Page 100 of House of Dusk
It took Yeneris three long breaths to center herself, to tense and release each muscle. Mikat was right. Their people needed this. To know that they still had the will and the power to shape their future.
Mikat had returned to her weeding. “So then. Will your princess scry for us?”
“She can’t. The Heron has bound her sight.”
Mikat went briefly still, her fists full of streaming muddy roots. “Bound her how?”
“With some sorcery. A bracelet that blocks the voices of the Fates.”
“Can it be removed?”
“Yes. He gave the king a sort of key. And he’s crafting another. In his workshop.” Yeneris bit the inside of her cheek. She hadn’t expected Mikat to care. Had, in fact, thought the woman might think it a distraction, which was why she hadn’t mentioned her plans to break into the workshop, to find out what lay behind that bronze gate.
“You can obtain it?” Mikat dumped her muddy handful into the basket, then stooped again, plunging her hands into the water. A few pinkish-pale fish darted away, riffling the water.
“We can try. Lacheron has a nightly appointment with the king, at the eighth hour.”
Mikat’s sharp gaze settled on her again. “We?” Her tone was carefully curious.
Yeneris swallowed her instinctive protest. She had nothing to hide. She was doing exactly what Mikat had asked of her. “Like I said, Sinoe wants to help. To make amends for how her prophecies have been misused. And...”
Mikat waited, seemingly as tranquil as the pool.
“And she’s concerned that Lacheron is planning something more. Some...great evil. She believes that’s what the Fates are warning about. If so, we could learn more about that as well. I know it’s not my mission,” she added quickly. “But it could still threaten our people. It could threaten the entire world.”
She braced herself, already imagining Mikat’s response.The world is not our concern. Only the kore. Only Bassara.
Instead, the woman nodded, looking thoughtful. “Very well. I trust you to keep yourself safe, Yeneris. You’re not our only blade, but you are the one closest to the heart of our enemy. Remember that.”
• • •
Yeneris could hardly forget. She turned Mikat’s warning over and over in her mind throughout the day. There was little else to occupy her. The physician had decreed that Sinoe should stay in bed, which meant that the chamber was fluttery with handmaidens fetching tea and cakes, opening and closing shutters, and dramatically reading a selection of the princess’s favorite poetry.
It was a warning. But what sort? Simply a caution to be safe, to keep herself ready? Why the bit about her not being theonlyblade? That felt like something more. Not a threat, exactly, but . . .
Yeneris shook herself. She would spin herself dizzy with it. It was almost as bad as trying to unravel the words of the Fates. At least the part about Lacheron’s workshop was fairly clear.The key lies hidden behind the gate with no lock, opened only by the blood of the Ember King. Thanks to Sinoe, they had that blood. The hairpin was tucked into Yeneris’s belt pouch. And it was almost time to use it.
At the seventh hour, Sinoe began to complain of a headache, banishing the handmaidens from her chamber so that she could sleep.
“We won’t have long.” Sinoe bounced from the bed and began to strip off her sleeping robe. “I think Alcis suspects something. She’ll be back here with one of her horrible headache tonics, just you see. Why are you staring at the wall, Yen? I know that color is hideous, but I hardly think it’s a threat to my person.”
“I—” Yeneris coughed—“You were dressing.” Or rather, undressing. And revealing a considerable swath of bare flesh in the process. Skin softened by endless baths in milkroot and salt- of-dawn. Yeneris rubbed her own fingers together, feeling the calluses from her years of training. No doubt Sinoe’s skin was silky as rose petals.
Andthatwas why Yeneris was making such a fixed study of the far wall.
“Ah. Yes. I forgot how very proper you are. Don’t worry, I’m quite decent now. At least on the outside.”
Yeneris turned back resolutely, to find Sinoe now garbed in one of her more sensible gowns. Though in this case, “sensible” still meant that it was composed of a half-dozen layers of thinly pleated linen with whispery folds that clung to her like clouds veiling a crescent moon.
“Are you sure about this?” Yeneris asked. “You don’t need to come with me.”
“And let you have all the fun?” Sinoe grinned. “I may not be very useful in a fight, but you’ll be glad I’m there if you get caught by the palace guard.”
“I wasn’t planning on getting caught.”
Sinoe tilted her head. “Were you planning on being thwarted by a foxwing the other night?”
Yeneris sighed. It was a fair point. And...she wanted Sinoe with her.
