Chapter 79

The shouts of approval for Meridon's last proclamation were deafening. Taeron could see that Neria was annoyed by the exuberance, probably imagining that the feast would end in the drunken brawling that Dijana told Taeron characterized one of Balaks feasts. Because he had been to more than one of Meridon's gatherings on Ulfynaeus, Taeron knew that fighting would not occur among the men from the moon, and the imperials were too well trained to brawl so close to a battle.

When the noise had died down, Meridon set down his own cup and he looked down at Trey. "I will honor you with a story if you will allow."

"If I do not allow, will you tell your story anyway?" asked Trey with a smile as he slipped an arm around his wife's shoulders and drew her close to him.

"This is a story worth listening to, my lord." Meridon looked around the hall and his gaze fell on Taeron's mother who sat against her mate, her arm around his waist. Her head was on his shoulder, and her face flushed from drinking ale, but a contented smile curved her lips. After a contentious meeting, she seemed to have earned Meridon's affection because Taeron learned that they had spent most of the afternoon together.

Meridon looked back at Trey before he address the hall that had quieted to hear his story. "Many people do not realize that my mate, the beautiful and ever patient Caelitha, bore me only one child. The birthing was difficult and lasted for many days, and hearing of her plight, Yaral sent his son, Dax, to my village to aid. Were it not for Dax, she would have died."

Taeron was surprised that any story about Dax did not include a curse for Zeno's imperial guard and he saw Apolo and Arora exchange a surprised look. They had only known him as Dax the Demon, imperial guard of Emperor Zeno, but that man had only come into existence to take revenge on the imperial house for destroying his people. Had he once been a gentle healer like Apolo? Meridon's story seemed to prove that he had.

"Although he saved Caelitha, he could not save our child, and while he was saddened by his failure, I have come to realize that it had been the will of the gods that my daughter not live and that my wife would be barren from that night forward." Despite his words, Meridon reached up to swipe at tears that glistened in his eyes.

"Dax consoled me after the gods took my child, when I was angry that after so many years of trying to conceive, Caelitha lost the babe she had so desperately wanted. Many times in our journeys through the Wastelands we would run across the shriveled bodies of the females cast off by imperials as if they were refuse. Only a few days after my own daughter's death, we stumbled upon a female near death in the sands and instead of leaving the cursed infant, I risked the wrath of some imperial and took the child to my mate who instantly loved her."

Taeron knew that many older females in Meridon's camp had been abandoned by imperials in the Wastelands. Because of his willingness to foster females, Dax had taken Valerya, his sister and future mate to him to be raised among his people. Many important events would not have come to pass had Meridon not taken her in.

"My mate and I have raised scores of females that we have rescued from the sands," Meridon announced. "And we have provided families for countless others who were brought to us by imperial males who, after hearing of our deeds, chose to leave their infant females with us rather than throwing away their lives under the merciless heat of the suns."

"You have done well," Trey acknowledged with a nod. "I took my beloved Shamara into the Wastelands, but I could not leave her." He glanced fondly at his oldest daughter who smiled at him. "We are not all such heartless bastards."

Meridon put his huge hand on Trey's shoulder. "We cared for Valerya, the mother of your beloved mate."

"For that you have my gratitude," said Trey in earnest before he kissed Arora's temple.

"Now I will tell you of another female brought to our camp." He turned his gaze on Arora. "This happened on the night of your birth, gracious lady. A man wearing a hooded cloak rode into our camp in the Wastelands, and by that time we had grown used to such occurrences. When I went to meet him and to take the bundle from his hands, I knew who he was before he even spoke because of the power I sensed in him."

"My father?" Arora was as surprised as everyone else. "Why did my father come to your camp that night? Why ...?" Suddenly she gasped and turned quickly to look at her husband. "My father took your sister to Meridon!"

Trey spun to look incredulously at Meridon. "Is this true?"

"I did not know who she was. When we took females from imperials, no names were ever given, and Dax did not tell us whose child he had brought to us. He told me that someone would return for her in a few day's time and that he expected the infant to change the future of Calabria. He asked that we keep her safe until then."

"My father did not leave your sister in the Wastelands!" Arora was moved to tears and Taeron could see that Apolo was shocked to learn what his father had done with the emperor's child.

"Was the female my sister?" asked Trey in stunned surprise.

Meridon released a long sigh and then continued without responding. "We waited several days for an imperial to come to our camp to claim the female, but he never did."

"By the gods!" Trey slammed his hand on the table. "My father was a bastard!"

"No one will argue that," pointed out Meridon with a snort and agreement was echoed throughout the hall.

"What happened to my sister?"

"All in good time, my lord. My mate and I cared for the female although we did not know from whose important house she had come. She had dark hair and dark eyes, and she was a joyful girl that my mate and I grew to love very quickly. We took her into the hills with us during the warm season, and we did not see Dax again until the following year when he came into our camp in the Wastelands. This time he was accompanied by warriors that harried and threatened my people, seizing females old enough to breed, and when I met with him to give him the tribute for the emperor, he was not the man I remembered."

"When he took Arora from my mother's arms and left with her, her heart was broken to believe he would put their child in the Wastelands so that he could maintain his disguise," said Apolo sadly. "She never knew what he had done with Arora, and by the time he returned from his errand for the emperor, she was beyond his help. As she lay dying in his arms, he wanted to go with her, but she begged him to stay with us, to protect us. Her loss weakened him and gave Camridaeus the opening he needed to control him."

"Did he kill my sister?" demanded Trey and Taeron saw that Arora feared the answer so close on the heels of learning that her father had not left the infant in the Wastelands to die.

"When he demanded it, I took him to the babe, and the look on his face as he beheld the child frightened me. Caelitha did not want to let him touch her, but I convinced her to hand her over. I feared what he would do if I did not, so I took the child from my mate and placed her in his hands. At first as he stared down at her, his malevolence was frightening, but then he began to stroke her long dark curls and he spoke to her in the old tongue."

"He be-spelled her," Apolo said.

"Why would he be-spell an infant?" asked Arora in frustration.

"I have been be-spelled by Dax," Trey told him. "I would not wish to repeat that experience. He should have left her in the Wastelands."

Having had his own mind shreded by Staefyn, Taeron would agree.

"Only the child could say for certain if she preferred to be left in the Wastelands to die a horrific death baked under the suns to living the life she had been left." For a moment he did not speak as he was remembering the experience with the demon, and then he said, "When Dax finished his muttering, he placed her back in my mate's arms and left my tent without another word. She had been so still that I expected that we would need to prepare the funereal rite, but then the child let out a howl to remind us that we had been about to have our afternoon meal."

"Meridon, is my sister alive or dead?" demanded Trey impatiently.

"Your sister is alive and in this very room," he told Trey and many people gasped in surprise and shock along with the emperor. "Will you let me finish my story?"

"As long as I know the ending, then go ahead, but be quick about it." Trey was looking around, intently studying the faces of females. There were very few that could be old enough to be his sister among the women who had been serving the meal. None of them even remotely resembled the emperor or his beautiful mother.

"We raised the child as our own," continued Meridon. "But because she had become one of us, she shared in our misfortunes." Now he fixed Trey with an accusing glare. "On a raid that you led, one of your warriors seized her from my mate's arms and carried her away."

Trey slammed his hands down on the table, shaking with anger although Taeron could sense that he was feeling deep remorse. "I did as my father ordered, as Dax commanded."

"There was nothing I could do, nothing I could ever do to retaliate for the emperor's attacks." Meridon was still staring at Trey. "Do you understand now why I cannot forgive you for not ending that miserable cur's life? Caelitha could not bear to lose that sweet child, and when I had no choice but to move my clan closer to the sacred hills, leaving her behind forever, Caelitha lost the will to live. Her ashes are at the foot of the hills."

When Arora sobbed, Trey held her closer and for a moment he did not say anything, and then he asked quietly, "What happened to my sister? You must know what happened to her after she was sold into slavery."

Meridon put his hand on Trey's shoulder. "My lord, I did not know until recently that she even lived although she has not been far from my thoughts for many years. I remembered the future that Dax had spoke of with such hope the night he left her in my care, but the future was filled with misery, even more so when a child that I had come to love more than any that I have ever fostered was taken from me. Now that I know what became of her, my heart aches for the suffering she has endured but I am proud of what she has done with her life. I would be honored to call her daughter."

"Where is she?" insisted Trey and Taeron was afraid that the emperor was going to draw his sword on the old chieftain.

"Not long after Dax left her with us, we noticed that her eyes had changed color, that they were unnaturally light from his magic and her lovely hair fell out days later. We were certain she would die from what Dax had done to her, and while her hair grew back, her appearance frightened many who believed she was cursed. I think her appearance is what attracted the warrior to the small child, that the oddity of a pretty girl with colorless hair and magic eyes would sell for a high price on the auction block."

Meridon turned his head and he looked at Taeron's mother who was staring at him in confusion. "I recognized you the moment I saw you this morning, Yarala."

Taeron shot to his feet in shock, and Dijana would have been knocked to the floor if Amyr had not caught her. "It cannot be true!" His gaze flew to his mother whose face was suddenly pale.

Trey stared at Meridon, then shook his head in disbelief. "Larya? Larya is my sister?"

Sensing his mother's deep emotional upheaval, Taeron hurried to her as she pushed herself away from Apolo to stand. Coming up behind her, Taeron put his hands on her shoulders and he felt her trembling violently. When Apolo tried to grasp her hands, she pulled them away.

"You must be mistaken," she finally gasped. "My name is not Yarala."

"My mate and I thought you might be Dax's female child when he brought you to us to protect, and we gave you his father's name. We could not have guessed that you were the emperor's child." Meridon scowled now. "That bitch who reigned in Zeno's palace and does so now in the Guerani Hills must have realized when you gave her your name who you were. You were so young and could not properly say your name."

"By the gods!" roared Trey furiously. "She revenged herself on us all long before she turned Staefyn against us!"

Taeron's mother looked at the emperor for only a moment before she burst into tears and turned away to bury her face in Taeron's tunic. "Gods, Taeron, take me away from here!"

Having never heard the shame he now did in her voice, Taeron quickly gathered her into his arms and carried her out. She clung to him, weeping so piteously that Taeron felt helpless to comfort her, but he took her back to her chamber. When he set her on the sofa, she would not release him, and as she clung to him weeping, he stroked her hair and held her close wishing there was something he could do to lessen the pain he could hear in each sobbing breath she took. As long as he could remember, his mother had kept her feelings about her past locked inside, but now the door had swung wide open upon learning her identity.

Taeron suffered with her as she must be reliving every degrading act Xuxa had demanded of her even as an innocent child, knowing now that she was the emperor's daughter. Xuxa had hated Virinea for taking Zeno from her, so she had probably reveled in allowing males to use her child for their twisted pleasures. Taeron wanted to charge to Guerani Palace now and rip that evil female's head from her body with his bare hands for all that she had done.

After several moments, there was knocking at the closed door and he heard Apolo asking to come in.

"Don't let him in!" His mother looked at him with puffy, red-rimmed eyes. "I cannot bear for him to see me." She hid her face from Taeron as if she did not want him to see her either. "I have shamed my father's house!"

Taeron was stunned that she could blame herself for what had been done to her. "Mama! You have not shamed his house!"

She held fistfuls of his tunic as she sobbed against him. "I cannot face them after all that I have done! If Zeno had known who I was, he would have … he would have put me in the Wastelands and he would have been justified because I was a whore!"

His heart ached to hear his mother maligning herself for what she had no control over. "Mama, you could not have known who you are. Xuxa made you a slave and gave you no choice."

"Gods! I will bring shame on Trey's house!" Her wail brought tears to Taeron's eyes. He did not know what he could do or say to bring back the female that had raised him, the one that did not give a gods' damn what anyone thought of her. Now she was a shamed female who would have accepted without question her fate had Zeno put her in the Wastelands.

Arora was asking at the door to be let in and his mother cried even harder. After several moments of her nearly incoherent refusals to see anyone, the door suddenly crashed inward to fall forward onto the floor. Screeching with shock, Larya raised her head and Taeron turned to see his father stepping on the door to enter the room.

"What in the name of the gods is she whining about?" he demanded with his hands on his hips.

"Go away!" she snapped at him. "You would not understand!"

Lord Duo shook his head. "No, you are right. I do not understand how finding out that you have a family that loves you, that has loved you for many years, can be so traumatic."

Wiping her face on Taeron's tunic, she swiped at her eyes and pushed herself away from him to stand and face his father. "Because you are a gods' cursed bastard with no understanding of a woman's shame!"

"Now you feel shame, Larya? Only just now?" Lord Duo was taken aback and he laughed incredulously.

"I hate you! I never wanted to bear your child! I wanted Apolo, but I knew that he would never accept me after everything I had done to him, Arora and Trey. Gods!" Her hands flew to her face to cover her eyes. "Xuxa demanded that I seduce my own brother!"

Taeron's father gave him an apologetic smile. "Regardless of your mother's careless words now and the choice she regrets in making me your sire, she has always loved you."

She seemed to have realized what she said and she stared at Taeron in horror. "My son! I did not mean what I said!"

He did not have a chance to tell her that he understood because Trey stalked into the room, his brows drawn together, his face tight with anger. "Why are you hiding in here? Are you so offended to discover that you are my sister that you do not want to be seen?"

"You are ridiculous!" cried Larya as fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. "Why would you wish to claim a female like me for your house?"

"Why indeed?" Trey folded his arms over his chest. "After what you did to Arora, to me, I gave you a chance you did not deserve, and I helped you all these years, even though I did not know you were my sister. Long before you married Apolo, you became a part of my family through Taeron."

He crossed the room and fell to his knees before her, taking her hands in his. "You were with Arora and me when Staefyn was born, and Ginaela, Cerisae, and Caedriq. My mate loves you as the sister of her heart. I am honored that you are my sister, and I think that if Dax could have fought off Camridaeus' control to tell Zeno where he had taken you, he would have gone to Meridon's camp to claim you and you would have been the first princess."

Tears flowed anew over her lashes. "Instead I am the whore princess. Zeno would have put me in the sands like Dax did Arora."

"Larya, Zeno could not have done that. He saved Arora from the sands, not just the night he brought her back to Dax, but later when Dax put her in the Wastelands. Without Zeno's help, Apolo would not have been able to rescue her." Trey reached up to cradle her face in his hands, brushing her tears away with his thumbs and he smiled wryly. "Were you ashamed before tonight, Larya?"

"I was nobody before tonight, a child of the sands."

"And now you have the blood of an emperor in your veins. You should be more shamed to be the child of Zeno." He leaned forward to touch his forehead to hers. "Apolo wants to be with you. Surely you must know that your sorrow is causing him a great deal of pain."

His mother looked up at Taeron's face. "I am sorry if I embarrassed you."

Taeron kissed her cheeks. "Mama, you could never embarrass me."

She hugged him, then frowned at the mess she had made of his tunic. "That is one of the last ones I made for you." Her voice was wavering again and he was afraid she was going to cry about his tunic.

"Tell Apolo and Arora to come in," she said after taking a calming breath.

When Taeron left the sofa, Trey took his place and drew Larya into his arms. His father left the room with him, and when they came to Arora and Apolo, Taeron only had to nod to make them hurry to Larya's side. Lady Trynity had been waiting with them along with Dijana, and she spoke first as Taeron slipped his arms around Dijana, glad for the comfort she could give him.

"Well, that solves a mystery that has been puzzling me for some time now."

Lord Duo draped his arm over her shoulders. "What mystery is that, Miss Stryfe?"

"Trey's familiarity with Larya," she said. "I was beginning to think that a female that is frequently in a male's house will be perceived as non-threatening to his bond, but his body must have sensed long ago that she shared his blood."

Lord Duo grunted. "I suppose Trey is going to demand some sort of satisfaction for what I did to his sister."

"You mean what she did to you?" she reminded him.

"I suppose the chains did leave me with little choice. Perhaps I should demand something of him."

Trynity rolled her eyes.

Taeron's father looked at him. "Even by Calabrian standards, this has been an awful honeymoon for you. Take your bride back to your chamber. Stryfe just scurried away muttering about how much work he had to do, so he is probably already scribbling on his parchments in some lighted corner, Jeshed is with Yori in another room, and I saw Amyr with his sisters. So, you have the room to yourself for a few hours, but don't be surprised if Amyr joins you later."

Dijana made a sound of exasperation. "If he does, I shall kick him where he will feel the regret of doing so for many days! Maybe then he will remember to leave us alone."

Chuckling, Taeron kissed the top of her head, then lifted her off her feet. "Father, if you see Amyr, you had better warn him of my ferocious female's threat."

"Sorry, son, but he is on his own." His father suddenly pulled his own mate up in his arms. "I think I can find an empty room of my own."

"Put me down," demanded Lady Trynity.

Instead of complying, he tossed her over his shoulder which made her growl in outrage so Taeron hurried away before he would see his father fall victim to one of her infamous defensive moves. His father was a brave man.

"You would never do that to me," commented Dijana and he detected a note of wistfulness in her voice. "My mother claimed that all Calabrians threw females over their shoulders and carried them away. My father thought you would do it that day in the grotto when I told you to leave Teralon."

Taeron looked down at her, his step faltering. "Your father is a good judge of character. I wanted to do it."

She pressed her cheek against his shoulder. "I wish you had."

Bending his head to her, he pressed his lips to her forehead. "In the future I will not hesitate to do so."

With that he hefted her over his shoulder and headed to his chamber.