Glass Swallow (30 page)

He frowned at his mangled mobile. ‘Can you mend it?’

‘Yes.’

‘Do so and the bird boy can return.’

‘Thank you.’ Rain swept the pieces into her apron pocket.

‘But, fey lady?’

‘Yes, general.’

‘Tell him to keep out of my way.’

Torrent sat beside his daughter as she mended the mobile. She did not break her concentration even after a full day at the forge, painstakingly matching colours and weaving the cotton web. The candle was guttering low in its socket by the time she was near to completion.

Torrent yawned. ‘Isn’t it well past the hour you should be in bed?’

‘No, Papa, I’ve got to finish this. It’s Peri’s ticket back.’

‘Shame to see you working with these sharp fragments. I can’t help thinking your talent is going to waste. We need to get you back to the stained-glass windows.’

‘Oh, but it hasn’t really been a waste.’ She riffled through the shards, selecting a chocolate-brown piece. ‘I’ve got lots of ideas—I’ve even done a few designs. You know the summer palace I should’ve been working on? Well, I spent a lot of time there and made some sketches. I thought the windows should be gateways to the fey kingdoms the Magharnans talk about in their tales, magical doors for the imagination. There’s a lot of work to do here.’

Torrent let his daughter rattle on, enjoying the expressions passing across her face even as she peered carefully at her mobile. He then realized what she was really saying.

‘You … you want to stay?’ He shook his head. ‘No, no, you can’t. I want you safe. This place is going to be as volatile as a flawed batch in the furnace for a long time to come. I can’t leave you here.’

Rain bit her bottom lip, turning the shard in her fingers. ‘But it’s complicated, Papa. There’s Peri to think about.’

‘You have an understanding?’ Her father did not look pleased at the prospect.

‘Not exactly,’ she answered truthfully.

‘Then you don’t owe him anything and you are free to go home. He can come with us if he wants. See what develops between you somewhere safe.’

Rain sighed. It wasn’t just Peri. She felt responsible for what happened in Rolvint.

After another thirty minutes, her father yawned again. ‘That’s it for me. I’m turning in. Promise you won’t stay up much longer?’

‘I’m almost finished.’

He kissed the top of her head. ‘Good night, Raindrop.’

‘Good night.’

Rain threaded her needle and lit a second candle, dripping the wax on to the window ledge to keep it steady. Mobiles were much easier to make from scratch. This reconstruction was a fiddly matter, but she was determined to get it done. Peri should not have to spend another day out of the city on her account.

She heard footsteps approaching softly behind her.

‘Ret?’ No, it couldn’t be him. He had gone to bed in his little cupboard bedroom some hours ago. ‘Who’s there?’

‘Just me, cousin.’ Timber stepped out of the darkness. Rain wondered how long he’d been watching her; she hadn’t heard him climb the stairs.

‘What are you doing here?’

‘Come to keep you company. You’re so busy during the day at the forge, and in the evening you’re with the Falconers; I hardly get any time with you on my own.’

Which was the way she preferred it.

‘It’s very late.’

‘I know. You’re working too hard.’ He rested his hands on the back of her chair, examining her creation over her shoulder. When Peri had done that in the past, she had felt safely surrounded; with Timber, she thought of nothing but being trapped.

‘That’s not really your business.’

‘I wish I could make it mine.’ He lightly ran his finger along the chain of her necklace to her pulse. She knew he could feel it spike with alarm. ‘You must stop.’ He shook the last piece of glass out of her fingers and pulled her up from the chair.

‘I don’t want to. I think you should leave. And, please, let go of me.’

He smiled a shade hungrily. ‘Don’t you like me, Rain? I always thought you had a bit of a crush on me as a little girl.’

‘Then you thought wrong.’

‘Everything points to us getting married, you must see that—my role as sole successor to your father now my brother is lost to us, your new position here, deciding the direction of the Magharnan glass industry. Between us, we could make a fortune for our family.’

‘I’m not interested in such things.’ She wondered if she should call Ret. Timber would have to back off if another person was in the room.

Timber traced his finger down her cheek then tapped the end of her nose. ‘You should be. Sleep on it. Let me know if I feature in your dreams, my love.’ He hovered, making Rain fear that he meant to kiss her, but fortunately he thought better of it. ‘Goodnight, cousin.’

Rain shuddered as he walked away. That had been a near thing. She would have to make sure she wasn’t cornered by him again.

Rain used some of Mikel’s favourite curses as she realized this batch of glass was flawed. Something must have gone wrong in the mixture—it was too brittle and cloudy.

‘Tobart!’ she called, summoning her head apprentice.

He ran into the office, tugging his cap off his head as a sign of respect. ‘Mistress Rain?’

‘Look!’

‘By the Master, I’ve not seen that before. What’s wrong with it?’ The young man appeared genuinely peeved.

‘I imagine someone got the measurements wrong when they weighed out the sand—or the sample was impure. Who was in charge this morning?’

He flushed. ‘That would be me. But I swear that I didn’t mess up. I was really careful, like you trained us to be.’

Rain sighed, wondering if her father had this trouble telling off his apprentices. Tobart must’ve made a mistake, but he was so sincere she couldn’t find it in her heart to give him a proper scolding.

‘Check the scales and make sure everyone is clear about the procedure. We’ll have to discard today’s gather and begin again tomorrow.’

‘Yes, Mistress Rain. Sorry, Mistress Rain.’

She folded her arms. ‘We all make mistakes. My father always says it is how we learn. He’ll be about somewhere. Why don’t you ask him to help you set this right?’

Tobart’s glum face brightened. ‘I’ll do that. Thank you.’ He rushed out to get to work.

A round of applause broke out behind her. Rain turned to the window and found Peri at the open casement, looking tanned by the sun and fitter than ever. Her face lit up with pleasure—he was back!

‘Masterfully done,’ he congratulated her.

‘Peri! Come in!’

He didn’t wait for a second invitation but took the most direct route, vaulting through the window.

‘I understand you earned my reprieve for me.’ He didn’t touch her, not being sure of his welcome. ‘I’m very grateful.’

She beamed at him. But why didn’t he greet her properly? ‘You should never have been sent away in the first place, but that’s Krital for you.’

‘I hear you’ve got him wrapped around your little finger.’ Peri studied the glass samples on her desk, avoiding her eye. He couldn’t help feeling jealous of everyone she had charmed. She looked beautiful, dressed in a bright orange tunic and loose trousers with her long hair fastened back in a matching ribbon, like a flame from one of her furnaces.

Rain shook her head. ‘Hardly.’

‘I deserved my banishment. If I hadn’t been so quick to take things into my own hands, thinking you needed rescuing, I wouldn’t have hurt you.’

She closed the distance between them and touched his cheek with her palm. ‘Peri, it was an accident. I don’t blame you—you thought I was in danger.’

‘You could’ve died.’

‘I didn’t.’ She let her hand drop to reach for his fingers. She laced them together with hers. ‘I’m sorry I hurt you when I left.’

He rubbed the back of his neck. He couldn’t deny she had crushed his feelings like a glass bead trodden underfoot.

‘I let you think I didn’t … well …
care
enough to do what you asked.’

‘You care?’ He risked a smile.

‘It seems that I do. And it didn’t work—you still came after me, revealing what I had always suspected.’

‘What’s that?’

‘That under that calm exterior of yours, you are as reckless as me.’

He laughed and pulled her to his chest. ‘I sent your father to you. Did he tell you?’

‘He wasn’t sure if you were my Peri or not, seeing that you failed to mention that you’d put an arrow in me.’

He groaned. ‘Don’t remind me.’ Though he liked the sound of ‘my Peri’.

‘He wants to take me home soon.’

‘But your home’s here now.’

But she needed more than that to stay. If he didn’t propose to her soon, she would be on a ship to Tigral. ‘My father would like a word with you.’

Peri ran his fingers through her curls. ‘I’m trembling in my shoes already.’ He gave a shudder that was only half an act.

‘You should be. Oh, and Mikel wants a word.’

‘No, he doesn’t. He just wants to thump me.’

She nuzzled his chest. ‘I won’t let him.’

‘May I kiss you?’ he whispered in her ear. He wanted to restore the closeness they had enjoyed before he risked asking her to marry him. The gap that had grown up between them needed a bridge for him to feel safe enough to cross.

‘You don’t need to ask.’

As he leaned down, Helgis burst into the room, closely followed by Ret.

‘Not again!’ complained Peri, shifting position to tuck her under his arm, his perfect moment spoiled, his bridge swept away in the flood of the boys’ entry. ‘Can’t you knock?’

Helgis looked entirely unrepentant. ‘You’ve got to come. Krital sent us to get you back into the palace, Rain. He doesn’t want you stuck out here.’

‘Why? What’s happened?’ asked Rain.

‘A big party of jettans and their men are approaching the city,’ explained Ret. ‘We think they’re coming to try and seize control.’

‘By force?’ Peri frowned.

‘Why else come marching in with weapons drawn?’ said Helgis.

Rain quickly ran through what had to be done to secure the foundry. ‘We’ll have to evacuate the forge and extinguish the fires. Give me a moment.’ She ran to the door, shouting for her father and Tobart.

Peri closed the shutters and picked up Rain’s workbag and cloak. ‘Come on, boys, let’s go.’

‘We should try talking first,’ suggested Hern. ‘Invite their representatives in and see if we can avoid a fight.’

The ruling council was meeting in the old throne room of the Master, among the marble columns fashioned into the shape of a grove of trees. The mess left by the rioters had been cleared and the chamber restored to its former glory. The throne, too big to steal, stood empty; the council sat instead around a long oval table brought in for their use. Rain had a seat at it, as did Hern, Conal, and Sly. But as their survival was the matter under debate, this session had been declared open to all interested parties, so Peri, Ret, her father, Timber, Mikel, and the other Falconers observed from the side of the room.

Krital lounged in his chair at the head of the table. ‘Why bother with talking? They won’t want to put themselves under the likes of us. Remember these pig-brains think we’re dung. I’ve got my men waiting. We can take them.’

‘But with the loss of how many?’ interjected Conal. ‘They’ve got over a thousand men with them. They must have been planning this for some time and pulled everyone together in hopes we’d give in to their superior numbers.’

‘We’ve enough food supplies to withstand a siege,’ said Sly, raising one possible course of action.

‘The wells are in good order,’ added Katia.

‘But we’ve not enough men to guard the entire circuit of the walls,’ said Peri. ‘Rolvint’s not a defendable city—it wasn’t built for that purpose. I’m with my father: let’s see what negotiation can get us.’

Krital flicked his council papers angrily. Rain could tell that he was impatient with making decisions this way. He’d prefer to stick with what he knew and that was force.

‘We wouldn’t lose anything, would we, general, if we tried talking?’ asked Rain.

‘I suppose not. Stinking jettan class—just like them to think they can walk back in as if they still owned the place.’

‘Then we must show them that they don’t. If we act like a responsible government, then they cannot claim that we aren’t needed. We’ll keep the people on our side.’

Krital rubbed his chin. ‘That’s a good point, fey lady. I hadn’t thought of that. The jettans can’t do anything if the city stands united against them.’

‘I haven’t heard anyone shouting for their return, have you?’ asked Hern drily.

‘The silence has been deafening,’ agreed Conal.

Krital slapped his papers. ‘That’s it then. I move that we get the ringleaders of that miserable lot in here and give them a choice: work with us under our authority or get lost. What do you think?’

A rumble of agreement resounded in the room.

Krital gestured to Conal. ‘Go get them, hunter. Take bird boy with you.’ Krital knew full well that Peri was in the room but so far had refused to look at him. ‘I’m sure the jettans will appreciate being invited in by a couple of scavengers.’