House of Sand and Secrets (Books of Oreyn #2)(71)
“Can you speak?” Jannik asks him softly.
The only response he gives is a baring of teeth so feral that the boy might as well be a cur in the Lam heaps. He hisses, pulling himself smaller.
“Have you a name?” I say.
His eyes are indigo like Jannik’s but without a flicker of intelligence or comprehension. I might as well be trying to have a conversation with a rock. I try again, keeping my voice soft. “Felicita,” I say, and press one hand to my chest. I point at Jannik, name him.
“Leave me out of this,” snaps Isidro.
I shake my head and huff. “Fine.” I repeat our names, then point to the boy, and wait.
A knock at the door sets him off screeching again. Bermond the gardener enters carrying a small wooden pail and a handful of thin rolled bandages. He appears slightly alarmed, until he sees the boy. “Eh,” he says, looking at the figure writhing on the floor. “Hold this.” He passes the pail to Jannik who takes it, peers in, and then raises his eyebrows without comment.
Bermond snaps forward and grabs the boy by the nape then backhands him in a rushed blur. The boy’s head snaps forward and back, and he goes quiet. “You hush now,” Bermond informs him. The boy goes still, fingers curling. He seems almost content. Bermond works fast, setting thin bandages against the mess of the wound then waving his hand for Jannik to pass the maggots over.
The grubs are covered with another layer of bandage. “There,” says Bermond. “You’ll want to keep an eye on that, you want them eating the dead bits, not fresh meat, if you get me.”
A faint dizziness washes over me. “That’s – wonderful,” I manage, even though I am now regretting my earlier decision to bring the thing with. We all know I have it in me to kill if necessary.
The Lark is a problem. And I don’t think I have the time to deal with one this complicated.
PITY’S SWORD
Another hour passes before Master Gillcrook sends us a messenger form the Guyin house. The Hob is crimson-faced and breathless when he arrives. I send for cider and bread for him while I read the note. It does not reveal much, merely that the meeting with Eline is over, and the house is safe to return to. I raise one eyebrow. For how long? Garret will have realized by now, surely. He will make a move soon – open or hidden.
We need to be prepared for either. I pull the bell to summon Master Twissel from his rooms. He arrives, smooth and unflustered even though it is the middle of the night. “The servants need to be moved,” I tell him. Even though we have just brought them all here and attempted to settle in. They’re going to be put out, but better that than caught in another fire.
“All?”
“Yes. I’ll need Cornelia to stay with me, but the rest must effectively disappear.” Gris knows what lows Garret will stoop to in revenge.
“Certainly, ma’am. Is there any place in particular which you have in mind that they should go to?”
I shake my head. “Scatter them, tell them to go home. Consider it a paid leave. As soon as I have arranged new permanent quarters they can return to work.” If that time comes. I wish I knew what Garret will do once he finds that we have taken not only Isidro and Jannik, but his little lark too. “You will also need to move all the warehouse stock into new premises, under a different name.”
Jannik stares at me “You’re serious? That’s an immense undertaking.”
“Eline will thrust the sword where it will cripple us. We need to stay ahead of them.” I catch my lower lip in my teeth, biting into the inner flesh. “They thought nothing of burning our home, what will stop them taking out the warehouses?”
Jannik’s mouth thins but he inclines his head slightly. I’m right, and he is well aware of that. “And where are we to go?”
“House Guyin.” There will be safety in numbers, although I can tell from the quick look that passes between Jannik and Isidro that neither likes the idea. Perhaps we will be nothing more than mice crowded under a hay bale, and all Garret has to do is stamp on us to break our backs. I do not know where else we can go, and we need each other. We are all we have.
“What of that?” Isidro points at the Lark. “It’s not coming with.”
“I’ll make certain you do not see it again, but it – he – may have uses as leverage.”
Isidro blinks.
“Garret will want his toy back.”
A distant smile passes over Isidro’s face and he stares at me with a new light in his eyes. “I had no idea you were so callous.”
Neither did I – I thought I was going to be a better person here; that running from Pelimburg would wipe clean all the marks on the slate of my life. But it seems the rock is scarred, and that I will merely add to the list of my crimes. “Someone help me move him into the carriage,” I say. I want this night to end. My head is a boiling mass of pain and I can see no moment of rest or respite.
*
House Guyin stands in watchful silence. All the servants have been warned to be alert, and we have decided to alternate a watch.
Harun has claimed the first shift. He’s had servants clear out rooms for us, and I am lying on the deep golden covers of a large four-poster bed. Cornelia has undressed me, and I’m in a clean nightgown, slightly rumpled from speedy packing. Jannik sits on the edge of the bed, his hand curled against his stomach.