Heroes Return (31 page)

Someone from behind grabbed me by the waist and lifted me clear off my feet. I kicked and punched but I couldn’t hit anything. Panic flared up in me. I was helpless, but I had to get to Taro.

“Calm down!” a familiar voice snapped, piercing through the music in my ears. “It’s over. It’s stopped. It’s all fine.”

The words were said again and again. In time, I recognized the voice as Taro’s. A few moments later, I couldn’t hear the music anymore.

Taro lowered me to my feet. I was gasping for breath. I felt all tied in knots.

And then I noticed the complete silence. And the fact that absolutely everyone was staring at me. How humiliating. I wanted to crawl under the floor. Or leave. I could do neither. Taro had a tight grip on me.

“It’s because of the music,” Taro said, his voice sounding very loud. “I can’t say I admire your repertoire, cousin.”

Music could make Shields react in overtly emotional ways. A song of unrequited love could drive us to tears. A pounding song of lust could cause us to sleep with whoever was handy. And a martial tune could make us violent.

I was more sensitive than most. I had been humiliated several times in the past.

“I didn’t pick that piece,” Fiona said, striding over to the musicians’ alcove. “What are you playing at, Dicer? You can’t even dance to that.”

“We were told Your Ladyship requested it,” the fiddle player protested.

“Who told you that?” Fiona demanded.

“One of your maids.”

One of her maids. Why would they meddle with the music selections? They just wanted to watch a Shield go berserk? Some people were just sick.

“Which maid?” Fiona asked. “What did she look like?”

The fiddler shrugged and looked at his colleagues. None of the other musicians seemed able to add any information, either.

“Play something more appropriate,” Fiona ordered. The music started up again.

It hurt my ears, which had grown sensitive under the earlier assault.

Taro led me toward one of the walls. “I’m afraid you have a few people to apologize to, Lee.”

“Damn it, did I hurt anyone?” I was so embarrassed. I hated this, hated that mere music could turn me into a madwoman.

It turned out that I had struck three people in my attempt to get to Taro. Lady Edith, Lord Camer, and Sir Sugra. They were clustered together.

I curtsied as low as I could without falling over. “I am deeply apologetic,” I said. “I hope I have done no lasting harm.”

“So do I,” Sir Sugra snapped. “I don’t know what is acceptable in the wilds of High Scape, but here we all know what kind of behavior is considered civilized.”

“Oh, climb down, Grady,” said Lady Edith. “Shields are like that with music. She couldn’t help it.”

That didn’t make me feel any better.

“Then she shouldn’t be going to balls,” said Sir Sugra.

I was starting to feel the same way.

I felt Taro’s tension through his hands. “I checked the planned dances and music myself,” he told them. “There was nothing dangerous in the approved selection. Clearly, there was some kind of miscommunication.”

“I still say she shouldn’t come to balls, if she is so easily turned into a violent brute.”

I heard Taro draw breath to respond. I spoke before he could. “You’re quite right, Sir Sugra. And in that spirit, I shall leave right now. You don’t have to come with me, Taro.”

“I find myself disenchanted with the company,” he announced loftily, and Sugra choked on his offense.

I thought we should leave before we offended anyone else. I pulled Taro away.

Dane met us at the door. “I’m so sorry about this,” he whispered. “We were very careful about the selection of music. I can’t imagine how this happened.”

“It’s not your fault,” I said. I just wanted to go. I didn’t want to talk about it.

“Well, it’s someone’s fault, and we mean to find out whose. We’ll be holding a little meeting after all the guests have left. Someone saw something, and they’ll either tell us or risk all of them getting fired.”

“Don’t do anything extreme for my sake.”

“It’s not just for your sake. You assaulted some of our guests. I know it’s not your fault, but we don’t want it happening again.”

I really didn’t want to talk about it anymore. I had acted like a mindless child in front of all the aristocrats in the area. They would be talking about it. They would be telling those who hadn’t been in attendance. It was awful. I wanted to move away and never come back. “I understand,” I said, just to end the conversation. “Thank you.”

“It’s my duty and my pleasure. Have a good evening.”

Well, that would be impossible, but getting away from all those eyes was a wonderful start.

Chapter Twenty-three

I woke up feeling unusually warm. And confined. I wasn’t used to that, so it took me a few moments, sleep muzzled as I was, to realize Taro was spooned up behind me and holding me tightly. It was nice, and I smiled.

Then I remembered he was desperately unhappy.

I wasn’t sure what was going on in his mind. I didn’t blame him for having dark feelings, but it would only be better for him if he could put them aside. Was there any way I could help him do that? A way that didn’t include never talking to Academic Reid again, because that was just ridiculous.

It didn’t help that he had so little to do with his time. No racing, no tavern treks with his crowd of friends. I didn’t think even he could play cards all day every day.

He needed some friends. That was it. He’d had flocks of friends in High Scape, but he was now sticking close to the manor. That couldn’t be good for him. I had to figure out how to get him out and about with like-minded people.

Had he managed to make any friends at the ball? I hadn’t seen him stay with anyone any longer than a single dance. But at least other aristocrats knew he was there, because of the ball. Maybe some of them would now invite him to their house parties and their hunting clubs. Not that I thought Taro had ever gone hunting before, but he would have to learn to adapt to keep from getting bored. He didn’t deal well with being bored.

Taro seemed to become aware that I was awake, for he snuggled even closer and pressed in to kiss my ear. I giggled and squirmed so I could turn over.

A throat was cleared at our door. Why was that damn door always open? “Her Grace has asked all the members of the household to meet in the ballroom,” Lila informed us. “Immediately.”

I wondered if someone had come forward with the name of the person who’d requested that strange piece of music. I wondered if Fiona would actually fire everyone if no one had. That seemed harsh, and would also leave the household at a standstill until new staff could be brought in.

Taro and I dressed quickly and went down to the ballroom, where everyone in the household had gathered. Fiona didn’t actually look that angry, though she was very pale. Dane, however, looked furious. So, a mass dismissal it was.

Standing with Fiona and Dane was a young man, short and slight with dull brown hair, pale skin and plain features. He wore the garb of a tenant farmer, though he didn’t have the build for it. A large purple sack was slung over his shoulder.

“If I could have everyone’s attention,” Fiona said loudly. “It’s time to begin. No one has admitted to requesting the Tower March last night. No one has reported seeing anyone else make the request. I will be questioning every single one of you on this matter. Perhaps whoever had done it had meant no harm. We are not used to having Shields around here, and perhaps not all of you understand how Shields need to be handled.”

Handled. Like an animal or a child.

“However, there have been a lot of little accidents happening around here, some of them potentially dangerous. Of course, I want everyone to be more careful, but I don’t think being careful is enough. These little accidents have been going on since my family took residence, and I am aware that this establishment was not a calm or happy place before my family’s arrival.” She put a hand on the shoulder of the young man standing beside her. “You all know Cavin. You know his special sensibilities.” I didn’t. “We are going to go over this house, room by room, until we find the source of the discontent. You will all remain here unless you are called for, to identify anything unusual found among your possessions.”

Fiona had mentioned to me her suspicion that the house was bad luck. Sometimes people said that sort of thing without meaning it. Did she actually believe it was the house that was causing all her difficulties? The accidents, the disapproval of her tenants? Wasn’t that kind of ridiculous? Especially when there were so many other probable causes, like human fallibility, dangerous surroundings and a Dowager Duchess who was stirring up disgruntled tenants?

Fiona reminded me of Atara, the leader of the troupe Taro and I had traveled with when we were searching for Aryne on Flatwell. She had believed a curse was responsible for the deaths among her troupe, when it was really a combination of bad luck, a dangerous lifestyle and her vengeful brother following them around and causing them as much trouble as he could.

Except now, I knew magic existed. If I had known then what I knew now, would I have believed in the curse, too? But we knew her brother had been causing accidents. We’d seen him at work.

Ergh.

“You can’t go through our private things,” a maid whose name I hadn’t learned objected.

And Fiona didn’t bother to answer her. “You may begin,” she said to Cavin.

“Did you draw the water yourself, my lady?” he asked her.

“Yes, it’s on the table.”

Cavin drew from his purple sack a small copper bowl and filled it from a jug on an end table. He held it delicately between the tips of his fingers. “I will need silence from you all,” he said. He began to hum, tunelessly and at a very low pitch. The sound hovered over the barrier between pleasant and weird.

Were they crazy? This was a spell. There were Imperial Guards crawling all over the estate looking for evidence of this. How could they risk this?

I sidled up to Fiona and asked in a whisper, “Are you sure this is a good idea? The Guards.”

“Have been told by someone very discreet that a burned-out cottage at the edge of the property is a site for casting spells. They’ll be gone for hours.”

Several more moments later, Cavin announced, “This room is not the source of the distress.” Then he headed to the antechambers, where people could rest in privacy during a ball. He hummed at his bowl in each one, and when he finished his face was bright red. Taro chuckled.

“What?” I asked him in a whisper.

“Perhaps his little bowl showed him what people get up to in those little rooms.”

“They’re meant to be a respite during a ball.”

“People find respite in a variety of activities.”

I stared at him. People had sex in there? “During a ball?”

“The chance of discovery can add an extra spice of enjoyment.”

“Can it, now?” I was giving him plenty of opportunity to add something along the lines of “So I’ve been told.” He didn’t take advantage of it.

“Those rooms are clear,” Cavin told Fiona.

“All right, Bailey, you will come with us,” Fiona said. “Avkas, it’s your responsibility to see no one leaves. Tarce, Source Karish, Shield Mallorough, please come with us as well.”

I was glad to be included. This looked like it would be interesting.

We went to the kitchen, which I’d never seen so empty of human life. Cavin hummed at his bowl. It was an odd thing to do, I thought. How did he learn of it? Did he read of it in a book? Did he make it up himself? Was it passed down to him by a family member?

Cavin spent more time in the kitchen than he had with the ballroom, opening drawers and cabinets, holding the bowl over shelves and all other surfaces of the room. Then he pronounced it clean, and we moved on to the dining room.

I revised my earlier opinion. I could see this getting boring pretty quickly. And I was hungry and in desperate need of some coffee.

Tarce, apparently, was of a similar opinion. “Can we just declare my suite the source of all evil and be done with this?”

“You wish your suite were that interesting, Tarce,” Fiona retorted.

“This is a little ridiculous, don’t you think?”

“Do you have a better idea?”

“No, but Dane did. Fire the lot of them. We’d have better luck with better servants.”

“That’s an incredibly callous thing to say.”

Tarce shrugged. “Blame your husband, not me.”

Nothing interesting happened in the dining room, or in any of the other rooms on the first floor, though a ring Fiona had been missing was found in the music room.

We went to the second floor and started with guest bedrooms. They were dustier than Fiona liked. The third one made Cavin blush again. And Fiona noticed.

“What’s been going on in here?” she demanded.

“Some . . . intimate activity. A fair bit of it.”

“No one has stayed in this room for years.”

“The activity is frequent, long-standing and recent.”

“I believe that’s something I can address,” said Bailey.

Ah, so servants had been having sex in that room. A lot of them, I guessed. Maybe it was a bit more of that spice Taro was talking about, the chance of discovery and the opportunity to use more luxurious surroundings than they would normally enjoy.

The rest of the guest rooms revealed nothing, and neither did Bailey’s private room. The housekeeper’s private room, however, was discovered to possess a strange sort of book full of nothing but drawings of naked young men. I wouldn’t be able to look at the woman in the eye again.

I found it ironic that the Guards’ rooms were searched, too. Their doors were locked, but Bailey had keys to everything. Nothing was found there. I was kind of surprised. They were causing a lot of bad feeling. If rooms could develop atmospheres based on bad emotions, surely Cavin should have been able to feel something there.