Chapter 14
A Bundle of Bafflement
T he first morning of their voyage, after a less-than-ideal sleep the night before, Tam leaned over the railing, willing with every ounce of strength and self-control he possessed not to throw up for a third time since breakfast. At least it was a sunny day without a cloud in sight, and despite their boat being farther out on the Alcide Sea, the air was moderately warm.
“My lord, I’ve brought you a weak ginger tea. It should help settle your stomach.”
Eli stood behind her employer, cup in hand, wearing a simple white tunic and long button-down black vest over brown trousers.
Unable to answer right away, Tam slowly turned around, his eyes downcast and his complexion touched with fresh green hues. He accepted the cup that Eli pressed into his hands and sipped from it gratefully as the boat continued to gracefully climb and descend each wave.
“Perhaps work would help to take your mind off the boat,” Eli suggested, her hands clasped behind her back.
Tam shook his head. “I can’t work belowdecks,” he rasped before clearing his throat, prompting him to take another sip of tea.
“Her Grace informed me that you normally train in the morning with her. Would you like to train with me on deck, my lord?”
Tam’s eyes flitted upward to his assistant, who was regarding him perfectly seriously. He managed to straighten himself, set the teacup down in a shallow crate that held only a rope, and tilt his head curiously at her.
“Do you know how to wield a sword? Or knives?”
Eli shrugged ambiguously. “I can manage.”
A mysterious smile lit Tam’s face, which did succeed in quelling the olive shades around his forehead. “See, when my sister learned the sword, it was a rather remarkable thing because she was the first woman to have done so. I heard that one of her friends, Sir Hugo Cas, remained behind to teach a group of women in Troivack. But given that you most definitely are not a woman”—Eli’s polite expression fell flat in irritation at his obvious reference to her gender—“who would have taught you to wield a sword or knives? Were they aware of your… true state?” Tam finished airily, while folding his arms.
“I haven’t been trained with a sword or knives, but I can manage well enough,” Eli responded carefully. “I am hard to hit, my lord.”
Tam’s eyebrows twitched at the thought of anyone trying to hit Eli. She was quite slim and petite… He wondered if it was because she purposely ate little so as to appear more androgynous.
Giving his head a shake, he brought his mind out of his growing concern for his assistant and instead stared at her somberly. “I appreciate the offer, but I really am more competent with weapons than I may seem.”
Eli raised an eyebrow, peered at Tam up and down, then shrugged.
Tam stared at her with a mixture of disbelief and vague incredulousness at her blatant appraisal of himself. While the future duke did vaguely recall hearing that Eli had once been tasked with attempting to assassinate Eric Reyes (albeit against her will), he had always assumed she had only been considered for the job because of something to do with her magic.
“We can try,” Tam conceded thoughtfully. “Do you need knives of your own?” He reached behind himself and procured two daggers.
Though she seemed momentarily caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the blades, Eli blinked several times with a frown as though confused about how she had not noticed he had those on his person. “No. I won’t try to attack, I’ll just dodge.”
The lord and his assistant eyed each other calculatingly—Eli appeared to be watching Tam in case he made a move, and Tam stared due to his increasing curiosity about her.
Feigning an airy countenance, Tam abruptly lunged, and Eli flinched in surprise.
The blade had stopped a breath away from her right ear.
“You didn’t dodge,” Tam observed sternly, with concern rather than condescension.
“You weren’t aiming for me, you were aiming over my shoulder.” Eli subtly widened her stance. “I will concede, though, that was faster than what I was expecting.”
Tam noted the way she scrutinized his build again, her eyes sharp.
There were just as many reasons he habitually wore clothes that didn’t fit him as there were for him having long hair.
They hid him.
His assistant was likely becoming rapidly aware that Tamlin Ashowan was significantly fitter than he seemed.
Tam pulled back his left blade, and in another instant, he had the one in his right hand flipped and cutting toward Eli’s middle.
She moved out of the way, but feeling the cold edge of his other dagger against the pulsing vein of her neck, her eyes widened.
Tam watched the realization wash over her: He wasn’t just competent with knives… he was frighteningly deadly.
She swallowed, lowered her gaze, and took a quick breath.
Tam was about to ask if she was alright and if they should stop when she gave a firm nod. “I apologize for underestimating you, my lord. I will take you more seriously here on out.”
The earnestness and keenness in her face told Tam that something had shifted in her. His instincts prickled, and a knowing smile lifted the corners of his mouth.
So her magic did have something to do with her confidence in defending herself.
Despite the peculiar expression Tam gave her, Eli remained focused, poised and ready for his next attack…
Which was a good thing, because the blade that had been resting against her neck flipped again and was about to puncture her appendix. Meanwhile the other was about to gut her. She leapt back, landing lightly on her feet.
Tam’s grin widened before he then dove low toward her right side. His right hand aimed for the inside of her left thigh, while he utilized his greater size to wrap his left arm around her back, aiming to slip the blade between her ribs to puncture a lung. However, Eli shocked him by backflipping over his arm. As a result, the blade aimed at her thigh met dead air, and while the tip of the knife in his left hand scratched her vest, she got away unscathed—and even came close to kicking him in the face. If he hadn’t reacted in time, she most definitely would have.
When she sprang back from her hands onto her feet nimbly, Tam let out an impressed laugh.
This time he didn’t give Eli the chance to steady herself as he slid forward fluidly, crowding her space, his right arm angling the blade upward toward her heart, his left once again wrapping around her shoulders to pin her in place. Eli ducked under his arm and away from the right knife, putting her to his left.
She could have had the advantage in an attack of her own, but in the time it had taken her to get out of his way, Tam had already switched the direction of the knife in his left hand, like a compass finding its mark. Luckily she had gained enough distance that when he jabbed, she merely leapt to her right. Circling closer to Tam’s back, she made him turn to keep his eyes on her.
In a twisting motion, Tam stabbed with his left and sliced with his right. The move would have pierced Eli’s belly and cut her throat had she not doubled over and, in a short hop, spun her legs out, pulling her torso away. Which placed her out of his reach again.
Tam didn’t waste a single breath watching or waiting for Eli to stop moving as he descended upon her, thrusting his blades toward her abdomen and throat again. The speed of the attack threw her off the rhythm that Tam had been following beforehand. As a result, when she darted backward, she wasn’t as graceful, and it only took one quick, long step from Tam to pin her against the railing overlooking the stern of the ship, his left hand pressing the flat of his blade to her throat, his right at an angle near her middle. The knives were pointing in opposite directions, so if she tried to jump left or right, she’d be cut either way.
Eli’s breath visibly caught in her throat as she gazed up into Tam’s calm eyes. His breath was as even as ever, but… he was close to her. Very close. They were practically toe-to-toe.
A strong urge welled up in Tam as he stared down at her… a feeling he hadn’t had in a very long time. It wiped his mind perfectly blank as the intensity of the moment seized them.
Tam wanted to be even closer. He didn’t want to look away from her eyes that were the hue of fresh cinnamon…
It wasn’t until he felt a particularly large lurch from the sea beneath the ship that Tam snapped back to his senses.
He heard a rush of air escape Eli’s mouth, and he wasn’t entirely certain why that sound intensified the desire to hold her against himself, but it took greater effort than he would have estimated to step back from her.
Once he was at a safe distance, Tam nodded, lowered his arms, and sheathed his blades. “Not bad.”
Eli’s hands fidgeted at her sides as she inclined herself to him in gratitude for his fair assessment of her abilities, avoiding his stare rather pointedly as she did so.
“You’re remarkably fast yourself, my lord.” Her voice sounded tight and awkward.
Tam bowed in thanks. When he straightened back up, he noted how Eli remained standing stiffly in place, her chin lowered as though hiding her expression. He opened his mouth to apologize for making her uncomfortable, but was interrupted.
“OYY! YOUR LORDSHIP! WE FOUND A RAT THAT SAYS HE KNOWS YOU!”
The shout from a sailor summoned both Eli’s and Tam’s attention. They crossed to the top of the stairs leading from the poop deck down to the main deck, but they couldn’t see the cause of the commotion below them because five or more members of the crew had crowded around whatever it was.
With his brows lowered, Tam made his way quickly down to the excitement with Eli following close behind.
Reaching the sailors, he tapped their backs to alert them to his presence. Though it took some time for things to settle, they eventually parted enough for him to see a young boy being restrained by three sailors. The child wore a dirty gray tunic, a battered brown leather vest that was far too big for him, trousers that were too small, and woven shoes.
While the boy struggled, he didn’t speak or shout, and instead grunted against the holds of the sailors.
“Let him go. He can’t run off anywhere,” Tam ordered with an edge in his voice. The sailors didn’t look pleased, but did as commanded.
Tam peered down at the top of the child’s head and inwardly sighed. The boy’s hair was covered in what looked like dried white paint, which was most likely how he had been discovered aboard—some of the sailors had been touching up crates that held ropes, pulleys, and other items that they might need at night and would need to find easily.
It wasn’t the first time someone tried to approach a member of the Ashowan family asking for help, or wanting to serve the dukedom. And while Tam and his family were always happy to do what they could, Tam was away from the connections and resources he could use to help a child in need. He couldn’t even risk reaching out to anyone once he landed in Zinfera as it could alert the Zinferan emperor and his court to his presence.
“What’s your name?” Tam asked the child quietly.
The boy wiped his nose with the back of his wrist, his chin pressed against his chest. Tam noticed that he was clutching a folded letter.
“I don’t know yet,” the boy croaked. Then with his slim shoulders still hunched, he brandished the missive at Tam. The future duke was already worrying about what he could possibly do with the boy other than try sending him back with the ship to Daxaria after he and Eli were dropped off in Zinfera… an option Tam wasn’t fond of, given the way the sailors were already cursing the child as some of them went over to clean up the mess of splattered paint.
Taking the letter, Tam unfolded it and began reading.
He felt the blood drain from his face.
The letter was from a woman he had known… quite intimately … a little over seven years ago.
Rosaline Evans ran a tavern he frequented when traveling. She had shared information with him while he inspected the offices and schools in the city of Rollom back in Daxaria, and collected intel from the brothels his family owned; he had stayed at her establishment during his visits. He had liked her a great deal, but ultimately, she preferred to live an independent life, and Tam had agreed that they were better parting ways.
Except, according to the letter… it hadn’t been as clean an ending as he had thought.
Tam gaped at the top of the child’s head, his body numb and his mouth slack.
“Can I…” Tam rasped the words, uncertain what he was even going to say as his heartbeat tripled in speed.
“Is everything alright, my lord?” Eli stepped forward curiously, eyeing the child and then her employer, who was quite obviously shocked to his core.
Tam didn’t even register having heard her as he, on shaking legs, gradually lowered himself to a crouch in front of the boy. “Can you please look at me?”
The poor child trembled violently, and tears still dripped off his nose onto the boards of the deck… But when he lifted his face, it was Eli’s turn to jolt back in alarm.
Tam gaped, utterly dumbfounded, into a pale face that was remarkably like his own. The same brown eyes, the same pale skin. Belatedly, he realized the true color of the boy’s long hair—at least the parts that weren’t covered in paint—was black.
The boy’s lip quivered as he continued to stare back at the future duke, who was utterly speechless.
Of all the surprises Tam had speculated he might come across during his trip to Zinfera…
Being faced with his illegitimate son had never occurred to him.