'Be careful what sorcery you try on me,' Amber growled. The soldiers nearby flinched, not understanding his words, though they could hear the tone of his voice.
'I was just seeing if someone else already had.' Nai frowned. 'And I think I was right – without looking alike beyond build and a certain brutish demeanour, he reminded me intensely of you at first glance. I need time to test the theory, but there's some sort of link between you two.'
'How is that possible?' Amber asked, astonished.
'I have no idea.' Nai pointed to where Kayel was waiting at the main door. 'Presumably our answer lies that way.'
As he entered the circular audience hall, Amber noticed that there were only noblewomen there to meet him. A pair of guards on either side of the door watched him intently and a quick scan of the room revealed crossbowmen perched on a gantry above the door, their weapons ready. There were servants, but no men of rank in sight at all. It made him think for a moment of the White Circle, despite the fact that Byora had always resisted the Sisterhood. Now that the White Circle had been revealed as a political front for the exiled Yeetatchen tribe, Amber guessed that the duchess was delighted she'd kept well-clear of that particular can of worms.
Natai Escral, the Duchess of Byora, was easy to pick out. She was sitting on a throne, with a child with a piercing stare squeezed in beside her and a well-dressed woman standing on her right.
I thought she didn't have any children, and her main advisors were men? Our intelligence seems to be out of date, he thought.
Sergeant Kayel took up position to the left of the duchess, next to the child. Both women wore heavy gold jewellery and richly coloured dresses, one green, the other a deep pink. Oddly, the older duchess displayed far more cleavage than her advisor, who wore such a high neck it looked like her chin would be permanently tilted into a haughty poise.
In the shadows at the back of the room was a nursemaid, who stood with hands together and eyes on the ground, presumably there to step in if the child grew fractious. By her stood a func-tionary of some sort, trying to look impassive and reserved but succeeding only in looking constipated. Amber's gaze passed over the nurse without recognition, even as Nai beside him yelped as though stung. The Menin officer shot him a look and Nai took the hint.
The weight of their combined gazes was like a hot southern wind on Amber's face and he cleared his throat nervously, feeling suddenly ill at ease. 'Duchess, I bring a message from Kastan Styrax, Chosen of Karkarn and Lord of the Menin,' he said, bowing low.
'You're an unusual sort of messenger,' the haughty advisor commented, inexplicably giving Amber a broad grin. The woman looked genuinely pleased to see him, as though she and Amber were old friends.
'And you are, Madam?'
'Lady Kinna,' she said, scratching at her neck through the material of her dress, 'Principal of the Closed Council.'
'What is your message?' the duchess interrupted softly, her fingers idly tousling the child's hair.
Amber hesitated before responding; he wasn't experienced with children but this one's unblinking stare was beginning to unnerve him. The duchess's calm detachment didn't surprise him at all, but weren't young children supposed to fidget and squirm rather than take an interest in politics?
'Lord Styrax sends you his greetings,' Amber said at last, 'and invites you to join him as his guest tomorrow for lunch in the Library of the Seasons to discuss terms.'
'Lunch?' The hint of a smile appeared on the duchess's lips. Something about the expression transformed her face and Amber realised the duchess's age had not diminished her sexual allure a jot. Her knowing playfulness immediately brought Horsemistress kill to mind. 'Your lord is sure of himself then.'
Amber coughed and tried not to stare too hard at her. 'With respect, your Grace, he's sure of his armies. We took Tor Salan in a day and its defences were greater than yours. The Circle City is divided and weak in comparison, but he does not wish undue bloodshed.'
'Why come to us for talks?' Lady Kinna asked. 'If he has so easily conquered Tor Salan, why bother to speak to us first? Surely if he could so easily prove his power he would have done so already, and imposed his terms afterwards.'
'Tor Salan wouldn't have surrendered – the Mosaic Council was too sure of its defences. You have nothing comparable to be overconfident about.'
'Or he has overextended and hopes to bluff,' the duchess pointed out.
He inclined his head to accept the possibility. 'Lord Styrax isn't a man in the habit of making threats he cannot carry through. If any of the three principal rulers do not attend, he will assume your quarter is hostile to his plans, but my lord hopes you will attend the meeting; it will lose you nothing.'
The duchess leaned forward, her face betraying her curiosity. 'Does your lord believe we will simply hand over our city to him?'
'I bring the message, nothing more. I'm empowered only to tell you that Lord Styrax intends you to remain as ruler of your city, with Fortinn under the command of an overseer appointed by him.'
She sat back and thought for a long moment, all the while running her fingers through the child's curls. The distracted movement did nothing to interrupt the child's intent stare and it was Amber who felt the urge to squirm.
'Very well, tell your lord I shall attend.'
Amber bowed. 'I am instructed to accompany you.'
'Out of the question,' she snapped with unexpected anger.
'As you wish,' he said bowing again. 'With your permission I will instead spend the morning praying at the shrine to Kiyer of the Deluge located on the mountain side of this tower.'
His words had the desired effect and the duchess, with a look over to Lady Kinna, shrugged and nodded. She stood, helping the child off the throne too with far more care than was required for a child that age.
'As you wish; Jato will show you and your servant to a room and see to your needs.'
At the mention of his name the functionary hopped forward, bobbing his head like a starling. Without looking back the duchess headed for the main stairway, leading the strange child by the hand. Lady Kinna followed a few paces behind the pair, but paused long enough to smile at him again and add, 'Don't oversleep.'
Amber didn't move for a moment, trying to fathom whether the woman was insane or he had somehow met her before and for-gotten. His train of thought was interrupted as Nai plucked his sleeve urgently.
'Come on, we need to talk.'
Amber smiled grimly. 'We really do.'
CHAPTER 29
Waking early, Amber had scrubbed his body over the washbasin and was halfway though dressing when a servant knocked on the door. She was blonde and a bit too curvy for Amber's tastes, but she didn't once look him in the eye as she carried in a tray bearing porridge and wide bowls of black tea. The first was too bland, the second too bitter, but the room was a chilly place and he gulped both down eagerly. He was eyeing Nai's food when the portly necromancer emerged from the sleeping cell opposite his and gave a small cheer at what awaited him.
A tall window at one end of the thin room admitted the only light. The windowless bedroom had been an unnervingly dark place in which to sleep, so Amber, feeling foolish and cowardly, had gone to sleep with the candle stub still lit.
'Bit too much like prison cells for my liking,' Nai said in between mouthfuls.
'At least they let us out this morning.'
The night had been far from restful. Once Nai had warded the room against eavesdroppers they had talked for an hour or more, and Amber's head had been awhirl by the time he turned in. Nai had recognised the nursemaid at once, even if Amber hadn't – he could barely believe how much she had changed. But the necromancer had no explanation of how she had ended up in Byora -even Zhia Vukotic had presumed Haipar died in the fighting.
That hadn't been the only revelation of Nai's to stun Amber. That Zhia herself had been party to the
