Hearts in Zenith (Four Husbands and a Lover)

74. The Rains Must Fall

The rain strengthened in the morning that followed the vigil. By the afternoon, it turned into a downpour. With the list of the fallen soldiers close at hand, I locked myself in my tent. The Patchwork Courts' map lay before me, marked with the camps of the smaller captains. Now that we had beaten back an immediate threat from the Tigress, I needed magic, fodder, and horses. Above all, I needed to boost my numbers.

I traced the northernmost reach of the Enzara basin. I couldn't ride farther than that and return in time to save Idezza, if the Tigress moved as soon as the rainy season was over. And she would, she would...

The rain echoed the beat of my fingertips as I drummed them on the map.

With the amount of traveling I would have to do, it wasn't worth taking quarters in the city for myself, but I should request the Council to find accommodations for my officers and my family.

Yes, Xenophonta should dispatch a bird to Kozima as soon as possible. Things were so much harder without Ondrey by my side. Kozima was eager to take his spot, so it was only fair to let him try. If he could stomach it. He knew nothing of war. Mythra's fangs, the young Duke was more curious about my profession than Kozima had been in twenty years of our marriage! Well, if Kozima expected to watch victory parades and have picnics, he would be disappointed...

I started a letter requesting accommodations, but a burst of laughter came from outside the tent. It was Nirav's voice. He was telling some anecdote to the sentries guarding the entrance. Gruff women laughed delightfully, a music to my ears after our solemn night. Was there anyone Nirav couldn't ingratiate himself to?The stern Baroness Ornatti, maybe? Ah, if only her daughter shared her dislike instead of standing right next to him and...

The tent's flap opened. My frustrated sigh was caught in my throat like a sparrow in a snare. Raising to my feet, I shoved the maps out of the way to take Nirav into my arms. The Ornattis, both the daughter and the crone, fled my mind.

Nirav didn't look like the images of the Divine Mansoora, They who rule the wind and the rain, but he was sleek with Their rainwater. He smelled like the rain. I got soaked to my skin just from him cleaving to me.

"Come with me," he whispered into my ear, his lips also wet. He was pulling me towards the exit rather than the dry blankets and the crackling fire.

"Sweetheart, I'll be traveling for weeks in soggy clothes." I wrinkled my nose. "I was just thinking of asking you to find the warmest, driest houses for me."

"And I'll do so, Commander! But come with me outside right now."

"Why?"

"I promise, you won't regret it."

Intrigued, I led the way. The flap of the tent opened and closed behind us like the lovers' skin. Some say wool could keep a woman dry in the Southern rain. Others swear by the sheepskins. They all lie! I braced myself against the cold touch of rain penetrating through every layer of clothes.

Breva was already saddled, waiting for me by the camp's gate. "Where are we going?"

"This way," Nirav replied with an enigmatic smile.

I rode out into the endless crystalline curtain. The going was treacherous in the twilight. The dirt track had turned to mud underfoot. The Enzara River ran high with the upstream rainwater, roaring loudly to my right. It made a conversation impossible, but Duke's eyes promised a lot. Alas, I knew the dangers of a night excursion like this to a rider, so I looked ahead for the most part... and soaked his promises through my skin like the rain. Wet branches reached for me from the roadside that wasn't the river's bank. I swatted them away more and more often. The road was getting more windy and wild.