Closer to the Heart Read Online Free PDF

Nikolas. It sounded enough like a hint of a snore to pass for one.
:Definitely not an idiot. I approve. And I take it we keep this a little secret amongst the six of us?:
Nikolas had included the three Companions, of course. It wouldn’t exactly be possible to keep something like this a secret from
them.
    :It wouldn’t do to disappoint Lady Dia and Princess Lydia,:
Mags agreed.
:Better to let them bask in the illusion that they’re creating a perfect wedding for us. They’ll probably wallow in it, actually.:
    Nikolas chuckled again.
:Considering that Amily’s mother and I essentially did the same thing as you plan to—running off to a priest to avoid the hash that our two mothers were making, arguing over every detail, you are upholding a fine tradition.:
    :Good to know. And speaking of “knowing,” what is it I need to hear?:
    Mags spent the rest of his candlemarks, right up until midmorning (when the Weasel declared that keeping the shop open until “the lads” turned up to take it over after dark was a waste of time), trading information with his mentor. None of it was terribly important, but any part of it could
become
important. One thing Mags had learned above all else; when it came to being the King’s Spy, the most unexpected things could turn out to be relevant.
    As he and Nikolas locked up the shop, he saw Nikolas’s head cock in that odd way that let him know that Evory was speaking to him. And at nearly that same moment, Dallen chuckled.
    :Be careful what you ask for,:
Dallen said.
:You might get it. The King cut short the Lesser Court in order to see to some detail of the Treasury. Amily is free. You are free. Nikolas is free. And Brother Elban just down the street is tending his garden and is essentially free and of all the people you know who would do this thing, Brother Elban is your favorite. So. Would you like to get married?:
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    It was with a feeling of profound relief that Mags kissed his bride under the combined (beaming) gazes of his new father-in-law, Brother Elban, Healer and tender of the little Shrine of Alia of the Birds, and three Companions.
    He actually could not have planned this better. Everything had conspired to be perfect.
    Elban was a lone cleric at his little Shrine; he didn’t need much, just a room to live in and his garden. Alia of the Birds was a very minor Goddess, as such things went, with a tiny congregation and no real rituals of Her own. Her clerics were solitary, but not hermits; they dedicated their lives to healing and teaching the poorest of the poor. Several of Mags’ youngsters took lessons with him. The Shrine occupied the same footprint as any of the houses or shops in this area; it consisted of a walled garden mostly planted with healing herbs, with Elban’s little living quarters at the back. The walls of the garden and the dwelling were pleasantly weathered stone, a soft, pinkish granite. The statue of Alia, a motherly looking lady of middle age, with a round, smiling face and carved and real birds perched all over her, was made of a similar stone.
    Within the shelter of the Shrine’s walls, true spring had come early to Brother Elban’s garden, lilies bloomed at the foot of Alia’s statue, and the birds perched in the vines on the wall provided all the music they needed. He and Nikolas had detoured just enough to resume their identities as Heralds before meeting Amily here.
    And the deed was done. They’d managed to get married without
anything
going wrong or interfering. Mags had never heard the wedding ceremony as performed by Alia’s clergy before, but it had been lovely.
    Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter for the other.
    Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other.
    Now there will be no loneliness, for each of you will be companion to the other.
    Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before