Page 53 of The Duke and the Disciple

Aesylt’s flesh burned hot. “You’re only now coming to this realization?”

“I never doubted your commitment or your passion. But the way you spoke of marriage... I suppose I presumed, perhaps wrongly, that you would move on from this and start a family.” He must have sensed the indignance rising in her because he quickly continued. “Andyet,I feel all the more the fool for assuming the two lives must be exclusive of each other.”

Aesylt sat back and breathed in air not yet warmed by the hearth. The burn was a constant reminder life was not guaranteed. “I don’t want children, so a family looks different for me. What I want is a partner in this life, one who will stand beside me, not four steps ahead of me.” She grinned to herself as that very future streamed through her mind, her eyes on her gloved hands. “Maybe I want both. I want it all. Who’s to stop me?”

“I pity the person who tries,” Rahn quipped. “And wish them a swift demise.”

Aesylt laughed, tilting her head his way. “I only deal in absolutes, Scholar. Nothing worth doing is worth doing halfway.”

“You’re more like your brother than you think.”

“Or he’s more like me.” Aesylt pulled her collar higher on her neck, woefully conscious of the heat rising to her cheeks. “I’m the one who stayed. Who held—” She abruptly halted. Even the edges of the thought were enough to spoil the light mood, and she regretted speaking at all.

Rahn’s eyes found hers and held her gaze. “Drazhan’s vengeance was mighty... and in the end, he was eviscerated by it. All those years he gave to training were nothing compared to what he gave up in doing so. Whatyoudid took an immense amount of courage. To stay and lead your people through their darkest days and face the darkness with them. I have a great deal of respect for your brother, but if the end came today, Aesylt, my coin would be wagered on you leading us into the unknown future.”

Aesylt tried to speak but realized she was trembling. It was her hands, mainly, but the buzz spread quickly to her limbs, then to her ears, until it was all she could feel or hear. She finally understood what had drawn her to the duke from the start. It was the way he saw her, even when, in her frustration, she believed otherwise. She could try to blend into a room, but he would find her. Would know her, as she had always wanted to be known.

“We don’t have to talk about it.”

“I’ve tried to talk about it,” Aesylt answered, hoarse, “but Drazhan cannot... He cannot. And there’s no one else. Oma, Ota, Hraz, they’re all gone. It’s why Nik and Val sometimes feel like all I have.”

“In my experience, family is a choice. Teleria, she took me in because she wanted to. Over the years, our relationship became many different things, but it was then, and always will be, one of family. A bond that transcends blood.” He released her gaze. “But they’re not all you have, Aesylt.”

Aesylt moved her hands under her dressing coat, twisting them. The urge to cry was almost too much to fight, but no tears would fall. At most, her eyes would gloss over, a gentle pool under her lids. “If I could spend the rest of my life studying at your side, Scholar, I would need nothing else.”

Rahn said nothing more until they approached the gates at Fanghelm. “You will always have a place at my side.” He cleared his throat, readying to say more, but something caught his eyes, causing him to rise off the settee.

“What is it?” she asked, standing to follow where he looked out the window, at a throng of people. Hundreds. “Something’s happened.”

“If something had happened, Drazhan would have sent for us.” Rahn didn’t seem convinced.

“He will soon enough,” Aesylt said before leaping up and charging toward the apartment door. Her heart comprehended the situation well ahead of her head, beating in urgent, wild thumps. She heard Rahn shouting behind her, the damning letter from the Barynovs burning more than just her pocket.

Valerian was awake.Aesylt seemed to have known it before Drazhan had delivered the official news, but it had been a shock to Rahn. His instincts told him the Barynovs had only kept him alive because they were in denial. No one had been talking about the boy with the future in mind, only the past. His fate had already been decided in the minds of the village.

Rahn’s questions were answered before he had a chance to ask. No, Drazhan was not agreeing to their extortionate wedding demand, not even for Val. No, no one from Fanghelm had actually seen Val, but the Barynovs had paraded him around the village square to make their point, and plenty of villagers had seen him. He was convalescing under intense guard.

All of that was not surprising.

Drazhan’s solution was.

“Lord Dereham has sent a response to my plea.”

“Lord...” Aesylt cocked her head. “You never mentioned any plea.”

“He will play host to you until it’s safe to return.” Drazhan’s stoic delivery was jarring compared to the chorus of objections that rose after.

“Who isyou?” Aesylt demanded. Her hands were splayed atop the table, but Rahn, beside her, could see how she’d lifted out of her seat... how she was barely sitting at all.

“You, cub,” Drazhan said, gritting, “and your scholar.”

“And the others?” Aesylt’s fingers twitched on the wood.

“Teleria will go to Eastport to wait, in case Tasmin returns early. We can’t send a raven that might be intercepted.”

“But Tasmin isn’t expected back formonths.”

Imryll cradled Aleksy with an avoidant glare at the table. Rahn caught her eyes briefly, but she wasn’t sharing her feelings this time.

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