Page 86 of The Exile's Curse

"I'm not entirely sure that's a good idea."

That was true. "Why?"

"Because my power is rare. If people find out you can...co-opt a Truth Seeker's power with a bond, then I can see several ways that might go badly for Truth Seekers."

She hadn't thought of that. He had a point. "True. But we don't need to tell anyone. In fact, maybe it might come in useful. We still have my mysterious traitor to deal with."

"If you use this power to catch him out, you'd need to explain how in court," Lucien said. "Please don't. Besides, it's not so simple as you think. The truth...can be dangerous. Painful. Trust me on this. It's tempting, I know. But using that power carelessly never ends well. Besides, if our bond is part of what is breaking Sejerin Silya's precious balance, I expect her next demand will be that we dissolve it."

"The king said married people share them." The denial was instinctive.

"He said it was unusual. And this bond has served its purpose. We survived. If you want me to marry you to make sure this situation is dealt with, then you have to be prepared to do the rest. Deal with the bond as well."

She hadn't thought of that. But he was right. Even though a part of her flinched away from the thought. It seemed it hadn't taken very long for her to get used to the feel of Lucien beside her. Or his power, at least. That song of him in her head was...comforting. Like the presence of an old friend.

Goddess, what did that mean? Maybe he was right. They should dissolve the bond as they would dissolve the marriage when they got home. Make the cut clean and keep emotions out of it before anyone got hurt.

"Whatever it takes," Chloe said. "I want my second chance, Lucien. I want my life. I earned it. I don't want to let an accident ruin me again. So. We should let them back in and tell them that we will marry."

Lucien looked less than enthusiastic, but he had given her his word. He stood, crossed to the door, and took down the ward.

"Well?" Honore asked after everyone was seated again at the table. Irina had returned with a tall, rangy blonde woman who Chloe assumed was Royve Ava. The healer ignored everyone and came over to her, gesturing for her to raise her arm. She held it out obediently and watched Lucien instead of the bandage being unwound yet again. She'd caught a glimpse of the wound when Irina cleaned it earlier, and, while she wasn't generally squeamish, it was always different when it was her own flesh and blood. Irina gave her a sideways look and rolled her eyes toward the sejerin as if asking what was going on, but she didn't ask outright.

"We will do as the sejerin has requested," Lucien said.

The king looked relieved. The seer more triumphant. What exactly was she up to? She shouldn't want to disrupt the negotiations if she truly wanted balance restored. Unless she had another game to play. Was she trying to help House Elannon? Or did her allegiance fall elsewhere?

Silya rapped the table. "Good. We should proceed with haste. Restore the balance."

"No," Ava said bluntly. She spoke at the same time as the king. Royve Ava gestured at Mikvel, her focus still mostly on Chloe's arm. "My apologies, Your Majesty. Please continue."

"I would hear your reason first, Royve," Mikvel said.

The healer lifted her gaze. Her green eyes were steady and undisturbed by the glare Silya directed at her. "Lady de Montesse's arm needs attention. After which she will need to rest. She and Lord Castaigne both need sleep and food and warmth to recover after a night in the mountains. There is no balance in rushing them into sickness, Your Majesty. They will be well enough in the morning for things to proceed."

The king nodded. "Thank you, Royve. I agree. Sejerin, they have agreed to hold to our customs. Which means we must hold to them, too. They must wed according to the rites. There is perhaps not time for a tscherov and such, and, of course, they are far from home. But the priests must be informed and the marriage marks exchanged, at least. You wish to uphold balance, so we must do things properly. Lord Castaigne and his betrothed will rest today. Tomorrow we will do the pre-wedding ceremonies and then the wedding the day after. The queen and I aren't due to complete another ritual until the day after that. All will be back in balance and satisfied. Does anyone have anything else to say?"

Irina, who was holding Ava’s bag of supplies for her, said, "We could organize a tscherov. Katiya and I, some of the others, and the Illvyan women. If you can spare my sister for a few hours tomorrow. The lieutenant has been very kind to both of us. Katiya will want to celebrate with her."

Chloe didn't know whether that was true—or, indeed, if there was much to truly celebrate—or whether Irina was testing her new brother-in-law to see how far he was willing to indulge her. But she didn’t care if it would buy her a little more time to understand what she’d just agreed to do.

Mikvel nodded and waved a hand. "Talk to Katiya. Lord Castaigne and I have other business to discuss."

More meetings with Elannon, Chloe thought. Which she would not be part of.

Chapter 25

Chloe had barely finished bathing the next morning when Allita knocked on the bathroom door.

"Come in." She eased herself into a robe. Her rib was still slightly sore. Soaking in the warm water helped, but she’d need more of Allita’s assistance than usual to dress to avoid straining them more than necessary. And because she had no idea where most of her wardrobe was.

She’d been moved to a new room in the royal family’s wing after the meeting with the king yesterday. Katiya had said it would make it easier for the wedding celebrations to be held and for Chloe to relax, but she suspected the real reason was to remove any chance that she and Lucien would break any more rules and upset the seers more before they could be safely married.

Married. Goddess.She stared at her reflection in the mirror, still not quite believing it.

Allita slipped through the door bearing a bowl holding a glass container of some sort of salve and some linen cloths. "Royve Ava sent this for your arm, my lady. Do you want me to apply it for you?"

"No, thank you. I think I can manage, if you just open the jar." The healer had closed the wound on her arm, but the scar was still fresh and tender.

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