Aisha gave Fianait a silencing look, and turned to her daughter. "How long have you known?"
"Two weeks."
Aisha looked thoughtful. "Your husband is a potent male. That's good."
Going so long between children had been nice, Merissa thought. However, from the way that Malthus spoke to her, it sounded as if he intended to give her no time between pregnancies.
"At least this one will probably be lycan," said Searlait gently. "And that should please everyone, Merissa."
Merissa contemplated her hands, her fingers twined over her stomach. "Yes, it should." She turned to Morcar in an attempt to change the subject. "When will Kynyr, Finn, and Ramsey be back?"
Morcar stirred in his chair near the window. "Cahira says Kynyr can come home in a week or two, if he takes it easy. Finn a little bit longer than that. Ramsey? Well, Cahira's not certain. He's still pretty sick."
Merissa's expression turned pensive. "Devil's Silver is a hellish thing."
"Tell me about it," Morcar said with uncharacteristic bitterness. "I thought they were all going to die."
"Haven't you been going to see them?" Fianait glanced around the loom at her.
"Not since the funeral." A flush lit Merissa's cheeks as if in shame.
"Why not?"
Morcar set his whittling aside and leaned forward in his chair, sour speculation in his eyes as he waited for Merissa to answer Fianait's question.
"Malthus forbids it. He he had a bit of trouble with Todd."
"What kind? Todd doesn't snap at throats without reason."
"Malthus refused to say." Merissa wrung her hands.
"If you'd like, I can ask Todd about it. I play checkers with Kynyr in the evenings."
Merissa responded with a tiny nod and then bolted from the room.
* * * *
Caimbeul entered Kynyr's room quietly, started to speak, and fell silent staring at him. Kynyr lay dozing, nude, the sheet pulled over his good leg and a twisted corner covering his loins. Sunlight streaming through the open window, accompanied by a pleasant breeze, lit the angles of Kynyr's face and glistened on his hair. Caimbeul rubbed his eyes and looked again, disturbed by Kynyr's uncanny resemblance to Tarrant Redhand. No wonder Pandeena wanted the young wolf in her bed.
Closing the door without making a sound, Caimbeul went to the bed and sat down in the chair beside it. He winced at the neat rows of stitches that made a long cross on Kynyr's belly. No one had told him to expect this; only that Kynyr had been shot.
He sucked in a breath and said softly, "Kynyr?"
Kynyr Maguire opened his eyes, blinking to clear the sleep from them.
"I'm Padruig Caimbeul, the new lawgiver."
"Of Running Horse?" Kynyr pushed himself up into a sitting position. Caimbeul snagged a couple of pillows from the foot of the bed, shoved them to Kynyr's back, and helped him settle comfortably.
"The same."
"I've heard of you."
"Lot of folks have." Caimbeul shrugged. "I need to ask you some questions about what happened."
Kynyr looked uncertain. "The ambush?"
"And what happened in Hell's Widow leading up to it."
"I run errands for Aisha."
Caimbeul's eyes narrowed to slits and he shook his head. "Uh uh. A wagon load of groceries didn't bring the sa'necari down on you. What were you doing in Hell's Widow?"
"A private matter"
"For the clan? Maybe concerning Cullen?"
Kynyr squirmed.
"I'm your lawgiver, damnit Kynyr. I can't investigate something if people start holding back on me. There have been two attempts made on your life and from the look of those stitches this last one nearly succeeded. Are there parts missing?"
Caimbeul snatched the sheet away from Kynyr and glanced at his genitals with a frown.
Kynyr flushed and snatched the sheet back, covering himself. The movement sent a grimace of pain across his features. "Nothing's missing."
"Hurting?"
"Yeah."
Caimbeul found the dosing glass and the poppy milk. He poured two fingers of the thick whitish liquid into the glass and extended it to Kynyr.
"Four fingers."
"No. Two should take the edge off. I don't want you dozing off before you've answered my questions."
Kynyr heaved a sigh and drank the drug. "You're right about Cullen. Claw sent me in to talk to a prostitute who was there when the Butchering Serpent killed Cullen."
"The Serpent?" Caimbeul leaned closer, took the glass from Kynyr's hand, and put it on the nightstand after pouring a single finger of the drug into the glass.
"You're going to let me hurt just to get your answers?"
"If you force me to." A weary edge crept into Caimbeul's voice.
"Todd"
"Isn't going to cross me. I could drag him in on three charges of murder, put him to the question, and make it stick. There's no expiration on charges of murder."
The color faded from Kynyr's already pale face. "You can't"
"Try me."
"What do you want to know?"
"Start from the beginning. How did you know about the prostitute?"
Kynyr gestured at a chest standing beneath a window wedged between a wardrobe and a table. "There's a small brown casket inside. Bring it to me."
Caimbeul fetched the casket and gave it to Kynyr. The guardsmon put the box on his good knee, touched the lock, and spoke a single word. Caimbeul's eyebrow lifted. "Mage locked?"
"Yes."
"What's in it?"
"Mostly my grandfather's letters to Gram. His diaries. Gram gave them to me. My ace in the hole if matters got so ugly that I needed to prove who I was." He shifted the papers around and brought out a single folded letter along with a ring. Kynyr gave those to Caimbeul.
"Proof that you're Tarrant's"
"Grandson."
Caimbeul examined the ring. Two snakes intertwined, noses touching, wrought of white gold and kendaryl with glittering hematite eyes. "That's Cullen's."
"It came with the letter and his horse, Larkspur."
"He gave you his horse?"
"Willed her to me. I gave her to Cooley two days ago."
"Why?"
"Cooley's his son."
"You've been keeping that under wraps. Why?"
"Read the letter. Can I have that glass now? I feel like my leg's on fire."
Caimbeul passed the glass to Kynyr and unfolded the letter.
Dear Kynyr Maguire.
Cullen trusted you. So I am trusting you. By now you must know, or at least suspect, that Cullen is dead. They forced me to watch him die. The sa'necari have returned to Hell's Widow. I am trusting you with our child and my secret so that you will understand why I do not dare go to the garrison with this. You know me as Silkie Faggini. I was born Silkanna Mircala de Waejonan. Get word to the garrison, but do not tell them how you know. And, I beg you. Take care of our child. Cooley is no longer safe in Hell's Widow.
Sincerely,
Silkie
"Did you go to the garrison?"
"No. Claw says it's clan business and he doesn't want the Sharani Garrison sticking their noses into it."
"Sounds like Claw."
"Silkie knows the name of one of the sa'necari who killed Cullen."
"The Serpent?"
"His lieutenant. She's offered to give me the name if I can find a way to get her out of Hell's Widow." Kynyr told Caimbeul everything that had happened in Hell's Widow, everything that Silkie had told him, and everything that he suspected.
* * * *
Claw was breathing heavily by the time he wrestled one side of the arch from the ground. It twisted in his hands and he hesitated, knowing that it was considered bad luck if the arch broke being removed. A sharp pain lanced through his chest and he staggered back. The arch swayed and started to topple on one side. Claw darted forward, caught it, and then leaned his head against it fighting a wave of dizziness. The pain, dizziness, and shortness of breath had bec
ome more frequent since he first experienced it on Merissa's wedding day.
"Let us help you, Claw," said Belgair.
Claw glanced up and saw the captain of his guardsmyn and Odhran coming toward him. He straightened in an effort to mask his difficulty. The two younger myn reached him and took the arch from his hands.
"Where do you want it? The storage room?" Belgair asked.
"Yes." Claw felt grateful that they had not remarked on his momentary weakness. "Can you handle it without me?"
"Malthus got his job done fast." Odhran sounded appreciative as they carried the arch back to the manor.
"We'll have a true prince this time," said Belgair.
Claw did not answer. He loved his grandson, but the chieftain had known from the outset that his people would never allow Darmyk to inherit because he was born sa'necari. They would only accept a lycan as the next chieftain.
He left them to their work, and went inside to rest in his big chair in the Great Hall. His sisters and Aisha were gone, fussing over Merissa most likely, and he was alone. Claw stuffed his favorite pipe, a chunky long-stemmed pipe with a large bowl, lit it with a lucifer, and settled back to smoke and rest. The dizziness lingered, and he felt as if he could not hold his eyes open, and was being propelled into sleep. Claw resisted that, managing to get a few more puffs on his pipe before it became apparent that he was losing his battle, and put the pipe aside.
Rest. I just need to rest a bit.
Pain lanced through the old wolf's chest and he blacked out, his head falling limp against the back of the chair.
* * * *
Kynyr settled into his pillows as Kady gathered the empty dinner dishes and glass from the bed table and sat them on a dresser. The feistiness, that had characterized her behavior in the tavern before Hereward had withdrawn his protection, had begun to return and he saw Todd's hand in that. When Kady had told him about Todd throwing Gorgarty out, her face had glowed. Kynyr wished that glow had been for him. Todd had renewed Kady's sense of security. Had he not been ambushed, Kynyr had intended to bust heads as soon as he returned from Hell's Widow and see that no one touched Kady against her will again.
She had sat in the chair, fussing at him and over him while he ate, making certain that he did not leave so much as a tiny bite in the bowl. Her flaxen hair bloused around her face like a halo and she dressed like a Battle-Clan apprentice, which led him to suspect that she had begun training with Todd.
"Would you like some pie, Kynyr? Strawberry pie? I baked it myself." She smiled at him with a fond eagerness to please that tickled Kynyr.
"I couldn't eat another bite. Maybe later?" He resisted an impulse to take her hand and kiss her fingers. A fragile wisp of memory hinted at a shared kiss and haunted the edges of his mind in a way that he could not quite trust.
"If you want we could play cards?"
"I just want to sleep, Kady. Thank you."
Kady left after dosing Kynyr for pain and he fell asleep, only to awaken in the middle of the night to the honeysuckle smell of magic in the room. Pandeena stood in the darkness, wearing a robe of some fabric he could not identify it that clung to her body so closely that he could make out the points of her nipples. The female musk of her arousal filled his nostrils with an erotic scent that went straight to his loins.
"Pan Pandeena?"
"I want you, Kynyr." Pandeena purred, opening her robe, revealing her nude body. "I've wanted you for months."
Kynyr's lips parted and he inhaled sharply. He had fantasized in a casual way about having sex with her. All of his friends had also at one time or another it was impossible not to: Pandeena was the most beautiful bitch in Wolffgard. However, the beating she had administered to Shalto and Oswyl had convinced them all that it was best to let her do the choosing, make the first move.
She dropped her robe and slithered between the sheets with him, running her finger lightly along his chest and belly, avoiding the stitches.
Her touch sent need shivering through him, raising the hair on his body like a kiss of lightning. He tangled his fingers in her golden hair, brought her head close to his, and parted her lips with his own. Kynyr's tongue darted into her mouth, questing and twining with hers.
Pandeena eased him onto his side while his hands cherished her breasts with tender attentions. She draped one leg across him, reached down to his cock bobbing against her clit, and guided him inside her.
Kynyr closed his eyes and sucked air with a low moan. The first twinges of pain threatened as he moved his pelvis to thrust deeper into her. Pandeena sensed it, slipping one hand beneath him and other over him to grasp and support his buttocks.
"Relax, sweetheart. I'll do the work."
The walls of her vagina tightened, sucking at his hardness as she wiggled her pelvis, sliding her female parts up and down him.
Kynyr's seed spilled into her in shuddering spurts. He pushed away from her and lay back on the bed, a glaze of pain in his eyes.
"You're hurting again."
"Yeah."
"I'm sorry. I didn't help matters, did I?"
Kynyr managed a little smile. "It was good."
"I love you, Kynyr." She brushed his sweat-drenched hair back.
"Pandeena, you're beautiful, but"
"You don't love me?"
"Not that way."
"There's someone else?"
Kynyr's eyes went distant as he thought of Kady Wiggins. "Maybe. I don't know yet."
"Can we be like the wild cousins for the time being?"
"I think so." His thoughts drifted to Kady again. After all she had been through; she did not need him chasing her. "Yeah. I'd like that."
* * * *
Cahira sat at the kitchen table sipping tea and enjoying a hot, buttered scone fresh from the oven. The past week had been difficult, but thanks to Kady, not impossible. Kady was the first one up in the mornings and the last to go to bed at night. Every morning since Kady's arrival in her household, Cahira had awakened to the smell of baking bread. Kady made breakfast for Cooley, packed him a lunch, and sent him off to the Manor where the cub worked each morning for Georgie Rogan, Claw's head ostler. She also made first rounds of the three wounded, got the various medicines down them before Cahira woke. The six beds in the new infirmary were Kady's doing. The young bitch had gone directly to Aisha Redhand, with Rory in tow at Todd's insistence, she never went anywhere alone and persuaded Aisha to donate them. The aged lycan mage decided that Kady was the best thing that had happened to her household in a long time.
Her pleasant musings were interrupted by Kady who plunged into the kitchen with a worried look on her face.
"Cahira, come quick! Ramsey's forehead is hot as an oven. I've done everything I could think of and it's not working. Erskine's with him."
Cahira came to her feet fast, pushed past Kady, and ran for the infirmary with Kady close behind her.
Finn had the bed closest to the door and he sat up as they came inside. Kady saw that and veered to his side, shoved pillows to his back and headed for Ramsey.
Ramsey lay shivering and coated in cold sweat although his eyes were bright with fever and his face flushed. The whites of his eyes had a yellow cast that bothered Cahira even more than the rest of the symptoms.
Erskine sat beside the bed on the far side, gripping Ramsey's hand, squeezing and rubbing the back of it from time to time.
Cahira slipped into a chair, grasped Ramsey's clammy wrist, closed her eyes to concentrate and Read him. The color fled from her face, a wan, sad smile spread across her lips. "I'm sorry, Ramsey. I'm so sorry."
"How bad?" Ramsey's voice was hoarse and rasping. "Cahira how bad?"
She dropped her gaze and stared off at the edge of the bed, mastered her reticence and looked him in the eyes. "Gangrene. The internal kind. It's spread all through you."
Ramsey's eyes hooded until only a slit showed as he digested his death sentence. "How much time do I have?"
"A few days."
"I want talk to Kyny
r."
"What about your family? Are they coming?"
Ramsey swallowed, and glanced at Erskine. "No."
"Do you want to see them?" Cahira asked in the kindest tone she had.
"I'd like to see Ma again."
Cahira pinned Erskine with a glance. "Who talked to them?"
"I did. Ramsey's asshole brother won't let them come."
"Erskine, you go right now and tell Aisha about Ramsey's condition and his family. Tell her that he wants to see his mother. If I know Aisha, she'll have them here before sundown."
Erskine looked discomfited. "Mind if I say you sent me to her?"
"Tell Aisha anything you like. Tell her to talk to me if she has a problem."
"Will do." Erskine squeezed Ramsey's shoulder. "I'll be back in a bit, brother."
Erskine strode from the infirmary and closed the door behind him.
Cahira turned to Kady next. "Four fingers of Pollendine as needed, but no more than once every two hours. Three fingers of Holadil increase to four times a day."
Kady filled the dosing glasses and helped Ramsey to sit long enough to drink them down. Then she lowered him to the bed.
Cahira rose and gestured for Kady to follow her out into the hall.
"Tell Todd he needs to sit with Ramsey, then take Rory and go to Claw. Ask him to release several of Ramsey's friends from duty to sit the death watch."
Kady nodded, blinking back tears, and left.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
WOES
A pall had settled over the household with the diagnosis of gangrene in Ramsey. At Todd's insistence, Kynyr was not told about it while they waited to see if Aisha managed to persuade Ramsey's mother to come visit him. Robert Morcar and Erskine Faraday arrived an hour after the shop opened for business, and went directly up to the infirmary to sit with Ramsey. All day long, Ramsey's friends among the guardsmyn came and went, never leaving him alone. Someone was always there in case he needed more pollendine for pain, or a shared remembrance for comfort.
Aisha must have set out immediately for Blue Rock, because the big carriage that Claw had given her for their last anniversary came rolling up to the front of Cahira's shop late in the afternoon. Cahira rose from her table when she saw it through the window.
Janrae Frank - [Lycan Blood 02] - Fireborn Law Page 21
