Nightshade (8 page)

When a distinctive voice intruded upon her explorations, Jessa stepped back from the rail and drifted through the shadows along the wall, waiting, then catching a second voice. Common sense told her to avoid them, but her curiosity took hold and she searched them out instead, silent as she descended the stairs. As she neared the bottom the voices began to take shape. Jessa spied the deepest shadows and slipped within their protection.

“Do you think I didn’t see you?”

“I didn’t think of you at all, actually.”

Prince Malcolm faced Darrius as she sat on the rail. Darrius had removed her jacket, which lay neatly beside her. “This was a formal function, Darrius, not a
tavern
for you and your friend Greeves to make a mockery of.”

Jessa found the darkness beneath the staircase and drifted into the thickest part of its gloom, standing as still as the stones behind her.

“We did no such thing and you know it,” Darry answered in a tired voice. “I’m sorry if you thought so. That wasn’t my intention.”

“You engaged the Princess in conversation? As if she were just another guest at my table?”

Darrius’s eyes were sharp. “It is our father’s table, Malcolm, not yours. And I treated her as I would a friend. For the love of Gamar, you had her seated half a world away from the people she knows. Did you not consider she might be nervous?”

“She knows her place,” Malcolm snapped. “As you never have.”

“And what place is that?” Darrius asked.

“Must I renew my objections and tell you yet again the shame your behavior and you cause me?”

Darrius laughed. “Not what my place is, you bloody fool,
hers
.”

Malcolm took another step, and from Darrius’s perch on the rail they were nearly of the same height. “Take care how you speak to me, Darrius.”

“Or what?” she asked, reclining casually. “When you’re the lord of all the world you may banish me to whatever dark hole you see fit. But until that time, never forget that I carry the same blood as you, and it comes with certain rights and privileges. Calling you a fool is perfectly within those rights, I assure you.”

Jessa smiled in surprise.

Malcolm’s response was slow to form, his hands clasped behind his back. “Then what did you mean?”

“Malcolm,” Darrius’s tone softened, “you’re bartering for the hand of another human being. This isn’t a horse that you bid for or land you must trade for. She’s a
woman
, Mal, a beautiful and striking human being. You sent for her and Bharjah wrapped her in bright colors and obeyed, though we both know for reasons of his own. If you truly wish to court her then
win
her, Mal, seduce her until she says yes out of want, no matter the question you would pose. Not because her father or her pig of a preening brother tells her to. Don’t presume to just
take
her. She’s not yours for the taking. She belongs to no one but herself.”

Jessa felt a stirring in her chest at the heartfelt words. To be defended by anyone was not something she had ever come to count on. Only Radha had stood by her. But for a stranger to stand up and voice compassionate words in her defense was something she had never envisioned happening.

Malcolm’s smile was cold. “Is that what you would do then?”

“Yes,” Darrius replied. “That’s exactly what I would do.”

“You really have no clue as to what needs to be done or how things work, do you?”

“I know what’s important.”

“And what might that be? Playing at being a man?”

Darrius gave a breath of laughter. “Yes, Malcolm, that’s exactly what I mean.”

“Is there not a tavern you must be at, Darrius? Someplace suitable to your backwards behavior? Should you not be drunk?” His tone was callous. “Should you not be begging to kiss the sweat from between a barmaid’s thighs by now? You may leave the important things to those of us with the intelligence and authority to handle them properly.”

Jessa was startled at the sexual reference and considered his words as she watched Darrius for a response. She understood that Darrius was backwards. Radha had made good on her pledge for more information. She had not, however, truly considered the heart of the matter until that very moment.
I do not think she would have to beg, you fikloche
.
Bloody well
look
at her. They must stand wanting beyond her door.

Darrius was very still and Jessa felt the sudden tension, an air of danger about Darrius as if any reaction were possible. She saw that even Malcolm felt it, for he took a silent step back, creating some distance between them as his hands fell open to his sides. Jessa understood the reason beneath his words at once. She was familiar with the tactic. As any one of her brothers had done a thousand times, Malcolm sought to provoke Darrius into a retaliation he might take advantage of.

“Do you remember that summer at Lake Aurora, Mal?” Darrius met his eyes. Her expression held nothing but a sincere smile. “When we would race every morning from the southern terrace to the waters, and Wyatt and Jacob would always win? And I would be so angry that I couldn’t keep up?

“And you decided that racing in teams would be more fair, so you chose me?” Darrius’s laughter was filled with warmth. “And then we raced, and you pushed Jacob into the lairien bushes and tackled poor Wyatt into the dirt, yelling for me to run. ‘Run,’ you yelled, and you were laughing so hard and I was running for all I was worth, running so hard that I thought my legs would fly off.”

Malcolm’s eyes narrowed, his left cheek twitching slightly.

“I remember that,” Darrius said softly. “And how you spun me around and we fell into the water, laughing until we nearly drowned, and Emmalyn crowned us with laurel wreaths. And we paraded about until Mother made us stop, even though she was laughing too. Do you remember that?”

“No,” Malcolm answered simply. “I remember my sister very well, though, before she became ill. Before she became whatever it is that you are now. Stick to your taverns and the bastard sons that are your friends, Darrius. Stay out of the affairs that are taking place here. If you don’t, you may find that dark hole sooner than you would like.”

Darrius laughed and sat up straight. “Whatever you say, sweet brother,” she said. “Is there any tavern in particular that you would like me to seek out? The Blue Porpoise perhaps? I hear they have an ale that will get you drunk within a single tankard. A boastful promise if ever I heard one.”

Malcolm turned away. “That will do nicely, thank you.”

Jessa’s eyes never left Darrius’s face, even as Malcolm passed close and disappeared beyond the angle of the stairs above her.

“Sweet dreams, my Prince!” Darrius called, setting her hands on the wide rail and bumping her boot heels against the posts. After a time she looked down.

Jessa stood very still, her chest tight as she held to her cloak. She could hear a lark somewhere, the night bird she was named for in her native land singing out within the darkness. The urge to step from the shadows rose up within her like an unexpected tide, surprising in its need as she struggled against it, against the overwhelming impulse to walk into the open, if only to stand beside Darrius while she thought whatever she might be pondering.

Jessa took a silent step forward, and then another.

“Darry?”

Jessa retreated awkwardly at the voice, recognizing Lieutenant Greeves as he moved from the shadows farther down the walkway.

Darry spied him within the moonlight. “Bentley.” Her voice was rough and she cleared her throat. “I have orders from our Prince.”

“Yes? And what are they?”

“We are to get drunk with all good speed.”

Bentley spread his arms and bent back at the waist. “At last.” He sighed dramatically. “An order I can follow in all good conscience!”

Darrius laughed as he approached, giving her his back. “Ah, my mount.” She pushed from the rail and wrapped her arms about his neck. He grabbed hold of her legs as they hugged his waist from behind, and they laughed as he stumbled. “My jacket, if you please, good steed.”

He let out a grunt and moved sideways as Darrius snagged her coat. “Have you been eating pastries again?” he said, taking hold behind her knees.

“Only the ones with butter and cream frosting.”

“Well, stop it.”

“Yes, my friend.” She kissed his neck as they moved along the walkway.

“I mean it, Darry.”

“
Fine
.” She sighed. “You’re a weak little thing, Bent. Buck up, will you?”

“Yes, dear. Shall we round up the troops?”

“By all means! Let us see if Darry’s Boys can reduce the city of Lokey into some rather pretty rubble, shall we?”

“Indeed,” he said, turning his head as they passed by the alcove beneath the stairs.

Jessa almost gasped aloud as he met her gaze, her heart seizing at his hard look of recognition, his expression filled with warning. And then they were past her, Jessa retreating until she bumped into the wall behind her, Darrius’s infectious laughter floating in their wake.

*

Radha stood at the balcony arch in the curve of the north wall and watched Jessa sit in the moonlight. Jessa’s eyes were closed and her face was raised to the light. How much Jessa resembled her mother, the beautiful lines of her face and the elegant curve of her neck. Even her body was reminiscent of her, voluptuous and graceful in its form yet never too obvious in any feature.

“What troubles you, child?”

“If the Veil of Shadows is cast properly, is it still possible to be seen?”

Radha narrowed her eyes. “Were you seen?”

Jessa did not answer.

“At times.” Radha moved back into their spacious chambers. “If the desire to be seen is strong enough, the charm may transform. This happens only when you’re careless.”

“I wasn’t careless.”

“If you were seen then you were careless.”

Jessa searched the night sky, gauging the direction of the constellations and finding the stars of the warrior Attia. The Princess Darrius was not what she had expected, not in any way.

She thought of Darrius sitting alone on the railing of the walkway, her hair catching the moonlight. Her expression had been so sad in that brief instant before she lowered her face, left in the wake of her brother’s attack. Jessa also remembered the words Darrius used to challenge him. She had met his malice with a memory that sounded so lovely Jessa had felt a fierce stirring of envy.

Jessa smiled, remembering the laughter into the wine at the banquet and the grin that Darrius had tried to stop as she wiped her face. Laughter stirred within Jessa once again, only this time she released it.
And what do those eyes look like, I wonder, when your full humor is upon you
?
Such colors filled with laughter and not sadness, I would very much like to see that. Before you’re cast into the Blood Fires of the Vhaelin for being a cad
. She smiled more freely and the heat of a blush rose along her neck.

Darry ran, her bare feet sure within the thick grass despite the morning dew. She rushed through the hedgerows of the gardens at a rapid pace. The air burning her lungs felt good. Darry tasted the sharpness of the hedges with each breath. Their scent filled the back of her head and flooded her with the flavor of new things.

She bolted down a separate path near the heart of the main gardens, never stopping, pushing herself faster. She laughed, breathless as she ducked her head and broke through the corner of a hedge in a sharp turn, leaves flying in her wake. She could smell the water.

Jessa walked along the edge of the clearing in the early morning sun. She trailed her hand through the ivy and verdant leaves of the hedge. The small white flowers of hamesroot were in full bloom and tangled within the branches, teasing her fingers and stirring her sense of touch.

The bluish-green water of a pond was set within the small glade, the land it occupied low within the center of a natural depression and fed by a spring near the eastern edge.

It was a place of serenity and undeniable beauty, the colors rich and fulfilling, and as Jessa moved along the southern hedges, she wondered how deep the water might be at the center. When summer was high in Lyoness and the heat at times unbearable in its arid oppression, the mosaic tiles on the bottom of the reflecting pool in the western courtyard of the Jade Palace showed, bereft of water. The comparison appalled her.

The Princess Darrius burst into the clearing in a rage of movement and Jessa stumbled into the solid presence of the hedge. She spoke the runes of her spell upon sheer instinct, the Veil of Shadows rising like a surge of heat erupting from the earth.

Darrius tossed her tunic into the air behind her and slowed her pace only long enough to awkwardly discard her trousers, hopping as she lifted one leg and then the other. She was left only with short breeches that clung to her strong thighs and backside and a sleeveless homespun that reached her belly. Darrius sprinted into the shallows of the pond, sliced into the water with a flat dive, and disappeared beneath the surface.

Jessa knelt beside the hedge and waited, her heart pounding as she spied the discarded clothes. Darrius came up for air in a splashing of water.