Betrayals by Sharon Green

because they were afraid to say anything negative. Nobles will pay you if you tell them about people who say things against the nobility, you know.”
    “Yes, everyone knows that,” Naran responded with a sigh, still settling herself just as I was doing. “But everyone also knows the ones who would go after that dirty silver, so nothing is ever said in front of them. Ah, we’ve begun to move. Next stop—Rion’s mother’s house.”
    “Do you mean she actually managed to get him back?” I asked with surprise, then waved away the foolish question. “No, forget I said that. The real surprise would be if she hadn’t gotten him back. Poor Rion. He must be absolutely frantic.”
    “That’s why we’re going for him first,” she said, heavy worry now clear in her voice. “If he thinks he has no way to escape her, he might well do something desperate. Valiant won’t be allowed to do something desperate, not while that woman still wants to make use of him.”
    “That woman,” I echoed, staring at Naran through the darkness. “You’re not talking about Eltrina Razas, are you?”
    “Who else?” Naran asked with a sound of scorn. “Rion told me all about her, including the fact that she usually stared at Valiant behind her hand, so to speak, whenever she came to the house. He’s unlikely to be enjoying himself as her captive, but he shouldn’t be actually suffering.”
    I had to agree with that, but the entire situation made me boiling mad. When women were so often taken advantage of by men, it was unconscionable to think that there were women stupid enough to try to match that evil. If things happen which you don’t like, you make an effort to end the practice—not to get your own licks in. Hurting someone else because you’ve been hurt—that makes sense only if you go after whoever hurt you, not some possibly innocent substitute. …
    My thoughts were a bit on the jangled side as the coach moved through the night, but that was only to be expected. It was still rather hard to believe that Naran had actually been waiting for me to escape, and if I’d left that house sooner I would have been in the coach sooner. The only thing to wear in the way of shoes had been what I’d had on: the flimsy slippers which matched the lacy gown. My feet now ached from the walking I’d done over stones and twigs, the ache telling me just how grateful I ought to be that I hadn’t had to keep walking.
    But there were too many distractions attacking my emotions for gratitude to have much of a chance. Outraged indignation toward Rion’s mother was the easiest to define, and I felt glad that I was the one who would get him out of her clutches. She was a vile beast, easily as bad as Lanir if not worse. Enslaving a relative stranger was somehow not quite as bad as doing the same to your own flesh and blood….
    I raised a hand to my head as I tried to fight off the rest of what I felt, but it was simply no use. I’d agreed that Valiant’s rescue could wait until Rion was free, but that had been an intellectual decision rather than an emotional one.
    The inner me wept over Valiant’s absence, cried for the safety of his arms about me, ached over what might be happening to him right now. The outer me wanted to race to the Razas woman’s house and set a tightening circle of flame about her that would end up meeting in the middle of where she stood, but I couldn’t deny that Rion needed me more.
    So first I would free Rion, and then I would go to the man who meant more to me than I’d ever be able to admit….
     

CHAPTER SEVEN
     
    Dinner had been a dismal affair and was long since over, but Rion continued to sit in the chair he’d been helped to in the sitting room. Mother had joined him for dinner, of course, but after she’d had him helped to the sitting room she’d gone off somewhere. It was the way things had been before he’d left for the testing, being abandoned to his own devices in complete .solitude. Mother was