Threads of Desire (Spellcraft)

Chapter Nine

Kal coaxed her from her work by insisting that she looked pale and that he wouldn’t have it said of House Azi that they overworked their servants. She’d rolled her eyes, and they’d continued the playful argument as he dressed her in a ridiculously extravagant robe trimmed in gold and what she very much suspected were real rubies.

I don’t need a break,” Ily insisted as Kal pulled her into the courtyard and through the servant’s gate. She didn’t fight very hard. Every day brought her closer to leaving the villa for good...to leaving Kal. But she did argue with him—first, because she enjoyed it and second, because his reasoning was outrageous. Really, the exercise might be good for her, but she had not grown plump after only three weeks of regular meals.

Grabbing her hand, he led her down the short flight of stairs and through a low arched tunnel into the street.

You’re winded already. Hurry along now, I don’t wish to be recognized.”

By whom?” The streets weren’t crowded. Most people were at home at this time of day, resting in what shade they could find or near the water. And if he’d truly wanted anonymity, he might have chosen a color for her other than red. Something plainer, that wasn’t embroidered at waist and cuff with a serpentine pattern reminiscent of his house seal. The veil that covered most of her face was so delicately fine it offered no concealment. He was no better off, wearing fitted breeches and a midnight blue tunic that appeared slick as water in the sun.

He shrugged, glancing down the street and then pulling her into an alley. Hand in hand, they scurried along the edge of the neighboring building. “Anyone might be watching—the emperor’s spies, rival houses, the guild.”

She must have stiffened because he glanced down at her and his expression softened. “They mean no harm. This is Lasura and the emperor’s in residence for a few more weeks until the summer heat drives him out. Everyone is here watching everyone else. It’s a casual interest only, to keep track of alliances and rivalries. No one likes to be surprised, not in business.”

She forced a smile and plucked at his sleeve. “And this is invisible to you?”

He looped a finger inside her veil and tugged it loose. Dropping a kiss to the tip of her nose, he turned her by the shoulders and gave her a gentle push through the open archway to where a young woman stood waiting in the shadows with her head bowed. Kal kicked the brightly painted door closed behind them. “They’ll look for a veiled woman in a scarlet robe and her hulking bodyguard dressed in satin.”

She raised one brow. “Hulking?”

His mouth pulled in a grimace, but his eyes crinkled in amusement. “You wound me, Ily.”

He eased the robe from her shoulders, revealing her comfortable and perfectly unremarkable linen tunic. It was one he’d provided for her, the least showy despite the silk piping at collar and wrist. He tossed both her robe and his own tunic to the waiting servant and pulled a pair of sturdy sandals from the leather bag he’d slung over his shoulder. “I planned to go to the fountains. Do you mind the walk?”

His uncertainty never failed to charm her. She took the sandals and kicked off the more formal slippers she wore. “I don’t mind walking.”

She was rewarded with his wide smile and her heart stuttered in response. He spoke a brief word to the woman, who was obviously accustomed to this routine. He dropped a small pouch into her waiting hand and Ily politely turned her head as they finished their transaction.

They were standing in the receiving room of a modest but pleasant home. The light descending from the high arched windows was mellow and golden. The rug beneath her feet was master work and very old. She’d just bent to examine it more closely when Kal took her arm and led her deeper into the house. “We’ll leave by the servant’s door, if you don’t mind.”

She shook her head. “I’m not one of your aristos, Kal. This is a far finer home than any I’ve lived in.”

Not true. You lived at the University for years. They say that it’s finer than the palace even.”

You’ve never been there?”

I’ve never had that honor, no.”

That surprised her. It was true that Lanel rarely extended invitations to the University, using them as gifts or lures, but Kal was a powerful man. He held the door for her after checking to be certain the narrow alley was clear. Pressing his hand to her back, he guided her to the left. Toward the fountains of Risa. It was one of her favorite spots in the entire city. The white cliffs, while not as high as those that formed the University, served as a pretty backdrop to the multitiered fountains. She liked the contrast between the white marble and the blue-green waters of the bay. There would be people there. Children splashing in the water. Vendors selling fruit and watered wine.

If the University is truly such a wondrous place, why did you leave it?”

He asked the question just as they stepped from the shelter of a tall building and into the blinding light of the midday sun. It was the question that brought her up short, but she hoped he’d believe it was the sun. Shielding her eyes with her hand, she glanced at Kal’s earnest expression and then down the wide street leading to the sea. The city lay drowsing in the heat. The only movement was the light sparkling off the water in the distance. Sarians had come from the sea, all of them descending from merchants, pirates and fishermen. They said it was still in their blood, the source of their magic.

She started walking again and he fell into pace beside her. Patiently quiet, still waiting for an answer.

Does it matter to you? I’m a master. I can’t use the guild mark to certify that, but no one will doubt my work.”

I’m not questioning your abilities.” He took her hand and pulled her out of the path of a barefooted boy running down the lane on some errand. “I only want to understand.”

The corner of her mouth edged up in a bitter smile. “There are questions at court?”

Hmm.”

Let them talk. It will make the rug more valuable in the end. No one really minds a mystery.”

I do.” He seemed to struggle with himself for a moment. “I had a falling out with the guildmaster about a year ago. It began as a personal dispute but ended badly. The emperor was forced to intervene and Lanel seems to believe my interest in you stems from a desire to see him spitted on a pike. I ask myself—why would the guildmaster believe I’d use you against him?”

You want the guildmaster dead?” A curious little thrill raced through her followed by a vague feeling of guilt.

I’d shed no tears over his death, but I wouldn’t try to hasten it either.”

Murder within the emperor’s peaceful Saria meant a very public and very painful execution, even for an aristo. She wouldn’t want that to happen to Kal even if it meant Lanel’s death too.

She forced a smile. “Are you certain you don’t ask yourself—how might I, Kalar Azi, use my new servant to wound the guildmaster?”

I admit the thought did cross my mind.”

The day had lost some of its shine, but she owed Kal an explanation. Especially if her presence in his home placed him in danger. “Let’s just say that the guildmaster and I had our own falling out, but there was no emperor to intervene. I...convinced Lanel that it would be best if I left the guild.”

No one leaves the guild.”

I did. I had information the guildmaster didn’t wish to be known at the time. It might not be as valuable as it once was...I don’t know. It was enough then for him to let me go. I disappeared before he could change his mind.”

He heard about your exhibition in the marketplace then,” Kal said. “He might think we’re conspiring against him.”

He might simply want me to return to the University.” A shiver chased down her arms despite the heat of the day. Damn. She’d known it was a risk to expose herself but had hoped Lanel would let her be. She didn’t want to have to speak with him again to reassure him that she’d keep her silence. She didn’t want to see him ever again.

So you blackmailed the guildmaster.” The foolish man was grinning at her. There’d been nothing daring about it. She’d been desperate, not brave. He needn’t look at her like that. “The rule-bound and virtuous Lanel Hasson. What could you possibly have on him?”

I can’t tell you that.” She would like nothing better than to share this burden, but that simply wasn’t possible. “Let it be, Kal. Please.”

He stopped walking just before they reached the top of the wide stairs leading down to the fountains. Catching her elbow to turn her, he waited for her to meet his gaze. “I would protect you, Ily, even from the guildmaster. It simply might help me to understand why I’m fighting him this time around.”

He meant that—that he would try to protect her—she could see it in his eyes. Touched, she placed her palm to his cheek and stretched up onto her toes to kiss him.

I left the guild because Lanel Hasson is a venomous spider at the center of a great web who wishes to control everything and everyone around him. That’s all you need to know and you don’t have to worry about me.”

Before he could argue the point, she started down the steps. The worn white stone was smooth beneath the thin soles of her sandals and very hot. A few weeks ago she wouldn’t have hesitated to cool her feet in the water, but it seemed undignified to do so with an aristo. She’d never seen anyone like Kal splashing in the waters. Of course, Kal had his own fountains to splash in if he chose to. Dozens of them.

Before they reached the bottom step, Kal caught her hand and held it as if they were sweethearts. She wondered if he thought of her that way. She didn’t. She couldn’t let herself begin to think like that. He threaded his fingers through hers and looked down at her. “Lanel is an ass. As for controlling? He is master of the most powerful organization in the empire.”

You think I’m proud.” She’d heard that accusation before, but it hurt coming from Kal, more than she wanted to admit.

Everyone belongs somewhere...or they should.” He touched the seal on his arm. “Family. House. Emperor. You think the life of an aristo is free of obligation?”

It’s not the same.” She knew what it was like to be owned, to think first What will my master say if I choose this or that? To always consider how your choice would affect another before you thought of yourself. Lanel had done that to her. He’d raised her, shaped her to be his liasin, a position between servant and wife without even the rights of a concubine. It had choked her magic. In the end, it had gotten to the point where she couldn’t cast even the simplest of weaves. That was what had made her run.

Lost in her own thoughts, she wasn’t certain how long the silence stretched between them. They reached the first fountain and skirted it, walking through silver puddles of sun-warmed water. This one was a small fountain with a steep drop to the level below. No children played here today, just an elderly couple who smiled at them as they passed by. A fistful of flowers lay abandoned on the rim, little purple and white blooms beginning to wilt in the sun. Ily lifted the largest from the pile as they moved toward the shade cast by the cliffs.

They followed the gravel path leading to the lower levels and turned aside when they reached the first of the three large fountains that Risa was famous for. She could hear the sounds of children playing before they turned the corner. She smiled at the sight that greeted her. Young mothers sat on the rim of the fountain while their children played. Grandparents shared the shaded benches. Between the fountain and the children, there was enough water in the air that it seemed cool here even though the sun was shining.

There were no open benches and the rim of the great fountain was soaked with water, so they found a shaded spot to sit down beside a crumbling wall. Weeds sprouted from a crooked seam in the white plaster. It felt strange to sit again on the bare ground without a pillow to cushion her. How quickly she’d grown soft.

Kal lifted a tendril of loose hair from her cheek and pushed it behind her ear. “Tell me about the magic then. How does it work that you can close your eyes and color flies from your fingertips?”

It doesn’t.”

It appears to. The thread moves so quickly, it blurs. Dizzying to watch. Wondrous.”

She blushed and looked away from the open admiration in his eyes, past the fountain, toward the steps leading down to the sea. “Every creation is a piece of the artist. You draw from within yourself—the shape and color and pattern. From someplace deeper than thought.”

She’d always thought that had been her problem under Lanel’s tutelage. When you were living so completely to please someone else, there was no...you. The guildmaster had made her lose herself. It’s why she’d rejected him so completely and the guild. She’d tried to secure patronage from another source, but Lanel had blocked every attempt she made to leave. He’d barred her from the thread room without his approval. No thread meant no castings, meant no money to move from her quarters at the University. He’d blocked every path save the one that ended with her kneeling at his feet. She’d had to leave, deciding she’d rather starve than continue to live like that. And starve she had. For years.

She knew Lanel had expected her to come back to him begging for shelter, but she refused to be owned by anyone. Not ever again. Not even by someone like Kal.

He rolled onto his back and looked at the clouds. “You’re talking about the soul.” He glanced at her and his lips quirked. “Some people say that’s why the barbarians have no magic. That they’re soulless, the lot of them. Is that what you think?”

You have no magic,” she said. “And you have a soul.”

He touched his hand to his chest. “Five weeks ago you told me I didn’t even have a heart. Now you’re granting me a soul? Ily, I believe that’s the kindest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”

She might grant him a soul, but she wouldn’t grant him her laughter. He’d think that their conversation was over and she didn’t want it to be. She liked to talk with him, even when—especially when—they disagreed. He had a very fluid way of thinking that challenged her but never demanded her submission.

Everyone has a soul,” she said, tracing a triangle in the sand with her fingertip, even angled, even sided. The mark of the guild. The same mark that was tattooed on her wrist as proof of her position. “At least that’s what they teach on the temple steps. That Mehan, who made the sun and stars, breathed that same life into every person. A man without a soul is a corpse. At its core, craft is the ability to join mind, spirit and body and to manifest that connection outside of oneself.”

His eyes glinted. “So if I follow, it would be more accurate to say that you, the guild, and all of the gifted are more like to be soulless since you’re always pouring yourself out into the world.”

She arched her brows. “Perhaps we have more soul to begin with and it overflows us like water from a fountain.”

He laughed and caught her wrist, tugging her closer until she sprawled across his chest. He nudged her chin up and pressed his mouth to her throat. “I’d believe that of you. Not of Lanel.”

No wonder he’d chosen this secluded little spot against the wall, lovers often withdrew to these bowers for private conversation. But they were still within sight of the fountain, and the greenery and flowers could only be so discreet. She should push him away. He licked the shiver from her skin and she was suddenly anxious to return home. His home, that tranquil, private, magical house that was the first place she’d felt safe...ever.

She glanced back at the fountain—the children playing, the young couple sitting on the bench nearest them with their heads touching as they spoke in low voices, the sea bright and shimmering beyond it all. It was a perfect day to laze in the sun and attempt to convince Kal to swim in the water when it grew dark. It would be a very long time until sunset.

Kal?”

As if he could read her mind, he was already rising to his feet. He offered his hand to help her up and she took it, smiling.