Chapter 38
A Well-Rounded Return
T am woke with a gasping jolt.
Then he flinched at the bright sunlight filling his vision, regarding the white ceiling while trying to relish each quick breath of fresh air he indulged in.
His mind gradually shifted out of panic.
I’m not in the void anymore. I made it out… Somehow.
Tam reached up and rubbed his eyes, but he didn’t do so for long. It was too nice to see the sunlight. Even if it made his eyes ache.
Forcing a slower breath out of his lungs, Tam turned over to his right side, the tension in his shoulders starting to ease away… until he found himself staring at Eli.
Asleep.
Beside him.
Without so much as a pillow between them.
Tam felt his eyes bulge.
She was breathtaking.
Quite literally.
Tam had to remind himself to inhale when he found himself getting light-headed.
He wasn’t certain if his dumbfounded state was due to the shock of seeing her, or if he was still readjusting to being back in the world with everyone.
Maybe he’d died and was being given a glimpse of something he had found himself wishing to see during the journey to Junya when Eli had slept just on the other side of him with luggage between them.
Studying her in the present, Tam noted that the dark shadows under her eyes were already improving, but she’d require a little more rest to fully recover.
One question he had wanted to ask the night before was whether or not she had used her magic when she’d looked for him. He could feel a streak of frustration in his chest at the idea that she’d been wandering around the streets of Junya at night without any protection.
Not that Eli would listen to him or take kindly to the implication that she of all people would need or be worth protecting.
Tam let out a sigh, though he smiled.
Stubborn as a mule and single-minded in her work ethic. Gods… I didn’t stand a bloody chance. Not when she’s cute on top of all that.
Tam flopped back onto his back and allowed himself to enjoy the quiet peacefulness of the morning.
He could smell coffee brewing and eggs frying, and while there was the unfamiliar tangy scent of the foreign sauces and spices that his father didn’t use as often back in the keep in Daxaria, that morning felt more like home than… well… home.
Tam slowly slid from the bed, the plush comforter giving off soft crinkling rustles. Dressing himself in his trousers, but leaving his loose sleep shirt on, Tam cast another look at his assistant, his face aching with a smile.
The room was filled with the scent of lemons and florals, and the air was suffused by the glow of the sunshine. Tam pressed the sight firmly into his memory.
It was the best morning of his life.
Gods… If Eli ever does decide to properly seduce me, it might actually kill me with happiness.
Slipping out of the room, Tam padded down the hall and angled left into the dining space to find Jeong, Bong, and Luca already seated at the table that Haewon was just finishing setting.
“Dad!” Luca jumped up from his cushion at the table and shot over to Tam, flinging his arms around Tam’s hips.
Wrapping his arms around his son, Tam looked up at Jeong, who was already beaming. Bong smiled, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes.
Tam’s good mood stalled. Something was wrong.
He gave Bong a quiet nod of acknowledgment.
Jeong, if he noticed, ignored this.
“Welcome back, Mr. Voll.” Haewon lowered her chin, her words stiff.
Tam knew he had firmly nailed shut the coffin of his chances of Haewon ever liking him after having disappeared for so long.
“Thank you, Haewon. And thank you for helping my family while I was away.”
The housekeeper said nothing else as she bowed and exited the room, leaving them alone.
“Well, well, well. Our quiet, dignified lord made quite the dramatic entrance last night,” Jeong chortled as Tam patted Luca on the shoulder then lowered himself to his place at the table. Luca, not wanting to leave his father’s side, sat down on his right.
“I’m sorry about being gone for so long.” Tam bobbed his head.
Jeong slid a very quick glance at his brother, who was acting completely nonplussed as he sipped his tea.
“We’re glad you’re back. Eli—she wasn’t doing well. Not to mention everything that has been going on.” Jeong cleared his throat, his eyes drifting to the top of Luca’s head as the boy worked on devouring his bowl of rice topped with eggs and kimchi.
“Yes, how was the rest of the party last night?” Tam asked vaguely while pouring himself a cup of coffee from the tall glass pot in the middle of the table.
Any semblance of good-natured fun in Jeong’s face disappeared.
“It went well enough. Our host suddenly started shouting at the golden swan statues around his garden, saying they were laughing at him. He also started screaming into the faces of some of the women…”
Tam smiled humorlessly. “Good.”
“At that stage in the evening, most attendees saw it as a drunken escapade, albeit far from acceptable or appropriate.”
“We’ll see how the lord manages the consequences. If he’s overly prideful, it could work in our favor, as he’ll act out angrily,” Tam explained while filling his own plate with eggs.
He had managed to find some leftover chicken the night before after his talk with Eli, but he was absolutely ravenous for a hot meal right then.
“He might. However, he isn’t a foolish man, and with Lord Yangban here, he might instead be on his best behavior,” Bong interrupted, his words hard and bitter.
Tam’s gaze cut to the elder Ryu son. He had never heard such a tone from him before.
Rather than commenting, he nodded slowly, then said, “By the way, Bong, I haven’t had any proper training since arriving in Zinfera. Would you mind indulging me?”
Bong inclined himself in assent.
“Can I watch?” Luca asked excitedly. “My dad’s really fast with knives!” He mimed stabbing forward multiple times, his brows furrowed like Tam’s.
Bong managed to smile genuinely at the child’s obvious pride and enthusiasm.
“Sorry to say, you are going to have to go to your lessons as usual.” Tam rested a hand atop his son’s hair.
Luca let out a loud moan. “But you just got home! Can’t I miss class?”
Tam laughed. “Not a chance. Don’t worry, I’ll be here all day, and I won’t be going back to the library for another day or two.”
That succeeded in placating the child, and so the rest of the breakfast passed by peacefully.
As the men rose from the table and Haewon returned to clear away the dishes, Tam sidled up to the housekeeper. “Could you please see to delivering a tray to my wife? She’s not going to be leaving our room today under any circumstances.”
Haewon’s lips pursed, her thoughts unclear, but she tilted her head dutifully and left.
With Luca having scampered off to prepare for his lessons, and Jeong venturing off to bathe, since he had returned too late the night before to do so, Bong and Tam headed to the courtyard.
“Did you and Eli make amends?” Bong ventured casually as they walked.
Tam continued inspecting one of his daggers to see if it needed to be sharpened. “More or less. I’m giving her space.”
“That is wise, from what I could tell. Especially with her supposed family nearby… While you were away, she alluded to the fact that they are interested in finding her again for one reason or another. I know less than you do about her past, but it is easy to discern that romance is one of the farthest matters from her mind.”
“Might not be as far as you think,” Tam murmured more to himself than Bong, but the Zinferan raised an eyebrow in his direction all the same. “Mind telling me what your history is with Lord Yangban?” Tam went on, transitioning the discussion smoothly.
Bong paused as they reached the plum tree, its white flowers blooming prettily.
“He has harmed more people than you could ever imagine. It has been particularly bad in recent years.”
He kidnapped a princess who was a strong candidate to be empress and is walking around without any repercussions. It’s not hard to guess he feels untouchable.
“My father has tried to save the people he pushes under his thumb and controls with the pirates and traders, but it’s like stanching a wound while the dagger still keeps cutting a bigger and bigger hole.” Bong paused to let out an angry breath. “The number of people I have tried to comfort after they’ve lost their loved ones due to his machinations… I have to confess, this goal we are working on, to cripple Lord Guk, is proving to be far harder for me than I anticipated, now that I have to smile at that man who is nothing but a poison in this world.”
Tam knew then that if he happened to casually mention what Lord Yangban had done to Eli, there was a very large chance that Bong would be unable to compose himself in the lord’s presence ever again.
Hell, even Tam hadn’t had to face the man directly yet to see if he could restrain himself.
“Before I leave Zinfera, Lord Yangban will be dead and his power crushed. You have my word.”
A rueful half smile lifted Bong’s mouth. “If your last name were any other than Ashowan, I’d say it was impossible.”
“When there is no higher power to hold someone like him accountable, it doesn’t take long for an empire to collapse. I’ll be doing my best.”
“Well said. Now, before we start to train, I of course have to ask… Where did you go?”
Tam rubbed the back of his neck. He had known it would come up sooner or later; quite honestly, he was shocked it hadn’t already.
“My magic takes me to a place that doesn’t technically exist. I’ve been trapped there for a while.”
Bong’s eyebrows flew upward. “Your magic creates a… a prison?”
“No, it—” Tam stopped.
A prison.
The first witch… The devil…
Was he supposed to send them to the void as though it were a prison?
Power suddenly flushed him, as though he was getting closer to an answer.
“It could be like a prison,” the future duke began carefully. He decided not to mention his recent discussion with Death. “But I could leave. I just didn’t know how to before. And even though I now know, it isn’t simple.”
“Where did you reappear? Was it back in the street?” Bong wondered.
“No, I—” Tam stopped again. He hadn’t really considered why he had reappeared somewhere else.
Everything had happened so quickly.
Had it been that he’d traveled in the void?
Could he do that? Disappear one place and reappear in another?
Tam remained silent as he thought through this possibility. But he hadn’t been the one to pull himself from the void. The red thread had done that, even though he had fought it. He was being pulled by someone or some thing he didn’t want to meet… and he had wound up in his and Eli’s room.
Where Luca had been sleeping.
More and more questions and theories started to pour into Tam’s head.
Finally, Bong clapped his hand on his shoulder, jarring him free. “It seems as though you have a great many things to think about. But I confess, I was actually quite happy that you requested to train with me. It might help work out some of my agitation about Lord Yangban.”
Tam did his best to finish swimming through his thoughts back to the present. “Ah, sorry. Of course.” Giving his head a shake, he squared himself to Bong.
However, he did not anticipate the man instantly pummeling him in his gut without any further ceremony.
Luckily, Tam had been trained in combat by his mother, and while she was a good woman, when it came to combat and training? She was far from gentle.
So despite being winded, Tam seized Bong’s shoulder, braced his knee, and tried to flip the Zinferan onto his back.
While Bong was caught off guard by how fast Tam had recovered, he managed to wrench himself free of Tam’s grasp and spin off to the future duke’s side. Bong’s elbow was winding back to jab Tam in the ribs, but Tam peripherally tracked the movement, caught the elbow, dragged Bong forward with it, and elbowed the Zinferan in the chest, knocking Bong back several feet.
Tam turned and cracked his neck while raising his hands and lowering his head.
He didn’t bother drawing out the blades stowed at his back.
Bong touched his chest, coughed, then gave an impressed incline of his head toward Tam before reaching up to the tie of his purple silk shirt and shrugging it off to reveal that he was made of pure, lean muscle.
“I knew you were a capable man, Tam. It’s expected of anyone who manages brothels. But I’m starting to think you may be a step farther than that and are in fact quite deadly.”
Tam gave an innocent quirk of his mouth that turned into a smile, but didn’t respond.
Bong widened his stance and lifted his open palms upward. A sparkle of interest lit his eyes. “Shall we?”
Tam ducked, darting forward and swinging out his leg in a long roundabout kick that caught Bong’s side. He could hear a fraction of breath crushed out of the Zinferan’s lungs.
Stumbling, Bong was still quick to circle back, his hands raised defensively.
Tam felt his mood lift. It’d been a while since he sparred with someone on a similar level as himself for fun. The back of his mind continued to slog through his endless questions about his magic, but the movement was helping hone them.
Who knows? Maybe my magic will be more useful than I originally thought.