Unguilded (40 page)

“Yes.”

He ducked through the doorway, closing the door behind him, and crossed the small space to stand in front of her.

“How are you?” he asked.

“Fine,” she replied. The blanket slipped a little, and she pulled it back up. “A little cold still.”

“That should pass soon.” Reo sat down on the bunk beside her.

For a moment she thought he would wrap his arms around her, but then he dropped his hands to his thighs and looked away.

“Are we safe?” Kara asked. “How’s your leg?”

Reo stretched his left leg out. “Good.” He met her gaze. “We’re safer than I’d hoped. The Seyoyan who plucked us from the bay is in charge.”

“Is he the ship’s captain?”

“No, but Javan Losi can see magic.”

“Like Chal,” Kara said.

“Like Chal,” Reo agreed. “That talent is a little more rare and important than I knew.”

“Chal kept things from you.”

“So it seems.” Reo gave her a crooked smile. “But I kept things from him as well.”

She laughed. Of course he had. Reo didn’t trust his own guild, of course he wouldn’t trust a Seyoyan. For the first time since they’d been pulled from the water, she felt as though they might actually have a real chance to be safe.

“What did Javan Losi have to say about me?”

“Not very much,” Reo said. “I think he’s going to ask you himself. We’re to wait here for something to eat and drink, and then he’ll come see us.”

“Are we prisoners?”

“Not exactly,” Reo said. “I think Javan Losi has already decided that he will help us. I think he wants as few witnesses to our rescue as possible because they’ll have to answer Mage Guild’s questions.”

“Mage Guild
will
ask them,” Kara said. Her mother would not give up so easily.

“The Mage Guild Secundus was killed,” Reo said softly. “They will ask.”

She shuddered and huddled into her blanket. She hadn’t meant to kill Valerio Valendi, she’d only been protecting Reo, but he was dead, and by her hand. Mage Guild would put all of their considerable power behind the search for Valendi’s killer.

“Maybe I should go to Seyoya,” she mused out loud.

“If that’s what you want, then we can ask the Seyoyans,” Reo replied in a tight voice.

When she looked over at him, he was staring down at his bare feet.

“It’s not what I want,” she said. “But it may be the best way to stay alive.”

Reo gazed into her eyes. “Tell me what you want, and I’ll do my best to make it happen. I owe you so much, Kara, I’ve done you so many wrongs, let me try to make things right.”

Reo’s eyes held such sorrow and regret that she found she couldn’t look away. She took a deep breath.

“I want what I’ve always wanted. A place I can call home with people who I consider family. For me that’s Old Rillidi with Santos and Vook and Pilo and the rest of them.”

Reo smiled and squeezed her shoulder beneath the blanket. “Then that’s what I’ll get for you,” he said.

She frowned and shook her head. How was that possible when she’d killed the Mage Guild Secundus?

FOOD ARRIVED—A
spicy fish soup that warmed her to her toes and dry journey bread that she and Reo soaked in the soup to soften. After eating, her eyes drooped. She barely noticed when Reo took her mug from her and helped her stretch out on the bunk.

She woke to murmurs. She opened her eyes and yawned, covering her mouth with the blanket. Reo’s eyes darted in her direction, and his mouth twitched in a soft smile.

“Ah, you are awake.”

Again the Seyoyan spoke Tregellan. He smiled broadly at her, his light blue eyes contrasting with his dark skin. His white hair was cropped short, and a gold chain dangled from his right earlobe.

“I hope you are comfortable.”

He took a step towards her, but Reo blocked his path. The Seyoyan shook his head.

“Where are my manners? I am Javan Losi, at your service.” He bowed, and Kara pulled herself up to a sitting position.

“Javan Losi,” she repeated. “Hello,” she said in Seyoyan. “I am Kara, and I owe you a great deal of thanks.”

“In Tregellan please,” Javan said. “Most of the crew does not speak it.”

He glanced at Reo, who smiled, a tight, warning smile, and stepped aside. Javan crossed the floor to stand by the bunk.

“The fewer who know you are here the better.”

“Didn’t they see me come aboard?” Kara asked.

“They saw someone, yes,” Javan said. “We will tell them it was the Assassin.”

“Yes,” Reo agreed. “That should work.” He looked at her. “Warrior Guild will protect me. I will tell them that it was a commission.” Reo smiled slowly. “Let Mage Guild prove it wasn’t.”

“My mother knows we came aboard your ship,” Kara said. “She won’t stop looking for me.”

“No, she won’t,” Reo agreed. “But Mage Guild will, if they believe you are dead.” He looked at Javan. “If the Seyoyans all swear that only I came aboard and I swear that you drowned, Mage Guild will have to stop their search.”

“But you must make it worth my while,” Javan said. “Lying to Mages carries considerable risk.”

“You would have the satisfaction of knowing that you had stolen something of great value from Mage Guild,” Kara said. “Would that not be a great reward?”

Javan’s blond eyebrows arched up, and he smiled. “And what would I have helped to steal from them?”

“Me,” Kara said. “I’m Mage Guild born, but I ran away. They want me back. The guild doesn’t understand what I am, what I can do, but my mother, Arabella Fonti, does.”

“And what is it that you can do?” Javan asked.

“I see magic.” Kara nodded at him. “Like you. But I can also manipulate it. I can divert it, as you saw, I can send it back to its source, as Mage Guild Secundus discovered too late—and I can
unmake
spells.”

“Unmake spells?” Javan repeated. “How?”

“It depends on the spell,” Kara said. She wasn’t about to admit she didn’t understand her talent, not with so much at stake. “Some I simply touch and they disappear, others I need to unwind slowly.” She looked up at Javan and then over at Reo. “Given enough time, I think I could unmake Mage Guild Island.”

Javan sucked in his breath. Slowly a smile spread across his face. “Kara, daughter of Arabella Fonti, you are indeed a worthwhile prize to be stolen from Mage Guild. I will help. My crew will be saddened to hear that a young woman perished before we could reach her, that the Assassin was the only one we were able to pull from the sea.”

“Mage Guild will use magic to question them,” Reo said. “Will they be able to resist?”

“No, of course not,” Javan said. “This is why the few men who know she is aboard will leave the ship as soon as possible. As for me, I will be able to dodge the spells, and thus my lie will seem like truth.” He regarded Reo. “Will
you
be able to resist?”

“No,” Reo said. “I will make sure that they do not question me.” He looked directly at Kara. “I promised that you would be safe no matter the cost to me. If they come for me, I will kill myself.”

Kara frowned. “Gyda! Will you stop staying things like that? We’ll get a spell to counteract anything Mage Guild uses on you. Besides, it would look suspicious if you died right before being questioned.” She glared at Reo.

He blushed and ducked his head.

“I want to stay dead this time.”

“I doubt any Mages will be willing to go against their guild so directly,” Javan said. His amused gaze swept between Kara and Reo. “And you say that you have been dead before.”

“Yes,” Kara said. “Until a few days ago Mage Guild and my mother thought I was dead.” She tugged on the blanket. “And all of us were very happy with that situation.”

“I see,” Javan said.

He nodded his head, but Kara could still see questions in his eyes.

“But that still doesn’t help you buy or coerce a Mage to go against their guild.”

“Then we won’t ask anyone in the guild,” Kara replied. “Can you take us to Old Rillidi? There’s an old manor house at the northeast tip.” She smiled at Reo. “Santos will help.”

Reo nodded, and his shoulders relaxed.

JAVAN LEFT TO
give his crew instructions, and Kara sat on the bunk, leaning against the wall. Reo stood by the door, his body stiff, as though he was expecting her to order him out of the room.

They would leave the ship after dark, Javan had said. In just a few hours, she would be back on Old Rillidi Island with Santos, Pilo, and Vook. Would they be happy to see her? Would she be welcome at the little cabin? After months of living in her own suite of rooms on Warrior Guild Island, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to share that small space with all the children.

“I forgive you,” she said.

Reo shrugged. “I have not forgiven myself.”

“I’m at fault as well,” Kara said. “I should have told you who my mother was.” She shook her head. “Especially after Noula saw me at Founders Day.”

“It is
not
your fault,” Reo said, his eyes boring into hers. “It was my doing.”

“Why did you do it?” Kara asked softly. “Why did you take me to see the woman who wanted you to kill me?”

Reo ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “I was not thinking clearly,” he said finally, staring at the floor. “I was angry—
furious
—and I reacted.” He smiled ruefully. “Assassins are taught to perform without emotion because emotions get in the way of reason, as I found out. Somehow I thought that taking you to see the woman who wanted you dead would prove how much you needed me.”

“Because I refused to go along with your plans,” Kara said.

“Yes. But you also refused
me
.” Reo met her eyes and looked quickly away. “I told myself that bedding you was necessary in order to reinforce our story and keep us both safe. But the truth is I desperately wanted you. You were willing to do anything within your power to keep those you care about safe. I’ve never in my life had anyone willing to fight for me in that way. I wanted that for myself.” He lifted his gaze to hers. “I am sorry.”

Kara was the first to look away. The yearning in Reo’s eyes was disconcerting. Was that because she had wanted what he had offered that night? Did she still want it?

“I know you’re sorry,” she said. “And I did
do anything within my power
to keep you safe.” She met his eyes again. “I killed a man for you.”

His face froze, and he hurried to her side.

“Gyda,” he said. He sat down on the bunk and wrapped her in his arms. “I forgot. And you are not used to killing.”

Kara leaned into him and closed her eyes. “I can still see him,” she said. “I can still
smell
him.” Would she always be haunted by the smell of burnt flesh? A part of her wished she’d listened to Reo and not looked, even though she felt it was necessary to acknowledge what she had done.

“It’s not something you forget,” Reo murmured. “I still remember the first man I killed. All Assassins do. At least all the ones I’ve talked to.”

“I don’t want to remember,” she said. “I want it out of my head. He was my mother’s lover—the father of my unborn half brother or sister.”

“And he was trying to kill us,” Reo said. “You saved me, saved us both.”

“I know,” Kara said. “But I hadn’t meant to kill him.”

“You reacted,” Reo said. “And that was a good thing for us.”

“If you hadn’t charged him, I wouldn’t have had to react,” Kara said.

“Perhaps we’d both be dead,” Reo replied calmly. “Or I would be dead, and you would be a prisoner.”

She shivered. The man who had cursed Santos would have kept her captive and forced her to bear his children—unless her mother killed her out of jealousy.

“I’ll always remember?” Kara whispered.

“That is not a bad thing,” Reo said.

She opened her eyes and looked up into his gaze.

“Taking another’s life should not be a casual act, there should always be a cost.”

“Even for an Assassin?” she asked.

“Even for an Assassin.”

She closed her eyes again and let the steady beat of Reo’s heart lull her to sleep.

ARABELLA WORRIED THAT
it had been too easy. Rorik had believed her—even defended her against other council members who had asked a few too many questions. Like why an Assassin was even on Mage Guild Island.

She stepped into the tub and let the warm water seep into her. She sighed and sank lower.

Rorik had insisted that she take care of herself. She’d objected of course, but the Primus had insisted. She wasn’t going to against his wishes—at least not yet.