"Well, it's true most of them treat you stiffly, but for all that, you're doing well. But you mustn't push yourself."
"Kirill, I want to tell you how much I respect that you've been able to teach me-that-" She hesitated. "Everything there's been between us-"
"There is between us," he said quietly.
"There is between us, and you never favor me or bully me."
"Bully you?" He laughed. "My heart, if ever Ilya tries to teach you fighting, he will bully you for fear he'd otherwise favor you."
'Ilya," said Tess, "will never teach me saber." 'What's going on over there? Boys, stop a moment." Kirill turned. "By the gods, how did he manage to ride in here with no more disturbance than that?''
Tess turned.
He stared straight at her. Of course. If there was anyone else on the practice field-and there were a good eighty or so young men out there-they might have been invisible for all he knew. From this distance, she could not tell if he was angry or amused. From this distance, she would know him anywhere. He walked out onto the field toward her, and instantly she saw one change: he was no longer limping. It lent a certain implacable purpose to his stride that had been lacking those weeks when he was injured. Niko walked beside him, and Josef and Tasha, and Anton and Sergei Veselov. But in a moment, Niko veered off to greet Bakhalo, towing Sergei Veselov in his wake, and then Kirill started forward, deserting her, to fall in with Josef and Tasha and Anton Veselov.
Ilya halted in front of her. If I faint, Tess thought, then I don't have to say anything. God, he was beautiful. The midday sun shone strong on his face. His black hair curled slightly at the ends but she could tell from its wave and thickness that he had just cut it, and his beard was neat and impeccably trimmed. He wore a second necklace around the curve of his throat, this one of finely polished black stones strung together. Tess glanced to either side. Most of the young men were staring at them. Bakhtiian broke his gaze from her and surveyed the field. Instantly, they retreated, and a moment later Bakhalo called for an assembly down at the other end of the field. Kirill had vanished.
"Walk with me," ordered Ilya.
Yes, definitely, he was angry. "I beg your pardon?" she asked.
"Will you walk with me, I beg you," he repeated in exactly the same tone of voice. She walked. As soon as they were out of earshot, he began. "Do you suppose I rode all that way only to return to find my wife wearing men's clothes standing out in the middle of the practice field with every unmarried man in camp?"
"You gave me this shirt."
He took ten steps before he answered. "It was fairly earned."
"And some of them are married."
"Arina Veselov isn't married."
"Don't you dare."
"I beg your pardon, Tess. I had no right to say that."
She stopped, emboldened by the softening of his voice. "When did you get here? Where is the jahar?"
"Josef and I, and Sergei and Anton, rode forward scout.
The rest will be here late this afternoon." His face lit suddenly. "And the horses! One hundred and twenty-four. Tess, they are beautiful." His expression changed, watching her, and he lifted a hand to touch her cheek. She stopped breathing. Then he glanced back toward camp. They still stood in full view of the field and of a fair portion of the tents of Veselov's camp. He dropped his hand as swiftly as if she had burned him.
Somewhere she found the ability to start breathing again, but her breaths came uneven and a little ragged.
"And the khepellis?" she asked, speaking quickly to cover her agitation. "Did they get on a ship? There was no problem? And the letter for my brother, and the relic?"
He began to walk again, but she did not move. He halted and came back to her. "Tess, do you want to stand here where everyone can see us?"
"Yes "
"Very well. Here is the letter."
She unrolled it. "But this is from Marco!"
"You know him?"
"Yes, he's part of Charles's-retinue. Ah, he travels a lot. He supervises trade agreements."
"Is that so?"
She flushed and, instead of looking at him, read the letter. Your dear old Uncle Marco, indeed. He had been at Charles's court in Jeds frequently when she was there as a child but he was not precisely the sort of man who enjoys children. Dr. Hierakis and Suzanne Elia Arevalo had spent more time with her than he ever had. Marco explored, and he had come from Earth to explore Rhui in the oldest way known, on foot, by horse, by sea, for Charles but mostly, she suspected, for the adventure. Make of that what you will. She read back through the letter.
"He sent something for me."
Ilya hesitated, then slipped a dagger from his belt and handed it to her. Tess held it in her palm. Such a tiny thing to be so important.
"Well," she said finally, for something to say. "Thank you."
"I told him I would kill him if I ever found out that he hadn't delivered either message or relic."
"Ilya!" She wanted to laugh but he looked so grim that she smoothed the letter out instead. "I feel sure it will get there. And the khepellis?"
"I hope you will forgive me, Tess, but I lied to Lord Ishii. I told him-" His voice shook, "-that you were dead." He stopped. "Tess," he whispered. "I didn't even know, all that time, if when I came back, you would still be alive." The agony in his expression disturbed her so much that she found refuge in staring off toward the camp. Though a number of young men still worked on the practice field, in the camp itself some event had occurred to excite the interest of the tribe. Children ran, screaming and leaping, and adults walked quickly away from the periphery of the camp toward the hidden center.
"Niko took good care of me," she said in a voice not her own. "And anyway, Bakhtiian, as I recall, I promised you that I would live."
"Yes," he said in a steadier voice, "you did. Can you forgive me the lie?"
Startled, she looked up at him. "Of course, I forgive you. You probably saved my life." She faltered.
"You will never grant me anything simply because I am your husband, will you? Nothing, except when you were so ill that it was easier to agree than to argue. Nothing of your own will. Well, you told me yourself you did not want me. I ought to have listened."
"Ilya…" Once, before everything had been shattered by Yuri's death, she would have yelled back at him. Now she simply felt faint. "I have to sit down," she said apologetically.
"Tess! Gods, you're pale." He closed the gap between them and picked her up in his arms. "I'll take you back to my aunt's tent."
"I can walk."
"You will not walk, my wife. You're exhausted and as pale as the winter grass. I think I may be allowed to carry you so far."
It was no use fighting, so she simply lay against him, cradling her head on his shoulder and shutting her eyes. She could not bear to see what kind of stares were surely being directed their way. She heard Niko.
"Ilya! What is wrong?"
"She is exhausted. You've been working her too hard. Is this how you take care of her?''
"She was fine until you came back," said Niko crossly. "But I was coming to get you in any case. You are wanted at your aunt's tent."
Tess kept her eyes clenched shut. He walked with her easily, as if the burden was gratifying to him. She heard a few whispers, a few broken comments, but nothing she could not ignore. For a little stretch, there was silence, as if no one was about. But when he halted, she felt a roiled hush surrounding them, as of many people whose attention was split among several momentous occurrences.
"Nephew." This in Irena Orzhekov's ringing tones. "I hope you will come forward and explain this immodest display. This woman may be your cousin but she is also unmarried."
"Unmarried! She is my wife."
The silence rang more loudly than shouts would have. Tess opened her eyes. Most of the members of the tribes of Orzhekov and Veselov had gathered here before the awning of Mother Orzhekov's tent. Beneath the awning, the two etsanas faced each other, seated respectably on pillows. Blood still wet Arina's cheek, seeping from the cut scored from her cheekbone diagonally down to the line of her jaw. Kirill stood behind her, looking pale but determined. His mother knelt in front of the two women, and whatever discussion Ilya's precipitous entrance had interrupted clearly involved her.