Spiritwalker 3: Cold Steel (62 page)

Then, as if shaking awake from slumber, Andevai Diarisso Haranwy walked out to the
street, out of my sight.

My heart plummeted out of my body. I groped for and leaned on Bee.

“Come sit down.” Bee supported me back to the table. “You’re shaking.”

I was too numb for tears. Bee’s arm did not comfort me.

Kehinde sat on my other side. She spoke in a low voice. “Cat, you need not honor a
contract sealed without your consent. The same was done to me when I was but fifteen.”

Brennan sat opposite, mouth twisted all awry. Chartji whistled softly. Rory still
stood out in the courtyard, looking toward the archway.

The cold mage reappeared carrying the laced-up basket with the skull, as well as a
leather bag. He crossed the courtyard as the watching trolls went back to their conversations.
The light drenching his figure turned to shade as he came in under the portico. He
set basket and bag on the table, then backed away to stand with arms crossed, staring
into the distance. Bee simmered, looking ready to leap up and slap him again. Brennan
studied him with a frown, while Kehinde pushed her spectacles up the bridge of her
nose and watched me. Chartji waited beside the table. A few people moved past, staring
at his expensive clothes and grim expression. He ignored everyone, yet I knew he was
acutely aware of all of us. I was astonished he exposed himself to their censure.

He shifted, and we all started. Upon opening his mouth to speak, he closed it again.

After a moment he bowed his head and drew thumb and finger down the bridge of his
nose. Finally he looked up. The tilt of his head
and the rigid squareness of his shoulders revealed how hard he struggled to dig for
words.

He let out a breath. “Might there be a private room where Catherine and I could talk?”

My cheeks were hot and my hands were cold, for I had not recovered from seeing him
walk away, nor did I like the look of him bringing along the basket as if he meant
to be rid of all reminders and encumbrances of me.

To my surprise Kehinde rose. Hers was not a large or boisterous figure, but when she
wanted to, she commanded any space she was in. She bent her gaze on him, and because
she was a woman older than he was, he listened, lifting his chin as if he knew he
was about to take a hit.

“I do not know you, Magister. But if it were up to me, I would tell Cat she is well
rid of a man who speaks to her in such a contemptuous way. Was it imprudent and disruptive
of her to leave the mage House so precipitously? Perhaps. But I am thinking you would
be better served to discover why you did not pay more attention to her grievances
before it came to this.”

His expression darkened with an angry flush, but to my astonishment he took in and
released several ragged breaths without any hammer of magic. With an effort he spoke
again, clipped and impatient. “What must I do to be allowed to have a few private
words with my wife?”

Kehinde indicated the table. “While I consider, perhaps you would like something to
eat or drink.”

Vai clenched his hands to fists, sucked in air, and let it out. He moved to circle
the table so he could sit by me, but Rory stepped in his path. The two men sized each
other up. Rory smiled in a friendly but implacable way. Vai took in and released more
harsh breaths as a curl of icy breeze tickled the air. At length he sat next to Brennan,
and Rory settled in on his other side, boxing him in.

A server brought ale, bread, butter, and cheese. Everyone except Vai and me ate and
drank. His tight jaw gave his mouth a sneer, but I knew he was battling embarrassment
and feelings of humiliation, for he was certainly conscious of how badly he appeared.
I could scarcely bear to look at him, for my emotions surged and ebbed and boiled
in a
bewildering confluence. Every time I did glance at him, it was to find him staring
at me… glaring at me… beseeching me… I simply could no longer tell, and perhaps he
did not quite know either.

Finally I could bear it no longer. I buttered a hank of bread and held it out. “Gracious
Melqart, Vai! Could you please eat something!”

He rocked backward almost off the bench. But when the others looked at him, he took
the bread and ate it and, after that, downed a mug of ale and then ate from a bowl
of porridge that Rory insisted he share.

After this agony of a silent meal Kehinde rose. “I have a meeting to attend this afternoon.
Magister, perhaps you would be so good as to accompany me and my companions. You might
find our radical perambulations of interest. I must warn you that it would be best
for you to make no use of cold magic, not in the neighborhood we are going to. But
your fashionable clothes will make a suitably stylish impression. If you do not wish
to accompany me, you are free to leave.”

“Catherine,” he began hoarsely.

Brennan tucked a hand under Vai’s elbow. “Magister, I think you need to listen to
what Professora Nayo Kuti is saying.”

“Is Catherine going with you?”

Bee grabbed my braid to let me know she would yank my head off if I said anything,
for apparently I was not to be allowed to go. No doubt they feared Andevai would lure
me into an out-of-the-way corner and melt me with kisses, but I was made of sterner
stuff than that!

Kehinde indicated the others. “Brennan and Bee will accompany me. Chartji as well.
That will give you an opportunity to discuss your business with your solicitor, will
it not?”

For the space of five full breaths he stared at me, willing me to speak. Under the
table Bee pressed a foot down on top of mine. Trapped between her hand and her foot,
I said nothing.

He shook his head as if shaking off drops of rain. “Very well. If that is what is
required. There are some lads out on the street watching my horse. Shall I stable
it here, or take it along?”

After it was agreed he ought to stable it, he went to make the arrangements. Rory
and I carried the basket and leather bag up to the room.

Rory said, “They mean to leave me here so you won’t be alone, Cat,
but I know how to handle Vai better than the others do. If you don’t mind, I’ll go
with them.”

“Maybe if we had handled him less and kicked him more, he might not so easily fall
back into his unpleasant old habits.”

“I don’t know,” mused Rory, “for I am sure he stopped himself from saying at least
eleven cutting and cruel things just now. That he sat there and let them dictate to
him shows he is listening, however little it may seem to someone who does not know
him.”

“How do you know people so well, Rory?”

He smiled. “People are easy to know. Human-people are emotional and hierarchical.
Feathered-people are inquisitive and acquisitive.”

I rested my head in my hands. “What are our kind of people?”

“I just enjoy being here.” He patted my shoulder. “As for you, Cat, you are always
struggling with all the different parts of you. You have your mother’s loyalty and
strength, and your stepfather’s bold curiosity and love of stories. You have our sire’s
instincts, which is why you like to hunt and fight and be petted, but it’s also why
Vai can melt you with kisses when you really ought to be pushing him back a step so
he can stop and think. I expect that in the mage House, the more he sensed you were
uncomfortable and displeased with a situation he was increasingly attracted by—being
heir—the more he exerted himself to please you in other ways.”

“I suppose you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right!” He kissed my forehead.

Left alone, I apologized to the cacica as I lifted the skull out of the basket and
made an offering of the last of the ale, when she ought to have been offered the first.
The leather bag disgorged my wonderful riding clothes and boots, a sewing kit Vai
had obviously obtained knowing I would want it, and my toiletries. The sight of these
items wearied me beyond measure because they forced me to contemplate a life without
Andevai. I lay down on the bed and promptly dozed off. Voices frayed in my dreams,
only to dissolve into a remarkably erotic dream that woke me sweating.

The room was dim. Beyond, the tavern buzzed at full pitch. Knowing there were trolls
about, I left my sword tucked under the mattress. I wrapped myself in shadows and
crept downstairs. Twilight danced into evening. Lamps burned everywhere. I spotted
Vai and the others
as they walked in and washed up at the altar set out for ablutions and offerings.
They settled at a table set up in an alcove at the far side of the trolls’ courtyard,
tucked next to the archway that led out to the street and thus as far from the kitchens
as possible. A lamp set at Chartji’s left arm lit the table. Something about trolls
throttled Vai’s cold magic around them, just as dragons had.

Vai had his back to me, so he did not see me pad up behind them. Such breeze as there
was blew into my face, so Rory, sitting beside Vai, could not smell me. Vai was laughing
at something Rory had just said. His sociable demeanor made him seem another man,
the one I had gotten to know in Expedition, the one whose embraces I cherished, the
one I loved.

“Show me the ice lenses again,” said Kehinde with a pleasant smile she had certainly
not displayed earlier. “I’m amazed Chartji brought them all the way from Havery packed
in straw and moss and they did not melt.”

He fished out three leather cords and pulled one off over his head, handing it to
Kehinde. “This one is likely flawed, but the other two should work.”

“Does the mansa know about the ice lenses?” Bee asked sharply.

He glanced down, shoulders tensing. Rory nudged Vai with his knee.

“No, the mansa does not know,” said Vai stiffly.

“Are you going to tell him?” Bee pressed.

His chin came up, but remarkably his voice remained level. “Not yet. If I have to
face James Drake, I will need the ice lens. And I plan to face him. All of you realize,
don’t you, that allowing Catherine to go after him is a death sentence for her?”

“Having seen Cat in a fight—” began Brennan.

“Catherine can certainly take care of herself in a fight. Or against an ocean full
of sharks, for that matter. You simply do not comprehend the dangers of dealing with
a fully fledged fire mage. Drake almost killed her once. Lord of All, Beatrice. You
ought to know better! You saw how she was burned.”

“It’s true,” Bee muttered.

Kehinde twirled the lens as she examined its icy gleam. “May I touch it, or will the
warmth of my skin distort the lens?”

“That one is flawed, so it makes no matter if you touch it.”

She ran a finger along its curved face. “How do you keep them from melting? I can
speculate on several mechanisms, but I am no cold mage.”

“I mean no offense by saying the secret belongs to those who remain silent.”

“In fact,” she replied with a touch of asperity as she handed it back to him, “Professora
Alhamrai sent me a paper in which she detailed the manufacture and results of your
experiments with ice lenses in detail.”

He slipped it back underneath his clothes. My hands twitched, wishing to follow its
path along his chest. “It is still not my place to speak of it. I just want all of
you to see that I am not withholding crucial information from you. Is Catherine not
to join us for our meal?”

“We may all wish to say a few things to you before we invite Cat to join us,” said
Kehinde.

“I certainly do,” remarked Bee with an ominous smile.

“Yes, I’m well aware of your—” Vai broke off to look heavenward, as if the Lord of
All might grant him the patience and calm he so sorely lacked. He splayed his hands
on the table to brace himself. After sucking in several short breaths he took in a
deep breath, let it out, and addressed Bee directly. His tone was as taut as a strung
wire. “I acted in an insupportable manner. In fact, I was an ass. May Catherine join
us now?”

“You are impressively persistent, I’ll give you that,” said Brennan. “Rory, go and
ask—”

“I’ve not yet said everything I mean to say,” interrupted Bee.

“Nor have I,” said Kehinde. “What Catherine chooses is up to her. But I have something
to say to you, Magister. If I had not seen you this afternoon in a far more convivial
light, I would have called you irredeemable. It was an illuminating decision by Rory
to take you to the carpenters’ guild. You spoke well, and treated those humble men
with respect. That gave me a different opinion of your character. You are a man of
immense power and prestige. At your young age you are heir to one of the most powerful
lineages in Europa. If you thereby feel this gives you the right, or perhaps more
correctly the
need
, to treat others with contempt, then I believe you must examine your own self. And
to speak so to a woman you claim to love… oh! When I was fifteen—”

Brennan got up to take a turn around the courtyard. Kehinde kept speaking, although
her eyelids flickered as she forced herself not to watch him go.

“—my illustrious family married me to the son of an extremely wealthy man. He was
at the time of the marriage somewhat older than Magister Diarisso, a man of the world
with no patience for a quiet and sheltered girl who wanted only to please him. He
still uses that tone to speak to me although we have been married for twenty years
and I have gained a position of prestige through my scholarly work and writings. He
now has two younger wives to fix his caustic nature on since I am so much abroad.
I cannot but think ill of a man who feels it is his right and even his duty to treat
other people with disdain.”

His shoulders had been lifted and tight, but they eased as he absorbed the blow.

“I thank you for your honesty,” he said in the tone of a man who has just been told
his chest must be sliced open with a butcher’s knife in order for a poisonous thorn
to be extracted.

“What I want to know,” said Bee, “is the whole of your intention in accepting the
mansa’s offer to make you heir. What could possibly have induced you to say yes when
you know what the mage Houses are? Do you feel no shame that you courted Cat in part
by expressing radical sentiments that quite go against everything the mage Houses
stand for?”