tasty."

The doctor grunted. "I wouldn't either."

Vlerion walked past Penderbrock and sat on the closest cot. Kaylina sat next to him and clasped his hand.

"Guess it's a good sign if a woman is willing to touch you when you're that grimy and naked." Penderbrock grabbed water and towels before opening cabinets for whatever ointments and potions could help with the numerous injuries Vlerion had received. He waved at Kaylina's gash to indicate he would treat her as well.

"Jankarr suggested my nudity might appeal to her." Vlerion squeezed her hand.

"It's grimy, blood-spattered nudity, Vlerion." Penderbrock put bandages, sutures, and jars of ointment on the table next to the cot and paused to look him over and squint closer at a couple of the wounds. "It's not appealing to anyone."

"Even a doctor?"

" Especially a doctor, but I've the tools to fix them. Once you wash yourself." Penderbrock tossed him one of the towels.

"Some healers might clean a man's wounds for him," Kaylina murmured, taking the towel and dipping it in water.

"That's the work for an assistant healer. Or a ranger trainee undeterred by grimy nudity. Have you had your first-aid class yet?"

"No, Sergeant Zhani has only been instructing me on how to use plant patterns in sword fights."

"Maybe you can wrap fern fronds around injured people."

Kaylina patted Vlerion's arm. "Why don't you lie down? Then I can gently and reverently dab your wounds clean."

"Reverently?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'll call you my lord a bunch while I'm dabbing."

Vlerion managed a smile, the first since she'd found him in the alley. "It's almost worth being wounded to get such treatment from you."

Voices sounded outside. Some of the rangers returning?

Vlerion held up a finger to Kaylina and rose to close the infirmary door. "Doc, will you give us a few minutes of privacy?"

"You can't wait to talk until I've stitched you up and rubbed ointment on those burns?"

"No." Vlerion pointed to the doctor's office.

"Fine, but if I come back here and find the dabbing and reverence have turned into sex, I'll be irritated with you."

"You don't think I deserve sex after a night of battle?" Vlerion looked wistfully at Kaylina as he returned to the cot, lying on his back as she'd advised.

"It's contraindicated for a man in your condition. Look at all those burns. You're lucky your cock wasn't fried like a rotisserie turkey over flames gone wild."

"Thank you for the garish imagery," Vlerion murmured.

"Think about it the next time you decide to go into battle without clothes." The door thumped shut as Penderbrock sealed himself in his office.

"His bedside manner is lacking," Kaylina noted, taking the damp towel to Vlerion.

"Even in their headquarters, young rangers must be hardened and never coddled, for their travails in following their duty will test their mental and physical ability to endure."

"Quoting the handbook again?"

"As every ranger should be able to do." Vlerion rested his hand on hers, pressing it against his chest to stop the dabbing while he gazed into her eyes. "Tell me what happened tonight from your point of view."

"Still giving orders, are we?"

"Yes, and please obey them quickly." He glanced toward the window. "We might not have much time."

And he needed to figure out what he was going to tell Targon. He didn't say it, but his eyes—and the glances toward the window—did.

Nodding, Kaylina shared what had happened, starting with Isla arriving at Stillguard Castle. She wasn't sure if Vlerion only wanted to know about the showdown in the alley or if he wanted the whole tale, but she had to tell him everything so he would understand why she hadn't hesitated to cut the spymaster's throat. She hoped he understood.

He listened without interrupting. A few more voices sounded in the courtyard—one belonged to Targon—as more men returned.

"I didn't mean for you to take the blame," Kaylina said to finish. "I would never have asked that."

"I know." He patted her hand.

"In the end, it may not matter. There was at least one witness. Jana Bloomlong. I don't know if she saw everything, but…" Kaylina shrugged.

"She probably did. She's a busybody." Vlerion didn't look too worried. Maybe because he'd already come to peace with his choice and accepted whatever fate the future delivered to him?

Emotion knotted in her throat. She didn't want him to have to endure anything but the fate he deserved. He was a good man. A hero, not a villain. The kingdom needed to know?—

The door opened, and a scowling Captain Targon walked in. After eyeing them both, he glanced toward the closed office door.

"You weren't supposed to be left alone," he grumbled.

If that was true, Kaylina made a note to thank Penderbrock later—or send Frayvar over to help him organize deliveries of new medicines that came in.

Thoughts of her brother made her look wistfully through the wall in the direction of Stillguard Castle. She hoped the rest of their opening night had gone well.

"Did you think we'd flee the city?" Vlerion asked without humor.

"That thought crossed my mind," Targon said. "Now that I see you're alone in here together, I'm surprised I didn't walk in on you both naked on that cot with the legs creaking."

"Due to my wounds, Penderbrock said sex is contraindicated."

"He says that no matter what your problem is. I had a cramp in my calf last month, and he told me not to have nocturnal visitors." Targon glanced toward the courtyard, then closed the door.

"Did you obey his suggestion?" Vlerion asked.

Kaylina shook her head. She didn't want to know.

The wicked smirk Targon gave them promised he didn't listen to his doctor's advice.

The smirk didn't last long. "The word is getting out quickly about Spymaster Sabor's death. You two want to tell me what happened?" He looked steadily at Vlerion as he spoke. Fully intending to blame him for it?

Why, because he didn't think she could have bested Sabor? Indignation lifted Kaylina's chin before she remembered that she nearly hadn't bested the experienced veteran. If not for Sabor's wounds and the timely interference from the cat…

Still on his back, Vlerion touched her hip. A reminder that he didn't want anyone to know that she'd landed the killing blow?

"It didn't escape my notice, nor will it escape Milnor's that he had grievous claw wounds as well as a cut throat," Targon added. "And there might have been witnesses in the inn. Why'd you pick that alley for your showdown?"

"Sabor was angling for the catacombs entrance through the nursery," Vlerion said. "I managed to catch up with him before he got there."

"You could have followed him in . That would have been a much better place for him to die. Altered orchards, the body might not have been found for months down there. If ever." Judging by Targon's sour expression, Spymaster Sabor going missing would have been a far less consequence-laden event than his death.

"I wasn't myself at the time," Vlerion pointed out. "And I was…" He looked toward Kaylina but didn't continue.

The beast had been doing his best to obey her order. She grimaced.

Targon squinted at her, probably guessing the unspoken thoughts.

"Who's Milnor?" she asked before he could start questioning her.

"Sabor's second," Vlerion said. "Now the head spymaster, I suppose."

"Yes, a former doctor and a detective for the Castle Guard," Targon said. "Not much gets past him. Did Sabor threaten her, or what, Vlerion?" Targon pointed at Kaylina.

"He did," Vlerion said.

"More than that." Kaylina kept herself from explaining how Sabor had died, but she did spit out his plans to Targon, wanting him to know the truth about that, how Sabor had planned to have her birth an army of beasts—and how he'd had ambitions to rule the kingdom.

Targon's only response was to grunt, an utter lack of surprise on his face.

"Did you know ?" Kaylina asked.

"I knew he wanted to use Vlerion. The rest doesn't surprise me, though that's a long-term plan. He must have imagined he would live well into his old age."

"Maybe he had a longevity potion in his collection." Vlerion touched what might have been an acid burn on his leg.

Kaylina twitched, reminded of the broken vial with the blue liquid she'd recovered. Something that might have forced Vlerion's curse magic to fade, leaving him in his human form. She almost withdrew it, thinking Penderbrock might have ideas about it, but she decided to keep it and enlist her brother to help to research it.

"I suppose." Targon grunted again. "He had a dangerous job though. Potions don't do much against swords." He pointed at the scabbard beside the cot. "That was your brother's sword, wasn't it, Vlerion? Why'd you have it tonight? Especially when you were… You're skirting the subject of Sabor's death, but from what your mother told me, you were furry tonight. The beast doesn't carry a sword, does he?"

"Is my mother all right?" Vlerion asked, even though he'd already questioned Kaylina about that.

He probably wanted to change the subject.

"Fine. Just rattled. And in awe that her cell mate was able to call whales and sharks to the harbor to aid in their escape." For the first time, Targon gave Kaylina more than a glance, as if she might have some slight significance to him.

"Actually, the muskrat was paramount in our escape," she said, inclined, like Vlerion, to change the subject.

"Captain Targon," came a call through the window. "The spy, Lord Milnor, is here to see you."

"That didn't take long." Targon looked at both of them with exasperation. "Vlerion, you're relieved of duty for now, and you're not to leave the city." He looked toward the window. "No, it'll be better if you're out of the city for a while. Go to your family estate, and stay with your mother. I'll come see you to get a more thorough report and let you know… Well, there'll be an inquiry, I'm sure."

"I have no doubt," Vlerion said.

"He's a prisoner?" Kaylina couldn't help but feel affronted on Vlerion's behalf and gripped his hand. As she'd been thinking before, he'd been heroic that night. He'd done the right thing. She swallowed around the lump in her throat. He'd done what she asked.

"On his mother's thousands-of-acres estate with servants to fetch whatever he wishes," Targon said dryly. "I'm sure he'll survive the hardship."

"May I have visitors?" Vlerion said, no objection to the exile.

Targon rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, your jaunty little anrokk can visit you, though I want you to obey Penderbrock's advice."

Vlerion tilted his head.

"About contraindicated activities." Targon headed for the door. "The beast needs to disappear for a while if you're to have any shot of making people forget about him."

"Understood, Captain."

Another call came from the courtyard. Sighing, Targon walked out, closing the door behind him.

"I don't want you to take all the blame for this," Kaylina whispered, facing Vlerion. "I don't want you to take any of it. It was because of me?—"

"It was not." He raised a finger to her lips to quiet her.

She frowned. Maybe, since he'd been the beast, he didn't remember that she'd ordered him to go after Sabor.

"When the assassin laid his trap for me—for the beast—he delivered a message that he had my mother," Vlerion said. "I assume it was luck that he captured both of you. I didn't know until I arrived at the dock and caught your scent that you were there. Summoning sharks and muskrats." He had to be worried about his future, but he smiled, humor glinting in his eyes. He lifted a hand to brush hair from her eyes. "Once I knew you were there and that Sabor had arranged everything… I would have killed him regardless. Will you come visit me while I'm in exile at the family estate?"

"I would like to, but how many kidnappers will be waiting for me?" After what she and Isla had been through, Kaylina hoped Vlerion's mother no longer wanted to oust her from the province, but she didn't know that.

"No more than four or five, I should think."

"That many? I'll have to bring allies."

"Muskrats?"

"A whole pack of them, yes."

"That should be interesting to see. I'll wait by a window so I can watch your arrival as you lead them up the driveway."

"It'll be magnificent, like I walked out of a fairy tale."

"Of that I have no doubt."

He kissed her, gently and wearily, and she wrapped her arms around him, wishing they could have more time alone together, but the office door soon opened. Penderbrock cleared his throat as he walked back in.

"Targon stopped at my window and said to get you patched up and on your way, Vlerion." He looked at Kaylina. "You too. Then you're supposed to check on your grand opening."

"I will. Thank you." She looked at Vlerion as she said the words, hoping he knew how much she appreciated everything he'd done. How much she appreciated him .

He nodded and picked up the scabbard, handing it to her. "Don't forget your sword. I fear the streets will remain dangerous for some time."

"I have no doubt," she murmured. "I have no doubt."