“The Earl of Dorward is my cousin,” I say, trying for haughty. “If Father Matthew is not here, then we shall seek him elsewhere.” Grabbing for Linnet’s hand, I attempt to sweep past them.
They have other ideas. “Why is it you’re looking for Matthew here? He’s been living down at the ’Quiztor’s for months. I think you’re up to something. My lady.” The taller guard — he looks like a ferret — blocks our way back out of the hall, and the other end of this hall is a dead end.
“We have business to attend to,” I say, “and we aren’t any of yours. You will remove yourself from my path.”
Linnet looks at me sidelong, and I look back. I thought it sounded noble.
“I’m not so sure we will. I think you are our business.” Guard the second — goat, I think — reaches out and grabs my arm.
“Unhand me!” I shout, fear making my voice shake.
I feel Linnet’s growing anger and panic, and her growing magic as well.
Desperate to keep her under control, I glare sideways at her while pulling at Goaty’s grip. I try to wrest control of the magic at the same time, which leaves me dizzy. When I stop tugging at the guard and focus, the magic flows to me like water down a stream, and Linnet gasps, outraged.
Goaty’s hands are hard, and so are his eyes. “I want to know the true reason you’re back here,” he says, shaking me. I wrench my arm free and stumble back, so he catches hold of Linnet, who was pushing me sideways.
“And I told you our business, you useless goat,” I snap. “Unhand my si— servant!”
Linnet glares at everyone and kicks Goaty in the knee.
I see him wince and move to strike her. If he hits her, I will let her have her magic.
Ferrety advances on me. As his hand shoots out I duck around him and kick Goaty in the other knee. He howls and lets her go, and now they’re both coming for us. But I’ve maneuvered us around so escape is behind us.
“Go,” I motion to Linnet, but she rolls her eyes at me and stays put.
I get ready to run.
“What is the meaning of this?” Connor’s voice comes from behind me, and I half turn, keeping the kirche guards in sight. Connor’s face is blank and dark, like polished wood, and about as forgiving. “Are these guards offering you violence, Cousin?” He walks to stand before us, looking only at the guards. They have straightened, no longer advancing, but their hands stray towards their knives. Connor’s hands, I notice, are loose at his sides.
“Look here, Dorward —”
“Earl Dorward. And commander of the castle garrison here at the moment. Do I have reason to call for the castle guards? I’m sure they’d love to speak to any of you fellows privately. Or is that not necessary? For what reason could there be for such behavior toward a lady, toward my cousin and ward, toward a handmaid of the princess? It is unaccountable.” Connor’s voice is low and menacing. As usual, but I don’t know if the guards know that.
“Pardon, my lord,” says Ferrety. “They should not be here, and my Lord Bishop has had trouble with people breaking into his rooms.”
“We were not breaking in,” I say flatly. We might have, but we didn’t. This time.
“There. You see? My cousin is working hard to help with feast preparations, and is entirely innocent. She doesn’t have time or inclination to petty thievery. So what remains is the matter of your behavior.”
Ferrety snorts. “Any relation of yours isn’t entirely innocent,” he mutters.
Connor’s stance does not change, but the chill in the air feels deeper. I think Ferrety has made a mistake. Another one. I See a flash of a face like Connor’s, older, angrier. Bloodier. A battle; dead soldiers; broken oaths. I yank myself back to the present.
“Is that so,” Connor says. He turns to look at us. “Ladies. Princess Julianna requires your assistance.”
It’s a clear dismissal, and I’m eager to take it. I can tell that Linnet would like to stay and blister everyone with magic or words, whichever. But I drag her off with me, and hurry us to the front hall.
“I can walk on my own,” she says, and yanks her arm free. “And why didn’t you let me use my magic? I could have done something. And we might have saved Orrin if you’d let me. Isn’t that what you wanted? To save your friend? I was trying to help.”
“Not here, Linnet,” I hiss, and march up the stairs.
“Fine.” She marches faster, and sails ahead of me, all temper.
～
Julianna’s rooms seem unaffected by the bustle in the rest of the castle. Hugh shifts bonelessly in one of the chairs in the solar. Linnet stands with her hands on her hips, and waits until I shut the door behind me. Hugh just looks at us both, apparently too tired to do more.
“Well?” Linnet asks.
“Well what?” I say, which seems to be the wrong thing. I really just want to lie down.
“Now explain to me why you didn’t want to rescue your friend.”
Hugh sits up a little, blinks in confusion.
“What would you have me do? Break the door down? Kill those guards? Endanger the princess?”
“Well, we can’t just leave him there!” She yells at me.
“I know!” I cry, tears in my eyes. “I don’t want to leave him there! I want to break that door down, fight people, whatever it takes! But what would happen then? What if those guards overpowered us? Gantry could hurt you.”
“Hurt you, you mean. You’re just a coward! You’re abandoning him just like you abandoned me!” She spins and runs to our room.
I stand hunched over, like I’ve been punched in the stomach. Like all the air was sucked from the room, and all that’s left is a ringing in my ears, and my own panting.
Hugh slowly stands up, shaking his head, as though he can’t quite figure out what happened.
Neither can I. I stagger to the chaise as he approaches, and collapse into it, shuddering. I can’t even cry.
“What was that about?”
Connor steps into the room and closes the door. “Yes, tell me what happened. Did you even get close to Orrin? Was he able to speak to you?”
I can’t speak, I just shake my head, tired beyond words, drop my face in my hands.
Connor and Hugh speak to each other, and I tune them out, concentrate on breathing. Hugh drops onto the chaise next to me, pats my shoulder. Connor pulls up a stool in front of me.
“I need to know what happened, Rhia. Look at me.”
I look. “Did you speak to Orrin?” I shake my head no, and he curses.
“I — I’ll try again later,” I croak. “The guards came as we were knocking on the door. Gantry —”
“Having his rooms guarded. I know. We’ll have to separate them tonight, get Orrin somewhere safe. Yes,” he says when I look up hopefully. “Yes, I’ll get him out of the castle. We’ll just have to sort something out with Cardinal Robere later. And I don’t know what we’ll say about his disappearance, so don’t ask me.”
I take as deep a breath as I can, lean into Hugh’s side a little. “Thank you, my lord. Thank you. I know Gantry is hurting him. The spell — Linnet saw the spell this morning. She said you did, too.”
“I saw no spell. Before the service?”
“The Dawnsongs. She said you were there.”
He stands and starts pacing. “He used the ceremony to cover up a spell? But why do it there?”
Hugh stiffens. “He wouldn’t,” he says.
“Wouldn’t what?” asks Connor.
“There’s a way to use a group like that, in a ceremony, to focus power, and draw on all of them. But it takes a tremendous amount of power to begin with, if it’s not willingly shared. Where would he even get that kind of power? It blew through years of protection spells.”
“I think that question is for later. That he did seems to be true. Can he do it again?”
Hugh and I look at each other, sick with fear. “Evesong, before the feast,” Hugh says.
“Then we will have to disrupt it, somehow,” Connor
says.
“If he’s having Orrin focus the spell for him while he pulls energy from the crowd — keeping Orrin away from him would disrupt it.” Hugh’s voice is scratchy with fatigue.
Connor looks at him, at me, and how we’re drooping. “The two of you need to rest. Is Julianna still sleeping?”
“Should be. She came out of the Healing trance long enough to tell me the child should be all right. So she tells me, anyway. But it took a lot out of her. I think she’ll sleep until this afternoon.”
Connor glances toward her chamber, his face carefully blank. “I’ll walk you to your rooms, Hugh. I want to ask you about the ceremony. Rhia, send to Hugh if anything happens while we’re gone. I’ll be back in a short while. Then you can rest.”
I nod, and when they leave, I slump over onto my side. I want to rest for a moment. Then I’ll check on Julianna, see if Linnet has calmed down. Maybe if I give her the pendant … I’ll just lie here a moment, then I’ll start again.
When I fall asleep, I’m still telling myself to get up. I’m a terrible listener.
Chapter Fifteen
Julianna’s voice wakes me, and I flail a moment, sit up, groaning. A thick blanket falls to my lap, as I blink and rub my eyes.
“Rhia, we have to get ready,” she says. I look up to find her standing by the window, looking out. The lamps reflect off of the deepening gloom.
“Is it dusk already?”
Being Solstice, dusk is late indeed, which means I’ve slept for hours. The feast tonight will last past midnight, so I won’t have been the only person to take a nap, but I wasn’t planning on it. The color of the sky outside is a wet stone gray, deepening to charcoal.
“It will be soon enough. Go and wash up and change. I just need help with my hair, and a few buttons.”
Standing makes me feel woozy, but I notice Julianna seems extra pale. “Are you feeling all right, your Highness? Maybe you shouldn’t attend the Evesong.”
“I have to attend. And I’m fine.” She turns and smiles, attempting cheerful. “Don’t worry about me, or the baby. I’ve done a thorough check, and everything is normal. We’re fine.”
I don’t think she’s nearly as sanguine about her health as she seems, but she’ll only become stubborn if I push her. I nod and head for my room.
It doesn’t take me long to dress. I bring a shawl to put under my cloak. It’s chilly and rainy today, colder than it should be for Solstice. But the storm that’s threatened off shore all day makes the wind brisk. The last few days have been wet and miserable. The weather seems unlikely to change tonight.
When Julianna and I are both ready, I realize Linnet still hasn’t made an appearance. “Do you know where Linnet is?” I ask.
“I sent her to fetch the tapestry. And to calm down — she’s angry about something again. Did something happen?”
“Connor didn’t … didn’t, um. He didn’t want me to tell her something. She’ll get over it,” I say, thinking maybe I won’t burden the princess with today’s events just now. She’ll hear about them eventually. But we need to just get through tonight. “Did Connor tell you … what the plan is?”
“He’s taking care of keeping Orrin away from Gantry during the service, if he can. He’ll cause a diversion if anything seems awry. But I think that with all of us there, Gantry won’t be able to try anything new. Not tonight. But we need to figure out a way to catch him, publicly. If he does go after me tonight, we’ll have that. But Connor doesn’t want to risk it.”
“What if Gantry just says that it’s your own magic that’s causing his spell? He’ll find a way to twist it.”
“That’s what Connor is afraid of.” She sighs. “We have to find some sort of proof of the whole conspiracy, whatever the conspiracy is. And whomever it implicates,” she says darkly. I nod, subdued, and follow her out, out of the rooms, through the bustling great hall, to the courtyard of the west barbican.
The wind bites through my cloak. At least this time I have proper boots on.
Bishop Gantry enters the courtyard behind us, causing me to start and glance behind me. He’s followed by Orrin, who does not meet my eyes, and a group of kirche guards. I see Ferrety from earlier. He seems to be limping. I bite back a slightly hysterical laugh, try to focus on walking without tripping.
I look back again. Orrin’s face is ashy and drawn. He keeps his head down, his dark curls glinting with rain in the torchlight. I can’t see his eyes.
Gantry moves to stand on the small rise before the cold firepit, and Orrin stands behind him.
Castle denizens gather in murmuring groups around the pit, huddled together against the cold. Duchess Marguerite and her ladies make room for Julianna and me, and we stand against the chill wind, blinking in the near-dark. I don’t see Linnet or Connor. Hugh walks to stand next to his mother, smiling genially at everyone, his eyes roving. I nod when he sees me.
The ceremony begins when Gantry raises his arms and starts chanting. The crowd startles and joins in belatedly. I keep an eye on things, but the only magic he’s called so far is fire for the torches, and then the firepit, which sputters to reluctant life in the spitting drizzle. The songs begin.
“Praise to the Lord of Stars, praise to the light. Praise for a harvest bounty, praise for all life.” Not the most eloquent of the lighting songs, but at least it’s short. Gantry’s face is puckered with concentration, and I feel a surge of power building. He reaches back to grab Orrin, and I grip Julianna’s arm.
A glow starts around them, and then is cut off when Orrin falls sideways, pushed over by a stumbling castle guard.
Gantry makes a strangled noise, and Orrin cries out, as the guard clumsily, drunkenly it looks like, lifts Orrin to his feet.
The guard apologizes, patting Orrin down, pushing him further from Gantry, keeping himself in between them.
“So sorry, so sorry, please finish, yer lordship, sorry, sorry, go on,” the man says, and I feel Julianna breathe a sigh of relief. Connor must have set this up. I glance at Hugh and meet his tense smile with my own.
Gantry’s face is a frozen mask of fury. The crowd of castle folk draws back a little further from him. He looks around at everyone for a moment, then raises both hands for the benediction again, the power buildup gone.
I close my eyes and reach out with my Sight to try for a vision, look for knowledge or emotions. But all the people crowd out any specific person, and I can’t isolate any one feeling. They batter at me; uneasiness, boredom, irritation, unhappiness, giddy anticipation. The latter seems mostly people who are looking forward to romantic, or at least passionate, pairings after the feast. Solstice is the night for it, traditionally.
There, there is a thread of abject terror and misery, that I think is Orrin. Before I can follow it more closely and find out, I’m jostled as the crowd turns, starts back indoors. Gantry must have cut the ceremony short. No one seems upset by this, especially as the rain starts coming down in earnest, and thunder rumbles out at sea.
I look back and see the sacred fire hiss and smoke, sputter to nothing. A poor omen for the coming harvest. It’s supposed to burn all night — and the priest in charge of lighting it is supposed to make sure it does. Murmurs around me suggest I’m not the only one to notice.
Inside the great hall, voices bounce off of the walls as people mill, shaking water from hair and clothes. The steward looks miffed that we’re all tracking in water.
Duchess Marguerite smiles and pats his hand, then heads over to Bishop Gantry. I can’t hear all of her words, but I do hear “sacred fire” and “someone else.” I think she’s telling him to find someone to re-light the fire.
Gantry’s face isn’t happy. I can’t see Orrin’s face, but neither can anyone else. He looks only at the floor.
Julianna takes my arm and pulls me along with her. “Let’s hang these wet cloaks up and change out of our boots. The banquet will begin soon, and I’m hungry.” She smiles thinly at me, and I comply.
～
We ent
er the solar, shaking off our cloaks. Julianna is dressed in her gold and russet satin, and light bounces merrily off of it.
Linnet comes from the chambers, holding the tapestry. “It’s finished. I’m heading to the banquet, since I can’t tell anyone I’m the one who made it.” She glares us and storms out, slamming the door.
Julianna and I blink at each other. I sigh.
Connor comes in a moment later, staring critically over his shoulder. “What is it this time?”
I just shake my head. We’re all tired and out of sorts today.
Julianna sways into me a bit when I reach out for her, and I murmur “You should be in bed.”
“Don’t fuss. I have a job to do, and I’m going to do it.”
“Does the job include fainting in front of everyone?” I ask.
“I don’t faint,” she snaps. “Leave it be.”
I look at Connor, and he frowns at the both of us, but keeps his own counsel. I guess he already had a go at her.
“Hello everyone! Are we ready to go down?” Hugh steps into the room, smiling brightly. “Do you have Mother’s present ready? Where’s Linnet?”
“Already left.”
“Here it is,” Julianna says, draping the tapestry over the back of the chaise.
Everyone stares in appreciation, and even Connor looks impressed. It’s a light silk tapestry, for a doorway in summer to let the air flow. In the center, a rampant lion in scarlet stands triumphant in a field of bright blue. The motto “Strength in Adversity” is cleverly woven in scarlet and gold, twisting around the lion’s feet. It’s the Haverston coat of arms.
I feel a sting of pride. I can see Da’s teaching in her handiwork — the even weave and the lion’s mane are his style. But she adds her own flair in the twisted banner around the claws. Linnet’s work has been sought after since she was eleven.
“It’s lovely,” Connor says, and I smile at him. He blinks at me.
“Mother will adore it,” Hugh says, and rolls it carefully. “We’ll give it to her at dessert. He tucks it under one arm, and bows to his sister. “I think, my dear sister, it is time to descend.”
A Ragged Magic Page 14
