“Her father’s blood protects her.” Taven didn’t know if that was true or not, but it was an easier truth for her to swallow than telling her he’d been guided by an invisible hand for two decades.
“Not against...” Esmeray trailed off in exasperation.
“Do you think I... that I would ever allow anyone to harm her?”
“What a brave question when I have watched you covet her sadness with the interest of a predator sizing up his prey.” Esmeray’s body shuddered. Her hand was shaking, as it often did, and her lids were so heavy, he was amazed she hadn’t surrendered to the call of her herbs. “You only protect Ellie when it’s convenient for you. So tell me, Taven, why you are suddenly viewing a trip to Rivenholde as a convenience you require.”
“If you are implying I had any authority over what Castien Edevane did to her... over Fabrien Quinlanden declaring to all the realm she was his choice...”
She thrust a veiled arm toward the wall. “You wanted to know why I asked Jesstin to see her safely through our village? I knew that if it came down to choosing between yourself and her, you’d have thrown her to the wulves.”
Taven burst out laughing. “And you think the little heathen in the other room would have done any better? Do you know how he makes his coin?”
“You don’t understand him,” she replied, insistent.
“How could you? You see him once a season. Is that enough to know a man?”
“I knew who he was as a boy, and I know who he is becoming as a man. Don’t you dare suggest he’s anything like Mathias or his birth father.”
Taven only remembered the steward had hung himself after Esme’s mention. In the blur of activity since, he wasn’t even sure Jesstin had been informed. “Esme...” He reached for her, banking on the gentle surrender in his tone being enough to soothe her. “She can’t stay here. Her crime will catch up to her, it’s only a matter of time, and you know that as well as I do. As I see it, there are only two realistic options available to us. Either you tell her everything and let her decide if she still wants to go, or you give her your blessing to follow me, and I will lead her to her father’s people and the answers she needs to rescind the bond. She’s going either way. You know this in your heart. All you can do now is set her on the safest path available, and we both know that means coming with me.”
Esme’s eyes fluttered shut. She flinched when his hands found her arms. “Jesstin will look after her interests and not solely his own.”
“Of course.” Taven practically vomited the words. Jesstin would not be going, or coming anywhere near Ellie, if not for the physical limitations set by the bond, but if it helped Esme to see Taven as being diplomatic in the matter, so be it. “Esmeray, I love your daughter. I would lay my life down for her.” He decided it wasn’t the time to discuss a betrothal. Her permission wouldn’t be needed anyway.
“Love?” Esmeray peeled back. “You covet her, Taven. They are not the same. But, you know...” She didn’t finish.
She was disgusted and furious, yes, but also retreating, as he knew she would. And he didn’t even have to force her hand. Splendid. “You’ll talk to her first thing? Tell her to follow me?”
“Leave me,” Esme hissed. Her shaky hand fumbled the cap on her glass tumbler, sending it to the ground, where it rolled into a corner. “Leave me!”
“As you wish,” he said, biting back a grin as he left with his victory.
Elloven spent half the night praying for the right words and the other half dreaming of them.
She needed her mother’s blessing. She’d go regardless. What choice did she have? Esmeray had to accept that too. There was no other way to break the bond. But her mother had her reasons for her worries, and Elloven didn’t want to end up somewhere that would give those fears space to breathe and grow.
“Mama?” She tiptoed into the room, expecting darkness, but her mother was already fully dressed, rouged, and drinking from a fluted glass at her vanity. The silver table was the one beautiful piece of furniture left at Nightwood. Esmeray had stubbornly held onto it even as debt collectors took everything else of worth.
“There you are,” Esmeray said, like she’d been waiting for hours. The candlelight flickered with her breath. Her mouth looked like a pair of stacked flames, but the rouging was uneven and settled oddly into her wrinkles. “Come, sit, love.”
“It’s barely dawn.” Elloven tried to read her mother’s mood as she eased onto the bench beside her. “How long have you been up?”
“You need to go with Taven, Elloven.”
Elloven pulled back, confused. Her mother had been ready with the words, which made them even more bewildering. “What?”
“This morning, straightaway. I’ve already packed trunks for the three of you, including food and provisions to get you to Curia Rivenholde and back. Taven knows the way to your father’s people. If anyone... If anyone can help you, it will be them.” Her pause was brief, her next words rapid and breathless. “I thought I was protecting you, but after all you’ve been through, if that’s protection, then I have truly failed.”
“What are you talking about?” Elloven’s confusion muted better questions. What did she mean, her father’s people? The Hawthornes were from Oldcastle. And why was she suddenly so agreeable?
“Even if I’d wanted to tell you all of it, there’s no good place to start. And I... I have forgotten the faces of my ancestors. I have forgotten the way back to them. That’s the truth. Taven is not who I’d have chosen for you, for this moment...” Esmeray’s lips parted, then pursed. She jerked herself alert. “Nonetheless, you’re going no matter what I say. You have no fear or respect for my cautions?—”
“I just can’t fear or respect something I don’t understand,” Elloven replied. Her mother’s reversal was too neat. “What happened? Why did you change your mind?”
Esmeray’s eyes flitted sideways, but she spoke quickly, too quickly for her words to have been a lie. “Taven was right. You’ll go no matter what I say, and it will only hurt you to leave you so unprepared. He knows the way, and while I have my qualms with him, there is no one else. It would not be safe for you to wander those mountains without guidance, not with your blood.”
“How? How can Taven know the way to a place he’s never been?”
