Power & Majesty (30 page)

At Ashiol’s mention of swords, Crane’s lovely face had lit up with joy. He was still glowing. It had never occurred to Velody that it wasn’t his personal choice to wear only daggers while Macready and Kelpie had swords.

‘Get some rest then,’ Ashiol was telling Crane. ‘We’ll have to be there at noon. I’ll see Velody home.’

Crane bowed his farewell to Velody in a suitably formal manner, but she could tell he was no longer thinking of her. Did kisses mean so little in this world, and swords so much? She cautioned herself for being even slightly offended. What did she expect—a duel over the honour to walk her home? All this animor was going to her head. She was turning into one of those melodramatic heroines from the newspaper serials.

‘Why hasn’t he had swords before?’ she asked Ashiol on their walk back to Via Silviana.

‘Sentinels are usually too young for long blades when they join our world—no point giving a thirteen year old a sword that he’ll outgrow in six months. Crane should have got his on his last birthday, but Garnet had already forbidden blades to the sentinels.’

‘Which birthday?’ she asked before she could stop herself.

Ashiol shot her an amused look that left her in no doubt that he had some idea of what had been happening between herself and the sentinel in the church grounds. ‘We figure their bones have lengthened enough by seventeen years.’

Velody almost stopped breathing. She had been molesting a child. ‘How can he only be seventeen? How long has he been a sentinel?’

‘Let’s see. He arrived about the time that Poet became a Lord—that would be seven years ago. I’m pretty sure he was about ten. Young for a sentinel, but not exceptionally so. Kelpie was about twelve, I think, when she joined us.’

‘You like them young, don’t you?’ said Velody shortly.

Ashiol shot her a biting grin that made her regret the entire conversation. ‘Funny, I was going to say the same to you.’

Velody clamped her lips together. She had been content to avoid suitors for Rhian’s sake, with nothing more than the occasional lustful thought to bother her. Why should things be any different now just because she spent most of each nox naked in the moonlight?
It’s all the touching,
she decided.
I have to cut down on the touching
.

‘Where do we find the swordsmith?’ she asked, to change the subject.

‘Down below,’ said Ashiol.

She looked at him in surprise. ‘The Arches? You’re letting me—’ Too late, she bit back the words.

Ashiol winced. ‘I shouldn’t be letting you do anything,’ he grunted. ‘You’re the Power and Majesty, it’s up to you to do the letting.’

‘You said I wasn’t ready.’

‘You’re not. That much I’m sure of. But you won’t get ready without being in the middle of it all, dancing the dance of the Court.’

Velody shivered. For a moment, she wanted to beg him to catch her if she fell, but she thought better of it.
Don’t fall
, she told herself fiercely.
You can manage that much, surely.
‘What changed your mind?’

Ashiol’s mouth twisted. ‘Wisdom from an unexpected quarter,’ he admitted. ‘Either that, or I was just talked into letting you walk into a trap. One of the two.’

‘Well, as long as that’s clear.’

‘Just…remember that the Arches, the Shambles, all of it is yours. You are the Power and Majesty, and they’re
living there at your sufferance. If you’re not sure how to react to something, try being arrogant, or violent.’

Time to walk into the tiger’s mouth, little mouse.

‘What should I wear?’ Velody asked.

I
t was a miserable hour. Delphine could walk, with a little help from Macready, but she resented every step and made sure that he suffered along with her.

Finally they turned into the alley that ran behind Via Silviana. Macready let go of Delphine for a moment to turn his attention to the kitchen door, putting his set of latch hooks and picks to good use. They didn’t work. He stared at the door in amazement, and tried again. None of his usual tricks made a dent in the damn thing.

‘New locks?’ he asked Delphine.

She was curled up on the cold path, half-asleep, but she managed to raise a giggle.

Macready rolled his eyes. ‘And that would be my fault for breaking in a while back, am I right?’

Hadn’t Velody told the lasses that they were safe from the Creature Court now? He didn’t know how much she had told them about her new life, but he guessed they wouldn’t have believed much of it.

He knocked loudly on the door. ‘Velody?’

Too much to hope she was at home. It was still hours before dawn. That left Rhian inside—scared and
overprotected Rhian, who jumped at the sound of a male voice.

‘Get up here,’ he snapped at Delphine. ‘Call your friend to the door.’

Delphine made a soft noise, but didn’t stir. She was either slipping in and out of consciousness, or faking it really well. Macready rolled her on her side in case she was sick again, then went back to the door. ‘Rhian?’ he called, trying to make his voice unthreatening. ‘Rhian, sweetness, it’s Macready. I’ve got your lass Delphine here.’

He looked at the upstairs windows, but didn’t know which room he should be aiming for. Surely the timid lass would have a bedroom overlooking the quiet alley rather than the main street? ‘Rhian?’ he called again, louder this time. ‘I won’t come in. I know you won’t have men in the house. I respect that, honest to the saints. But it’s not the warmest time of nox and she’s sick. If you don’t let me in, I don’t know what the devils to do with her.’

His nearest nest was another long walk from where they were—and it could take twice the time with Delphine stumbling along beside him, if she was even up to walking any further this nox. He couldn’t just leave the lass here even if she was the stupidest female he had ever met in his life. Velody would skin him if she found out.

‘Rhian, if you’ll just come to the door, I’ll go and leave you alone!’ he promised.

There were footsteps in the kitchen, and Macready almost collapsed with relief. ‘She’s here,’ he said through the door. ‘I’ll back away while you fetch her. I won’t come near you.’

There was a series of soft clicks as the locks and latches were undone. The door opened. Macready looked up into Rhian’s face, her eyes troubled beneath her close-cropped red hair. She was a big lass, wide-shouldered and taller than him, though she stood as if trying to make herself smaller.
A few weeks of sword training and you’d stand up straighter, my sweet
, he found himself thinking.

‘Macready,’ she said.

Remembering, he backed away from the door. ‘I’ll keep my distance, lass. I know the rules.’

She took in the sprawled figure of Delphine, and sighed. ‘You’ll have to help me inside with her,’ she said.

Macready had been thinking much the same, but he was startled at her matter-of-factness. Velody had told him that the very idea of men being in the house could send Rhian into a panic attack. ‘Are you sure?’

Rhian gave him a look he couldn’t quite define. ‘Velody said I can trust you.’

Macready couldn’t think of what to say, but he managed something of a smile. Rhian came out in her noxgown and a shawl; Macready took hold of Delphine’s arm, but he needed Rhian to steady her other side.

‘Shall we wake her?’ he asked.

Rhian gave Delphine a shake. ‘She’s out like a blown lantern. I could drag her inside by her feet and she wouldn’t wake up.’

‘Now there’s a thought,’ muttered Macready.

Rhian almost laughed, but caught herself. ‘You take her shoulders and I’ll take her feet. I know the house better, and I think I can manage to walk backwards.’

‘Sounds like a plan.’

Macready was starting to like this lass now she was coming out of that frightened shell of hers. It was enough of a mystery to him that Velody and Delphine were friends, but here was another anomaly. What did Rhian and Delphine have in common, apart from both being somewhat broken?

Rhian seemed less nervous if he said nothing, so he did his best to keep his mouth shut as they manoeuvred Delphine into the house. They stopped in the kitchen for Rhian to relatch the door, then headed for the stairs.

It wasn’t in Macready to keep quiet for long. ‘I was wondering, so I was,’ he said, halfway up the stairs. Delphine’s head was lolling around, but he couldn’t think
of a way to protect it except by holding up his knee, which wasn’t practical. ‘Did Velody say you could trust all the sentinels, or just me?’

‘You,’ Rhian said, and again there was that brief waver of a smile. ‘The others as well, but particularly you.’

‘Here was I thinking it was Crane she had the soft spot for,’ Macready said, a little smug.

‘She does,’ said Rhian. ‘But she thinks he’s reckless. He doesn’t always think things through. She said you’re always thinking, especially about other people. That’s why you’re the one she’d trust most with our lives, as well as her own.’

Hard not to be flattered by that. Macready found himself grinning as they swung Delphine’s limp body into her room and laid her on a bright blue and green bedspread. The room was messy, full of dresses and shoes scattered any old how, and a dressing table so heaped with cosmetick products he might sneeze once and find himself fully made up in powder and colours.

‘So,’ he said as he pulled Delphine’s shoes off, tossing them among the mess. ‘She talks about us, does she? I wasn’t sure if she would.’

‘She tried,’ said Rhian, sinking down on the bed beside Delphine. ‘We couldn’t understand most of it, and we reacted badly. I…closed off. The thought of Tierce, of everything we’ve lost, was too much. Delphine just refused to acknowledge it at all. She finds it hard, I think, to believe there’s another world around us that we can’t see or hear. She has enough trouble dealing with this one. Now Velody doesn’t say anything, and we can’t even imagine what she’s doing out there, what dangers she faces.’

What could Macready say to that? Should he apologise for taking Rhian’s friend away and throwing her into danger and strangeness? It would sound as stupid out loud as it did in his head. Besides, it wasn’t him that Velody owed her new life to. That had been Ashiol all the way—and Poet, as well, had stuck his hand into the mix. Macready was still trying to figure that one out.

Rhian raised her troubled eyes to his. ‘I’d like you to leave now.’

‘Of course, lass.’ He backed towards the door, but couldn’t resist one more attempt to put her mind at rest. ‘Whatever dangers Velody faces, she can handle, so she can. She’s stronger than she used to be. She has all of us looking out for her. What I mean to say is—I’d worry more about Delphine if I were you.’

‘I do,’ Rhian said softly. ‘But I know Dee, inside and out. I know what she does to herself and I know why she does it. I don’t know Velody at all any more.’

‘I’m sorry,’ he said, and he was right, it did sound stupid.

‘I know,’ said Rhian. ‘I’d still like you to leave.’

V
elody let herself in the back door and made straight for the workroom. She couldn’t believe she had left it so late. The couriers would be coming to pick up Vestalia gowns for Madame Miesje, Lady Anya Paucini and Lady Camellie in the morning, and she had hours of work ahead of her this nox to finish the commissions on time.

Velody glared at the shadowed gowns on their mannikins as she lit the lamps. The Paucini demme’s milkmaid outfit was complete, and the hems of the gowns for the older ladies had been basted, but there was still finishing work to be done. It didn’t help that the refined women of the court liked their festival peasant garb to be made from slippery, expensive fabrics.

She pulled Lady Camellie’s gown from the mannikin and settled at the iron sewing machine to edge the hems with lengths of lace she had already cut and basted into place. If she worked fast, she might just be done in time to catch an hour or two of sleep before she had to prepare herself for her first visit to the old city. It was considered ill-luck to use machines after noxfall, but she was going to have to risk it.

Macready’s scent alerted her to his presence as he came down the stairs, and her foot slipped from the treadle. He stood in the doorway to the workroom and coughed, a dry little sound, as if he didn’t know she would have sensed him coming.

Velody forced herself to keep working, eyes on the fine lace trim, foot moving steadily back and forth ‘I know you have a good reason for being here,’ she said in a measured voice. ‘You wouldn’t disobey my orders for anything other than a
very
good reason.’

‘Rhian let me in,’ he said.

Velody’s fingers were cramping, still twitchy from her outdoor antics. She let go of the lace to stretch them a little. ‘Why would she do that?’

‘Brought your lass Delphine home.’

‘Oh.’ Velody concentrated on sewing a straight line, though her foot kept urging the machine to work too fast. ‘She usually brings herself home.’

‘Couldn’t see how she was going to be managing it this time.’ He glanced at the armchair opposite Velody’s.

They never asked, these sentinels. She wasn’t sure if it was an exaggerated courtesy or a leftover wariness from the days of Garnet. If they wanted any kind of favour or indulgence, they merely hinted at it and waited to see if an offer would be forthcoming.

Velody nodded impatiently at the chair. ‘If you want to talk, then stay, but I have to keep working.’

‘I wouldn’t want to disturb,’ he said, but sat.

The machine made a comfortable, noisy hum as Velody worked, while Macready watched her.

‘If it’s the lecture about how I shouldn’t let Ashiol dictate my level of involvement with the Court,’ she said when the silence got too much for her, ‘I’ve already had that from Crane.’

‘Have you now?’ replied Macready.

‘I don’t know what you people want from me,’ she said in frustration. ‘How can I possibly be a good Power and
Majesty if I don’t have the faintest idea where to start? Of course I have to take my cues from Ashiol.’

‘Stands to reason,’ said Macready.

She glared at him. ‘What did you want to talk about?’

‘This and that.’

‘I’m going down below tomorrow, as it happens,’ she said. ‘Well, today.’

Macready leaned back a little in the chair, settling himself. ‘When?’

She finished one hem and started measuring out the lace for the other. ‘We’re visiting the…Smith? For Crane’s swords. Ashiol said noon was the time to go.’

‘Indeed. About time,’ said Macready.

She glanced up and saw that he was grinning broadly. ‘You approve?’

‘Swords are a fine thing for a grown lad.’

She congratulated herself on not blushing at the use of the word ‘lad’.
Seventeen. Oh, my. Delphine will laugh herself sick about this one.
‘I suppose it’s safer during the day,’ she said. ‘The Court will all be asleep.’ It was a bitter thought, that the indulgence Ashiol had finally granted her was tempered by a safety net.

‘As long as they don’t wake up,’ said Macready. ‘The timing of it wasn’t chosen to coddle you. The Smith’s only available for one hour of each day, so he is.’

‘Oh.’

Velody worked in silence for a little while longer. The satin of the gown was striped, a bawdy fashion that no noble lady would dream of wearing on any day other than the Vestalia. When the festival was over, it would probably be tossed to a lady-in-waiting who would cut it up for cushions, or pass it on to a poorer relation who craved a satin dress without caring that the common stripes rendered it fit only for those who did not aspire to Society.

‘When does all this have to be finished?’ Macready asked, breaking the silence.

‘The couriers are due an hour before noon,’ Velody said around a mouthful of pins.

‘Will you be done in time?’

‘If I don’t fall asleep and accidentally stitch the gowns together, yes, I expect so.’

‘It must be difficult, so,’ he ventured, ‘working so many hours on these gowns of yours when your noxes are taken up with other responsibilities.’

She gritted her teeth. ‘Are you saying a Power and Majesty shouldn’t be distracted by daylight concerns?’

‘Of course not!’ He sounded quite outraged. ‘You have to earn a living, Majesty. Saving the city is a grand pursuit, but it puts no food on the table.’

‘How do you manage?’ she asked. How had she never thought of this before? ‘There are only the three sentinels now, and you work day as often as nox when you can. How do
you
put food on the table?’

Macready didn’t answer at first. ‘There’s an allowance paid,’ he admitted finally. ‘Enough to get by. In the old days, when there were a dozen of us, some had other jobs and lives as well.’

‘The Creature Court pays you an allowance?’ Velody asked, confused. At the pained expression on Macready’s face, her mind cleared. ‘Ashiol.’

‘Garnet before him.’

‘The Kings support the sentinels. Of course they do.’ She turned back to her pinning, furious. ‘No one told me!’

‘Why should they, Majesty? You’ve enough to do supporting yourself. Ashiol has gold to spare.’

‘That’s not the point. Someone should have told me.’

Once again, Ashiol was usurping her responsibilities, wrapping her in cotton blankets to protect her from the reality of her position.
If he wants to be Power and Majesty, why didn’t he damn well take it when he had the chance?

Macready sighed. ‘I didn’t mean to get into all this.’

‘What did you mean to do?’

‘I’m worried about you, Majesty. And I’m not talking about Court politics. I mean you.’ He took a long, slow breath. ‘We broke something when we brought you into this new life, did we not? Yourself and your lasses. You had something important there, a fine balance, and we’ve shaken it all to pieces.’

Velody concentrated on her work. The machine made rapid, small stitches, more evenly than she ever could by hand. He wasn’t talking about her dressmaking commissions, or her erratic income. He was talking about Velody, Delphine and Rhian. ‘It was already in pieces,’ she said. ‘But you’re right—the pieces were in balance. The daylight isn’t just festivals and honey cakes, you know. There are darknesses in this world too, crime and violence. Men who think they’re entitled to take anything they want from a woman, no matter her wishes.’

‘You’re talking about Rhian. I’d guessed as much, love.’

Velody laughed hollowly. ‘Your guess is as good as ours,’ she said, fighting to keep her voice steady. She kept her head turned away from him. ‘She’s never been able to tell us what happened, not really. From some of the things she has said while waking from bad dreams, we know there were men, more than one. We know they held her down. The rest was left to our imaginations. All we see is what was left behind.’ She swallowed hard, but focused on the hemline and kept sewing. ‘We all deal with horrible things differently, don’t we? Rhian withdrew, more and more each day, until she had imprisoned herself in this house, hiding behind padlocks and bolts. The midwife thinks we took it too far, that we should encourage her to do more for herself, to challenge her boundaries. We didn’t mean to make it so easy for her to bury herself.’

‘She’s not the only one who’s buried herself,’ noted Macready with a pointed look.

Velody slid another pin out and dropped it into the small padded box that she kept them in. ‘True enough. I closed myself off to everything but my home and my
work. Crane kissed me this nox, and I let him. It’s the first time I’ve let a man do that to me for more than a year.’

‘Gods, lass. What a waste.’

Velody couldn’t help grinning at that. ‘Kissing Crane, or not kissing anyone?’

‘Both,’ he said firmly.

Velody ducked her head away, glad that the lantern light was too dim for him to detect extra colour in her cheeks. ‘Delphine dealt with it rather differently.’

‘Aye, I’ve seen how she handles her pain.’

‘Glad you brought her home. That set of hers can’t always be trusted to do as much.’

‘I saw that too.’

Velody sighed. ‘You’re right that becoming Power and Majesty has broken something, Mac, but I’m not sure it’s such a bad thing that it’s broken. We’ve been walled up in this house for too long. I know I should turn my back on the Creature Court, go back to looking after Rhian and Delphine like always, but I need this. I’ve tasted the sky now, and I want more of it. I want to be something bigger and better for once in my life.’

‘Being the most sought after dressmaker in the city wouldn’t do it for you?’

Velody slid her foot from the treadle, finally looking at him. ‘I always thought it would. But when all those letters of commission started flooding in, the grand career I’ve always wanted, something inside me just sighed and said, “More work”. Fighting the sky makes me feel alive. I
want
to be the Power and Majesty. I need it.’

Something powerful lit up Macready’s eyes. ‘Then be it,’ he said, tripping over his tongue in his haste to get the words out. ‘
Be
the Power, Majesty. You’re not there yet, and you know it. Ashiol is cushioning your feet as you walk. Be who you need to be, throw yourself as far into the sky as you want. The sentinels will be there to catch you if you fall.’

It was a beautiful idea, and something inside her woke up and thrilled at the thought of it.
Stretch your hands as high as you like, sentinels. I won’t fall.
‘But what about Delphine and Rhian?’

‘Ah,’ said Macready. ‘As to that, I have something of a plan.’