Keelan spent his first dinner at court listening. Later he circulated and dropped a quiet question here and there. All of the events were recounted little by little, and he went in search of his sister when the evening was nearing a close. He brushed past her, hissed a few words, and strolled on. Aisling went in search of Hadrann.
“Cousin, I grow weary. I’m for my bed. Will you escort me or see that one of your guards does so?”
Hadrann half-turned. “Oh, a guard. Yes.” He snapped his fingers at one of his men. “See the Lady Murna to Aranskeep rooms. Stand outside the door on guard until I arrive.” He nodded at her polite thanks and went back to his conversation. When she was out of earshot he sighed.
“These whims of old men. The girl’s mother was my grandfather’s leman in his old age. Somehow he managed to produce a daughter. Of course, her mother inherited little after my grandsire’s death, but I suppose the girl is half of our blood, and the liaison was recorded. My esteemed sire feels guilty over how my grandfather treated the girl’s mother; yet it is I who pay the price.”
“How so?” A listener was mildly interested.
“Why, I must share Aranskeep rooms, put up with her foolish talk over a morning meal when I wish only to be silent, and obey endless minor demands.” He sighed again. “But duty to one’s father, you know. It isn’t even as if she’s pretty.”
That last provoked a number of teasing remarks. Hadrann tolerated them, keeping his face set in an expression of mild irritation. Good, they believed every word. Now if he could only keep from overdoing this, Aisling would be all but invisible as she went her own way.
In her room Aisling had told the guard to wait outside as ordered, opened the small inner door within the suite, and allowed Keelan to slip in from where he’d been waiting. He talked at length, describing the events after Ruart’s disappearance, Kirion’s continuing influence, and the gossip on it all. Some was guesswork, but both knew Kirion, which helped them guess ways in which he might act.
“I haven’t been to court since you left, so this is the first I’ve heard of most of it. No,” he answered her questioning look. “I didn’t go because I couldn’t bear to see Kirion, and he was furious about losing Aiskeep too. I thought I’d give him time to simmer down, and time went by. There’s always so much to do at home, and I’d rather be there than at Kars.”
Aisling nodded. She agreed but inwardly she was marveling at the continuing change in her brother. She recalled what he’d been like when he first began to visit Aiskeep again. It had been years after their mother had taken Kirion and Keelan, abandoned her baby daughter, and gone to live in her family’s keep near Kars. Aisling had grown up with her grandparents. Her brothers had been raised by their mother, with Kirion in particular, spoiled and indulged in almost every way. Aisha had never seen, or perhaps never wished to see, what her adored older son had become.
As for her other brother, it had not been until Keelan came first to visit then to live at Aiskeep that he had discovered a true home and that his small sister could be a real companion. They’d become friends, and when Aisling had to leave Karsten it had been Keelan who had gone part of the way to guard her.
She smiled at him, her eyes glinting in amusement. “That’s one thing about Aiskeep: Kirion and Mother left us alone.”
“And Mother isn’t with us any longer.” He’d not missed her in the several years at the keep. When Aisha had died a year earlier Keelan had felt only a dull sadness. He hadn’t hated her but he hadn’t loved her either.
It had been receiving a tiny half-dead kitten of his own at Aiskeep that had begun to turn his life around. He had worked to save her and had won. Shosho loved him unconditionally, trusted him, taught him to laugh and play, and finally to see that his young sister too could be a companion and friend. Aisling gradually had started to return his trust. Now they were friends, and in some ways this business delighted him. He liked Hadrann and being with them. The plotting, scheming, and pretending was an adventure.
Close to him as she was and with her abilities sharpened by Hi-larion’s patient training, Aisling read much of his feelings. They worried her a little. She would have to watch him for his own sake. Kirion bore no grudge against Hadrann or Hadrann’s so-called cousin. He did hate Keelan, who was now the heir to Aiskeep and whom he saw as having cheated him out of his inheritance. If they were forced to draw Kirion out, then Keelan would be bait for their plan, but bait could be consumed.
She worried silently over that for some time as Keelan talked. Once he’d left her again she returned to her bedroom to think hard. She must watch out for her brother and convince Hadrann to do the same. Above all, she should watch any interaction between Kirion and Keelan that might threaten her younger brother. She would grieve all the days of her life if the demands of her own geas caused Keelan injury. She said as much to Hadrann when he returned late that night.
“Yes, but we will watch over him. I have friends at court; I’ll make it my business to hear if Kirion ever speaks to Keelan. You’re right, he is the most vulnerable of us all. Kirion has no conscience.” He turned to look at her. “It has seemed odd to me ever since I met you and Keelan. How is it that two of you are worthy, honest people and Kirion is not?”
“Kirion was born a bully, I think. He has a desire for power, perhaps even a need for power, for the ability to direct events about him to his own advantage,” Aisling said slowly. “The lords of Aiskeep are an old line as is your bloodline at Aranskeep, but we’re of minor nobility as the world counts it. Kirion always wanted more power, wealth, and influence, and he’s learned how to take those at the expense of anyone who crosses his path. He won’t turn back now he believes he has everything he has ever desired.”
Hadrann nodded. “So you think he’s beyond redemption?”
Her expression was one of regret mixed with sadness. “Yes, Rann, I think he once might have been redeemed, perhaps while he was still a child, but now he’s a man, and he’s gone too far down the path he has chosen. He will never turn back.”
He said no more on the subject. Instead, he too worried what could happen if any part of their growing plans went wrong. However for the next few weeks things went as intended.
Kirion was seldom at court but he liked to hear all the gossip. Varnar brought back all he could, eager to please his master. Kirion- Intrigued was a master whose servant was not in pain. Varnar’s memories—he believed—had grown a little clearer of late. He did his best to hide that, as he dreamed eagerly at night. He could see the face of his wife, the sweet blue eyes of his beloved tiny daughter. He could not quite recall how he’d come to be in Kirion’s hands or what had happened to his family. Perhaps as the weeks went by he would remember. He waited impatiently, only partly consoled by his dreams.
In court Aisling was developing a problem. Shastro, duke of Kars, had taken a liking to her. It had not been planned, and they’d been sure that he would be mildly averse to her if she was even noticed at all.
“It was your own fault,” Keelan scolded when they convened a meeting in the Aiskeep suite. “You made that clever remark; he laughed and decided you were a wit, a possible ornament to his court.”
“I didn’t know he was there,” his sister protested. “Maybe I can be rude to him?”
Hadrann scowled. “Shastro doesn’t always jump the way you’d expect. He’d either toss you out of Kars or, being him, decide that he adored someone who wasn’t afraid to be rude to him and spend more time with you. If you’re out of Kars we lose a third of our force and possibly the most effective one. If he becomes really interested in you, he’s likely to have Kirion look you over. And if that happens we could all have a problem.”