“Lieutenant.”
“A major interrupted my meal, kept me from finishing, and then told me that I had to clear the mess as lieutenants weren’t allowed in here past a certain hour.” I nodded at the door. “One of the duty cooks backed him up.”
Suiden, still looking at my hand, raised a brow. “That’s an old joke, Lieutenant, and relatively harmless.”
“Yes, sir.”
Suiden’s eyes shifted to my face once more and he raised the other brow.
“He was a lordling, sir.”
“High ranking officers stationed here usually are, Lieutenant.”
I looked out the window again and nodded. “Yes, sir.”
I heard the captain sigh. “It is like pulling teeth, Rabbit. Tell me, and that’s an order.”
I rubbed my hand against the other. “That’s what everyone keeps foisting on me. From Jeff to Laurel to you, sir. ‘Lord Rabbit’ in a place where a lord’s idea of a good time is bullying people who daren’t fight back. And damn-all who I say I am.”
The captain pushed back his chair and rose. “Sometimes you just don’t have a choice, Lieutenant. Or else you’ve already made it and now you have to live with the consequences.” He waited until I stood. “You’re being foolish, Rabbit, like a man who escapes a burning ship by jumping into the ocean—and then complains because it’s salty and wet.” He started for the door, then stopped, catching me in midscratch. “Though I promise you, Lieutenant, if I ever catch you being small-minded and petty, I will help you get over it fast. Whether or not there are any rocks around to guard.”
Chapter Twenty-nine
It was just before noon when we made it back to the embassy, and it was a relief to enter the house and get out of the heat. As the door shut behind us, I started towards the kitchen, thinking to get a cool drink and maybe a snack to tide me over until the midday meal.
“Lieutenant, if I may see you and Ambassador Laurel for a moment,” Suiden said, stopping me in midstride. He turned to Jeff. “Please find Captain Javes and Groskin and tell them I need to see them immediately.” We entered the captains’ office, and I blinked. Gone were the folding table and chairs. In their place were two desks placed cater-cornered from each other, with large chairs behind them and smaller guest chairs in front. There were bookcases, a couple of cabinets, a low table with Suiden’s tea service on it, and potted plants echoing the greenery of the courtyard. A breeze through the open courtyard doors sent the newly hung blinds clacking.
The hallway door opened and Javes and Groskin came in, followed by Jeff, and Suiden immediately sent him out again to stand guard in the hallway. As soon as the door closed, Suiden beckoned me to him. When I reached him, he grabbed my hand and held it up to the light coming from the glass doors. “Tell me, Sro Laurel, what is this?”
I looked down into my open palm and my mouth fell open. I pulled away from Suiden, staggered over to a chair and sat down, still staring at my hand. Or rather what was on it. Lieutenant Groskin peered over my shoulder, then backed away fast, making signs to ward against evil. He stumbled over Javes who was coming closer to have a look himself. Groskin grabbed Javes’ sleeve and dragged him away. “No, sir, don’t!”
Groskin gave Laurel a wild look. “What the bloody hell did you do to him?”
“This is something between Lord Rabbit and me—” Laurel began.
“No, it is not,” Suiden interrupted him. “I’ve told you again and again, Rabbit is mine.” His eyes were afire. “You did this under my nose, while I was watching, without saying a damn thing.”
Under my nose too. I touched the silvery marking.
“Will someone tell me what is going on?” Javes yanked his arm away from Groskin, walked over to where I was and took hold of my hand, looking down into it. His face changed. “Oh, I say—”
“It isn’t a matter of who Rabbit belongs to,” Laurel said, “but of what he is.” He came up beside me and removed my hand from Javes’ grip. “This was very necessary.”
“You’ve turned him into a freak!” Groskin pulled out two knives. “What are you going to do now, magic him into killing us all?” He bellowed the last part and lunged, only to stop and fling up his hands, still clutching his knives as the Faena held up a paw spread wide with his claws unsheathed. I screamed as fire spread across my palm at the same time the rune on the mountain cat’s middle pad flared.
“Stop!” Suiden roared and everyone froze. The captain took a deep breath and then another, while I cradled my hand in my lap and bent over it, trying to keep from sobbing aloud.
“All right,” Suiden said. He breathed deeply again, moved over to a desk and sat down behind it. He stared at Laurel Faena, his eyes molten green, as he folded his hands together on the desk. “Groskin, put away your knives.” Groskin hesitated. “Do it, Lieutenant.” The knives disappeared. “Everyone sit.” Javes and Groskin found chairs and sat, Groskin as far away from me as possible. Laurel stayed standing and stared back at the captain. Suiden took another deep breath. “Fine. Tell me why it was necessary to mark my lieutenant.”
Laurel blinked, a slow squeezing of his eyes; then he sat next to me, propping his staff against his chair. “Do you know where the People come from, Captain Suiden?”
Great, illumined questioning. My head dropped down further in disgust.
“You heard him, honored captain? Even though he said nothing?”
My head snapped up and I stared at the Faena, allowing everyone to see the tears tracking down my face. Suiden remained quiet.
“And you’ve been hearing him for quite some time, no?” Suiden still remained quiet. Groskin and Javes looked at each other in bewilderment.
“I hear him too, mostly when he’s upset or feels strongly. It’s called thought-scrying and I can tell you that even among the People it is a most unusual ability. Yet here you can—as can I, but then, I’m ‘magical.’ ” My eyes narrowed at the allusion to my conversation with Suiden and Javes yesterday.
Ignoring me, Laurel gave a slight smile, a baring of his teeth. “And if I who am magical do this, what does that make you?”
“What are you saying, cat?” Groskin asked.
“Answer my first question, Lieutenant. Where did the People come from?”
“What people?” Javes asked.
“Us. Border folk. The fae and the fantastic. The ‘magicals.’ ” There was silence; then Laurel sighed. “The People come from the land, this land.” He leaned forward in his chair. “As I told Rabbit, the same land that you now occupy.” Laurel sat back, his point made.
There was more silence. “And?” Javes asked, while Groskin looked puzzled.
Laurel stared for a moment, then dropped his head into his paws and started massaging his forehead. “Oh, such obtuseness. You don’t see?”
“Rabbit,” Suiden said, “tell us what Sro Laurel told you.”
I had lowered my head again and now didn’t bother to look up. “Once the People lived throughout Iversterre. They lived, died, and were buried here, their bones and ashes part of everything.” I kneaded my hand as the burning pain began to ease. “Now you live here, in the same place that the People did, growing your crops, raising your livestock, birthing your children.”
“Are you saying that we are changing into magicals?” Javes asked.
“No. You already have.” The pain was almost gone and I stared at the rune on my hand. The same rune that was on Laurel Faena’s paw. The same rune that won a war.