‘Thorin, I’m happy,’ she said softly. She kept her head on his warm chest, her hand tucked beneath him. ‘I want it to be like this forever.’
‘It will be, my love.’ Thorin bent to kiss her hair. ‘Now that you’re here, everything is perfect.’
Jazana hesitated. She had planned to speak with him at Lionkeep, perhaps over supper, but she would never have a better time, with no one around and Thorin already in a fine mood.
‘I can’t stay,’ she said.
Thorin stopped breathing for a moment, then lifted himself off the ground a little. She looked at him, resting her chin on his shoulder.
‘You can’t?’ he asked. ‘Why not?’
‘There’s no good time to tell you this, but Norvor needs me, Thorin. There’s trouble back home and I need to be there.’
‘What trouble? Rebellion?’ Thorin laughed, trying to ease her worry. ‘I have heard these stories already, my love. It is as I have told you — these skirmishes happen always. Men are ambitious.’
Jazana sat up to confront him, pulling the wet cape over her bosom. ‘No, Thorin, it’s worse than you think. I get reports from Andola every week. They say that in Carlion men are following Elgan now. My own capital! They wait for Lorn to return. They say I am not their queen. I need to return, Thorin. My people need to see me.’
‘But I need you here, Jazana,’ Thorin said, putting his hand to her face. His long fingers brushed her skin. ‘You make me strong, and I need to be strong for the work ahead.’
‘Will you listen to me, my love? Elgan has a movement now. The loyalists to Lorn are growing everyday. They say I have abandoned them. They call me the Whore-Queen.’
Thorin’s eyes flashed. ‘They should die for the things they say about you. And they will, my love, all in time. But for now we have Liiria to secure. Let Lord Gondoir and the others deal with Elgan. He is nothing but a gnat and I am sure your men can deal with him.’
‘They have tried, Thorin,’ said Jazana hopelessly. ‘Gondoir tells me he has Carlion in control, but Elgan hides in the mountains around the city, waiting for Lorn to return and-’
‘Lorn will never return, Jazana. He has gone to Jador.’
Jazana nodded, though the story hardly comforted her. It had taken time for Thorin to confess this to her, because he knew the news would trouble her. King Lorn the Wicked had indeed escaped her death-trap in Norvor, and had gone to Jador seeking magic to save his infirm daughter. He had even spent time in the library before its fall. Thorin himself had never encountered Lorn, but he had learned about him from Breck and the other defenders at the library, Thorin’s own son Aric among them. Jazana wondered if Thorin was thinking of Aric now.
‘Lorn still has power,’ lamented Jazana. Now she grew chilled and nestled closer to her lover. ‘They know he’s alive. He was a tyrant and a butcher and yet they want him back, and they see me here in Liiria. My people think I have abandoned them, Thorin.’
‘With all your wealth, all you have bought them. .’ Thorin shook his head, exasperated. ‘If they want Lorn back then they do not deserve you, my love.’
‘They are my people, Thorin. And I must keep my promise to them.’
‘But you have!’ said Thorin, sitting up suddenly. ‘You have given everything to Norvor. You freed them from Lorn, ended the famine and the war. And they repay you with treason?’
‘No, not all of them,’ Jazana corrected. ‘Just some. Just Elgan and a few others.’
‘And who is this Elgan to challenge you? Nothing! A minor noble.’
‘A friend to Lorn, and as loyal as the day is long,’ said Jazana miserably. ‘I’ve tried to convince him, but he won’t have a woman govern him.’
‘Then he’ll die,’ Thorin growled. ‘When I am through here I will ride to Carlion myself and smoke him out of whatever hole he’s hiding in. And then I will cut out his heart and eat it.’
Jazana leaned back against the tree, the wet bark scratching her naked back. It was true that Elgan was only a gnat now, but insects like him had a way of chewing up entire houses. And in truth, Jazana longed to return home. She missed Norvor, and hated what her pride had led her into. It was pride that made her launch the war on Liiria, all to draw her beloved Thorin out of hiding.
‘I don’t want to ignore this problem, Thorin. I’m not asking you to come with me, but I must return to Norvor myself.’
‘No, not yet,’ said Thorin.
‘Soon, then.’
They looked at each other. Thorin’s features grew troubled. ‘Not too soon, Jazana. I need you with me. Do you hear? I need you.’
She inched closer, putting her arm around his neck and pulling him near. ‘Because you feel alone? Because you’re thinking of your son?’
‘No.’ Thorin let her kiss his forehead. ‘I do not think about Aric. He is with the traitors now, or dead.’
‘It is all right to be thinking of him, Thorin, and I can always tell when you’re lying. You’re troubled. Do you miss him?’
‘Of course I miss him,’ Thorin admitted. ‘He’s my son. I thought we were finally together again.’ For a moment, the dark mask that covered his face evaporated, and Jazana glimpsed the old, sweet man he had been. ‘I call him a traitor, but I should not. He’s young. He just doesn’t understand.’ Thorin smiled. ‘Only you understand, Jazana. You’re the one who gives me strength. I need strength now, because my enemies are everywhere.’
‘What enemies?’
‘On the border, near Reec. King Raxor has men stationed on the Kryss. There aren’t many of them yet but they grow in numbers. At first I thought they meant to spy on us, but I know better now. They mean to invade, Jazana, to topple us, you and me both.’
Jazana grimaced at the news. ‘You’re sure of this? They could be defending themselves, Thorin. In their eyes we’re the invaders.’
Thorin shook his head. ‘Raxor is cunning. I know him from years ago, and he’s a man that holds a grudge. He was never as peace-minded as his brother, and when Akeela made the treaty with Karis, Raxor was against it.’
‘As were you,’ Jazana reminded him.
‘True, because I didn’t trust the Reecians then and I do not trust them now. They mean to destroy us, Jazana, and I will not let that happen. I need troops to defeat them, troops and money.’
He paused, looking at her straight. Jazana got his meaning.
‘Troops and money from Norvor, you mean.’
Thorin smiled crookedly. ‘We cannot spread our forces too thinly, my love. Gondoir is doing well in Carlion. He and Manjek and the other lords can deal with Norvor while you are gone. Elgan is hardly a threat, after all. But the rest of our men must remain here in Koth. The city needs protection, and Raxor must know that we are strong. You see that, don’t you, Jazana?’
The queen gave a grudging nod. ‘I do,’ she admitted. ‘But we cannot forget Norvor, Thorin. I must have your promise that you will deal with Elgan soon.’
‘Soon, yes,’ Thorin agreed. ‘When this business with Reec is done and Liiria is secure, I will ride with you to Norvor and deal with Elgan myself.’ He took her hand and kissed it. ‘But you will stay with me, won’t you?’
Feeling torn between the two things she loved the most, it took a moment for Jazana to reply. She loved Norvor; she had fought for it for years, and now that it was hers she could not let it slip away. Somehow, though, she convinced herself that Thorin was right. Elgan was a minor noble, and she had enough forces in place to deal with him.
‘Promise me that Norvor will not slip away,’ she begged. ‘Promise me that Lorn will never return. If you promise those things, I will stay.’
Baron Glass, naked in the darkness, lay before her confident and unashamed. Squeezing her hand, he said, ‘I promise it, my lady. Norvor is yours, and no one shall take it from you. Not even Lorn the Wicked, wherever he is hiding.’