“We’re prepared to pay for your time,” Lucan said, “and of course anything you find in the ruin is yours. We did our research—that’s the standard contract.”
“My lady,” Jaceus said, returning his attention to Sienne, “Lucan is right, we did our research. Your team has a reputation not only for being honorable, but for taking on unusual jobs. We think there’s magic in that ruin, and we know that’s something you care about. Please, help us.”
Sienne shifted uncomfortably and glanced at Alaric. “We weren’t planning on taking any new jobs during the festivities,” she said. “And, not to be rude, but your job isn’t all that unusual. Clearing ruins for new settlers is common.”
“But…there’s magic there. We know that’s something you seek out.”
“Certain kinds of magic,” Alaric said. “Ritual. That’s no secret.”
“All right, ritual. There might be something of that kind in the ruin.” Again Jaceus ignored Alaric. Sienne’s discomfort turned to irritation. They couldn’t have done much research if they thought Sienne made the decisions for the team. And she didn’t like how desperate they sounded, like they’d manufactured the claim of magic specifically to appeal to them. How stupid did the Adornos think she was?
She turned to face the others. “What do you think?”
Kalanath shrugged. Perrin said, “We do not need the money.”
“Then do it for compassion,” Lucan said. “I mean, of course we’ll pay you, but think of how you’d be helping a community in need.”
“I don’t think so,” Alaric said. “Your cause may be just, but Perrin’s right, we don’t need the money. And as Sienne said, we weren’t planning to take any jobs until the celebrations are over.”
“We can wait.”
Alaric shook his head. “Sorry. We’re not interested.”
Jaceus’s lips tightened. “You let him speak for you?” he said to Sienne, sounding surprised and a little disdainful.
“Ah…yes? He’s our leader. Why do you keep talking to me?” Sienne asked.
Jaceus took half a step back, his eyes wide. “But he…you’re the daughter of a duke! Why would you let him lead?”
Sienne laughed. She couldn’t help it; his consternation was too funny. “Alaric has far more experience with scrapping than I do. If your research didn’t tell you that, I have to say I don’t think highly of it. And my birth means nothing when we’re on a job. If Alaric says no, then no it is.” That wasn’t strictly true. Whenever any one of them had a strong opinion on a job, Alaric generally didn’t override it. But Sienne didn’t feel she owed the two men an explanation.
Lucan turned toward the window and gripped the sill, bowing his head as if in the grip of some strong emotion. Jaceus looked so crestfallen Sienne felt an unexpected sympathy for him. “Look,” she said, “why don’t we make some recommendations? There are a lot of good scrappers in Fioretti, and I’m sure one of them will be willing to take your job.”
Jaceus nodded. “I suppose…thank you. But if you change your mind—”
“We won’t,” Alaric said. “But we wish you luck. We know how hard it is to make a living near the Empty Lands.”
Jaceus nodded and opened the door. Sienne, leaving last, avoided meeting his eyes.
Back on the street, Dianthe said, “That wasn’t as funny as I thought it would be. Maybe we should have taken the job.”
“I didn’t like how practiced that speech was,” Alaric said. “It was tailored to appeal to us.”
“I don’t know,” Sienne said. “Is it so bad that they wanted us enough to figure out what would intrigue us? Not that I want to take that job. I’m ready for a few days’ rest. But I don’t think there was anything sinister about them.”
“I didn’t say sinister, I said practiced.”
“Well, it’s sort of the same thing.” Sienne sighed and looked up. The Adornos’ window wasn’t visible from the front, but she imagined she could feel them watching her anyway.
“I did not think we would be popular,” Kalanath said. “It is interesting.”
“Indeed,” Perrin said. “I half expect to be hailed in the street as a conquering hero.”
“If news gets around about the find we made, that might not be so farfetched,” Alaric said. “Let’s go home. Some of us have to go shopping for a gift for Sienne’s sister.”
“I almost forgot about that,” Sienne said. “Now I’m trying not to be resentful that she’s essentially blackmailing the family for presents.”
“Not blackmail, surely,” Dianthe said. “Undue pressure, maybe.”
“I’m sure she’s threatened to make everyone’s lives miserable if she isn’t satisfied.”
“Sienne, you have not seen your sister for a year. You cannot know she is so unscrupulous,” Perrin said.
Sienne sighed again. “All right, I don’t know. Maybe she’s changed. I’m just afraid she’ll be a brat until she’s twenty, and I don’t feel like waiting around for her to grow up.” It occurred to her that if her parents had their way, she’d be in a position to watch it happen. The thought irritated her.
“At any rate, I know what I’ll get her,” she went on. “Alaric, you’ll come with me?”
“Always,” he said, taking her hand. “Where are we going?”
Sienne smiled. “You’ll have to tell me.”
She used more than a few confusions to make her and Alaric’s costumes perfect. The story of Sylvie Dell releasing the Old Man of the Mountain from the transform an evil wizard had cast on him was one of her favorites, and Alaric was built to play the part of the powerful creature he’d been turned into. Funny how no one ever wanted to dress as the prince he became once he was free. Or maybe not so funny, considering how Sienne preferred the giant Alaric to any more conventionally-sized man.
They walked arm in arm through the streets, following Dianthe dressed as Lady Time, whose gauzy robes fluttered in the evening breeze. Behind them, Perrin and Kalanath carried on a low-voiced conversation whose subject Sienne couldn’t make out.
“You’re not nervous, are you?” she asked Alaric.
“Nervous? About meeting your parents? No. They’re just people, after all. I’m afraid I’m not awestruck by nobility.”
“I noticed that when we met the king. Why do you suppose that is?”
Alaric frowned. “I’ve never thought about it. I suppose it might be because I know what true power looks like. The wizard who created and enslaved my people wields tremendous power over them. He’s capable of making them do whatever he desires. Your king, your parents…they can exert pressure, they can take away your options, but in the end, you still have the ability to choose, even if the choice is death. I realize that sounds overly dramatic.”
“Yes, but it’s true. Alaric, what am I going to do if I can’t get out of being the heir?”
“You could run away again. We’d help you disappear thoroughly.”
“I don’t think I can. It’s not like before, when I was responsible only to myself. Now I have a responsibility to the dukedom, and to my family. Do I really have a right to throw them into turmoil again?”
“You’ll have to speak to the king, then.”
“I know. Tomorrow I’ll ask for an audience. It may take a few days, what with the celebrations, but we have time.” She sighed. “What ill fortune rules my life that I walked through the market just as Rance did?”
“He’ll be here tonight, won’t he?”
“Probably. Please don’t start a fight.”
“I have self-control, Sienne. I wouldn’t ruin your sister’s party. Unless he threatens you, in which case I’ll break both his arms.”
“He won’t threaten me.”
“Let’s hope not.”
They passed the Plaza of Sighs with the briefest stop to watch the confusions being cast outside the chapel of Gavant as part of their nightly worship. While confusions weren’t anything a priest’s blessings could manage, there were plenty of wizards who worshipp
ed Gavant who were willing to contribute their wizardry to the cause. The control the wizards demonstrated impressed Sienne, whose early training in confusions had given her an appreciation for elaborate ones. This was a light display, curtains of gauzy red and blue and gold dancing in the air above the chapel, smaller sparkling lights winking within the curtains like jewels. Despite her reservations about Gavant’s worshippers, Sienne had to admit they knew how to put on a show.
The park lay a few streets on from the plaza. It was as brilliantly lit as the chapel, but with white and silver lights that made the park as bright as day. Larger lights, waist-high spheres, dotted the lawn, pushed this way and that by laughing children. The older ones had organized races; younger children ran their spheres into each other, making them flash blue briefly when they collided. Sienne wished she were young enough to participate.
Men dressed in the fashion of fifty years earlier, with blousy knee breeches and full-sleeved white shirts under tightly-fitting black doublets, moved throughout the crowds of adults with trays of glasses. The adults had embraced the idea of a fancy-dress party with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Some wore costumes from various eras of Fioretti’s history, making Sienne wonder if any of those men were mistaken for servants in their knee breeches and doublets. Others, more daring, had come as characters from popular plays. A few had gone for a more classic style and were representations of the avatars, or the virtues, or, like Dianthe, personifications of Time or Fate.
Sienne’s parents were near the park entrance, greeting guests. They were dressed, quite appropriately, Sienne thought, as the King and Queen of Staves from a hazard deck. Sienne swallowed her nervousness and led her friends in their direction.
Mother saw her first. She glanced once at Alaric and did a double take that would have been funny if Sienne’s stomach hadn’t been in knots. Then she nudged Papa, who was chatting with someone dressed as the Spirit of Winter.
“Sienne!” Papa exclaimed. “Thank you for coming. And these—” He caught sight of Alaric and his eyes widened. “These must be your companions.”
“Yes. Mother, Papa, let me introduce Dianthe, Perrin, Kalanath, and Alaric. Everyone, these are my parents, the duke and duchess of Beneddo.”
“What a pleasure to meet you,” Perrin said, sweeping them a graceful bow.
“It’s our pleasure,” Papa said, unable to take his eyes off Alaric. Sienne hoped he wasn’t about to start shouting things about the Ansorjan scrapper defiling his daughter. “We’re grateful that Sienne made such good friends. We were terribly worried about her safety.”
“We look out for each other, your grace,” Dianthe said.
“She’s a valued member of our team,” Alaric added.
“I hope you don’t mind my saying, but it was a complete surprise to learn what Sienne has been doing for the past year,” Mother said. Her eyes were fixed on Alaric as well.
“I can imagine,” Alaric said. “But she’s taken to the life well. Saved all our lives more than once.”
“It’s what we do for each other,” Sienne said.
Mother’s gaze flicked past Alaric and back again. “I wish we could speak longer, but we shouldn’t neglect our other guests,” she said, and to Sienne’s surprise she sounded sincere. “Please, enjoy yourselves. Sienne, Felice is here somewhere—you really should talk to her.”
Sienne’s desire not to talk to her sister warred with her feeling that her mother was right. “I’ll…see if I can find her,” she said.
Her father hugged her and kissed her cheek. “You look lovely,” he said. “It’s an interesting choice of costumes. Suits you—both of you.”
It was the closest he was going to come to an acknowledgement of Alaric’s presence in her life, at least in public. She smiled and hugged him back.
“Should we try to find your sister?” Kalanath said. “The one whose day it is, I mean.”
Sienne squeezed the squishy paper-wrapped package under Alaric’s arm. “We can at least find where to leave this.”
They made their way across the lawn to a fountain topped by a bronze fish spraying water from its mouth. Other partygoers glanced at them, glanced a second time at Alaric, then continued their private conversations. Did Alaric ever get tired of being stared at? Sienne thought she’d probably lose patience with it after about five minutes. But Alaric never showed sign that he even noticed.
Packages wrapped in bright cloth and covered baskets made an untidy pile on a white sheet near the fountain. Liliana, dressed in armor made from quilted silver satin over a frilly party dress and expensive-looking boots, sat on the fountain’s rim with her head propped on her hands. Kitane’s sword and shield lay on the ground nearby. She looked so disgruntled Sienne had to suppress an annoyed reaction. It was her birthday, after all, and Sienne remembered her own birthday parties and decided disgruntlement wasn’t an inappropriate reaction. “Not having fun?” she asked.
“Marius Kentarre is here,” Liliana said.
“I don’t know who that is.”
“He’s just the most annoying boy in Fioretti. His papa is an old friend of Papa’s, so they had to invite him.” Liliana scowled harder. “But he took over the game I was playing and made it all boring rules and the like. It’s my party and we should do what I want! I don’t think it’s spoiled to want that.”
“I agree,” Alaric said. “You should start a new game and leave him to play by himself.”
Liliana looked up at him. “Who are you?”
“This is Alaric,” Sienne said. “He’s my…friend.” Alaric smirked. “And these are Dianthe, Perrin, and Kalanath. We’re all scrappers.”
Liliana eyed Alaric again. “Are you Sienne’s lover? I heard Erianthe and Phebe talking about it where they thought I couldn’t hear. Are you going to get married?”
Alaric’s smirk became a real smile. “Maybe someday. But yes, Erianthe and Phebe were right.”
“Oh.” She turned her gaze on Kalanath. “You’re Omeiran, aren’t you? I heard Omeirans don’t believe in avatars. Aren’t you afraid they’ll strike you down?”
Kalanath looked startled at the direct question. “Omeirans worship God differently,” he said, “and the avatars do not seem to mind.”
“I think you’re handsome. Why isn’t he your lover, Sienne?”
“I…Liliana, that’s not—” Sienne took refuge in rudeness. “That’s none of your business!”
Liliana’s interest had already moved on. “Is that for me?”
Alaric presented her with the package. “It’s half your present.”
“Only half?”
“It’s a dress like mine, with a skirt that sparkles,” Sienne said, trying to regain her composure. “The other half is for me to use magic to fit it to you perfectly. You’ll have to try it on the next time I visit.”
“Oh!” Liliana’s eyes were wide. “Thank you, Sienne!” She dropped the package and flung her arms around her sister’s waist. Sienne, startled, tentatively hugged her back. It was hard to remember that Liliana was almost a young woman, given that she acted much younger than her age. At that moment, Sienne almost liked her.
“Now,” Alaric said, “I think we should do something about a new game. These spheres are almost the right size for catch-and-carry. Maybe we could figure out how to make it work.”
“But you’re adults. Why would you want to play games?”
“Because it’s more interesting than standing around and talking.”
Liliana glanced around at the nearest adult guests, none of whom were paying them any attention. “They don’t think so.”
“Then they, too, are boring,” Perrin said, “and we can at least cheer you on.”
Liliana smiled. “I’ll tell Sofie and Amabel. They don’t like Marius either. Oh, and there’s my friend Delphine.”
Sienne turned to see a pretty, dark-haired girl dressed much as Liliana was, complete with sword and shield. Beside her, Perrin swore viciously under his breath and half-turned away. “What
is it?” Sienne asked.
The dark-haired girl dropped her sword and shield and raced toward them, screaming, “Papa!”
8
“Papa, Papa!” the girl shrieked, and flung her arms around Perrin’s waist, burying her face in his antique waistcoat. Slowly, Perrin put his arms around her, bowing his head so his long hair concealed his face. “Papa, where have you been? We missed you!”
“I have missed you too, sweetling,” Perrin murmured. “I—dear Averran, Noel too?”
A young boy perhaps six or seven years old, dressed in a cut-down version of Gavant’s famous many-colored robe, had emerged from the crowd and was running as fast as his stocky legs would take him toward the pair. Perrin crouched to take the boy in his arms and hold both children close. “Oh, how I have missed you. Is your mother here?”
“Mama is ill with a headache. Brinton brought us. Do you know Liliana, Papa?”
Perrin stood and detached himself from his children, though he kept hold of each of their hands. “I am a friend of Liliana’s sister.”
Sienne thought he looked relieved at hearing the children’s mother wasn’t present. She herself felt like a strong breeze might knock her over. What a horrible or beautiful coincidence that Perrin’s children had been invited!
“I thought your father was dead,” Liliana said. “Isn’t that what Master Lanzano said? I heard him tell Rance that we had to be nice to you because your father was dead.”
“He is not dead!” Delphine shouted, gripping her father’s hand more tightly. “He had to go away and now he’s back! Aren’t you, Papa?”
Perrin’s face looked cut from stone. “I fear not, Delphine,” he said. “My…the thing that keeps me away is still in force. Forgive me.”
“But Mama has us pray for you every night. She tells us to ask Averran to send you home,” Delphine said.
“She…what?” Perrin’s impassive expression gave way to confusion. “Surely that can’t be right.”
“You can’t leave, Papa,” the little boy said. “There are sweets, and punch. Come and have some with us.”
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