Cursor's Fury (Codex Alera #3)(64)

She held up a hand. "I'm teasing, Steadholder. This certainly is anything but a formal setting. How would it suit you if I called you Isana and you called me Aria?"

"I'd like that."

Lady Placida nodded sharply. "Good. Many Citizens assign far too much importance to the privileges of rank without placing complementary weight upon their duties. I'm glad to see that you aren't one of them, Isana."

Uncertain of how to respond politely, Isana nodded.

"It grieved me to hear about the attack upon you at Sir Nedus's manor on the night we met."

Isana felt a twinge of pain, low on her abdomen, near her hip. The arrow wound had healed cleanly, but there was a very faint scar, hardly more than a discoloration upon her skin. "Nedus was a good man. And Serai was more of a friend than I had at first believed." She shook her head. "I wish things had happened differently."

Lady Placida smiled, though there was sadness at the edges of it. "That's the way of things. It's easy to see what choices one should have made after it is too late to go back. I shall miss Serai. We were not close, but I respected her. And I enjoyed her talent for puncturing pompous windbags."

Isana smiled. "Yes. I wish I had known her longer."

Silence fell for a moment before Lady Placida said, "I met your nephew, back during that Wintersend excitement."

"Did you?" Isana asked.

"Yes. A most promising youth, I thought."

Isana lifted an eyebrow and studied Lady Placida for a moment, and asked, cautiously, "Why would you say that?"

Lady Placida spread her hand in a languid, seed-scattering gesture. "He impressed me with his intelligence. Cleverness. Determination. He is a most well spoken young man. I share a similar respect for several of the young people who are his friends. You can tell a great deal about a person by looking at the people who share his life."

Isana did not miss the implication of Lady Placida's statement, and she nodded in thanks of the compliment. "Tavi's always been very bright," Isana said, smiling despite herself. "Too much so for his own good, I think. He's never let anything hold him back."

"His... condition," Lady Placida said with deliberately delicate phrasing. "I have never heard of anything quite like it."

"It's always been a mystery," Isana agreed.

"Then I assume his situation has not changed?"

Isana shook her head. "Though goodness knows, there are plenty of people with many crafting skills who never do anything constructive with them."

"Very true," Lady Placida agreed. "Will you be in Ceres for long?"

Isana shook her head. "A few more days at most. I've been away from my steadholt too long as it is."

Lady Placida nodded. "I'll have a mountain of work waiting for me as well. And I miss my lord husband." She shook her head and smiled. "Which is somewhat girlish and silly of me. But there it is."

"Not silly," Isana said. "There's nothing wrong with missing loved ones. I hadn't seen my brother in nearly a year. It was nice to visit him here."

Lady Placida smiled. "That must have been a relief from what Invidia has you doing."

Isana felt her back stiffen a little. "I'm not sure what you mean."

Lady Placida gave her an arch look. "Isana, please. It's clear she's managed to attach some strings, and equally clear that you don't care for the situation."

Strictly speaking, Isana should have denied it. Part of her agreement with Lady Aquitaine had been to support her publicly. But this was hardly a public forum, was it? So instead, she remained silent.