Chapter 328

"Didn't it hurt your back to be seated in the coachman's chair for all those hours?" Raymond asked as they approached the carriage.

Nua began to climb up when Raymond reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. She froze.

"Of course, master. But what does that matter?" She answered without looking back or letting go of the handle to pull herself up.

"Wait." He said, and went to where the horses stood pawing at the ground with their hooves, and he undid one from the carriage, slipping its bonds and then taking the reins in hand.

He drew it away from the carriage and swiftly mounted it. "I don't need a saddle to ride, do you?" He asked.

"No, sir." She replied, but when he held out a hand, she was already moving to mount the space behind him.

"It matters." He said, answering his earlier question. "I will have words with my comrade when I return."

"It isn't necessary, master. My body has always healed before, it will heal again. And again. And again. Don't bother if it will create a rift with your… friend." Nua said while resting her hands on her thighs, and Raymond chose to ignore the way she referred to Cardinal Dominic.

"We'll go slow to minimize the pain." Raymond promised, and he felt Nua's breath waft briefly over the back of his neck.

"Maybe you are an innocent one…" She said it so softly, that if he hadn't been a Black Scripture, he wouldn't have heard it.

"Innocent?" He asked, and he felt her legs tense against the horse and drive it to go faster. He reined it in with a quick yank and she relaxed her hold on the mount.

"Nothing, master. I didn't mean anything by it, I promise. It's just… My Lord seems to think…" She hesitated, her words halting until Raymond cleared his throat.

"Go on." He said, "If I've given you an incorrect impression, I should be the one to fix it."

Whatever he said or however he said it, it seemed to set her at ease as he felt her breath against the back of his neck again as if she'd let go of one she was holding back.

"Master, you don't have to pretend to be nice to me. It's a lot easier if you're not. Then I'm not always waiting for the other shoe to drop. You don't have to pretend to care, you don't have to pretend my pain matters, whatever you're going to do with me… just do or give the order… I know you're good at pretending, but you don't have to with me, I already know the truth." Nua said it with such casual exasperation that he was silent for a lengthy time, the hooves of the horse thudding on the ground as they made their way through the town in search of the apothecary shop.

But Nua noticed one thing, the horse wasn't turning around.

"What is the truth… and how do you know I'm… how did you put it… good at pretending?" Raymond asked without looking back at her, his fists tightened around the reins, but he gave no other sign of distress or anger when he asked.

"Must I answer that, master?" Nua asked while he quietly scanned the sides of the empty street, searching the buildings for the shop she needed.

"Yes." Was all he said.

"You saw the pregnant dark elf with a human husband, you saw them in love, and you were kind and polite to her. But you're a Theocracy cardinal. By your teachings, she is not just an animal, she's a potentially dangerous animal. Something that has to be killed or controlled… like me. And the get in her belly? I know where you get your slave catchers and the middle rank of slave labor. You played nice… but if she were in your country, you would have her sold and not lose a minute of sleep. So… you are a skilled pretender, my lord. When I lived in the house of Aalon, I accompanied him to many plays and never saw an actor who was your equal."

Raymond took that in, in silence.

"I'm just doing my job." Raymond replied with a bit of a defensive air about him. "Trying to protect humanity."

"I'm sure my lord is a very good human." Nua said, and the words were hollow to his ears.

"I'm not… planning, anything. I'm not trying to get anything from you, or being kind for some ulterior motive. I'm just not as bad as you think I am." Raymond replied.

"As master says." Nua replied to end the conversation.

"I'm not." He insisted.

"As master says." She replied again.

"I'm really not." He insisted again.

"I believe you, master." She reiterated.

"You're lying to me." He retorted while his face flushed red.

"I will say what you tell me to say, tell me what you want me to believe, and I will say it, My Lord." Nua replied.

"I want the truth." Raymond groused between gritted teeth. His eyes darted furtively back and forth, ever more eager to just find the shop.

"I don't want you to hurt me, so what truth will help me avoid that best, master?" Nua answered him abruptly.

"The real truth, Nua. The real truth. What you'd say if I weren't… I don't know." He said and his body slumped forward a little.

"Master… may I ask something?" Nua asked, and he caught sight of her out of the corner of his eye when she leaned to the right and looked at him in the side of his face.

"Yes." He replied, still looking on either side of the dark and empty street.

"Was it hard to pretend they weren't an abomination?" Nua asked, and Raymond felt his heart skip a beat. "I ask because when they appeared, I expected you to show… something, of what you should have. I'm sure your comrade would have raged at them both. But you didn't, even though you both believe that there's no place for her or her child in this world. I was just thinking it must have been hard to pretend."

"No… it's… it's different." Raymond asserted, "For the Black… we deal with the… the hard things, monsters, real threats… I've seen lots of unusual things… that was new. But it's a strange world. But they're probably just a plant, people put here for me to see, not a real couple. Just paid actors to influence me, corrupt my mind."

"Of course. As master says." Nua replied, and he felt his anger grow at her passivity.

"You don't know anything." Raymond said through clenched teeth. "However old you are, you don't know anything. We didn't start this war… we didn't ask for the gods to choose us, we didn't attack your country… your country raped our champion… my grandfather was a friend of hers, and she never recovered from what your kind did. The child she bore, my grandfather, and my father, have helped raise, and she passed into my care as her handler when I joined the Black. Even that girl… she's damaged too… a lot of harm was cast in the wake of your king's lust. And in my first encounter with elves… your kind massacred one of our towns…"

"We didn't ask for him as our King." Nua said, "He hurts us too… all the time… everybody knows that, anyone… everyone… he's a monster. So… why me? What did I do? I never met a human till I was forced to… I'm not bad… I never hurt anyone… I swear, master. I swear I'm not rebellious, I've never hit a human, never threatened one… I mix good potions, I saved human lives… I even loved… two of you… what does any of that have to do with me… why did our King's rape of your champion have to ruin my life…?"

She fell silent. "Forgive me, master, I speak out of turn. I abjure all the blasphemy I've just spoken."

Raymond answered by pointing ahead and to the right. "There it is. We'll get you healed properly with a potion."

"Thank you, master." She said as they drew close and he brought the horse to a stop.