Cast In Courtlight (41 page)

She offered him a courtly bow. It wasn’t as graceful as a Barrani bow should have been, but she wasn’t expected to tender that – and she meant to give him what she could. Not more, but certainly not less.

He accepted her bow with a grave nod. “
Kyuthe
,” he said quietly. “I have been waiting for you.” He nodded to Severn in turn, acknowledging his presence.

I bet you have
, she thought. But she said, instead, “We returned to the tower.”

“I know. I spoke briefly with Lord Evarrim.” There was warning in those words.

“Lord Evarrim was… helpful. We had almost lost the way,” she added.

His smile was an odd thing. It was devoid of humor but not of warmth. “Don’t speak like a Barrani,” he told her gently. “It doesn’t suit you.”

She shrugged. “I like the dress.”

“It is clothing, no more – it does not define you.”

“No. But it’s a hell of a lot more comfortable than what did.” She took a deep breath and switched to Elantran. “We talked to your father,” she said. The blunt words felt almost foreign in her mouth because in the end, there were some things she
didn’t
want to speak about.

A brief flash of something like insight came to her then. She wondered if, in living for centuries, one accumulated so
much
one didn’t want to speak about, Barrani was the only natural tongue in which not to speak.

He nodded. Turned his attention to the leaves that were thick and almost unbending.

“And your mother,” she added.

“My mother was present?”

She bit her lip.

“And have you now been sent to speak to me of duty?”

“More or less.”

“Consider the words said,” he told her, an edge in his voice, his eyes darkening. “And
do not
say them. I will forgive you much, for the gift of my life. But not all.”

“Okay. I’ll just consider the whole lecture given. I can sympathize. I never listened to lectures much, either. And I failed a lot of classes.”

He raised a dark brow, and beneath it, the color of his eyes shifted, turning from sapphire to something pale enough to be cheap emerald. “Absent lectures,
kyuthe
, what is left to say?”

“
Leoswuld
,” she replied quietly.

“That, I think, is part of the lecture.”

“Sort of. But it’s practical, and I was better with practical things.” She realized that she was still holding on to Severn’s hand, and quietly disentangled their fingers. “We have a day. The bright moon isn’t full.”

“The bright moon is not full,” he agreed.

She looked at him, pinning him down with her eyes, which were brown and unchanging. “Did you know,” she told him evenly, “that the rune I saw when I first entered the tower was the same rune the Lord of the Green saw?”

She didn’t need to do much pinning; he became utterly still. And given how little he’d been moving before, that said something. His eyes flickered, green darkening there; it did not – quite – give way to blue.

“And how would you know that?” he asked her softly.

“He told me.”

“He… told you.”

“Well, more or less. I was dreaming,” she added self-consciously. “But it was a dream of the High Halls.” She paused, and then added, “He told me what yours was too.”

His brows rose. And fell. “If this is a game – ”

She said, “Oh, he’s Barrani. It probably is.”

“What did he say?”

“Duty.”

“And his? Yours?”

“Choice.”

He was silent; it was the silence of frantic thought. Of, Kaylin realized bitterly, hope. Because hope was bitter here. And it was all he had.

“This is not information the Lord of the High Court chose to impart?”

“No. Well, okay, yes, but I already knew it.”

He hesitated, and she cringed. He wanted to believe her, and because he wanted to, he didn’t trust the desire. She drew a deep breath and squared her shoulders, feeling the difference between the understatement of Barrani movement and the overstatement of hers.

Lirienne.

His eyes widened and darkened. But only for a moment. He understood what she was doing, and even smiled.

Kyuthe.

I cannot lie to you here.

No. Is it true? Did you speak with my brother?

Only in dream
, she said, hating herself for a moment because in dream, there was doubt. Not
in life
.

Tell me of this dream.

She did.

And he wore a cloak?

Green
, she said softly.
But his eyes were almost entirely black. He wants you to hill him
, she added.
But I don’t.

You would be perhaps the only one
, he told her bitterly.

Not the only one. I think your father would have already killed me if not for the Consort
. She hadn’t thought it until she spoke the words, but they were true.

And what hope do you offer us?

I don’t know
, she said, almost helpless. But she lifted her left arm.
But when I left the Tower, I didn’t take one name. I took two
.

His frown was more felt than seen.
Two?

She nodded.
I had to. I couldn’t leave with just one
.

I don’t understand.Well, if you don’t, and you’re the High Lord’s son, don’t expect me to.

His eyes were… golden. And she understood then that gold was the color of shock or surprise. But it dimmed quickly.
I think I understand
, he told her grimly.
And I even thank you. But that is not our way. You have seen what waits
, he added bitterly.
Do you not understand that our names are what we are? No new name will save him. If it could even be done, it would change the nature of his life
.

She deflated by several inches. “Isn’t that better than dying?”

“By our measure,
kyuthe
, it
is
dying.”

“How do you know? Has it ever been done before?”

He was quiet for a moment, slipping away from the force of his name, and the speech of silence. “Do you believe that mortals have souls, Kaylin?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I imagine I’ll find out one day.”

“Ah. Pretend, for a moment, that you do.”

“Okay.”

“If your soul flees your body, you are dead. But if another replaces it, are you any less dead? The body may – or may not – live. But what you were – it’s gone.”

“How do you know?”

“I don’t. I merely surmise.”

She let her arm drop. “I want to see the Lord of the Green.”

He shook his head.

“I don’t actually need your permission.”

And the Lord of the West March turned to Severn, who had remained silent throughout. “Is she
always
this difficult?”

“He’s going to die anyway,” Kaylin told him. “Isn’t it time to try something different?”

“Not,” the Lord of the West March replied grimly, “if it will kill him.”

He didn’t trust her, but there was no reason he should. He led her back to her room, and as he entered the wing, four of his men joined him in silence. They, unlike the Lord of the West March, favored her face with a fixed blank expression; the mark of Nightshade drew and repelled. They wouldn’t trust her, and they certainly wouldn’t listen to her.

She wanted to scream. For just one insane minute, she wanted to use the Lord of the West March’s name to
force
him to listen.

It passed, but only with a lot of effort, and with the distinct help of less suicidal impulses. She could speak his name; she
could not
contain him by its use. And if she could, she was no better than the darkness that lay at the heart of the High Halls, waiting to devour the weak.

Andellen and Samaran were shut into her room with her. Andellen was silent until the door was closed. He approached it with care, inspected it with more, and then gestured almost dismissively. Had she not known the Barrani, she would have assumed the wave of his hands to be theatrical. She did know them; she didn’t have that comfort.

“You are prisoner here,” he told her quietly. “What have you done to offend the Lord of the West March?”

“I asked to speak with his brother.”

“After what we saw?”

“Yes.”

His eyes narrowed. “Why?”

“Because I had some hope that something I took from the tower during my damn test would be
helpful
,” she said, spitting fury.

Andellen looked at her for a moment, and then said, “You spend too much time in the company of Leontines. It is not a habit I would encourage.”

She laughed out loud, and he raised a dark brow. Obviously, the comment was not meant as humor. But how he spoke the words, and how she received them, were a matter of choice.

Choice. Her smile eased off her face. “Why can’t they wait?” she asked him.

He could have pretended ignorance but chose instead to answer. “The Consort has all but lost the path,” he told her quietly. “In one more year – which should have no significance to those of our kind – she will not be able to find it. And if she cannot, she cannot pass that knowledge on.”

“The Lord of the Green won’t be present for leoswuld.”

“I can’t see how he could.”

“But everyone else will be.”

He nodded. “Not one such as I,” he added in a softer voice.

“You’re commanded to be my escort – ”

“Not to
leoswuld
,” he told her firmly. “As you will find, if you attempt
to
press this. You, of course, will be expected, as will Lord Severn.”

“Andellen – ”

“I understand your urgency, Kaylin. It is not our way to speak quickly or bluntly, but believe that I
am
making the effort.” His frown was thoughtful. And damn slow. “The Lord of the West March will be present. Were I the High Lord, I would condemn my eldest son for his absence from the rite, and I would do so publicly His condition is not widely known.

“He will offer the gift to his second son.”

“But the Lord of the West March will refuse.”

“Will he?”

“Yes!”

“Kaylin, you understand much about the High Court that even I did not. You led us to the heart of the darkness,” he added. “Not even I have seen it before, who lived here for centuries. But in this, your certainty is misplaced. I believe that the Lord of the West March
intends
to refuse what his father will undoubtedly offer.

“But his father will offer it. The daughter will accept the mother’s gift. But the mother’s gift is tied to the source, not the High Halls. And if the father makes the offer, the High Halls will be – for one moment – without its ruler.

“Without its guardian.”

She froze. “But the darkness – ”

“Yes. It will rise. It is almost uncontained now.”

“You think this will be a game of chicken.”

He raised a brow. “I fail
to
see what fowl has to do with
leoswuld
. You will, no doubt, enlighten me.”

“A game. It’s a stupid game. You can play it with knives or almost anything. You can play it on the edge of rooftops. You can play it near the wagons by the market. It means – it’s just – whoever blinks first. Whoever surrenders first, loses.”

“Ah. And you think that the High Lord will place us all in jeopardy in order to force his son’s hand?”

“No – you think that. The Lord of the High Court can’t be certain that the Lord of the West March will take the gift. But if he doesn’t – ”

“Yes. We will almost certainly perish.”

“Can anyone else take what’s offered?”

“Anyone else can try,” he replied. “But Kaylin, there is no guarantee of success. Although in that circumstance, war is less likely. Even the Barrani value their lives. Perhaps, given how much is lost with the life, they value them
more
. The Lord of the High Court is canny. He is also desperate.” He looked at Kaylin. “You are certain the Lord of the West March will refuse?”

She said, instead, “You know I hold his – ”

He lifted a hand. “A simple yes will suffice.”

“Then yes, damn it.” She looked at the doors. “We can’t get out of here?”

“Not without killing the guards,” he replied. “And that would be unlikely to earn you the freedom you seek.”

“Then what will?”

“Time,” he told her. “How long can you wait?”

“I
can’t wait
. We
don’t have time
.”

There was something too close to pity in his expression. “You will wait,” he told her quietly. “Because the
only
time you will have any chance of success will be on the way to the rite itself. At that point, all Barrani Lords will be required to leave their quarters, and their plots, behind. They will attend at the command of the Lord of the High Court.”

Kaylin frowned. “The Lord of the High Court gave me free run of the High Halls.”

“Yes. And were you to be able to reach him, he would most assuredly enforce that grant. Welcome,” he added with just the hint of a cruel smile, “to the High Court.”

She cursed. A lot.

Two hours later, she gave up and retreated to her bed. It was like a besieged island in the sea of her unfortunate temper, and if her temper was childish, she really didn’t give a damn. It’s not like anyone could see it.

Sleep came eventually. She really needed it.

She heard Andellen’s voice; it was pitched not to carry. So, for that matter, was Severn’s. She was irritated, but not enough to get up and shout at them. Her voice was a little on the hoarse side for that, and besides, she’d already done it, and it hadn’t had much of an effect.

Her arm ached. Her head ached. Her eyes ached.

How long had it been since she’d really slept?

How long could she afford to sleep?

She closed her eyes, and tried to relax her jaw muscles; she kept grinding her teeth.

They woke her from the edge of nightmare when food was delivered. It came in the hands of guards, and they left it with care and silence. Her stomach was growling, but she wasn’t hungry. Or rather, the thought of food made her distinctly queasy.

Severn looked at her.