Lady Warhawk (31 page)

* * * *

"How do you know when you're falling in love?" Athrar said, less than a moon later. He
gave Meghianna a rueful grin when a bark of laughter escaped her.

They stood at the top of the highest tower of Quenlaque, looking out over the sea as the
last ship before the winter storms sailed out of the harbor. He had just come back from a long
inspection of the foothills of the Wayhauk Mountains, making sure the fortresses that separated
the Encindi nation from the rest of Lygroes were properly staffed and supplied to face the
coming winter.

"Yes," her brother said, sighing and resting his arms on the top of the wall. "I know what
it's like to fall in love. That was real enough, but it wasn't the kind of love my parents shared.
How do you know when it's the strong, right kind of love that will last?"

"I'm the last person to ask," she admitted. "I have never known that kind of love. I
assume there is a girl who has caught your eye, who tugs at your heart more than any
other?"

"Oh, yes." He sighed and closed his eyes. "But how do I know it's not a spell? How do I
know that what she seems to feel for me, it isn't magic being worked on her, to force her to act
that way? What if she doesn't even really like me, but someone is using her as a tool, a weapon
against us?"

"Ah. Yes. Ynfara." She rested a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "Ynfara has shown
no sign of the tattoo growing back, no taint either in her flesh or impinging on her
imbrose
. And you know we test her regularly, to make sure we are not caught
unawares."

"It's a horrid life for her. And all those silly twitters who want my crown make her
miserable." Athrar opened his eyes, and the misery in their depths made Meghianna wish he was
a little boy again, so she could cuddle him until he cheered up. "If I truly care for her, how can I
make her a target of all the women who know she's their rival?"

Footsteps thudding on the narrow, winding steps up to the top of the tower saved her
from trying to come up with an answer immediately. Meghianna reached through the Threads
and was surprised to find Lycen hurrying up to join them. Some flicker at the edges of his
presence made her look harder.

"What's wrong?" Athrar looked at the doorway that led off the stairs.

"Someone is trying to wrap a spell around Lycen. It's very subtle." Meghianna shook her
head, signaling him to silence, and they waited for Lycen to appear.

Her son paused in the doorway, bracing his arms on the frame, and nodded greeting
while he paused to catch his breath. Meghianna studied him again, verifying the flicker of magic
she had sensed clinging to her son like particularly stubborn, sticky gray dust on dark
clothes.

"Good," her son said, as he pushed out of the doorway and wiped his sweaty face with
his hand. "Just the people I need to see. I think someone considers Ynfara a threat."

"We were just discussing that," Athrar said slowly. "What makes you say that?"

"Someone is putting a spell on me. A little at a time. Ilianora discovered it by accident.
She was practicing a protective shield spell on Garad and had me holding him. You should have
seen the sparks when she wrapped it around both of us." Lycen shook his head, holding up a
hand to stop them from interrupting as he caught his breath again. "We said nothing, did nothing,
but we kept careful watch over how I changed when I was around people. Over the last
fortnight... I'm getting urges to touch Ynfara. Innocent things, like hold her hand, put my arm
too tightly around her when we dance, things like that. And I've noticed that when I turn my
sight sideways, there's something very fine and soft that reacts in her, when I'm around, and only
when I'm around. I think whoever is weaving the spell is doing it a strand at a time, and doing it
to us both. All I can think of is how Indreseen came after me. Sorry." He cast Athrar a guilty
smile.

"No, it makes too much sense. What better way to discredit the woman I love than to
force signs of infatuation between her and my brother?" Athrar murmured. "They're clever, do it
slowly, so subtly that no one would realize what was happening until you two were caught
kissing in a dark corner, or worse."

"I love Ilianora," Lycen growled. "It would take more than magic, no matter how clever,
to stop that."

"That's the brilliance of the spell. It's not fighting your love for her," Meghianna said
softly, catching the attention of both young men. "I wouldn't be surprised to find that it is simply
mirroring your true feelings for your wife, and reflecting them onto Ynfara. The best way to fight
a spell like this is to be aware that it is happening." She gestured for them both to follow
her.

As a test, when they found Ynfara alone in one of the courtyard gardens, Lycen went in
to talk with her first. Color touched the girl's cheeks and a sparkle of animation touched her eyes
and voice. Meghianna agreed that anyone casually watching would believe they saw a girl in
love. That could be damaging enough, if it came to a public confrontation, with uninterested
witnesses simply verifying what they saw between Lycen and Ynfara. After Indreseen's betrayal,
the people were triply demanding of purity and loyalty from whichever maiden won the
Warhawk's heart--and the seat next to him on the throne.

Athrar stepped out into the garden while Ynfara's back was to him. Meghianna nodded,
pleased, when the girl immediately turned, sensing his presence. Her reaction to Lycen's
presence paled in comparison to the animation and coltish awkwardness that descended on
Ynfara when she saw Athrar. Meghianna chose to believe that self-consciousness was a more
telling indication of the girl's feelings than the graceful sparkle and delicate flirting gestures she
made previously.

"What did I ever do to them?" the girl snarled, in the privacy of Meghianna's workroom
a short time later, when they confronted her with what had been done to her and to Lycen. "Why
does everyone make me a weapon against someone else?" She stomped a few steps away, fists
clenched, then spun back to face them. "Grandfather. It's all his fault, isn't it?"

"No, it is your grandmother's fault. And Lynzette wasn't truly your grandmother."
Meghianna wanted to take Ynfara by her shoulders and shake her hard. "You're a brainless little
nit if you can dare to blame Mrillis for the actions of his enemies. It is their
choice
to
disregard your free choice and your innocence and to make you a tool against all that is right and
good. Just as it is his choice to stand against evil, no matter the many losses he has suffered. You
silly, selfish child--you think you suffer? Think about all he has lost, and then dare to complain."
Muffling a shriek of outrage, Meghianna stomped away.

She glimpsed Lycen and Athrar staring at her, shocked by her outburst. She was just as
shocked, when she realized how she had sounded and looked. What had come over her?

"I'm sorry." Ynfara swallowed loudly. "You're right. I'm trying to change, but... Why
would they be so nasty? Ilianora is my friend. Why would I want to destroy her marriage?"

"To make sure you're disgraced and keep you from marrying me," Athrar said.

"You haven't asked me."

"He will," Lycen said. "Eventually. When you're a little older and he gets up the
courage." He walked over to where Meghianna had settled on a bench, trying not to watch them
as she regained her calm and poise. "What we need to do now is get rid of that spell."

"No," Ynfara said, surprising them all. "Why let our enemies know we've discovered
them? As long as we know the spell is there, we can resist it, can't we?"

"If it grows strong enough, maybe we can follow it back to whoever set it," Lycen said.
"Do you think so, Mother?"

"That is a clever plan. Yes, as long as you are conscious that it is at work, the spell can't
control you. Not until it grows much stronger. And resisting it might keep it from growing."
Meghianna nodded and stood up, tugging her dress straight. "Ynfara, I'm sorry. I'm not quite sure
what came over me."

"You love him. Very much. Lord Mrillis, I mean." Ynfara shrugged, and her lips
twitched as she tried to smile. "I wish I could love him."

"Just like you said." Athrar reached out to take the girl's hand. "You know what was
done to you, so as long as you resist it, it will grow weaker. Someday, you'll love him."

* * * *

Meghianna healed the bruise on her friendship with Ynfara by teaching the girl the
invisibility spell she had picked up as a child by watching Mrillis. It made her ache a little that
the girl didn't take the gift with childish delight, but grasped immediately that it was a weapon
against her enemies. Ynfara took to calling Meghianna whenever she chose to use it, so the
woman could observe what she did and evaluate it.

"She has a keen tactical sense," Mrillis said, when Meghianna shared with him what
Ynfara did with the spell. Then he cocked his head to one side and gave her a crooked, mirthless
smile. "She got that from Ceera, most definitely. Trick your enemies into thinking you've
retreated, then listen to them cackle and boast and learn their plans."

The first few times Ynfara used the spell, she let some of the more unpleasant Court
ladies drive her away with double-edged words, then came back to listen to them talk. The
women had daughters who were good potential brides for the Warhawk. Several times, Ynfara
knew Athrar was due to arrive somewhere, for an inspection or a meeting or simply to spend
some free time walking through the gardens. She would arrive there ahead of him, and see who
knew he was coming by who tried to drive her away. Then she would come back, invisible, and
observe what those people said and did when they met up with Athrar 'accidentally'.

Whatever they said, she reported directly to Meghianna and Lycen and Ilianora.

"I'm too young," the girl said. "And everyone has decided that I'm a spy for the enemy,
because of my grandmother, so therefore I should be either exiled from Quenlaque or shut up in
a dungeon for the rest of my life."

"Not everybody," Lycen said, patting her shoulder. "It's just jealousy talking. No one has
any proof."

"Yes, but if people choose to believe something, especially because it profits them, what
does it matter if it's truth or not?"

"Unfortunately, that is true. Most of the time," Ilianora said. "Those people have
forgotten who they are dealing with."

"I'm nobody," Ynfara said with an unhappy little sigh.

"That is not true." Ilianora shook her head and gave Meghianna an exasperated look.
"Mother, I think we are all forgetting something important, too."

"You are not
nobody
because you have the Dowager Queen on your side, and
Glyssani would be very happy if you were to marry Athrar," Meghianna said. She got up and
slowly paced the length of the room, ticking points off on her fingers as she talked. "You are the
daughter of King Pirkin, who is a most valued ally to the Warhawk. You are great-granddaughter
to Mrillis, the Warhawk's enchanter. You are great-granddaughter of Lady Ceera, the most
powerful Queen of Snows this World has known--the one who tamed star-metal."

"Yes, and let's see what you do to eclipse her," Lycen muttered, with a wink for Ynfara
that earned a giggle from the girl and an affectionate swat against the back of his head from
Meghianna.

"And most important, I do believe my dear little brother is very patiently waiting for you
to grow up a little more, so the gap between you isn't quite so large. The gap between ten and
twenty is enormous, but the gap between twenty and thirty isn't quite so terrible."

"But he isn't... I do like him very much...and he likes to talk with me...and he takes time
to work on my archery with me...and he doesn't seem to mind when the Valors salute me as the
Lady Warhawk." Ynfara blushed darkly.

Meghianna hoped the girl never lost that touch of innocence and never stopped blushing.
It would be a sadder, darker world when that happened.

"My brother is a very good tactician," she said, nodding. "You must consider that with
all the insipid, fluttery, seductive creatures who besiege him, trying to gain his attention and trick
their way onto the throne next to him, Athrar is entirely too calm about evading them. That
makes me think his heart is already settled, and he is simply biding his time. And thoroughly
enjoying setting the silly nits and their ambitious fathers against each other."

"Settled?" Ynfara blinked rapidly a few times, then a delighted smile brightened her
face. "Me? You think so?"

"He hasn't confided that to me, so only time will tell," Meghianna admitted. "But one
last, and probably the most important, point in your favor, my dear." She stopped pacing in front
of Ynfara and held up her index finger as she made her last point. "Athrar knows about the spell
being worked against you and Lycen, so no one's accusations will ever stick. When it comes time
to test and prove your virtue and your character, no one can gainsay Braenlicach's testimony.
When Athrar chooses his bride, and an outcry arises, claiming you are tainted--and I am sorry,
but it will--he will put Braenlicach into your hands and it will glow for you, proving your purity
and honor."

She bit her lip, and prayed the others wouldn't think of what had just occurred to her--if
they had thought to test Indreseen before she married Athrar, a great deal of anguish might have
been avoided. The political outrage that would have resulted would have been a problem, but
what if the sword's light had darkened, revealing deceit? Had Indreseen been a treacherous
creature who hid behind a mask of silliness? Or had someone influenced her after she married
Athrar, and she'd been only a tool, betrayed by those she trusted?

"But how much longer will this have to go on?" Ynfara said, her voice woeful, a sad
change after the bright hope that made her glow a few moments before.