“I will never do anything to hurt you. I swear. I may sometimes reach for my weapons in duress, but I swear that I will never use them on you.”
He smiled down at her, his muzzle dropping to run against her other cheek. “I know, rya.”
They clung to each other for some time. Sniffling, Heidi finally pulled away. Taking one of his large hands in hers, she pulled him toward the sleeping mat. “I may have to reheat the water, but how do you feel about tea?”
“It is grass-flavored water,” he said unenthusiastically as he sat, but his eyes brimmed with happiness despite the way his lip curled with disgust.
Heidi snorted with laughter. “Fine. You can have water and I will enjoy my tea, you uncouth creature.”
He grinned at her brilliantly, but all too soon his smile faded, and he regarded her soberly. “I have missed you, Heidi.”
Stepping forward, she allowed herself to get lost in his embrace as his arms closed around her. “I missed you too.” She drew back slightly and smiled up at him as she brought one hand to trace the line of his tattered ear. In the tunnels, she’d been kept safe, and she knew without a doubt it wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t fought so hard to keep the mutated hill people away from her.
“I love you, Orth.” She blew out a frustrated breath and laughed. “And I still love Gund and Tah, even if I am still angry with them. Don’t worry too much. Things will work themselves out eventually.”
He nodded and settled deeper on the sleeping mat, his eyes following her around the room while she prepared her tea and poured out some water in a cup for him. If her step was a little lighter and her smile a bit brighter, there was no one there to judge her for it. Orth watched her with a smile playing on his face.
It was enough to make what was coming tomorrow seem less daunting.
Sliding onto the mat beside Orth, she curled against his broad chest, marveling at how similar it was to a man’s chest and yet so much more magnificent. Sighing into his fur, she allowed herself to enjoy everything good that she held at that moment. Even knowing that Tah and Gund loved and missed her was like a balm to her heart. She missed them. She wasn’t ready to forgive them quite yet… but perhaps soon.
For tonight, at least, she had Orth.
31
“You have to be joking,” Heidi said flatly as Viv, Beni’s mother, held up a gold gown adorned with ribbons and a matching pair of wings made of gossamer fabric. Even wading through the cold, wet, dark, rat-infested tunnels into the Citadel in the early hours that morning was preferable to the hell of a night in that dress.
“Not at all!” the older woman tutted. “No one would expect an assassin to come looking like a fairy princess.”
“No doubt because everyone knows that I would likely trip and kill myself wearing it,” Heidi observed critically.
Beni giggled as Viv smiled at Heidi. Nothing seemed to ruffle the woman, not even a surly middle-aged woman who did not want to traipse around in the biggest dress she’d ever seen. The woman was absolutely charming. It also explained where Beni got her upbeat attitude.
“Nonsense! It will completely cover you—I even have a matching mask. I designed this for Beni’s first ball, but since she decided to run off and start popping out babies with a Mintar, I can’t think of a better use for it. I am afraid that you won’t be able to wear anything else beneath it, however. Let’s get it on you, shall we?”
Heidi groaned and looked enviously at the triad’s simple costumes. Gund wore the robes of a gentleman with a fussy hat that wasn’t uncommon among the distinguished houses. Viv had pinned several artifices on him to make it look like his “Ragoru costume” was poorly put together. She’d even managed to make it look like his ears were attached to his hat. The other males were adorned similarly in various types of dress. Tah looked like a merchant playing at being a Ragoru, whereas Orth had a scholarly air. Each of the males wore bands of fabric over their secondary eyes with painted-on fake eyes. None of them enjoyed the impairment to their vision for the illusion, but Heidi had agreed it was necessary.
That said, she really wished she could go as a gentleman of some sort in his best masquerade garb. She frowned at the dress and muttered curses as she stripped off her armor and weapons, handing each piece to Beni, all except the blades she kept strapped around her thighs. Borrowing a few more sheaths from Viv, she fastened a couple more knives for good measure. Beni merely grinned with amusement and stacked each piece in the corner next to the travel harnesses that the Ragoru wore at all times. She tried to keep her belt, but Viv pointed at it sternly.
“Sorry, dear. That belt may be good for marauding, but I’m afraid it will ruin the line of the bodice.”
Heidi chuckled and shook her head as she handed the heavy belt to Beni. “Marauding…? That is quite imaginative.”
“Well,” Viv sniffed, “sometimes life demands that one gets a little… colorful… to keep things fresh.”
Beni giggled, her giggle morphing into a gasp of dismay as the belt slid out of her grasp and hit the ground with a loud thunk. Heidi grimaced as the coin pouch popped open, spilling gold and silver coins all over the floor. The key, tightly wrapped in the scrap of paper, hit the floor next to Beni’s feet. The young woman immediately turned a brilliant shade of red.
“I am so sorry, Heidi. I really thought I had a good hold on it. I guess it was heavier than I was expecting. Let me get that for you.” Stooping, she picked up the coins, depositing them back into the coin pouch, but when her fingers grazed the key, it rolled back toward her foot, completely unraveling from the paper. Beni plucked up the key and tossed it in with the coins.
“Don’t lose the paper!” Heidi called over to her.
“Got it!” Beni replied as she picked it up. Holding it up, she paused as if something caught her eye. “Heidi, what’s this?”
Heidi huffed through the layers of fabric pulled over her head. “Hang on… Can’t see.” Viv chuckled and pulled the swathes of fabric down the rest of the way over the wide petticoat, stepping out of the way just enough so Heidi could glance at the paper in Beni’s hand.
“I really have no idea what it is,” she admitted. “I found it with the key, but I can’t make sense out of what kind of code it is. It was written by the Master, however. I recognize his penmanship anywhere.”
Beni chortled. “That is because it is not a code. I have no doubt that it was written by the Master, but he likely stayed in the same place year after year when traveling. This paper is old, and the ink is faded. My father was a transcriber, so I have seen written documents of various ages. He was respected in town, which I think is the only reason that Mama and I have been able to live our lives in peace and not under the thumb of one of the families.”
“Indeed, thank the Mother,” Viv agreed. “Jeremi Tandler was looking to add you to his harem when you came of age. It is a good thing you got away when you did! They leave me alone, but a beautiful young woman alone in Dunvar isn’t safe from the men around here.”
Beni tapped the paper with her fingertip, drawing their attention back to the matter at hand. “About your paper here. I doubt that this is any more recent than ten years ago. With the thick layer of dust still clinging to it, I imagine it was lost quite some time ago. This,” she said, pointing to the one word scrawled on the slip, “is a street name.”
Something within Heidi stilled even as the Ragoru in the room turned their entire attention to the discussion. This was an important detail and one that she hadn’t considered. “Do you recognize it?”
Beni nodded, humming with satisfaction. “It is the street where most of the wealthy in town live. These numbers here beside it… I don’t know… What do you think, Mama?”
Viv ducked around Heidi and scooted closer. “Those are addresses, dear.”
“As in plural?” Heidi gaped, looking at it once more.
“Oh, yes. They are all mashed together but those are three houses that sit next to each other. The numbering system in the w
ealthy district is odd. Apparently, when they were built, the families chose their own addresses. Some nonsense about lucky numbers. 596 is the chancellor’s house. Most houses in that sector have only two digits, but the six was added at the insistence of his great-grandfather, who wanted that distinction because he won by six times the margin of the other candidates. Puffed-up peacock that he was,” she mumbled as she went about tying Heidi’s dress snugly in place. “Ever since then, his descendants have managed to get the majority vote and run Dunvar into the ground, especially after the epidemic. Terrible time from what I have heard. My mother was a young woman when it swept through, and she barely survived through the sickness.”
“I have no idea what the code here is though,” Beni said apologetically as she put the paper back in the belt.
Heidi shook her head and held out her hand. “No, go ahead and give it to me. I carry it and the key on me, just in case. If the chancellor lives at that address, and he is associated with the Master, there is a good chance that he is embroiled in whatever the Master is up to.”
Beni nodded and handed both back. Heidi wedged both into her cleavage, compressed tightly within the bodice. There was no way either would budge without being manually dug out.
“Hold still now while I fix the wings to your dress!” Viv directed. “If you move, I won’t feel the least bit guilty if I poke you.”
Stretching her arms out to the side, Heidi held perfectly still while Viv moved from one side to the other as she pinned the wings in place.
“Beni, go get the headdress and mask.”
Heidi’s smile slipped. “Headdress?”
The younger woman giggled as she rummaged around the back of the shop. When she materialized again, it was with what could only be called a golden helmet covered in flowing lengths of silk and beads. It was accompanied by a delicate gold mask tufted with small yellow feathers.
“Oh, no…” Heidi muttered.
“Oh, yes,” Viv countered as she took the offending headgear and firmly pushed it down onto Heidi’s head. Her face wrinkled up in a pleased smile. “It really does look good on you. And the short hair helps it along. I think it fits a bit better. When we were constructing it, Beni complained about it being too tight when her hair was bound up beneath it. This will work very well.”
“I feel ridiculous,” Heidi grumbled as Beni leaned forward to secure the mask over Heidi’s face, chuckling as she adjusted it.
“Well, it isn’t called the Fool’s Ball for nothing. Everyone is expected to get a little silly. I fully expect you will have a small swarm of men following you. I will introduce you as a wealthy relative in town visiting. You will catch the chancellor’s eye immediately.”
“Just what I want,” Heidi complained.
The woman’s expression turned solemn. “If you want to be invited to linger after the party, that is what you want. Security is too tight to look around, or to get close to the Master.”
“Not too close,” Gund growled, a possessiveness in his voice that made Heidi’s toes curl.
“We will be watching,” Tah agreed quietly, watching her for a long moment before glancing away. Orth gave her an encouraging smile and she sighed.
“Fuck. All right.” She lifted the hem of her dress and glanced down at her stocking feet. “I suppose you have some torturous footwear devised to go with this gown.”
“But of course,” Viv agreed cheerfully. “Only the best.”
Heidi swallowed back her groan but felt a certain pleasure in the way all the males grimaced in sympathy when Viv produced the torture devices she called shoes. The bottom of them was made of a tall platform-like wedge that increased height and lifted the foot to a shocking angle. The entire shoe from heel to toe was decorated with more gold ribbon and sparkling beads hanging from it, and even tiny silver bells, designed to jingle while she walked. She stared at the shoes with dread.
“You realize you managed to produce an assassin’s worst nightmare in footwear.”
Viv snorted. “You can’t wear boots. The moment you lift your skirt, everyone will see them.”
Three low, menacing growls filled the room.
Viv stilled in surprise and then covered her grin with her hand. “Oopsie. I meant lifting it to walk.”
Heidi shot the woman a suspicious look, not believing for one second that she wasn’t intentionally teasing the males. At Viv’s bawdy wink, Heidi pinched her lips together to keep from laughing.
Viv kneeled down and snapped her fingers. “Okay, give me your foot.”
Groaning, and leaning on Orth for support, Heidi submitted to the punishment of having each shoe fitted and strapped to her foot. Viv finally stood with a triumphant grin, her hands on her hips.
“Well, we certainly are fortunate that the two of you have a similar build, save all those muscles.” She hummed as she moved to a shelf. Returning, she slapped a large gold and cream fan into Heidi’s hands. “And now you are armed for the event,” she stated proudly.
Heidi stared down at the fan dismally. She definitely wasn’t going to survive the night if that was what passed for protection to the women of Dunvar.
32
Gund kept pace with the humans as they walked up a long road toward a giant den not unlike the one the Master had dwelled in. It was lit up brightly, human music floating out from within it. The scent of humans was heavy around the area, accompanied by artificial perfumes that made him want to sneeze. Or maybe it was the substance that Beni had insisted she and Heidi douse themselves in that made them smell like rotting flowers. Heidi had complained, which was followed by Orth grousing, Tah sneezing and Gund muttering vile things under his breath when they had all been forced into the tight confines of the wheeled box that Beni called a carriage. After traveling in the suffocating space, breathing in the horrible perfume, at long last they were outside. To make matters worse, his secondary arms were already aching from being confined within the human clothing.
“All right, this is it,” Beni whispered excitedly. “I told Faltz I would be on my best behavior and stay put, but I really hope I get to see you thrash the wicked!”
Heidi exchanged a look with Gund, who grimaced at her. He had no idea what the female was going on about now. Her chatter never made sense and was starting to give him a headache trying to decipher it. He was never so grateful for Heidi’s more taciturn nature than he was after a full day in the company of Beni. He wondered how the staid Faltz managed.
“Beni, just how much stuff did you read when your father worked as a transcriber?” Heidi queried.
“Oh, all kinds of wonderful stuff. He transcribed older works. It’s a generations-long trade of great standing. That way, we never lose the books that survived the great devastation. I read some wonderful adventures with pirates and heroes, valiant knights rescuing ladies… some of them even had incredible sex scenes.” She paused. “You know, I was rather disappointed my first time. He already had six wives and couldn’t afford another, so he was a careful bet. It was nothing at all like they describe in the books. Gave it go about ten or twelve more times with different targets—I mean, gentlemen—and lost count after a while… But I am not sure what they thought they were describing since I have never enjoyed a dick so much that I screamed with pleasure.” She grinned mischievously. “Not until Faltz found me, anyway.”
Heidi snorted with laughter and Gund narrowed his eyes on her suspiciously, but Orth slid up behind her, nuzzling her neck.
“How many have you had, female?” he asked. Tah tipped an ear in interest.
“Never a one that truly counted until I met you,” she hedged, and Gund resisted the urge to laugh at the frustration on his brothers’ faces.
“Now remember,” Beni whispered, “when you talk, you have to pull the string. Mama made your jaw looked hinged with the bobbins she had lying around, so just tug as we practiced and it will look convincing.”
Gund held back a growl, trying not to nudge loose the string threaded through his back teet
h that held the entire illusion together. “I feel ridiculous.”
“You look very authentic,” Beni assured him. “All of you look great, in fact! Oh, one more matter. I am introducing Heidi as my cousin. You three will be her wealthy husband and his brothers. Which is one of you is going to be the husband?”
Orth stepped forward but Gund nudged him back. He was the more intimidating male. He doubted that many humans would try anything toward Heidi with him standing guard. “I am,” he growled.
“Noted!” she chirped. “Now, shh! We are almost there.”
Gund’s fur bristled as they approached. He was certain that, no matter what Beni said, they were going to be found out and the entire charade was going to be a massive failure. His breath sped up to match his racing heart as they neared the female at the door. To his surprise, the attendant barely glanced at him and his brothers as she bent an attentive ear to Beni’s introductions. She eyed them and nodded solemnly before turning on her heel to lead them inside. His only two uncovered eyes shifted as they followed close behind the attendant, who stopped beside a lavishly dressed man in brilliant multi-layered robes holding an enormous bird-beaked mask gilded with gold and jewels. He lowered the mask to stare at them with colorless eyes seconds before he smiled.
“Benita! How lovely to see you visiting your mother again, my dear. I take it that your husband couldn’t make it again to our little affair.”
Beni giggled and shook her head. “Chancellor, you know how much my dear husband does so hate crowds and parties.” She affected a convincing pout. “I always try to tell him that he doesn’t know what he is missing out on, but he never believes me. Perhaps one of these days I will persuade him… but, ah, allow me to introduce my cousin Claire! She is here with her husband Gunder and his brothers Orthmelo and Tahley.”
Gund wanted to retch at the butchering of their names. The chancellor seemed to think nothing of it, though, because he laughed in delight. “How wonderful!” He stepped forward and took Heidi’s hand in his own. “Such a beautiful visitor is a rare and most precious treat.” He pressed his lips to the back of her fingers and, for a moment, Gund envisioned himself tearing the male’s lips right off his face.
Huntress Page 21
