Shifting Loyalties

by Melissa McShane

  “It’s too bad he can’t have children,” Felice said. “He’s good with them.”

  Startled, Sienne looked at her. “I…he is,” she said. “I didn’t know.” Alaric had booted his team’s sphere back into the scrum, and stood alongside, laughing. Sienne’s heart ached with love for him. What had the divine Octavian said? Sometimes we don’t know what we want until we’ve lost it? But Alaric hadn’t been upset when he’d told her they couldn’t have children. Yes, he was having fun tonight, but that was because he felt sorry for Liliana…wasn’t it?

  Alaric caught sight of her and bounded over to her side. “They took to mylluste like they were born Ansorjan,” he said. “Of course, a real game of mylluste would have three sides, but there weren’t enough players. I’m afraid young Marius is still playing whatever boring rules-heavy game he came up with, him and a handful of similarly stodgy children who will probably grow up to be tax collectors.”

  Felice chuckled. “Thank you for enlivening my sister’s party.”

  “It was my pleasure, Lady Felice.”

  “Just Felice. You’re part of the family, after all.”

  Alaric put his arm around Sienne. “I’m not sure your parents would agree.”

  “They can’t dictate who we love. I’m glad you’re with my sister.” Felice hugged Sienne who, startled, hugged her back. “Come to dinner sometime. We all want to know you better.” She nodded at Alaric and walked away.

  “That was unexpected,” Alaric said. “I take it you’ve both made amends?”

  “I…think so. She has reasons for not being upset about losing her birthright and her awful husband.”

  “Speaking of the awful husband, is Rance here?” Alaric looked around.

  “Probably. I hope he won’t approach me. He might be under orders to convince me to marry him.”

  “Does he know about me?”

  “I have no idea. If my parents gave him those orders, they might not have told him. Rance may not have scruples, but he has to believe courting me when you’re in my life won’t be successful.”

  Alaric’s brow furrowed. “You don’t really think your parents would encourage him?”

  “Not really. It’s more likely his father would push him that way. Either way—”

  “If he makes a pest of himself, I’ll remind him why that’s a bad idea. And no, I won’t start a fight, but I’ll finish it if I have to.” He flexed his arms, though by the way he was once again looking about him, he’d done it unconsciously.

  “Thank you. Um…”

  “Yes?”

  Sienne found she couldn’t meet his eyes. “You’re enjoying yourself?”

  “Of course. Liliana’s friends are interesting, for children. Though I’m worried about Perrin.”

  She grasped this conversational thread gratefully. “Dianthe will keep an eye on him, and make sure he gets home all right.”

  Alaric frowned. “I was thinking more of what will happen if he gets seriously drunk. Averran might not be willing to look the other way more than once.”

  “There’s nothing we can do about it, though. Except maybe pray.”

  “Praying never hurt.” He kissed her. “I have to go. My team needs rallying so we can crush Kalanath and his minions!”

  Sienne laughed as he ran toward the melee, which had gone quieter in his absence. Everything was fine. Perrin would return, he would eventually recover from his heartache, so far as that was possible, and Sienne would find a way to get out of this inheritance. And Rance would find some other titled heiress to marry and she’d never have to see him again.

  She drank wine, and watched the game, which slowly drew the attention of the adult guests. Their idle interest soon turned avid as they realized their children were engaged in something parents could decently choose sides in and, more importantly, shout threats at other parents. At one point, Liliana raced past, her quilted armor torn at the shoulder and her wooden sword raised high. She met Sienne’s eyes and smiled, her eyes alight with happiness, and Sienne smiled back, feeling friendly toward her sister for the first time in her life. Maybe she’d stop being a brat sooner than Sienne thought.

  It was probably close to eleven o’clock before the game wound down and people took their leave. Dianthe hadn’t returned. Neither had Perrin. Sienne, Kalanath, and Alaric said goodbye to the duke and duchess and walked home in silence. Kalanath and Alaric were too exhausted to speak, and Sienne felt emotionally drained and lightheaded from too much wine. The celebrations in the city were still going strong, but no one tried to get them to join in. Sienne hoped it wasn’t because they looked weary. Looking weary was a good way to get jumped by someone with much darker intent than a desire for a dance.

  The house was dark except for the lights behind the kitchen window. Alaric pushed the door open for Sienne to enter. “Is Leofus still up?” she asked. “Leofus?”

  “It’s us,” Dianthe called out.

  Sienne entered the kitchen. Dianthe sat at the table next to Perrin. Her gauzy robes were torn into fluttering ribbons. He had his face buried in his hands and his hair hanging loose around it. “It’s all right,” Dianthe said. “We walked for a while.”

  “A very long while,” Perrin said, his voice muffled. “I could not succumb to the desire to drink myself into a stupor while I was on my feet. Then I was assaulted, and Dianthe made herself known. Together, we fought off my assailants. It was enough to bring me to my senses. We returned here not ten minutes ago. Dianthe has been kind enough to remind me that I have a duty not only to myself, but to you.”

  “I can’t imagine how terrible it was for you to see your children,” Sienne said. “How can we help?”

  Perrin raised his head and chuckled. “You would not be yourself if that were not your first instinct, to help in an impossible situation. I will recover. I am trying to remember the joy in seeing them for even a few minutes and not the horror of having them torn from me.”

  “Your daughter said they have been praying for you,” Alaric said. “To Averran.”

  “Yes, and that has puzzled me. For Cressida to encourage them in such an action…I thought her solidly in my father’s court. I cannot understand it.”

  “It is not a thing she should do?” Kalanath said.

  “She worships Gavant as I once did. Believes my father was right to cast me off. She was antagonistic toward Evander, my mentor, and dismissive of Averran’s worship. It is not so much a thing she should not do as a thing I cannot imagine her doing.”

  Alaric pulled out his chair from his usual place at the head of the table and sat. “Something must have happened.”

  A knock, soft and diffident, sounded at the back door. They all looked at each other. “It is nigh onto midnight,” Perrin said. “Who could be calling at this hour?”

  Kalanath disappeared down the hall, and Sienne heard the door open, then the quiet murmur of voices. Then Kalanath returned, trailed by a lovely woman wearing a cloak much too warm for the weather, even the coolness of a true summer night. She put the hood down as she entered the kitchen. Perrin shot to his feet, his face pale. “Cressida,” he said.

  “This is…” Sienne began, but she already knew who it was.

  Perrin answered her anyway. “Cressida Delucco,” he said. “She used to be my wife.”

  9

  “Not by my will,” Cressida said. Her voice was deep for a woman’s and as husky as if she’d spent a lifetime coughing. “Perrin, you are in danger.”

  “I, in danger? Cressida, do you not know how dangerous it is for a woman alone to cross the city at this hour?” Perrin took a few steps toward her, his hand outstretched, then let it fall. “How did you know where to find me?”

  “I hired a woman to follow you, after you…after Father Delucco expelled you. I asked her to keep me informed as to your lodgings, in case…I do not know what contingency I wanted this information against.” Cressida looked as pale as Perrin. “I could hardly ask Brinton to accompany me.”

  “Th
en you should not have come.”

  “I had to. Father Delucco intends to punish you for daring to break the terms of your disinheritance. You need to leave the city.”

  “You mean, because he spoke to his children?” Sienne exclaimed. “That wasn’t his doing, it was an accident. There are witnesses, starting with me and my friends. If Lysander Delucco wants to make it a matter of the law, he’ll find those witnesses are not insignificant.”

  “He knows that,” Cressida said. “I heard him talking about it with Brinton. Even if he could bring suit against you, it would make him look the fool to do so. I am certain you know how much your father dislikes looking a fool.”

  “I am aware, yes,” Perrin said. “But you need not fear for me. We are well capable of defending ourselves.”

  “Against dozens of ruffians, none of whom can be traced back to him?” Cressida’s fists were clenched tight as if she wished she could use them against someone. “He does not know where you are because he, as he put it, refused to sully himself with the knowledge of the location of a reprobate. But in the morning he will set out to discover your location, and if I could find you, he certainly will. Can you protect all your friends? The owner of this house? No, Perrin. You need to leave until his anger has cooled. A week, possibly two, and he will have forgotten its immediacy. Please.”

  “I am not certain,” Perrin said, “why you should care. You yourself told me I had to choose between you and the avatar I serve. I betrayed you, as far as you were concerned.”

  Cressida seemed not to remember there was anyone in the room but her and Perrin. Sienne thought about clearing her throat as a reminder, but decided against it. It was bad, she knew, but this was not a conversation she wanted to miss. “You think I wish you harm, just because you…because we were not one? That I wanted you cast out, disgraced and disinherited?”

  Perrin’s jaw tightened. “But you agreed with my father.”

  “I believed there should be no straying from the worship of Gavant. I didn’t know how we could manage a household split between two faiths. I did not think…Perrin, how can you believe I wanted any of this? You left me with no choice but to follow your father’s will.”

  “And yet, Delphine said…they pray to Averran nightly.”

  Cressida lifted her chin. “I hoped he would have mercy on the children of one who gave up everything to serve him. And I hoped I would someday understand the kind of faith that puts God above more earthly loves.”

  Perrin closed the distance between them, but still didn’t touch her. “I chose Averran over you,” he said. “It didn’t mean—” He glanced around, seeming for the first time to remember his friends. “Excuse us,” he said. “We will use the sitting room.”

  When they were gone, the others sat in silence for a while. Sienne wished she could hear the rest of the conversation, even though the wish was self-indulgent. This was far, far worse a difficulty to get past than Sienne’s problems with Felice. It had never occurred to Sienne to see Perrin’s choice in that light, but of course it was true: he’d chosen Averran over his own wife and children. Cressida might have wounded him by demanding that he choose, but he must have broken her heart when he chose wrongly, at least from her perspective. Sienne wasn’t sure those were the sort of betrayals that could be easily forgiven.

  Finally, Alaric said, “Mistress Delucco is right. We should consider leaving town for a while.”

  “Run away?” Sienne exclaimed. “And give Master Delucco the satisfaction?”

  “I’m with Sienne,” Dianthe said. “Running makes us look weak.”

  “It is not weak to find a better place to fight from,” Kalanath said. “We do not know what Perrin’s father can do, what resources he has. We are on the defensive, and that is not a good place to be when we lack knowledge.”

  “And we don’t care how it makes us look to Lysander Delucco,” Alaric said. “The alternative is that we never go anywhere alone and have to be constantly on guard against ruffians whose faces we don’t know. And if Perrin remains in Fioretti, Delucco will be reminded that Perrin thwarted him, and he’ll never stop trying to hurt or possibly kill him.”

  “He wouldn’t try murder, would he?” Sienne said. “He has his social status to think of. He can’t risk the accusation.”

  “That will be no comfort if Perrin is dead,” Kalanath said. “We should go.”

  “All right,” Dianthe said. “And I know just the job.”

  “We can—what job?” Alaric said. A look of distaste crossed his face. “Not the Adornos. I told you, I don’t like how desperate they were.”

  “But it’s a job we don’t have to go hunting for,” Dianthe said, leaning forward to emphasize her words. “The Bramantus Mountains are a week’s journey away. A week out, a week back, and however many days it takes to clear out the ruin, and Master Delucco forgets all about us.”

  “I don’t think it’s quite that easy,” Sienne said.

  “Sure it is. We’re still provisioned, mostly, from the Nocenti job, so it won’t take much time in the morning to get ready. And who knows what kind of treasure might remain in a ruin that might have been occupied by a wizard once?”

  Alaric scowled. “We could just go to Tagliaveno for a holiday. We’ve earned it.”

  “You know you never last more than a day with nothing to do.”

  “She’s right about that,” Sienne said. “And I did feel sorry for the Adornos.”

  “So did I,” Kalanath said.

  “Fine,” Alaric said. “But when this goes horribly wrong, I reserve the right to say I told you so.”

  “Fair enough,” Dianthe said. “You and Sienne can go to the Adornos in the morning, since they’re so awed by Sienne—”

  “Why do I have to—” Sienne began.

  Footsteps in the hall silenced her. Perrin paused in the doorway. “I must walk Cressida back to her home,” he said. “I will return shortly. Pray, do not wait up for me.”

  “Don’t be late,” Alaric said. “We’re leaving Fioretti in the morning.”

  Perrin took a few steps into the kitchen. Cressida hovered behind him, her face betraying nothing of what had passed between them. “We are not leaving on my account, are we? I refuse to flee from my father.”

  “We’re taking the Adornos’ job,” Alaric said, “which coincidentally gets us out of town. This is no time to be proud, Perrin. Lysander Delucco is a dangerous enemy who believes you’ve flouted his authority. We’re not going to stay where our presence rubs that in.”

  “If he has not attacked me in all the time I have lived here, I do not see why we should be afraid now.”

  “You did not encounter his grandchildren until now,” Cressida said. “He sees them as his property, close to whatever passes for his heart. He fears your influence on them.”

  “And yet you have dared secretly to expose them to a different faith. Cressida, you—” Perrin stopped and pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes against some horrible vision. “We will return you to your home. Alaric, if you are determined to protect me, I do not see how I can dissuade you. I will be quick.”

  “Should we go with you?” Sienne asked.

  “I doubt my father will be able to marshal his forces quickly, and he is unlikely to set thugs to roaming the streets on the off chance they will encounter me. But if I do not return in an hour—”

  “Understood,” Alaric said. “Good evening, Mistress Delucco.”

  Cressida nodded once, and then she and Perrin were out the door. When it closed behind them, Sienne said, “I feel so awful for them. Do you think they can ever reconcile?”

  “Some things are broken beyond repair,” Dianthe said. “I hope their relationship isn’t one of them.”

  “They did not look like two people who love again,” Kalanath said.

  Sienne had to agree with him. She wished she knew how to help them. She’d settle for knowing if they wanted to be helped.

  A light rain fell the next morning, and Si
enne hunched her shoulders against it. She enjoyed how it swept away the stink of animal waste in the courtyard outside the Adornos’ lodging house. “What if they’ve already left?”

  “Why would they have left? They still have a job to hire out,” Alaric said. He strode as if the weather were clear and fine, though rain beaded his short blond hair.

  “All right, what if they’ve already hired someone else?”

  “Then we go to Tagliaveno instead. I’m starting to regret agreeing to this. Tagliaveno is cooler than Fioretti in true summer. Or Sileas. Damn, I could have suggested we visit Dianthe’s family.”

  “Why are you so opposed to this job? It can’t all be because they were desperate.”

  Alaric held the door of the lodging house for her. “There’s just something off about it. They were more interested in convincing us to go, regardless of the details, than they were about finding a solution to their problem. Like we were the job, and it didn’t matter what they sent us after so long as we went.”

  “That’s convoluted, Alaric. I’m not sure you can know all that.”

  He shrugged. “I could be wrong. Tell me I have an overinflated opinion of our worth.”

  “I never dismiss your instincts. You’ve been right too many times.” Sienne stopped outside the Adornos’ door. “It’s not too late to go home.”

  Alaric stared at the door. “No,” he finally said, “no, whatever’s really going on, I think I want to know about it. Anyone that desperate will find a way to get what he wants, and I’d rather have the Adornos in front of me than behind me.” He rapped sharply on the door. “Too bad it’s too late to pretend you’re the team leader. It might have been useful to hold me in reserve against any treachery they plan.”

  The door opened. Lucan Adorno stood there, his clothing in disarray like he’d only just risen. His pleasant, curious expression gave way to one of confusion. “Yes?”

  “Do you still need scrappers?” Sienne asked.