Jim Butcher - Academ's Fury

"Steadholder," he said gently, "this is my house. I would hear what you have to say to one of the Cursors."

Isana pressed her lips together, but inclined her head. She had no wish to speak of this in front of Gaius-but that was part of the price she would now have to pay to have secured the aid of the Aquitaines. So be it.

"Tavi," she said quietly, "I have concerns about your friend. Gaelle, I believe. I can't pinpoint it, but there is something… not right, about her."

Tavi glanced at Gaius, to Isana's annoyance. The First Lord nodded to him. "I know, Aunt Isana," he said, his voice quiet and very serious. "She isn't Gaelle. Or at least she isn't the real Gaelle."

Isana frowned. "How do you know?"

"Because the men who took me and Kitai in the tunnels were Kalare's," he said, "and they were waiting for us. Maestro Killian told me, as he died, that Kalare's chief assassin was still close, and that he had paid a terrible price to establish the assassin within the Citadel. He was playing the traitor to Kalare, hoping to learn more about the enemy through his contact with the chief assassin-a woman named Rook. Whoever Rook was, it had to be a woman, someone often in contact with the Maestro to avoid arousing suspicion, and someone who had seen me enter the tunnels that night, and who knew where I would have to start marking the walls to find my way. In short, it almost had to have been one of the trainees."

"That was the price Killian mentioned," Gaius murmured. "The actual girl selected for the training was replaced by Rook, by means of watercrafting herself into a double. She was probably killed a few days after her selection as a trainee."

Isana shook her head. "That's… Your Majesty, you know as well as I that anyone with that much watercraft would have a strong contact with the emotions of those around them."

"It would be an enormous advantage in convincing those around you that you are merely a harmless girl," Gaius murmured.

"Yes. And if one killed often enough, it would almost certainly drive one mad."

"More than likely," Gaius said, nodding.

"You allowed that poor girl to be killed," Isana said, "so that you could gain some kind of advantage?"

"Killian never spoke to me of it," Gaius said. "He did it on his own."

Isana shook her head, disgusted. "All the same. It's monstrous."

"Yes," Gaius said, without a trace of shame. "It is. But Killian felt it necessary."

Isana shook her head. "This killer. Rook. When will you arrest her?"

"We won't," Tavi said quietly. "Not at once, in any case. Right now, Rook does not know we are aware of her identity. We can use that against her, and against Kalare."

"She's an assassin," Isana said quietly. "Quite likely a madwoman. And you would have her roaming loose?"

"If the First Lord removes her," Tavi said, "has her arrested or exiled, Kalare will only recruit someone else and try it again-and this time we might not be lucky enough to discover them. There is less danger in leaving her than not. At least for the moment."

"Monstrous," Isana said. She felt tears in her eyes and did not bother to hide them.

Tavi saw her expression and flushed, looking down. Then he looked up, and said, "I hope you are not too much disappointed in me, Aunt Isana."

She smiled slightly. "I hope you are not too much disappointed in me, Tavi."

"Never," he said quietly. "I understand why you…" He waved a vague hand. "You did what was necessary to protect the people you loved."

"Yes," Isana said quietly. "I suppose I should not be the first to cast stones." She stepped up close to him, cupped his face in her hands, kissed his forehead, and said, "Promise me that you will be careful."

"I promise," he said quietly.

She held him again, and he hugged her back. Gaius made an unobtrusive exit, while Tavi escorted her down to the entrance, where the Aquitaines' coach was waiting once more. She walked with her hand on Tavi's politely extended arm, and he provided a supporting hand when she stepped up to the carriage.

"Tavi," she said, before the door closed.

"Yes, Aunt Isana?"

"I love you very much."

He smiled. "I love you, too."

She nodded. "And I am proud of you. Never think that I am not. I worry for you. That's all. But you're growing up so tall."

He grinned. "Cost the First Lord a fortune keeping me in pants," he said.

Isana laughed, and he leaned up to kiss her cheek again. She ruffled his hair and said, "Write often. Regardless of where we find ourselves, it will never change what you mean to me."

"I feel that, too," he assured her. He stepped back and nodded with a quite natural authority to the coachmen, who began closing it up. "Write me as often as you can. Be safe."

She nodded and smiled at him, then the coachmen had closed things up, and the carriage was rolling away from the palace. She leaned slowly back in her seat, her eyes closed. She felt very, very alone in the Aquitaines' carriage.

She was alone there.

"Be safe," she whispered, her eyes closing, holding the image of his smile in her mind. Her hand drifted to the shape of the ring, still on its chain around her neck, still hidden. "Oh, be safe, my son."

Miles came down the last few steps and crossed the antechamber to the First Lord's meditation chamber. There were still scorch marks on the floor from the fires Tavi and Kitai had started, but the various kinds and colors of blood had been cleaned away. The door to the meditation chamber was half-open, but Miles paused outside it and knocked quietly.

"Come in, Miles," came Gaius's voice.

Miles pushed the door open and went in. Gaius sat in a chair by the little desk, lips pursed thoughtfully as he wrote something on a page. He finished it, signed it, and calmly folded the page and sealed it shut with wax and the hilt of his signet dagger. "What brings you here, Miles?"

"The usual," Miles said. "We have found nothing in the Deeps, beyond that odd cavern the vord had taken as a nest. There has been no sign of them elsewhere, but I have dispatched word to the Legions of every city to exercise extreme caution should anything happen that might indicate a vord presence."

"Fine," Gaius said. After a moment, he mused, "Did you know that the vord, in one form or another, utterly ignored Tavi's presence in at least three instances?"

Miles frowned. "I saw him scamper out of a crowd of them. At the time, I just assumed he'd been quick enough to get away. And they did attack him immediately after."

"But not until he struck at the queen with a spear," Gaius mused.

"You aren't suggesting that the boy is in league with them, are you?" Miles said.

Gaius arched an eyebrow. "Naturally not. But it is an anomaly which I do not yet understand. Perhaps it was nothing-mere luck. But what if it wasn't? It might tell us something important about them."

"Do you think they are yet here?"

"I am not entirely certain. It's odd," Gaius said, thoughtfully. "I've looked for their presence. I haven't sensed it."

"According to Count Calderon, they were very difficult to detect with crafting, sire."

Gaius nodded and waved a hand. "Well. We are aware of them. We are on the watch for them. It is all we can do for the time being."

"Yes, sire." He looked around the room. "It cleaned up nicely."

Gaius sighed. "I can't believe those two employed my entire liquor cabinet as a weapon against the enemy."

Miles pursed his lips and frowned. "Sire, may I-"

"Speak candidly, yes, yes." He waved an irritated hand. "How many times must I tell you that you do not need to ask?"

"Once more at least, Sextus," Miles said. "I don't mourn your liquor cabinet. Blessing in disguise. You were drinking too much."

The First Lord frowned pensively, but did not dispute the captain.