Fey 02 - Changeling (111 page)

He nodded as he passed, his face in shadow.
 
He didn't seem to pay much attention to her.
 
Instead he glanced around as if watching for someone.
 

Or something.

When he reached the fork in the corridor, he ignored the way to the kitchen.
 
He hurried toward the stairs.

The stairs led to the royal wing.

She tossed her rag into the bucket of water.
 
The splash hit her in the face.
 
She had to go to the King, no matter what the Master of the House would say.
 
She had to.
 
He needed to know.

The Aud wore boots, and the hand she had seen on the cowl hadn't been in shadow.

It had been dark.

And long.

And slim.

Like the hand of a Fey.

SIXTY-FIVE

Sebastian screamed.

Solanda whirled.
 
The nurse was already crouched beside him, holding his shoulders.
 
His hands were over his mouth, his eyes were wide, and he was shaking his head back and forth.

He made the sound again.
 
It wasn't quite a scream. Not really.
 
More like a continuous scraping of rocks together.
 
He backed into the corner and stared at the door as if he were afraid it was going to hit him.

Solanda hurried toward him.
 
He didn't look at her.
 
His eyes were empty, as they always were.
 
That strange person wasn't lurking in them, nor was that startling burst of intelligence she sometimes saw.

This was the lump, the golem, the creature made of stone, screaming.

The thought sent a ripple of terror from her stomach to her heart.

Arianna started crying, deep hiccoughing sobs.
 
Solanda couldn't tell if she was crying because of the lump or for another reason.
 
The lump huddled in the corner, trying to making himself as small as he could.
 
He continued to stare at the door as if it terrified him.

Solanda stood.
 
Arianna looked normal.
 
She was waving her fists and sobbing.
 
Solanda picked her up, but it didn't calm her.
 
She was staring at the lump, crying as if she understood why he was screaming.

"Tis bad, tain't it?" the nurse said.
 
She was trying to hold the lump, but he would have none of it.
 
"Tis gone he is.
 
Tis gone."

She thought he had gone crazy.
 
Solanda shook her head.
 
Arianna had gripped the shoulders of her robe so tight that her tiny fists were ripping the fabric.

The hair on the back of Solanda's neck was rising.
 
If she were in her cat form, she would hiss and run away.

"Something's going to happen," she said.
 
Something the lump knew about.
 
Something he could sense.
 
He was a creation of magic, real and not real.
 
If any of them could sense magic about to happen, it would be him.

But why would it terrify him?

His wail continued, a grating screech that hurt to hear.
 

"Can we stop him?" the nurse asked.

"No," Solanda said.
  
Arianna's tiny body shook, but she didn't Shift.
 
This much emotion and she was staying in her most secure form.
 
She felt it too, whatever it was.
 
If they both felt it, why couldn't Solanda?
 
What was wrong?

"He canna keep cryin like this.
 
Tain't good."

None of this was good.
 
Solanda held Arianna close.
 
Maybe the nurse should take the children somewhere safe.
 
Maybe it was something in the room.

But if it was something magical, the nurse could do nothing.
 
Only Solanda could help.

The problem was she didn't know if the attack was from without or within.

Sebastian was staring at the door.
 
If he were frightened of something in the room, he would be reacting differently.

"Get help," Solanda said.

"Beg pardon?" the nurse asked.

"Get help."

"Tis the boy who needs help, mum, and only ye n me ta do it."

"No," Solanda said.
 
"Get guards and the King and as many people as you can bring here.
 
No holy water though.
 
Holy water might kill the child— the children."

"What's wrong, mum?"
 

"I don't know," Solanda said, "but I think we're going to find out."

"I canna leave him, mum," the nurse said.
 
"He tain't never been like this.
 
I canna go."

"I'll be with him," Solanda said.
 
If the nurse didn't leave soon, it would be the two of them against whatever was scaring the lump.

"Beg pardon, mum, but ye dinna know how to —"

"It's magic," Solanda said through her teeth.
 
"Whatever has him frightened is magic, and magic he recognizes.
 
Maybe the magic that hurt him a few days ago.
 
You can't help with that.
 
You'll get in the way.
 
But the guards might help.
 
The King might help.
 
Someone might help.
 
But you have to hurry.
 
If you don't hurry, we could all die."

"Die, mum?"

"My people are ruthless," Solanda said.
 
"And these are Jewel's children."

Then she realized who had looked at her through Sebastian's eyes.
 
Rugar.
 
Rugar knew where she was.

He was coming for Arianna.

And he expected Solanda to help him as she had pledged to do.

"Go, now," Solanda said.
 

The nurse looked helplessly at the lump.
 
Then she kissed his cheek, although that didn't stop his crying.
 
She touched his hair, then went to the door.
 
When she had her hand on the handle, she said,
 
"I'll fight with ye, mum."

"No," Solanda said.
 
"This is something I have to face alone."

The nurse nodded.
 
She opened the door.
 
"Blessed Be, mum.
 
I'll bring help soon as I can."

Solanda only hoped it would be soon enough.

SIXTY-SIX

"No!
 
Tis wrong.
 
Ye gotta let me see him!
 
Please! In the name of the Roca!"

Nicholas looked up from the papers strewn on his desk.
 
He could barely hear the words, but he recognized the voice.
 
A woman's voice.
 
If it weren't for the dialect, he would have thought it Jewel's.

He was alone in the library.
 
A fire burned in the grate although the afternoon was warm, and a stack of books sat on the side of his desk.
 
He had been researching Rocaanism, trying to see if he had any precedent for taking over the Tabernacle himself.
 
He had stationed guards outside the library door, but hadn't allowed any inside.

"Please, sir.
 
Let me in.
 
Tis important what I tell him."

Nicholas pushed his chair back and stood.
 
He could hear the guard's voice, low and calm, apparently unconcerned by the woman's anguish.

He pulled the door open.
 
Two guards blocked it.
 
Charissa stood outside, her hair disheveled, and her dress covered with water.

"Ah, Sire," she said.
 
"I need ta talk ta ye."

Once he had promised her that she could talk with him at any time.
 
He had been young then, and he had thought she was beautiful. She had been the first servant to tell him of the abuses of power that went on in the servants' quarters and, instead of seeing them as tragic but normal, he had promised her that he would help.
 
He hadn't regretted that until Jewel's death.
 
He no longer wanted the distractions.

"Come on in," he said.

"Thank ye," she said, grimacing at the guards as they got out of her way.
  
She lifted her skirts to reveal thick solid ankles and stepped across the threshold as if it were sacred.
 

Nicholas closed the door behind her.
 
But she didn't sidle up to him as he expected.

"Twas a Fey," she said.
 
"I seen him near the Coronation Hall.
 
Twas dressed as an Aud he was."

"An Aud?"
 
Nicholas was confused.
 
He had expected her to make a pass at him — she had done so before — and then to complain about one of her bosses, not to tell him of an Aud.

"Boots on his feet he had and twas long and skinny.
 
At first, I thought maybe twas the Rocaan, ye know?
 
But then I seen his hand.
 
Twas long and thin like him but twas black.
 
I thought maybe twas a shadow, but after I seen the boots I knew twasn't.
 
He wasn't standing in no light."

She was speaking so fast he was having trouble following her words.
 
"When was this?" he asked.

"A few moments ago.
 
Twoulda been here sooner but them guards —"

"They were only doing their jobs."

"Aye, and meanwhile he's gone."

"He left?"

"No.
 
That's the thing and why I come direct to you.
 
He's not gone.
 
He just went by me."

"What were you doing in the Coronation Hall?"
 
He had sealed it off.
 
He never wanted anyone to enter it again.

"Twasn't," she said.
 
"Twas in the corridor."
 
Then she wrinkled her nose, and he saw the beauty he had remembered.
 
It was so different from Jewel's.
 
Jewel had been all angles and sharpness.
 
This woman was round and voluptuous and soft.
 
Too soft for his tastes.