Chapter 61
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
AUDREY
Better to give them nothing than an opportunity.
—Matri’sion proverb
24th Day of Autumn’s Son Moon,
Age of the Locways, Year 272
La’Angi Keep
The cider’s tiny bubbles popped disconcertingly in my mouth.
Dancers took to the floor as if they’d merely had a brief break, rather than being gone for a day.
Yasmine, already in the thick of things, spun past in the arms of Sir Brayden, who had made it through until the semifinals before being beaten by Chay.
He’d avoided being caught up in war because he was sworn to Darrius, who was in a state of permanent readiness to turn back the steppe tribes.
But he wasn’t in Kadan’s inner circle, or even the outer one. They were friendly, no more.
“…Replanted the orchard as barley, or even rye, your benefits would be swift. Imagine, cows among it!” Irvinne told me.
I listened only with a small part of my mind.
Cows did better down toward Triple Peak.
The land around La’Angi had been salted by the sea for decades due to mismanagement.
The trees weren’t only for fruit. But I didn’t explain that.
I hadn’t realized it myself until only a few moons ago, when I’d been doing some reading on a different topic and stumbled across the reference.
It made the decision to plant the protective open area around the keep a lot more logical, and it made me look at the trees in a new light.
All of that aside, Isolde was asleep, and I hadn’t had time to go after Luca yet. Mayhap he’d live to see the sunrise tomorrow, mayhap he wouldn’t. My mind spun like a leaf in a storm.
“Cheese, m’lady. And, if you were besieged—” Irvinne went on.
“They could burn my fields and slaughter the villagers, while I enjoyed fresh cream in here?” I asked, cutting him off. “Orchard or no orchard, no one is taking La’Angi by force, Irvinne. Not even in the aftermath of the plague, at our weakest, did we waver.”
The man beside me nodded aggressively. “Of course, but not everyone will know that, now, will they? You need to think like a man, my lady.” He smiled at me. “Simply. How many men who have an army would really believe you could turn them back?”
Impatient, I said, “If I altered course to account for every stupid decision a man might make, I’d get nowhere.” In case he didn’t hear the dismissal in the words, I added, “Please enjoy the party, sir.” I struck out through the people, blessedly alone, only to feel dozens of eyes on me.
I sucked in a hard breath. The ribbons around my body flexed with the force of it, the flowers shuddering as if in a gale. Don’t be an uncouth bitch, you uncouth bitch. I shook myself, glancing around for an ally.
As had happened so often, Kadan was there, wandering in with his oaken staff in hand, the sparkling gold brocade on his doublet dimmer than the smile on his face and the gleam in his eye. “Ah, my lady!” he said.
I halted, looking him up and down. He’d changed, just as I had. Wheat and horses, horses and wheat. They were fitting decorations for the horse lord heir, and the man prophesied to take over the world. Food, transportation, and the edge in combat, all wrapped up in two items.
“Your footwear is excellent,” I noted, without a breath of a lie. “Your leatherwork is always good, but that boot is particularly fantastic.”
“I do like it,” Kadan agreed. “I considered getting some sort of accessory to my magefoot, but I’d rather make people a little uncomfortable, you know?”
I didn’t bother to hide my amusement, taking the arm he offered me and separating from the group of men always moving in his wake. He left the walking stick with the big brunet who greeted Chay like a brother and guided me across the dance floor.
“How are your feet holding up, O Beacon?”
From his lips, it was an invitation to laugh at the horrific nickname I’d somehow ended up with, and I took it. “Twice as painful as yours, I suspect.”
“Was that an amputee joke, my good lady?” he asked, his eyes wide.
I smiled at the mock indignation. It was, in fact, the exact same joke he’d told last night, only with the perspective switched. At first, I didn’t know how to take him, but face value seemed to work remarkably well for Kadan.
I understood that. It was easier than going deep.
He whirled me away. I didn’t recall how graceful he’d been the first time we’d danced together. I’d seen him ride, though.
No one was going to mention that he struggled to keep up with the other dancers. Not while I had any say. Together we spun and whirled. I kept his pace as if it was the music that was out of time, not Kadan.
The man made it feel entirely possible.
When his rhythm faltered, I steered us out of the crowd and onto the balcony.
I tugged him over to the chairs, feigning exhaustion so he might sit.
He’d refused a chair while he stood with me up in the stands, watching Chay decisively win against every single man he fought and walk off without breaking a sweat.
For Chay, who was wont to bead with perspiration at the least hint of sun, that was quite the comment.
“That chair’s for murderers and despots,” Kadan had said, flicking his finger at my father’s dais. “Murder day was yesterday, and my attention is too short for despottery.”
“Is despottery a word?” I asked him now, as he passed me a glass of something with less bubbles than the cider I’d discarded with the man from earlier.
“You just said it, didn’t you?” he tapped his glass to mine. “Sounds like a word to me. Chay still recovering?”
“I think so.” I hadn’t really spoken to my guard. He’d won, but he hadn’t returned to the tower with us. “I believe he was going to the public bathhouse. I assume it’ll be quiet now, so he can have a peaceful soak.”
Kadan made an envious noise. “Wouldn’t it be nice to avoid people?” he asked, with a quick grin. “Still, he’s rarely so far from you.”
I shrugged that off. “He always does what he wishes. With the tourney, he’s been closer, but…”
It trailed off. Not since Kadan had lent on the railing beside me and said, “Don’t react, Audrey, but Luca’s fine, and everything is under control” had he mentioned Luca’s name.
If Luca had died because he believed my life would be so badly ruined without being wedded to him once I’d bedded him, well, it would’ve been a fair consequence. Now he could die for almost taking the life of my best friend.
The rage hummed in my flesh. I rolled my neck on my shoulders. Moving felt good after so much inactivity. I wanted to get Kadan up, to drag him across the floor again.
My heart drummed against my ribs like the Storm’s hooves against the road. Run run run, it said.
I drew in a deep breath, held it for a moment, then slowly released it.
“Are you sick of having every woman want to be you, and every man want to marry you?” Kadan asked me.
I glanced over, but I couldn’t tell if the sympathy was real or a jest. “Why, have you any idea how to remedy the problem?”
His mouth tugged across in a thoughtful way. “What part of that is a problem?”
“All of it. I want the women’s desire, and the men’s envy.”
A grin split his face. “Then you, my lovely lady, need better boots.”
“And somewhere better to rest my legs when they’re off,” I agreed without thinking.
Heat rushed into my cheeks. I sipped the cool drink, refusing to admit I’d just said what I had. It could’ve meant anything. If I could’ve found something to say that might’ve taken it in another direction, away from thoughts of Luca—
“Chay’s solid,” Kadan told me, blithely. “I’m sure he’s got advice on that front.”
He did. Or, he had. There was no chance I was avoiding any double meanings now. Blame it on the cider. “Did he pay you to say that?”
Kadan’s grin widened. “Payment’s your blush, my lady. Now come, before someone comes to ensure I’m not suggesting anything between you and me. We both know I’m far too blond for you, but the gossip mill won’t understand.”
“They can add it to the list.”
“And they no doubt shall.”
I shrugged, putting my hand back in his as I finished my drink. “I should circulate.”
“Retreating? Witty and wise.”
Feeling foolish rather than either witty or wise, we reentered the fray. I didn’t allow myself to be removed from Kadan’s company until I’d returned him to his friends and protectors. Only then did I let myself be led back onto the dance floor.
There was no sign of Luca. I’d heard a few people whispering about him, that he’d been seen very drunk early this morning, that Kadan had done some damage control to hide the fact he’d emptied half the cellars and filled half the women.
It was an ambitious rumor. I doubted Chay would’ve started it.
I’d heard whispers his horses had been readied, that he’d gone to the stables rather than the ball tonight.
It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that, at least, was true.
The man whose arms I was in smiled at me. “Good rope in a city is like beautiful flowers on a beautiful woman,” he suggested, reminding me that he was the nephew of a merchant with a large shipment of rope that hadn’t been sold yet.
“Merely trappings that distract from what’s truly important?” I asked.
He laughed as if I’d told the best jest he’d heard in weeks.
Some of them saw me, but most saw a steppingstone, an accessory, a wax seal or the key to all the locks in the keep. I was getting tired of it.
“Fantastic dress, niece,” Fiona said with a big smile as she swept past in the arms of a man not married to her. Her husband had lived after Mikus’ attack the previous tourney, and could walk, but he’d never been a dancer.