not right…' He swallowed. 'I'm sorry, I meant to say it sounded really dull.'
Roderio flung his napkin onto the table. 'No,' he said, 'I think we're finished. I have research to work on.'
'New potions?' Keph asked.
Roderio shot him a burning glare and turned away sharply to stride out of the room. Krin and Malia glanced at each other, then rose as well. They left without saying anything. Keph looked at his father and mother. 'Well?' he asked.
Emotion flickered across Dagnalla's face. 'Keph,' she said, her voice and eyes weary, 'you look terrible.'
'I've been working on my own research, mother. Comparing the insides of jail cells.'
Dagnalla closed her eyes for a moment.
Strasus leaned forward, admonishing, 'Keph…'
Keph paused in his eating to ask, 'Are you going to lecture me now?'
'No.'
'Good.'
He went back to eating.
'Keph,' Strasus said with a sigh, 'Hane Cartcoster came to see us yesterday evening. She's still looking for Jarull. She'd heard that he's been seen around Yhaunn with you, but he hasn't been home for more than two ten- days now. Do you know where he is?'
'No,' Keph answered, and for the moment at least, it was the truth.
'Hane is worried about him.'
'Hane is always worried about Jarull.'
'I know,' agreed Strasus, 'but this time she's really worried, and I think for good cause. She asked us to try locating him with magic. We couldn't find him.'
The food in Keph's mouth turned dry and bitter as ashes. He choked it down and looked up slowly.
'If you ever' he spat, 'tried doing that to me, I would never forgive you. Never!'
'Keph, are you listening to us?' said Dagnalla. 'We couldn't find Jarull. If you have seen him, then'
'I heard you.' Keph dropped his fork onto his plate. The ring Variance had given his friend, he guessed immediatelyit must have carried some kind of protection against divination magic. He glared at his parents. 'Did you hear me? I don't want you casting your magic on me like that.'
'You wouldn't want us to look for you if we thought you were in danger?' Strasus asked. He took Dagnalla's hand again, and his mouth went hard. 'No, Keph. I'm not going to promise you that. We're not going to promise you that.'
Keph clenched his teeth and grumbled, 'Because you think I need your help? Because you don't think I can take care of myself?'
'No!' Strasus exclaimed.
'Magic didn't protect Roderio, did it?'
Keph shoved his chair back and stood up. The words of the orison that Variance had taught him rose to his lips. The smallest, most insignificant of spellsbut it would show Strasus wouldn't it? Show him that while he might not see the potential in his youngest son, Shar did.
Except that Variance had told him not to reveal his faith to anyone.
For a moment, Keph struggled between his anger and the dark priestess's warning. One orison. Just one
He swallowed the prayer and glared at his parents. 'Is magic the only thing anyone in this family cares about?'
He turned and stalked out of the dining room and back to the entrance hall. His hangover had returned with a vengeance, and breakfast wasn't sitting well.
He'd just started climbing the big main stair when a shout rippled down from above: 'Hey, Uncle Keph!'
Keph looked up.
Adrey stood at the head of the stairs, dressed against the heat in a simple white dress.
Just as she had looked laid out on Shar's altar.
His foot missed the next step and he stumbled, almost falling before catching himself on the banister. Adrey came leaping down the stairs to meet him.
'Are you all right?' she asked.
'I'm fine, Adrey. Thanks.'
There was sweat on his forehead. Keph wiped it away with a trembling hand. No, he reminded himself, it hadn't been Adrey on the altar but an illusion. Just an illusion.
An illusion that he shoved a knife through.
Adrey's forehead creased. 'You don't look fine.' Her nose wrinkled. 'Beshaba's ivory arms, you stink!'
'Adrey!' He gulped back the nausea that churned in his stomach. 'Language!'
'I'm not Adrey today,' she replied. 'Guess who I am.'
The girl jumped back and waved a stick at him. He squinted at it.
'That's not one of your father's wands, is it?'
'It's not a wand.' She lunged forward and poked at him.
Keph reacted instinctively, turning so that the blow slid past him, then stepping clear and reaching for Quick's hilt. Adrey spun around to face him.
'You have Tymora's own luck,' she crowed, 'but I'll change that!'
She flicked the stick menacingly back and forth through the air like a rapier.
Dark, gasped Keph in silent shock, then said, 'Adrey, what are you doing?'
'What?' Adrey looked down at her feet. 'Am I standing wrong?'
Keph's hand was still on Quick's hilt. He forced it away and said, 'You should be practicing your magic. If you don't practice, you won't become a wizard. You don't want that.'
He stretched out his hand to take the stick, but she twitched it out of reach and made a face.
'Everyone around here is a wizard,' she whined. 'I don't want to do that anymore. I want to learn to fight like you do!'
Keph clenched his teeth and said, 'No, you don't.'
She looked puzzled.
'I've watched you practicing,' Adrey replied. 'It looks more fun than learning cantrips.'
'Well, I think cantrips are more interesting.'
Adrey made another face and said, 'Well, they aren't. There's only one way to do them and if you don't get it right, they don't work.' She swiped her stick through the air again. 'Come on, Uncle Keph! Show me something.'
Sweat trickled cold over Keph's flushed face. His head throbbed.
'Maybe later, Adrey,' Keph said. 'I… need to go to my room.'
He turned away back up the stairs. Adrey looked disappointed, but stepped out of his way.
'Do you want me to tell Gran that you're not feeling good?' she called.
'No, thank you.'
'All right.' Keph heard her start to trot on down the stairs. 'I hope you're feeling better soon. I love you, Uncle Keph!'
Keph twisted around to look at her, but she was already bounding across the entry hall, maybe looking for her grandparents in the dining room.
CHAPTER 10
'I've heard back from the various followers of Selune who help us keep watch for Sharran activity around Yhaunn,' Julith said.
Feena glanced at her as they paced through the corridors of Moonshadow Hall. 'And?' she asked.
'Nothingnot around the Stiltways, not anywhere. If there are Sharrans in the city, they're keeping very, very quiet.'
