Hunting (23 page)

Today that comparison brought to her
the discovery that Thornaster mattered. Mattered completely, so
much more than Ash could ever have imagined. Inevitable defeat
became a bitter dose to swallow. Caught in a trap built by lies,
she looked down, seeking the very techniques Kiri had once tried to
teach her, to relax knotted muscles, to smooth the betrayals of the
heart from her face.

The fact that Thornaster looked at Kiri
with open admiration cost Ash Lenthard nothing. That Kiri broke her
own rules to smile back at the Aremish Visel would only be useful
ammunition for a gutter seruilis keen to tease his so-called
master. Ash put pained discovery away behind a wall, and then eased
her breath out, remembering that she was Ash Cat, and what mattered
to her was finding Genevieve's killer.

Straightening, she found Thornaster was
glancing around, and, catching her eye, he gestured her closer.

"There you are," the Visel said as Ash
obediently presented herself. "Your exploits have become famous,
stripling. Sera Arpesial has been cultivating me merely to gain an
introduction to you."

For a moment Ash thought Thornaster
spoke truer words than he realised, but then Kiri's lips parted,
just a fraction, and her grey eyes widened.

"Sera Arpesial," Ash said, bowing
hastily. When she lifted her head, all evidence of surprise was
gone and Kiri nodded at her with bland courtesy.

"I have been hearing reports of your
valour from all sides," Kiri said, her voice a note deeper than Ash
remembered. "You are fortunate in your friends, Ser Veirhoi."

"I know that, Sera," Heran replied,
halting by Ash's elbow.

"Perhaps, if you permit, Ser Visel,
your seruilis could take me about the further reaches of the
garden? The chatter here is a little overwhelming."

"Of course, Sera." Thornaster shifted
so Kiri could transfer her hand from his arm to Ash's.

How should Ash Lenthard, gutter
seruilis, react to this? With a delighted grin, and a hint of a
strut? No, with an echo of Carlyon's extreme correctness,
supplemented by the focused care of someone carrying an overloaded
tray: afraid of the slightest misstep.

Kiri said vague and appropriate things
until they finally reached a deserted pathway, then she fell
silent, her step quickening as she led them to a small sunken
garden, a secluded little nook. Here she stopped, spun Ash to face
her, and raised a wondering hand.

"It
is
you! Oh, Daere, I knew
you weren't dead!"

Pulled into sudden embrace, Ash's mixed
emotions were swept aside by fond memory. "I should hope so," she
said. "Given I've been tying ribbons all over this city every year
so you'd know I was still around."

"I'm so glad you did. That first night,
with the fire, I thought – thought – Luin's Heart, Daere, what
happened?"

"Ash," Ash said, firmly. "Daere is
dead, Kiri. I'm Ash. You must remember not to call me anything but
Ash. Never Daere."

Kiri searched her face, then nodded,
and drew Ash down on the small stone bench that served as the focal
point of the garden. "Very well then. Ash Lenthard. Tell me what
happened, in detail: everything. Right now."

Ash smiled, because Kiri had not
changed in the slightest. But the answer was not easy to tell.

"You remember the day we went to the
Gods' Hall?"

"I'm not likely to forget. The only
time I saw That Man."

"After that – well, we were never a
wealthy family, and of a sudden there was a run of delays,
thievery, breakages. Minor things, but all at once, until they
added up to loans, and defaults, and Mother and Father shouting at
each other behind closed doors. They were going to have to give up
a lot of land. And then both of them one day wouldn't look me in
the eye. Told me we had a guest for dinner, and to make sure I
didn't go out.

"Mother...Mother had never quite
forgiven me for being a girl. And, if I had to be a girl, for not
being you. She knew what Eward Carlyon was, had heard those rumours
about his second wife's death, but I'd swear she genuinely thought
I should in some part be pleased that Eward Carlyon had bought up
all their debts and offered to exchange them for me. One of the
richest Decsels in Montmoth, after all! And if I didn't go through
with it, they would lose too much land to still qualify for a
Viselry, would just be common smallholders."

"My parents guessed some part of that.
But I could hardly believe you'd go through with it."

"I didn't." Ash shook her head in
remembered disgust. "I told them in no uncertain term what they
could do with the Viselry. And tried to leave. But Carlyon had
brought two servants with him, men he owned body and soul, and...
It must have looked ridiculous, that ceremony. Carlyon holding my
hand, and his two men holding the rest of me, like a rolled-up
carpet that kicked and writhed. I shouted 'no' whenever I was
supposed to say 'yes', and swore and tried to bite them as my
father bound my hand to Carlyon's..."

She stopped, and let Kiri hold her,
just for two deep breaths, then pushed it all away and managed a
self-deprecating shrug. "I dream about that a lot. Fighting to get
free. The whole of that farce. They were going to call that a
marriage, and the problem was that Astenar didn't reject it. The
marriage cord didn't turn black, despite the bond being made in the
Sun's name. I–" Ash paused. "I wonder if that might be related to
some of the things happening now? Father only invoked 'the Sun'.
I've been resenting Astenar for years, because the truly wrong
marriages are supposed to be rejected. I just assumed that Astenar
wasn't paying attention, but maybe it was more complicated than
that."

"What do you mean?"

"The recent deaths in Luinhall: there's
a chance they're related to the old Sun. I've been thinking of this
as a problem which only rose in the last year, but–"

Ash tried to run through the
implications of Eward Carlyon having some involvement with
Karaelsur, but now was not the time to go into it.

"Anyway," she said, focusing. "Carlyon
and my father had papers to sign, so my mother had his men lock me
in my room, which had the advantage of bars on the windows. I
definitely regretted all the night excursions that led my parents
to put them up, but I still had the chimney, and wasted no time
hauling myself up to the old nursery. Thankfully the kitchen was on
a separate stack. After that it was short work to climb down
through the pantry window, sneak a leg of pork, and make a pyre for
it out of my bed. I waited the fuss out on the roof – worried
spitless that even a stone house might burn down if no one caught
the fire in time. When it was quiet, I walked to the Commons and
became Ash Lenthard."

"But why didn't you come to me?" No
reproach, but a shadow of old pain in Kiri's even voice. "You must
have known my family would shelter you."

"Would they? Your parents adore you,
but they never really approved of me. And I was his wife, Kiri. So
young that there'd be questions and scandal, yes, but with parental
consent, no objection from Astenar, and witnesses who'd swear I'd
agreed. Bought and paid for."

"I could have hidden you in my
room."

"They would have found me within the
day, especially when they discovered no human body in that bed.
Father would have immediately thought of you and come looking."

"But they didn't realise! No one
searched. I went to your
funeral
, Dae– Ash."

Ash shrugged. "Maybe it was for the
sake of appearances. One leg of pork couldn't possibly be mistaken
for a girl of nearly thirteen, so staying anywhere near was too
much risk. And...to be honest, I wouldn't have come back even if I
thought it safe. I wanted things people kept telling me I shouldn't
be interested in." She reached for her friend's hands, and examined
their manicured softness, her own blunt and rough by contrast. "I'm
sorry I left you behind, Kiri."

"I'm not." Kiri laced her fingers
through Ash's, and gave her the full force of her smile. "You were
happy, and you made sure I knew you were alive. Though if we should
part in future, I demand letters, not ribbons."

"It's a promise."

"Lenthard!"

Carlyon. Ash jerked around in dismay,
then gasped and hastily dropped Kiri's hands, bolting to her feet.
At least ten people were crowded in the entrance to their hideaway,
a group featuring the Rhoi, Heran, Thornaster and Carlyon. The
first seruilis was the only one who wasn't gaping in disbelief and
that because he was too busy frowning.

"Yes, Ser?" Ash said, after a
moment.

"You are–!" Carlyon began, but Kiri
interrupted, effortlessly resuming all her cool and gracious poise
as she rose.

"A wonderful storyteller," she said,
firmly. "Ash has been telling me some tales of Jacian I had not
heard before. I must compliment you on him, Visel Thornaster. He
has a great skill with words."

Thornaster, for once without a ready
response, did not recover until Kiri reached the entryway. It was
patently obvious that no one believed her explanation, though they
were clearly having considerable difficulty with the alternative.
Heran's expression was the best – he was staring from Ash to Kiri
and back again with something akin to awe.

Ash watched in silence as Kiri took
Thornaster's arm and walked away, trailed by an incredulous crowd.
Heran and Carlyon remained but Carlyon only said, "I will speak of
this to you later, Lenthard," before leaving. Ash, lips twitching,
cocked an eyebrow at the Veirhoi.

"How?" Heran breathed.

"I really was just telling her
stories."

"I don't believe you. You don't have to
hold hands to tell stories. And the way she was looking at
you!"

"Mmm, yes. I get the feeling I'm about
to develop a reputation for more than saving your life. This could
be tiresome."

"Tiresome?
Tiresome
?! You have
Kiri Arpesial looking at you like that and you call it
tiresome
?!"

"Definitely," Ash said, and amused
herself by not giving Heran another word on the subject.

Thornaster was a different matter. The
Visel maintained a decidedly solemn expression for what little
remained of the garden party, and didn't speak as they walked back
to his apartment. Still raw from the discovery of unexpected
feeling, Ash could not find the funny side of this. Surely he
couldn't be genuinely annoyed by whatever he thought he'd seen? Was
his admiration for Kiri that deep-seated?

As Ash closed the main door behind her,
Thornaster strode to one of the study windows and stood looking
out. Ash stared at his back, unsure whether to shrug and head to
her room, or to try to reassure him she was no rival.

Then she caught the faint quiver of his
shoulders.

"Are – are you
laughing
?"

Thornaster turned around, sat
unsteadily on the corner of his desk, and let his silent amusement
overtake him, covering his face with one hand and laughing in
painful-looking spasms until what sounded suspiciously like a
hiccup interrupted him. Dropping his hand, he took several gasping
breaths.

"Stripling," he managed at last, "the
look
on your face! Oh, and you put your hands behind your
back! Like a child caught stealing sweets." He began to laugh
again, until another hiccup brought him up short.

Ash shook her head in amazement. "I
thought you were annoyed."

"Annoyed? When you so handily
accomplished what I had been trying to do all afternoon?"

This was beyond comprehension. At
least, it was until Ash started thinking again. "Oh," she said.
"The Rhoi."

"The Rhoi," Thornaster repeated,
inclining his head.

"The only man there who wasn't making
up to her. You were trying to make him jealous."

"Well, at least make him react. Please,
you incredible youth, tell me how you accomplished what I had begun
to believe impossible? Does Sera Arpesial perhaps have a weakness
for heroics?"

"Don't you like her?" Ash asked,
heading down the path more interesting to her. "How could you not
like her?"

Thornaster's brows lifted. "Ah, have
you lost your heart then, lad?" he asked kindly. "I mean no insult
to the Sera. Indeed, I find her quite breathtaking, and extremely
perceptive. It's merely that I marked early on that there was
something between her and Arun. He behaved nothing like himself,
every time he encountered her, while she never met his eyes."

"I thought you said Rhoi Arun had been
romancing your Rhoi's daughter."

"Ye-es. I don't pretend to know what's
going on. And should probably not meddle." He swallowed another
hiccup, and then looked her up and down. "However, no matter your
heroics, I find it very hard to credit the idea that Sera Arpesial
would conduct a liaison with you, stripling. What promise were you
talking of?"

"How much did you all hear?"

"Just that."

"Good. Obviously I was simply promising
to tell Kiri more about my adventures." Ash shrugged. "Truth is I
knew her when she was little, but don't go telling people that. How
many did you get today for your meet-all-the-Luinsel project?"

He started to say something, hiccupped
again, and tched. "Pest. I haven't done this to myself for years.
Where's the list?"

Heading into his bedroom, she extracted
a thin roll of papers concealed in his gear, and watched as he
marked off another dozen names.

"What do we do if you meet every
Luinsel in Montmoth and still can't find someone with this
taint?"

"Then I'll visit every piece of unbound
land in the city. And the law about smallholdings may pressure
whoever is behind this into a response, so hold yourself alert for
developments." He hiccupped, gave her a Look, and then sighed. "Not
that I'm happy to be making such poor progress. Go entertain
yourself, stripling, while I stand on my head or something to get
this to stop."