Through Wolf's Eyes (31 page)

On the next round, King Tedric's eagle refused to fly
at the pigeon, offended perhaps by the indignity of being presented
with captive prey, perhaps by the commotion all around. The monarch was
not at all discomfited. He stroked
the eagle's golden brown feathers as he re-hooded it and returned it to the fowler.

"Sometimes," Tedric commented, his gaze almost too
nonspecific, "being king means accepting that sometimes things will not
go your way."

Elise felt a surge of relief for the soft grey pigeon
that had winged its way to the safety of the nearest wooded copse. That
relief vanished when she heard Sapphire say in a too sweet tone of
voice:

"Lady Blysse, did I hear correctly when you said that you believed that your peregrine could outfly our gyrfalcons?"

Blysse looked momentarily confused, then she said, her voice taut and hard: "Yes."

"Would you be interested in wagering your bird on that belief?"

This time Blysse must turn to Derian for a
translation. It took a few moments, during which time Elise noticed
Earl Kestrel making his way toward his ward. She was touched by his
concern for the girl, but his words when he spoke were ambiguous.

"Dear Blysse, don't do anything foolish."

The look Blysse gave him was far less respectful than
those Elise had seen her turn on Derian and she wondered for the first
time if Blysse particularly liked her guardian.

Blysse's response was as much to Sapphire as to the earl.

"Is not foolish if is certain."

"Then you accept our wager?" Jet cut in.

The wolf-woman bared her teeth in an expression too vicious to be taken for a smile.

"What is wager if you give me nothing when I win?"

"Win?" Jet barked a hard, harsh laugh. "You tempt the ancestors, Lady Blysse, assuming success."

"What I get?" was the only reply.

"What do you want?"

"Your birds fly after my bird," Blysse said carefully. "Yes?"

"That's the basic idea," Jet sneered.

"If they catch my bird, my bird maybe die, maybe be hurt."

"Yes," Jet's tone had become impatient.

"What if my bird catch your birds?"

"Impossible!"

"What if?"

"There are two of our gyrfalcons to your one peregrine!"

Blysse shrugged as if to say "So?"

"Will you, my Lord Jet," came the calm, neutral voice
of Derian Carter, "be willing to accept the loss of your gyrfalcons to
the Lady Blysse?"

Blysse nodded, indicating that the translator's words spoke her intention.

Another voice, dry and passionless, yet somehow full of laughter, spoke for the first time:

"It only seems fair."

Heads swiveled to learn who had spoken, but Elise
didn't need to look to see that Prince Newell, the widower of the
Princess Lovella, was responsible for the comment. When she was very
small, she had learned to know that voice and to fear the malice
concealed behind its seemingly innocent pronouncements.

Sapphire colored and Jet nodded stiffly. Earl Kestrel
interceded then, though the flush on his bearded cheeks made amply
clear that he was less than delighted with the situation.

"Then it is decided," Earl Kestrel said. "The
gyrfalcons will be released first to give them a moment to gain height.
Then Lady Blysse will release her peregrine."

He ended his speech with a quick, angry slash of his
hand. Accepting this as the signal, first Jet, then Sapphire released
their gyrfalcons. Lady Blysse permitted them enough time to climb to a
comfortable rise of air where they soared in easy arrogance. Any
bulkiness the gyrfalcons had shown when imprisoned on gloves was gone.

At a word from her mistress, the peregrine Elation
mounted the air. Sharp, almost knife-edged wings beat rapidly, alerting
the gyrfalcons, which shrieked, infuriated by the intruder's arrogance.
They circled for position while Elation was still gaining altitude.
Elise felt her heart beating faster, certain that in a moment the sleek
blue-grey peregrine would be nothing but a bloody burst of feathers.

It's like us!
she thought frantically.
Hunting each other, seeking any advantage!

Where she had been able to turn away before, she
could not now draw her gaze from the sky. The three hawks were well
matched in size, but the gyrfalcons had the advantage. Or did they?

Elise watched in astonishment as Elation launched
through the gap between the black bird and the white, slipping through
an opening so small that the maneuver seemed impossible. Then, wings
cutting the air like knives, Elation rose, stooped, and from the power
of that stoop came down onto the white gyrfalcon.

Stunned, the white gyrfalcon tumbled in the air,
falling, rolling, recovering only inches from the dirt. Even then, all
it could manage was to spread its wings, slowing its fall before coming
to land with an undignified thud.

Her attention diverted by the falling bird, Elise
didn't see how Elation got the better of the black gyrkin, but
afterward she would hear that the tactics were similar. The gyrkin came
to earth much as its mate had done. It didn't so much strike the ground
as land with a sulk, its dignity insulted. Glancing at the two Shield
siblings, Elise saw its mood mirrored in their two faces, but where the
falcons were merely offended, Sapphire and Jet were shamed.

"Magnificent!" Prince Newell's voice broke the sudden silence. "Lady Blysse, my congratulations!"

Similar compliments followed from the various
spectators, but Lady Blysse had eyes only for her two competitors.
Waving to them, she invited them to inspect their gyrfalcons. Within a
few moments, the verdict was passed that Elation had taken them out
with the weight of her body rather than with her talons. Except for a
few bruises and offended dignity at finding themselves the prey rather
than the predator, both gyrfalcons should be fit for service.

"They're yours now," Sapphire said, anger and embarrassment barely concealed in her polite words. "I hope you enjoy them."

"I enjoy them best," Lady Blysse replied, "if you keep
them. They fine falcons. Maybe we hunt with them again sometime."

Jet started to smile, then tensed, fearful that this was some further mockery. Elise felt her heart ache for his injured pride.

"We wagered them," Jet said stiffly. "We can pay our debts."

"What is mine is mine to give," Lady Blysse said reasonably. "Please take."

"As a favor," Sapphire said, "to a scion of House Kestrel, we will do so."

With this, to Elise's relief, the expedition was
finally over. The bloody carcasses of the unlucky pigeons were gathered
into sacks and Earl Kestrel bowed deeply to the assembled company. In
his rich, well-schooled bardic turns of phrase he thanked them all for
gracing himself and his ward with their company, praised the falcons
that had provided them with such fine sport, and invited them all to
attend a banquet that evening. The centerpiece would be the game killed
this morning.

The last was a formality, an almost ritual ending to
a large hawking party like this, so much so that Elise had already
chosen what dress and jewels she would wear this evening. She looked
around for Jet, hoping that now that the hunt was ended he would return
to her. Her beloved, however, was deep in conference with Lady Blysse
and Sapphire, hotly arguing the varying merits of gyrfalcons and
peregrines.

Elise's mare was more than willing to trail after the
other horses. Although her thoughts were elsewhere, Elise chattered
lightly with the other ladies, commenting on the pleasures of the
outing. Only after they had returned their horses to the stable
attendants and were re-entering the castle did Aurella Wellward say
softly into her daughter's ear:

"Lady Melina spoke with me this afternoon about
something that may be of interest to you. After you've freshened, would
you meet me in my solar here in the castle?"

"Yes, Mother," Elise replied, her heart singing with
anticipation and sudden terror. Her feet were so light that she could
hardly keep from running up the stairs to her room.

* * *

D
OUBTS AND FEARS
plagued Elise as Ninette laced her into a clean sundress and helped
plait her hair into a gleaming coil that would crown her head. When
Elise entered her mother's parlor, she hoped that Lady Aurella could
not see how nervous she was, but was certain that her rapidly beating
heart must give her away.

Aurella was sitting by a round window through which
sunlight spilled, transforming the embroidery thread spread across her
lap into silken gems. On a frame nearby was the piece she had been
working on since the previous spring, a heavy green wool waistcoat
embroidered with a hawk perched on a well, a bowman standing to one
side. The picture was an allusion to her family joined to Ivon's.

"Come in, Elise," Aurella said, choosing a hank of
yellow thread from those arrayed on her lap and returning the rest to
her fat, round wicker embroidery basket, "and close the door behind
you."

Elise did so, crossing to sit on a chair where she
would not block her mother's light. In the winter, the stone flags
would be piled deep with rugs, but to counter the summer heat they were
left bare and the hard leather soles of her shoes tapped out an almost
military tattoo against them.

"Melina tells me," Aurella began without preamble,
"that her son Jet desires a betrothal to you. She said that her first
instinct was to refuse, but on further consideration she saw that there
were advantages. With these in mind, she is willing to permit Jet to
become betrothed to you—if your father and I agree, of course."

She paused, snipping off a length of thread before
moving to another part of her pattern. Elise held her breath, knowing
her mother was not finished.

"I do not know whether or not Melina has consulted
yet with her husband. She was careful not to comment on that point as
his refusal—real or feigned—would end any decision with no loss of face
to anyone involved. My guess, however, is that Jet has spoken only to
her. Melina's children
must be well aware that without her approval nothing can be done.

"For my own reasons, I have not yet spoken with your
father. Before I do so, cruelly raising hopes that have begun to fade,
I wanted to know if you had considered the disadvantages of Jet's
proposal."

"Disadvantages, Mother?" Elise, her mind alive with images of her handsome suitor and a queen's crown, was shocked.

"Disadvantages, daughter." Though her needle
continued stitching elaborate details with the ease of a professional
tirewoman, Aurella's mien was as serious as if she were advising Queen
Elexa. "For one, you will make an enemy— perhaps lifelong—of Sapphire
Shield. She will not easily forgive an attempt to supplant her as the
favored candidate for heir. This will cause you trouble even if you
succeed in your gambit for the throne, but if, despite your
manipulations, she becomes queen, she will be in a position to make you
miserable."

"Sapphire will still have her family holdings," Elise
said stubbornly. "If I am queen, she will need to placate me— not the
other way around."

"Darling daughter, you," Aurella sighed, "are naive.
And don't forget, betrothal to Jet will not guarantee that you will
become queen. Have you considered your aunt Zorana's potential wrath?
Even if you can handle a rival from your own generation, how would you
deal with her?"

"Aunt Zorana," Elise said stiffly, her woodenness a
cover for the rapid racing of her mind as she considered problems that
had never arisen in Jet's rosy depiction of their future, "is the
king's niece, true, but once this is settled, surely she will return to
ambitions that had been hers before Princess Lovella's death started
this play for the Eagle Throne. Aunt Zorana has four children to think
of and certainly will court my favor toward their greater benefit. In
any case, if I become queen, her son will be the best choice for the
next Baron Archer. What advantage would there be to making an enemy of
me?"

Aurella shook her head ruefully. "Always, always, your
solution
is based on the assumption that this gambit guarantees you the throne.
I assure you, it may raise your chances, but it provides no guarantee.
King Tedric is a strange man, old and fickle, embittered by the loss of
the surety that his blood will follow him to the throne. I wouldn't put
it past him to pass over all his squabbling nieces and nephews and
choose this newcomer Blysse instead. She showed character today and our
kingdom is beset by rivals. With Bright Bay at our frontiers, strength
and decisiveness may matter more to the king in his heir than
possession of the right bloodline. Don't forget, too, that Blysse has
House Kestrel to back her. Kestrel may not be as prestigious a house as
that of the Peregrine or the Gyrfalcon, but it is as old and very
respected."

"And if King Tedric selects Lady Blysse, I," Elise
said patiently, determined to demonstrate she had gotten her lesson by
heart, "would still have made enemies for myself."

"And for your father and me as well," Aurella
reminded her. "Since you are a minor, your betrothal must have our
blessing. We will put our heads into the furnace along with you."

"Isn't the possible gain worth the risk?" Elise asked, almost pleading.

"What gain?" Aurella said with deceptive mildness.
"The throne of Hawk Haven or handsome Jet Shield for a husband? I think
the first is worth the gamble, but I am doubtful about the second."

"Still!" Elise said, leaning forward, her hands
clasped so tightly that her knuckles grew white. "Still! Shall we sit
back and let ourselves be swept out of the running? Here is a chance to
ally our house with another, to make the king's decision easier, for he
can please both his brother and his sister by his selection!"