Shadow in the Empire of Light

by Jane Routley

  Given the tremendous difference in power, there was always the potential for things to turn nasty between mage and mundane. You heard horrible stories of rape and abuse. But never here: here, Elder mages such as Splendance, Glisten and Impi took good care to make sure no mundane was mistreated by a mage. Lord Impavidus was the result of a Blessing Feast mating between a mundane and mage, and he seemed to have some sympathy for the limitations mundanes faced.

  Sadly I would again be sleeping alone, though it looked like I would be doing it on the hard couch in Lucient’s room. Perhaps we could play some checkers and make a really wild night of it.

  Since this was the Blessing feast, it was all meat, meat, meat. Quite apart from the risk of pregnancy, if the truth be told I’d never been that fond of red meat. It always sat heavy on my stomach. Give me a spinach-and-cheese pastry any time. But I made a show of piling my plate with plenty of roast beef, nibbling a little whenever Lumina or Glisten was looking and slipping the rest under the table to Katti and a couple of her offspring. The only other thing to eat was bread and butter. So I drank wine, and on my not very full stomach, it went right to my head. Soon I was trying to drag Lucient outside to dance around the fire. Lucient refused. He was deep in a conversation about the local newts with Uncle Five. Apparently they had a fascinating vestigial fourth toe. I ask you!

  I had to content myself with singing and clapping.

  “Not dancing?” The voice of Hagen Stellason came suavely in my ear. “Perhaps you’d let me remedy that.”

  “You surprise me,” I said, going for an equally suave tone. “You seemed a little displeased with me last night. And I was not thrilled to be called a fool.”

  “My deepest apologies. I’m not as brave as you in the face of large animals and I fear I lost my head.” Hagen sat down beside me and crossed his legs. “I thought to partner you in a dance by way of a peace offering, but perhaps the conversation is too exciting. Hmm, yes, newts. Uncle Five is always so enthralling. So much to know about them, don’t you think? How could I possibly dare to think you might be enticed away?”

  I couldn’t help laughing.

  “Should you be wasting your time with mere gentry?”

  His eyes twinkled. “My dear Marm, I’ve been travelling with the Blessing party for three weeks now. The mages aren’t interested in me anymore. And dare I say vice versa?”

  Across the fire, I saw Scintillant being kissed and nuzzled by a group of pretty peasant girls. He caught my eye and winked. I was annoyed to be caught staring. I was not having him thinking I was lovelorn.

  “Fair enough,” I said, taking Hagen’s hand “Let’s dance.”

  I’m not a good dancer, but I was enthusiastic; and Hagen knew the steps very well. His hand felt warm and delicious in the small of my back—that pleasant tingle of attraction before it becomes too intense.

  But wouldn’t you know it, after our first dance together, the band stopped playing to have a drink. I took a surreptitious glance round after Scintillant. He’d already slipped away with his peasant girls. Lucient waved me over. I checked for Lady Chatoyant; she was talking to Michael, the village blacksmith, who like all such tradesmen had a wonderful body. Surely with Michael on offer, she wouldn’t go after Lucient? But tonight I was at my cousin’s service, so I went back and sat down beside him. At least Uncle Five had taken himself off to the stream to catch wrigglers for the newts he’d already captured. Tonight he would be tripping over loving couples in the bushes until the early hours of the morning, but he probably wouldn’t pay much attention.

  To my surprise, Hagen came and sat beside me. He clearly knew Lucient very well; they began sharing theatre gossip, stories about who was feuding with whom and which leading man threw a tantrum over not being allowed to take his little dog on stage. I loved this kind of talk, even if I had no idea of the people involved. Hagen was being delicious, smiling at me as if to check that I wasn’t feeling left out.

  The Eyrie was loud with talk and laughter. Through the wide open doors I watched people dancing round the huge bonfire and the gigantic plumes of flaming grain alcohol spurting from the mouths of the peasants. The sensuous movements, the way people touched and kissed and broke away in couples or threesomes to disappear into the bushes, made me feel warm in the pit of my belly. The way Hagen kept stroking my arm made the feeling grow until I felt as if honey were sliding glistening though my loins. Watching the whirling figures, the sensual touches on faces, the smoothing of hands over limbs and chest, the brush of hip against hip—how I wished I had someone to take part with! Someone with velvet skin to press my mouth against and ride hard into the dawn.

  “There goes Lady Chatoyant,” murmured Hagen in my ear, nodding at the door. “Perhaps Lord Lucient will be able to spare you tonight after all.” He smiled at me in a way that made my belly melt.

  “That’s for him to say,” I said, opening my eyes wide and innocent. “Really, Sirrah Hagen, I begin to think you are trying to break up a Blessing affair. Surely that cannot be so.”

  “You really are too delightful to rot here in the country,” he said. He lifted my hand and kissed it.

  “Shine, darling, would you get me another jug of wine?” asked Lucient over his shoulder. He gave me a grin that said he knew how Hagen was making me feel.

  I took the pitcher and went out into the hallway towards the kitchen, aware all the time of Hagen behind me. As we reached the servants’ door, he put his hand on my shoulder.

  “Are you sure you wouldn’t like to sneak away later when Lucient is asleep and meet me somewhere?”

  “Perhaps I might need to return to my room for one or two things later,” I murmured, reaching for the door handle

  He took advantage of my stillness to kiss me on the back of the neck. How did he know the right place to do it, the place that sent shivers down my spine and made my back arch towards him? His strong arm slid round my waist and his slim hand caressed my throat and smoothed down to my breast sending heat all the way down into my belly. I steered him into a shadowy corner and pressed my mouth on his. His mouth opened beneath mine and we kissed deep and hard.

  He leaned back against the wall and pulled me against him and I felt the exciting hardness at his groin against my belly. I pressed my hips against it. I like a slow man but tonight...

  “Marm, Marm, where are you?” called a voice and Lucient’s valet, Busy, was at my elbow. “My lord needs you. Lady Chatoyant...”

  “Curse it. I’d thought we were free of her.”

  I pulled myself away from Hagen.

  Hagen caught my arm and said something in my ear, but I was too intent upon getting back to Lucient to listen.

  Back in the great hall, Toy was on the bench beside Lucient, almost sitting in his lap with her hand on his thigh. No sign of Michael the blacksmith.

  “Oh, Shine, darling, there you are,” Lucient jumped up, flung his arm round my neck and drew me to his shoulder. “Let us retire, sweetheart,” he said. “Cousin, you must excuse us. Shine becomes very heated after dancing, and I promised not to disappoint her.”

  With a flash of crystal light, he scooped me up and leapt into the air, knocking over his chair in his haste. The effect of manly passion was undermined by his trembling, but Chatoyant wasn’t to know that. As he flew up through Eyrie carrying me in his arms, I pressed my face into his neck. Over his shoulder I caught sight of Chatoyant’s face. She was grinning—I was certain she was enjoying Lucient’s fearful retreat. Was she bullying him for the pleasure of it? Ladybless, she was mean.

  “Thank the Lady you came. That woman’s hand was heading straight for my prick,” jittered Lucient.

  “Why don’t you just tell her no? She can’t force you in front of everyone.”

  “I couldn’t, darling. She’s awful when she’s upset, and she sets Blazeann and Lumina off.”

  Poor old Lucient. No spine at all.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  HE WAS SO full of jitters that he insisted on smoking several pip
es of smokeweed laced with his favourite potion, which he called Bliss. Soon enough, he was lying smoked flat out on his bed with his little mundane maid snuggled up beside him.

  I sat on the windowseat reading one of his travel books, trying not to feel disappointed at how my Blessing evening had ended. My flesh was still singing with the memory of Hagen’s strong body against mine and the feel of his lips. I wished I could sneak away. He’d said something about a meeting. But I knew I had to stay here. Toy might well have a servant watching the room, as she’d clearly had someone watching the feast earlier.

  Katti was curled up at my feet.

  Are you on heat? she sniffed, eyeing me. Your thoughts are as gooey as mud. She curled round with her back to me and wrapped her tail tightly around herself, indicating that she refused to listen anymore.

  A little while later, she lifted her head and looked at the window. I heard a light tapping on the glass.

  Scintillant! I thought, pathetic creature that I was, and twitched back the curtain.

  Klea was hovering outside.

  “Open up,” she mouthed at me. With a quick glance over my shoulder to check that Lucient—and, more importantly, his little maid Sharlee—were fast asleep, I did so and, climbing outside, sat on the chill stone parapet to speak with her. She steadied me with her hand.

  “Did you find my letter?” she hissed.

  The letter! I felt guilty. I’d completely forgotten.

  “No! I told you. I’ve got no idea how to get into Toy’s strongbox. I asked Lucy and he doesn’t know and I can’t think of who else to ask. Is Shadow safe?”

  “Yes, he’s in your room.”

  “You brought him back here again?”

  “I couldn’t leave him out there alone. I could have sworn I saw a huge glowing cat last night. Now look, friend Shadow has come up with the brainiest plan to get us into Toy’s strong box, but I need your help. Come on back to your room and we can talk about it.”

  “Very well. But you’ll have to bring me back later. I’m protecting Lucient from Toy, and she may have someone watching.”

  Klea pulled a face. “Poor old Lucy.” But she wasn’t really interested. It was all about the letter. What could be in it? She was a female mage, top of the heap. What in the world could be worrying her so much? Some shady financial dealing? Some unsuitable consort? Had she… killed someone?

  “We have a problem,” was the first thing Shadow said to me when I climbed over the window sill; and sure enough, we did. A familiar figure sat on the bed, its hands tied around my bedpost and one of my best kerchiefs shoved in its mouth.

  “Who’s that?” asked Klea

  “Hagen Stellason. Curse it!”

  “Uncle Lucient’s intelligencer?” Klea seized me and dragged me back out the window. “He mustn’t find out about the letter,” she hissed as we hovered outside in the chill night. She insisted I promise to keep quiet before she would let me back into the bedroom.

  “Are you going to shout for help if I pull out this scarf?” I asked, returning to stand before Hagen. Something in his glare spoke of outrage rather than terror, so I took the risk, seized the end of the scarf and drew it out of his mouth.

  “What the benighted hell is that?” was the first thing he said, pointing to Shadow.

  “He’s not a ‘that,’” I retorted

  No one expects to see a ghost in an Imperial Family House sixty miles out of Elayison, but his tone wasn’t very polite.

  “‘What the hell are you doing here?’ is the question, Sirrah Hagen,” snapped Klea. This was the first time she’d put on her haughty mage’s look, and it was impressive.

  “I was waiting for Marm Shine.”

  “I said perhaps I’d come back later,” I protested.

  “You were hiding,” accused Klea. “I didn’t see you when I came in, and I did look.”

  “Of course I was. Someone comes in the window, it’s not going to be Marm Shine. I’m under the bed, very disappointed but planning to leave discreetly later. Then this”—he pointed at Shadow—“tried to get under the bed with me. What’s a ghost doing here? Has he got permission to be out here? Is he even registered? He doesn’t look like anyone I’ve ever seen before.”

  “Hagen works for my great uncle, the Premier. I think he’s an intelligencer,” I explained to Shadow’s questioning look

  “Oh, great!” said the ghost sarcastically. “I suppose it’s out of the question to keep him prisoner for the next two days.”

  Klea was looking at Hagen speculatively.

  “Of course it’s out of the question,” snapped Hagen. “I will be missed.”

  “We better tell him everything.” Shadow sighed. “At least the Premier is sympathetic to us.”

  “I’m sure there are limits,” snapped Hagen.

  “You tell him all about yourself,” said Klea. “I need to have a word with Shine.”

  She dragged me into the corner of the room and started whispering her plan to get into Toy’s strong box into my ear. It wasn’t a bad plan. I could see how it could fail, but no one was likely to be exposed if it did, so I didn’t protest. Klea’s hands were shaking and there was an edge of hysteria to her voice that worried me. When we’d played together as kids, Klea had always been very cool-headed, not one to fuss about nothing. Clearly what was in this letter was really serious.

  “It’ll be fine,” I said, squeezing her hands.

  “If Great-Uncle finds out, everything’s ruined,” she hissed. “Please, please don’t tell Hagen.”

  When we turned back to the bed, the ghost and Hagen sitting together very companionably chatting about, of all things, the qualities of the local beers. Men can be such frivols.

  “Come on, let me loose,” said Hagen. “My lord’s interests are not going to be served by my arresting this fellow. You’d best go on as you were. Your plan seems adequate. Though make sure you take him straight back to the Capital. Honestly, he couldn’t have fetched up in a worse place at a worse time. Lady Glisten is a leader of the anti-ghost faction in the Great Council, and his being here would just give her more ammunition against them. They already claim the outlanders can’t be trusted. Aah, better,” he said rubbing his unbound wrists. “So for Lady’s sake try not to involve anyone else. You, Sirrah Shadow, have put the government’s goodwill at serious risk by your actions, and I hope you know it.”

  “But possibly the information about Lord Illuminus is useful,” I pointed out. “Possibly telling someone like Auntie Glisten or Lord Impavidus about Illuminus might get him off our back and prevent Shadow being exposed.”

  “Yes that had occurred to me,” said Hagen, shooting me a look that had a hint of eyeroll in it. “Any other instructions for me, while you’re at it?”

  “Lady Klea doesn’t want anyone to know she’s here,” I said, thinking that for Klea’s sake, it might be best to get this out into the open.

  “Of course. You may rely on my discretion, Lady,” said Hagen. He rose and bowed to Klea and gave her a look that I couldn’t read. What was it? Solemn, kindly? I couldn’t read the glance Klea gave him back either, but I knew they understood something I didn’t and I was annoyed. Why was I always on the outside?

  “Oh, and—Here,” said Hagen, picking something off the top of my chest of drawers and handing it to me. “This is for you, Marm Shine. A small token.”

  A little bundle of sweetmeats wrapped in cloth and charmingly tied up with a red ribbon.

  “Oh, I do love a man who brings sweetmeats,” I quipped, to hide the fact that I was thrilled at his thoughtfulness. Had I ever had received sweetmeats from an admirer before? If I had, I couldn’t remember it.

  “I’ll let Lord Scintillant know that, will I?” he said, and slid out the door so quickly that the sweetmeat bundle I threw at him hit the closed door.

  Klea magicked them up into her hand, and sniffed the bundle. “Mmmm, rosewater chocolates,” she said. “Nice. Sorry to ruin your fun, coz. He had rather a nice bottom, didn’t he?�
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  The ghost groaned and put his head in his hands. “This is rapidly becoming a diplomatic nightmare. I am about to go down in history as the man who ruined all hopes of a trading relationship between our two peoples. And all you two can think about is bottoms.”

  “I think ‘diplomatic nightmare’ is a bit strong,” said Klea. “I’m sure as long as the conservatives don’t find out about you, Great Uncle Lucient will be understanding.” She sat down beside him and put her arm around his shoulders. “Come on, Sirrah Shadow. Cheer up.”

  She offered him one of my sweetmeats.

  LATE NIGHT HAD become early morning, and in a couple of hours the servants and I would be dragging ourselves out of bed to prepare the hunting breakfast.

  Shadow suggested I give up on Lucient and get some rest in my own bed, but I’d promised to stay all night and I didn’t like to let my cousin down. Klea didn’t offer to take me back. She was intent on preparing for her plan, and I didn’t like to bother her. Anyway, the mages decided to hold a wrestling match on the lawn, making it impossible for anyone to go out of my window unseen—or, for that matter, to get any sleep, on this side of the house. Scintillant and a couple of the retainers were staggering round half-dressed and reeling drunk, each with a half-naked servant mounted on his or her shoulders. Apparently the idea was for the servants to try and knock each other off their mounts’ shoulders. I hoped for the servants’ sake the grass was soft. Everyone was shouting, shrieking and laughing at the tops of their voices.

  As I was watching them, annoyed but a little bit envious—they did seem to be having fun—a window opened in the Eyrie and a pair of boots flew out and hit Scintillant on the head. Scinty spun round and roared furious insults at the person in the window, who turned out to be Illuminus. Illuminus shouted at him to shut up because people were trying to sleep, and compared him to an inelegant part of the body. Scintillant shouted back and flew up at the window with a poor unfortunate maidservant still mounted on his shoulders. She screamed hysterically and clutched his head like a terrified hat, while he took a swing at Illuminus through the window, all the while yelling abuse. Things might had gone badly—for the maid especially—but luckily a window opened at the top of the Eyrie and Impi shot out. I’d heard he was extremely strong for a male mage; certainly, he broke up the fight between Illuminus and Scintillant quickly enough, with just a few choice words and magical blows. More importantly, he plucked the servant girl off Scintillant’s head and lowered her gently to the ground, tonguelashing the mages as he did so.