Fortune and Fate

by Sharon Shinn

  “Yes,” Wen said shortly. “We must consider other options.”

  “Demaray says you believe Karryn left her house quite early this morning,” Jasper said.

  Wen nodded but her mind was elsewhere. “I am trying to remember. When I first encountered Karryn—when she was kidnapped by Tover Banlish—she said she didn’t think anyone would be looking for her because when he abducted her, she wasn’t where she was supposed to be. I don’t believe I ever heard how that story began. Where did she disappear from that time?”

  Too late Wen realized that, although Demaray knew of Karryn’s abduction, she had never been told the name of the man who had played the villain. Demaray looked shocked, but Jasper answered immediately.

  “Edwin and Katlin’s house,” Jasper said. “When she didn’t arrive, they thought she had decided to stay home. I thought she was with them. It was hours before we knew she was missing.”

  “Had she gone to meet Banlish?” Ryne asked.

  Jasper looked at him. “No. She had arranged to go sailing with Coren Bauler, something I had told her she couldn’t do unless her mother or I accompanied her. He had been taking all the girls out in his boat, one or two at a time, and Karryn wanted her turn.”

  Wen’s eyebrows twitched together. “Then—did Coren Bauler assist Tover Banlish in the abduction?”

  Jasper frowned and Demaray uttered a little cry. “Oh, Jasper, could he have done such a thing? I confess, I’m never entirely certain that I trust Coren, but—”

  “He wasn’t at your house last night,” Wen said.

  Demaray shook her head. “No, the party was for Lindy’s birthday and I decided we should limit it to her particular friends. And Coren is so much older—it didn’t seem right to invite him.”

  Wen addressed Jasper. “Would Karryn have snuck off to meet him?”

  “She doesn’t like Coren Bauler,” Ryne said positively.

  “She must have liked him at one time if she wanted to go sailing with him when no one else was around,” Wen said.

  Demaray turned toward the sofa, where Lindy was holding Serephette’s hand and looking just as miserable as the marlady. “Lindy! Did Karryn have an affection for Coren Bauler? Tell me the truth now.”

  Lindy looked surprised. “Coren? Not anymore. Katlin told us he has an illegitimate daughter that he refuses to support, and since then Karryn can’t stand him.”

  “How did Katlin learn about that?” Demaray exclaimed. “And how could she repeat such gossip to young girls?”

  “That’s not the issue here,” Wen said. “Would there have been anything Coren Bauler could have told her that would have induced her to meet him in secret?”

  “I can’t think of anything,” Ryne said in a silky voice, “but I’d be happy to ask Coren in person.”

  “Yes, I think that we—” Jasper began, but there was a knock on the door before he could finish his sentence.

  It was the butler, and he held a grubby young boy firmly by the wrist. “My lord, this urchin has just arrived with a message for you,” the butler said. “He claims it was given to him by a man who offered him three coppers to deliver it.”

  Jasper accepted the proffered note, ripped it open, and scanned it. Wen saw his face blanch. “Karryn is being held for ransom,” he whispered.

  Demaray threw her hands over her mouth to muffle a shriek. Wen tore the letter from Jasper’s hold. In a rounded girlish hand, someone had written:

  Uncle Jasper,

  I know you’re worried, but I’ve been told I’ll be returned unharmed if you will bring two thousand gold pieces to a man in Forten City at midnight tonight. He will be at the White Bull Tavern near the harbor. His name is Nomis. No one has hurt me. Tell Willa I’m sorry.

  Karryn

  Wen handed the note back to Jasper. “Is that Karryn’s writing?”

  He nodded. Jasper, Wen, Ryne, and Demaray had all drawn closer together, as if to keep Serephette from hearing this new development. “She is alive then, but it is far worse than we feared,” Jasper said.

  Alive for now, Wen thought. “Is Coren Bauler the type to implicate himself in a crime this serious?” she asked.

  “I know he’s deeply in debt,” Demaray said, sounding troubled. “But I wouldn’t have thought—”

  “A man who would assist in abduction wouldn’t balk at kidnapping for ransom,” Ryne said scornfully.

  “I agree with Ryne,” Wen said. “We need to go ask Coren Bauler some questions.”

  Jasper dropped to a crouch beside the grimy little messenger, who was looking around the fancy room as if trying to size up what might be small enough to steal. “Who gave this to you, young man?” he asked. Wen could hear the strain in his voice as he tried not to sound too threatening. “Can you describe him?”

  The boy shrugged. “He was just a man. He had brown hair and a brown coat.”

  “Noble?” Ryne asked.

  The child shook his head. “No. Not wearing fancy clothes and didn’t talk like a fancy man.”

  Jasper stood, waving him away. The butler pulled the young messenger out of the room and shut the door. “Not Coren,” Jasper said. “Though possibly one of his servants.”

  “What will you do?” Demaray demanded. “You can’t possibly pay that kind of money, can you?”

  Jasper looked at her. “I think I have to. Karryn’s life is certainly worth two thousand pieces of gold.”

  He spoke too loudly. “What?” Serephette demanded from the sofa. “Jasper, what did you say? Who was that horrible boy? Did he bring news about Karryn?” The marlady rose shakily to her feet, Lindy beside her. Wen saw that Serephette’s grip on Lindy’s arm was so hard Lindy’s skin was pulled and white.

  Jasper swung around to face her. “Yes,” he said calmly. “We have just received a note saying that Karryn will be returned to us if we deliver some gold. I believe we should do so, don’t you?”

  Serephette didn’t answer, she just moaned and sank back onto the couch.

  “Mama!” Lindy shrieked. “She’s fainted!”

  Demaray spun toward the sofa and Jasper sprinted to the door, calling for the housekeeper. There followed a few moments of confusion as servants rushed in and the Coverroe women fluttered around the prostrate marlady. Jasper ushered Ryne and Wen into the hallway to continue the conversation.

  “We shouldn’t waste any more time,” Jasper said. “I’ll ride to our bankers in the city. I don’t keep that kind of money on hand. Wen, I know you’re thinking you want to lay a trap at the tavern to catch this scoundrel, but I’m not sure—”

  “That’s exactly what I’m going to do,” Wen said instantly. “If nothing else, we need to follow this Nomis to see where he takes the money, so we’ll know where Karryn’s being held.”

  “So do you think Karryn was taken by the same person who tried to kill her when you were on the road the other day?” Ryne asked. He was frowning, and Wen assumed that he had a monstrous hangover, but he also looked like he was trying to figure out a particularly knotty problem.

  “Maybe,” she said.

  Jasper shook his head. “But it doesn’t make sense,” he said. “When we were under attack, it seemed clear those men wanted to kill Karryn. Whoever took her now only wants money. Maybe it’s two different people.”

  “If I had to guess,” Wen said slowly, “whoever has her now isn’t going to let her live.”

  Ryne and Jasper both stared at her, their faces studies in disbelief and horror. “No matter who took her, no matter how careful he’s been, Karryn will no doubt have seen or overheard something that would enable us to identify him,” Wen continued. “If he lets her go, we’ll track him down. I don’t think he plans to let her go.” She gestured at the note still in Jasper’s hands. “She was alive when she wrote that. She’ll probably be alive until the money’s delivered, in case he needs her to write again. But after that? I have grave doubts.”

  “Then—then—you think it’s the same person—” Jasper couldn’t seem to sp
eak a complete sentence.

  “I think he’s always wanted her dead,” Wen said quietly. “But now he finds himself in financial straits, and he’s decided to try to make a profit before he cuts her throat.”

  “But who would want to kill Karryn?” Jasper whispered.

  “The most obvious person,” Ryne said. “Whoever stands to inherit this House.”

  Jasper shook his head. “Deloden Maller hasn’t been in Forten City since his marriage! I suppose he could have plotted all this from two hundred miles away but since he’s never shown a minute’s interest in this House—”

  Wen’s brain had stopped registering words with the first sentence. “What did you call him?” she asked. Deloden, Deloden . . . I have heard that name before. Where? Who spoke it?

  Jasper glanced at her. “Deloden Maller. I told you about him before. He would inherit if Karryn died. Why? What do you know of him?”

  She remembered all at once. “I overheard Lindy Coverroe talking about him a few weeks ago. Her mother was insisting they go visit Deloden and his sons. I didn’t know who that was, but I thought the name was unusual. Lindy didn’t want to go.”

  “By the Pale Lady’s silver eye,” Ryne said. His face was blazing with excitement and wrath. “That’s it then.”

  Jasper and Wen both stared at him. “That’s what?” Jasper said.

  Ryne pointed at Wen. “I told you. Look two or three heirs ahead. Who would inherit after Karryn—and who would inherit after the next man?”

  “I still don’t understand,” she said.

  “I would bet you anything you cared to stake—two thousand gold coins, perhaps?—that Demaray took Lindy to the Maller home to try to arrange a marriage between her daughter and Deloden’s oldest son,” Ryne said. “She knew who the next heir was. And she knew if Karryn died, and her daughter was married to a Maller, her daughter would be marlady within in a generation.”

  “Demaray . . .” Jasper whispered and fell still.

  Wen’s mind was racing. “Ryne—it makes sense. Because the Coverroes are strapped for cash, too. Have you seen those gold doors on the front of their house? They might be worth two thousand coins all on their own. And Lindy was telling Karryn that they might have to sell the city house because it’s so expensive. So the idea of a little ransom money to tide them over would no doubt seem attractive.”

  “She’s ambitious, Demaray is,” Ryne said. “She used to throw out all kinds of lures to me—on Lindy’s behalf—until my father formally announced that my sister would take over Coravann Keep. Since then, she’s been perfectly civil to me, but it’s clear she doesn’t want me forming an attachment to her daughter.”

  Wen turned to Jasper. “And you told me that Demaray wanted to be serlady, but the lords didn’t vote her a title.”

  Jasper nodded dumbly.

  “She pretended she didn’t care when she didn’t win a title, but I never believed she was as indifferent as she seemed,” Ryne said. “I’m sure she spent all that money on the town house because she thought she would one day be named serlady. And when the Manor went elsewhere—she was already so deep in debt she didn’t know what to do. How to cover her losses? Marry Lindy off to the man who would step into Fortune if only Karryn was conveniently dead.”

  “That’s so cold,” Jasper said, his voice just a thread. “She has eaten at Karryn’s house—and acted as Karryn’s chaperone—and been a friend to the entire family—”

  “And coveted every single one of Karryn’s advantages, both for herself and for her daughter,” Ryne said. “She’s desperate, Jasper. Don’t underestimate her.”

  Jasper shook his head. “No, I—I—but what do we do now? Do we confront her?”

  “No,” Wen said. For the first time since they had discovered Ryne sleeping alone in his inn room, she was starting to feel the stirrings of hope. “I think I know where Karryn’s being held. You keep Demaray occupied while I go find Karryn.”

  “Where?” Jasper and Ryne said together.

  “Covey Park. Demaray’s old house north of the city. It’s isolated and almost abandoned—it would have been easy to get Karryn there with no one seeing her.”

  “How did she know Karryn was going to creep out of the house this morning?” Ryne asked.

  For a moment, Wen’s teeth clenched. “She didn’t,” she managed to say calmly. “Karryn was still in the house when Demaray came running to tell me she was gone. I too easily believed her tale of Karryn sneaking out to meet with you—I didn’t search the house as I should have. The minute the other guards and I rode away, she took Karryn out of hiding, threw her in a coach, and sent her off to Covey Park.” She glanced at Ryne. “I owe you another apology. Because I believed in your mischief, I let myself be blinded to true evil.”

  In reply, he gave her the dazzling smile that would have made Karryn run off with him if he’d tried to convince her. Even with his red eyes, uncombed hair, and rumpled clothing, Ryne Coravann was an irresistible man. “My father would have believed the same lie about me,” he said. “I can’t blame you in the least.”

  For a moment, Wen smiled back, and then she instantly grew serious. “Jasper, you must keep Demaray here. Don’t let her know our suspicions. Tell her you’re getting the money together. Let her see you’re upset and distracted. Ask for her help with Serephette. But don’t let her go home. I don’t think she’ll want to leave, anyway—she’ll want to be here to gauge how well her scheme is going. It’s why she and Lindy came over here this morning to begin with.”

  “And you and I will go after Karryn?” Ryne demanded.

  “I will go after Karryn, the Fortunalt guards with me,” she answered. She paused. “Or—well—I will have to leave some of them behind in case Demaray has hired an additional force to breach the walls here. I can’t leave you entirely undefended.” Gods and goddesses! If only she had another five or ten soldiers under her command! If only Cammon hadn’t left yesterday! A half dozen Riders, even one or two, would do so much to swing the odds in her favor—

  “I’m coming with you,” Ryne said.

  “I don’t need to be responsible for the life of another serramar,” she said bluntly.

  “You won’t be. I’ll take care of myself.”

  “Don’t argue,” Jasper said. “Just go as quickly as you can. And come back as quickly as you can. And—and—bring Karryn with you.”

  “If she is still alive when we find her, I will bring her back safely,” Wen promised. She came close enough to lay both her hands on his arms and stretch up to kiss him on the mouth. He responded with all the fervor of fear and uncertainty and hope. “I imagine we’ll be back around nightfall.”

  “Guard yourself while you’re guarding everyone else,” Jasper said somberly, and slipped back into the parlor. Wen heard Demaray’s voice before he shut the door.

  “Jasper! Has there been any more news?”

  She looked at Ryne, who was smiling wickedly. “And who was just warning me against pursuing ill-advised romances?” he said.

  “Shut up,” she replied in a pleasant voice and strode for the door. “Come with me if you must, but I warn you, this will be a nasty business and a pretty-boy serramar like yourself may be shocked at what you see.”

  He laughed and followed her. “I can’t believe that you still cherish any illusions about me,” he said. “I think you’ll find me an asset in this little adventure.”