House of Shadows(118)
At last they crossed a narrow arching bridge of stone, barely a handspan across at its narrowest width—Prince Tepres looked worriedly at little Karah, but there was no room on the bridge for him to give her his hand. But the girl simply walked across with matter-of-fact grace and no sign of fear. Soon after the bridge, they found themselves at the base of a long, steep stair of rough-carved steps. Water glistened on the stone walls and dripped from thin needles overhead, but even so, Leilis fancied she could already feel a draft of warm, ordinary air coming down these stairs to welcome them back to the places of men.
The stair let onto a wide landing with a small door of iron-bound oak, now standing open. More King’s Own guardsmen stood on the landing. They greeted their companions with first relief and then anxiety when they found the prince but not his father in the company. The senior officer murmured to them, increasing both their evident relief and their unease. “Derente, you and yours will stay here to wait for the king,” the officer said then, brisk and assured. “Keredd, take your man—” he nodded toward the unconscious sorcerer two of the guardsmen carried between them “—to the upper east prison, and send for Mage Sehennes to see he stays there. Be swift. We do not know how soon he may wake.” He glanced at Leilis and the girls while his men murmured acknowledgment, and then looked finally, warily, at his prince.
“They may stay with me,” Prince Tepres said firmly. “They are my guests, Neriodd. I will not have them frightened or offended.”
The officer bowed his head in acquiescence. But he also said, “Eminence. Your guests, if you will have it so, but still your father’s to dispose of as he sees fit. I will send Jeres Geliadde to you, and I will ask you to keep your guests secure. You might escort them to… the lower east suite, perhaps. If you will, eminence.”
The prince’s mouth tightened. But he inclined his head, accepting this… command, Leilis thought, was an accurate term, for all the deference with which the officer had delivered it. Karah gazed trustfully at Prince Tepres, but her sister—more sensibly, to Leilis’s mind—looked exhausted, frightened, and quite wretched.
Leilis allowed herself one quick glance after Taudde as the guardsmen carried him away, and then lowered her eyes and went obediently with the girls, as she was directed.
The lower east suite proved to be a large, airy apartment halfway up the face of the Laodd, with three wide windows and a generous balcony. It was a beautiful morning. Sunlight poured down through the chilly air, shining on the frost that lay across the rooftops of the city. Not a thousand feet away, the Nijiadde River Falls poured down the cliffs, its thunder muted by distance. Shattered fragments of rainbows glimmered in the mist around the lake far below, where the waterfall crashed into spume.
There was a basin with brass taps for hot water; there were scented soaps and warm towels and pins for their hair. Clean robes were brought, keiso blue for Karah and Leilis, the white of magecraft apprenticeship for Nemienne. Nemienne looked almost as uncomfortable with her robes as Leilis felt with hers. Neither of them protested.
Prince Tepres, in black and saffron and with his hair tied back with a fresh black-and-gold ribbon, had sent for breakfast: perfumed tea and warm rolls with butter and honey, rice porridge with chicken and shrimp, poached eggs floating in broth. Jeres Geliadde arrived with the breakfast, his face set in hard lines, ashamed to have so nearly lost his prince to unsuspected enemies.
“Not so grim,” the prince told him firmly. “Nothing of this was your fault.”
“I never liked him,” muttered Jeres, not comforted in the least. “But I don’t like anyone. I should have seen the black treachery in his eyes. But I had no plain suspicion, not of him nor of Miennes, until suddenly I received warnings from every direction. And trusted none of them. I should have—”
“I can’t think why you should have seen so much more clearly than the rest of us,” Prince Tepres said, still more firmly. He gripped the man’s arm and gave him a little shake. “Don’t take on guilt that isn’t rightfully yours. Do you hear, Jeres? Well, then. Have you had breakfast? Stop glowering and eat something.” He glanced around at Leilis and the girls, with a special smile for Karah. “We are all still half frozen with the memory of cold—at least, I am. Have some tea.”
The fragrant tea was welcome, but Leilis had no appetite for the food. Nor did Nemienne, who only stirred her porridge without tasting it and nervously tore a roll into shreds. Jeres Geliadde ate an egg to please his prince, but he didn’t look like he enjoyed it. Prince Tepres buttered rolls for Karah and drizzled them with honey, and the girl blushed and tried, not very successfully, to keep from smiling. Leilis tried to appreciate the resilience young love gave to the pair, sorely tested as they had been, but she found it hard. Well enough for them, yes, but what of Taudde? He had been harder used than even those two, and she doubted anyone had brought him hot tea and buttered rolls.