Naamah's Kiss (18 page)

I held it to my eye and startled at the sight of her face, looming and blurred. "Stone and sea! So you say. It seems a fine piece of magic to me."

Mabon stirred restlessly. "Does the seal match?"

"It does." She folded her hands on the desk. "So. You have considerable funds at your disposal, Moirin daughter of Fainche. I am here to make them available to you and assist you in any way I might. That was the pledge my predecessors made to Alais de la Courcel. Tell me, what will you? Do you seek to make an entrance into Alban society? I can provide you with letters of authentication to present to the Cruarch."

"No, no." I shook my head. "I am not here to trouble the Cruarch on behalf of his wild kin. I need money, that's all."

Caroline tilted her head. "May I ask what you intend?"

This business of having a destiny was infernally complicated. "I don't know, exactly," I admitted. "I'm bound for Terre d'Ange to start. The City of Elua. Do you know it?"

Henri smirked.

Oengus shot him a look that drove the smirk from his face.

"Henri, leave us, please." Caroline no Bryony pointed at the door. He went, suppressing a scowl. "So." She refolded her hands, her gaze intent. "You seek funds sufficient to grant you passage to the City of Elua?"

"Aye." I nodded. "And mayhap to dwell there for a time."

"How long?"

I hadn't the faintest idea. "I don't know."

"Elua have mercy!" Unexpectedly, she laughed; but it was a nice laugh with no malice in it. Her brown eyes sparkled, and I suddenly decided I liked her after all. She smiled at me with genuine warmth, enough that it set the doves fluttering in my belly for the first time since Cillian's death. "What did I do to deserve you turning up on our doorstep, Moirin of the Maghuin Dhonn?"

I smiled back at her. "I can't imagine."

My mother coughed.

"All right, then." Caroline no Bryony sobered. "If you're willing to hear it, I'll give you my counsel. Will you all be travelling together?"

I shook my head. "Only me."

She gave me a sharp look and plucked a fresh sheet of paper from a drawer, dipping a pen into an inkwell. "As a young woman travelling on her own, I'd caution you not to carry overmuch in the way of hard coin. A hundred ducats should suffice to book you passage to Terre d'Ange and the City of Elua. For the rest" Her hand moved over the paper, writing in a smooth, steady hand. "I'll issue you a letter of credit. Will that suffice?"

I peered at the number written there. "No doubt."

"Have you the first idea what you're about, Moirin?" Caroline asked.

"No," I said honestly.

She studied me. "Would you like me to arrange for your passage across the Straits?"

"It would be a kindness," I said.

"No." Caroline no Bryony smiled wryly. "A kindness would be to urge you and your kin to retreat to whatever wilderness you came from, for I see the lot of you itching to be gone from this place and I fear the City of Elua will give you no better welcome than Henri did here today. What I am doing is my job."

I shrugged. "Nonetheless."

"Nonetheless," she echoed. "So be it."

I left the offices of Bryony Associates with a purse of a hundred gold ducats jingling at my belt and a letter of credit for five thousand more in the City of Elua. It seemed amply fair, given that I'd done nothing to earn it. Bidding us farewell on the doorstep of the building, Caroline paused and pressed my hands between hers.

"Do you have lodging here in Bryn Gorrydum?" she inquired.

"Oh, aye." I smiled. "Oengus says there's a goodly park in the center of the city that's taisgaidh land."

Her face went blank. "The park."

"Aye," I said, puzzled.

"Elua have mercy," she said for a second time, half-dismayed and half-amused. "Would that I could hear the gossip you'll provoke. Come tomorrow afternoon, Moirin of the Maghuin Dhonn. I'll see to what arrangements I may."

"My thanks," I said politely.

The park was a little piece of wilderness in the heart of the stone city. We made camp there unmolested. I went hunting with my uncle Mabon and we shot a pair of pigeons apiece. The new bow he'd made me on the journey had a heavier draw and a greater range. It suited me, but I was still getting used to it. We walked back to the campsite in the dusk. He summoned the twilight in slow, rolling waves, letting it trail and dance behind him like a shimmering wake. It reminded me of the music he played on his pipe. I'd never seen the like and tried to emulate it.

"Do you really think you can live among them?" Mabon asked abruptly.

"I mean to try."

He peered at me, his eyes wide-set and glimmering. "They say the entire city is walled by stone. I can't imagine how one could breathe in such a place. And they'll make mock of you for not knowing their ways. That's what she was trying to say."

"I know," I said softly. "But what else am I to do, Mabon?"

He slung one lean arm around my neck and hugged me. "Don't let them."

"I'll try," I promised.

"Don't forget who you are," he warned me.

I shook my head. "Never."

On the morrow, we presented ourselves once more at Bryony Associatesor at least I did. Having satisfied themselves yesterday that I was safe enough within, my mother and the others lingered on the doorstep to wait.

"Here is your chit for passage on the Heart of Gold." Caroline no Bryony said in a forthright manner, handing me a scrip. "Departing at dawn two days hence. I can vouch for the captain, Josephe Renniel. I've asked him to keep an eye on you."

I nodded. "My thanks."

"The Heart of Gold is a trade ship, but she's equipped to take on passengers as well. She'll head south down the Straits and put in at Bourdes. Your fare guarantees you three meals a day and a private berth." Caroline hesitated. "The latter if you so desire. I note you're not wholly comfortable indoors."

"Not yet," I agreed.

She cleared her throat. "Captain Renniel has been thus advised. Now, you'll have to book passage from Bourdes overland to the City of Elua. I'm not able to arrange it in advance, but there's a stagecoach for hire departing at least once a week. Captain Renniel can assist you in this."

"Stagecoach," I repeated. "Very good."

Caroline handed me a sheaf of papers. "I've drawn up some notes for you, Moirin." She traced them with one elegant finger. "This is the address of Bryony's banking house in the City of Elua, where you may draw on your letter of credit. And these are the names and addresses of reputable lodging-houses in the City of Elua." She gave me a stern look. "You can't live in the park there. You understand that there's no such thing as taisgaidh land in Terre d'Ange?"

I did now. "I do."

Her forefinger tapped. "This is a letter of introduction you may present at Court if you so desire, confirming that you're a descendant of House Courcel."

I peered at it. "Ah, that's well thought."

"And this . . ." She tapped a different page. "This is the address of the Atelier Favrielle, where a friend of mine is employed." Her mouth curved into a smile. "From their inception onward, they've always enjoyed a unique challenge. I suspect that Benoit might relish that of dressing you."

"Dressing me?" I echoed.

"Child" Caroline sighed. "Yes, dressing you. Oh, Blessed Elua have mercy, you'll present them with a rare challenge, you will." She steepled her fingers. "May I ask why you're bound for the City of Elua? Have you kin there?"

I shifted in my chair. "My father, mayhap. It seems he was a Priest of Naamah."

"How in the world" She caught herself. "No mind. By the look of you, I believe it. Do you know where to find him?"

I shook my head. "Not exactly. He told my mother that there is a temple in the City dedicated to star-crossed lovers. That they will know where to find him. Do you know it?"

"As it happens, I do." Caroline fetched a fresh sheet of paper and wrote in a steady hand, her head bowed. Light from the ornate lamp overhead made her coiled hair shine and picked out a marking I'd not noticed the other day, a cluster of yellow and green bryony indelibly inked on the nape of her neck, curling tendrils disappearing beneath the collar of her gown.

"Are these warrior's markings?" It seemed unlikely, but I couldn't think what else they might be. Curious, I reached out and stroked her tattooed skin with my fingertips, letting them linger. Her skin was very soft and warm.

Her head jerked up in surprise. "I beg your pardon?"

"Warrior's markings," I repeated. "Like the Cullach Gorrym wear."

"Name of Elua, no." Caroline stared at me, mildly disconcerted. Although I had withdrawn my hand, I could feel the bright lady's gift stirring. "It's Bryony House's marque."

"Ah. Like on the doorway."

"No." She shook her head. "Bryony Associates is owned by Bryony House and guaranteed by the Dowayne's treasury, but I assure you, it's altogether different."

"Oh?" I said in an encouraging tone.

"It's a pleasure-house in the Court of Night-Blooming Flowers. I was sworn to Naamah's Service for seven years there."

"You were a priestess?" I asked.

"An adept." Caroline studied me. "Do you know what that means, Moirin?"

"I know Naamah lay down with strangers for coin," I said helpfully. "Is it something to do with that?"

"It is."

"Well, then."

Caroline no Bryony sighed and put her face in her hands and muttered something in unintelligible D'Angeline. I wanted to touch her skin again, and the fine tendrils of hair loose on the nape of her neck. But it made me think of Cillian telling me that it wasn't appropriate to look at people's sisters as though I wondered if they might taste good, and the sorrow thinking of him evoked made the urge go away, leaving only sadness behind. So I waited quietly until she lifted her head.

"Do you even speak a word of D'Angeline?" she asked me.

I nodded. " Un peu, oui . I'm not entirely ignorant, my lady." I smiled sadly. "The Lord of the Dalriada's son taught me."

"The Lord" Her lips moved soundlessly. "Cillian mac Tiernan. That was you."

It made me uncomfortable to think about such a private grief being a topic of discussion. "What do they say of me?" I asked her.