'You're an unusual sort of messenger,' the haughty advisor commented, inexplicably giving Amber a broad grin. The woman looked genuinely pleased to see him, as though she and Amber were old friends.
'And you are, Madam?'
'Lady Kinna,' she said, scratching at her neck through the material of her dress, 'Principal of the Closed Council.'
'What is your message?' the duchess interrupted softly, her fingers idly tousling the child's hair.
Amber hesitated before responding; he wasn't experienced with children but this one's unblinking stare was beginning to unnerve him. The duchess's calm detachment didn't surprise him at all, but weren't young children supposed to fidget and squirm rather than take an interest in politics?
'Lord Styrax sends you his greetings,' Amber said at last, 'and invites you to join him as his guest tomorrow for lunch in the Library of the Seasons to discuss terms.'
'Lunch?' The hint of a smile appeared on the duchess's lips. Something about the expression transformed her face and Amber realised the duchess's age had not diminished her sexual allure a jot. Her knowing playfulness immediately brought Horsemistress kill to mind. 'Your lord is sure of himself then.'
Amber coughed and tried not to stare too hard at her. 'With respect, your Grace, he's sure of his armies. We took Tor Salan in a day and its defences were greater than yours. The Circle City is divided and weak in comparison, but he does not wish undue bloodshed.'
'Why come to us for talks?' Lady Kinna asked. 'If he has so easily conquered Tor Salan, why bother to speak to us first? Surely if he could so easily prove his power he would have done so already, and imposed his terms afterwards.'
'Tor Salan wouldn't have surrendered — the Mosaic Council was too sure of its defences. You have nothing comparable to be overconfident about.'
'Or he has overextended and hopes to bluff,' the duchess pointed out.
He inclined his head to accept the possibility. 'Lord Styrax isn't a man in the habit of making threats he cannot carry through. If any of the three principal rulers do not attend, he will assume your quarter is hostile to his plans, but my lord hopes you will attend the meeting; it will lose you nothing.'
The duchess leaned forward, her face betraying her curiosity. 'Does your lord believe we will simply hand over our city to him?'
'I bring the message, nothing more. I'm empowered only to tell you that Lord Styrax intends you to remain as ruler of your city, with Fortinn under the command of an overseer appointed by him.'
She sat back and thought for a long moment, all the while running her fingers through the child's curls. The distracted movement did nothing to interrupt the child's intent stare and it was Amber who felt the urge to squirm.
'Very well, tell your lord I shall attend.'
Amber bowed. 'I am instructed to accompany you.'
'Out of the question,' she snapped with unexpected anger.
'As you wish,' he said bowing again. 'With your permission I will instead spend the morning praying at the shrine to Kiyer of the Deluge located on the mountain side of this tower.'
His words had the desired effect and the duchess, with a look over to Lady Kinna, shrugged and nodded. She stood, helping the child off the throne too with far more care than was required for a child that age.
'As you wish; Jato will show you and your servant to a room and see to your needs.'
At the mention of his name the functionary hopped forward, bobbing his head like a starling. Without looking back the duchess headed for the main stairway, leading the strange child by the hand. Lady Kinna followed a few paces behind the pair, but paused long enough to smile at him again and add, 'Don't oversleep.'
Amber didn't move for a moment, trying to fathom whether the woman was insane or he had somehow met her before and for-gotten. His train of thought was interrupted as Nai plucked his sleeve urgently.
'Come on, we need to talk.'
Amber smiled grimly. 'We really do.'
CHAPTER 29
Waking early, Amber had scrubbed his body over the washbasin and was halfway though dressing when a servant knocked on the door. She was blonde and a bit too curvy for Amber's tastes, but she didn't once look him in the eye as she carried in a tray bearing porridge and wide bowls of black tea. The first was too bland, the second too bitter, but the room was a chilly place and he gulped both down eagerly. He was eyeing Nai's food when the portly necromancer emerged from the sleeping cell opposite his and gave a small cheer at what awaited him.
A tall window at one end of the thin room admitted the only light. The windowless bedroom had been an unnervingly dark place in which to sleep, so Amber, feeling foolish and cowardly, had gone to sleep with the candle stub still lit.
'Bit too much like prison cells for my liking,' Nai said in between mouthfuls.
'At least they let us out this morning.'
The night had been far from restful. Once Nai had warded the room against eavesdroppers they had talked for an hour or more, and Amber's head had been awhirl by the time he turned in. Nai had recognised the nursemaid at once, even if Amber hadn't — he could barely believe how much she had changed. But the necromancer had no explanation of how she had ended up in Byora — even Zhia Vukotic had presumed Haipar died in the fighting.
That hadn't been the only revelation of Nai's to stun Amber. That Zhia herself had been party to the conversation he'd had with the duchess, courtesy of Lady Kinna's eyes, had also come as something of a surprise. He didn't know who the child was, or the big sergeant, Kayel. All Nai could tell was that there was some link between the two of them — it was fading with time, but there was a clear residue of some magic that had been done. Similarly, the information that Legana, the Farlan spy, had killed Mikiss in their rented rooms was given without explanation. Nai had claimed the Lady herself had been present in their rooms, only a few days before she had been killed in the Temple District.
'I've been thinking,' Amber began slowly. 'This link, it's fading, right?' Nai looked up from his bowl of bitter tea and nodded. 'Can you do anything to increase its strength?'
Nai pursed his lips in thought. 'Mostly likely it would probably replicate the spell.'
'Didn't seem to hurt the first time round,' he said dismissively, 'and I reckon this link might come in useful, so I don't want to lose it.'
'It's not going to disappear any time in the next month,' Nai said with a shake of the head. 'The spell is ended and there's nothing draining the energy other than normal attrition.'
'Good, Lord Styrax might be keen to keep track of that sergeant.'
'Why?'
'Do you remember when we were taken by Zhia? When that lost lamb of hers, Doranei, came to visit he was looking for someone in particular, someone he was sure had been seen going into that house. I always thought it was just too convenient that we got hit the first night we were there.'
'You don't think it was simply mistaken identity?'
'Who attacks a necromancer without making damn sure there's a good reason?'
Nai nodded. 'And if you were leading someone to attack a necn› mancer — whether to set them against each other or just poke a stick in the hornet's nest — you'd not rely on a passing similarity, not if you had the skill to make sure.'
'That King's Man always gave me a strange look when he thought I wasn't looking. Never liked to have me behind him. I noticed that. What if that was because of the link? What if he was reminded of Kayel every time he looked at me, and Kayel's someone he wants to kill?'
'So who is Kayel?'
'Haven't got that far,' Amber admitted, 'but according to Doranei, Azaer was behind everything in Scree. Not sure if I believe that, but he did.'