Page 36 of Shadow Warrior
Eleven
Dinner was over faster than I’d expected—pretty much as soon as Kash’s gran retired to her chambers. Chairs were pushed back and questions fired my way as the servers brought in more coffee and way too much cake.
“What’s it like to be a shadow knight?” a plump woman asked.
“Forget that, we need to know about the shadow casting. Can you show us?” a jowl-heavy guy said.
Kash held up his hands. “Whoa, she’s not here to entertain you. She’s here for the ball and to discover her weaver roots.”
The guy looked suitably chastised.
“Will you be visiting the Paynes?” a young woman about my age asked.
“Hush,” the older woman beside her said. “She doesn’t need to be tainted by the scandal.”
“But, Ma, sheisthe scandal.”
Her mother looked murderously down at her, and the girl snapped her mouth closed.
“I’m sorry about your father,” the jowly man said.
Several people gasped in horror.
“Indra!” The woman beside him, probably his wife, slapped his arm with a white glove.
He brushed her off. “Oh, shut up, the lot of you,” he snapped. “Like you’ve never broken a rule or two?”
There was silence, and more than a few sheepish looks traded.
Now that he’d brought the subject of Payne up, I needed to know. “Do you know what’s happened to Carter Payne? Where he is?”
Kash gripped my hand and gave it a slight squeeze. A warning to watch what I said.
The jowly man sighed. “He was taken to the tower a couple of days ago for judgment. We found out this morning that he’s been sentenced to banishment.”
Banishment? That didn’t sound so bad. I looked to Kash and then back to the jowly man.
“What does that mean?”
He blinked at me slowly and then shrugged. “I … I’m not sure. I suppose he’ll be sent away.”
I looked up and down the table to see similar expressions of momentary bewilderment.
“Where? Where will they send him?”
Jowl guy picked up his glass and shot me an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, I don’t know.” He took a large gulp.
Long seconds passed, and the strange moment of collective disconcertion faded. Weavers went back to their coffee and cake. I looked over at Joti to gauge her reaction only to find her sitting with her hands on her stomach, looking stuffed. Karishma was busy laughing at something her dinner companion, a handsome, chestnut-haired man, had said.
There was something seriously off here, but it was impossible to put my finger on it. I needed to speak to Kash’s gran. I pushed back my seat and stood.
“Kash, I’d like some air, please.” I strode from the room, not bothering to wait for him.
“Hey, slow down.” Kash lengthened his stride to catch up to me. “Are you okay?”
“Seriously? Do you not see how strange what happened is?”
He frowned down at me. “I don’t understand. I know this may seem odd, the pomp and the ceremony and all the questions, but—"
