Fey 02 - Changeling (43 page)

He said nothing.

"I can't.
 
And I won't.
 
I'm here because you need help raising that child.
 
The only help you'll get is me."

Nicholas put his arms around his new daughter.
 
She was all he had left of Jewel, all he had left --in some ways --of himself.
 
He turned his back on the woman and paced through the kitchen, cradling the tiny, warm form to his chest.
 
When he left this room, he would have to find a way to bury Jewel without the help of the church.
 
He would have to comfort his own people.
 
He would have to face Matthias.
 

And he would have to protect this little girl from her grandfather, for reasons he didn't entirely understand.

Nicholas stroked the baby's soft black hair.
 
It was long already, but the Shaman was right.
 
The baby's skin was tan --darker than his, but lighter than a Fey's.

She Shifted, this little girl, formed other shapes, and that threatened her somehow.
 
The Fey's Shaman thought he would be able to take care of her, but what if that were another ploy, another way to show the Islanders' ineptness.

A way to kill without committing the crime herself.

What had Rugar said?
 
The Shaman would lose her powers if she killed someone.
 
But did that mean she could leave a child with someone who couldn't care for it?
 
Would that be considered killing?

And if so, why would she do such a thing?
 
Because this little girl was important?
 
Because Rugar wanted her?

Or because she was the last link between the Fey and the Islanders?

He kissed the baby's soft head.
 
Already she had taken a place in his heart.
 
Lord knew he had room.
 
Everyone else he loved had left during the same week.

"How do I know I can trust you?" he asked without turning around.

"You can't," the woman said.
 
"But she can."

Suddenly she was beside him, her hand reaching over his, stroking the baby's hair.
 
The woman moved silently.
 
Everything about her was catlike, and eerie.

"She's not even an hour old.
 
She was born on the day her mother was murdered.
 
Her grandfather sees her as a bit of territory to be squabbled over, and her father has no idea what she is."
 
He looked in the woman's eyes.
 
The pupils were not round, like human pupils, but oblong, like a cat's.
 
"She can't trust anything."

"That's where you're wrong." The woman reached into his arms and tilted the baby's head so that he could see her chin.
 
"That birthmark on a Fey makes them a Shifter.
 
I have one.
 
We are sisters under the skin.
 
No one understands what it is like to be two creatures at the same time except another Shifter."

The woman let go of the baby's head.
 
The little girl gurgled and snuggled closer to Nicholas.
 
The movement warmed him.

"The Black King's family has always used us.
 
They find a way to hook us and then we become theirs, creatures that are forced to run little errands, to risk our lives for things so petty that no one would remember what we have done when we died.
 
That is what it is like for those born outside the Black King's family.
 
Imagine what would happen to a member of it."

Nicholas couldn't.
 
The machinations of Fey politics were beyond him.
 
"What can you do for her?"

"Help her learn to control her Shifts early.
 
Help her choose her second form.
 
Help her to gain the wisdom and independence she'll need to survive in this world you brought her into."

"What do you get from this?" he asked.

A smile played at her lips.
 
"I get you to remove the decree against cats.
 
I get my freedom within Jahn."

"It seems like very little."

"You've never had small boys chase you with knives."
 
She pushed her hair away from her face.

He brought up his arm, blocking her access to his daughter.
 
"If I am to trust you with her, I need the truth from you.
 
Always."

The woman shrugged.
 
"The truth as I know it."

"Then tell me why you do this."

"For the child," the woman said.
 
"That much is true.
 
And for the decree."
 
Then the smile crossed her lips completely, slitting her eyes, and making her look wholly feline.
 
"But I do it for revenge."

The calmness in her remarks made him cold.
 
"Against whom?"

She looked up.
 
Tiny dark freckles dotted her cheeks like whiskers.
 
"Rugar."

She spoke the name slowly and with such hatred that Nicholas backed away.

"Yes," she murmured.
 
"Rugar.
 
He wants this little girl.
 
He'll never have her.
  
There are ways he could steal her, you know.
 
It's been done before."

She looked at Sebastian.
 
A chill ran down Nicholas's back.
 
Was Rugar the reason that Sebastian had no mind?
 
"He stole my son?" Nicholas asked.

The woman nodded.

"But my son here now," Nicholas said.

She made a small huffing sound as if she couldn't believe how stupid he was.
 
"You believe that is your son?"

"What else could he be?"

She shrugged.
 
"A bit of stone?
 
A lump of clay?"
 

He frowned.
 
That child was not stone.
 
Nicholas had touched him, had been touched in return.
 
If the child wasn't theirs, Jewel would have known.

The woman peered at him for a moment, and then when he didn't respond, she made the huffing sound again.
 
"It doesn't matter," she said softly.
 
"I will help your daughter, not you."

"You'll make sure she doesn't end up like my son?"

The woman smiled.
 
"I'll guarantee it."

That was all Nicholas needed.
 
Somehow Rugar had interfered with his son, probably to ruin the marriage, but this woman would make certain he couldn't do it again.

The woman put
 
a hand to the baby's lips.
 
"I'll protect her, and raise her, and make her strong."

"She's my daughter," Nicholas said.

The woman smiled at him.
 
"Delicious irony, no?"
 
She walked over to Jewel.
 
"The thing is, Jewel wouldn't have been able to raise this child either.
 
It takes special skills to form a Shape-shifter."

"Jewel was talented."

"Yes."
 
The woman crouched beside Jewel.
 
The woman was so sleek and well formed that the muscles in her legs, back and buttocks showed with each movement.
 
"Jewel was talented. But not in my kind of magic."

She plucked at Jewel's sleeve, then brought her face close to Jewel's head.
 
Nicholas walked back to his wife's side.
 
The woman's nose twitched.
 
She was actually sniffing the corpse.
 
When she saw Nicholas, she grinned, but there seemed to be a bit of embarrassment in the look.
 
"Cat tendencies," she said.
 
Her voice was soft.
 
"I never liked Jewel much, but she didn't deserve this.
 
I suppose I'm here for that too.
 
The Shaman is right.
 
Jewel would still be alive if it weren't for her father."

"Or Matthias."

"I trust you'll take care of that creature."
 
She put her hands on her knees and leveraged herself up.
 
"I personally would slit him from throat to gullet.
 
You are probably more refined than that."

Not the way he was feeling.
 
Not at the moment.
 

The nurse was watching all of this, and obviously understanding none of it.
 
Only Nicholas, his father and a few of the lords had learned Fey.
 
Her arms were wrapped around Sebastian as tightly as Nicholas's were around his daughter.

The woman followed his gaze.
 
"I suppose that tends to the baby's needs?"

"The nurse?"

"Whatever it is.
 
Besides frightened.
 
I don't do diapers, bottles, or vomit.
 
Just training, intelligence and Shifts."

Nicholas smiled in spite of himself.
 
The smile was almost involuntary.
 
The woman's energy pleased his aching and tired soul.
 
"I will monitor everything you do," he said.

"Please."
 
Her tone had an air of condescension.
 
"If that child were in any danger, you would have no clue.
 
I didn't have to show myself to you, after all.
 
I could have taken her in the night, like I did Coulter."
 
She shook her head.
 
"Mistake there.
 
Such power, and all of it goes to Rugar.
 
Still, the boy is young, and the power won't develop until adolescence.
 
You should thank your god for that.
 
If the boy's power existed now, you Islanders wouldn't stand a chance."

Nicholas didn't know what she was talking about.
 
He didn't care.
 
The baby had wet his hand.
 
"Will she Shift again soon?"

The woman shrugged.
 
"Probably not.
 
Babies tend to involuntarily Shift in moments of fear or stress.
 
The danger comes after the first month or so, when they tire of staring at the world, and want to test new muscles.
 
Arms, hands, feet --and Shifting."

"What next?" Nicholas asked.

The woman plucked the nurse's shoulder.
 
"Looks like the King's daughter needs diapers," she said in Islander.

The nurse looked at Nicholas for confirmation.

"It's fine," he said.
 
"Let's get Sebastian comfortable and see what we can do for his sister.
 
I'll watch over him."

The nurse took off her cloak and wrapped it on the floor, then she set Sebastian in it.
 
She shot a wary glance at the woman, then went into the kitchen proper.
 
Something was burning in the ovens, probably whatever the chef had asked Burden to watch.

"You asked what we do first," the woman said in Fey.
 
"First we make introductions.
 
My name is Solanda.
 
I shall call you Nicholas.
 
If you insist on Highness or some other slop, the deal is off."