As they drew closer to her, the four stepped into the light of the candles and the woman’s boredom vanished instantly. Her eyes lingered a moment on Jasper’s red and black lamellar armor and a slight edge entered her voice. “You did not tell me we were expecting important visitors, Rā’imu.”

Imitating the elven gesture of respect, she inclined her head to the left as she hurried to greet them. “I’m sorry, my lord and lady, for the state of the hall. If I had only known you were coming, I could have prepared some more fitting.”

Rā’imu rolled his eyes. “There’s no need to be so formal, Is̆mah. They’re old friends. Come, have a seat, eat up,” he invited them and plopped down in the chair next to where the woman had been.

Old friends? Dude is hard up for friends if we count. Keeping his thoughts to himself, Jasper bowed lightly to the woman. “Don’t worry about it. Rā’imu told us the happy news.”

A touch of enthusiasm sparked in the woman’s eyes. “Indeed, there’s still so much to do before the festivities can commence and the hall, well, it simply had to be expanded..” She trailed after him as he took a seat at the table and loomed over his shoulder. “Do you intend to stay till the ceremony, Lord-” she trailed off, clearly fishing for his name.

Jasper obliged, flashing her a smile, as he helped himself to a heaping serving of the next best thing to mashed potatoes. Corsythia, as far as he could tell, didn’t have true potatoes, but the Djinn grew a starchy tuber that, though it looked much closer to a carrot than a potato, came close to matching the taste when mashed into a paste. “Yas̆peh,” he filled in. “And no, I’m afraid we’re here on rather urgent business.”

Abandoning her former seat, she slid down beside him, and Jasper noticed a flicker of irritation pass through Rā’imu’s face. Well, this certainly looks like the start of a long and happy marriage.

“Are you sure you’re unable to come?” She persisted. “We would be honored to have you and your wife join us for the ceremony.”

“Wife?” Jasper nearly choked on a spoonful of mashed alluzu. Confused by the question, he shot a questioning glance at Ihra, and then it hit him. She thought Ihra was his wife. Ihra began to laugh as he stammered out a quick rejection. “No, no, Ihra’s not my wife. She and Nēs̆u members of my party. And we’re here because the other two members of our party were unfortunately taken captive by a local cult that’s ensconced themselves in Naḫas̆s̆inu.”

“Naḫas̆s̆inu,” the woman sucked in her breath sharply.“That place has a foul reputation indeed, but I did not think the nizirtū left its depths.And why come here?”

“My charge was one of the ones taken,” Nēs̆u butted in. “Princess Tsia of Sapīya, a member of Jasper’s party and Rā’imu’s sister.”

“Sister?” Curiosity was etched on her face as the woman craned her head around to gaze at her betrothed. “You have a sister?” She paused as another realization hit her. “And she’s a princess,” she repeated, in disbelief.

“Yes,” he replied reluctantly. “She has a different father, obviously, so we don’t really know each other very well, but we met a few months ago. At the time, I hoped she would stay with me, but she chose to follow Yas̆peh instead. Still, I have no intention of letting her be killed by this brotherhood of, of-“ he paused, unable to remember the name.

“Yas̆gah,” Jasper supplied. “Do you think your elders will help?”

The Moon-kissed bobbed his head sharply. “I’m certain of it. They owe you a favor, after all, and the House of the Third Son has always prided itself on its honor. They will try to help you out, and they will not be alone.” His eyes fixed on his betrothed. “I’m afraid, Is̆mah, I have to go with them.”

For the first time that night, Jasper saw something genuine in the woman’s expression, and what he saw surprised him. There was real panic in her eyes as she shook her head. “You can’t go and leave me.”

“The wedding’s not for another month,” Rā’imu pointed out calmly.

“Yes, but you’re not-” her gaze flickered to the party watching them and Jasper thought she might stop. Instead, her voice lowered almost to a hiss. “You’re not a fighter, Rā’imu,” she finished. “I’m from Dūr-Yarha, Rā’imu, and no one goes to Naḫas̆s̆innu except for those too stupid to know better, and those fools don’t return."

“Then I suppose you’ll be rid of me.”

“I don’t want to be rid of you,” she snapped back.

“You don’t?” Setting his fork down, Rā’imu glanced up at her. His face was an inscrutable mask, but Jasper could sense his surprise.

“No, you fool.I-“Again her gaze darted back to the others at the table and this time, she decided not to continue.“We shouldn’t be having this conversation now.”

Her movements were stiff and jerky as she turned back to Jasper, and offered him another elven nod. “I’m sorry for my outburst, Lord Yas̆peh. I should not have burdened you with our dispute.”

“Oh, it’s no problem,” he reassured her, lying through his teeth.

Is̆mah smiled weakly, hardly received, and rose from her chair. “I think I shall retire for the night. I suppose I shall see you all in the morning?” She asked, pointedly looking at Rā’imu.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

“I’m sure will still be here,” he replied. The Moon-kissed looked like she was on the verge of making one last entreaty but then she turned and hastened out of the hall. Her footsteps were not loud enough, however, to drown out her sobs. When the door slammed behind her, the four of them were left alone in awkward silence.

“She seems nice,” Jasper finally ventured, not knowing what else to say.

Rā’imu sighed. “Is̆mah is very much a woman from Dūr-Yarha. Their noble houses are more concerned with social standing and polite niceties than those of us who live outside the city.” He waved his hand toward the construction that surrounded them. “Hence why my house is being torn down in the middle of winter because she couldn’t possibly be expected to host a wedding in a hall so small. But…” he toyed with the food on his plate before continuing, “given her upbringing, I suppose she’s really not that bad.”

Finishing off his plate, he pushed away and looked up at Jasper. “I was serious about what I said, though. I want to come with you. I am not going to lie; it hurt when Tsia chose to go with you rather than stay with me, but she’s still the closest thing I have to family.”

A shiver ran down Jasper’s spine as the horrors they had encountered in Naḫas̆s̆innu replayed in his head. It was no place for someone who was weak. Hell, if Jasper didn’t feel obligated to go, there was little on earth that could have compelled him to return. “I don’t know, Rā’imu. That place is…terrifying. It’s almost impenetrably dark, hot as hell, and full of strange mutants who tried to sacrifice us. And all of that is just the icing on the cake. The real terrors of Naḫas̆s̆innu are the undead gods who haunt the place. Are you sure you want to go?”

“I’m going,” Rā’imu replied firmly.

Jasper started to argue, not wanting to drag the man along to his death, then closed his mouth. I would have done anything to save Jenny. How can I deny him the chance? Swallowing his objections, he raised his glass. “Welcome to the team, then.”

They finished eating in silence. Days of hard riding in the wet, cold conditions had caught up with him, and Jasper barely made it to his room before promptly passing out on the bed, his clothes and armor still on. Mere seconds seemed to pass before he was shaken awake.

Startled, he bolted to his feet, knocking the maid who loomed over him to the floor, where she landed with a pained yelp. “Oh, sorry,” he apologized and hastily bent down to help her. “You caught me by surprise. Are you okay?”

The maid was favoring her wrist as she got back to her feet, but after gingerly flexing it up and down to reassure herself that it wasn’t broken, delivered her message. “I’m fine,” she reassured him. “I’m sorry to disturb you, but Lord Rā’imu wanted you to know that the elders have agreed to help you retrieve your friends. The group should be ready to depart in about an hour.”

“Already?” Jasper blinked in surprise, but then his eyes drifted to the window. The rays of the midday sun reflected off the freshly fallen snow with an almost blinding light. Guess I slept in.

Apologizing again, he hastily gathered his weapons before hurrying off to the hall where they’d eaten the night before. Nēs̆u was already there, his plate piled high with strips of bacon and leftover alluzu, and a few minutes later, a rather bleary-eyed Ihra joined them.

Is̆mah was there as well. The noblewoman was dressed far more simply than the night before, in a simple, blue wool dress that brought out the color of her eyes. She waited until Jasper had finished the food on his plate before taking the seat next to him. “Is Rā’imu really going with you?” She asked quietly.

“It seems that way.” Turning to face her, Jasper studied the Djinn’s face. There was little sign of the passion that had caused her breach of decorum the night before, but the slight red puffiness around her eyes betrayed her true feelings. “I know we don’t really know each other, so maybe it’s none of my business, but why do you care if Rā’imu comes? It's just a political marriage, isn't it?"

Her eyes narrowed, and for a second Jasper feared she’d taken offense. But then she emitted a decidedly unladylike snort of amusement. “I had no idea the members of the Royal House were so blunt. Do you really not have to worry about political games?" She paused thoughtfully. "Or maybe, you’re just one of the animmû? They do tend to spurn convention.”

Jasper shrugged. “I don’t spend a lot of time in the palace. Going to be spending even less soon, once the troops are ready to leave.”

Her eyebrows arched up in surprise. “Oh, you’re one of the officers being sent to help the Empire?” She smiled wryly. “You must be either very in favor or very out of favor.”

“Huh?” He cocked his head in confusion. “Why both options?”

She smirked. “So you’re definitely one of the animmû, then, as you clearly haven’t paid attention to the scuttlebutt around court, seeing as how there’s been very little talk of anything but the campaign. Since you don’t know, there are two types of nobles being sent to join the king’s forces: those whose families expect they will receive an important command and come back showered in glory and honor, and those whose families see the campaign as a convenient way of getting rid of unwanted or troublesome youth.” She paused, and her smirk faded. “Until quite recently, Rā’imu would have fallen into the second category.”

“And there it is again,” Jasper pointed out. “Do you actually care about him?”

The Djinn’s hands twisted in her lap. “I know it’s not exactly a marriage of love, and I’m probably being dreadfully selfish to try to prevent him from saving this sister of his, but Rā’imu has proven to be….surprisingly decent. Sure, his house is a bit small and he’s not much of a warrior, but he’s been kind, even after learning that I had been betrothed before.”

“I didn’t think betrothals were usually broken.”

“They’re not,” she agreed. “Not unless one of them dies. The man before Rā’imu was, well, more illustrious than him. He was the eldest and only son of one of my father’s primary business partners and a favorite son of Dūr-Yarha’s social circle. He was also an angry drunk.”

She pushed on the sleeve of her dress, and it slipped down, revealing more than a bit of cleavage. Jasper barely noticed it though as his eyes focused on the five-inch-long, gnarly scar that ran along her breast. “He gave me this one night because he thought my eyes lingered too long on another man. I’m only a level 7, so I very nearly bled out before one of his maids finally took pity on me. My father broke the engagement after that, but S̆akartu - that was his name - spread rumors about me throughout the entire city, telling everyone that I had slept around on him. My prospects in Dūr-Yarha were ruined after that.”

Is̆mah yanked her drew back up, and met Jasper’s eyes. “So yes, I do care if Rā’imu dies. Promise me you’ll bring him back.”

The power of her pleading look was almost enough for the words to slip off his lips, but Jasper managed to stop himself. Never make a promise you can’t keep. “I’ll do my best,” he said. She accepted it gracefully enough, but they both knew how empty those words really were.