“Fasa?”Tarn repeated the word as if it were an insult. “I’m not your father, Len. Who do you serve?”
She lowered her head.“Masada.”
Von found Yavi’s face in the crowd, and she held his gaze solemnly as she mouthed the translation. Master.
“Until when?”
“Alhaya.”
Eternally.
Tarn looked down his nose at Len, unmoved by the tears staining her face. “You serve at my leisure. Never forget it.” His cold eyes fixed on the gathering. “Who do you serve?”
“You, Master,” Von recited in unison with the others.
“Until when?”
“Until you deem my service complete, or death releases me through the end of my life or thy own.”
Most of the men were not slaves, but they bowed nonetheless. Tarn stalked back inside his tent. Von glimpsed him tossing the page into the fire as the tent flaps settled back in place. Novo picked Len up and led her away, hiding her beneath his cloak. At Von’s command, the others dispersed. He went in one direction, Yavi in the other, and they met in their tent minutes later.
“Not even parental love will he risk.” She shook her head, mouth pursing tightly. “Len thinks of him as a father. He knows this and offers her only humiliation and malice. Why was he angry?”
Von rubbed his face, sighing heavily. “Len … was caught with a notice from the King.”
“Well? What did it say?”
Hesitating, Von braced himself. “The King has abolished slavery in Azure.”
Yavi dropped into the chair at their table. She covered her mouth, too stunned to say anything. But the joy entering her face filled him with dismay.
“You’re free.” She laughed, her eyes misting. Yavi jumped to her feet, looking around the tent like she didn’t know what to do first. She laughed again, laying a hand on her stomach, inhaling a gasping breath. “God of Urn. Von, we’re free!”
“Yavi.”
“What should we pack first?” She turned away with a laugh and began rummaging in their trunk. “Should we bother with the cots?”
Von heaved a breath. “Yavi.”
“No, I don’t want any of it. Let’s only take the clothes on our backs, your horse, and enough food to get us to the nearest port.”
“Yavi!”
She froze. At the grim expression on his face, her smile faded.
He exhaled heavily. “We can’t go.”
“What do you mean? You’re free.Weare free.” She stood and stared at him incredulously. “This is what we have been waiting for, Von. We returned to Azure in time for you to regain your freedom.”
How convenient. It was almost as if King Lenneus had decided it when he learned of Tarn’s return. Would he enact a law that would change thousands of lives to impede Tarn? For what was at stake, Von had a feeling he would.
“The King has cut your bonds. He has cut mine, too.” Yavi took his arms. “We don’t have to serve that monster anymore.”
Von shook his head. She didn’t understand. “Who are men to defy the will of the God of Urn?”
“Who are men todecidethe will of a god?” she shot back.
Von groaned and rubbed his face. “Tarn would never allow any of us to walk out of here and live. I knew that when I found the page. Azure laws mean nothing to him.”
