an animal.” She did not sound as casual as she wished to.
“How awful.” Lady Inristian pursed her lips in a little pout. “I have some marvelous face powder that can hide almost anything. Just tell me if you’d like to borrow some.”
She meant it kindly enough. Nora felt her cheeks grow warm, and wondered whether the scars stood out more vividly when she blushed. It had been some time since she had really looked in a mirror. “Thank you, I appreciate the offer,” Nora was beginning to say, when someone knocked at the door.
Instead of Daisy and the chamber pot, it was a servant in the red-and-gold livery. “My apologies for disturbing you, ma’am, but I have a message for Mistress Nora,” he said. Nora indicated that he had found the right person. “The Lord Aruendiel would like to see you at once in the minister’s council chamber.”
“The Lord Aruendiel!” From the bed, Lady Inristian was all alertness. “I didn’t know that he was here in Semr.” She looked hard at Nora, as if demanding an explanation.
“We arrived just last night,” Nora said to her.
“You came with him! And you are—”
“I’ve been staying in his castle,” Nora said. She went to put on her shoes, conscious of Lady Inristian’s unblinking gaze upon her—taking in the gold ring, the scar, the worn dress that had been Mrs. Toristel’s, the peasant clogs, the plain, braided hair. “Well,” said Lady Inristian, sinking back onto the pillows, her eyebrows raised. “How interesting.”
Nora smiled at her and fled after the servant.
After ten minutes of corridors, he delivered Nora to a round room, domed with frosted glass through which a pale, oyster-colored light filtered down. Although the table was littered with a variety of maps, a couple of goblets, and a half-eaten loaf of bread, there was no one in the room. The servant directed her to wait.
Nora helped herself to a hunk of bread, then looked at the maps with interest. Sounding out the Ors names carefully, she eventually identified Semr, a dot on the coastline of a large western ocean, at the mouth of a long river that wound out of a mountain range to the east. At the bottom of the map were several very large lakes, completely landlocked. The far northern and northeastern parts of the map seemed virtually blank—perhaps unexplored? She was trying to work out where Aruendiel’s castle was located—somewhere in the hilly country to the northeast of Semr, she thought—when she heard footsteps come into the room, a quick tread followed by a slower one.
“Aruendiel!” she said, looking up. “I think I saw Ilissa this morning, in the garden.”
“You did,” he said with a grave face. “She’s here in Semr.”
“Why is she here? I thought she couldn’t leave her own lands.”
“Normally, she can’t, under the terms of the treaty. There are exceptions, though. She has the right to leave her domain for diplomatic missions. And now,” he said, inclining his head, “she is here in Semr to treat with the king. In fact, I learn, they have been sending messengers back and forth these past two months. It is a remarkable piece of royal folly.”
“What is it about?”
“I intend to find out. This misguided affair is most certainly what Hirizjahkinis was referring to in her note yesterday. She could have been much clearer, I have to say. If I had known exactly what she meant, I would have come—oh, faster than I came. And I would not have brought you with me, into the presence of your enemy. I apologize deeply for that miscalculation.”
Nora’s heart sank a little to hear how serious he sounded. “But you’re a match for her, right?” Aruendiel had stopped Raclin—eventually. “Is that how Raclin got out, because of the mission?”
“Yes, he is considered part of the mission. It’s an outrage that I was never consulted about this.”
“I wonder if Ilissa knows yet that Raclin is now a piece of statuary.”
“I doubt it. That piece of information may be useful in our discussions today. As will an account of Raclin’s recent attacks on us. In fact,” Aruendiel said, with a lift of his eyebrow, “you might be a valuable witness yourself.”
“Me? Why?”
“Kidnapping young women as brides for Raclin is expressly forbidden by the treaty. Ilissa will say, no doubt, that the clause does not cover visitors from another world, but I think we can argue that she has violated the spirit, if not the letter, of the agreement.”
“Would I have to be in the same room with Ilissa? Because I don’t want to see her.”
“No, perhaps that would not be wise.” His face hardened, and she guessed that he was considering again whether Nora might be Ilissa’s agent, unknowingly or not. “And the ring?” he added in a colder tone.
“No change that I’ve noticed.”
“You wouldn’t necessarily notice anything,” he said. “Let’s see it.” After a moment’s scrutiny, he dropped her hand with a grunt. “The question then is how to keep you away from Ilissa this—ah, Hiriz, there you are!” His voice warmed noticeably with the last words.
“So you did answer the king’s summons, Aruendiel.” There was a quicksilver hint of mockery in the voice that spoke from the doorway. Nora turned to see a small but very straight figure step into the room, a dark- skinned woman who looked distinctly different from anyone she had met so far in this world. Hirizjahkinis wore a kimono-like gown of finely pleated linen so thin that the outline of her body was clear beneath it. Her dress did not look particularly warm, now that summer was ending, and perhaps for that reason she had fastened a leopard skin over her shoulders with an immense golden clasp, the leopard’s head resting companionably on her breast. There was more gold around her neck and on her arms, and she wore a tight-fitting cap completely covered with rows of pearls, under which her hair fell down in neat, crimson-tinted cornrows threaded with gold and ivory beads. It was hard to estimate how old she was. Her compact, square-shouldered body moved quickly, giving an impression of health and vigor, but when she came closer, Nora could see sharp lines around her smiling mouth.
“You could have told me what was afoot,” Aruendiel said. “And you could have told me sooner.”
Hirizjahkinis laughed and took Aruendiel’s hands in hers by way of greeting, then let them fall. “But I only arrived here two days ago myself. Imagine my surprise when I went to pay my respects to your King Abele and discovered him in eager discussions with our Faitoren friend. You should keep a better watch on matters in your part of the world, Aruendiel.”
“Well, what are they discussing so eagerly?”
“What do you think? An alliance. Ilissa has offered to help your king in his next war. He is eyeing some territories to the east; the rights are in dispute. Ironically, it’s iron-mining country, I believe.”
“The Meerchinland—and the ownership is
“Well, now he’s found someone who will help him.”
“And what does Ilissa expect to get in return?”
“The treaty with the Faitoren will be torn up, the spells binding the Faitoren lands will be dissolved, the Faitoren will be allowed to come and go as free as wind and rain.”
“They could not dissolve those spells without my consent, and I would never give it.”
“No doubt that is why you were not invited to take part in these very private talks. Your king was not eager to hear from me, either, especially when he heard what I had to say. But I did persuade him that he should consult you, and I sent my own messenger with his to make sure that you actually came.”
“You didn’t say a word about Ilissa in your message.”
“My dear Aruendiel!” She threw up her hands. “Ilissa sat glowering at me across the table the entire time that I was doing the magic. I didn’t dare be more specific. The important thing, I thought, was simply to get you to Semr, so that you could see for yourself what was happening.”
“What about Bouragonr?” Aruendiel demanded. “He’s been chief royal magician for, what, two dozen years now. Bouragonr’s no friend of the Faitoren. Surely he’s counseled the king against this alliance?”
Hirizjahkinis shook her head with a rueful smile. “I think Bouragonr is senile! He said almost nothing, except that we could learn much from the Faitoren magic. I said that there was already a magician in the kingdom who knew more about the Faitoren magic than possibly even the Faitoren themselves—that’s you, Aruendiel!—and that you had never found anything particularly useful in it for anyone who does not happen to be Faitoren. But
