House of Shadows(97)
“Then why did you come to Lonne?” she asked at last. “If it was not to murder our prince—but it was, of course it was, what other reason could have possibly brought you here? Everyone knows blood will wash across the land like the tide across the shore this spring, when the Treaty of Brenedde expires. You must have come to assassinate the prince—or his father.”
At first she was sure the Kalchesene wasn’t going to answer. He turned away and went across the room to look out the window, though Leilis didn’t know whether he was looking out at the darkening sea or only into his own thoughts.
He said after a moment, not turning, “The sea goes out forever, doesn’t it? Sweeps in with the tide and washes endlessly out again, iterations on a single unfathomable theme… One could imagine the setting sun drowning out there in the far west. The sea seems more powerful even than light…”
Leilis wondered where this was going.
“I used to dream of the sea. I love the high mountains of Kalches, but I dreamed of the sea. The deep music of the tides has pulled at my bones for as long as I can remember… I have lived in Miskiannes as well as Kalches, and traveled through Enescedd to get from one land to the other. My uncle told me I was a fool to enter Lirionne, especially this year. But if I did not come to the coast this year, when would I come? This was my only chance. My grandfather begged me to be content with the countries behind the mountains and leave Lirionne to the Dragon of Lirionne, but he is also a sorcerer and did not call me a fool.” He turned back to face her. “I swear to you, I did not come here to strike at your prince. Indeed, I swore to my grandfather I would not attempt personal vengeance. But then there was Miennes. So I was a fool, after all.”
Leilis said nothing. Dreams alone hardly seemed adequate reason for a Kalchesene sorcerer to dare the Seriantes ban. Until she remembered the goading power of her own dreams. Though those had been thoroughly crushed. And this man swore he could restore them? Probably he meant to murder her, too, and drop her body into one of Lonne’s rivers.
But, though she couldn’t have explained why she doubted this, she honestly didn’t think so. “Then why did you give those pipes to the prince?” she asked him, trying to think.
The foreigner bowed his head a little. “Lord Miennes discovered my nationality and commanded me to cause the prince’s death. I immediately resolved to destroy Miennes, if I could. But I knew there must be a foundation of truth in my actions if I were to deceive him.”
Leilis tried to think through this. If Lord Miennes had tried to get the foreign lord to murder the prince in the first place, it did seem reasonable for the foreigner to strike at Miennes in turn. Leilis had never liked Miennes; none of the more acute keiso liked him. She knew personally of two who had rejected his offers to become their keisonne. That said something, as wealthy as he was. Had been.
But if she hadn’t liked Lord Miennes, still Leilis had respected his cleverness. It would indeed have been difficult to deceive him. But Leilis also realized she hadn’t asked the right question—hadn’t yet even approached the right question. She tried again. “Couldn’t you have done something else? Evaded Lord Miennes’s demands somehow?”
“I should have tried,” the foreigner admitted at once. She thought he spoke honestly, and knew there was no reason for such a feeling, but still she thought so. “There were other reasons why I… thought I was justified to… do what I did. I think now I was wrong. I was glad to find I had done less than I meant to do.”
Leilis hesitated. She said carefully, “But Lord Miennes did die.”
The foreigner lifted an eyebrow, suddenly disdainful. “And I’m glad I didn’t fail of my entire aim. I don’t care to have such things required of me.” His tone was edged with remembered anger and something else. Injured pride, Leilis thought. And something beyond that, less identifiable still.
How had Lord Miennes missed this man’s pride? Perhaps Miennes had protected himself against magecraft and thought that would suffice against sorcery as well. Leilis, in contrast, was under no illusion that she could protect herself.
Lord Chontas added with more humility than she would have expected from him, “The prince lived because he gave the pipes away. I was relieved, though I could hardly blame you if you don’t believe me now. I… I had been willing to destroy the heir of Geriodde Nerenne ken Seriantes. But then I found that outcome less desirable than I’d expected, after all. Particularly after the enchantment went astray. I’m very glad it landed nowhere else to ill effect.”