Prophecy (35 page)

“So there you are, Lady Hallina,” a male voice said, startling her. “Why didn’t you answer the door? You must have heard us knocking.”

“Me, answer a door?” Hallina demanded, outraged in spite of everything as she turned to look at the brash intruder. “Do you take me for a servant, you fool? But I think I know you…”

“Indeed you do, Lady Hallina,” the idiot said with a sarcastic bow. “I’m Lord Rimen Howser, special representative of the Five, and soon to be High Lord. I take it that your servants have already gone?”

“They certainly have, but they’renot as done with me as they believe,” Hallina growled, beginning to fire up again. “As soon as I learn where they’ve gone, I’ll see to it that they’redismissed immediately. They’ll be out on the street with nothing—”

“No, they won’t,” the idiot had the nerve to interrupt, his expression sourly amused. “They haven’t found new positions with someone of
our
class, they’ve been taken in by the rabble of the city. We’ve all experienced the same thing, or at least most of us have. Those of our class who made a habit of coddling their staff haven’t been completely deserted, but they selfishly refuse to lend out to the rest of us what animals are left. Well, that’s neither here nor there. The reason I’ve come is to take you to the palace.”

“Well, at last,” Hallina declared with the beginnings of a delighted smile. “Those children have finally understood just who I am, and now they’remaking sure I’m not discomfited. They’rehours too late for
that
, of course, which I’ll tell them as soon as I see them, but at least they have the good sense to—”

“No, Lady Hallina, you misunderstand me,” the man interrupted again, a habit Hallina found utterly outrageous. “You aren’t being honored by the Five, not when you really aren’t anyone at all. There may be a need for having you near to hand, which is the reason why you were forbidden to leave the city. It served their purpose to let you stay in your own house in the interim, but now, with your servants gone, it will be best to have you where you won’t perish by accident. If it turns out that you aren’t needed after all, you’ll probably be released to go your own way again.”

That was the point where Hallina really noticed the men standing behind Howser, men who were uniformed guardsmen. One or two of them wore smirks, amused by her humiliation, but numbness turned outrage thin and tenuous. Her staff was gone for good, she was being all but arrested, and if she managed to live through whatever those vile children had in mind for her, she would be turned out into the street. So how—

“Lady Hallina, go and dress yourself now, and choose no more than three outfits to take with you,” Howser said, again interrupting her thoughts. “You’ll have to pack the additional clothing yourself, but some of my men will carry it for you. You will do it right now, or I’ll be forced to take you as you are.”

Thin and distant outrage touched Hallina again, but that wasn’t the overriding thing concerning her now. The one, burning question she had was of vast importance, and could be summed up rather easily. In the midst of all these nightmarish happenings, how was she going to take her just vengeance against Clarion? She didn’t know, but one thing was crystal clear: no matter what else she lost, attaining vengeance couldn’t be allowed to go with the rest. It just couldn’t … couldn’t … couldn’t…

* * *

“Daddy, I want to go
home
!” Mirra Agran announced, not for the first time. “I’m bored absolutely to tears, and now that everyone in the city seems to be goin’ insane, even the few parties that
were
bein’ held aren’t bein’ held any longer. We can sue the Ro’s just as easily and a lot more comfortably in Port Entril.”

“Don’t you think I’ve been
tryin’
to get us out of here, Mirra?” her father replied from the overstuffed chair he sat in. This was the study of the house they were renting, and he should have been at the desk, working to get her what she’d asked for. Instead he sat in one of the chairs of the room, uselessly sipping tea.

“That insanity you mentioned has spread to everybody, it seems, and gettin’ anythin’ done is apparently out of the question,” he continued. “But don’t forget that I wanted to leave a week ago, when I got that message from Jorvin, who’s lookin’ after the business for me back home. He said things were startin’ to get strange, with folk standin’ on corners listenin’ to men shoutin’ about freedom and such, but you wouldn’t hear of us leavin’. Now that
you
want to go, you expect everybody to just drop whatever they’redoin’…”

“Daddy, how can you speak to me that way?” Mirra complained, using the wounded tone that usually made him understand just how badly he’d failed her. “Haven’t you always said that nothin’ is too good for Momma and me, and that it’s your job to see that we never want for anythin’? Well, now I want somethin’, but you’renot givin’ it to me. I suppose I’ll just have to get Momma to ask right along with me.”

The threat of getting her mother after him usually worked, as her father actually loved his wife very much. This time, though, the silly man just looked over at her where she stood.

“Your momma is busy in the kitchen,” he replied in the oddest tone. “Just before all the servants left, I was told that some of them would have stayed on—if not for the constant demandin’ you always do. Until now they had to put up with it, but they were happy about not needin’ to any longer. The only reason we had what to eat for lunch was the fact that your momma hasn’t forgotten how to cook, but you made no effort to give her even the slightest bit of help. Now you
can
go and talk to her—and ask her to put you to work. That should take care of your bein’ bored.”

“That craziness must be catchin’, if you think
I’ll
do any housework,” Mirra said with a sound of ridicule, putting her fists to her hips. “I’m meant for much better things, just as you’ve always said, Daddy. Now, about how soon we’ll be leavin’—”

“Damned if he wasn’t tellin’ the truth,” her father interrupted, not quite muttering. “He said I’d spoiled you rotten, and there’s no arguin’
that
fact. Now I wonder if he wasn’t tellin’ the truth about the rest of it.”

“If you’retalkin’ about that Vallant Ro, you can be sure he lied in his teeth,” Mirra said at once, beginning to be vastly annoyed. “And he was also insultin’, but he’ll pay for all that once he and I are married. I
want
him, Daddy, and I don’t believe in givin’ up things I want.”

“‘
Things
’, Mirra?” her father echoed, his expression now harder than she’d ever seen it. “He’s not a thing, he’s a man, but you don’t seem to understand the difference. And there’s also a difference between wantin’ and lovin’. Or don’t you know that either?”

“I refuse to discuss things with you when you’rebein’ unreasonable,” Mirra huffed, knowing instinctively that it was time to end the conversation. “I’m goin’ to my bedchamber for a nap, and we’ll talk again when—”

This time it was a knocking at the front door which interrupted her, and her father made no useless effort to tell
her
to see who was calling. He rose himself after putting aside his teacup, and strode out to the front hall. Mirra trailed after, curious to see if it might be a party invitation being sent to her, but the man at the door couldn’t possibly be mistaken for a servant—not to mention the fact that there were guardsmen behind him.

“Dom Agran?” the stranger said, more a statement than a question. “It seems that you’ve lost your serving staff along with the rest of us.”

“Yes, it so happens I have,” Mirra’s father replied evenly. “May I ask who you are, and what business is bringin’ you here?”

“That’s easily answered,” the man replied with a smile as his gaze moved to Mirra for a moment. “I’m Lord Rimen Howser, and you and your daughter and wife are to accompany me to the palace. You’ll be given a short time to pack your belongings, but only a
short
time. Whatever isn’t packed within twenty minutes will have to be left behind.”

“The palace?” Mirra’s father blurted, obviously shocked. “But why would
we
—”

The rest of his startled protest was lost to Mirra in the midst of the sudden delight she felt. The palace! They were going to the palace! Somehow one of the Five must have seen her, and now wanted to get to know her a good deal better. One of the Five!

Mirra turned away from the babble of unimportant conversation at the door, thrilling to what lay ahead. One of the
Five
wanted her, and no matter what he was like he would
have
her. Of course, once they were married it would be
she
who had
him
, but that didn’t have to be mentioned at first meeting. She would be the wife of one of the Five, and Vallant Ro would just die to know that. And he would suffer before he died, he and that brazen trollop he’d tried to put in her place, she would make certain of
that
…

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Storn Torgar, master merchant and father of four eminently desirable daughters—who were considered very much part of his merchandise—was extremely unhappy. The deal of a lifetime had been in his hands, completely negotiated and ready to be begun, and it had all come to nothing because of a mere slip of a girl. That the girl was one of his daughters made the matter much worse, and certainly would not be forgotten. He’d given that girl the best of everything, and she’d repaid his generosity with spite and stubbornness.

“Storn, why are you just sitting there?” his wife demanded, having come into the study without his noticing. “You know Odrin wasn’t joking, so you don’t have all that much time left. Haven’t you thought of
anything
to get that impossible child back?”

“Since I no longer even know where she is, Avrina, how am I supposed to get her back?” Storn responded, automatically turning the words into smooth friendliness. “When I left that high and mighty lord’s house, I fully intended to speak to every judge I knew who still sat on the bench. I was in the midst of doing so, you’ll remember, when I was brought word that the noble was dead and Tamrissa had disappeared. Since then my agents discovered that she left the city, so what do you propose that I do?”

“There has to be
something
,” his wife fretted, pacing to a chair before sitting stiffly. “That arrangement with Odrin Hallasser would have brought us more gold than both of us together would have been able to spend in two lifetimes. It isn’t every day that someone finds supposedly worthless land that none of the nobility care to claim, and files on it personally—after which it proves to be anything
but
worthless. If we can start to force people onto that land to work it, the gold will begin to flow in. Why can’t Odrin understand that, and simply add his part of the investment without demanding anything else?”

“Because, Avrina, he’s a … dedicated man,” Storn replied, beginning to feel annoyed all over again. “He’s wanted Tamrissa since the first time he’s seen her, and he didn’t acquire as much gold as he has by giving up the things he wants. I agreed to deliver her to him as part of my end of the deal, and now he means to hold me to that. He refuses to understand how impossible that is at the moment, and has even gone so far as to threaten—”

Storn stopped speaking abruptly, belatedly aware that he’d been about to say too much. He hadn’t told Avrina everything, just as he never told her everything, but this time she happened to notice.

“Has he threatened to back out of the deal?” she demanded, her face paling. “But he can’t finance it alone any more than we can, and the land is already registered to you and him conjointly. If he tries to punish us by backing out, he’ll only be punishing himself as well. He can’t take anyone else in, after all…”

“No, of course he can’t, so you needn’t worry on that score,” Storn reassured her, using his most charming smile to reinforce his words. “And I’m sure he isn’t serious about this deadline he’s given me, so let’s speak of other things. Have you been able to find any servants to hire? I’m growing extremely tired of having to take all our meals in a dining parlor.”

“No, and I probably
won’t
find any,” she replied, annoyance strong in her voice even as she looked at him narrowly. “Those stupid low class fools are actually picking and choosing who they’ll work for, and the ingrates who
used
to work for us have apparently put us on some sort of refusal list. This is all the fault of the nobility, and they’d better hurry up and get things put back to the way they were. After all, what else are they good for…? Storn, there’s something you aren’t telling me, and I want to know what it is. All of it, if you please.”

Her voice had turned hard and uncompromising, the ice princess handing out orders. He usually had no trouble handling her, but when she fell into a mood like this… Well, why not? Maybe
she’d
be able to think of a way out…

“All right, I
will
tell you all of it,” he agreed, leaning back in his chair. “Odrin Hallasser is sometimes a difficult man to deal with, but this arrangement was one it wasn’t possible to pass up on. It’s unfortunate that he was the only one who had the ready gold… But to get to those details. He and I have indeed registered the land in both our names, but we did something else as well. In order to keep the deal between ourselves, we also named each other as beneficiary of that part of our estates if one of us happened to … die.”

“Oh, Storn, you didn’t!” she exclaimed with horror, understanding exactly what that meant. “You have to mean it was done without safeguards, the kind you’ve always used. And without those safeguards…”

“Yes, exactly,” Storn agreed glumly. “Without those safeguards, Odrin
will
benefit if I should somehow meet with an unfortunate and unexpected ending. And that’s what he’s threatened me with if I don’t find Tamrissa and turn her over to him in the next two days. I’ve been looking into the possibility of doing the same to him only sooner, but with the city in such a turmoil, finding the right people is extremely difficult.”

“As if finding people foolish enough to go up against Odrin Hallasser and his group would be easy at any time.” Avrina spoke the words shortly, her lips compressed with disapproval. “I do wish you’d mentioned this sooner, Storn. Two days… We
have
to stop Odrin from ordering your death, we simply have to.”