Dark Moon Defender (Twelve Houses) (56 page)

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Authors: Sharon Shinn

BOOK: Dark Moon Defender (Twelve Houses)
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“Who’s from the Lirrens,” Senneth added quietly.
 
 
“Who’s—
no!
Does he know that? Does this mean—wait— that her family will require a duel to the death before he’s allowed to be with her?”
 
 
Senneth nodded. “That’s Lirren tradition.”
 
 
“But, Sen! That can’t happen! You know as well as I do that no one can defeat Justin except Tayse and some of the other Riders. I mean, he’ll win this fight, but he—he—that’s terrible! He’d have to kill her brother or somebody!”
 
 
Senneth nodded. “I’m hoping there’s a way to avert that. But at the moment—as far as I know—he still isn’t aware of who she is.”
 
 
“Then how do
you
know?”
 
 
“He described her. I recognized Lirren signs.” She shrugged. “Tayse is angry with me, but I figured it was up to her to decide when to be honest with Justin. Maybe that was a bad decision, I don’t know.”
 
 
“Maybe you should go back to Neft and tell him now.”
 
 
“Maybe. Ghosenhall first, though, to tell Baryn about Sabina. And about our visit to Coravann, about which he still does not have my report. I sent a messenger from Brassen Court but I only sketched in the details. Some of this news is best given in person.”
 
 
Kirra was still thinking about Justin. “He told me a little about the convent girl—not much,” she said. “I think he was surprised to find himself confiding in me, but he was desperate to talk to somebody and no one else was around.”
 
 
Senneth smiled but let it pass. Kirra and Justin were determined to believe they despised each other, or pretend they believed it. Kirra went on, “And I had the impression she was—small. Sweet. Maybe a little clingy.”
 
 
“Very feminine,” Senneth agreed. “The Lirren women usually are.”
 
 
“But who’d have thought Justin would fall in love with a girl like that?” Kirra demanded. “I mean, look at you and me. We can defend ourselves against all comers. Look at the women among the Riders. Rough and tumble, as quick to grab a blade or knock you in the head as Justin is himself. I always thought those were the kinds of women he admired. I always thought that would be the kind of girl he’d like.”
 
 
Senneth nodded. “And if you’d asked him, that’s probably what he would have said, too. But I don’t think so. Justin’s never had much softness in his life. He’s never had something precious and helpless that he felt he had to protect. No one’s ever
needed
Justin. And I think maybe this girl does. And I think that that would be irresistible to him—a gentle girl who relies on his strength, but who can tame him with her sweetness. I mean, can’t you just picture it? Justin standing watch over someone like that? He’d be so ferocious it would break your heart.”
 
 
Kirra was staring at her, openmouthed. “Oh, yes, I can see it,” she breathed. “He’ll never walk away from her.”
 
 
Senneth smiled, but the expression felt sad. “I don’t think so, either. So let’s hope these brothers can be persuaded to be reasonable.”
 
 
Kirra flopped back against the pillows. “Well! This is certainly the season of inappropriate affection! You getting betrothed to a King’s Rider. Nate pining after a married marlady. Justin and a
Lirren girl
from the Lumanen Convent. Oh! And there’s more.” She pushed herself upright again, blue eyes dancing. “Apparently Darryn Rappengrass has fallen in love with some peasant girl he met on the road last summer. Ariane is beside herself. I swung by Rappen Manor before I saw Justin in Neft, and she told me the whole story.”
 
 
They talked for another hour or two, filling each other in on what they had observed in Ghosenhall and the manors of the Twelve Houses while they had been apart. Senneth had often thought she and Kirra were very different, despite the fact that they were both mystics born to noble Houses. Kirra was sublimely beautiful, completely wild, utterly confident in the love lavished on her by her sister and father. She claimed to hate the social interactions among the Twelve Houses—balls, arranged marriages, alliances of blood and commerce—but she had a passion for gossip and a natural ease with her fellow aristocrats that belied her words. Senneth, on the other hand, was serious, introspective, and willing to be wholly self-sufficient. She had been cast out of her father’s home when she was seventeen, consorted with all manner of lowborn individuals, and truly despised most of the Twelfth House scions that she had been forced to meet. She had been thrust back into that world last summer, when the king commanded her to escort his daughter on a tour of the southern Houses, and she had hated the lifestyle, and the people, just as much as she expected.
 
 
Yet here she was, promoting a match between her House and Kirra’s. And exclaiming over which lords had snubbed which ladies. And speculating on which alliances could strengthen the king’s position and, conversely, which ones might shore up any bid Halchon made for the throne. Just like any two other serramarra, heads together, whispering gossip about their friends and enemies.
 
 
But that was not what made them so close. That was not what fostered the bone-deep connection between them. They were not, in fact, just like other serramarra. They schemed and plotted and debated—not to find highborn husbands, but to avert a war. They counted out their physical gifts—hair, skin, magic—not to secure their places in society, but to array them like bright weapons in defense of the throne. Their passions allied them. Their strengths drew them together.
 
 
And the adventures they’d had on their journeys.
 
 
And the small circle of friends they’d gathered along the way.
 
 
CHAPTER 27
 
 
IT was almost dinnertime before Senneth pushed herself up off of Kirra’s bed. “I suppose I should dress,” she said. “Will Donnal really join us for the meal? I’ve never seen him sit down to a dinner with your father.”
 
 
Kirra smiled. “He doesn’t like to, but he will from time to time. My
father
doesn’t mind, of course, but Donnal is protective of my reputation.” She snorted. “Such as it is. Anyway, on quiet nights like this my father will often invite Carlo to eat with us—that’s the steward, you know—and his wife and daughter, and that seems to make everything easier across the ranks. Donnal joins us then.”
 
 
Indeed, the taciturn dark-haired man was already in the smaller dining room when Senneth found her way there about half an hour later. He was very formally dressed, in a black jacket with a vest of Danalustrous red, and his serious face showed an even more severe expression than usual. But he smiled at Senneth and gave her a brief hug.
 
 
“Comfort yourself with the thought that Tayse hates these sorts of things even more than you do,” she said as she released him.
 
 
“A Rider still has more status than a peasant’s son.”
 
 
“Well, I think Malcolm would gladly sacrifice any number of King’s Riders for you after the years you have spent looking after Kirra,” Senneth said.
 
 
Donnal looked amused.
 
 
The others filed in shortly afterward, and soon there were twelve gathered around the intimate table: Malcolm; his daughters; his wife, Jannis, a practical and brisk woman with a pleasant manner; the steward and his family; all the members of Senneth’s party; and Donnal. Although the numbers were split evenly between men and women, there was no formal seating arrangement, so everyone just took the most convenient chair. Senneth found herself between Casserah, who sat at the foot of the table, and Tayse. Cammon sat across from her.
 
 
“How good to see you again,” Senneth greeted Casserah. “I feel like we spent the whole of last summer traveling together, but it was really Kirra pretending to be you. Still, I can’t shake the sense that we’ve been together much more recently than it’s really been.”
 
 
Casserah smiled in her usual cool way. She was as beautiful as Kirra, but her hair was extremely dark and her skin a creamy white. Her eyes, the same drenched blue as Kirra’s, were so wide-set they gave her a perpetually abstracted air; she never appeared to be wholly engaged in anything anyone else said. She could be shockingly blunt, to the point that many people considered her rude, but she did not care about the opinion of anyone in the world. Perhaps her father, Senneth thought, and even that was uncertain.
 
 
“Well, Kirra talks about you so often that I, too, feel like I’ve spent time with you recently,” Casserah replied. “But I think it’s been nearly a decade since you lived here.”
 
 
“Maybe,” Senneth said. “I don’t want to count the years.”
 
 
Casserah took a sip of her water and gave another faint smile. “So what did you think of me last summer?” she asked. “How good was Kirra’s disguise?”
 
 
“Physically, it was perfect,” Senneth said, laughing. “Emotionally, she slipped now and then. But she won you many friends across the Twelve Houses.”
 
 
“That would be good to know, if I ever planned to step outside of Danalustrous.”
 
 
“You
never
leave?” Cammon piped up. “Don’t you get bored?”
 
 
She gave him her full attention but said simply, “No.”
 
 
“Don’t you ever want to—” He gestured. “See new places? Meet new people?”
 
 
“No.”
 
 
“She has no need to leave Danan Hall to meet new people,” Senneth told him. “Look at all of us. We come to her.”
 
 
“Well, I wouldn’t think you could count on
that
,” he said.
 
 
Casserah wore that faint smile again. “So tell me, Senneth, is your brother very much like you? I see the family resemblance in your faces.”
 
 
Senneth took a swallow of wine while she considered. “Is he like me. . .? To tell you the truth, I don’t really know. He was ten when I left, and I was very close to the boy. He was funny and thoughtful and eager to learn. I like what I’ve seen of the man, but we’ve only spent a few days together, last summer and on this trip. He seems much like the boy I remember, but who hasn’t changed in the last eighteen years?”
 
 
“I haven’t,” Casserah said.
 
 
Senneth was surprised into a laugh. “No, I suppose you haven’t.”
 
 
Tayse, who had not appeared to be listening, now spoke up. “I haven’t.”
 
 
“Maybe not, but eighteen years ago, you were already a man,” Senneth told him. “Casserah was, what, three or four? And I’m reasonably certain she’s telling the truth. She had the exact same personality when she was born as she does right now.”
 
 
“I’m able to control my temper better,” she offered.
 
 
“So am I,” Tayse told her.
 
 
Senneth laughed again. “While I have
less
control over mine. I think I’ll have your eighteen years instead of mine, thank you very much.”
 
 
Casserah was gazing up toward the head of the table, where Malcolm, Will, and Carlo sat with their heads together, no doubt discussing something like land management or defense. “Do you think your brother came here willingly?” she asked. “I find myself wondering if Kiernan forced him to come to Danan Hall to look over the likely serramarra.”
 
 
“No,” Cammon said before Senneth could speak. She looked at him and tried not to laugh. He continued, “No, he’s pleased that he’s here and he thinks you’re beautiful, but he’s a little nervous. He’s not sure
you’re
eager to make this match. He’s not sure what you want and he doesn’t want to disappoint you.”
 
 
Casserah’s eyes were still on Will. “Well. I’ll just have to make certain he understands me,” she said. She looked back at the Rider. “Tayse. What did you think of the fortifications in Brassenthwaite? Is Kiernan really ready for a war?”
 
 
From anyone else, such an abrupt change of subject would mean she was uncomfortable discussing the topic. But with Casserah, Senneth thought, it meant she had simply found out what she needed to know, said what she wanted to say, and moved on to another area of interest. No subtlety, no subterfuge. Unnerving but refreshing.

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