“He’s not doing any worse than the rest of my stupid family,” Saviar mumbled, quietly hoping Subikahn heard him.
“What?” Treysind apparently did not.
Saviar refused to repeat it. “Nothing. Why don’t you take me to him? Right now, I’d like to be with someone who . . . loves me . . . who wants to be with me.” He deliberately turned his back on Subikahn, but still managed to hear his twin muttering.
“Oh, stop acting like a baby.”
“Go to Hel,” Saviar whispered back savagely.
Apparently oblivious to the exchange, Treysind brightened noticeably. “I’s sure Hero’d enjoy his brothers’ comp’ny.” He turned his attention to Subikahn. “Is yas coming, too, Hero’s other brother?”
Subikahn stiffened. “I . . . no. How did you . . . ? No. I have to go. Alone, apparently. The fewer people who know I’m here, the better.” He glided silently into the brush.
Alone, apparently. Those words stuck with Saviar while the others faded. He can’t be suggesting I accompany him. Can he?
Treysind narrowed in on a different phrase. “How’s I knowin’ . . . who yas is? Hero loves ya both. He talks ’bout ya, so’s I knowed who yas was even wit’out meetin’.” He grinned, clearly thrilled by his analysis. “I’s bein’ sure ta tell him ya’s well, too.”
“No!” Subikahn reappeared. “Didn’t you hear me say I don’t want people knowing where I am?”
“I tells Hero ever’thin’.”
“Of course you do.” Saviar could not help reveling in his twin’s discomfort, though he knew it was wrong. His father would never approve of such wicked pleasure, nor his grandfather.Yet, at the moment, Saviar did not feel kindly disposed toward any of them. “And you should. It’s not fair of Subikahn to expect otherwise.”
Subikahn hissed just loudly enough for Saviar to hear, “You obnoxious, lumbering bastard.” Then disappeared.
Exhausted, grouchy, mad at the entire world, Saviar followed Treysind in silence.
CHAPTER 20
Sometimes hatred is just hatred.
—Kevralyn Tainharsdatter
THE HORSE PLUNGED to a rattling stop, and Imorelda dug her claws into Tae’s leg for balance. The king looked out from their tiny cart to see the familiar, massive mountains that cradled Béarn Castle. Excitement flooded through him, tinged with relief. A light sleeper from necessity, he had awakened to every bump, clatter, and neigh as they traversed the messenger route behind an endless stream of galloping horses. By far the fastest way from Stalmize to the West, it employed a long line of men and horses standing always at the ready to travel at top speed any time of day or night, in all types of weather, usually to deliver decrees, notes, and occasional important packages. Interference with the messenger lines spelled instant death, but it was never meant for hauling humans and cats. Battered and bruised by the trip, exhausted from lack of sleep, at least they had finally arrived: a journey of several months condensed to less than one.
Apparently assuming Tae asleep, the rider did not disturb his passenger. Tae watched the young man dismount and head toward the palace guards, his movements slow, deliberate, and weighted with fatigue.
*We’re here?* Imorelda yawned and stretched across Tae’s lap.
*We’re here.* Tae had no interest in the customary formalities that had to follow. The guards would inform the proper dignitaries, who would have to leave their comfortable beds to tend to a royal guest. Procedures would require following, servants would be roused to handle him, and all of it demanded a politeness his tired mind could barely muster. All Tae really wished to do was sleep. *I’m going in the hard way.* He chose the words for Imorelda’s sake. To him, suffering through the official procedure was the most difficult and tedious way of all. *You coming with me?*
Imorelda leaped lightly from the cart. *No, thank you. I’d rather not get shot off the castle walls.* She gave her left leg a thorough lick. *If you sur vive, I’ll meet you inside.* She trotted toward the main gate, one more cat amidst hundreds.
*Thanks.* Creeping alone into the night shadows, Tae approached the outer wall of the castle and listened for the footsteps of the booted guards on top. At length, one approached, heels clicking against stone. Tae waited until the man had fully passed, then clambered up the stones like a spider, flung himself over, and clung to the other side. Already accustomed to the darkness, his eyes adjusted easily to the courtyard. He had not visited Béarn in years, yet it had changed little. The flower beds and vegetable gardens had shifted a bit, and a new guardhouse had joined the old near the north tower. Otherwise, it looked as he remembered it. The only movement he saw was cats slinking through the vines and pathways; the only voices came from the front gates, where the rider announced his imminent arrival to the waiting sentries. The overpowering, distinctive odor of feline assailed his nostrils.
Cautiously, Tae lowered himself to the ground, then headed briskly for the proper wall. He had not climbed it in nearly twenty years, and then he had used self-made bracers fitted with steel claws. Now, he relied on his years of practicing on his own tower walls to scale without need of anything but his own dexterity and strength. Fingers wedged into miniscule cracks, toes gripping through his soft, thin soles, he headed for the familiar fifth-story window, with its gauzy curtains rippling in the breeze.
Once there, Tae paused at the sill to get his bearings. The room appeared much as he remembered, the canopied bed holding a large figure he knew well. Matrinka had never lost the weight from the first of her three children, and she had added more through the years. Three cats shared her bed, one on the pillow curled against her head, one tucked at her feet, and the last stretched to its full length along her back. Furniture stood like towering shadows, and the rectangular shapes of two doors broke the fine line of the walls. All of these things passed Tae’s inspection in an instant as he searched for danger. Likely, a Renshai guard shared this room with the queen, a quick, deadly master of the sword who would kill Tae first and wonder about his identity later. He would have to dodge the lightning sword strokes until Matrinka recognized and rescued him.
Yet, to Tae’s surprise, he saw no other human figure, no movement other than the irregular sweep of the curtains. He lowered himself to the floor, still tensed for a wild attack that did not come. Finally, he crept cautiously toward Matrinka and swept aside the canopy.
The ginger-colored cat at the foot of the bed rose and started toward him, purring.
Ignoring it, Tae studied Béarn’s queen. Her thick curls swept across the pillow and surrounded her gentle features like a mane. Her face held more lines than he remembered, and long strands of white hair lay knitted among the black. Age has touched us all, Tae realized, but he also knew Matrinka’s appearance had never been what won her so many admirers. She was sweet and gentle, loving and kind, with the sort of nature that attracts long after youthful vigor fades.
“Matrinka,” Tae whispered loudly.
The ginger cat caught up to Tae and rubbed its entire body against his arm. Turning to repeat the process, the cat raised its tail as high as possible to tickle Tae’s face.
Absently, Tae stroked the animal, gaze still fixed on Matrinka, who had not moved.
“Matrinka,” he repeated, this time nudging her shoulder gently.
The queen’s soft, brown eyes popped open. She rolled toward Tae, dislodging the other two cats, a massive black and white and a plump little calico. They both yowled a complaint. Another cat scratched insistently at the bedroom door.
Matrinka jerked to a sitting position, pulling the blankets over her sleeping gown. “Tae? What in the gods’ names are you doing here?”
Tae forced a smile through his exhaustion. “Always great to see you, too.” He glanced around the room, still wary. “Where’s the crazed Renshai?”
Matrinka placed a hand over her mouth and yawned daintily. “Does anyone know you’re here?”
“Do you think I’d be in the queen’s bedchamber if they did?”
Matrinka rolled her eyes and gave Tae a searching look. “You didn’t.”
“Didn’t what?”
“Didn’t climb in that window.” Matrinka turned her gaze toward the curtains.
“Didn’t I?” Tae continued to search for a bodyguard. By now, any Renshai worth her weight in salt would have sliced him into jerky. “And here I thought I did.”
“And I thought you gave up sneaking around like a common thug when you became king.”
“I’ve never been common or a thug.”Tae shrugged. “And if a king can’t sneak around, who can?”
“Come here.” Matrinka held out her arms.
Tae embraced the queen, feeling tiny in her arms and enveloped by the sisterly warmth of her. To a man, Béarnides were a massive, mountain people, large-boned with coarse features. They shared the dark eyes and hair of Easterners, but all resemblance ended there. Eastern hair was fine and soft compared to the dense, bristly locks of Béarnides that tended to curl; and the Easterners bore a swarthy hue that made these people of the mountains look pale as Northmen in comparison.
The moment they released one another, Matrinka lashed out a hand that caught Tae squarely across the cheek.
He jerked backward, shocked. “Ow, damn it! Why did you do that?”
“Because you did something extremely foolish, and your mother isn’t here to slap you.”
Tae rubbed his aching face. He had never handled violence well. “My mother never hit me in her life.”
“She should have. A lot. Maybe you wouldn’t be so stupid if she did.”
Tae had to admit that Matrinka had a point, though he did not like the way she made it. “I thought we were friends. You’re making me sorry I came to see you.”
“Good.”
The scratching at the door became more animated, accompanied by vigorous meowing.
“The last five people who struck me are all horribly dead.”
Matrinka refused to relent. “So kill me. You’d put me out of my misery.”
It was the last thing Tae ever expected to hear from easygoing, sweet-tempered Matrinka. All anger vanished immediately. “Matrinka, what . . . ?”
Paws flicked beneath the door, and the noises turned to heart-rending yowls.
“Can I let that cat in, or will a horde of guards descend on me?”
Matrinka wrapped the blankets around herself, dislodging the cats, then walked to the door. She opened it a crack to admit a silver tabby angrily fluffed, tail twitching. The cats already in the room rushed to the opening, squeezing into the hallway. No cat, it seemed, could resist an open door. Matrinka shut the panel before guards could look in or any more cats could enter.
*What took you so long?* Imorelda plopped down on the floor, smoothing her coat back to normal with her tongue, her tail still lashing.
From long experience, Tae knew their mind-communication had limits. Outside, on open ground, he could generally “hear” her about as far as he could see her. Indoors, they nearly always required a presence in the same room. Walls, floors, ceilings, and doors cut them off completely.
*I’m sorry,* Tae sent back. *I only just got here myself.*
The cat made a loud noise, halfway between a growl and a purr.
Tae ignored her to focus on Matrinka, who walked slowly back toward him from the door. “Matrinka, what’s going on?”
*I was about to go look for your broken, bloody carcass under the window.*
Matrinka sank back to the bed and closed her eyes. “It’s been a monstrous year, Tae. I don’t know how much more I can take.”
Tae recalled Matrinka’s strength through the many and varied adventures they had survived together. They had weathered deaths and injuries, wars and poisonings, wrongful imprisonments and miraculous escapes. It seemed so long ago, when they were young and inexperienced, irresponsible and youthfully immortal. Nothing had seemed impossible. “Is it the pirates?”
Imorelda leaped onto the bed and crawled into Matrinka’s lap.
Matrinka stroked the cat, at first absently, then with focused attention. “It’s Imorelda, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
*A true queen. She recognizes my exquisite and exceptional beauty.*
Tae could not help teasing, *What she recognizes is your putrid smell.*
“You’re talking to her, aren’t you?” Matrinka clearly attempted a happy tone, but she could not hide the deep sorrow that tinged it.
*If I stink, it’s only because I’ve been forced into close quarters with an unwashed human for so long.”* Imorelda turned her back on Tae, kneading Matrinka’s lap as she moved. *I’ve bathed. Have you?*
“Yes,” Tae admitted. “We’re conversing, but it’s not very nice.”
Matrinka’s question was wistful, “What’s she saying?”
Tae flushed, smiling. “She says I reek.”
Matrinka gave the cat a stern look, “Imorelda! That’s not ladylike.”
*Perhaps not, but it is true.*
“Is she still talking to you?”
“To you, actually.” Tae tried to think of a tactful way to steer the conversation back to Matrinka. “You miss Mior, don’t you?”
“Terribly,” Matrinka admitted, but refused to be sidetracked. “Imorelda was talking to me?”
“I think so. She responded to your comment.”
“I didn’t ‘hear’ her.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Why?”Though simple, the question held angst Tae dearly wished he could assuage. More than anything, he knew, Matrinka wanted back the relationship she had shared with Mior.
“I don’t know,” Tae admitted. “I don’t know why you could converse with Mior but not Imorelda. I don’t know why none of these other cats shares their special talent. I’m sorry, Matrinka. I don’t understand it any better than you. I have no answers.”
Matrinka cleared her throat. “Darris thinks Mior’s line might be similar to his. The bardic curse passes always to the firstborn.”
*Oh, so I’m a “curse” now?*
*Sometimes.* Tae sent back. “I’ve always wondered why the bards choose to have children. No children, no more curse.”
*Having children is curse enough.* Imorelda snuggled into Matrinka’s lap. *Nasty things.*
“Do you ever wish you didn’t have Subikahn?”
The question struck too close to home. Anger boiled in the pit of Tae’s stomach. “Of course not. But I didn’t inflict him with a curse either.” No, a Renshai torke did that for me.
*Leaping on your head when you’re trying to sleep. Sucking you raw. The blood, the vomit. And I can’t stand the taste of placenta.*
Matrinka continued to defend her decision. “Well, we love Marisole. And she sees her musical talent as a gods-given gift, not a curse.”
Glad to forget his own offspring for a while, Tae focused in on Marisole. “The musical part isn’t really the curse, though, is it? It’s the infernal quest for knowledge and the inability to speak except in arias.”
“They can speak; they just can’t teach.”
Tae waved dismissively. “Spare me the details. I find Darris tedious, but you love him and that’s all that matters.” He still did not understand Matrinka’s discomfort. “You’re very lucky, you know. You’re a queen, with a wonderful husband who asks nothing of you. How many men would let their wives sleep with lovers and happily claim the children as their own? How many would allow hundreds of cats to roam the palace? A king shouldn’t have to entertain visitors in a great hall stinking of urine and vinegar.”
Matrinka stared, clearly stunned. “It . . . stinks?”
“Of course, it stinks. It’s full of cats. Don’t you notice it?”
*Hey!*
“No.” Matrinka’s voice went small. “I’m . . . being selfish, aren’t I?”
“Not selfish, just determined.” Tae sat next to Matrinka on the bed. “I think you gave it your best try; but the next Mior, if there is one, isn’t coming from this horde.” He made a vague gesture
toward the door.
“Maybe Darris’ idea?” Matrinka scratched behind Imorelda’s ears, to much delighted purring.
“Was Imorelda firstborn?”
“Second, but the only female in the litter.”
Imorelda stiffened. *Are you talking about me having babies? Because I’m not having any babies.*
Light flashed through Matrinka’s eyes. “I’ve been thinking Mior’s ability was stronger than Imorelda’s. Because she learned to communicate with both of us. If we could breed back into the line—”
*Are you listening to me? No babies!*
“Careful.” Tae’s mind went to another line breeding. “Remember why dear King Griff allowed Darris to sire his children with you. You’re his first cousin, and he worried that the closeness of your blood would create morons and cretins.”
Matrinka rose, still clutching Imorelda, and the blankets fell away to reveal her sleeping gown. Attention distant, she seemed not to notice that only a thin layer of fabric separated her from the man in her bedchamber. Though stout, she still sported pleasantly proportioned curves, and her breasts had grown enormous. “I’m not talking about a brother. I’m thinking more of a great great nephew. If we can concentrate the bloodline, just a little, maybe—”
Reminded of Matrinka’s womanhood, Tae looked away. She was the closest thing he had to a sister, and he did not want to start seeing her as a sexual being.
*Tell her no! I’m not having any babies. I don’t want any babies.*
Finally, Tae addressed the cat, *Why not?*
*Because I’ll get fat. Like her.*
*That’s not nice.*
*And my nipples will turn all pink and hangy forever.*
*Not forever. Just for a couple of—*
*Forever. I’ve seen it. And I don’t want to lick any rear end but my own.*
That one baffled Tae. *You’d have to lick someone’s—*
*That’s how you get kittens to make—*
Matrinka whirled suddenly. “I’m sorry, Tae. I’m wasting your time worrying about cats and kittens.You must be exhausted.”
Tae wished she had not mentioned it. Fatigue crushed down on him like a lead weight, and it suddenly became difficult to hold his eyes open. The urge to sink into the covers became nearly overwhelming. “I am . . .” He yawned. “. . . a bit.”
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