Shadow Over Kiriath (39 page)
She ignored him, glaring now at Abramm, while Trap marveled that a woman so beautiful could become so thoroughly repulsive in but a few moments. Then, instead of erupting into more fireworks, Briellen’s anger crumpled into dismay. Her lips trembled and her eyes filled with tears as the harridan transformed into a crushed little girl. She turned away without ever looking at Trap, jerking her elbow out of his reach as if she expected he might clasp it to help her on her way, and strode for the door.
He followed, exchanging the briefest of glances with Madeleine as he strode past her. The princess walked briskly down the gleaming corridors, and he had to strain to keep up with her, glimpsing courtiers and servants hiding behind columns and in window embrasures, and ducking out of sight into side corridors. The only sounds were that of her skirts hissing, her heels snapping across the marble, and the counter rhythm of his own boots.
Then to his everlasting gratitude, he heard the clatter of footsteps behind him, rapidly catching up. Maddie came abreast of him, then stepped ahead to place herself between him and the First Daughter.Wordlessly they trooped up the stairs to the Ivory Apartments on the second floor of the east wing.
Trap left them at the door, breathing a quiet sigh of relief as he turned back and headed down the stairs. Prince Leyton passed him on his way up. The Chesedhan flashed him a tight look that could have been inquiry or anger, but was definitely awkward. They might have spoken had not that screaming shrew voice, muffled by at least one door, suddenly echoed again through the marbled hall.
————
Maddie had never been happier to see her brother walk through the door in all her life, for immediately, Briellen shifted her ire from her sister to him.
“Where have you been?” she screamed. “This has been the most horrible day of my life and where
were
you?”
Maddie had never seen her so upset. She alternated between hysterical crying and fomenting rage, going on and on about Abramm and what a heartless monster he was. “How could he have done this to me? Bad enough I have to marry him. At least the wedding could have been special. Now he’s ruined it. For nothing.”
She threw herself into a chair and buried her face in her hands. “I will never be able to show my face in court again.”
“Oh, Bree, come now.” He knelt beside her and wrapped his arm about her shoulders. “It’s not as bad as all that.”
“It is. We should just leave. He hates me! He must, to have humiliated me like this!” Then the tears gave way to fury again, her back stiffening as she pulled away and turned to glare at him. “You must put things to right. He cannot be allowed to talk to me like that!”
“Oh,” Maddie said dryly, “but you can shriek at him like a madwoman with all his courtiers looking on? He arrested Father Bonafil for much less.”
“I wasn’t shrieking. I never shriek. I was being forceful.”
But Maddie had turned to address their brother. “She was completely out of control, Leyton. If you ask me, Abramm showed remarkable restraint.”
“Restraint!” Briellen squeaked.
“You called him a hideous monster. Screamed at him to his face. Struck at his most vulnerable spots without the least bit of remorse and certainly no idea of how hurtful you were being.”
“How hurtful
I
was being?”
“Those words will not be easily forgotten. By anyone, least of all him.”
“I’m sure he’s forgotten them already. It’s obvious he cares nothing for me.”
Maddie frowned at her, trying to understand what had set all this off. It couldn’t be the simple inconvenience of having left the city to flee a possible invasion . . . she’d made that choice herself and packed lightly. The wedding was barely affected. Perhaps it was getting near the time for her monthly bleeding. She had always been especially difficult right before that. Maddie drew a deep breath. “Well, even if you have no respect for him as a man—”
“I don’t and I never will!”
“—you should at least respect his office. And be thankful he called it exhaustion and took half the blame.”
“He should have taken all of it. And to dismiss me like that is inexcusable!”
Leyton looked from one to the other, and from the expression on his face, Maddie knew he must have heard other reports before he’d come. Now he frowned at Briellen. “I’m sorry this has happened, but if Abramm has credited your behavior to exhaustion, I believe he is right.”
“I will not leave this go, Leyt.”
He frowned at her. “What is wrong with you? Are you
trying
to destroy this treaty?”
Briellen flashed a nasty glance at Madeleine. “Perhaps you should ask
her
.”
“Bree, she is not responsible for those rumors.”
“No? Why don’t you ask her about how she gave him her token before he faced the morwhol? Why don’t you ask her when’s the last time she’s been to his study? The last time she’s found herself in his arms?” She glared at Maddie. “Maybe only yesterday?”
Maddie stared in blank-minded shock.
How did she know? There was no one there!
But there must have been. Because obviously she did know.
Leyton rolled his eyes in exasperation. “As well as ask you about the love letters you’re exchanging with Lord Geoffrey. It’s all nonsense. Abramm is not a bad man. From what I’ve seen, he has treated you kindly and with respect.”
“He’s cold and stuffy and lacks all sense of humor. More than that, he’s hideous! Those scars! How do you expect me to fulfill my marital duties when I can hardly bear to look at him, let alone have him touch me?”
“You’re being ridiculous.”
“And
you’re
giving me a death sentence by forcing me to marry him.”
“Well, we all sacrifice as we have opportunity for the good of the realm. Isn’t that what you wanted? And we need this alliance.”
“You said we only needed the regalia—”
“I did
not
say that. I said we might be able to use them.”
She turned away from him. “Oh, just go, both of you!”
But before either of them could move, she whirled on Maddie again. “I know what you’re doing. On the road today, Leona told me everything.”
“Briellen, please—”
“What? Are you going to deny it all again? Tell me that you still haven’t been to his study since I arrived?” Briellen shook her head with a look of disgust. “You’re a terrible liar, Mad.”
“Eidon’s mercy, Bree. I’ve done
nothing
.”
“Nothing? You’ve made him fall in love with you, and you call it nothing?”
Maddie gaped at her, shocked out of the ability to find her tongue.
“Oh, and there you stand looking stunned, as if you haven’t the faintest notion what I’m talking about.” Briellen’s expression turned abruptly feral. “Get out of my sight, you little slut! I never want to see you again!” With that she turned away and flung herself back onto the chair.
Maddie returned to her own rooms by the back route, too upset to risk meeting anyone who might speak to her. Her emotions felt as if they’d been riding on a ship caught in ferocious seas, first climbing high to balance on a pinnacle of wonder, then dropping fast and deep into a dark trough of looming disaster.
“You’ve made him fall in love with you.”
Her first inkling of his true feelings had come with that incident in his chambers yesterday, when she’d stood there in his arms, breathless and lightheaded as he’d stroked her hair; when she’d let him tip her face up to meet his searing blue eyes. His fingers had sparked little tingles of Light as they traveled up her cheek and across her nose, while she’d wondered if she’d fallen into another dream.
And then he’d wished she’d not been born Second Daughter. She thought he was going to kiss her, and she’d wanted him to, even as another part of her shrieked for her to flee before all was lost.
As if it weren’t already.
They’d been interrupted, of course, and she had fled, though obviously not in time. Fled out to a leafy bower in the tea garden where she could sit unseen to touch her face where he had touched it and dream of his lips upon hers . . . even as she remonstrated with herself for indulging in such insanity. What could possibly come of such a thing but disaster and heartache? Was she ready to cast all her integrity aside and take the roll of mistress? In direct violation of Eidon’s very clear commands? More than that, was he? No. Never.
She knew him that well, at least.
But it took her a long while to talk herself out of her craziness, vowing never to let herself get into a situation like that with him again. Then the warning of a possible Esurhite attack had come and she’d actually felt relief, knowing he would be occupied and she’d have no reason to interact with him. Except there’d been no Esurhite attack, it had been Katahn ul Manus, whom she’d heard about and read about for years. Here, in the flesh, the former owner of the White Pretender.
She’d fought with herself over going to meet him, for surely it meant an encounter with the king. But it was in public, and she’d had good reason to ignore Abramm as she focused on Katahn, so it had not gone badly. But then came the disastrous reception, which she was now kicking herself for suggesting. Blackwell had claimed the king wanted the ballad of the White Pretender to be performed in Katahn’s honor, but no one was in town who could do it. In retrospect she could not imagine what she’d been thinking when she’d agreed. Was it a desire to see the Gamer’s response? To please the king? To prove to herself she was completely composed and able to do whatever duty required? Or was there something deeper and more powerful at work—a hidden, perverse desire to elaborate on the song the two of them had begun the day before in his study with the bedgown token.
Whatever the reason, she had agreed, then got such a case of stage fright she feared she’d be unable to sing at all. But when the song began, when the melody had caught her and the story unfolded and she’d given herself over to it, she had inadvertently tapped into her own deepest longing. In so doing, she’d bared her soul to all of them, and worse, to him. Before she knew it, her eyes had come up and she saw only Abramm, who stared back at her as one enspelled.
The degree to which the courtiers had responded afterward surprised her almost as much as Abramm’s impassivity. Receiving from him naught but that one expressionless nod of commendation, she might have thought he’d hated it—if she hadn’t known him as well as she did. That degree of stoicism usually meant he’d been deeply stirred.
Which was perhaps why Briellen’s accusation had hit her so hard.
“You’ve made him fall in love with you.”
She grew aware of the familiar surroundings of her quarters as if awakening from unconsciousness. One moment she had been hurrying down a dark, narrow stair and the next standing in the middle of her sitting room. Liza hovered nearby, watching her warily, and when at last Maddie looked up, dared to ask, “Are you well, milady?”
“No, Liza. I’m really not.”
“But I heard about yer singin’ fer the court and all. Heard it was wonderful. Like the luima themselves, they’re sayin’.”
Maddie stared at her, hearing the words but not really registering them.
She’s talking about that blasted song. How does she know? She wasn’t there. Does all the world know?
“Ever’one’s talkin’ of it, milady,” Liza went on as if she’d heard her question. “Of what a sweet voice ye have. Touched by the Light, they’re sayin’. Wonderin’ why ye haven’t sung more.”
With an inward groan Maddie walked from the sitting room toward her small bedchamber. Before she got there her attention was snagged by the book sitting on her desk. It was the one Byron Blackwell had returned to her after her ill-fated tea with Bree. She frowned now and touched her fingers to its title.
I thought I put this back with the others. . . .
Or had she brought it back up as part of the packing she’d started yesterday for possible evacuation? Surely not. For though she had planned to bring some of the books if she went, she wouldn’t have picked this one. Having discovered the hidden library, she no longer needed it. And in any case, she’d already had Philip take all those books back to the royal library.
Still frowning, she picked it up. Things must not have been as she remembered, though, or it wouldn’t be here.
I should put it back with the others
. But that would mean a trip through the palace, and she’d have to pass by the Crimson Reception Hall to get there.
Though I could take the back way
. Still there was no reason to return it right now. Better to wait until morning, then slip down before people were awake.
On the other hand, going now would give her a good excuse to be gone. She could take it back and maybe even stay to get in a few more hours of work. Already she was feeling the restless urge to flee, birthed by the expectation of hearing Leyton’s knock on her door at any moment. She’d put him off right after Briellen had banished them from her quarters, too upset to answer his questions just then. He was probably counting the minutes, waiting for her to calm down before he approached her again.
Decision crystallized and she turned back to Liza. “Bring me your cloak.”
Her maid stared at her in surprise, then hurried to her tiny room for her gray woolen cloak. As Maddie swirled it over her own shoulders, Liza’s eyes widened. “Ye be wearin’ it, milady?”
“Aye, and you’re not to speak a word of this to anyone. I’ll be back later.
If Leyton comes, tell him you haven’t seen me.”
“Aye, miss.”
Maddie pulled the cowl over her head, picked up the book, and slipped out the door, hoping that if the palace “eyes” could mistake Philip Meridon for herself, perhaps the reverse would be true, as well.
She was halfway to the royal library when it dawned on her that if Leyton didn’t find her in her quarters, he’d guess immediately where she’d go. Suddenly certain he was already there, she slowed to a stop. He’d probably arrived at her quarters shortly after she’d left. She looked down at the book, trying to think what to do next and knowing she was more rattled than she wanted to admit.
Maybe I should just go back to my rooms and go to bed
.
