Kalare shifted his weight uncomfortably, and his narrowed eyes relaxed, becoming more sleepy than suspicious. "I suppose so," he said. "But do not think I will forget this."
"That makes two of us, Your Grace," Isana said.
Muscles tightened along Kalare's jaw, and he spoke through clenched teeth. "Get out of my house."
Isana tilted her head in the barest nod of acknowledgment. She stepped back from Kalare, touched Serai's arm, and left the garden with her.
Instead of heading for the front door, Serai glanced around the hallway, took Isana's hand, and decisively led her into a side passage.
"Where are we going?" Isana asked.
"To the kitchen doors at the rear of the house," Serai said.
"But you told Nedus and his men to meet us at the front."
"I told the servant that for the benefit of whoever might be eavesdropping, darling," Serai said. "The better to keep anyone from following us home. After all, it is Kalare's house, and his servants will certainly report your movements. Nedus will know to meet us in the back."
"I see," Isana said, and in a moment the courtesan led her through the busy kitchens and out the back door of the house, to a dark, quiet street where Nedus and the coach waited. They hurried into the carriage without a word, and Nedus shut the door behind them. The driver clucked to the horses at once, and the carriage lurched forward into hurried motion.
"Lady Aquitaine," Isana said quietly. "She was not what I expected."
"She's the sort to smile while she twists the knife, Steadholder. Don't be deceived. She is a dangerous woman."
"You think she might be behind the attacks."
Serai stared at the curtains over the coach's windows and shrugged, her expression remote. "She is certainly capable of it. And she knows things she shouldn't."
"That you are one of the Cursors," Isana said.
Serai drew in a slow breath and nodded. "Yes. It would seem that I have been compromised. She knows, and from the way Kalare spoke, I would judge that he does as well."
"But how?"
"Remember that someone has been killing Cursors left and right, darling. It's possible that the information was extracted from one of them."
Or, Isana thought, that one of them is a traitor.
"What does it mean for you?" she asked Serai quietly. "Exposure."
"Any enemy of the Crown might take satisfaction in removing me," she said, her voice calm, matter-of-fact. "It will only be a matter of time. Secrecy was my greatest defense-and Gaius's enemies will face few, if any, consequences for murdering a slave. If nothing else, Kalare will do it simply to spite the First Lord."
"But wouldn't Gaius protect you?"
"If he could," Serai said. She shook her head. "He's been slowly losing power among the High Lords, and he isn't getting any younger. He won't be First Lord forever, and once he isn't…" The courtesan shrugged.
Isana felt sick at her stomach. "That's what that talk about the gown was all about. Lady Aquitaine was offering you a position with her, wasn't she."
"More than that. I should think she meant to offer me my freedom, a title, and most likely a position in whatever would pass for the Cursors under her husband's rule."
Isana was quiet for a moment. "That's quite an offer," she said.
Serai nodded, silent.
Isana folded her hands in her lap. "Why didn't you take it?"
"Her price was too high."
Isana frowned. "Price? What price?"
"Isn't it obvious, darling? She knew that I was your guardian. She offered me power in exchange for you. And made it known that the results might be unpleasant if I denied her."
Isana swallowed. "Do you think she wants me dead?"
"Perhaps," Serai said, nodding. "Or perhaps only within her control. Which might be worse, depending on the next several years. From what she said, it seems obvious that her husband is very nearly ready to move against the Crown."
They rode in silence for a moment, then Isana said, "Or it might not have been a threat."
Serai arched a brow. "How so?"
"Well," Isana said slowly, "if word of your true allegiance has gotten out, and you didn't know about it… could what she said have been a warning? To point it out to you?"
Serai's eyebrows lifted delicately. "Yes. Yes, I suppose it could have been, at that."
"But why would she warn you?"
Serai shook her head. "Difficult to say. Assuming it was a warning, and assuming that Kalare and Aquitaine are not working together to bring Gaius down, it would be most likely that she warned me in an effort to deny Kalare the chance to kill me. Or capture me to learn what secrets I keep."
"We're both in the same oven, then. Whoever is killing Cursors would not mind seeing the pair of us dead."
"Indeed," Serai said. She glanced at her hands. Isana did as well. They were trembling harder. Serai folded them and held them tight against her lap. "In any case, given how little we know about the current climate, it seemed best to me that we leave before something unpleasant happened."
She paused, then said, "I'm sorry we didn't manage to gain the First Lord's ear."
"But we must," Isana said quietly.
"Yes. But remember, Steadholder, that my first duty is to protect you-not to try to manage affairs in the Calderon Valley."
"But there's no time."
"You can't gain the support of the First Lord from the grave, Steadholder," Serai said, her tone frank, serious. "You're of no use to your family dead. And just between you and me, if I die before I get a chance to wear a gown of those new silks from Aquitaine, I will never forgive you."
Isana tried to smile at her attempt at levity, but it was too strongly underscored by an emotional undertow of anxiety. "I suppose. But what is our next step?"
"Get back to the house all in a piece," Serai said. "And from there, I think a nice glass of wine might soothe my nerves. And a hot bath."
Isana regarded her evenly. "And after that?"
"After wine and a steaming bath? I should be surprised if I didn't sleep."
Isana pressed her lips into a line. "I don't need you to try to amuse me with clever evasions. I need to know how we're going to get to Gaius."
"Oh," Serai said. She pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Going out of Nedus's house is a risk, Steadholder. For both of us, now. What do you think our next move should be?"
"My nephew," Isana said firmly. "In the morning, we'll go to the Academy and find him so that he can carry the message to the First Lord."
Serai frowned. "The streets aren't safe enough for you to-"
"Crows take the streets," Isana said, the barest trace of an angry snarl in her voice.
Serai sighed. "It's a risk."
"One we have to take," Isana said. "We don't have time for anything else."
Serai frowned and looked away.
"And besides," Isana said, "I'm worried about Tavi. The message must have reached him by now-it was left in his own room, after all. But he hasn't come to see me."
"Unless he has," Serai pointed out. "He might well be waiting at Nedus's manor for us to return."
"Either way, I want to find him and make sure he's all right."
Serai sighed, and said, "Of course you do." She lifted a hand to press her fingers lightly against her reddened cheek, her eyes closed. "I hope you'll excuse me, Steadholder. I'm… somewhat shaken. Not thinking as clearly as I should." She looked up at Isana, and said, simply, "I'm afraid."
Isana met her eyes and said, in her gentlest voice, "That's all right. There's nothing wrong with being afraid."
Serai waved her hands in a frustrated little gesture. "I'm not used to it. What if I start chewing my nails? Can you imagine how horrid that would be? A nightmare."
Isana almost laughed. The courtesan might be afraid, but for all that she was playing in an unfamiliar field against lethally violent opponents, a mouse among hungry cats, she had the kind of spirit that refused to be kept down. The feigned vapid mannerisms and dialogue was her way of laughing at her fears. "I suppose we could always tie mittens onto your hands," Isana murmured. "If it is all that important to the security of the Realm to preserve your nails."