A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews.
Elemental-girl: Thanks for your review. Sunkissed Guacamole: Anders is the heir, so he gets Mindelan, which is why he's so concerned that it's got no money. Thank you for taking the time to review. HyperKathryne: Thanks for reviewing. Anders meant that since Kel had been training as a knight instead of as a lady, he hoped that there would be a man who would want to marry her. Haven: Thank you. Lady Swathi: So me and Buri aren't the only ones? Thanks for your complements. Nutz Nina: This is a multi-chapter story! Yay! Thanx for you review. KiwiNimrod: Thank you. I will.
To All: I decided to do a quick update, since I had the next chapter ready. Enjoy!(And tomorrow is my birthday, so please review and make it special!) Thanx again, -L.O.B.
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Terms of Devotion
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Chapter Two
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Midwinter
457
Corus
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"What is it, Kel?"
Cleon of Kennan knew that something was wrong when he first saw Kel. He had pulled her into the shadows of the corner for a kiss, but she pulled away, and wouldn't look him in the eyes.
"What is it?" he replied. She looked up with tear-stained eyes. Her story spilled out as quickly as the tears.
"I have to do it, Cleon. You don't abandon family," she said in conclusion.
"I can't say I blame you," he said. "I'd do the same for Kennan."
"I wish it didn't have to end like this," Kel said, leaning into his embrace.
"Kel, I've orders to northern border patrols. I leave this afternoon," he said quietly.
"Then this is it," Kel said. "This is good-bye for good." Cleon leaned forward and gave her a long kiss that sent vibes down to her toes.
"Good bye, Kel," he whispered at last, squeezing her hand as he left. Neither one of them had dared to say the forbidden 'L' word.
Kel took a deep breath. She thought she would melt with tears, but her eyes remained dry. After a few thoughtful moments of deep, shaky breathing, Kel left the shadowy corner and headed towards her room.
Duke Baird of Queenscove, chief of the realm's healers, was a tall, weary-looking man. A dark gray over-robe protected the black velvet tunic and hose he wore in mourning for the two sons he had lost. His eyes were a darker green than Neal's set deep under straight brows. There was a red tint to his brown hair that was absent in his son's, but they had the same nose and the same direct gaze. While Neal paced, Baird rested big hands on Kel's shoulders, easing her stiffness and taking the edge off of her pain, as he did an assessment of her injuries. At last he let go of her and rubbed his hands.
"I am impressed, young lady," he told her with a wry smile. "You have been royally pounded." Kel smiled at him.
"You should see the other fellows."
"There!" cried Neal, holding up his hands. "You see what I have to deal with!"
"You may have noticed my son has an endless capacity for drama," Baird told Kel. She couldn't help it: she grinned, and winced as her split lip opened.
"Ah," said the healer duke, "we can't have this." He touched an icy finger to Kel's lip. The hurt vanished. Next he touched the cuts in her eyebrows and on her hands; they went cold, then painless. The swellings on her knuckles shrank. Scraped places scabbed, as if Duke Baird had put three days' worth of healing into her.
"So much for chivalrous ideals, eh?" Neal demanded. "Three pages in their third year of training jump a first-year – a first-season page-"
"I started it," Kel informed her friend.
"Tell me another," he snapped.
"I did, on my honor." Kel looked at Neal's father. "I think Lord Wyldon just wanted my nose seen to, your grace. Not the rest."
"Since he sent you without written instructions, I may exercise my judgment," Baird told her. "I will indeed see to your nose. You've also pulled muscles inn your left side – I can mend that and reduce the swelling around your eye. It will not do if you were to miss training because you could not see. I can also ease that headache."
"What possessed you?" demanded Neal. He seemed as vexed with this matter-of-fact discussion as by Kel's story. Baird listened to him and Kel as their conversation flew back and forth.
"I didn't like the shape of Joren's nose," Kel said with a sigh.
Neal stared at her, eye bulging. Finally he said, "If you meant to impress the Stump, you wasted your time. Don't you realize that he'll never let you stay?" Kel looked down.
"He could change his mind," she insisted. "You always think the worst of him."
"I what?" Neal began to produce a series of outraged noises that included squawks and whistling inhaled breaths. He sounded he had when he was a young child having a tantrum, not like a fifteen-year-old who'd been raised at court and at the university.
"If you cannot be quiet while I work," his father told him patiently, "go into the waiting room."
Neal marched out. A moment later, they hear him arguing with himself. Duke Baird closed the examining room door and placed his hands on either side of Keladry's head. "This may sting a bit," he warned. He finished Kel's healings, making polite small talk.
When at last Baird opened the door to his waiting room, Neal stood in the middle of it, hands on hips. "I've decided," he announced. "She's insane. The entire palace is insane." His father lifted reddish brown eyebrows, amused.
"Does this mean that you have come to your senses and will return to the university?" he asked mildly. Neal choked, glared at his father, and stalked out of the room.
"I didn't think so," Baird remarked softly. "Keladry I would like to say I hope we only meet socially in the future. Somehow, I don't think that will be the case." Kel grinned at him.
"You're probably right, your grace."
"Don't mind my boy. He gets…overenthusiastic, but he has a good heart."
"I know that," Kel reassured the duke, and yawned.
"To bed," the healer ordered. "You need the sleep."
Kel bowed, covering another yawn. Duke Baird watched her run off down the hall after Neal, thinking that the he hadn't seen such spirit in a page since the Lioness.
Duke Baird smiled as the messenger he sent left the room. He had known from the day that Neal had first brought Kel to him, nose bloodied and broken, that the pair was meant to be together. But they were both far too stubborn for their own good.
Destiny, it seemed was curing them of it.
"Kel?" called a voice from outside. It was Anders. There were still three and a half hours left before she was to leave with her brother. She was not going to open the door now.
"Keladry, do you want me to say my piece out loud for all to hear?"
"I'm coming," she mumbled. Slowly she got up, and went to pull the door open, but only enough to see out of. "What? If you've come to tell me to be ready, I know."
"Keladry, I came to tell you of the marriage offer we received." Kel, shocked out of her grudge, opened the door and admitted her brother, butterflies spinning through her stomach.
"Do you know what this is?" Anders said, holding up a sheet of paper with a letter penned on it. In the morning light from her window, Kel could see through the paper. The handwriting on the page looked familiar. Where had she seen it? "Duke Baird of Queenscove wants to secure you as bride for his son, Nealan. Do you know the boy?"
Kel nodded, breath tight in her throat. She couldn't have said more if she wanted to. The handwriting was Duke Baird's? And he wanted her? To marry Neal? Kel sat down, afraid that her shaking legs would collapse, and waited for her brother to go on.
"His grace said that Nealan would not be able to marry for at least two more years. Truth be told, Kel, I thought we were going to have to send you to the convent to learn lady ways, and that would take two or three years at best. And then try to find a suitor? I think, and Conal and Inness agree, that we should accept this. Kel?"
Kel was still stuck on the fact that the offer came from Duke Baird. Neal must have had some say in this.
"Why are you seeking my opinion? You will do what you think is best anyways."
"Kel, if we agree to this proposal, you could stay and earn your shield. The Duke said that Queenscove has no use for another maiden, but a lady knight would be of real value to them."
Kel's mind raced. My shield! she thought. Kel still didn't want to be married off, but in some ways, two years was a long time. She could still change their minds.
"As you wish, Anders," she said softly.
"No, Kel, as you wish."
