Marcus gathered his essence and teleported all of them out of the forest.
The cold breeze and smell of blood vanished and the warm air of the manor closed around them. They now stood in the same room they had left from.
Asher and Sofia stood at the edge of the group, Thomas and Garret behind them, and Dorren at the back, near Bram, with his arms crossed.
Vera was standing by the window.
She had been waiting there. She had put Leon to sleep in his own room a while ago and Hanna was watching over him now, and since then she had done nothing but stand and wait.
As she sensed their presence, her eyes drifted to Marcus. Then they dropped to the boy in his arms.
"Roland?"
It came out as a whisper. Then she was across the room, and her hands flew to Roland’s face and his ribs and the burned skin of his palms. The color drained out of her own face.
"His hands. Marcus, his hands are burned, and his chest..." Her voice cracked. She shouted toward the door. "Healer! Bring the healer, now!"
After a while, two healers rushed inside, with a stretcher.
"He has stabilized, so quickly check him up and let him rest," Marcus said as he laid his son down on it.
Vera walked beside it as they carried him out, her fingers holding his sleeve until the last possible step. Then the door closed, and she stood very still in the quiet room.
"Vera," Marcus said.
She turned around. "Who did this?"
"A guard. Nascent Manifestation."
"Nascent..." She said the word as if it tasted bad. "He is a Vessel. He has not even broken into that stage yet. You took our son into the forest and set him against a Manifestation guard?"
"Ye-"
A light struck him before he even finished his sentence.
It was a burst of white essence, thrown from her open palm, bright enough to turn the whole room to day.
Marcus did not try to defend, and it hit him straight in his chest and burst against him with a crack that rattled every window in the room. He just stood there.
Asher took a step forward. Sofia caught his sleeve without taking her eyes off Vera.
"Leave them," she said quietly.
Marcus did not look at either of them. "Stay out of it."
Vera struck again. A lance this time, then a second, each one hotter than the last, light essence of a Harmonized Manifestation pouring out of a woman who had never once raised her voice to him in front of guests.
Marcus took them all. A black burn crept on his clothes across his chest.
"He could have died!" Vera’s voice broke. "He is still a boy, Marcus! He is still a child!"
"He needed this." Marcus’s voice was low and level. "His body was ready and his core was stuck. Nothing short of a real fight would push him past it. I never left his side, Vera. When the blow came that would have killed him, I stopped it."
"After his ribs broke."
"It was not life threatening."
"That is not an answer!"
Marcus went quiet for a while. "Sorry, Vera," Marcus said, looking at Vera’s shaking hand.
Her next strike did not come. Her hand hung in the air, trembling, and a small knot of light still burning in the palm. Her eyes were bright and wet and furious. For a long moment she only breathed. Then the light went out, and she lowered her hand slowly.
"You do not get to decide that alone," she whispered. "You do not get to make that choice and then tell me it was right."
Marcus did not answer. He had no answer that would help.
Nobody in the room moved. Asher looked at the floor. Sofia had pressed a hand to her mouth.
Garret studied the ceiling with great interest, and Thomas stood at his side with a face so perfectly blank that it was almost an argument.
A loud, rough cough came from the back of the room.
"Well," Dorren said.
Everyone turned. He stood by the couch in the corner where his assistant Bram lay snoring as his one arm hanged down.
"This seems like a family matter," Dorren said as he bent and hauled Bram up over his shoulder like a sack of grain. Bram did not stir. "I will be taking my leave, Viscount. The forge is waiting, and so is a long road."
Marcus drew a slow breath. "Dorren. Thank you for tonight."
"For what? I watched." Dorren shrugged the shoulder.
"You owe me a drink and a better story, and I will collect both when I come here next time." He nodded once to Vera, who did not look at him, and his voice dropped. "The boy held his sword to the end, Vera. Whatever else happens, a dwarf thought you should know that."
Vera closed her eyes, trying to calm down.
"I will keep that ready until next time. And I can’t see you off now, Dorren," Marcus said as he silently eyed towards Vera.
Dorren coughed as he turned, shifting Bram higher on his shoulder and walked to the door. His figure blurred as he activated his movement technique, and then he was gone down the corridor, and the sound of Bram’s snoring faded with him.
Vera lifted her head. She did not look at Marcus. She picked up the edge of her gown and walked to the door, and at the threshold she stopped with her back to the room.
"I am going to sit with Roland," she said. "Do not follow me."
"I will not."
She left.
The room let out its breath.
Sofia went to her brother and looked at the burn across his chest and the ruined sleeve.
"She went rough on you, Marcus. But you are still unscathed," she commented, sounding little disappointed.
"I know."
She held her gaze a moment longer, then turned and went out after Vera.
Asher watched the door swing shut. "I saw nothing," he said. "I would like that noted."
"Noted," Marcus said.
Thomas stepped forward at last, and held out a clean handkerchief. His face was perfectly composed. "Mistress’s aim has improved, Viscount."
Marcus took the cloth and pressed it against his collar. For the first time that night, the corner of his mouth moved. "Her light has always burned hotter than she admits."
"So I have observed, Viscount, for many years."
"Go and see the healer about that arm, Thomas."
"Of course, Viscount."
He bowed and went, and Garret followed him out without saying a word. He went toward the barracks with his great sword on his shoulder to see to the patrol lists.
Marcus stood alone for a moment in the quiet room with the scorched smell of light still hanging in the air. Then he looked at the door Vera had walked through.
Then after a long breath, Marcus and Asher went towards the room where Leon was sleeping.