A Veil of Secrets (6 page)

I tapped his chin until he looked at me. “I know what it’s like to be reviled for what you are.”

Shame sent his gaze skittering away from mine. He covered my hand with his. “Marne—”

“We can’t help what we are.” I withdrew from him. “Who we are, that is of our own making.”

Leaving him to gather his thoughts, I stepped outside and inhaled the promise of a hot meal. When the scent made my stomach rumble, I set out with the intention of finding the source.

The streets bustled even at this early hour. It seemed the entire clan had awakened while we had been speaking with the maven and paladin. Females walked past with empty baskets balanced on top of their heads. They chattered and laughed as they followed the same dirt road as the boys with their varanus had taken. The fields must lie in that direction. I debated following the females to see if they intended to harvest produce or pick dayflowers, but our hosts might not take kindly to such curiosity.

A shout brought my head around where a skirmish crowded the street.

Bodies parted, and I glimpsed the instigator. Pascale’s blonde hair was colored muted dayflower blue, and her fine white dress was dyed the same blue as the rest of her. She was kicking a cloth sack at her feet. No. Not a sack. A person. There was a male writhing on the ground. Oh dear. It was Lleu.

“Untie me, harpy,” he bellowed.

“Apologize.” She swept her arms in front of her body. “Look what you’ve done.”

He barked a laugh. “I regret nothing.”

She kicked him again.

His warning growl made my hackles rise.

Stinging in my fingers alerted me to my growing nails. Vicious claws curved over my fingertips.

A steadying hand at my back startled me until the scent of Asher reached my nose.

“The air tastes of blood and fury.” I swallowed hard. “I should leave.”

“Let’s go then.” He gestured in the opposite direction. “The dining hall is this way.”

I bobbed my head, not trusting myself to speak. My shoulder blades itched, and the blood at the corner of Lleu’s mouth tempted me to fall on my knees at his side and offer to kiss his injuries better.

Fool that he was, he would have tasted my lips to slight Pascale.

Fool that I was, I would have let him sample the edges of my smile.

But my teeth were sharp, and I feared at times like these, my mind was not my own.

So we left him to the beating Pascale thought he deserved.

Chapter Seven

First meal was simple fare made delicious by its freshness. Ripe fruits and berries filled trays to their edges. Shelled nuts were ready to be sprinkled over the steaming bowls of mashed oats that sat at each place setting. Jars of honey and ewers of dayflower syrup lined the center of a slender table.

As seemed to be the custom here, the table was low and cushions abounded instead of chairs.

Pascale seated us before rounding the table and positioning herself across from me.

I joined our tablemates in trying and failing not to gawk.

Once the room was filled to bursting, Old Father entered and stood at the head of the table. The maven and paladin accompanied him, one to either side.

I went to my knees, about to stand, when Asher put a hand on my shoulder and pushed me back down. No one else had moved. They all sat with their heads bowed low and their hands in their laps.

Taking my cue from Pascale, I mimicked her position.

“We thank the two gods for the rich lands they entrusted into our ancestors’ care, for the foods we are about to eat. Bless those who are here, those who are not and those who have been welcomed home to the spiritlands. May the gods extend their grace to our guests and may their blessings follow them home.” Old Father patted his stomach. “Now. Let us eat.” The maven and paladin lowered him onto his cushion. “I am old, and my body has less patience for ceremony than it once did, but such is the path of life.”

Those nearest to him mumbled agreement while the maven knelt at his side to prepare his meal. The paladin fell to his knees next and assembled her meal with reverence before preparing his own.

After each took their first bites, the room erupted into conversation and the clatter of spoons.

“It’s rude to stare.” Asher bumped my knee under the table when he noticed me glance at Pascale. “Even if she looks like a blueberry.”

I stifled a small laugh. “That was a cruel thing to say.”

“I can’t help the truth.” He bumped my knee again. “It was worth saying to see you smile.”

“You realize…” I swirled my oats, “…your duty to Henri is done. I’m here. You’re free to go.”

He swung his head toward me. “Do you want me to leave?”

I sprinkled nuts into my bowl. “No.”

“Good,” he said gruffly. “Then I’ll stay until you’re settled before returning to Erania.”

If I were kinder, I would have said he ought to go. Now. Before I got my affairs in order and left the city to hunt Idra. He was one of a few who might witness my destruction and be saddened by it.

Once Asher began crunching through a handful of almonds, I sampled my first spoonful of oats. Delicious. The way the hot mash settled in my stomach dulled my hunger for the first time in weeks.

I ate more than I should have because, honestly, the lack of meat present concerned me.

The best way to curb my less savory cravings was by offering myself a compromise. Here there were no savory treats with which to barter with the darker part of myself.

When I looked up from my empty bowl, it was to see everyone rising with their dishes in hand. I watched to see what they did, but they filed from the room past Old Father and mingled in the street.

Asher leaned closer. “Old Father is summoning us.”

We cleaned our places and collected our bowls, then we joined Old Father. He reached for each of us at once, intending for us to help him stand. He must have sent the maven and paladin ahead to give us a moment of privacy. I bent, thinking I would collect his dishes, but they had been removed.

“Sikya tells me you wish to discuss an arrangement with me.” He gestured toward the far corner of the room, and Asher fetched his walking stick. “It is an interesting request. One I will honor.”

I held his elbow while we waited for Asher. “I appreciate your consideration.”

“The two gods send us trials, and I feel certain you are a test of theirs. If I can only see my way out of solving the puzzle, it will bring blessings upon my people.” His white teeth flashed. “Come. I am expected, as are you. Once we have cleansed ourselves, then you may greet me at my home.”

He accepted the stick from Asher and grunted as his bones settled into a comfortable stoop.

Out of concern, I stuck by his side until we exited the building and bumped into Wishövi.

“You can go ahead.” He eyed the walking stick. “It is my honor to escort Old Father.”

The elder snorted but waved his hand to usher us where the others gathered. Dual lines formed ahead. Females stood in one line and males in the other. Both lines angled toward the river. I took my place at the end of one and Asher at the end of the other.

Old Father shuffled past us, making his way to the head of the line with Wishövi’s help.

Several minutes later, his rich voice raised a rhythmic chant whose purity vibrated in my bones. The end of his song brought a peaceful silence. He cried out once, and the line shifted forward. From where I stood, the ceremony was concealed. All I saw were the backs of heads in the snaking queue.

When the line crept forward another step, I caught Asher emptying his bowl on the sand.

He hadn’t eaten a single bite.

The sight of his oats made mine sit like lead in my gut. “Was the meal not to your liking?”

He flicked congealed oats from his spoon. “Fruit and grains aren’t a meal.”

I shared the sentiment, not that it did either of us any good. “The Salticidae don’t eat meat.”

“I learned that the hard way.” He shifted his weight to better see over the head of the male ahead of him. “This time I cured enough dried meat to last me several days in the event I was detained, but it was in my pack, on my ursus, wherever those went.”

Four males and five ursus lost. There was no point searching the veil. They wouldn’t be found.

A thought occurred to me. “How is Lleu adjusting to his new diet?”

Asher checked our progress again. “Lleu will eat anything.”

“You’re fidgeting.” I wondered. “Is this done after every meal?”

“I’m not.” He paused before saying more. “And no, it isn’t.”

“Was there something else you wanted to add?”

“This is a ceremonial cleaning,” he admitted. “I witnessed it once before. I was passing through here on clan business when a female who had survived the plague returned to Beltania. I don’t know the particulars of her case, but she ate in the hall with her clan before they performed the ceremony.”

Heat blossomed in my cheeks. Old Father was cleaning his clan of our association.

“I made inquiries. They don’t know about you,” he assured me. “They do know we encountered risers on the other side of the veil because the Mimetidae guards stationed here warned them before they went to patrol their borders. That is likely the taint they wish to banish, nothing more personal.”

Relief stole my voice, both that he thought to ask and that he shared that information with me.

He studied me from the corner of his eye. “Can I ask you something?”

“That sounds serious,” I teased. “Is that what the fidgeting is about?”

Asher took my hand, and I froze at the shock of him caressing my ring finger. “Do your people not exchange jewelry or other tokens to indicate when a female is taken? I see no tattoos or other—”

My throat tightened. “Edan and I used our rings to finance our journey north.”

“Strange that with the generosity Henri extended to you, you felt no need to renew that bond by purchasing new bands.” He rubbed my knuckles. “I can’t imagine a female turning down a chance to shop in the famed Hall of Artisans in the Araneidae nest. Their work is of the very highest quality.”

“My tastes are simple.” That much was the truth. Until we landed in Erania, the only chance we had to own anything—even the clothes on our backs—was by acquiring admirers with deep pockets.

The deeper the pockets, the darker the association was in my experience. I had tried to avoid any undo interest from our master’s peers, a near impossible task, and had done things I wasn’t proud of.

Neither could I be ashamed. I had survived. Survival was all that mattered.

Or so I had once believed.

Asher made a noncommittal sound.

Tugging on my hand got me nowhere with him. “Why are you asking me this now?”

His brow creased. “I have to know.”

The hard edge to his voice made me flinch.

Beside us, a throat cleared. Old Father directed us to the water’s edge. Our turn had come.

Asher used his grip to entwine our fingers then guided me to kneel beside him while Old Father chanted softly. Asher scooped a handful of sand into our bowls, and we scoured them clean. His hand found mine as we scrubbed. With deft fingers, he worked the bowl from my grasp and then rinsed it.

“It’s the male’s duty to bring these back to the hall,” he explained while helping me stand.

I glanced around. “What do I do now?”

“Explore your new home.” He started walking. “I’ll check on our lodgings then I’ll find you.”

Something in his voice raised gooseflesh on my arms. “Wait—
our
lodgings?”

Asher kept walking.

I turned and bumped into the male portion of the final pair in line.

The girl beside him was half his age with thin cheeks and a sharp nose. I watched his attempts at being polite to his partner, who snubbed his offer of sand to scoop her own. They washed and rinsed without a word, then they stood after finishing. The crass girl darted for a waiting group of her peers.

She carried her own bowl.

Without meaning to, I wandered the city until I found myself standing across the street from the house where Pascale lived. Boredom must have drawn me to her since I knew no one else in the city.

“Marne?” Pascale shoved aside the rug in her doorway. “I thought I heard someone. Come in.”

Her hair was soaked and left a wet trail across the floor as I followed her to a large washbasin.

“I wanted to make certain you were all right.”

She pulled a rag from the water and lathered it with a sliver of soap. “I’m well enough. I almost regret my actions this morning.” She set to scrubbing her stained cheeks. “Then I catch a glimpse of my face and lose all shame over what I did.” She grinned. “The maven is quite displeased with me.”

“You say that as if it’s a good thing.” I would not want to stand before a maven’s fury.

But I was not a maven’s sister to know I could get away with such behavior.

After rinsing her face, Pascale touched her cheeks. “Is it any better?”

“It’s paler than before,” I offered.

She growled under her breath.

I ducked when she flung her rag across the room. “Do I want to know what happened?”

“I’ll tell you what happened.” She whirled. “Lleu caught me on my way back to the river. I told him this was the female’s side of the river, as he well knew, and that he should leave, but he said not yet it wasn’t because I was on dry land. Then he demanded I tell him what he had told me while he was in his cups, and I refused because he was being such a beast. Then the brute lifted me over his shoulder and carried me to the courtyard where the barrels of dye are kept.” She paused for effect before snarling, “And then he dropped me arse-first into one. He ruined my dress and, as if that wasn’t enough, he shoved my head under too. If Asher hadn’t stopped him, I might have drowned.”

Well, that somewhat corroborated Asher’s story.

I fought not to laugh as Pascale’s anger flushed her blue cheeks purple. I gave myself the errand of reclaiming her rag while smoothing my features. “Is his concern justified? What did he say?”

“He— Nothing.” She sighed. “He said nothing he should be ashamed of.”

Whatever his secret, she appeared resolved not to share it, at least not with me. It was curious that she guarded his privacy after all he had done to her, all they had done to one another. I would have expected her to seek her vengeance through any ears she could bend.

I dropped her washcloth back into the basin. “I’m sure it will all wash out in a day or so.”

“I hope you’re right.” She tugged on her hair. “At least no one here will snicker to my face.”

“The Salticidae seem very conservative. I doubt they want to engage in your feud.”

“Feud, pah.” She glared at the offending blue strands. “He’s such an infuriating male.”

Thinking of Asher’s strange behavior, I agreed. “Most of them are.”

“It doesn’t surprise me in the least that Vaughn is his closest friend. His only friend, I bet.” Lips flat, she turned to me in all seriousness. “Who else would tolerate such a beast or beastly behavior?”

Mentioning that Asher seemed to be his friend, or that Lleu appeared a harmless flirt to me, might cost me my best chance for having female companionship while in Beltania. “I don’t know.”

“I don’t either,” she huffed.

“A moment ago, did you mean Paladin Vaughn?” I asked.

Vaughn was the Mimetidae paladin. For him to station a special friend of his so far from Cathis, their clan home, the paladin must have some stake in the welfare of this city or in Pascale’s safety. It made sense that because the Mimetidae were the guardians of Erania that they would send guards to watch over persons from that city who fell under their protection. As Maven Lourdes’s sister, neither the Mimetidae nor the Salticidae could afford for harm to befall Pascale while she was visiting here.

Try as I might, I couldn’t shake the feeling something more was happening in this quiet farming community than we had been told. They had been too calm about the threat of risers. Any other clan would have raised the alarm and hidden their females and their children. Yet the Salticidae rulers had given more consideration for last night’s disturbance, whatever that was, than for a potential attack.

“Yes.” Pascale wrinkled her nose. “Paladin Rhys is kind to Lourdes at least. His brother doesn’t have a kind bone in his body. Yet another reason he and Lleu are so well suited.”

From what I had overheard from the Eranian guards, it seemed that Paladin Vaughn and Paladin Rhys were half-brothers, which might account for the differences in their temperaments.

I laughed at her puckered expression. “If it makes you feel better, blue suits you.”