Chapter 11
The first light snows fell in early December, though they melted quickly. A few days later a larger storm came from the north, depositing a much thicker blanket of snow that lingered in shaded areas around the Palace grounds.
It had been over a week since Dom sent Kel the peridot earbobs, but he hadn't seen or heard from her. He decided to give her space, and concentrated on planning an expedition to the hill country and Tusaine border once the worst of the winter ice thawed. When he felt like he was about to be overwhelmed by paperwork, he went to the training yards and joined the combat drills. Occasionally he managed to pry Neal away from his healers' work to practice their swordplay, telling him that Lady Alanna would be most unimpressed if she came back to find her former squire had gone soft. Neal was actually a good swordsman though, and Dom thoroughly enjoyed their bouts.
Dom also found himself enjoying the company of Geoffrey of Naxen. He'd quickly realised that the young sergeant was extremely competent. His reports were always thorough and on time, his squad respected him—even the prickly Stone Mountain lad—and Dom appreciated knowing that anything he asked him to do would be done in good time and to a high standard. He also liked that Geoffrey was generally relaxed and easy-going, a good foil to some of the more highly-strung of his officers.
Like Dom, Geoffrey also greatly enjoyed his work as a member of the Own. They were both younger sons, which gave them a greater degree of freedom compared to their eldest brothers who would inherit fiefs and titles, and they were both from old and wealthy families that didn't need them to marry.
Eldest boys of noble families were usually expected to become knights and marry young to provide heirs to the family line, and such marriages were often arranged for some sort of advantage; for money, to form alliances, to end blood feuds, or a mixture of reasons rarely to do with the feelings of the individuals to marry. Some younger sons were also expected to enter into similar arranged marriages, though Dom's own family was wealthy enough and in good enough standing that such strictly political or pecuniary matches were not necessary. He was certainly happy that wasn't his lot, and as a member of the Own, if he made it to retirement he would receive a comfortable pension from the Crown for the rest of his days and wouldn't have to worry about living on the charity of his brother and his family or provide for descendants.
Though over the last couple of months, this plan had begun to appear less and less straightforward.
It was two weeks before midwinter when Kel joined them for supper in the Own's mess. Dom had been late after a trip down to the city to complete a deal with some canvas merchants had taken longer than he anticipated, and was making his way to sit with Raoul and Captain Flyndan when he realised Kel and Buri were also present. Buri spied him first and stood to call him over, waving. She was now showing quite heavily, and the pregnancy made her normally short and stocky figure appear comically squat, though he suppressed the urge to laugh as he realised she was probably still armed.
When Kel turned to grin at him as Buri sat, he noticed a small twinkle of green at her earlobes and his heart skipped a beat.
"Are you sure there's only one in there?" he asked Buri innocently as he settled his tray across from Kel.
"If I weren't under strict healer's orders, I'd teach you some manners," the K'mir woman grumbled.
Dom grinned at this response and picked up a roll. He glanced across at Kel.
"Pretty earbobs," he said in the same innocent tone. "Are you wearing them for anyone in particular?"
Buri cackled as Kel glared at him and kicked his shins under the table.
"You're living dangerously tonight, Masbolle," Buri observed drily.
"It's the only way I know how," he agreed, wondering how much Buri knew or had figured out.
When they finished supper Raoul distributed invitations to several private parties that he and Buri would host in their chambers over the Midwinter holiday period. It was something that he had begun during Kel's squire years and now intended to resume.
Raoul also gave them and the other men who had been to Scanra with Kel a heads-up about the first big banquet of the season, with invitations to a ball afterwards where some official recognition would be given to them for their part in destroying the killing devices. Dom suspected that no public attention would have been paid to them at all if the story of their deeds and Irnai's prophesy about the Protector of the Small hadn't become so well known. After all, Kel and her knight friends had disobeyed direct orders to do what they did, and Dom and his squad had been sent on their mission strictly off the record.
After chatting with some of the men, Dom found himself heading back to his rooms with Kel in tow. He felt unusually nervous, though Kel seemed quite happy to see him at supper and the fact she was wearing his gift was undoubtedly significant. Kel closed and locked the door after them, and after two steps she was in his arms, their lips meeting.
"How's your thinking going?" he asked when they stopped for air.
"I think we should try," she replied and kissed him again, slowly and deliberately.
When they broke apart he took her hand and led her into his sitting room, where he stoked the fire and poured two glasses of spiced apple juice. They sat and talked about to do next, agreeing that they would try to be discrete and conduct their relationship off duty, but they knew that rumours would inevitably fly around before long. Kel told him what Raoul had told her, about women in the Riders who got involved romantically with Rider men and how that made things difficult for them, especially if the woman was in command.
"I don't want to sacrifice my private life because of what soldiers might say," she told him, toying with his hand.
He had nodded, and agreed that he accepted that he wouldn't enjoy the same degree of anonymity as he was used to once people knew they were involved with one another.
They spent the next two bells on his sofa, sometimes talking and sometimes kissing, shy hands beginning to wander and explore.
Eventually Dom sat up and tweaked her nose.
"You'd better get going," he told her. "Tobe and Jump will be getting anxious."
She laughed and stood.
"Can't have them out searching for me in this weather."
The next two weeks flew by, with a few of the men noticing his good humour and commenting on it being at odds with the miserable sleety weather. They cracked lewd jokes and asked who the lucky lady was and if she had any pretty friends he could introduce them to, but Dom laughed and deflected their ribbing. They didn't seem too suspicious, and he suspected that they mostly just liked to tease their captain.
They attended the ball on the second night of Midwinter, where King Jonathan praised their bravery in rescuing the refugees and defeating Blayce and awarded them all with purses of gold. Dom had opened his when he returned to his rooms and stared at the coins inside. It was a small fortune. He stashed it away and went to bed, dreaming of Raven Armoury swords.
The longest night of the year rolled around and he had just finished dressing when one of the Own's servants knocked on his door and brought his gifts. Most were small tokens or sweets from the men, but a few items from people close to him were particularly thoughtful. From Raoul and Buri there was a sheaf of maps, from his mother a pair of warm mittens, from Irenie a small pouch of protective charms, and from Neal a healing salve he'd made himself. He received a large light, flat package from Kel, which he opened and discovered a subtle but beautiful Yamani painting of a mountain fortress on fine silk stretched over a lacquered frame. Since you complained about your rooms being bare, the accompanying note read. He found a hook on the wall in his sitting room and hung it right away.
Raoul and Buri had intended to host a gathering in their chambers a couple of nights later, but Buri had suddenly become quite ill and Duke Baird had ordered bed rest and quiet until the baby was born. Raoul had been about to cancel the gathering altogether when Kel persuaded him to let the guests know that it would be in her rooms instead. He'd agreed when Buri insisted that she didn't want her condition to ruin the fun for everyone else, and messages were sent out about the change of venue.
Dom had arrived early and chatted with Raoul and Kel while they shifted her furniture around and servants brought trays of food and pitchers of drinks. She'd managed to get Tobe into a new tunic and set him to work making sure guests were welcomed in and supplied with drinks as they arrived. Quite a few people visited, though mostly they popped in for periods and left again, so the room didn't become overly crowded. Raoul stayed for a couple of hours but left early, obviously feeling bad about leaving Buri in their rooms. Various other people popped in, from friends of Raoul's who asked for their best wishes to be passed on to Buri, to members of the Own, Kel's knight friends, and Prince Roald and Princess Shinkokami. To Dom's surprise, Irenie turned up with Neal and Yuki and brought his other younger sister Alise.
Alise was three years younger than Dom and was a healer just as strong as Neal. She had their mother's auburn hair and green eyes, but was plainer than Irenie and more reserved. She possessed a lively and acerbic wit to match Neal, though she knew better when to hold her tongue. His sisters didn't stay long—there was another party on that night that Irenie wanted to go to—but long enough that he managed to introduce Alise to Kel and some of the younger knights.
Eventually all the guests had left and just Dom, Kel, and Tobe remained.
Tobe had kept on top of the glasses and plates of food, which were all stacked neatly on trays for the servants to remove in the morning. The boy yawned continuously and Kel ordered him to bed. When he disappeared into the side room to sleep, Dom joined Kel on her sofa and they held one another and chatted quietly between kisses. Before long he realised they were lying down, bodies pressed up against one another and legs entwined. Their tunics had somehow made their way to the floor.
He levered himself up on one arm.
"I should go," he whispered, pushing a strand of hair out of her face. She'd cut it not long after Neal's wedding, though it had now reached her chin again.
She smiled lopsidedly.
"What if I don't want you to?"
Dom looked at her for a long moment. She returned his gaze steadily and seriously with that smile still on her lips. He looked around the room they were in. If she was suggesting what he thought she was, the sofa wasn't the right place.
"Then perhaps we should move somewhere more comfortable," he suggested.
Dom woke with a start the next morning, before realising where he was when Kel's arm snaked around his chest and she pulled herself closer to him. They were in her bed, and grey dawn light was illuminating the glass panes of her upper window.
"It's nearly dawn," she whispered.
They held each other quietly and after a while they heard Tobe get up to lay the fire in the sitting room and leave to fetch water.
"Did you pick up our tunics last night?" she asked suddenly.
"Yes, but I'm afraid I forgot my boots."
"Ah, that's another talk I need to have with Tobe," she sighed.
Dom laughed and rolled out of bed, hopping on the cold flagstones as he revived the fire and dressed.
The rumours began flying about three weeks into the New Year, though neither of them would confirm nor deny if asked by gossiping types. Of their close friends, some needled them for confirmation when they heard the whispers, while the rest seemed amused but not at all surprised.
"Finally," Neal had drawled at one of their swordplay bouts. "But you're still Boneheads."
"Ouch. Why?"
"Because it took you so long," Neal retorted smugly and attacked to his right.
He got some mostly good-natured ribbing from the men, and perhaps more from those who had earlier noticed his good humour. He suspected that it probably helped having so many from Third Company who knew Kel from her squire days; anyone being snide would have had the error of their words swiftly corrected with fists or suffered unpleasant pranks. He did overhear some of the more salacious whispers in other parts of the Palace, but no one said anything to his face.
The rest of January and February passed in a blur of mud and ice. He managed to arrange a few excursions for his squads to get practice moving in the snow and slush, and though they were short everyone was glad to get back to hot baths and hot mulled cider in the mess. Raoul often dropped in to keep him company as he worked on various tasks that needed to be completed before the weather thawed.
"There's an angry stormwing that looks like Buri residing in my rooms," he'd told him glumly.
"I take it my lady isn't enjoying being cooped up?" Dom laughed. He knew it was an understatement as Kel had told him as much after visiting not long after the party.
Raoul snorted loudly.
"I believe Baird sent that cousin of yours to check on her as I was leaving. I hope you won't miss him too much."
Dom laughed.
"It's appropriate. I myself have always thought that Neal possessed the comforting bedside manner of a stormwing."
"Lovely. They can bite each other's heads off."
"Not too much longer now," Dom said, trying to sound reassuring.
Though he wouldn't be around when the baby came, because by early March First Company was ready to leave, going south and then east through the desert to the hill country and Tusaine border.
A/N:
Another chapter! There will probably be a lull in activity from me now. I have just two months left of university, and in that time I have to prepare and present two seminars, two research essays, and one big research report. In fact, right now I should be transcribing interviews! Ahh... scary.