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Kazul was fretting. Perhaps such behavior was not really appropriate for a lioness of her birth and upbringing, but the fact was she had always been a worrier at heart. In fact, after having been told several days ago by her thrall, the hyena called Grovarbetare, that Ru's viking had met with both success and injury according to the vision of some thrall-seer, it was something of a wonder that the warlord's dragon-child was not even more on-edge and anxious. There had been, after all, the mention of a serious injury to one of the band with dark fur.

"What if it's Ru?" she murmured.

"I'm sorry, Mistress. I didn't hear what you said just now," the grey hyena with amber eyes lied.

She had, of course, heard every word her mistress said, but by saying otherwise she forced Kazul either to repeat herself, make up something else to have said, or deny having said anything. Just one more stupid power game she played with Kazul without Kazul ever being aware of it. Stupid lion.

It was so very, very satisfying to the amber-eyed hyena that her little lie a week ago had taken root so thoroughly in her mistress's mind. And it seemed it was now time for her to deliver the rest of the news.

Kazul narrowed her eyes at the hyena her father had given her. In almost all respects, Grovar was a fine thrall. She did as she was told without grumbling or asking stupid questions. In fact, she was probably one of the most intelligent non-lions Kazul had ever encountered.

"I was wondering about Ru's viking," she said conversationally. Kazul could recognize Grovar's little power plays for what they were and was not going to play along by allowing Grovar to think she mattered enough for Kazul to bother hiding anything from her.

"It has been some time since you mentioned that vision you heard about and yet I've heard nothing of their return. Are you certain you heard correctly?"

Grovar's jaw dropped just a little bit. Surely it could not be this easy. The lioness was actually going to bring the topic up herself, and then ask her for information. Inside, the hyena danced a quick victory jib. She had not imagined that it would be so easy to win her mistress's confidence. It just went to show that people were fools in love.

"I did hear correctly. I was going to tell you, except I couldn't think of a way to bring it up, that I've heard something else about the viking. I'm afraid you probably won't like it though."

Her tone was deliberately ambiguous, so as to cast doubt in Kazul's mind whether she would not like to hear the news because it meant Ru had been hurt or because it meant something else had happened. Actually, the lie she planned to tell her mistress involved both possibilities.

Kazul was not surprised to hear her thrall tell her that there was more to learn about Ru's viking. Thralls really did know everything because most people tended to ignore them. Kazul herself was guilty of doing so, although she had grown more conscious of it since acquiring a personal thrall of her own.

"It's about Ru, I assume," she ventured. As much as she hated herself for it, her voice quavered as she asked the question and her stomach tied itself in knots so quickly that she almost felt ill.

"If he's been hurt, I want to know whatever you can tell me."

Grovar nodded and settled herself more comfortably. Kazul was not a lioness to stand on ceremony most of the time. Only when she had guests did she insist that Grovar behave with the submission demanded of thralls in the pride by most of its freeborn members. The rest of the time Kazul didn't seem to care how she carried herself.

"As you've guessed, the captain was wounded. It was impossible to tell before, but apparently shortly after the band was first sighted the captain's wound became infected."

She had spent a considerable amount of time deciding what sort of wound Kazul's beloved ought to have sustained while viking and had eventually decided on a throat wound. Those could be very messy and dangerous and yet were among the easiest to conceal on lions because of their manes.

"I'm sorry, Mistress. He took a wound to his throat and another to his gut." The gut wound was a spur of the moment idea.

Had she been a human being, Kazul would have blanched upon hearing the news her thrall shared with her about Ru. Throat wounds were bad, but generally survivable if they didn't become infected. Wounds to the belly, however, were rarely the sort that a person could survive. Even if they were as strong and vital as Ru.

"I see," she said with false calm. "And so the delay in their return is due to a need to wait for the infection to clear up or..."

Or for him to die. Kazul could not make herself say the words. Not about Ru, who had been her friend for so long. The possibility of his death viking had always been there, but to face it like this left Kazul shaken and afraid.

"Thank you, Grovar, for telling me."

"Mistress?" Grovar said, "You said you wished to know whatever I can tell you. There's still more to tell, if you wish to hear it. I fear, though, that even though there is good in it, you will be even less pleased to hear it than you were just now."

Her internal self had moved on from a jig to a Volta. The mental anguish she was about to inflict on this foolish lioness who so casually treated her like an object that could be owned just delighted her. It more than delighted her. She had not felt this much pleasure even when she was begetting her daughters.

"The good is that the captain is recovering. He will live, almost assuredly."

The sick feeling that had been building inside Kazul since Grovar intimated that she had learned Ru was hurt began to dissipate and the knots twisting her gut unkinked just a little bit. There was still the matter of the news Grovar thought would not please her.

At this point, Kazul was as thoroughly hooked by her thrall's tale as Grovar believed her to be, and so she was completely laid bare to her hyena. She might pretend that she allowed herself to be so exposed because Grovar made no difference, but in reality it was just that she could not help it. With Ru, she never could.

"No matter what the bad news is, it cannot overshadow the fact that Ru will recover," Kazul said firmly. She was trying to convince herself, more than Grovar.

"As you say, Mistress." Grovar licked one forepaw carefully, deliberately mimicking the behavior of a cat who had something unpleasant to say but did not wish to say it. In this case, it was also serving as the behavior of a cat who was too polite to disagree with a conversation partner who was very much mistaken.

"The reason his recovery has been so quick is that among the thralls he and his band have captured are two lionesses who were trained as healers before they were taken. I'm told that one is very sweet and the other very beautiful, though as you know my eye for leonine beauty is not so good."

She paused to lick her lips. "Anyway, It seems they practice a sort of healing magic that involves sharing spiritual energy through close physical contact or joining. Sex."

And now for the killing blow. "The runner I spoke to says Ru has been putting of returning and prolonging his convalescence because he has been so much enjoying the company of these lionesses. I'm so, so sorry, Mistress. Remember this is just seer talk. Seers can be wrong."

"Get out," Kazul hissed at her thrall. When Grovar didn't move fast enough, Kazul struck her with her claws unsheathed and snarled, "Now."

Alone in her den Kazul retreated to the very back and burrowed into the heap of furs she needed to keep warm nights, weeping. She had always known something like this would happen, and she had thought that knowing in advance would make it hurt less when it did, but it didn't.

She felt hurt and sick and indescribably miserable. Heartbroken. But she was a Stormborn, and those feelings were anathema to one of her breeding. What she really wanted, she told herself ruthlessly, was not to curl up and cry forever. Instead she wanted to hurt Ru as he had hurt her, if such a thing was possible.