Fey 02 - Changeling (73 page)

If I am going to choose a non-magical being, Burden, I will choose someone whose blood will enhance my line.

He had discovered his own magic years too late.
 
Too late to even tell her.

"I saw enough," Veil snapped.
 
"I saw the murderer run out of the room, and he smelled of that poison.
 
I saw the green glow.
 
I heard him describe what happened when the poison touched the boy.
 
It startled him.
 
The spell became visible and frightened them both."

"So you escaped, and waited a day to come see me?" Burden asked.

Veil shook his head.
 
"I knew you wouldn't believe me, so I followed the boy.
 
He went to a lord who took him to the King.
 
After they saw the King, I heard them talking.
 
They think that the poison broke the spell's hold on the boy.
 
He said he came to himself when the water hit him."

Damn Rugar.
 
Damn them all for failing to find the secret to that poison.
 
It had ruined everything.
 
Burden sighed, folded his hands together, and pressed his thumbs against his lips.
 
This plan had seemed so simple.
 
So perfect.
 
No one would have blamed the Fey.
 
He could have avenged Jewel and kept his own people out of it.

He let his hands drop.
 
"The man still goes free, then."

"No one is doing anything to the murderer."

"They approve?"

Veil shrugged.
 
"Most Islanders seem to.
 
The leaders appear to be paralyzed."

Like Rugar was.
 
The shock was too great for all of them.
 
That would give Burden another chance to act.

"I can't use the boy again, can I?"

Veil shook his head.
 
"They know now."

"But you got into the Tabernacle with no problems."

"I looked like one of them.
 
I made myself into a lesser one so that no one would notice at me."

"And the boy got in as well."

"They don't appear to be guarding the murderer.
 
It seemed, from talk I overheard, that not all of his followers agree with what he did."

The Tabernacle was easy to get into.
 
That much was clear.
 
"Not all of them agreed," Burden said, more as a stall.
 
Rugar would do nothing about Jewel's death.
 
Rugar might even have maneuvered it, just as Rugad attempted to maneuver Rugar's death.

"No," Veil said.
 
"They seemed to think it was wrong to kill Jewel."

"Because of Jewel?"

Veil shook his head.
 
"Because it happened in a religious ceremony."

Such a thing was only logical.
 
Jewel hadn't been thinking when she planned to be part of that ceremony.
 
At least the child had survived.
 
Burden would leave the child with Nicholas.

For now.

"So the Tabernacle isn't well guarded, and the murderer's own people disagree with him," Burden said.
 
"We can no longer use our boy, but I promised Jewel that she would not remain unavenged."

"I think that we should talk with Rugar about this," Veil said.

"If Rugar wanted to get revenge for his daughter's death, he would have done so on the day she died.
 
No, Rugar only thinks of Rugar.
 
I'm the only one who thinks of Jewel."
 
Burden paced around the rock.
 
The gray mist was so thick that he couldn't see his feet.
 
The Weather Sprites should give up their experiments in Shadowlands.
 
No matter what they tried, they produced fog.

"You could get back into the Tabernacle," Burden said.

Veil's jaw worked before he spoke.
 
"I --Spies can't kill."

"Life would be so much easier if they could, wouldn't it?" Burden asked.
 
He wasn't going to let Veil intimidate him simply because Veil wanted no part of this plan.
 
He needed Veil.
 
He needed others as well.
 
"If we send in two spies to guard the murderer's door, the rest of us could enter from the balcony, as the boy did."

"The rest of us?" Veil said.

Burden nodded.
 
"A Dream Rider and as many Infantry as I can gather, maybe a few Foot Soldiers, don't you think?"

"Riders can't hold through torture.
 
I saw that in Nye.
 
The pain breaks the spell," Veil said.

"Too bad," Burden said.
 
"Because the man should suffer.
 
Jewel did."

"You could take him from the Tabernacle and bring him here."

"Too risky," Burden said.
 
"He's too well known and too many Islanders like what he did.
 
We'd lose our troop if we did that.
 
Better to attack quickly, kill him the old-fashioned way, and escape."

"Would you go?" Veil asked.

Burden stopped pacing.
 
The mist swirled around him.
 
"I sent a boy the last time, a boy who was spelled and who should have done exactly what I told him to.
 
He did not.
 
We only have one more chance."

"If that," Veil said.
 
His voice was shaking.
 
None of the Fey liked the Tabernacle.
 
They were all frightened of it.

"Then we shall take only necessary risks.
 
We will not leave until the murderer is dead."

Veil ran a hand over his slicked back hair.
 
"We might all die," he said.
 
"The poison is everywhere in that place."

Just the mention of poison brought the smell of burning flesh back to Burden.
 
He had seen so many friends die from one drop of the poison.
 
So many friends.

And Jewel.

Burden clasped his hands behind his back, like Shima his former Infantry captain used to do when she wanted the unit's attention.
 
"We used to face death every day, or have you forgotten that, Veil?"

"I haven't forgotten," he said.
 
"I went to the Tabernacle for you."

"And you'll do so again," Burden said.
 
"Only you're not going for me.
 
You're going for the Black King's granddaughter."

"Jewel doesn't care if we die for her," Veil said.

"No," Burden said.
 
"But I do."

THIRTY-NINE

Arianna slept in her crib, tiny fist pressed against her cheek, her breathing soft and regular.
 
Solanda sat on the windowsill, her long legs extending to the floor, the robe she wore warm. The sill was not comfortable when she was Fey, but she had no choice.
 
Arianna was the most playful baby she had ever seen.
 
The girl Shifted on a moment's notice, and not all of her Shifts were part of the same animal.
 
Mostly she had Shifted into a cat, like Solanda, but once, she had mimicked the tree outside her window, and another time she had tried fire.

Solanda had stopped that one quickly, but not before the baby blanket was scorched.
 
She had sent the nurse in search of another blanket, and the nurse had brought back Domestic weaves which Jewel must have gotten for the lump.
 
The weaves kept Arianna calmer, but didn't stop her from experimenting.

No wonder so many Shifters died in their first weeks of life.
 
Their own mothers strangled them from frustration.

Fortunately the late morning was clear and cool.
 
The air was refreshing.
 
Solanda had let the fire burn out, and she had turned the crib so that Arianna only saw blank wall when she was alone.

Although Solanda didn't know if that was the answer either.
 
She worried that Arianna would turn to stone if given the chance.

But at least Solanda had a momentary reprieve.
 
The nurse and the lump had left the nursery, to visit the garden and enjoy the sunshine.
 
Solanda had let them go.
 
She could only be feline so long and pretend that no one else existed.
 
At times she absolutely had to be alone.

With Arianna asleep, this was as alone as she would get.

Solanda leaned her head against the chill stone of the window frame.
 
The depth of her own loyalty surprised her.
 
Normally, once the frustration of any task started, she left.
 
But although the frustration, the hours, and the confinement wearied her, she had no real desire to leave.
 
Her destiny was tied to this child.
 
She would stay at Arianna's side as long as necessary.

Suddenly the door opened. Solanda was on her feet beside the crib almost before the door swung against the wall.

"You have no right —" she started and then stopped herself.

The Shaman stood at the door.

"No right to be here?" The Shaman asked.
 
She looked twice as old as she had a few days before.
 
Jewel's death had affected them all.

"Forgive me," Solanda said.
 
"I didn't know it was you."
 
The Shaman's presence had Solanda's heart pounding.
 
The Shaman never left Shadowlands without a good reason, never came visiting without notice, never appeared suddenly for fear of her own life.

"I came to see the child," the Shaman said.
 
She entered the room and closed the door.
 
The Shaman's walk was slow, her skin ashen.
 
Perhaps more was happening here than Jewel's death.

"Are you all right?" Solanda asked.

The Shaman smiled.
 
"I'm fine, child, and relieved you are here with Arianna."

Solanda almost asked how the Shaman knew the baby's name, then paused.
 
Of course the Shaman knew.
 
The Shaman knew everything.

The Shaman peered into the crib.
 
Arianna looked like a little innocent, docile and undemanding.
 
Her cheeks were flushed with sleep, her long lashes resting on her dark tan skin.
 
She was one of the most beautiful children Solanda had ever seen — and Solanda had seen a lot of children over the years.

"She's stunning," the Shaman said.
 

"When she's asleep," Solanda said.

"Chafing already?"
 
The Shaman had a bit of judgment in her tone.
 
Didn't any of the Fey believe Solanda could be constant?
 
She could.
 
She could do any task they asked of her.
 
The problem was that they never really asked.