I was trying to make an argument, when there was a cough outside. “Ah, the meat is ready.” Liam sat up straighter on his pillow. “And all this talk has my stomach growling.”

I laughed, as the warriors approached with meat and flat bread. There were grains, too, but I recognized the small red flakes in their midst, and took careful bites.

We talked as we ate, and I realized that I was enjoying myself. Liam had seen warriors playing chess, and started to pepper me with questions about the rules. As the dishes were removed, nothing would satisfy him but that we play a game. “I know your memory is not like ours,” he spoke eagerly as he pulled a wooden box out from under the platform. “So I bartered for this.”

He pulled out the first piece with a flourish and pressed it into my hand. I studied it as he set the rest out on the board. The carving was amazing. It was a fierce warrior of the Plains on a galloping horse, poised to fling a lance at his opponent. But it was plain wood, with no color distinction.

Then I glanced at the board and realized that it wouldn’t be a problem telling the pieces apart. One side was the Firelanders, clearly, lean and fierce warriors of both sexes, armed to the teeth. The others were all chubby city-dwellers, unarmored, with no weapons, cowering in fear of their attackers. Even the castles looked afraid somehow.

I arched an eyebrow at Liam, and he had the grace to look embarrassed. “The set is well carved,” he offered as if in apology.

I chuckled. “Well, let’s just see how you fare against me, Warlord.”

The first game went swiftly, with myself as the winner. Thankfully, Liam hadn’t learned all the strategies as of yet. I checkmated him, and then settled back with my fresh kavage as he studied the board, trying to find his mistake.

The warrior serving us had entered with a plate of small buns. “Are those bread tarts?” I asked, reaching for one.

“They are, Warprize.” The warrior gave me a quick smile, putting the plate next to me. “You should have moved your ehat sooner,” he chided Liam in a soft voice. “She couldn’t use her mounted warrior then.”

Liam grunted, “Go away.”

I bit into the bun, and there was a familiar explosion of spice in my mouth. Spicy, yet sweet. The taste took me back to the first time I’d seen a pattern dance, when Marcus had been so proud of his treat. “This is so good!”

Liam looked up, and reached for one. “They are one of my favorites.”

The warrior smiled at me. “I was taught to cook them by a master.”

Liam’s face stilled as the warrior bowed and left us.

“He’s right, you know.” I nodded to the board. “You should have moved your ehat to block me.”

The odd expression on Liam’s face was still there.

He picked up the ehat, and ran his thumb over the detailed carving. He seemed distracted somehow.

“Another game?” I reached out to set the pieces in their positions.

Liam didn’t look up. Instead he kept his gaze on the ehat and cleared his throat. “Lara? How does Marcus?”

His tone was offhand, as if it didn’t really matter, but something gave me pause. “You know Marcus?”

He looked up then, those hazel eyes flooded with pain. I drew a breath, as he turned away, and I could clearly see the bonded piercings, the wire running along the outside of the ear, the beads and small trinkets woven within.

I sat my mug down, dazed.

Isdra nodded, then took a deep breath. “Lara, Marcus was bonded.”

“Really?” I jerked my head around, to spot Marcus behind us. His chin was on his chest, and he appeared to be sleeping in the saddle as his horse walked along. “But his ear—” I stopped myself. His left ear had been burned away in the accident that left him scarred.

Isdra nodded again. “Aye, his ear spiral melted away with his flesh. I do not know the details, Lara.”

“Oh, Goddess. Was she killed, Isdra?”

Isdra shook her head. “I will say no more, Lara. For lack of knowledge, and for courtesy.”

“Goddess,” I breathed out. “You are Marcus’s bonded.”

Liam jerked his head in a nod, but didn’t look at me.

I had to remind myself to breathe. And breathe again. Marcus was bonded. Marcus was bonded to a...

My world seemed to shift around me, as if all of my assumptions of the world were wrong. I breathed again, and remembered to speak. My voice sounded like it was coming from a long way away. “He is well, when last I saw him, when I asked that he be my Guardian.”

“You did?” Liam smiled. “I had not heard that. I bet that caused a furor.”

“It did.” I frowned suddenly. “Is that why you rejected him? Because of his—”

The room went ice-cold in a moment, and those hazel eyes pierced right through me. This was a Warlord of the Plains that sat before me, and he was well and truly angry. “Were you of the Plains, I’d kill you for that insult.”

I bit my lip, but didn’t look away. “Then why?”

“By Marcus’s choice,” he snapped as he slammed the ehat piece down and rose to his feet. He started to pace, back and forth before the platform, a very angry Warlord of the Plains. But I felt no fear.

His anger was aimed at himself.

“ ‘This worthless carcass is not your bonded,’” Liam snarled. “That is what the stubborn, stupid man told me.” He talked with his hands, gesturing to the air. “I begged him to return to me until he threatened to go to the snows, regardless of his oath to Keir.” Liam stopped and rubbed his face with his hands. “It’s two campaigns now since I’ve seen him.”

I caught my breath. “Two years?”

Liam let out a ragged breath. “He serves Keir. And never comes to the Heart.” My face showed my thought, and Liam caught it in an instant. “He’s here, isn’t he?”

I nodded, picking up the poor abused ehat figure. “I’ve seen him.”

“Do you know how hard that is for him?” Liam shook his head, and crossed his arms over his chest. “His loyalty to Keir is absolute.” He examined me intently. “And to you as well, it seems.”

Suddenly, Keekai’s words to Marcus when she’d seen him made perfect sense. “He worried about you. When Keekai arrived, she told him that you hadn’t been hurt on campaign.”

Liam sagged. “But he didn’t actually ask, did he?”

I sighed, looking at the ehat carving. “No.”

“When Keir brought Marcus back to me, and Marcus recovered enough to speak, the first thing he did was call me to his tent and announce that the bond had melted away in the fires, along with his ear.” Liam struggled with the words.

“He pushed you away because of his scars, didn’t he?” I asked, softly. I placed the ehat on the board. “It would affect your status, wouldn’t it?”

“What of it?” Liam cried out. “Do you know how empty the days are? How empty my arms are at night?”

He turned to pace again, so he didn’t see me blush. That was something I wasn’t ready to think about. My people didn’t. . . such a thing was not approved of. And it was one thing to know that Firelanders had those kinds of relationships. I’d known that. Certainly Osa had made it clear.

But now it was someone I knew, someone I cared for. I swallowed hard. Marcus, who had protected me with his blades and cared for me when I’d been so deathly ill.

Marcus, who I considered a friend, had bonded with a man.

I swallowed hard.

Liam still prowled, and I watched his hands clench into fists. I couldn’t deny the longing in his voice. I’d heard it in my own, when I spoke of Keir.

“I will not give up,” Liam vowed. “One day I will find a way across the plains that he has placed between us. I’ll have him back, at my side, I swear it by—”

“Warlord.”

Liam and I both jumped, and turned to see his warrior pull the flap aside. Liam frowned. “Yes, Rish, what is it?”

“Word from the Council.”

Finally!

Finally, I’d see the Council. I fussed with my hair as I tried to match Liam’s stride. Wiping imaginary crumbs from my tunic kept my nerves at bay for a moment.