Treasures of Fantasy - Margaret Weis [80]
Her father had ordered the atrium doors to be shut, fearing she would be chilled. Chloe had insisted on having them open, however, saying she felt suffocated when the room was closed up.
And so, of course, the doors stood open.
Acronis said hurriedly he had not meant she was gray and dismal. He meant that she was beautiful as dawn when it wasn’t raining, a clear dawn, a rosy dawn. Chloe laughed at him and laid down the mirror.
“Father, I am teasing you.” She patted the side of her bed and scooted over to make room for him. “Now come and sit here and tell me all the reasons I am not to have what I want.”
Acronis did as commanded. He was armed to the teeth with logic and common sense and he was firmly prepared to withstand the enemy onslaught.
Chloe immediately outflanked him.
“You did promise you would bring me a gift, something special to make up for the fact that you were gone so long,” she said in wheedling tones. “Where is the necklace you promised me?”
Acronis’s shield splintered, his sword broke off at the hilt. “My dear, we were not on a pleasure cruise. I could not go shopping for you in the markets because there were no markets in which to shop. We were in pursuit of dangerous men.”
Seeing a breach in her defenses, he charged in and briefly rallied. “And it is precisely because these men are dangerous that I will not permit you to have one as a pet.”
“I don’t want him as a pet, Papa,” said Chloe, pouting. “I am not a child. I want him for my manservant.”
“You have Kakos—”
“I am sick to death of Kakos,” said Chloe impatiently. “He is fat and lazy and smells of garlic. When I ask him to do the slightest littlest thing, such as carry me into the garden, he groans and claims his back aches. When I insisted and made him carry me, he whined that he threw his back out and took to his bed for a week.”
Kakos had been in the Legate’s service since birth. His mother was the cook and his father the groundskeeper. And though Acronis knew his daughter was exaggerating, he could not argue with the fact that Kakos was overweight and inclined to feel sorry for himself.
Acronis decided it was time to launch a counteroffensive. “This slave you want—I will make you this offer. I am going to be training him for the Para Dix, Chloe. This man will be your champion! There, what do you say to that? Not many fifteen-year-old girls in Sinaria have their own champion.”
Chloe clapped her hands. “That is wonderful, Papa, thank you! He can do both. When he is training, I will be at my studies. When he is finished, he can attend me.”
Chloe nestled her cheek on her father’s arm and looked at him, her eyes shimmering with tears, and said softly, “You know how long my days are, Papa. You are so very busy with all your important work. I hardly see you. I ask for so little. . . .”
Acronis was routed, foot and horse. “I will consider it,” he said reluctantly.
“Oh, Papa, thank you!” Chloe flung her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek. “What is my champion’s name? You told me, but I forgot.”
“Skylan,” said Acronis.
“Skylan,” Chloe repeated, lingering over the name with a sigh. “Bring him to me. I want to meet him.”
“I’m not promising anything,” said Acronis.
“I know that, Papa,” said Chloe demurely, but she knew as well as he did that she was riding off with the honors of the day.
“You cannot be serious, my lord!” said Zahakis when Acronis told him. “You must change your mind. Tell her no.”
“You do not have children, do you, my friend?” Acronis said with a smile. “Saying no is not that easy. And Chloe’s life is so hard. This man is a barbarian, but he is not a savage. He has a rough code of honor. He could have killed me when the slaves revolted, but he did not.”
“My lord, Skylan kept you alive out of expediency, not out of mercy,” said Zahakis. “He and the rest of his men are filled with rage and determined to escape. To say nothing of that wretched boy who apparently slaughtered two grown men—”
“You don’t believe that any more than I do, Zahakis,” said Acronis.
“I don’t know what to believe, my lord. All I