Heroes Return (35 page)

I stomped down on a spurt of irritation. “No,” I said. “I’ve no reason to be in the library.” I turned a page I hadn’t finished reading.

“I’ve been very irrational recently,” he said. “I’m sorry. It’s like my mind has been clouded.”

Well, that didn’t sound good. “What do you mean?”

“No, not clouded. More like there are little wooden blocks stuck in my head, stopping my thoughts from flowing as they should, sometimes making them disappear altogether.”

That had to be uncomfortable. “This place isn’t good for you.”

“I should be able to handle it better.”

There was nothing I could say to that. Yes, he should be able to handle it better, but as long as he recognized that, there was no reason for me to harp on it.

He stood suddenly. “Let’s go see the Dowager.”

“Really?” Did we have to? “Why?”

“I need to talk to her.”

“That could be a good idea.” Was he going to rake her over the coals for her stunt? That would be brilliant. As long as it didn’t make him crazy again.

“So let’s go.”

“This sounds like something private. I shouldn’t be there.”

“I want you there.”

That was that. I put my book aside with a sigh.

We were permitted into the dowager house by the handsome young man who served as her butler, and led into the larger waiting room I had been in the other day. As we waited, I noticed that Taro didn’t seem as tense as he always was when it came to dealing with his mother. I was nervous enough for us both. I didn’t know why I was always nervous around Taro’s mother. She wasn’t dangerous, just unpleasant.

She kept us waiting a good while, finally showing up looking freshly bathed. Simone wasn’t with her, and that surprised me. I was expecting the Dowager to throw Simone into Taro’s company whenever possible. Then again, perhaps Simone was too embarrassed from her stunt the day before to face Taro again so soon.

The Dowager looked perfect, elegantly dressed with every hair in place. Taro and I were windblown from our walk from the manor. I always felt so grubby around her.

Taro stood upon her entrance, as he would for anyone. “Good afternoon, Your Grace,” he said with casual courtesy.

“I understand you put on quite a display for your household yesterday,” was her response.

“Aye, I did.” He didn’t seem uncomfortable admitting it.

She seated herself with stiff precision. “Better things are expected of you.”

“Lee seems to have forgiven me. And Fiona took the destruction of her room with great ease. They are the only people I have to worry about.”

“You do not go far in life when your servants and neighbors don’t fear and respect you.”

And wasn’t I glad not to have to work for her? Did her servants fear her? What did she do to them?

“I’m as far as I’m going to get,” said Taro. “Certainly as far as I want to go. Or I will be once I am transferred away from here in a few years.”

“You will never be transferred.”

What would she know about it?

“It is the custom of the Triple S to transfer its Pairs every few years,” Taro told her.

“The Triple S no longer has anything to do with you. The Emperor rules you now.”

I’d already had this conversation with her the day before. Clearly, I hadn’t made the slightest dent in her delusions. Was she going to bring up the separation of LeBarr and Taroque?

“Our only ruler is the Triple S,” said Taro.

“The Emperor sent you here, did he not?”

“That doesn’t mean he can keep us here.”

“You will learn in time that the Emperor can do whatever he likes, but it will save you a great deal of aggravation if you accept the truth now.”

“You don’t speak the truth. You don’t know the truth when you see it.”

“I have no need to sit here and listen to any more abuse.”

Abuse? She had the nerve to accuse him of abuse? After all the things she’d done and said to him during his whole life?

“You’ve made me listen to you often enough.”

“I have never been anything other than correct.”

“That’s subject to interpretation. But it’s in your best interest to listen to me now. It will save you a great deal of effort and time in the long run.”

“How intriguing,” she said, and she couldn’t have sounded more bored.

“So I shall begin,” he said. “That you bore me gives you no right to control me.”

“It is the duty of every parent to guide her children.”

“Not once those children are grown.”

“The duty lapses only upon the death of one or the other.”

“You tried to tell my brother what to do?”

That was an interesting question. From all reports, Taro’s brother was a lush and a whore and pretty much useless. I was kind of interested in what the Dowager thought of her firstborn.

“The nature of the relationship between your brother and me is none of your concern.”

“Which means no.”

“You are in no position to know.”

“That’s true. Once I was at the Academy you lost whatever interest you ever had in me. There were no visits, no letters. It was only once my brother died that you found it worth your while to have any contact with me.”

“Flown Raven was taken care of while your brother was alive.”

I stared at her. So it was true. She didn’t care the least about Taro while he was only a second child. And she had no problem admitting that. Bitch.

But Taro didn’t seem to be upset by her coldness. “Flown Raven is taken care of now.”

A flush came to the Dowager’s face. I thought it might be prompted by anger. “That woman is not the legitimate titleholder.”

“Of course she is. No laws were violated.”

“I didn’t say she wasn’t the legal titleholder. There is a significant difference. Once your brother died, it was your duty to assume responsibility for Flown Raven. You obtained the code from me in bad faith and sent it to your cousin. That was not your right. Only the former titleholder can determine the next one.”

“Then it wasn’t your place, either. My brother certainly didn’t choose me. You did. And you were never a titleholder.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You made the decision in complete ignorance. You neglected to learn anything about Flown Raven before you gave it away.” The flush was getting deeper.

“Because I already had responsibilities given to me by people who were actually willing to spend time shaping my character and preparing me for life outside of four walls.”

“Your highest responsibility is to your family.”

“My responsibilities are to Lee, to the Triple S, and to the people we protect. In that order.”

The Dowager looked at me for the first time. “You may go.”

“I don’t think I will.”

“This is my house.”

“We won’t be in it much longer,” Taro told her. “I really haven’t got much to say. You bore me, and I thank you for that, but you have no control over me. You have no influence over me. I don’t value your opinion. Your priorities are so skewed that I can’t possibly live up to them, and I don’t care to. It will make me a person I don’t respect, as I don’t respect you.”

The Dowager’s head flung back as though she’d been struck. That was interesting. I would have wagered she didn’t give a damn what Taro thought of her.

“I will not be in this house again, regardless of what summons you send. I have no control over whether you enter the manor, but I won’t speak to you if you do. I certainly won’t have anything to do with any woman you bring here in some twisted attempt to lure me from Lee. That’s disgusting and perverse. I won’t believe anything you say, because whatever you say is—”

“That’s enough!” the Dowager snapped. “You little fool. You don’t know what you’ve done.”

“So tell me what I’ve done.”

“You have no idea how powerful Flown Raven is and you’ve let it pass from our hands, you idiot.”

Oh, aye, she was furious. It was oddly satisfying to see her moved to such emotion.

“It doesn’t matter how important Flown Raven is. I was never meant—” With a deep breath, he cut himself off. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t care. It’s done and it won’t be undone. I don’t care what you want. I don’t care what the Emperor wants or is willing to do. I am Source Shintaro Karish, and that’s all I am. It is unfortunate that I can’t have any immediate family, but you’re poisonous, and I will no longer let you darken my days. It makes my life miserable, and we have too few years to let them rot under the influence of parasites like you.”

“How melodramatic,” she sneered.

“I’m a Source.” He shrugged. “Melodrama is what we do. I’m not surprised you don’t know that. I’m not the only one guilty of acting without knowing anything. But I’ve said what I’ve come to say. You are nothing to me. If there were some little ritual of separation, I would perform it. In the absence of that, I will bid you good day. I hope we never see each other again. Perhaps you’ll travel again, go to one of your retreats, and that will settle your mood.”

I stood and took his arm. “Have a good day,” I said to be polite, but she didn’t even glance at me.

“You are an ignorant fool,” she hissed at her son.

We left her. I was satisfied with the encounter, largely because Taro had stayed so calm and loose. I had no confidence that the conversation had any impact on the Dowager. We might be finding more naked women in our bed. However, if Taro could regard her proximity with equanimity, that was the most important accomplishment.

My breath was taken away by the strength of the wind that hit us when we left the dowager house. It whipped my hair right out of the ties, and Taro and I had to lean far forward to keep our footing. Walking was hard, hard work, and the way the trees bent with their branches careening about was highly alarming.

It was a relief to get back into the manor and push the door closed behind us. We were panting and sweating and looked like we had been put through some kind of physical trial. I was ready for a bath and a nap.

A maid rushing by us came to a sharp halt. “Sir, ma’am,” she said in a breathless voice. “Her Ladyship has been looking for you.”

“Why?” Taro asked. “What’s happened?”

“It’s His Lordship. He’s out whaling.”

“In this?” I asked.

And right then, we heard the warning notes from the Wind Watcher.

I didn’t even want to imagine anyone on the water in that.

It took us a little time to track down Fiona. It appeared she was pacing the house in agitation. We finally ran her down in Stacin’s room, flushed and a little wide-eyed.

“Shintaro!” She grabbed Taro’s hands. “Why aren’t you channeling? The wind is so strong. Why aren’t you doing something?”

Taro was able to look frustrated and sympathetic at the same time. “I’m sorry, Fiona, but there’s nothing I can do about this.”

“This is what you do.”

“No, it isn’t. This isn’t a natural disaster.”

“Of course it is. Dane is out whaling. Wind this strong can kill people on the water.”

“We can’t channel this, Fiona.”

“Then what good are you?”

An idea popped into my head. A really bad one. I grabbed Fiona’s arm. “Where are the Guards?”

“They were out harassing the tenants. Hopefully they’ve been blown away.”

“All right. There might be something I can do.” I ran down to the library, Taro and Fiona following.

Reid was in the library, standing near a shuttered window, listening to the wind. He didn’t appear to notice that we’d come in, which was not good. What if we’d been one of the Guards?

“Are there any spells in that book of yours that deal with controlling the wind?” I demanded with little real hope. I had to ask, though.

He blinked at me before striding to the table. From his pile of notes, he extracted a single sheet and held it out to me.

“You’re kidding.”

“It was one of the first spells in the book. It’s hard to imagine, but perhaps the winds in this area have always been this strong. As Flown Raven was so important to the First Landed, they would have wanted to keep this area safe.”

“Spells?” said Fiona. “You can perform spells?”

I would have preferred that she hadn’t learned that, but there had been no getting around that once I’d decided to try my hand at settling the wind. “I’ve managed to make a few very simple spells work.” I realized something. “Would there be anyone among your staff who could do this?”

“I have no idea. I don’t know who can do what, whether they could do something like this, and I haven’t got time to talk to them all. You’re a Shield, and you can cast, and this is about the weather. You should be able to do this.”

That wasn’t actually a logical conclusion.

“Besides, getting one of the staff to do it may expose them to the Guards,” Taro pointed out. “We can claim we did it through channeling.”

I quickly read the paper. “I need four candles, fresh mint, two hand fans, and cool water.”

“I’ll get everything,” said Fiona, and she rushed out of the room.

“Hand fans?” I said again.

I read the ritual. It had a short list of requirements, thank Zaire. But it was the strange movement with the fans that concerned me. I wasn’t sure I understood the movements correctly from what was written.

“It’s like dancing,” said Taro. He was reading over my shoulder. “You’re good at dancing.”

“It’s like no dancing I’ve ever done.”

“I don’t know. It might be like what you did during our travels.”

He was referring to the bastardization of bench dancing I’d had to do while we were exiled to Flatwell. I didn’t know that anything required by this spell was anything like it. I feared this spell had to be seen to be learned.

I read through the ritual again and again, trying to memorize it.

This was crazy.

Fiona returned with her hands full, dumping everything on the table.