Emerald House Rising, page 22
“Thank you, your grace. I’m sorry, truly. I didn’t mean—” her lips twitched, and she took a swallow of wine and went on hastily. “But how did this happen, Morgan? And how did you end up in her grace’s, er, custody?”
Morgan shook his head. “I’m not entirely sure. I remember being at Duone Keep with you, and then, suddenly, I found myself … on a boat? In some kind of cabin. I only had a moment to look around and see the room, when something hit me on the head.” He winced. “I … I woke up quite some time later, I think. A man brought me a tray of food.”
“Did you know him?”
“I’d never seen him before in my life, but he certainly knew about me. He said things …” Morgan broke off and looked away.
“What?” asked Jena.
“I don’t want to talk about it right now,” Morgan answered crossly.
“But if—”
“I said, I don’t choose to talk about it.”
The two women looked at each other.
“What did he look like?” Lady Rhuddlan asked.
Morgan wrinkled his nose. “Tall. Dark beard. Don’t know if it was brown or black, because I had little light to see by. Thick chest, well-developed arms, but not fat.”
“Did he have an earring, a black pearl set on a gold post?” asked Jena.
“I … I don’t remember, but then, it was so dark.”
“Do you remember seeing a woman?”
Morgan thought. “I never saw a woman … but maybe … I heard a woman’s voice, at one point?” His tail beat the floor in concentration. “Things were hazy then, for quite a while. And the next time I came to myself, I was … I was changed … ” His voice trailed off on a pained note.
“It must have been Kett,” Jena muttered.
“Kett? The sea captain?” Lady Rhuddlan asked, frowning.
Jena gave her a quick look. “You know him?”
“Why, of course. He’s the captain of the Windspray, one of ten ships in the Golden Fleet.” The Golden Fleet traditionally transported the Diadem families when the Court moved between Piyar and Chulipse. “He gave me—” she stopped and looked at Morgan.
“He gave you Morgan?”
“That’s Lord Morgan to you,” said the dog icily.
“I’d sent a gift to the Mariner’s Guild,” Lady Rhuddlan went on in a puzzled voice. “Since the Golden Fleet wouldn’t be getting its usual fee this year because the Court wouldn’t be moving. And Captain Kett came to call, to tell me the Guild was grateful I had remembered them, and they wanted to show their appreciation by giving me a gift in return.” She stopped, embarrassed.
“A terrier,” Jena prompted.
“He said he’d found … the dog … on his travels, and that it was a breed well-known for its, uh … ”
“Its what?” Morgan demanded.
Lady Rhuddlan turned red.
“Tell me, Vianne,” Morgan said, baring his teeth.
Lady Rhuddlan clearly didn’t want to, but Morgan insisted. “Its docility,” she said finally. “He said you would make a very good pet.”
Jena had to fight to keep her composure as Morgan snarled. “That bastard! That tar-eating scum! If I ever find him, I’ll nail his guts to the wall!”
“I wonder why he hates you so,” Jena said when she could trust herself to speak. “The wretch! He must have known you two were engaged and found a way to torment you by putting you together and yet keeping you apart.”
“But how could he know?” Lady Rhuddlan demanded. “I never told anyone, whereas you—” she looked at Morgan speculatively.
“No,” he said. “Well, I hinted to Ranulf, I will admit. I had to. But he would keep it to himself.”
“But Jena knew,” Lady Rhuddlan protested.
“No, he didn’t tell me,” Jena said. “I had clues I used to put it together. The same way Kett did, I expect: he’s a wizard, and he scried it. But that still doesn’t tell us: why should he have done this?”
Morgan looked blank.
“He’s a what?” asked Lady Rhuddlan.
Jena would have bitten off her tongue, if she could. “Uh … well … ” she floundered. “It’s something I’m not sure I should explain to you, your grace.”
“Why not?”
“Please. If I might, uh … speak with Lord Morgan alone?”
Lady Rhuddlan set her lips together mulishly. “If you have something to tell him about why this happened, I have a right to hear it, too.”
“Well, yes, perhaps,” Jena said lamely, “but it would involve also telling you some things I’m not sure you should know. Some things you might not want to know, given your, er, strong feelings about magic.”
“I already told you,” Lady Rhuddlan said slowly, “how sorry I am for what I said about that. Morgan, you heard me.”
“Jena, what—” Morgan began.
“Hush, Morgan. Let me think.”
Apparently surprised by her peremptory demand, Morgan fell silent as Jena thought furiously. “By telling you,” she said finally, “I’d be putting both my life and Lord Morgan’s into your hands. I’d be giving you a kind of power over us I’m not sure is altogether wise. I can only do it if I have your promise you won’t harm us. Choose whatever oath you think most binding, your grace, and if Morgan trusts it, I’ll tell you.”
Morgan swelled with noble fury. “You would dare doubt the word of Lady Vianne Rhuddlan? You are my pupil, under my authority, and I order you—”
“I’m not your pupil, Morgan—” Jena began.
“Lord Morgan,” he practically barked.
“I’m your partner.”
“You’re his what?” asked Lady Rhuddlan.
Jena narrowed her eyes. “Only if you swear.”
Lady Rhuddlan considered, and then lifted her chin proudly. “Very well, then. I won’t use whatever you might tell me to hurt either of you. I swear by … ” she glanced at Morgan, “by my love for Lord Morgan.”
Jena hesitated. “Such an oath might prove a double-edged sword if that love doesn’t survive the telling of what I reveal.”
Morgan looked as if he were considering biting her.
“Then I swear by the Sunburst—and by the Adamant Throne. Will that do?”
Jena looked at Morgan, who nodded, apparently unable to trust himself to speak. “Very well, then. Listen carefully. I have much to tell you both.”
The telling took a long time. At midday, Lady Rhuddlan ordered a meal, and her servants brought in a luncheon of cold pheasant, served with dressing and jellied quince. After the servants left and the door was locked again behind them, Lady Rhuddlan looked at Morgan in some embarrassment. “Would you like to, er, get up on the table and join us, Morgan?”
“No, thank you,” he answered with dignity. “It would be fine if you would just put a plate down on the floor for me, please.”
Lady Rhuddlan cut some pheasant into small pieces, arranged them on a plate for him, and set it down. He waited politely for a moment or two, and then stepped forward and daintily began his meal.
Lady Rhuddlan forced her eyes away and deliberately picked up her fork. “What you have told us, Jena, is remarkable,” she said finally, after seeming to search for a moment or two for something to say. “It will take a while to absorb it all. But the question is, what do we do now?”
Morgan looked up from his plate, licking his chops. “Find a way to change me back.”
“Of course,” Lady Rhuddlan answered gently. “That goes without saying. Only how?”
A little pause fell as the two women uneasily looked down at Morgan. This is simply dreadful, Jena found herself thinking. He can’t possibly stay this way; it’s just too ridiculous and humiliating for all of us. But what if he can’t be changed back? She broke the silence first. “First let’s add up what we know, and what we still need to learn. We should also think about how to use the advantages we have.”
“Advantages?” Morgan said skeptically.
“Part of the spell over you has already been broken,” Jena pointed out, trying to sound confident. “You can talk now. That shows us it may be possible to break the rest of it, too.”
“How did that happen, anyway?” asked Lady Rhuddlan. “Is it because he touched you?”
“Not exactly. I think it happened because he touched my ring.”
“What ring?”
Jena sighed and held up her hand. “My talisman ring. You can’t see it, can you?” Lady Rhuddlan shook her head. “It’s here, on the fourth finger of my right hand.” She gave Morgan a curious look. “You were already a magician before we partnered, but you didn’t know about wizards or their talismans, so how did you know to touch it?”
“I’m not sure,” Morgan admitted. “But I felt the aura of power around it drawing me as soon as you walked into the room.”
“The same way yours drew me, I suppose,” Jena said. “If we could get your own ring back from Kett, that might break the rest of the spell.”
They considered this. “This is my dispute to settle with him,” Morgan said slowly, shifting his weight from paw to paw. “I don’t like the thought of either of you getting involved.”
The two women exchanged glances, and Jena rolled her eyes.
“We appreciate your concern, Morgan, but we already are involved,” Lady Rhuddlan said mildly.
“It’s bad enough he did this to me! What if he tries one of his spells on you?”
“I’ve already had at least one magical encounter with him,” Jena pointed out, “and it didn’t turn out so dreadfully. At least I learned a little. I think he may be overconfident.” She tapped a finger against her plate. “Consider, Morgan: somehow you’re a threat to him, or he wouldn’t have done this to you, but now he thinks you’re neutralized. He told me to go away and forget you. Perhaps he thinks he succeeded with me, too.”
“Your partnership must interfere with his plans somehow,” Lady Rhuddlan said, nodding. “What he doesn’t know, at least not yet, is that the two of you have found each other again.”
“Now we can act together as a team, which is the way wizards are meant to work. You’re a part of this, too, your grace.”
“Me?”
“Kett had Morgan in his power, a prisoner on his ship. But because he couldn’t resist a cruel joke, he turned Morgan over to you.” Jena raised an eyebrow. “The Ruby, the Diamond Heir, Lady Vianne Rhuddlan, one of the most powerful women in the land. Tell me, how can he get that little dog back from you now, once he’s given it away as a gift? Particularly since you’ve grown so very fond of it?” She watched as her words sank in. “I think it would be safest, your grace, if you take your pet with you everywhere you go from now on until we can decide how to proceed. You may get a reputation of being a little eccentric, I’m afraid, but the two of you can protect each other.”
“I’m not sure we could do anything to stop him,” Morgan said. “He was able to seize me magically before. He might try to snatch me back again if he figures out we know the truth, and how would we find each other then?”
“My belt,” Lady Rhuddlan said suddenly. She picked up the girdle from the table and stroked the buckle. “Morgan, as long as I’m wearing this, I’ll always know where you are.”
Jena blinked. “Are you sure? I tried the buckle on myself when I was finishing the fastenings, and I never noticed such an effect on me.”
“I’m certain.”
“Perhaps it depends on how far away the wearer is from Morgan? If you’d permit me …” Lady Rhuddlan handed the belt over and Jena experimentally wrapped it around her waist. “No,” she said, shaking her head, “I don’t feel anything.”
“Let me see that belt here,” Morgan said.
Jena placed it down on the floor beside him. He sniffed at it a bit, nosing the buckle, and then placed a paw on it, sitting still with half-closed eyes. “So this was your journeyman reapplication piece for the Guild, Jena?” he said finally.
Jena nodded.
Morgan grinned, showing sharp teeth. “It looks as though it was your journeyman piece as an adept at the same time. You’ve managed to work a very wide-ranging finder’s spell right into the substance of the buckle.”
“Did I?” Jena said, astonished. “But how?” She thought. “I suppose—I remember I was wondering where you were when I worked on the model. Could I have worked the magic into it that way without knowing it?”
Morgan considered, tapping his tail absently. “I’m not sure. Why would the spell be specific to Vianne?”
“I did use a little gold from the nugget she gave you as a gift to make it. That might be the reason.”
“Not the whole nugget, I hope,” said Morgan.
“No, no,” Jena hastened to assure him. “Just a tiny piece.”
“Well, I’m indebted to you, in more ways than one,” Morgan said, his voice a little amused. “You did a splendid job in making it to my, er—specifications. Thank you for executing your commission so faithfully.” Jena wasn’t sure, but she thought he winked at her. She let out a tiny sigh of relief.
“Now, as for getting rid of this transformation spell,” Morgan went on briskly, “you’re probably right, Jena. The first step is recovering my ring from Kett.”
Lady Rhuddlan frowned. “I could come up with some kind of excuse that would require him to call upon me again,” she said. “Then perhaps I could …” she trailed off uncertainly.
“We might eventually resort to a plan such as that,” Jena said, overriding the beginnings of Morgan’s protest, “but to do it safely, we first need to learn about Kett’s blind spots.”
“If I understand correctly what you’ve told us,” said Morgan, “that means finding his partner, doesn’t it? She’s the one who guards them.”
“How do you know it isn’t the partner, not Kett, who’s behind all this in the first place?” Lady Rhuddlan demanded.
“We don’t, your grace,” Jena admitted. “But if we can find out who she is, maybe that will give us enough pieces of the puzzle to figure out what they’re up to.”
“Or enough to play one partner off against the other?” Lady Rhuddlan asked.
“To interfere with the partnership, in other words?”
“Just as they’ve interfered with yours.”
“That is, after all, why wizards keep their partners secret,” said Jena. She thought for a moment. “When I encountered Kett through the ring, he said …” she paused to remember the exact words, and saw again the pained, gnawing loneliness in his eyes. “He said I was wiser than he had been, not to love someone too far above me.” Morgan gave Lady Rhuddlan a quick look.
“Could it be you he loves, do you think, Vianne?” he said hesitantly. “Is that why he did this to me?”
The Ruby looked immensely startled. “I should think not! That is …” she stopped and considered and then shook her head. “No, I don’t see how it could conceivably be me. I know who he is, but I’ve only seen him once or twice, and we’ve never had a truly private conversation together.”
“Hmm.” Jena leaned forward and thoughtfully picked up a sugared nut to nibble. “Well, how about this as an idea? If he’s been hurt by someone above his station, what if it was his partner? After all, the strongest wizards are those from very different backgrounds, and we know Kett and his partner must be very powerful indeed to have created the spell that spirited Morgan away.”
“His partner might be someone below him in social class, not above,” said Morgan doubtfully.
“Maybe. But when he spoke of loving someone above him, I had a feeling, a hunch, that … a kind of balance needed restoring. And it seemed … tied in with his magic somehow.” She looked at Lady Rhuddlan and Morgan. “So let’s suppose Kett’s partner is someone very high above him.”
“If he’s a member of the Golden Fleet,” Morgan suggested, “perhaps he partnered with someone he met during one of those yearly trips.”
Jena nodded. “That’s another reason to suspect his partner’s above him rather than below. What if the imbalance I sensed had something to do with the partnering relationship itself? What if the imbalance happened because Kett fell in love with her, but she rejected him?”
“A sea captain in love with a noblewoman? You can’t be serious!” said Lady Rhuddlan.
“If I’m right, I can imagine she might have said the very same thing,” Jena observed wryly.
Lady Rhuddlan looked at them both as if they’d lost their minds. “But … someone among the Diadem families? Using magic?” A look of distaste passed across her face, and she seemed to shudder. “No! There’s never been anyone …” she stopped and glanced at Morgan, turning red.
“Until now,” Morgan said. Lady Rhuddlan looked away, unable to meet his eyes.
“But that isn’t even necessarily true,” Jena said. “I have reason to know the perished Emerald Heir would have been born a potential adept.” Lady Rhuddlan opened her mouth, as if to protest, and then shut it again.
“If there have been others, they’ve kept it secret,” Morgan said, watching Lady Rhuddlan narrowly, “just as I plan to do.”
Lady Rhuddlan closed her eyes in genuine pain. “Morgan, we’ve had all this out before—”
“Your grace,” Jena broke in gently, “if we’re successful in breaking the spell and you two marry, you can’t simply ask Morgan to give up his magic. It’s a part of him now. It may even be a part of what he’ll bequeath to your children.”
They waited as Lady Rhuddlan swirled the wine in her cup in silence. “Magic is one thing,” she said finally in a low voice. “Morgan, if … if you were only a magician, maybe I could learn to accept that. All the thinking I’ve done since we last spoke has brought me to that point at least. But wizardry …” Lady Rhuddlan looked at them both with a haunted expression. “Wizardry means there’s another … another factor in your life.”
It took Jena a moment to realize that Lady Rhuddlan meant her. She thought of Bram, who would be facing the same problem, if she ever found him again. I’m not your rival, your grace, she wanted to say, but she kept silent. Morgan and Lady Rhuddlan had to work this problem out themselves.
Morgan looked up at Lady Rhuddlan. “Wizard or no, I’d hoped my gift would at least reassure you where my heart lies, Vianne. And that you’ll never lose me again.” He nosed the belt across the floor until it rested beside Lady Rhuddlan’s shoe. “That is, if you still want me?”
