Unguilded (31 page)

“What in Gyda’s name have these people done to themselves?” she whispered in Reo’s ear. “They are absolutely covered in magic.”

“Really?” Reo said. “Tell me who has the most spells.”

“The woman in the ghastly yellow-green silk dress,” Kara said. “There is so much mage mist around her face that I can’t even see what she looks like.”

“Ah, Donna Rualla,” Reo said. “She’s the wife of the Warrior Guild Secundus. She’s never been known as a great beauty, but I have heard that lately she’s become obsessed with looking younger. Perhaps she’s bought some spells to help?”

“You could be right,” Kara said. She scanned the crowd. Many of the older women had the same pale pink mage mist swirling about their heads.

“They’ve all been spelled by the same Mage.” Kara spotted pink wisps of mist trailing behind a woman. “That must be her.” The woman stopped, and a cloak was draped over her shoulders. When she lowered her head to allow her hood to be pulled over her hair, Kara found herself staring directly into the familiar eyes of Noula, her father’s not-quite wife from Villa Larona.

“Step in front of me,” she urged Reo. “Now.” She grabbed his arm, and he swung around until he blocked her view. “Someone who knows me is here.”

Reo bent to whisper in her ear. “Which way should we go?”

“Behind me.”

Keeping his body between her and Noula, Reo turned her around and maneuvered them through the crowd towards a hallway. Once in the hallway he shut the door.

After the noise of the crowd, Kara realized that her breathing was ragged and shallow. Of all people, why Noula?

“Do I need to worry?” Reo asked softly.

“No, I don’t think so,” Kara said. “I don’t think she got a good look at me. I think she was here to attend the Mage.”

“She is Server Guild then?”

“No,” Kara replied. She wished Noula was Server Guild, then she’d have taken an oath of silence. Servers did not gossip, ever. “She’s Mage Guild, but without magic. She could be assigned many duties.”

“If she recognized you, will she tell anyone?” Reo asked.

“I doubt she has anyone to tell,” Kara said.

She felt Reo relax and wondered what he would have done if she’d answered that Noula was a threat. Would Noula have mysteriously died in the next few days?

“Good,” Reo said. “I’ll take you back to your rooms. We’ve made our debut, and leaving early may even increase the curiosity about us.”

ARABELLA FROWNED AND
stopped. Noula. What was she doing here? The other woman hid her face until Castio had passed her.

Arabella waited just inside the doors to the council chamber until the room was empty. Then she stepped into the hallway.

“This better be important,” Arabella whispered to Noula.

Noula clutched her hands together and nodded. “It is, Master Mage, but I want a promise.”

“You want to negotiate with me?” Did Noula know what a dangerous game she was playing? “What is it you want?”

“I want to see my son,” Noula said. “You told me you’d arrange, it but you haven’t, even though I’ve done everything you’ve asked of me for weeks.”

Arabella sighed. “I am tired of hearing you complain about it. All right.” She met Noula’s eyes, and the other woman flinched and looked away. “But if your news is not sufficiently important, both you and your son will regret it.”

Noula paled, but she lifted her eyes to Arabella’s and nodded.

“Come with me,” Arabella said.

“
YOU ARE RISKING
much for so little,” Arabella said. They were sitting in her workroom—at least
she
was sitting; Noula stood in front of her. She’d taken all precautions with this room—just as Rorik had done with his own workroom— and she was confident that Noula’s news would not be overheard.

“I’d risk my life to see my son,” Noula said.

“And so you have,” Arabella replied. “And risked his as well. Tell me.”

“Kara Fonti is in Rillidi.”

“What? Are you sure?” The girl was dead—Valerio had confirmed that his spell had been activated, and Mason Guild reported that she fell into Broken Burro Gorge.

“She’s a little older,” Noula said. “And she was dressed very fine, but I had that girl in my house for eight years. It was her.”

“Where did you see her?”

“I attended Mage Etta at Warrior Guild last night,” Noula said. “For Founders Day. Kara was there, I saw her as we were leaving.”

“Do you know why she was there?” Arabella gripped the arms of the chair she was sitting in. Alive! And why Warrior Guild?

“I only saw her for a moment.” Noula paused. “She recognized me too. She left the room quickly in the company of a man.”

“You may go,” Arabella said. If the girl had left because she’d seen Noula, then it must be her. Had she become the bedmate of a Warrior? Is that who she’d been with? She wasn’t Arabella’s equal, but the girl was pretty enough.

She looked up. “You’re still here,” she said to Noula. “Why?”

“My son,” Noula said. “When can I see him?”

“When I have proof that you really did see Kara. Now go.”

Alive—how was that possible? Because even though she’d told Noula she needed proof—deep down she knew that Kara Fonti was alive. And at Warrior Guild!

She took a deep, steadying breath. She should tell Valerio. It was his spell that failed, after all, he would want to know. And then he could teach
her
to create a killing spell.
She
wouldn’t fail.

He would not like being told that he’d been unsuccessful in stopping the girl—again—nor would he like anyone knowing of his failure. Could it turn him against her? Would he withhold his support of her as she rose through the council? Or . . . she sucked in a breath. Would he see this as enough of a threat to his reputation that he had to silence her permanently?

She’d grown to know Valerio Valendi since their trip to Larona—enough to know that if she threatened his plans, he would not hesitate to kill her. No, she would have to take care of this herself—make sure the girl died—herself.

She smiled. Kara Fonti had been seen within Warrior Guild’s walls—she would have Warrior Guild do her work for her. Rorik would know who their best Assassin was.

A WEEK LATER,
Kara still wondered about Noula. Why was she in Rillidi? Had she and Banio Fonti parted ways? It was what her mother had thought would happen. And what about Osten—was he in Villa Larona with Papa, or was he here with Noula?

She’d felt the sting of Noula’s bitterness too many times to feel sorry for her, but Osten was just a little boy. He had little chance of having magic, so she hoped Mage Guild had let him stay in Larona—life there would be far kinder to him than Rillidi would be, though his own father would find him of no use.

Every few days Reo came to test her memory of the Founders Day celebration. The first few times she’d tried, really she had, but the fourth time he’d asked her to describe every non-Mage who’d been spelled, she exploded with frustration.

“I told you all this already! I don’t see the point in going over it again.”

She was sitting on the sofa. Reo perched calmly in front of her on a long low table, and Chal lounged in a chair off to her left, a smirk on his face.

“And don’t you laugh,” she said and glared at the Seyoyan. “It’s not funny.”

“It is to me,” Chal said. “He did the same thing to me when I first came to work with him.”

“Chal.”

Reo spoke so softly that even Kara, sitting close to him, barely heard. But Chal nodded and left the room. She glared at him as he left.

“Better?” Reo asked in that soft voice.

Kara nodded. “I still don’t see the point.”

“The point,” Reo said and slid into the seat beside her, “is to see if you remember anything differently as time goes by. For instance, the first time you described Warrior Guild Secundus and Donna Rualla, you only mentioned that
she
was covered in mage mist. Pale pink you said. Yesterday you remembered that he also had a few strands of mist, and that it was a totally different colour.”

“You’re right,” Kara said. “It was a dirty brown colour for him. It was on his left shoulder. Is that significant?”

Reo shrugged and smiled. “Significant, yes, important, who knows? What it tells me is that both husband and wife pay for magic—but they deal with different Mages. What do you make of that?”

“Well,” Kara said. “Each of them must have access to sizable amounts of guilders. Mages are expensive. It also makes me wonder if Warrior Guild Secundus Rualla knows his wife is spending on a Mage. If she’s doing it to keep herself looking young, she may not want him to know.”

“Yes, that was my thought also. I also wonder if she’s trying to stay young for her husband or if she’s taken a younger lover.”

“Would she dare?” Kara asked. “Her husband is very powerful.”

Reo laughed. “That would make her even more attractive to some of my colleagues,” he said. “To seduce the wife of the Guild Secundus? That Assassin would be remembered for a very long time.”

“Is that important?” Kara asked. “To be remembered?” She tried to read his expression, but he faced away from her, gazing out the window.

What would it be like to know that you would probably only live a few more years? Would it make you reckless, or would you become more cautious?

“For some,” Reo eventually said. “We are separate even within the guild, and there are only a handful of years to build a reputation. Once we start our training, we are dead to our families. It’s very easy to die unnoticed when you’re an Assassin. Any memory left behind is better than being forgotten.”

His words were bitter and his tone harsh, but instead of scaring her, Kara felt relief. Reo had feelings after all. She placed her hand on his arm. His muscles tensed up under her hand, then relaxed.

“That’s the real reason why you want my help,” she said. “You don’t want to be unnoticed anymore, to be just another Assassin who died young.”

Reo pulled his arm out from under her hand and ran his hand through his hair. Then he grinned at her.

“There are times when being unnoticed is very useful,” he said. He sighed and relaxed into the sofa.

“That I understand,” Kara replied. “I wish I’d not been noticed that day in Shanty Town.”

“Do you?”

She met his eyes and nodded solemnly. “My life would have been much simpler,” she said.

“But boring,” Reo replied. “You’re too young to settle for boring. Why did you run away from your guild if not to escape the boring, predictable future?”

Because my mother urged me to leave and now I believe she simply wanted me out of the way—either dead or in another country.

“I didn’t run from boring,” Kara replied. “I ran from having no choice. Right now I’d choose safe, stable, boring.”

Reo eyed her for a long moment. A small smile twitched at his lips. “You would choose boring, would you?”

Reo leaned towards her, and her heart sped up. His eyes darkened and half-closed.

“Choose boring, Kara.” His breath feathered the hair around her ears.

His mouth barely touched her neck, but she felt his heat spread from his lips along her neck until her skin tingled all over.

“Have I told you how exquisitely beautiful you are?”

Warm lips trailed down her neck to her shoulder, and all she could do was lean into him. Why was she letting him kiss her like this? Why didn’t she stop him?

Because she felt safe. Reo wanted her,
needed
her alive and well. He wouldn’t hurt her.

Gently, he cupped her chin and turned her head to face him. He waited until she lifted her eyes to his. Their gaze locked for a few moments, and then he smiled.

“I knew you wouldn’t choose boring.” Then his lips met hers, and she was lost in a haze of warmth and want and desire.

She’d never really been kissed before, not by a man. His stubbled cheek was rough against her skin, and his mouth was sure and confident against hers and oh so different from the few times a boy in her villa had tried to kiss her. Reo looped one arm around her waist and pulled her onto his lap without breaking the kiss. She leaned into his shoulder, eyes closed, marveling at the heat that was coursing through her. She opened her eyes and touched his face, feeling his smile with both her lips and her hand. She pulled back and stared into his eyes for a moment before she smiled at him.

She felt Reo’s low laughter along the length of her body where she was pressed against him.

“You are more than expected, Kara,” he said. Then he bent his head to kiss her again, and she sank deeper into him.

“Are you sure?” Reo asked.

“Yes,” Kara said. She lifted her arms and slowly started to pull the pins from her hair. Soon her hair hung past her shoulders. She eased off his lap, gently pushed him until he was flat on the sofa, and then she lay on top of him.

Reo wrapped his arms around her, and she dropped her lips to his. His hands fumbled at her back, and then she felt him tug, hard. Fabric ripped, and she heard the soft skitter of buttons hitting the stone floor.