FORBIDDEN TALENTS (26 page)

“
Why now? We’ve been here for hundreds of years!
”

“
A hundred years is nothing to the Elves, you twit!
”

Dahleven resisted the urge to forcefully teach the
pinnsvin
better manners.
“
So they will attack us. When? How?
”

“
No. The Vanir, the old gods, have commanded the Fey to not raise our hands against you. Only after Ragnarok will Alfheim be free of humankind.
”

“
So how are the Dark Elves going to remove us from Alfheim if they can’t attack us?’

“
What did I just say, you dolt?
”

Dahleven blanched. The Dark Elves hoped to summon the Jontunn, bring about the death of the gods, and the end of the nine worlds?
“
Ragnarok?
”

“
But that would destroy all they hope to regain!
”
Fender exclaimed.
“
That can’t be.
”

“
He didn’t actually say the Dark Elves were going to start Ragnarok,
”
Celia said softly.
“
You are very clever, Baruq. Now spit it out. What are the Dark Elves planning?
”

“
Do you think they confide in me?
”

“
I think you are an excellent spy. How long have you wandered these halls undetected?
”

“
Fifteen years.
”

“
And in that time how many servants of the Dark Elves have you vanquished?
”

“
Twenty-three.
”

“
You are a mighty warrior as well as a talented spy,
”
Celia said.

Baruq didn’t smile, but his lifted his chin.
“
You are quite correct, Lady Celia. I am.
”

“
And you must have gained a great deal of information from those you defeated. Please tell us. You know the Light Elves hold us in some favor since they gave us the gift of their sight. You do them no dishonor to share the information with us.
”

“
Since you ask so nicely, I will tell you, Lady.
”
He gave a little bow.
“
I don’t know.
”
Dahleven moved forward and Baruq glanced at him before looking back at Celia.
“
Truly. You will have to ask the
Lios Alfar
.
”

*

Saeun lay staring up at the branches twining overhead and wondered if she’d see those strange eyes blink at her again. She snuggled deeper into the pillowed bed, considering her situation.

The storm had not abated. She’d spent the day alternately fearful and awed as Valender took her about and introduced her to various Elves and a
gofle
dressmaker. She’d eaten their food again, more than once. There was no point to refusing now that she’d taken that first bite. Unless the effect was cumulative.

But she felt no different now than she had two days ago.

The Elves Valender had introduced her to had been variously cool, amused, delighted, and condescending, but none had offered her harm or insult. Most of them appeared as handsome men and women, but once they’d come upon an Elf before she could assume a glamour.

Saeun’s breath had caught in her throat. The Elf was beautiful. Her water colored eyes slitted vertically like a cat’s and slanted over high cheekbones. Long pale hair fell to her hips. Her full lips opened in surprise above a delicate chin. Then the image wavered and Saeun blinked. Before her stood a lovely russet-haired, human appearing, woman.

Saeun glanced at her repeatedly, trying to find the flaw in her appearance, something that indicated her true nature, but to no avail. The woman was perfect. Beautiful.

Was this a first sign of madness? Had she only imagined the woman had looked different? But these were Elves. Of course they used glamour to conceal themselves.

“
Why do you all do that?
”
Saeun asked when Valender led her away.

“
Do what?
”

“
Try to look human.
”

“
Is my appearance not pleasing to you?
”

“
Of course it is,
”
she snapped.
“
That’s not the point.
”

“
We took Allya unawares. But now that she knows you’re about she won’t surprise you that way again.
”

“
But why do you bother at all? Allya is beautiful just as she is. Why does she hide it in front of me? Why do any of you?
”

Valender looked at her soberly for a moment.
“
To be less fearful to you.
”

All her life Saeun had been warned about straying into the woods at twilight, had been filled with stories of the Fey-marked whose minds were stolen. It wasn’t their appearance that made the Fey fearsome.

“
Is it difficult for you to—what do you call it?
”
she asked.

“
It’s a glamour. No. It’s not difficult. Just a bit tiring, if held overlong.
”

“
Then don’t. Not for my sake. I’m scared anyway. I’d rather see you as you truly are than imagine you’re hiding horrors from me.
”

Valender regarded her silently for a moment.

What was he thinking? Had she broken some rule that no one had told her about? Did it break some Elven law to let her see them as they were?

Valender shimmered, and in a blink he stood before her, transformed. Or untransformed. He was still tall, but his muscles were leaner than they had appeared in his human guise. Leaner but just as hard. His cheekbones slanted below almond shaped eyes the color of clover honey. Long hair, the shade of summer wheat, was gathered at the nape of his neck. His ears were delicately, subtly, pointed. Even his clothes were different. He now wore black silks bloused at the wrists and ankles in place of the brown leather of the illusion.

He waited, regarding her with his cat-like gaze.

Saeun swallowed hard. He was beautiful. Other. But beautiful, nevertheless.
“
Thank you.
”

Valender smiled, revealing sharply pointed canines. They gave him a feral look.
“
Are you less afraid now?
”

Saeun considered the stories she’d been told. None of them seemed to apply to the person standing in front of her.
“
Yes.
”

“
Good. I’ll tell the others not to bother with the glamour then. Now, will you drop your own illusion?
”

“
I have no glamour!
”

“
But your name is not Synda, is it?
”

Saeun felt herself color. How had he known?
“
No.
”

Valender waited.

“
I am Saeun Lyndsdatter.
”

Valender nodded.
“
Perhaps later you will gift me with the rest of your story. Now, let us be off to the dressmaker.
”

The
gofle
batted feathery eyelashes at her as she took Saeun’s measurements, clearly curious at having a human to fit, and clearly shocked that Valender was not in glamour.

Her escort instructed Cletis, as she was called, to make clothing in both the Elven and human styles, choosing certain fabrics for Saeun and asking her opinion on others. Then the little dressmaker snipped and cut and pinned a cloth pattern before fitting it to her.

Halfway through the process Saeun jumped as a pin jabbed her, but it was Cletis who squealed in pain.
“
Oi! Oi!
”
Cletis shook her feathered fingers. Then she bent to pick up the dropped pin, but she jerked back sharply.
“
Iron! How did that get in here?
”

Valender picked it up with a piece of folded cloth.

Saeun looked at the other pins securing the pattern around her. They were all still silver. Freyr and Freya, she’d done it again!
“
I’m sorry. Are you hurt? I didn’t mean to. When you pricked me it just happened.
”

Valender looked sharply at the
gofle
.
“
You pricked her?
”

“
Oi! My pardon! It was an accident! Forgive me!
”
Cletis wrung her hands and bobbed her head repeatedly.

“
No harm was done,
”
Saeun said.

“
Apparently carelessness is its own reward. Be more cautious in the future.
”
Valender put the folded cloth and the iron pin in his belt pouch.

As he escorted her back to her room, Valender said,
“
The wind still rages, but it will diminish tomorrow. There should be a few clear days before the next storm falls. Do you still wish to leave?
”

Saeun’s heart jumped, but she wasn’t sure if it was with hope or the opposite.
“
You would allow it?
”

“
We have said so.
”

She could go.

“
But then you wouldn’t get the new clothes Cletis is making for you.
”
Valender teased.

Saeun laughed. As if new clothes would divert her. But where would she go? Would the enclave of the Daughters of Freya welcome her? Did she have the right to endanger them by asking their aid? She was a hunted woman. Could she even get to Forsvaremur before the next storm hit?

“
You are welcome to stay for as long as you wish. By spring, those who search will have forgotten you.
”

Gert had died helping her escape. She couldn’t waste her friend’s sacrifice by risking her life recklessly. Treskin and Joori had saved her from Edelstena. Valender had healed her. She owed each of them a debt of honor. A debt she could not repay if she fled.

“
You need not decide immediately. Sleep on it,
”
Valender had said before leaving her outside her room.

Sleep on it
. Saeun stared at the woven branches that formed the ceiling of her
“
room.
”
As if she could sleep. She hardly knew what to make of what she’d seen, and thought, and felt throughout the long, unusual day. She ought to be afraid. Everything she’d been taught as a child told her so. But it was hard to be afraid when offered nothing but kindness. True, the Elves were strange, and their
gofle
servants were stranger, but even eating their food no longer inspired fear.
Maybe that’s a sign of Fey-marking. Maybe I’ll walk off a cliff, unable to recognize the danger
.

How could she decide when she didn’t trust her own mind?

She wished she were back in Quartzholm, snuggled safely in Ragni’s arms, or sitting across from him playing King’s Table. The memory of their last game brought a smile. Had it only been a week ago?

*

“
Prepare for a drubbing,
”
Ragni had said as he set up the board.

Saeun laughed.
“
As I recall, it was you who suffered defeat last time.
”

A smile curled his lips.
“
I wouldn’t call it suffering exactly.
”
From the glint in his eye she knew he wasn’t referring to the game.

“
And this time? What will you forfeit if you lose?
”

“
I’d rather talk about what I’ll get if I win.
”
He grinned.

She looked the question.

“
You. At my mercy.
”

Saeun laughed.
“
You set your prize too low. You’ll have that anyway.
”

“
Nevertheless. And you? What do you want?
”
Ragni asked, his voice suddenly serious.

He was the son of the Kon. What could she ask for that he couldn’t give? But there was really only one thing she wanted.