The Shadow Isle - Katharine Kerr [81]
“So I thought. I’m taking the herbs I’ve collected with me, unless you need them here. I want to memorize their properties. I’ll take the book of herblore, too. Branni’s not much interested in it.”
“Well and good, then. I have plenty of herbs here. Ranadario’s laid in a good supply for the alar. Now, do continue with your dweomerwork, too. If you have any questions about the exercises I set you, just ask Salamander.”
“I will. They’re fairly simple, after all.”
Again Dallandra hesitated, then decided that he couldn’t possibly be implying that only simple things lay within Salamander’s reach. Yet after he said a polite farewell and walked away, the sight of his bland smile hung in her memory, an annoyance like dirt under a fingernail.
"We’ll be leaving on the morrow,” Gerran said. "I’ll need to be up with the first light.”
"Very well, my love,” Solla said. “You can leave the shutters open so the dawn will wake us up.”
“I’ll try to leave without waking you.”
“Don’t be silly. I’ll want to say farewell.”
Gerran turned from the window of their bedchamber and smiled at her. In her linen shift, she was sitting on the edge of their bed, combing her hair. Through the thin pale cloth he could see the contours of her body. The baby was beginning to show, just a soft curve, these days, invisible when she was fully dressed, but a definite promise of a child to come.
“Tell me somewhat, Gerro,” she said. “Dallandra’s child made me wonder. If I give you a daughter, will you be disappointed?”
“What? Of course not! I’m just terrified that you’ll die.”
“I doubt that’s going to happen.” She smiled, but a tinge of fear colored her voice. “The women in my clan have never had that sort of trouble. I—” She paused, tilting her head to one side and considering him. “Are you truly frightened?”
“Of course.”
“I’ve never seen anything frighten you before. Even the dragon—Sidro told us all how you saved her life.”
“My life doesn’t matter to me half as much as yours does.” He sat down beside her. “As for the child, our rhan needs a son, truly, but there’ll be plenty of time for that if we have a daughter first.”
Tears welled in her eyes and spilled.
“Here, here, my love!” Gerran raised a gentle hand and wiped them from her cheeks. “I didn’t mean to distress you.”
“I’m not distressed.” She snuffled back more tears. “What you said—it gladdens my heart.”
“That’s a cursed odd way of showing it.”
“Is it? Truly, I suppose it is.” She nestled against him. “Don’t let it trouble you.”
“Well and good, then.” Gerran kissed her on the forehead. “Another thing, my love. I’ll be asking your brother about that inheritance. ”
“Splendid!” Solla sat up again. “I’ve got a bit of parchment to give you. It’s in my dower chest, the letter from my uncle, telling me he was leaving me some coin in his will. He died not long after, but I was only a lass, and so my brother—not Ridvar, but our older brother, Adamyr—took charge of the coin.” Old grief touched her face. “It was just before he rode out for his last battle.”
“And a sad thing that was.” Gerran made his voice soft. “For the rhan as well as for you and your kin.”
She nodded, then sighed before she spoke again. “But the coins must be in Cengarn still.”
“I feel dishonorable, spending your coin on the dun.”
“Why? It’ll be my home, too.”
“So it will, and my thanks. I’ll take the letter with me, then.”
Before he went to bed, Gerran found the letter and stowed it in his saddlebags, then put them by the door with his other gear. He woke with the dawn and dressed. He considered kissing his wife awake, but she looked so comfortable, nested in their blankets, that he decided to let her sleep. He gathered his gear and crept out of the chamber.
Mirryn and the riders from his warband had gathered in the great hall to bolt down a hasty breakfast. The prince, Mirryn told him, had already left to assemble his retinue down in the meadow. Gerran grabbed a chunk of bread from one of the baskets on the table and stood to eat it.
Over by the door, Branna and Neb sat on a bench and talked, their heads close together.