Chapter 20 Sheuan #2
“Again?” Kiang’s face was a study in quick-changing emotions. First surprise, then annoyance, frustration, and ultimately concern. “That fool.”
Sheuan had never liked Mull’s brother, but she couldn’t deny he cared about Mull. As did his mother. Her chest ached. The next part would not be fun. “I think something must have happened to him. I’ve not had word from him either, nor any of his companions.”
His mother clutched at her collar, leaning heavily into her elder son. “We have to find him. We have to send search parties.”
“Caving is dangerous.” Sheuan let that hang in the air. “As is traveling the roads. I’ll check with the enforcers to see if they’ve had any word. I’ll have them follow up with you.” And they’d say Mull was murdered, just as she’d planned. Best let someone else handle giving the unpleasant news.
Kiang grasped his mother, holding her upright. “The Reisun family can take back management of Mull’s workshop until we find out what happened to him. I’ll speak to Imeah’s family – they might know more.”
Sheuan went swiftly to a table of refreshments for the workers, pouring a mug of water for his mother and returning to the entrance.
She waited until she was sure the old woman had a firm grasp on the cup before letting go.
No need to add pottery shards to the tacks on the floor.
“Mull left the workshop in my hands. You’ll find it’s become more profitable since I took it over, and all the money earned will continue to go to your clan. Find some satisfaction in that.”
Kiang gave her a skeptical look. “You are the Sovereign’s wife now. Haven’t you other things to do?”
“What I do with my time is my business, not yours.” She let that hang in the air.
She might have once been the daughter of a failing royal clan, but she wasn’t anymore.
And the Reisuns weren’t even royal status.
They were noble tier. She outranked them in every possible way and Kiang had overstepped.
He blanched as the realization washed over him.
“Yes, of course.” He bowed, keeping his arm around his mother. “Please, accept our congratulations on your recent marriage.”
She could always sense conversational opportunities; they hung before her like ripe peaches, ready to be plucked.
Mull was the sort of conversationalist who was content to let someone else lead, unless she landed on a topic he had some special knowledge about.
Kiang always needed to be in control. Growing up with someone like Mull could do that to a person – Kiang would always feel insecure about his intelligence.
She could lean on that, if she chose to, on his embarrassment, his desire to recover.
“Thank you. I’ve been learning so much more about the Sovereign.
His rise to power was quite remarkable. He must have been quite the diplomat.
” She intentionally kept things vague and just the slightest bit wrong.
Not that she had some new, startling insights.
Other than that first night they’d spent together, the Sovereign had paid her little attention.
Kiang scoffed, taking the bait. “Diplomat? My father told me what it was like. The Sovereign came out of nowhere, he built the enforcers from the ground up.”
“Oh.” The slightest drop in tone, as though she was mortified to be caught saying something incorrect. “He must have trained his enforcers quite thoroughly. He’s often said that he values those closest to him and wants them to improve their skills.”
Kiang was shaking his head before she’d finished, releasing his mother to cut a hand through the air.
“My father was there when it all happened. The Sovereign’s specialized enforcers are very good at getting information they shouldn’t.
Too good. Unnaturally good. But you should ask the Risho clan about that.
They helped the Sovereign in his rise to power.
That’s why he promoted them to royal tier. ”
Kiang’s mother gripped his loose hand. “Be quiet. You shouldn’t speak such rumors.
” Her gaze flicked to Sheuan and she understood the look to mean especially not in front of her.
“Thank you for looking after the workshop for our clan.” And then she guided her son away, as though he were a wayward child.
The door shut behind them. A few workers who’d stopped to listen returned to their work. Sheuan tried to remember their faces, just in case. Never could be too cautious about who was listening in and who was paying attention.
Kiang’s mother needn’t have worried too much about the rumors her son was spouting.
Sheuan already knew about the enforcers and their ties to magic, but the bit about gleaning information – that, she hadn’t been aware of.
She’d always assumed the magic they used had something to do with their ability to fight.
She scratched absent-mindedly at her back, felt the pinfeathers there, the downy softness of new growth.
Each time she caught the feathers growing, she pulled them out, and each time she pulled them out, they grew back.
There was something satisfying about scratching there, feeling the ridge of some unknown structure pressing against the skin.
Her fingernails came away bloody. Quickly, before anyone noticed, she rubbed them against the palm of her hand. A bit of flaking redness remained. She flicked at it as her mother emerged from Mull’s workspace.
This time, her mother caught her hands in her own.
To Sheuan’s relief, she didn’t look at them, didn’t catch the hint of blood still clinging.
“You should wait,” Sheuan said. “Wait until I’m gone and the enforcers are gone.
Then you can leave.” She pulled to free her hands, but her mother leaned in, her breath tinged with the sweet earthiness of loquat tea.
Her voice was low in Sheuan’s ear. “Don’t think I don’t know what it is you’re doing.”
“What do you think I’m doing?” Sheuan couldn’t keep the peevish tone out of her voice. Her mother’s hands squeezed hers so hard she could feel the bones beneath the soft wrinkled skin.
“You must stop digging. If you want to keep your life, you must stop.”