Stormcaster (Shattered Realms #3)(97)

Destin returned to where Harper and her mother were standing. As he approached, Lady Matelon drew Harper closer, under the protection of her arm.

“Please don’t spell her,” Lady Matelon said. “She’s promised to cooperate.”

“I’m not going to spell her,” Destin said. He reached out and tilted the girl’s chin up so that he could look into her eyes. “Listen to me, Harper. I really need you to come to this party. I need all of you to come, even the littlest child, and I hope you’ll help me by persuading them.”

Harper was clenching her teeth, struggling to keep her mouth shut, but he could see the resistance in her eyes.

“Are you the youngest?” Destin said abruptly. “Or are you between your two brothers?”

Her eyes narrowed. “I’m the youngest,” she said, “but only by a year. I’m nearly fourteen.”

“Which of your brothers are you most like, do you think? Hal or Robert?”

Harper cocked her head, as if trying to work out the trick, then she glanced at her mother for help.

“Harper is most like Halston, our eldest, who died at Delphi,” Lady Matelon said. Then, glaring at her daughter, she added, “Although on days like today, she reminds me of Robert.”

“Ah,” Destin said, nodding. “Harper, I have something for you.” He fished the thimble and chain out of his pocket and held it out to her. “Your brother, Captain Matelon, sent this. He says to tell you that he’s been pricked, but he’s not dead yet.”

Harper’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Captain Matelon?” She grabbed the thimble and brought it close to her face, examining it. Then looked up at Destin. “How did you know about this? Are there listeners in the walls at White Oaks?”

“Let me see it, Harper,” Lady Matelon said.

Harper spun around and displayed it to her mother on her outstretched palm.

Lady Matelon poked at it with her forefinger. Then looked up at Destin, her face hardening. “Are you really the kind of brute who would break the heart of a little girl?”

Destin shook his head. “I’m not in the business of breaking hearts,” he said, “though sometimes it can’t be avoided. Lady Matelon, Captain Matelon sent another message for you. He said to tell you to ‘look on the bright side.’”

“Halston,” she whispered, her eyes filling with tears.

“Where is he?” Harper demanded. “Where’s my brother? Is he in prison, too?”

“‘Where are my brothers?’ would be a better question,” Destin said. “I can’t tell you that, but I can tell you that they really want you to come to King Jarat’s party.”

“Why are you doing this?” Lady Matelon said, lowering her voice and looking over her shoulder at Lila. “I cannot fathom why you would be working with Halston and Robert.”

“Or why they would be working with you,” Harper said. “If they even are.”

Politics makes for strange bedfellows? Probably best not to go there.

“This enterprise is a risk that I would have preferred not to take.” Destin said. “But, as it turns out, Lady Harper, your brothers and I share a common goal. You may question whether I’m telling the truth, but you have to consider the possibility that I am, and weigh whether sticking it to the king is worth it.”

The ladies Matelon looked at each other.

“All right,” Harper said. “I will come.”

“Will you help talk the others into coming?”

She met his gaze. “I will.”

“Now. When you speak to the others, you mustn’t mention your brothers’ involvement, or my involvement, or in any way imply that anything other than a party is in store. You must simply convey the message that it is critical that they come. Agreed?”

“Agreed.”

“Thank you,” Destin said, relieved. “Shall we return to the others?”

Harper dangled the thimble in front of Destin. “You should give this back to Hal, to keep him safe.” She wore a mask of innocence, but Destin was used to reading faces to see what lay underneath.

She’s trying to figure out where he is, whether he’s close, whether I’m going to see him, Destin thought. He closed her hand over the thimble. “You can give it back to him yourself when you see him. Now, when we walk back into the other room, it’s important that you appear properly chastened, as if I’ve spent this time schooling you on the consequences of defying the king. I am not the sort of man who delivers hope to political prisoners.”

“Maybe you are,” Harper said, giving him an appraising look. And then she drew her head in and rounded her shoulders as if she expected a blow to fall at any moment. She fixed her eyes on the floor, her lower lip trembling. The transformation was stunning. She was like a snake shedding one skin and putting on another.

You’re not like either of your brothers, Destin thought. You lack their bone-deep instinct for honesty. You might have a future as a spy.





39


REUNION


Lyss sat her horse and watched her fledgling cavalry go through its maneuvers on the parade ground. It was an exercise in frustration. Her soldiers seemed unable to communicate with their mounts in a meaningful way. Every move the horses made seemed to surprise their riders, with sometimes disastrous results.