Chapter 47
An Early Escapade
G ently shaking Luca awake, Tam sat on the edge of the bed in the quiet room with Eli standing at his back.
The birds outside were only just starting to chirp, and the sky had barely lightened.
“Mm?” Luca murmured groggily.
“Luca,” Tam whispered, “we need to leave now, alright? We’re getting on a boat.”
“Mmwhat? Boat…? Again…? Sleep… I just… Food?”
Despite the precarious situation they were in, Tam couldn’t help but smile as Luca struggled to rejoin the land of the waking. With a glance over his shoulder at Eli, who wore a similar expression, he scooped Luca up in his arms and pushed himself up to standing.
“Do you have his coat? Or a blanket?” Tam asked softly.
Eli nodded, lifting the black coat in her arms that had been fitted for Luca.
Tam gave a half smile in appreciation, then, with his free arm, he reached out and grasped Eli’s hand and guided her from the room to where Haewon waited outside. The housekeeper’s long hair was for once not styled into a bun at the back of her head, but in a long braid draped over her shoulder, and she wore only her robe and nightshift underneath that.
“I am sorry to hear that family matters have called you away, Mr. and Mrs. Voll.” The housekeeper bowed dutifully.
Tam bobbed his head in acknowledgment. “Thank you for all of your attention and diligence to us during our stay.”
Haewon lowered her chin in a dignified manner. “I will alert Luca’s tutor that he will no longer be requiring his lessons.”
From his sleepy spot on Tam’s shoulder, Luca suddenly mumbled. “I carried… the two… no, it’s not three… Not the cabbage. Please not… cabbage…”
Even Haewon had to work to suppress a smile.
“Thank you again,” Eli said politely.
Tam nodded his head once more in thanks, and then proceeded to the front courtyard doors, where Jeong was waiting with a carriage to take them to the docks.
Bong was still collapsed and fast asleep by the table where Tam had left him.
Tam wished he could’ve said a proper goodbye, but he knew there was no chance of waking the man—he had tried and failed on too many previous nights.
As they climbed into the carriage, Eli was the one to pound the ceiling, alerting Jeong they were ready.
“I instructed Haewon to ship the rest of your books later today,” she explained as Tam adjusted Luca so that he was slumped at his side, with his father’s arm around him.
“Thank you.” Tam directed a full smile at Eli in the faint light that ebbed in through the gauzy curtains. The smell of morning dew hung thick in the air. “How’re you feeling?”
“Glad.”
Tam’s eyebrows drifted upward in surprise.
“I worried you would be like your sister, Her Majesty, and want to stay behind and find a way to fight everything on your own,” Eli expounded bluntly.
Tam laughed quietly and shook his head. “I can’t take down a dragon, widespread corruption, and the daughter of the Gods on my own. I’m not Kraken or Pina.”
Eli tilted her head in serious acknowledgment of the two familiars. The one belonging to the Daxarian queen, Pina Colada, or simply Pina as she was called without the accent for a nickname, was known to have a way with the hearts of people to the point that it bordered on obsession. Finlay Ashowan’s own familiar, Kraken, somehow managed to rule the beasts he came across and had long ago dubbed himself emperor. But the extent of Kraken’s command when it came to the human realm was murky at best.
“Knowing your family legacy, you’ll wind up with the dragon as your familiar,” Eli speculated, appearing only partially serious, and leaning forward to glance at Luca, who remained deep asleep.
Tam released a sigh mixed with a laugh and shook his head. “And how are you feeling about… other matters?” he ventured carefully, while noticing with no small amount of giddiness that Eli had not pulled her hand free from his.
Her grip on his hand tensed, and Tam could tell she wanted to fidget.
“I’m… nervous.”
Tam tilted his head. “You didn’t say that you’re horrified, so I’m tentatively optimistic.”
Eli slid a flat expression his way. “Can you please promise me something?”
“Anything.”
“That’s ridiculous. Don’t say that kind of romantic garbage that has no meaning.”
“You know, most people who say that sort of thing do so to convey the gravity of their feelings. I’ll have you know that is not why I said it.”
Eli scoffed. “Oh?”
“I said I’d promise you anything because I will promise you anything.”
“What if I asked you to kill someone?”
“Depends who it is.”
“See?”
“And who do you want me to kill?” Tam asked interestedly while flashing what he hoped was a mischievous smile.
Eli’s eyes narrowed.
Tam laughed before persisting. “What is it you wanted me to promise?”
“Promise me you won’t tell Luca about us until I say it’s alright.”
The good humor faded from Tam’s face. “Of course. Whenever you’re ready, we can tell him. I have a question of my own, though.”
“What?” Eli managed without masking her suspicion.
“Well, now I’d like to ask why you seem so suspicious of me, but we’ll circle back to that.”
Eli rolled her eyes.
“How do you want us to be in Daxaria? And at night? And do you want to still be my assistant? Knowing you, I’m assuming so, but I’d like to know your thoughts, and your boundaries.”
Eli’s eyes widened and she turned to stare ahead of herself. “Good Gods, how anyone hasn’t been romantically attached to you by now, I’ll never understand.”
“I want to take that as a compliment, but I know with you I should double-check.”
“It is a compliment. Just… Anyway.” Eli shook herself free of her amazement. “I want to continue being your assistant, and for the time being, I’d like our relationship to remain private between the two of us.”
“And the sleeping arrangement…?” Tam wondered with a mild tone that he paired excellently with a practiced innocent expression.
“We should most likely only share a bed until Daxaria. To keep up the facade of us being a married couple.”
Tam nodded reasonably, though his self awareness of his more base instincts prompted him to say, “You’re going to have to be very clear about what you are and are not alright with when I’m in your bed. And if you can’t be? I’ll sleep on the floor.”
At first Eli blushed scarlet, but then she let out a breathy laugh of disbelief. “Honestly… as I was saying before, with your respectful charm, it is baffling that you are unmarried.”
“I think my dear son’s presence does continue to serve as proof I’m not quite as pure as fresh snow as you think,” Tam reminded dryly.
Eli opened her mouth to say something but was forced to stop when the carriage halted. Both Tam and Eli glanced out the window and discovered that they had successfully made it to the harbor.
It served to remind them of their mission: to sneak out of Zinfera and report back to the Daxarian monarchy that there were serious threats present in Zinfera.
The flirting therefore came to a tragic end.
Fortunately, by this point Luca was lifting his head and blinking dazedly around. “Wh—Where are we?” He sat up straighter, his head turning every which way.
The carriage door opened, and Jeong appeared. “Ah! Good morning, Luca!”
Tam gently touched Luca’s back, drawing his son’s gaze. “Luca… We need to go back to Daxaria. I have an important message to deliver to my family.”
Luca’s face tensed. “Wh-why?”
Wincing a little, Tam rested his hand on Luca’s shoulder. “Because it is a really important message.”
The young boy slumped forward. “Are Bong and Jeong coming too?”
Behind Luca, Jeong’s hand clutched his chest, obviously moved by the boy’s sentiment.
“I’m sorry, but they can’t. We’ll see them again, though. I promise.”
Luca’s eyes welled up, but he blinked furiously while trying to keep the tears at bay.
He then swung around to Jeong and crumpled into a sob before throwing his slim arms around Jeong’s neck.
Caught off guard momentarily by the suddenness, Jeong’s beefy arms managed to find their way around the young boy. “I’ll miss you, too, Luca, but we’ll see each other again, just as your father says.”
“You were my first real friend,” Luca croaked.
Jeong blinked, his bloodshot eyes looking suspiciously wet.
Tam and Eli decided to not hurry them. They exited from the other side of the carriage, noting the scant number of people milling around. The docks were coated in moisture, and a thick fog whirled around the ship hulls, a foot or so off the ground.
Sadly, Tam was forced to interrupt Jeong and Luca once they’d rounded the back of the carriage. “Which ship is ours?”
Jeong gave Luca a final mussing of hair before stepping back and nodding down the line of ships toward one with a sea serpent figurehead carved in her bow. It was visible thanks to the lit braziers along the dock edge.
“That one there. The captain was out drinking with Bong and me last night; his first mate will be the one casting off this morning. They should be here soon.”
Both Tam and Jeong’s eyes drifted up toward the quiet deck of the vessel, hoping to see someone who might lower the gangplank for them.
“My lord,” Eli whispered, tugging on Tam’s sleeve.
“Mm?” he asked with a frown. It was oddly quiet… But perhaps the drizzly weather was delaying most of the ships from leaving.
“Something is wrong.”
The future duke turned to Eli, who was peering into the shadows with still alertness. “What is it?”
“I keep seeing men drifting closer, and—”
“They’re over there as well,” Jeong interrupted as he glanced over his shoulder.
Tam turned and spotted four men who were indeed casually meandering closer to them.
“Four on this side, too,” Eli whispered while inching backward toward the carriage.
“There might be more on the other side of the carriage,” Tam pointed out softly, his senses prickling. “Luca, get out here right now.”
The sharpness in his father’s tone had the boy springing from his seat to Tam’s side.
“Luca, I want you to climb under the carriage and lie there in the middle. If someone that isn’t myself, Jeong, or Eli tries to grab you, scream.”
Luca’s eyes rounded, and he turned his head to try and see what threat was making his father give such a frightening order, but Tam knelt down in front of Luca, filling his vision and resting his hands on the boy’s shoulders. “Don’t look, Luca. Alright? Do you promise?”
Behind Luca, Jeong undid the tie of his green coat and tossed it into the carriage while rolling his shoulders.
Tam could feel Luca starting to tremble. He pulled his son into a hug, waited for him to nod, and then watched as Luca sank down onto his belly and crawled under the carriage.
Tam stood, then stripped off his own coat and tossed it into the carriage in anticipation of a fight. “Eli, do you need to be under the carriage with him?”
“Who would have ordered this?” she responded instead, her dread making the question come out a hushed rasp.
“We’ll keep one alive and ask them,” Jeong replied with surprising ferocity.
“My money is on your brother’s assistant, Eli,” Tam speculated grimly while pulling his daggers from their sheaths at his back. “I wouldn’t put it past him to have us followed.”
“But why—”
“Chul wants to name any son you have as the next heir to the Nam household.”
Eli rounded on Tam instantly. “What? Who told you that?” The warning note in her voice was not lost on Tam, but he was a mite fixated on the men closing in around them. By now he could see that they were all Zinferan…
But then Tam noticed that one had a peculiar physical characteristic: black nails. “Dammit,” he breathed, flipping the blade in his hand. “Witches.”
Eli’s tentative anger toward Tam morphed to shock. “What?”
“The safest thing might be to reveal my identity,” he explained quickly. “Even if they are in the pocket of the first witch, to attack me is to start a war with the Coven of Wittica.”
“Then the first witch will know you’re here,” Eli argued, her voice mounting in volume.
“I know. But we need to survive this.”
Eli fully faced Tam, desperation bright in her eyes. “We’ll be fine! You’re capable and—”
A flame erupted in the palm of the fire witch, who smiled excitedly while revealing flashing gold teeth.
But it was a man wearing a fine dark-blue coat that Tam could see on the right in the light of the fire witch’s flames who spoke first. “By the authority of the Coven of Giong, I hereby arrest you, Mr. Joe Voll, under suspicion of your identity being Satan, son of the Gods.”
Tam’s stomach plummeted.
While he had already known things weren’t good, he hadn’t known they were going to take quite as dramatic a nose dive.
Well… Shit.