Chapter 26
Bedtime Bonding
A fter hearing the astonishing news of Eli’s parentage, Tam excused himself to retrieve a bottle of moonshine and two cups.
As he passed by Jeong, who was seated around the fire with five other travelers, the inebriated fellow exclaimed very loudly that he was capable of spitting fire. Tam briefly slowed down to assess whether Jeong was in need of an intervention.
However, when Jeong spotted him, the boisterous Zinferan called out to him first. “Ta—Mr. Voll!” seeming to belatedly remember Tam’s alias. “Where are you off to?”
“Just having a drink,” Tam retorted while inching away.
Unfortunately, Jeong noticed the second cup Tam was holding, and instantly his face broadened with a grin. “Aaah, Mr. Voll, it’s wonderful you and your wife still enjoy sitting and having a drink together! Isn’t it heartwarming, Song?” Jeong nudged one of the other travelers seated beside him. “This friend of mine and his wife are inseparable .”
Tam stared at Jeong’s smug, glassy eyes for a long beat, and during that beat he decided that the next morning he was going to find two pans and beat them together to wake Jeong up.
Just as he was about to turn and resume his journey back to Eli’s spot on the rock, his revenge plan set, the fluttering of a skirt drew his attention, and he found that Eli had instead returned to the camp.
“I’m tired. I think I’ll head to bed,” she informed her employer quietly.
He was about to say of course she should get a good night’s sleep when Jeong decided that he also needed to be a part of the conversation.
“Mr. and Mrs. Voll! Heading to bed after all? Don’t worry! I set up your sleeping rolls in the tent with Luca, so you’re aaaall ready!”
The slowness with which Tam and Eli rounded on the Zinferan left lots of time for Jeong to repent and maybe feel a little guilty for what he had allegedly done.
But when they both faced him, glaring daggers, it was evident he was feeling nothing but the highest form of glee.
“My lord…” Eli ground out while trying to keep her voice down. “Is he serious?”
Tam didn’t respond. He slipped his head into his tent and, squinting in the low light, peered at Luca’s sleeping form close to the lantern. Gradually, as his eyes adjusted, he did indeed see two bedrolls side by side.
When he pulled his head back out, he didn’t need to say anything. It was apparent that Eli saw the answer on his face.
“I’ll speak to him about this tomorrow morning,” Tam murmured as an apology. “Right now if I say or do anything, it’ll seem strange to the other travelers.”
Unable to meet her employer’s look of concern, Eli ducked into the tent without another word.
Tam returned his attention to Jeong, who was giving him the thumbs-up while the rest of the men he drank with all turned and shot Tam encouraging smiles.
The future duke looked to the sky once more and wondered how it was possible that there was someone in the world who apparently loved tormenting him more than his sister did.
Stepping into his tent, Tam found that Eli was already dragging a trunk to place between her bed roll and his.
“I’m sorry. I obviously had no—”
“I understand, my lord. Thank you for agreeing to talk with Jeong in the morning,” Eli interrupted briskly as she worked.
“Er… I was going to say I can just leave and fall asleep by the fire outside instead. I can say I’m just there for a drink.”
“It’s fine,” Eli snipped.
Despite not having the most well-rounded of social experiences growing up, Tam knew better than to believe someone when they said I’m fine in the tone Eli had just used.
“It’s alright, Eli, I’m not going to make you—”
“It’s fine! It’s probably safer this way!”
The extent of Tam’s wisdom on how best to navigate the situation had been exceeded.
“So you… want me to stay…?”
“It’s fine!”
“You keep saying that, but it really doesn’t sound—”
A muffled moan followed by the rustling movement of Luca rolling over in his sleep interrupted Tam.
Once Tam and Eli had waited long enough to ensure that Luca truly was asleep, Eli returned her attention to climbing into her bedding.
Moving uncertainly, Tam lowered himself down to a single knee and half crawled, half slid over to his own bedroll.
After he’d situated himself and lay staring up at the tent ceiling, he realized that his heart was pounding.
It was loud… and it was fast… Was it always that fast?
Eli spoke quietly into the dark. “Why are you risking getting involved in Zinfera’s politics? His Highness really only wanted us to gather information.”
An excited rush from his stomach surged through Tam as she spoke. Godsdammit, this crush is something. Maybe it’s because I keep learning more about her and it’s all so… different? Surprising?
“My lord?”
“Ah.” Tam coughed. “I’m interfering more because I only promised to do nothing if I found the dragon, which I haven’t. And even if I report everything we’ve learned so far, there is too much uncertainty for it to be useful information. If I can influence events a little, I can report more, and besides… it’s kind of expected that my family would do some amount of meddling.”
Eli seemed to accept this answer, as she made no response, and the two fell into a moderately more amicable silence.
Then a question occurred to Tam. “Do you happen to know why Bong reacted the way he did earlier?”
“Not really… He might just be disturbed by what is happening in his kingdom. I didn’t even know that the traders were coming far enough inland to take over villages closer to Junya… It really does show how unstable Zinfera has become,” Eli theorized.
The night air was starting to chill the tip of Tam’s nose. He knew that if he turned onto his side and pulled the blanket up over it, he’d be warm through and through in no time, but he was reluctant to stop talking with Eli.
“Have you ever met Lord Harris?”
“Once. A long time ago… back before I was adopted by the emperor.”
“I didn’t know he’d ever gone to Zinfera.”
“He didn’t. We went to Sorlia. We visited briefly. Back after my brother was born, my father paid for my mother to spend a summer there. As a thank-you of sorts.”
“You have a brother?” Tam turned his head, expecting to see Eli’s profile, but instead he found himself staring into the scratched leather of the trunk.
“I do. Chul. And then I have two sisters. Chul will be… twenty now,” Eli recalled after taking a moment to think about it.
Tam found himself at a loss for words.
To think she had an entire family that wasn’t in poverty. They were nobles. And they had simply handed her off.
“They sent you away… just because you were a witch?”
Eli didn’t reply for a long time, and when she did, all she said was, “Good night, my lord.”
And Tam could tell that while she was trying to sound polite and unbothered, her family’s betrayal had hurt her horribly. He could sense it in the air heavy air following her firm ending of the conversation.
That same unpleasant agitation Tam had felt earlier when talking with Eli down by the river started wrenching his insides, making the future duke feel more awake.
Gods… if my father heard this, I’m relatively certain he’d offer me up on a silver platter to officially make her part of our family…
The thought brought Tam a measure of giddiness, prompting him to give his head a shake.
As if I should even be thinking about that. I need to first figure out how the hell to father a seven-year-old.
Despite this very down-to-earth thought, Tam found that the rest of the night was a fitful one. His mind raced with everything he had learned about his assistant, and he kept wondering how he could help her build, at long last, the happy life she deserved, while also being a good father to a child who might be the devil.
◆◆◆
The rest of the journey to Junya was, thankfully, uneventful. The day following the robbery attempt, Bong was back to his usual self—particularly after witnessing Tam wake his brother by bashing together two steel pans he had borrowed from another group of travelers.
The younger Ryu brother took the impromptu wake-up call in stride and bore his scolding from Tam later looking perfectly contrite.
That said, from that night onward, the sleeping arrangements never changed. It really did make the most sense for Tam and Eli to be in the same tent to avoid anyone becoming suspicious. Though Tam didn’t allow himself to think about what would happen when there was an actual home to sleep in, where beds would become a factor…
As the carriage began passing more trees and rice fields, and fewer patches of ungroomed land, the city gate came into view. A large bell hung over the road, and massive trees that had been stripped of their bark made the pillars. A ribbon of white plaster walls wrapped around the north side of Junya and continued all the way down to the sea on the south side of the city.
“I rented us a home in a respectable area. Not the most expensive or popular, but it’ll only have residential traffic, which will help things stay private,” Bong explained, jolting Luca awake—the poor boy had fallen asleep leaning against Tam’s shoulder.
“How did you find this residence on such short notice?” Tam asked, pretending not to be aware of the patch of drool on his shirtsleeve that Luca was only just spotting and starting to blush about.
Jeong jumped into the dialogue while perking up when the city wall could be seen from the window. “One of my sister’s former tutors lives there, but my father invited her to our estate to visit recently, so she agreed to let us use her house. Luckily I was able to receive her message of confirmation at the last small town we stopped at.”
Tam nodded. “We’ll settle in for tonight, and tomorrow I’ll go to the records library to introduce myself and request information about the stars. According to your father, Lord Kim loves knowing about everyone and everything, and he often spends time at the library, so I’m sure he’ll approach me quickly. After the library, I’ll hang around a few of the tea shops you told me about and start to become familiar with the area. Eli, you’re fine organizing a tutor for Luca?”
Eli was in the middle of bowing her head dutifully in response when Luca turned abruptly to Tam.
“I-I don’t need school! I… I’ll just go with you to study the stars!”
“I’m afraid we can’t do that, Luca. I have to do more than just research constellations. Besides, if you want to help, it’s best to learn lots of things so you know what to do in all kinds of scenarios!” Tam encouraged brightly. “I know it might seem like a lot at first, but trust me, once you start learning, you’ll find out you have all kinds of interests and things you love that otherwise you’d have no idea about.”
“But—”
“Luca, I’m sorry, but this is nonnegotiable.” Tam cut off the boy firmly while reaching up to muss his hair.
As it turned out, Luca’s hair grew incredibly quickly, and so it was already almost the same length it had been weeks before when he’d first appeared on the ship. But at least he looked better fed, and his long hair was cared for as it should have been.
Turning to his best ally, Luca tried to plead his case. “Jeong, don’t you think that—”
“Sorry, Luca.” Jeong shook his head. “It was my idea, remember? You know I’m on your side, but on this matter, your father is right. You need an education.”
It was the first time Tam had ever seen Luca scowl, and rather than feeling angry or exasperated by it, he was biting back a laugh.
Tam looked at Eli, who was watching Luca with equal astonishment.
“I promise I’ll find you a great teacher,” she reassured calmly.
“My mother said I was already smart enough…” Luca said under his breath, his heel tapping the back of the carriage bench in irritation.
“You can be smart without being knowledgeable,” Eli argued back. “Don’t you want to understand what your father does so you can help him?”
Luca sulked in silence.
The adults shared knowing looks, just as the sounds of Zinferan guards questioning their driver reached their ears.
Reaching over, Jeong tapped Luca’s knee. “Cheer up! This afternoon I’ll take you for the street vendor snacks! I’ve been to Daxaria, and I can say with certainty that their snacks can’t compare even a little bit with what Zinfera sells! You like dumplings, yes?”
Luca seemed to sense that he was being bribed and distracted, but he gave a reluctant nod.
“Wonderful!” Jeong enthused. “Now what about dumplings filled with berries and cream?”
Luca sat perfectly straight. “Berries and cream? You aren’t fooling me?”
“I would never!” Jeong slapped a hand on his chest in mock indignation. “I haven’t even mentioned the flavored whipped creams!”
Luca’s jaw dropped open, and as was becoming the norm on the trip, everyone’s mood started to lighten when they had the excellent distraction of a child getting to experience the wider world for the first time.
It gave them all a sunny disposition as they passed under Junya’s great bell, even though they knew the coming months would bring no small amount of stress and excessive work.
Ah, well. Maybe they would all make a point of having tea with Luca to remember the simpler pleasures of life.