Vanish (ONC Finalist)

10. Lupei

Lupei stood in the sunny courtyard at Angarth with her arms crossed over her chest. In front of her, the five guards from Skyber Hold went through their paces, lunging and thrusting in a mock fight, sweat dripping from their brows, their feet slapping hard on the cobblestones. Lupei's eyes were watching the guards and her mouth was shouting instructions, but her mind was busy elsewhere.

Something wasn't right, nagging her like an itch she couldn't reach. And it wasn't just the glaring wrongness of Dax preparing to marry Lady Liviana the very next week.

Lupei had known Dax since he was born. None better, she ventured to say, since his father had died, and she thought he was making a terrible mistake. He was letting his ambition rule his head, not to mention his heart. He was a lover of men, she knew it as well as he did. How in heavens name did he think he was going to cope after his marriage? Sure, he was physically capable of making love to Liviana, as he had proved only too well, but his heart couldn't be in it. As far as she could see, the relationship was doomed to failure from the start.

Lupei couldn't help fearing that Dax was planning to go his own way once a child was conceived. She shook her head. Was he honestly expecting to be able to bring his male lovers into the castle? Into his bedchamber?

Lady Liviana was scarcely going to be happy with that.

Trading on their long-shared history, Lupei had tried to have a quiet word with him, but it hadn't gone well.

"Have you really thought this through, Dax?" she'd asked gruffly, catching him alone in the stables one morning. "It's not too late to change your mind—"

"Stop right there!" Dax made a slicing motion with his hand, cutting her off before she could finish. "I know you mean well, Lupei," he'd said more calmly, "but the contracts have all been signed and there's no going back. Trust me, I know what I'm doing. The wedding will go ahead next week as planned."

"But Dax—"

"I said 'enough'! You're my Guard Captain, Lupei. Not my mother!" His eyes had flashed dangerously.

"Well, if you won't listen to me, I'll see if Marius can talk some sense into you," Lupei had countered sternly, folding her arms.

"He's not here," replied Dax, rather smugly, Lupei thought.

"What do you mean, he's not here?"

"He left for Skyber... before dawn."

"He left Angarth without telling me?" Lupei was astounded. She couldn't believe Marius would go anywhere without informing her first, not to mention that his departure would leave Dax stranded without a bodyguard. Automatically, her eyes slid to the stall where Marius' roan should have been standing, but... it was empty.

"I sent him back to Skyber on urgent business. I need more coins for the wedding," Dax explained.

"If you'd only told me, I could have sent one of the guards to do that!" Lupei exclaimed, irritated. "In fact, if they were going to be carrying coins I would have sent two, for mutual protection."

"I wanted Marius to go. As well as bringing me the coins, I want him to see how things are going at Skyber in my absence, address any problems," replied Dax smoothly. "Don't fret, Lupei. He'll be back before you know it," he added with a patronising smile, looking for all the world as if he was about to pat her on the shoulder. Lupei glared, outraged, and he let his hand drop, but not before she caught a flash of triumphant satisfaction in his eyes.

At the time, she'd put it down to pleasure at being free of Marius' disapproving gaze for a few days, but now... She couldn't help wondering.

Lupei blinked back to the present for a moment, to check on what was happening. As was to be expected, her guards were going competently through their exercises in the courtyard without her intervention and Lupei let her mind drift back again to that conversation. Trying to re-picture the scene as clearly as possible and see if she could pinpoint what was worrying her.

Dax was standing before her in the stables, wearing one of his older outfits as she remembered. The knees of his breeches were dusty and there was a large cobweb on his sleeve. His dark blue eyes met hers easily enough as he spoke. She remembered the fingers of his left hand, playing idly with the hem of his tunic before he stopped them, bid her a curt good morning, and moved away.

She caught her breath. That was it! That's what had been niggling at her. Dax often fiddled with something when he wanted you to believe him, when he was telling a particularly big lie. His eyes would meet you as limpidly as anything but his hand would give him away. It had been so since he was a child.

So what had Dax been lying about this time?