Clockwork Heart (11 page)

Lady, please don't let me embarrass myself or my hosts.

Some of the decaturs Caster introduced her to were familiar — Constante, Iullus, Macatus, Metella — men and women whose messages she'd carried over the years. None of them had ever asked her for her name when she'd worn her icarus wings, and none of them recognized her now as they shook her hand.

Only Decatur Forlore smiled at her like a friend.

“I've had the honor of meeting Taya several times,” Alister said, bowing over her hand. His fingers seemed to burn through the fabric of her glove. “She's always impressed me in the past, but tonight she's rendered me speechless.”

“You've never been speechless in your entire life, Al,” Viera teased. Her cousin ignored her, holding Taya's hand and smiling.

Taya felt a blush creeping up her face. The decatur's eyes were intense, their emerald depths set off by his dark green outer robe, which was patterned with coiling vines. His under robes were lighter shades of green and lavender. Gold glittered on his fingers and in his hair, making him gleam like one of the Lady's immortal spirits themselves.

“On the contrary, Viera, tonight I have no words to express myself, for my steel-winged hawk has transformed herself into a silken swan.” Alister lifted her hand and brushed the back of her glove with his lips.

“Enough, Alister. Taya has other guests to meet tonight,” Caster said. Taya glanced at him, wondering if she'd heard a trace of censure in the older man's voice. Alister released her, but she felt his eyes on her back as the Octavuses led her to the next decatur.

She hardly heard any of the other introductions, bemused by Alister's touch. Lady, he was handsome!

After Taya had been introduced to the entire Council, Viera reclaimed her and led her away.

“I promised Ariq I would take you to visit him tonight.”

“I'd love to see him again.” Taya followed the exalted through a small side door. “But does he really want to meet me? Our flight scared him.”

“He was terrified,” Viera agreed. “But then, so was I.” Her eyes twinkled. “It took him a few hours to begin enjoying all the fuss being made over him. That's when he started bragging about how he went flying with an icarus. Now I think he's completely forgotten his tears.”

“I'm glad he's all right.”

“Yes. By the way, you look lovely. Is that an icarus dress? I've never seen anything like it before.”

Taya looked down, embarrassed. “Yes. It's an icarus dress.”

“It's very flattering. I wish I could wear something other than these layers of fabric every day.”

Taya glanced at her. Viera, like the other women in the ballroom, wore several light silk robes in contrasting colors. The hems brushed her ankles, much higher than the dragging hems exalteds wore out in public — tailored for dancing, Taya assumed. Viera's outer robe was a deep blue, and her interior robes were rich saffron and crimson.

“If I could have come in my flight suit and wings, I would have,” Taya admitted.

“You would have disappointed every man in the room.”

They passed through a small hallway and up the stairs to the house's living quarters. Ariq was in his nursery, being read to by a famulate nanny.

“Mommy!” The boy leaped up and ran to his mother. “You look pretty tonight, Mommy.”

Viera leaned over and hugged him, then turned him around to face Taya.

“This is Taya Icarus, the woman who saved us,” she said, her hands on the boy's shoulders. “I promised I would bring her up to see you before you went to sleep.”

Ariq looked at her with open curiosity.

“Where are your wings?”

“I took them off for the party.” Taya knelt, mentally cursing the corset for making bending over impossible. “I'm happy to see you again, Ariq.”

Viera nudged the boy, who held out his hand.

“Thank you for saving me,” he said solemnly.

“You're very welcome,” Taya replied, shaking his hand. “Maybe we can go flying again someday, if your parents agree.”

“Maybe…” he said with hesitation. Taya smiled up at Viera, who laughed, kissed her son, and stood.

“Good night, sweetheart. Mind your nanny.”

“Good night, Mommy.”

Viera led them back, pausing in an antechamber to pour two glasses of golden wine.

“Could you really take him flying?” she asked.

“We have a few pairs of trainer wings and guide harnesses that we use to teach the new children.” Taya was careful as she held her crystal goblet, aware of what Cassi's nephew would say if she spilled anything on her dress. “There's even an adult set for the occasional visitor who wants to try flying. Foreign diplomats, mostly. Not many Ondiniums want to go aloft.” Except Alister, she thought, amused.

“I suppose those who do are all chosen to be icarii during their Great Examination.”

“Do you plan to have Ariq take the Exam?”

“Oh, no, of course not.” Viera sounded distracted, and after a moment of silence she sat down. “Taya, you have heard that the wireferry accident has been blamed on the Torn Cards, haven't you?”

“Yes.”

“I can't help but wonder if the accident had been meant for my husband. He would have been on that car yesterday, if his Council discussion hadn't been extended.”

“Do the Torn Cards have any reason to hurt him?”

“I don't know why they would.” Viera looked distressed. “Caster is one of the most conservative anti-programming voices on the Council; you would think the Torn Cards would approve of that. But it doesn't make any sense for them to try to kill me, either. I have no voice in the Council at all.”

“It could have been a random act of terrorism. Or maybe the lictors were wrong, and it wasn't the Torn Cards.” Taya remembered the question Cristof had asked her. “Did anyone else know that the three of you were supposed to be on that car?”

“Not all three of us
were
. The trip has been planned for several weeks, and our original plan was that Caster would come down to meet us at the gallery— one of our friends is holding an exhibit, and we had arranged to meet her for a private viewing.” Viera looked troubled. “That morning, Caster had warned me his meeting might run late, so I went up to the Tower with Ariq to see whether he was free. When it became clear he wouldn't be able to excuse himself, we headed back down by ourselves. But if everything had gone as planned … it would have been him on the wireferry.”

“Has your husband considered hiring a bodyguard?”

“He's too proud. He has assigned extra lictors to us, but he doesn't want any protection for himself.”

“I don't know what to say,” Taya apologized, feeling awkward. “The fire at the refinery was blamed on the Torn Cards, too. Maybe they just decided to scare people that day.”

“You didn't see anything suspicious around the ferry, did you?”

“No. But I wasn't looking for anything, either. It was just coincidence that I happened to be there.”

Viera sighed. “I apologize. I don't mean to burden you with my concerns. I simply thought…”

“If I hear anything that might help, I'll tell you,” Taya promised, just as she'd promised Lieutenant Amcathra. She thought again of Cristof's wireferry map, all marked in pencil — but no. Cristof wouldn't hurt his cousin, Taya chided herself. Just because he was eccentric didn't mean he was a killer. She'd already accused him of a crime once, and he'd given her a perfectly good explanation for his whereabouts and dirty hands that night.

“Thank you.” Viera stood. “I had better return you to your admirers. I have no doubt that Alister is hoping for a dance after dinner.”

“What's Alister like?” Taya asked, trying to keep her voice innocent as they entered the main room again.

“Oh, he's impossible.” Viera shook her head with affectionate dismay. “My cousin's an incorrigible flirt. He ought to be married by now, but ever since he became a decatur, he's been locked up with programmers and the Council all day. The girls used to flock around him when all he did was throw parties, but now they consider him a bore.”

“Then he's not…”

“Engaged?” Viera flicked a quick glance at her. “No. I have never known Alister to be serious about any of his paramours. I don't believe he's ready to go wife hunting yet, although Caster and I would like him to settle down. He needs to, if he wishes to pursue a political career. A good marriage would offset the fact that he's the Council's youngest decatur.”

Taya sighed. Well, there was her answer, very delicately put. If she wanted a temporary romance, she could have it, but she shouldn't expect anything else. Alister would marry for political advantage, and that meant marrying another exalted.

But … she was an icarus. She could enjoy herself with a handsome decatur, if she wanted. Pyke would be upset, but it would only be offended pride, and he'd get over it. Alister would be fun, she had no doubt, and she expected he'd end an affair quietly and kindly.

She closed her eyes. Was that what she wanted?

The announcement of dinner saved her from having to make any difficult decisions.

She was seated at the long table between Caster Octavus and another senior decatur, across from Viera, and she hardly had time to think as the dinner conversation buzzed around her. Cassi had been right— she couldn't imagine doing anything more than nibble at the meal while she was locked into her corset, even if she hadn't been terrified of spilling something on her dress. But nobody seemed to notice that she wasn't touching the dishes that were served in a dizzying array. The conversation whirled around her at an alarming pace, and although Taya did her best to keep up, more often than not it dealt with topics like paintings and novels and operas that she'd never had the time or the money to enjoy. She fell silent, listening and marveling over how little she knew about the world.

Flight, languages, armature repair, geography, cartography — she understood those subjects. She knew which gesture would offend a Cabiel merchant but amuse a Demican child, and how to tell when a storm was approaching, and where the most popular assignation house in the city was located. But none of that knowledge would serve her here.

“Taya, what is it like, soaring over Ondinium Mountain?” Viera asked, catching her eye. “Is it true that icarii have flown through clouds?”

“Have you ever seen any of the Lady's spirits up there flying with you?” asked another guest, laughing.

Taya smiled gratefully at Viera as she replied. When the talk veered to the next subject, she relaxed, glad that she'd been able to say something interesting, at least.

Alister caught up with her after dinner as the guests left the table.

“I'm here to claim the first dance,” he said, sliding his arm under hers.

“Is that proper?” she asked, suddenly breathless.

“Who cares?” He pulled her closer, tucking her arm under his as they walked. His silk robe was soft and cool against her bare flesh. Taya forced herself to exhale. “You look beautiful, little bird. I've changed my mind about the flight suit. It doesn't do your figure justice at all.”

“You look very nice, too,” Taya said, taking the opportunity to gaze at him again. “That green suits you.”

“I fear that next to you I'll make people think of a tree, but I shall have to live with it. I should have chosen to wear sky blue, instead.”

“Are exalted dances the same as other caste dances?” she asked as they entered the ballroom. The musicians were playing. The remainder of the evening's guests were trickling into the room, their faces flushed from the chill night air.

“Much worse,” Alister confided. “They're very stately and slow. It's difficult to develop a graceful carriage when one is accustomed to being weighed down by ten pounds of gold and silk.”

“Shouldn't you be that much lighter on your feet once you're free of your public robes, then?”

He smiled down at her.

“I'm afraid you are rather too optimistic. But tell me about your dances, Taya. Do icarii dance in the air? Do you carry out secret winged ballets over the mountains when no other castes are watching?”

“Uh-oh. Somebody's been telling you our secrets.”

His green eyes widened in playful surprise. “May I watch? Will you take me dancing in the air with you?”

“Maybe.” She turned away, amused by his persistence. Sometimes groups of icarii would fly out with extra ondium counterweights on their harnesses and engage in aerial acrobatics that were impossible in a normal rig. It was a dangerous sport, since their lighter weights made them more vulnerable to sudden gusts of wind, but every young icarus did it at least once. Taya was considered one of the better skydancers.

Too bad she didn't have a set of dancing wings here.

“The music's starting.” Alister released her and bowed. “May I?”

She took another deep breath and held out her hand. He took it and pulled her out onto the dance floor.

He had exaggerated, of course. As far as Taya could tell, exalteds danced just as well as anyone else, and the steps weren't very different from those in the dances at icarus parties or her sister's famulate wedding. After the first few minutes, Taya relaxed and stopped thinking about what she was doing, letting Alister sweep her across the floor. The hand holding hers was very proper, but the thumb of his other hand stroked the feathers on her waist as he deftly guided her through the steps.

Lady, it would be easy to fall for him
, Taya thought, as he pulled her closer to sweep past another couple.
It would be just like a story, an exalted and an icarus loving across caste.

Just don't forget how those stories end
, she reminded herself.
It never works out well for the icarus. Alister Forlore is a charming flirt. Don't lose your heart to him, and you'll be fine.