Fortune and Fate (Twelve Houses) (75 page)

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Authors: Sharon Shinn

BOOK: Fortune and Fate (Twelve Houses)
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Wen sighed. “She is. I rather like her, but I couldn’t tell you why.”
 
 
Justin snorted. “Because you like battered people that you have to protect.”
 
 
She punched him on the arm, then turned back to Senneth. “What about Lindy?”
 
 
Senneth looked grave. “An excellent question. Was she privy to her mother’s scheme? Unless she’s a better actress than
I
ever was at seventeen, no. When she first realized what was happening—”
 
 
“You mean, when the shrubbery caught on fire as her mother ran for her life?” Justin asked politely.
 
 
“Yes—she looked utterly stunned. She sank to a chair and kept saying, ‘No. That can’t be right. No.’ She didn’t try to make excuses. She didn’t try to defend her mother or claim her own innocence. She just sat there. And then she started to cry. Serephette was out of the room by this time, but Jasper brought her some tea. I didn’t hear what he said to her. It’s a tangle, though. How can we prove her guilt or innocence one way or the other? And, Bright Mother burn me, even if she had no part in it at all—her life is essentially ruined.”
 
 
“We could send her to Ghosenhall and have Cammon read her,” Justin suggested.
 
 
“If he ever gets to Ghosenhall himself,” Senneth said gloomily. Wen didn’t understand why that was funny, but Justin laughed.
 
 
“We can ask Bryce,” Wen said quietly. “I don’t know if he’s as good as Cammon at telling truths from lies, but he’s pretty accurate at reading people’s intentions.” With all her heart, she hoped Bryce would be able to tell them that Lindy was absolutely innocent. And not entirely for Karryn’s sake. Wen had never particularly liked Lindy, but she didn’t want to think that someone so young could be so wicked, so ambitious, so full of cunning and deceit. She wanted to think such depravity could only accrue after a long and disappointed life.
 
 
Justin glanced around. “So what’s left to do here?”
 
 
“We must make arrangements to send Demaray and her hired soldiers to Ghosenhall for Amalie’s disposition,” Wen said. “But unless the two of you want to act as their guards for that trip—”
 
 
“No,” Senneth said at once.
 
 
“Then I don’t think you have any more responsibilities here. You might say good-bye to Karryn, of course.”
 
 
Justin reached over to ruffle her hair, but Wen jerked back and glared at him. “And make our good-byes to
you
,” he said. “Again.”
 
 
Senneth was watching her with a faint smile. “Are you sure it’s good-bye?” she asked. “Are you sure there’s not a place for you in Ghosenhall?”
 
 
Wen looked around at the smoldering hedge, at the cluster of guards still talking together with great animation, at the tall, serene façade of the house that, in the past few decades, had hid so much tumult within. She felt a strange tightness in her chest, part happiness, part affection, part amazement that something so dear had almost slipped from her grasp.
 
 
“I’m sure,” she said quietly. “My place is here.”
 
 
 
IT
was close to midnight before the house was settled and Wen could seek Jasper in his room.
 
 
Senneth and Justin had left after saying their farewells and promising to carry the entire story to Cammon. Wen and the guards had crowded into Jasper’s study to give him their combined report of the day’s disasters and triumphs and to hear his fervent thanks. Karryn had been put to bed, despite her protests that she was not tired. Ryne Coravann had been sent off to his inn to bathe and change his clothes, but he had come right back an hour later, saying he wanted to board at Fortune for the remainder of his stay. Everyone had seemed to think this was a good idea.
 
 
Lindy Coverroe had locked herself into the room assigned to her and refused to come out. Bryce had loitered in the hallway for about ten minutes before looking up at Wen and Serephette. His small face was as serious as it could be.
 
 
“She feels the way I did when I got lost in Forten City once,” he said. “She doesn’t know where to go and who to trust. She’s so sad and she’s so—Willa, I don’t know the words. She’s sick, like she’s going to throw up, but it seems worse than that. Like the worst headache you ever had and you don’t think it will ever go away.”
 
 
Wen glanced over at Serephette, whose proud face and majestic bearing showed no signs of softness. “Marlady, I would read those emotions as true. I don’t believe she had a hand in her mother’s plans.”
 
 
Serephette drew herself up even taller. “Of course she didn’t. She was a victim of Demaray’s scheming, as we all were.
I
shall have to care for this child from now on.
I
shall be her mother, and Karryn her sister. We will make sure no more harm comes to her from this day forward.” And she swept down the hall with her hand on Bryce’s shoulder.
 
 
Wen followed them slowly, realizing this meant that she, too, had inherited one more soul to look after.
 
 
The number of her dependents seemed to be growing by the hour.
 
 
When she presented herself at Jasper’s door, she hesitated a moment before she knocked. It had been just a day since she had been here last, but so much had changed—not only in the world around them, but in her own heart. How much of that transformation would show on her face, how much of that would he welcome? She could make no broad assumptions.
 
 
But neither could she turn and steal back down the hall without first offering up that altered soul for his inspection.
 
 
He flung open the door to admit her, his arms already outstretched. She walked straight into his embrace, burrowing her face against his chest, feeling his arms wrap around her so closely she had trouble breathing. For a moment she was content just to stand there, inhaling his scent, rubbing her cheek against the silk of his shirt. But then with a sigh she lifted her head to signal the time for conversation.
 
 
He dropped a kiss on her mouth and smiled down at her. “A day of much terror and celebration,” he said. “I am glad I did not know at dawn what midnight would bring.”
 
 
“It is the sort of day I have trained for all my life,” she said. “And the sort of day I hoped would never come. Thank all the sullen gods that it has turned out like it did.”
 
 
He freed one hand to push at the short tendrils of hair that had gathered around her face. “And here I was convinced you would be berating yourself for your part in how the drama unfolded,” he said.
 
 
“There was some of that this morning,” she acknowledged. “And I see places along the way where I made mistakes. But on the whole I am pleased with what I was able to accomplish, and what resources I was able to assemble, and how the troops I trained performed. I am—I am happy with myself today.”
 
 
He kissed her again. “Well, now,” he said, “let us discuss the consequences of such an unexpected emotion.”
 
 
He did not lead her to the bed, but to a dainty divan covered in blue velvet and gold thread, and they sat there, curled against each other.
 
 
“It has been such a confusing day,” she said, almost whispering the words, nose to nose with him and lacing her right hand with his left one. “Disaster! Betrayal! Reinforcements! Rescue! I think it will be weeks before we sort it all out—and there are still so many people whose fates are uncertain. Demaray must go to Ghosenhall, of course, but what happens to her estate? What happens to Lindy? Serephette seems poised to adopt her, but is that the best course? And then there is Ryne Coravann, whom I have liked but never before trusted. Jasper, he was so steadfast today, so devoted to Karryn. I believe there is a true attachment between them, and I don’t believe you and Serephette should object if he asks her to marry him.”
 
 
He tilted her head up just enough to kiss her, then leaned his forehead against hers again. “All true, all important, and I would happily welcome Ryne Coravann into this House,” he said. “But at the moment, I don’t care about any of that. It is
you
, Willawendiss, you whom I would inquire after. You saved the serramarra—with your wits and your skill and your faithfulness, you snatched her from death and vanquished her abusers. Your faith in yourself is restored. I rejoice with you even though there is a sadness at my core. How soon will your mended heart be chafing to return to Ghosenhall?”
 
 
She lifted her head to look him directly in the eyes. The gods knew she had never been much of a flirt, preferring to speak plainly about what she wanted, but this was too important to lay out without a little caution. “How soon would you like to see me leave for Ghosenhall?” she asked in turn.
 
 
He toyed with her fingers. “I am committed to Karryn for another five years, as you know,” he said. “And I had always assumed that after she turned twenty-one, or after she married, I would return to my own estates. But I have been thinking. They have fine libraries in the royal city, and renowned scholars. I could sell my property and buy a small place in the city. I would be happy there, I think. Happier still if, from time to time, you would consent to visit me in my lodgings.”
 
 
Wen sat up, for this was not a picture she had ever envisioned. “What are you saying?” she demanded. “That you would follow me to Ghosenhall in five years’ time?”
 
 
He recaptured her hand, for she had pulled it away, and spoke in a soothing voice. “I know we have never looked so deeply into the future,” he said. “I know we have talked in a most tentative fashion, of a night here, a month there, a passion that might wear itself out in the quickest time possible. But I cannot imagine that I will ever grow weary of you—I cannot imagine that a day will ever come when I will not want to know what you are thinking and what you have been doing. I have been trying to devise a solution for how to merge our very different lives, and I think the move to Ghosenhall would do it.”
 
 
She was so dizzy she thought perhaps she had sustained a blow to the head during the fight this afternoon and she just hadn’t realized it till this minute. “You think I will stay here five years and then ask for my place with the Riders again—”
 
 
“No,” he said quickly. “I realize you will want to join your fellows as soon as you can. But perhaps we might compromise a little, you and I? You would agree to stay here a year—maybe two—and I would spend much of the following three years splitting my time between Ghosenhall and Forten City. It would be difficult, I know, and require a great deal of effort on both of our parts, but I am willing to make any number of sacrifices if it means keeping you in my life a little longer—”
 
 
She put a hand to his mouth to stop him. “How much longer?” she said. “Jasper, what are you thinking?”
 
 
He pulled his head back and she let her fingers fall. “As long as you are willing to have me,” he said simply. “I know I am older than you, and I know I am nothing like those men you admire so much—Riders, and soldiers of every type—but Wen, I do not believe any one of them could love you as I do.”
 
 
She was shaking her head. “I’m the one who should be pleading to stay in your life a little longer,” she said. “You are a nobleman of Fortunalt and I am a nameless soldier!”
 
 
“Not true, Willawendiss,” he said with a little smile. “You have a very fine name indeed.”
 
 
She frowned at him. “You know what I mean. Noblemen like you should spend their days with women who are equally noble—and accomplished—and scholarly.”
 
 
“I married a woman who was all those things, and I loved her very much,” Jasper said. “But now I love you very much, different as you are, and I want to spend my time with you.”
 
 
“Don’t you think your daughter would be dismayed to learn of our relationship?”
 
 
“Ah, my daughter is very liberal-minded. It comes from so much reading. She will be utterly delighted by you.”
 
 
Wen was shaking her head again. “Even if that’s true, which I doubt, the other nobles of your rank would be horrified to see you consorting with a guard.”

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