As always many thanks to Todger65 for his help in editing!
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Despite the promising start, getting settled into the routines of Draeseth's house over the next month was as easy as it was cheerless. Draeseth barely had time to see her. He walked her to the winter garden in the mornings after breakfast tucked under his cloak and left her there to go attend his business. Occasionally he would stay to sit with her briefly but that did little to ease her loneliness, he seemed more interested in her silk covered toes than in conversation. Krouth always brought her midday meal out to her before the gardeners came, and Draeseth fetched her before dinner.
The hopes she'd had for spending time with Lislora had been dashed quickly as well. The woman couldn't bear to sleep in her warm room, nor could she bear Isonei's company for more than short periods. Isonei wasn't sure if it was because Lislora disliked her or if it was because she was required to take on the tasks Isonei was meant to be performing as Duchess. The Torgan woman ran the house with Krouth's assistance and consulted with Draeseth on matters Isonei lacked the language or the appropriate manners for, which seemed to be all of them.
In the boredom and loneliness, even writing letters grew to be more than she could bear. She received no responses. If her father was still so angry he wasn't writing to her, and it was almost foreseen that Draeseth might refuse to allow letters from Andnaeuth to reach her, he might have chosen not to try; perhaps no one in Ara was even expecting to hear from her until her return. And from the deafening silence she guessed no one in Leria wished to hear from her.
She tried to stave off the desire to spend the rest of her time in Torga sleeping and began to try to learn from the gardeners how to care for some of the flowers. A difficult task, as they didn't speak Aran and Draeseth seemed to lack the time to teach her Torgan.
The priest that replaced Brothers Jannun and Brenough, Brother Odgar, spoke Aran well but he insisted on steering conversations to 'reclamation' and Isonei had no intention of giving up her Gods especially since she had no intention of staying at the end of the year.
It was from Odgar that she learned that Draeseth and Lislora prayed together often and had been walking along the parapets together. He encouraged her to join them. The way he studied her face she thought he expected jealousy. When she offered a wan smile instead and explained Draeseth refused to get her a cloak of her own preferring to deposit her where he intended for her to stay, he seemed deeply displeased.
Two days later Brother Odgar joined her in the winter garden with a gift. A heavy grey cloak that would keep off the rain and the pale silvery fur lining the inside was thick. He looked startled when she squealed and embraced him.
"Lady! Please!" He glanced to the windows as if she had just thrown herself at him in a fit of desire and Isonei began to laugh shaking her head.
"I'm sorry, I know Torgans don't like to be touched but I couldn't help myself. I'm just so happy to be able to leave this place. I'm not sealed in by the cold anymore. Thank you Brother Odgar. I can't thank you enough for this!"
He inclined his head with a wry smile. "If you wish to thank me, you should come to the sacellum and offer your prayers."
"I don't think my Gods would mind if I thanked yours for your kindness." Isonei beamed at him.
"It will be a start, my Lady. They are walking the parapets now if you wished to join them." His tone suggested she should make haste and she wanted to see what had him so concerned.
Putting the cloak over her shoulders and fastening it securely, she ventured out into the cold air, pulling up the hood for good measure. Walking in the snow that had fallen was more difficult than she expected. Odgar had to hold her arm to keep her from slipping in places. When he stopped she looked up from her feet and saw him scowling.
Isonei followed his gaze, Draeseth and Lislora appeared to be embracing with her partly under his cloak. He leaned to kiss her and Isonei wasn't sure if she felt hurt or relieved. Releasing Odgar's arm, she carefully made her way closer and the pair looked up guiltily as her unsteady footfalls crunched through the snow.
She kept her face composed until she was very close and then offered a small smile. "I will not hold you to the year if you do not wish to be held. I do ask that you return me to Ara as you promised. If you fear to cross Lothlaerith's Gate, send to King Tamnaeuth to have me fetched."
He looked stricken, "Wife, no. Do not ask-"
Narrowing her eyes and offering him a bitter smile she interrupted by loudly sucking her lips against her teeth in imitation of Daga Liadith. "Your father's wife may tolerate him giving his desire to other women while she is bound to him exclusively, I will never do that. You've given her your desire; you can no longer call me 'wife.' Our year is not done, I will be bound to you until the end of it, but you are only bound to see to my care and return me. I ask you to do so."
The two of them began to speak hurriedly at once. "I did not give her my desire! My desire is for you alone!" "Lady Isonei it was a mistake, I slipped and he caught me, there is no desire!"
Turning to Lislora with a frown she felt baffled, "The two of you kissed. You spend far more time with him than I do while I've been locked away like a new flower in the winter garden. If you want him, I'm not angry. Take him. He's skilled in bed and undeniably beautiful. I wish the two of you-"
Draeseth's furious stream of Torgan words cut her off. The priest had followed behind her and the large Torgan directed a terrifying tirade at the man. Brother Odgar stepped forward replying with his own fury and Draeseth grabbed him by the front of his cloak jerking him off balance and toward the edge of the parapet.
Both she and Lislora immediately tried to intervene. Lislora grabbed the priest and tried to plead with Draeseth in Torgan while Isonei slipped between the two men and pressed her hands to Draeseth's chest.
"Stop! You have to stop! Calm yourself, please be calm, Draeseth!"
He released the priest with a snarl and swept Isonei up, slinging her over his shoulder and stalking back to the house. Trying to brace herself against his back she thought he must be taking her to her rooms, to her surprise he moved past them and took her into his, putting her on her feet in a room that had heavy, darkly upholstered furnishings and a much larger window.
"I did not-I did not wish to leave you alone for so much of the day. I was persuaded that if I left you alone you would yearn for me. You would need me to marry you-to be with you." His dark eyes looked wild as he pulled the cloak's fasteners open. "Why would you ask to leave me when the end to our misery is so simple?"
"It isn't Draeseth." Isonei stilled his hands and looked up at him earnestly. "That you would think being cold to me was the way to persuade me into marriage proves-"
"I was persuaded to it!" He shouted at her clenching his fists before he drew a breath and stepped away, facing the window.
She took a seat on the sofa silently, letting him calm. After a long silence she asked quietly, "Who persuaded you?"
"Krouth and the priest." Draeseth didn't turn toward her but his low voice carried.
"The priest didn't know better. I think he gave me the cloak and insisted I come out to meet you and Lislora on the parapet to prevent the two of you from becoming closer." Isonei paused and waited until Draeseth look sullenly in her direction. "Krouth is a better friend than you deserve, he must have seen that you and she are well suited and attempted to make the match. He knows me well enough to know I'm not a jealous woman and that I care for you enough to want what's best for you even if it isn't me."
"I should have sent him with the letters as you asked. I could have had you happy in my home if he had not betrayed me."
"Draeseth, if you had sent him with the letters I would not have lived to make it to your home. He did not betray you; he only wants you well matched."
"Do you have no desire for me?" He stepped toward her and gripped the carved wooden back of the sofa. "Will you no longer give me your desire?"
