A wicked wind, p.33
A Wicked Wind, page 33
The tears started to trickle down her cheeks, and she saw no way to hold them back…not that they’d do any good.
Ethan’s face fell. She could see the concern buried in his deep brown eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said softly, “I was only trying to help.”
A thought came to her.
“Well,” she said, trying to pull herself back together, “perhaps if you told Lady Delira what happened, about you running into me and all, she might be more forgiving.”
Ethan stared at her in confusion for a moment before he burst out into a deep laugh, “I ran into you?…Well, I suppose Lady Delira will have to make an exception for my bumbling ways.” He leaned forward and gave Katherine a wink, “Besides, she doesn’t frighten me so much.”
Katherine looked up at him in genuine surprise, grabbing hold of his giant arm. “I thought everyone was scared of her.”
Ethan chuckled as he took the hamper from the air and started down the hallway.
Katherine had to jog to keep up with his long-legged stride, “Servants and nobles, perhaps, but not Magi. Delira enjoys a…favored position at the moment, but the Magi don’t pay much attention to her tantrums.”
Katherine dared a glance at his face. His smile remained as fixed as ever.
“And what is your position, Ethan?” she asked softly.
He paused with a chuckle, “That’s not something to worry yourself about, miss. Just know that you won’t have to fret about punishment from Delira as long as I’m around.”
Katherine’s face flushed, but she immediately suppressed her flash of excitement.
This was hardly the place to seek out flattery, but in Ethan she might have found a valuable ally that she could use to her benefit. One of apparently higher ranking than the woman she’d been assigned to.
Perhaps she could coax Ethan into providing her even more useful information, but for the moment it was smarter to play along as the simple, simpering maid. Whatever it took to gain Ethan’s trust and further her goals.
They reached Lady Delira’s door, and Katherine gently pulled the hamper away from the Magus. When he frowned, she gave him a playful smile, “And how would Lady Delira feel to see you show up with a hamper full of her underclothes?”
His face froze for a moment before flushing red. “I see your point.”
Katherine knocked gently, then stepped into the room.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Lady Delira had yet to return for her dinner preparations.
Leaving Ethan in the corridor, Katherine rushed to the massive oak wardrobe and put the Lady’s things away, careful that they all appeared neat and tidy. Well, she supposed, nothing had actually touched the floor, so there was no reason they would be soiled.
She closed up the wardrobe and turned, gasping as she found herself only inches from Lady Delira’s black eyes.
“Katherine, my dear,” Delira said with a wicked smile. “I see you’ve finished your chores.”
Katherine gave a short curtsey, “Yes, Milady.”
“I feel like dressing myself this evening. There is a man outside who has asked the pleasure of escorting you around the South Lawn for an evening stroll, and I find it to be a marvelous idea!”
“Mi…milady?”
There was gleam in Lady Delira’s eyes that Katherine could hardly miss. “I am most interested in hearing this man’s opinions on a number of things. Be a dear and take a walk with the Ox, listen carefully to what he has to say. I want you back here by midnight, and I want to hear every word of it. Do you understand?”
Katherine felt her face flush again, so she played it off as embarrassment, “Of course, milady. I will do exactly as milady commands.”
Lady Delira leaned forward and lifted Katherine’s chin with a finger. Katherine suppressed a shiver as she was forced to meet the woman’s black eyes again. “Be sure that you do, child, and I will see to it that you have a long, steady career in the Palace.”
Her soft face twisted into a menacing snarl, “Fail me, and I’ll have you thrown out into the gutters with the other trash.” Her voice turned syrupy sweet again, “Do you understand?”
Katherine offered her most convincing smile and curtseyed, “Of course, milady. As you command, milady.”
“Excellent,” Delira said brightly. “Now, on your way. You’ll want to shed that tattered rag for something more…befitting an evening with a Magus of Ethan’s stature.”
Katherine stared at Lady Delira with genuine confusion, “But milady, this is all I have.”
Lady Delira threw her hand carelessly in the air, “That’s nonsense, dear. Your shoulders look a bit wide, but I’m sure you could squeeze into one of my larger gowns. Fetch me the burgundy wool.”
Katherine hurried away to find the dress, her mind racing. What was Delira playing at? She wanted Katherine to spy on Ethan? The very concept drew a silent chuckle from her. Spying on Ethan was no different than spying on Delira.
In fact, that would just be more information she could relay to Declan. In a way, Lady Delira was doing her a favor. And she got to wear the woman’s gown, besides! She wondered how badly she could sully it without drawing reproach?
Katherine rushed back with the dress, and Delira pulled it from her hands, holding it up to Katherine’s chest.
“Yes, I think this one will do quite nicely. Tighten your stays and put it on, dear. If it pinches a bit, well, that simply gives you a goal for the future.”
Katherine smiled again and curtseyed, “Yes, milady, thank you, milady.”
Delira offered her a self-satisfied smirk and walked away, seeming to vanish into her enormous oak wardrobe.
Katherine hurried to the dressing mirror, pulling off her starched livery. She glanced around every now and then to be sure that the lady wasn’t watching her.
She didn’t know why Lady Delira would have any interest in such a thing, but she was still unsure whether this entire exercise was meant to humiliate her, or if the Lady was somehow sincere. Regardless, her mistress had her motives.
She managed to get the woolen gown buttoned up her back, but she found the last impossible to reach with her stays this tight. As it was, she was shocked by how much of her décolletage was on display. The idea of allowing anyone to see this much of her in the daylight felt scandalous.
But then again, she’d seen enough of the courtiers and sycophants who flooded the Palace every day. Their dresses made the burgundy wool look matronly by comparison. Katherine’s natural modesty aside, it would have to do.
When she turned, Lady Delira stood not two paces away, a rapturous smile on her face, “Oh, dear girl, you fill that out marvelously.” Delira thrust a dark, fur-lined cloak at her. “Put this on, but don’t draw it too tight. And we want our young Ethan to be full of imagination when he sees you.”
Katherine emerged from the ordeal, her hair done up with an elaborate pin, which Lady Delira insisted was all the rage, and her shoulders barely covered by her cloak. The gown’s fit had emboldened Lady Delira to declare it “even more daring than I’d imagined.”
Katherine felt like a sow dressed up like a swan.
“Now, dear, your young man has been waiting patiently enough. Go and have a walk with him. You’re a good Southern Plain girl, you know how to ask prying questions. I have faith in you. Show me how smart you are.”
Katherine heard the conspiring hollowness in Delira’s voice. She was hoping to net a spider with a honeyed fly. If her plot failed, Delira lost nothing.
Katherine could name quite a few things she might lose if she didn’t handle this just right.
Toma’s eyes brightened. Her mouth opened, and Aya could feel the power of the Archanium blossom inside her. She squinted as the radiant light bubbled up from beneath Toma’s skin. It was the same as the last three Magi she’d helped crossover.
Aya felt the effervescent joy radiating from the other woman. Ever since she’d leapt onto a new meridian in the Archanium, she’d felt it too. It was like breathing in air for the first time, or tasting the full sweetness of life. It was intoxicating.
Saliva dripped from Toma’s chin as Aya watched her friend experience the true majesty of the Archanium for the first time. She knew the feeling well, pleasant enough before but this…this was rapture.
Aya allowed herself a heady grin at Toma’s expression. The ecstasy of touching this meridian was eclipsed only by the joy of sharing it with others. She pushed away her fatigue. Her personal joy came with a price.
Aya remembered her trepidation at teaching the others. She had stumbled onto the new meridian by sheer accident, in a flash of panic. How could she possibly instruct other Magi to perform the same feat? She hadn’t accomplished anything through skill or knowledge, merely terror.
And yet, when she’d sat down with Ilyana the week before, the process had been surprisingly easy. She’d thought there would be mighty barriers to break, or paths of arcane magic to haggardly traverse. Yet when she simply explained what she felt to Ilyana, casting out a hook to guide the woman’s spark, the other Magus immediately grasped the nature of what Aya was working to accomplish.
After a simple binding spell granting Aya control over Ilyana’s link to the Archanium, she’d easily guided her sister Magus onto the proper meridian.
The results were stunning.
Unlike Aya, who simply wanted to share her newfound knowledge, Ilyana had set about studying the bounds of the new meridian. She was obsessed with learning its strengths and weaknesses. She craved an understanding of her new boundaries, and the extent her new powers afforded her.
Ilyana had spent the next day cloistered in her room with Marrik, testing her abilities until she finally had a grasp of her expanded potential. When she emerged, Aya saw a transformed woman, forged by a deeper power and understanding. Even after all that, Ilyana confessed there were new regions she could reach, yet struggled to understand.
Tragically, in their first days of teaching others, they’d suffered a loss. A young Magus who’d only just touched the new meridian had attempted to pull yet another onto their new path. The young man had died quickly, and Aya hoped, painlessly.
From that moment forward, however, she had instituted a new rule: only she or Ilyana were permitted to perform the spells that could bring the others over. They’d both had time enough to grasp the basics of their abilities and their limitations. Ilyana taught Aya surprising, even shocking things, things she hadn’t even yet considered. And Ilyana, for her part, had taken to her new role like a duckling to welcoming water.
Aya suspected Ilyana had an easier time of guiding Magi onto the new meridian than she. Her sister Magus never seemed quite as tired as Aya after bringing over a Magus, as each time a newly initiated Magus radiated with light, the newfound connection seemed to bolster Ilyana rather than drain her. Aya wasn’t sure if she were doing it wrong, or if they were just accomplishing the same ends in different ways.
For her part, Aya was more than happy to let Ilyana take charge. She found it simply too exhausting, and there were still hundreds to initiate. But as many as Ilyana was converting, it still wasn’t happening it fast enough. And so Aya was once more guiding Magi onto the new meridian, albeit at a much slower pace than Ilyana.
After Toma’s blissful praise and thanks for the initiation, and after Aya had sent her down to experiment on obliterating the rebel dead, she sat back against the pillows Raefan had set behind her. She took a long drink of water and breathed slowly as the next Magus took his place across from her. She closed her eyes for just a moment, luxuriating in the feel of winter sun on her face before she sat up again and looked into Hade’s tentative gaze.
Aya jumped in surprise. “Hade? I hadn’t heard of your return!” She leaned forward and hugged the scrawny Magus tightly, “When did you get here?”
Hade offered her a crooked smile, “Today, actually. When we arrived, we were told to come see you straight away. I expect that Vadim is surrounded by pretty girls and ale by now. They’re probably having quite the time.” He laughed nervously.
Aya offered him a small smile in return. She didn’t feel anything from Raefan that suggested happiness, but then again, she rarely did. Raefan was a man wholly committed to his duty. Since his duty was protecting her, she supposed he could be out with Vadim, learning all he could of the other Knight’s journey. She doubted he would be drinking much ale.
She’d only seen Raefan drunk twice, and those had been extenuating circumstances to say the least. Generally, Raefan had rules for everything. He was a man committed to structure and efficiency, and thus the escape alcohol provided some was not something he sought. Once in a great while, he would make an exception. Her face heated as she recalled the last exception.
Aya rolled her shoulders, trying to loosen the tension building in her neck and draw attention away from her blushing.
“You don’t have to be so scared,” she said casually, noting how nervous Hade seemed. “This is nothing to be frightened by. It’s simply a little jump from where you are now. It only takes a moment.”
Hade managed another furtive smile, “I trust you, Aya. Ilyana offered to help me along, but I’d rather work with you. There are fewer…complications with you.”
Aya felt a moment of confusion and doubt at his odd phrasing, but she kept her frown to herself.
Jonas opened one eye experimentally. The waxed wool of their tent was dully lit with early morning sunshine. He yawned. Sleeping on the hard, frozen ground was a decided departure from his cozy bed in the Undercroft.
But Jonas relished his sore muscles. The discomfort was proof he was free of his grandmother. Free from that entire nightmare, and that realization brought him only warmth and contentment.
The scent of woodsmoke drifted into the tent, and Jonas caught the tantalizing aroma of breakfast. He sat up abruptly, almost taking down the tent in the same instant. Careful to mind his head, Jonas crawled his way out of the tent’s opening.
Aleksei was dutifully skinning something small. There was a cheery fire going, though where the man had found wood in this desolate plain was anyone’s guess. And improbably, Jonas realized that Aleksei was already well into cooking their morning meal.
The Knight turned sharply when he realized he was being watched.
On seeing Jonas’s bleary eyes, Aleksei broke into a broad grin, “You’re up! Didn’t expect to see you quite so early.”
Jonas glared back playfully, ducking back into the tent to pull on his boots. He groped around the tiny space for a bit before he finally found his coat. It was always seemed unusually cold in the mornings. While he disliked a great many things about traveling, the frigid winter mornings were at the top of his list.
When he finally ambled out into the snowy dawn, he was dismayed to find his clear campground buried under a handspan of snow. Glancing back at the tent, he suddenly realized the brilliance of the whole thing.
From the road, their tent was barely visible. The snow served to camouflage their presence entirely. Even in the crisp morning, Jonas could hardly distinguish the cozy tent from the rest of the landscape.
His face flushed. Despite the covering of snow, the tent had proved plenty warm enough for two fully-grown men.
“Here,” Aleksei said absently, handing Jonas a small, horn-handled knife and a side of bacon. “Can you carve that up? I can only cook a little at a time.”
Jonas took the meat and the blade, glancing down at the small cast-iron skillet Aleksei was using. He frowned at the blackened iron.
“Where did you find that?” he asked, slicing off hunks of bacon.
Aleksei smiled brightly, “It was among the supplies in Keldoan. My father always used something like this to cook breakfast. I figured it was the easiest thing to take along, since I knew how to use it better than anything else they had.”
Jonas enjoyed a moment of silent pleasure, cutting hunks of bacon while his Knight waited to fry them on his peasant’s skillet. One would hardly recognize him as a prince, he thought, cutting bacon by a rude fire.
With a curse, Jonas felt the blade go too far, biting into his thumb.
Aleksei looked up sharply as Jonas clenched his jaw, dropping the blade away from his bleeding thumb.
The Hunter immediately grabbed his hand and held it steady. Jonas felt suddenly nauseous as pain swept over him. He wasn’t unused to the sight of blood, though he was a little embarrassed at swooning so easily in front of Aleksei.
“It’s not too deep,” Aleksei said gently, his fingers pressing down on points across Jonas’s hand while holding pressure against the base of Jonas’s thumb.
His pain and nausea were fading a bit, but Aleksei’s face seemed strange and distracted.
“I might need to close this,” Aleksei grumbled.
Jonas frowned. Close it? Gods, Jonas was not looking forward to the Mantle crawling about inside his skin again, especially not for such a minor cut.
Aleksei paused, his aureate eyes going out of focus. He relaxed the pressure, letting Jonas’s blood flow forth again.
Jonas could feel it pump from his finger with the beat of his heart. The nausea returned.
Aleksei held up a hand.
“Quiet,” he commanded.
Jonas wanted to protest that he hadn’t said anything, to remind Aleksei that he was presently bleeding, but he instinctually obeyed his Hunter. This was certainly unlike anything Aleksei had done before.
The Hunter sniffed experimentally at Jonas’s hand, licking the blood welling from of the cut. And then, to Jonas’s utter fascination and horror, Aleksei pressed his mouth against the wound, pulling in hard. Jonas winced as the added pressure pulled more of his blood forth.
A moment later, Aleksei’s head turned to the west, his rough hands still gripping the prince’s wrist. Jonas watched the Hunter cock his head to the side, Was he…listening?
