Oracle: The House War: Book Six (41 page)

“An attack of this nature on Terafin seems almost too small and too random by comparison.” It was an attack that could not have happened had Jay been here. “The Terafin is not in the manse—but great damage could have been done to Terafin—and as a consequence, to Terafin’s various concerns; such damage was not even attempted.

“What we know of the intended victim is that she has been a junior member of the Household Staff for a period of approximately a year, and that she was placed on staff by the
Astari
. What purpose would her death serve?” She looked up at Haval. “We need to think like demons.”

“I will attempt to take no offense at the direction of your final words.”

“None at all was intended. I would say exactly the same to Jarven, were he here.”

“I will not remain in this kitchen if you attempt to cajole Jarven to join your meeting.”

“That was in no way my intent. I am uncertain why, Haval, but I feel your presence here does not compromise our future safety; I cannot be so certain of Jarven.”

“And I have distracted you. A pity. Do please continue.”

“How was the
Astari
apprehended? We must assume that Haerrad gathered the information.”

“That is in error.”

“How so?” Finch intertwined the hands she had placed upon the table’s surface.

“One can assume that Haerrad had the information—although even that is a stretch. Sabienne serves his interests, yes, but she does not move in lockstep with Haerrad.”

“You don’t believe that someone came directly to Sabienne with the information?”

“It is a possibility you must entertain. I think it less likely; Sabienne is far more publicly neutral about the activities of the
Astari
than Haerrad has ever been. If one wished to cause disruption, and one wished that disruption to be certain, it would be better for Haerrad to be the recipient. However, assuming that this is—or was—the case, what does Haerrad have that would induce Sabienne to commit murder?”

“Is this relevant?” Teller asked. He was not as neutral as Haval, but that had never been his way; Finch, who knew him well, knew how much the turn in the conversation had distressed him. But she thought, given Haval, that he would be aware of it as well.

“You would not—any of you—be induced to commit such a murder yourselves.”

Jester lifted a hand. “It wouldn’t take much to persuade me, given the right target.”

“Do not be tiresome. We have some little time before the House Mage presents himself—”

“We may have more time than you think,” Arrendas said. “The House Mage is not famously interested in petty politics, and his disinterest can make him quite difficult to find.”

“Be that as it may. Consider Sabienne’s role and character in this.”

“Your own opinion?”

“I have very little to offer. Sabienne is not one of my clients, and her sphere of influence overlaps my own humble shop very seldom. I am not attempting to distract; I am attempting to map out some small number of avenues that indicate the complexity of the situation. If we are dealing, in truth, with the demonic—and I allow it as a very real possibility—some of the complexity can be set aside.

“If we are not—and again, I allow it as a very real possibility—you set it aside at your peril.”

Finch exhaled. “Very well. If we are looking at external difficulty, what purpose would it serve? Haerrad—or those in his faction—clearly considered the
Astari
a danger to be disposed of. Assume Haerrad’s faction had the information. They did not elect to bring it to the attention of the House Council in Jay’s absence.

“It suits everything I know of Haerrad to attempt to deal with the difficulty himself. He might bring it up in future as a measure of his efficiency at protecting the interests of the House from enemies, even if the enemies are within our own ranks.” She considered this scenario with care. It was the simplest explanation of the first part of Daine’s story.

“If Haerrad had an informant, the informant would be aware of who, precisely, the
Astari
was. If Haerrad’s security measures were entirely his own, he would have the same information, regardless.” Frowning she glanced at Teller, to see a similar frown etched in the corners of his lips.

He lifted his head, and she ceded the table to him. “Everything would make sense except for the butchery. Finding the collapsed corpse of a junior maid would cause distress among the Household Staff—but little of that distress would communicate itself to Haerrad. Except, of course, for the Master of the Household Staff. I would not have heard of the incident had she not arrived in my office looking like murder itself. It is just possible she thought that I might be responsible for the attempt.”

“She’s not that much of an idiot,” Jester said.

“In the absence of The Terafin, the right-kin’s office adopts the responsibilities that would otherwise devolve to the head of the House. She understands the form of hierarchy, and she will follow it if it kills us all. My reaction would probably make clear that I had no hand in—and no knowledge of—Vareena’s death.”

“She didn’t die,” Daine said.

“Yes, apologies. Of the attempted assassination. Haerrad is not a man who is intimidated by the Master of the Household Staff; it would practically be beneath him to address her complaints.”

On this, everyone could agree.

“A more obvious murder could work to the advantage of the
Astari
—but whatever else one can say about Duvari, I don’t believe he would allow his people to be killed simply to cause that kind of difficulty. If Duvari was not the target, we circle around. An obvious murder benefits no one. It certainly doesn’t benefit Haerrad or his faction. Haerrad is therefore not the likely target—this won’t harm him. It won’t come back to him.

“It’s too much of a coincidence that Vareena was poisoned—and dying—when this occurred. Haerrad would not have her killed if he had no proof.”

“Say rather that Sabienne would not have killed her without same,” Finch added. “Haerrad is not a man who feels that the death of a servant has far-reaching consequences.”

Teller obviously concurred. “We are agreed, then, that everything makes political sense up to the poisoning.”

“Haval?”

“Yes. I might quibble with details, but in this, we are of the same mind.”

“I can’t believe,” Finch said, “that the demon was unaware of her status.”

“
Astari
?”

She nodded. “I am almost inclined to believe that the demon itself is some part of Haerrad’s information network—at least in this regard. If Haerrad has somehow become aware of Duvari’s operations here, that would be a blow to Duvari. But if the leak came not from Terafin, but from within the ranks of the
Astari
?”

Silence. Finch found herself watching Haval, which was fair; Haval was watching her. His glance strayed—in a familiar way—to the rest of the occupants of the kitchen, but when it came to rest, it stopped on her. He reminded her, in many ways, of Jarven. Haval, however, had no sense of humor that Finch could discern. Given the things that generally amused Jarven, this was probably for the better.

“The death would then serve two purposes. It is not—in any way—the type of death that sustains the purely political; it engenders fear, and raises questions about the very people who would otherwise be perceived to benefit from the death.”

Haval’s brief nod was encouragement. Finch knew she was old enough—powerful enough—not to require it. Or she should have been.

“But those who
did
benefit from the death—those who might have otherwise caused it—will be stymied. They cannot draw attention to themselves; they cannot be certain that one of their own did not, in fact, commit this crime. The servants found Vareena; they brought you, Daine. I would be extremely surprised if the Master of the Household Staff had not had the room in which she was found cleaned—and everything incriminating burned or otherwise destroyed—the minute Vareena was moved.”

“That doesn’t necessarily aid her, if she wishes to apprehend the person responsible for the death.”

“No. But it means that the panic that might otherwise wash over the House itself will be momentarily contained. Haerrad and his faction will be silent. If this is the case, the death will not reach Duvari’s ears. But if there had been
no
healer, what then?

“Vareena’s body—what remained of it—would be found. It would be seen. Some word, surely, would reach Duvari.”

“Word would reach him regardless of the manner of death.”

Finch, however, was frowning. “Yes. It would. But no matter how pragmatic Duvari is, this death would not be like any other death. Daine?”

He shuddered and closed his eyes. “No.”

“Haval, I have a request to make.”

The clothier smiled. “And that request?”

He already knew what it was, Finch thought. But then again, Jarven might have known as well. “Your sources of information are more diffuse than ours.”

“If you mean the den’s, possibly. If you mean Jarven’s, unlikely.”

“I meant the den’s. I wish to know how many junior servants or minor dignitaries in any of The Ten have likewise perished recently.”

“That is not a small request, ATerafin.”

“No. If this death was aimed above our heads at Duvari, it might serve two purposes. If it is just within Terafin, it implies—heavily—that there are demons within Terafin,
and
that they serve the House interests.”

“Dangerous. Historical examples of butchery exist absent demons.”

“Yes. The second reason we are now waiting upon the House Mage. If there are demons within Terafin and The Terafin is not here, it opens the House to the inspection of the magi and the Mysterium. If the intent is to weaken the House in the absence of its ruler, and to strike at Duvari, this accomplishes both goals.”

“If there is a demon.”

“Given the week we’ve had, Haval, I would be very surprised if no demonic presence was found. I remember Henden,” she added, voice hardening. “And I remember what the demons wanted from us: Fear. Despair. Horror. And we gave it to them because we’re human. I
hated
to react the way they wanted. It felt like a loss.

“But to have no reaction to something like this is, in the end, the greater loss.”

Jester, however, was frowning. He glanced at Daine, whose eyes were still closed.

Finch gestured.

Jester’s hands remained motionless. His expression was unreadable, not because it was as neutral and masklike as Haval’s, but because there was too much in it to easily find one overriding reaction. Jester was thinking and didn’t particularly care for any of the resultant possibilities.

But she knew him well enough—if anyone did—to discern one thing. “Whatever you’re sitting on, share it. There are times to go it alone. This isn’t one of them. Jay’s not here. We have what we had when she went to the South: each other. What I’m afraid we don’t have is a margin for error.”

“The Master of the Household Staff knew.”

“Pardon?”

“She knew that Vareena was
Astari
.”

Truth?

Yes. Truth.

“Teller?”

“She didn’t say as much to me. At all. I think she expected me to have some idea of why Vareena had been attacked. If you’re asking if I agree with Jester, I have to say yes. Yes, I think she did know.”

“She wouldn’t have passed that information to Haerrad.”

Teller shook his head. “She has enormous respect for hierarchy—but so does Barston, and they can’t stand each other. Haerrad has no respect at all for the Master of the Household Staff. She might, if she had the information and was concerned, take it to Iain—but in the end, I doubt she would. The Household Staff is hers. She would take care of the difficulty—by ejecting the servant—on her own. She wouldn’t surrender sovereignty to the House Council where it concerned the Household Staff.”

That was Finch’s read, as well. And Vareena had clearly
not
been ejected. “How did she know?”

Jester shrugged. “The most obvious explanation is that she knew from the start.”

Finch cursed—mostly with her hands. “This is not something we need.”

“There are members of the House who were accepted as Terafin even though they were
Astari
,” Jester pointed out.

“I’m aware of that. If it weren’t for the disaster that befell the Merchants’ Guild, I’d be speaking with one of them now. But having a member of the Royal Trade Commission who only barely keeps rooms in the manse work side-by-side with the
Astari
is in no way equivalent to having the Master of the Household Staff be in league with them—if that’s what you’re suggesting.”

“There is no way that woman is
Astari
,” Jester replied, folding arms across the back of his chair and leaning into them with his chin. “She owes loyalty—obvious, open, unquestionable loyalty—to
Terafin
. Nothing will change that short of her death. Or, you know, everyone else’s, which is probably more likely.”

“But you think she knew.”

“I
know
she knew,” Jester replied. “She told me. Where by ‘told’ I mean bit my head off in cold, crisp fury at the incompetence of our den. Daine, for saving Vareena’s life; me for being enraged by word of her injuries. She made clear that Alowan would have let the girl die.”

Daine was uncharacteristically quiet. Finch expected him to leap to Alowan’s defense; when he didn’t, she accepted Jester’s opinion as truth. It was unsettling, but not beyond belief.

“Daine, what did she say to you?”

Daine swallowed. “She said that only with very, very careful maneuvering could we avoid being plunged into a war we could not win. And she told me never to interfere with the Household Staff again without her direct permission.” He hesitated, and then added, “Even Vareena found her terrifying.”

“That’s the first sensible thing I’ve heard about Vareena.” Finch wanted to let her hair down—literally. The more pronounced, expensive netting was pulled too tight, and she was suffering predictable end-of-day headaches. “Does it matter if we think she hired Vareena strongly suspecting her affiliations? Does it change the parameters of the issue we’re facing in any way?”