The Inheritance Trilogy Omnibus(455)

“What’s a Litaria?”

“Bad people.” He scowled.

Erem nodded. “Back in the days of the Bright, they were the only people allowed to use magic. Nowadays there’s lots of people and godlings to do magic—but the Lit’s still got the strongest mortal stuff, called scrivening. So they throw their weight around, run a lot of black market and shady magic ventures. Tehno wasn’t demon enough to become an enulai, but she was demon enough that her blood was still poison to gods—if enough of it was taken, and distilled.” His face hardened. “So they lured her to a meeting place for some deal they’d worked out, and then they killed her for her blood. It was a big scandal because enulai are supposed to keep the Lit from running amok, not make deals with them.” He sighed. “Poor Fahno. She wiped out the branch of the Lit that did it, but…” He spread his hands.

I inhaled. “Enulai have to be demons so they can kill gods if they have to… but people try to hurt them for being demons?”

Juem nodded. “Another reason why enulai look after godlings; they help godlings and their godlings help them, usually. But Tehno didn’t have any watching her back.” He sighed heavily. “And if Fahno can’t make or adopt another heir, then her clan will dissolve when she dies. The house and all her assets will go to the Council, and Arolu and Eino will end up on the street with nothing. Fahno’s only chance is to marry Eino off, adopt one of their daughters, and continue the clan that way.”

It was too much mortally stuff. I was getting bored. Only one thing mattered. “Eino could be Fahno’s heir,” I said, carefully. “He’s got lots of magic, and probably the scary blood, too.”

Juem coughed, in a polite sort of way. “He’s a boy, Lady Shill. There are boy enulai, of course, but not here in Darr.”

Ohhhh!! Was that why they’d told Eino he didn’t have the temperament to be an enulai? But boy-temperaments were not different from girl-temperaments, or whatever mortals called Naha-temperaments. And was that why Eino wanted the people in the Raringa to consider letting boys inherit stuff? If they changed the rules, he would be able to stay with his own clan.

We finished the ginger-serry juice, talking about nothing after that. Then I left the kitchen and went to see if Eino was awake yet. His room was empty, so I followed his scent-feel to the bathroom, where there was water still on the floor with some of the sweat from his dance the night before in it. After that I tracked him to another room where there were lots of pretty, elaborate robes hanging on racks. One of them was gone, and the scent of perfume was in the air, with Eino’s smell still strong underneath. I grinned, because Find Eino was a fun game even if it was kind of easy! I followed his smell to another room, where he’d eaten some things—and then finally down a long corridor I saw him! He was standing at the end of it, looking into a big room beyond; he did not see me. His shoulders were very tight and his face had gone hard and blank like a mask again.

I was thinking about running up behind him and surprising him, when suddenly people started yelling in the room beyond!

“—completely improper—” That was Arolu. He sounded mad!

“I think I’m done with propriety, thank you, Arolu-wo.” A strange woman!

“Fahno-enulai will not approve!”

“Let her proceed,” said another strange woman. She sounded bored, and maybe annoyed. “It’s a pitiful gesture, but if she feels compelled to make it, who are we to stand in her way?”

Confused, I came to the doorway beside Eino. He didn’t look at me, though Arolu did. Only for a second, though; he was focused on the two strange women in front of him. I wasn’t sure why at first—until I caught both the women’s scents, and realized they smelled a little like Eino, and Fahno: their own scents were underlain by a peculiar bitterness, like something maybe a little bit dangerous. Did that mean they were demons, too? And probably enulai, too! That meant these must be the women that the servants had told me about: Mikna, who had been chosen to marry Eino, and Lumyn, whom Eino liked better.

One of the women was stocky and darker-skinned, standing near the door with one hand on her hip and a look of contempt on her face. The other woman was already crossing the room to Eino and pressing something into his hands. She was older than him—they both were—and taller than any Darren woman I’d seen, paler brown and narrower in frame. She dressed in more colors than most Darren women, too: usually they stuck to tight-fitting blacks and grays, while boys wore loose color. But above her black leggings she had on a vest that was as green as the forest. It was very pretty, and almost matched her eyes, which were a pale version of the same shade.