Fortune and Fate (Twelve Houses) (21 page)

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Authors: Sharon Shinn

BOOK: Fortune and Fate (Twelve Houses)
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“You need to decide, too,” Orson said. “If you want me for the position.”
 
 
Jasper glanced at Wen. “If Willa trusts you, so do I,” he said. “We’d be happy to have you serve House Fortunalt.”
 
 
 
 
KARRYN
chose to be mature and earnest when Jasper introduced her to Orson the next morning. Wen could only imagine she was trying to impress her mother, who hovered nearby, watching them with her huge, haunted eyes.
 
 
“Have you been a soldier long?” Karryn asked him in a polite voice.
 
 
Orson kept his face serious. “All my life, except for a time I was a sailor, and even then we fought at sea more than once.”
 
 
“Have you ever served in a civil guard like the one Willa wants to put together for me?”
 
 
“Once or twice I took a job with some minor lord or a wealthy merchant who liked to have a troop around him when he traveled. It was much the same.”
 
 
“Willa thinks I need guards with me practically every minute of the day,” Karryn said, flicking Wen a slightly accusatory look.
 
 
Orson nodded. “I’d tell you exactly the same thing.”
 
 
“My father had soldiers around him, and I didn’t like them,” she burst out.
 
 
“I think Willa has assembled a better caliber of fighters,” Orson replied quietly. “People who will neither desert you nor hurt you.”
 
 
Something about that answer seemed to please Karryn. “Maybe I should meet all the new guards she’s hired.”
 
 
“An excellent idea,” Wen answered. “Anytime you like.”
 
 
Serephette chose that moment to enter the conversation. “Not today, however. The dressmaker is on her way.”
 
 
Karryn assumed an expression of long-suffering. “Not today,” she repeated. “But very soon. Orson, thank you so much for taking the time to meet me.”
 
 
So Orson’s first experience of Karryn was highly favorable and Wen was feeling pretty good about the whole situation. Two days later, though, he had a chance to see the serramarra practically at her worst.
 
 
 
 
NOW
that she was close to a full complement of guards, Wen had instituted true security measures, leaving two soldiers at the gate and having another two patrol the grounds at all hours of the night and day. Whenever there was company—which was often, for Jasper frequently had appointments with merchants and vassal lords who had some grievance to air—she insisted that one guard be inside the house itself, instantly on call. Those who were off duty spent their days training, practicing both on foot and on horseback, constantly striving to improve their skills.
 
 
On this particular morning, Wen was dueling with Moss when Davey, her youngest recruit, came leaping over the fence rail. “Captain!” he called. “The serramarra’s got visitors. A big fancy coach.”
 
 
Cursing, Wen signaled Moss to pull back, and then handed over her weapon. When would the stubborn girl learn that she
had
to let Wen know any time guests were due at the House? A footman was all well and good for announcing who was at the door, but only a soldier could fend off a visitor who had violence on his mind.
 
 
“Orson!” Wen called, hopping the fence and detouring toward the barracks, where she’d left her uniform jacket. “Let’s go make a show of force up at the House!”
 
 
Such was the speed at which the soldiers reacted that they were striding through the main doors just as Karryn came flying down the great stairway. Wen had a moment to assess the situation. That looked like Lindy Coverroe standing in the formal parlor just to the left of the foyer, and the short, fair-haired woman beside her must be her mother. They were dressed for traveling and showed no disposition to be seated, so Wen thought perhaps they had just paused here on their way somewhere else.
 
 
Nonetheless, she gave Karryn a minatory glare and the serramarra mouthed,
“I didn’t know they were coming,”
as she hurried past the guards. Wen and Orson assumed impassive expressions and stationed themselves just outside the parlor, visible if anyone was looking but not, Wen hoped, obtrusive.
 
 
“Karryn, Karryn, can you come with us?” Lindy squealed in her high-pitched voice. Wen couldn’t help it; she found Lindy vapid and tedious. Karryn had her faults, but Lindy didn’t have any virtues that Wen could see.
 
 
“Go where?” Karryn asked.
 
 
“Coren is taking his boat out for the afternoon, and he’s invited a dozen of us to come. It’s all very last minute,” Lindy said. “Edwin and Katlin will be there, and Helena and—oh, everybody! He told me to stop and pick you up, since he didn’t have time to send out invitations to everyone.”
 
 
Karryn clapped her hands together. “Let me go tell Jasper and my mother! I’ll be back as soon as I can!”
 
 
She scurried from the room, and Wen and Orson fell in step right behind her. Karryn waited till they were out of earshot of the visitors and then she hissed, “And don’t even
think
that you’re going to come with me! On a boat! With all my friends! I will look too ridiculous.”
 
 
“And don’t even think that you have a chance of going on this expedition without four of us at your back,” Wen said calmly.
 
 
Karryn stopped dead and spun around. “
Willa!
Who could possibly hurt me on Coren Bauler’s boat? We’ll be miles from anyone who means me harm! On the
ocean
!”
 
 
“I don’t know Coren Bauler. Maybe he wants to throw you overboard,” Wen said. “I don’t know Edwin and Katlin. Maybe they don’t like you.”
 
 
“Maybe an Arberharst ship is lurking a few miles out of the harbor, looking to board unwary pleasure cruisers setting out from Forten City,” Orson put in. “Twenty sailors could come pouring over the rail to slaughter the whole party.”
 
 
“In which case, I hardly think four guards could keep me safe!” Karryn snapped.
 
 
Orson grinned. “Ah, Willa and I can account for ten sailors each.”
 
 
Karryn stamped her foot. “You can’t come! Everyone will say I am silly—or they’ll say I’m so arrogant I have to bring guards with me everywhere I go just to prove how important I am.”
 
 
“I don’t care what they say,” Wen said. “We go, or you don’t.”
 
 
“If you don’t do what I say, I’ll have both of you fired,” Karryn fumed.
 
 
“I believe your uncle hired us, and he’s the one who’ll have to fire us,” Wen replied.
 
 
Karryn stamped her foot again, then whirled around and stormed down the hall toward Jasper’s study. Heart sinking, Wen stole a look at Orson. This sort of behavior could not possibly endear the serramarra to the potential second in command. But he was grinning and shaking his head.
 
 
“I think she has to be saved from herself as much as she might have to be saved from anyone else,” he whispered.
 
 
Jasper, when appealed to, categorically sided with Wen. “I thought I made it very clear, Karryn,” he said calmly. “Willa is responsible for your safety, and her instructions are law. I happen to agree with her that I don’t want you on Coren Bauler’s boat without supervision. Coren Bauler! If Demaray Coverroe wasn’t accompanying you, there is no way I would allow you to go anywhere near him. In fact, I’m tempted to join the party, just to prove that you are, in fact, under my watchful eye.”
 
 
“Are you trying to destroy my life?” Karryn wailed. Wen saw that she was actually starting to cry. “Everyone already thinks I’m the oddest girl, with the strangest family, and now I’m to have soldiers trailing me everywhere I go? Who will ever want to marry me? Who will ever be my friend? I’m so
bizarre
!”
 
 
She started to weep in earnest, not even seeming to care that her face was blotching. Orson stood by the door expressionlessly, but Wen said, “Should I send for her mother?”
 
 
Jasper shook his head. “Serephette would hardly be of assistance.” He came close enough to take Karryn in a gentle embrace. Instead of pushing him away, as Wen half expected, Karryn turned her face into his shoulder and continued to cry unabated. He stroked her thick brown hair and spoke with more patience than Wen would have been able to muster. She suddenly remembered that he had a grown daughter. Surely he had seen displays like this before.
 
 
“No one wants you to seem eccentric,” he said kindly. “What you don’t understand is how precious you are. Don’t you know how terrified your mother and I were when you disappeared with Tover Banlish? I think I have been a very poor guardian up till now, not realizing how easily you could be snatched from my protection. I won’t make that mistake a second time. You must be guarded, Karryn, and I am sorry if that makes you feel odd and alone. But I will do anything to keep you safe.”
 
 
The tone of the words, or perhaps their genuine affection, had the effect of causing Karryn to sniff and lift her head. “But what will I tell Lindy?” she whispered.
 
 
Jasper put his hands on either side of her face and kissed her forehead. “I shall tell Demaray that I am being an overprotective uncle and that I insist on burdening you with a guard. She may mock
me
all she likes. I don’t care at all. Now. Would you rather I came or stayed behind? You must put up with Willa no matter what your preference, but I will not force you to endure my presence as well.”
 
 
“No—you ought to come—I think you will enjoy it,” Karryn said, beginning to smile through her tears. “Oh—gods and goddesses! I must look a total fright. Tell the Coverroes I will be with them as soon as I can.” And without a word to Wen or Orson, she picked up her skirts and raced out the door.
 
 
Jasper stared after her and sighed. “I suppose I’d better go change as well,” he said. “How quickly can you gather reinforcements and meet us at the gate?”
 
 
“Ten minutes, my lord,” Wen said, and she and Orson were on their way.
 
 
They were just shy of the barracks when she demanded, “Well? Does such a tantrum make you reconsider?”
 
 
“She’s a girl,” he said, as if that excused ill behavior. “She cares what people think about her and, as you said before, she hasn’t had an easy time of it. But she didn’t lash out at anyone when she was disappointed, and she listened to reason. If anything, I like her more.”
 
 
Wen couldn’t hold back her sigh of relief.
 
 
They rounded up Eggles and a young woman named Amie, made sure everyone was suitably dressed in jackets and sashes, and jogged up to the gate just as the Fortunalt carriage was pulling around from the stables. Obviously, Jasper had decided there were now too many of them to fit in the Coverroe conveyance, and for the short ride to the sea, it was hardly worth bringing out horses for the guards.
 
 
“Three on back, one with the driver,” Wen directed. “Let’s go.”
 
 
 
WEN
almost enjoyed the outing; she had always liked being on the water. Northern Tilt spilled out onto the ocean, and although her family had lived sixty miles inland, everyone in Tilt made it to the seashore as often as possible. But she didn’t think much of Coren Bauler, a dissolute-looking man probably a year or two shy of forty, who seemed to have no good reason to want to befriend a score of people in their teens and twenties.
 
 
She also didn’t think much of the way Jasper Paladar passed virtually the entire length of the cruise chatting with Demaray Coverroe as they strolled up and down the boat’s polished decks. The lady was animated but relaxed, gesturing often and frequently breaking into laughter. She was enough shorter than the tall lord that she had to tilt her head up to talk to him; something about the posture seemed coquettish, Wen thought. Demaray Coverroe was not precisely pretty, but her fair hair was well-styled and her face was made up, and she carried herself with an assurance that was attractive.

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