Haern heard no lie, no doubt. Victor meant every word. As much as Haern wanted to dismiss him, he heard the promise of another life, of a chance to pull the weight of Veldaren off his shoulders.
“You really think you can cleanse this city?” he asked.
“I can. I will.”
Haern leapt, kicked off the wall, and then grabbed a windowsill. With it, he pulled himself to the rooftop, then spun, hulking like a gargoyle from a castle edge.
“Why?” he asked. “What gain? What reason?”
“You are the nameless man patrolling the rooftops at night,” Victor said, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Yet you wonder about my intentions?”
Despite the seriousness, despite the body, Haern let out a laugh.
“Very well,” he said. “Happy hunting.”
Zusa had sent a runner back to the Gemcroft mansion to warn of their arrival, no doubt scrambling the servants about in preparation. Normally Alyssa would have thought to do so herself, but her mind was clearly elsewhere. After all, it wasn’t often a parent returned from the dead. Alyssa and Melody sat together in the litter, with Zusa following alongside, ignoring the stares she received for her attire. There might not be room for her within, but she wouldn’t leave Alyssa unguarded. The sun had begun to set, and so the guards escorting them carried torches. Given everyone’s somber mood, it almost felt like a funeral.
Upon reaching their mansion, Zusa offered Alyssa her hand, who took it as she stepped out. Together they looked upon their home, both quiet, both sullen.
“It will be difficult, but Nathaniel must be told,” Zusa said.
“I know.”
Melody emerged from the other side. Her clothes still hung from her thin body, but a bit of energy showed in her step as she looked upon her old home.
“Just as I remembered,” she said.
Alyssa went to her mother’s side and offered her arm for support. Melody took it, smiling, and then together they walked the path toward the door. Zusa followed after, feeling like an outcast. They were family, however distant. What was Zusa, though? Friend? Bodyguard? Not blood, certainly not that. Whatever family she might have had, it had been lost to her upon entering Karak’s temple, nothing but a sacrifice made to serve.
Melody stopped in the doorway of the mansion, her whole body trembling. She looked about, saw the paintings, the lush carpet, and the wood carefully stained and cleaned by an army of servants.
“Home,” she whispered. For a moment she stood perfectly still, and then closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, as if she could pull the very essence of the mansion into her lungs. Tears fell down her face, and sobs tore from her throat. Alyssa held her as that tiny body shuddered with each breath. Whatever doubt Zusa felt vanished at the sight. The torment was real. The sorrow, the joy, all mixed, all confused. No actress could pull off such a powerful display. Her insides twisting, Zusa hurried away, more than ever feeling like a trespasser.
Her room was out behind the mansion, in a converted servant’s quarters made flat and empty so that she might train. As Zusa hurried through the halls toward the back, she was stopped by a boy calling her name.
“Zusa?”
She turned, then smiled despite her worry. Nathaniel Gemcroft stood in the doorway of his room, dressed in his finest tunic. Already it looked tight on him, and she laughed at his obvious discomfort.
“You grow like a weed,” she said.
His eyes glanced downward, obviously embarrassed. He had his mother’s features, delicate, soft, and with a moppet of red hair atop his head. Though he was only nine, he was fiercely intelligent, and Zusa had grown attached to him over the years, as had much of the mansion’s staff.
“The servants say...well, you know. Is it true?”
Nathaniel looked up at her, and she saw the turmoil in his green eyes.
“It seems so,” she said. “Why the worry? She is your grandmother, and will be pleased to see such a fine grandson.”
Nathaniel shifted his feet and tugged at the hem of his tunic with his one arm.
“Because mother will worry, won’t she? Mother’s enemies might want grandmother to take her place.”
Such intelligence for one so young. Zusa sensed John Gandrem’s influence here. The Lord of Riverrun had found and protected Nathaniel after his near-death at the hands of a vicious lover of Alyssa’s. Ever since, the old man had played the father figure, and nearly every summer, Nathaniel went to his castle to learn to ride, wield a sword, and command oneself before the people. Evidently, he’d also learned of the many ploys men might use to gain favor and power. John was currently staying as a guest in their mansion, and she tried not to think of how he might react to Melody’s return.