House of Sand and Secrets (Books of Oreyn #2)(76)
It’s Harun who speaks into the silence. “Could we all do it, do you think?”
“I do not know.” I don’t want to confess to him that I think it relies on the strength of the bond between partners, and that I have no idea exactly what has happened between him and Isidro. “Perhaps, perhaps that is something you should look into.” After all, the more weapons we have, the better. A slow bubble of something giddy and wild rises in me. It’s not quite happiness, there’s something triumphant about it. Elation. I have never liked being powerless, and even now, with everything going wrong in every way possible, I am fiercely glad. If we have to go to our deaths, at least it won’t be cowering like the little mice I thought we were.
We will take as many of them with us as we can. The memory of Jannik’s magic ghosts through me, and I shiver in fearful delight.
“Tie him up,” Harun says, jerking his chin in Merril’s direction. “You and I need to leave soon. We’ll deal with this when we come back–”
“Sir?” A Hob girl is paused in the doorway, her hazel eyes wide. “Master Gillcrook sent me, there’s a visitor for you downstairs. From House Eline.”
Jannik pulls the cloth from his neck and looks at the crumpled crimson-stained silk. “Shit.”
“How succinct.” Harun marches to the doorway. “Tell Master Gillcrook that I will be with my guest shortly.”
She nods and goes off, leaving the three of us alone with Merril.
“Well, it seems he’s simply decided to walk into my home,” Harun says. “No playing of games, no subterfuge.”
“How very unlike a Lammer.” Jannik is edging toward Merril, who is now sobbing softly. “Move, and I will be forced to hurt you,” he says to the boy. He gathers the coiled ropes from the table and jerks Merril’s arms forward to bind his wrists. I must have really damaged him, because he does as he’s told, whimpering like a beaten dog.
When the boy vampire is firmly bound, Jannik stands, leaving him lying on the floor, his sides shaking. “Well,” Jannik says as he examines the blood on his hands. “I’d like to speak to this guest of yours, myself.”
We’re all going to confront him then. I feel security twisted with confusion. If Garret tries to hurt Jannik, I will be able to destroy him with magic. Even if he comes here to parley, perhaps I will tear him apart anyway, in payment for the things he’s done.
IN THE PALACE OF THE MATA
Carien rises from the pale green couch as we file into the visitor’s parlour.
An icy rage sweeps over me, and my heart beats faster and faster. The rage dies as suddenly as it rose, and in its place I feel a faint green shimmer of hope. I quell it. Don’t fall for her, for her false innocence. “What are you doing here?” I say. “How dare you–”
Harun raises his hands. “Felicita, stop.”
Carien looks at all of us, her face a blank House mask. Her eyes widen at Jannik’s appearance; the fading bruises, and the blood still welling from his wounds. She seems genuinely flustered. “Oh -I – Oh my, what happened?”
Jannik snarls, and says nothing.
I’m torn between wanting to believe her display of confusion, and my fierce knowledge that it’s her scheming that brought Jannik to Garret’s attention.
“I thought – my husband said that you were called away with great urgency – and the next I heard your warehouses were empty.” She flushes, embarrassed to be discussing our apparent poverty so openly. “I asked after your new apartments, and went to go visit you, but the house stood unoccupied – not even a servant to answer the doors. I didn’t know what to think.”
“You play so prettily, Carien,” I say. “One could almost imagine you’d spent time among the street-mummers.”
She stiffens, her gloved hands pressed against her thighs. “Say what you mean, Pelim.”
“Why exactly are you here? Did you think to run back to your husband with proof of what happened to his prisoners?”
Carien frowns. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She takes a small gasping breath, and searches through her beaded velvet purse. “There, if you don’t mind.” She withdraws a small paper packet and an ivory pipe. The smell of poisonink cuts sharply through the air. In a moment, she has filled the little bowl and lit it. She blows scented smoke out in a two curling plumes. “What are you ranting about? You sound like a mad woman. Prisoners?”
Jannik, Harun and I say nothing. I know I am not ready to trust her, and I sincerely doubt the others are any more likely to treat her as a friend.
“We must leave,” Harun says. “If you would be so kind as to stay here until we return, then we will discuss what has happened.”
“I think not,” Carien says. “Tell me what is going on.”
We hardly have time. I am beginning to think this is just another tactic of Eline’s mean to delay us, throw us off balance. I glance to Harun.
Surprisingly, it’s Jannik who breaks the stand-off. “Does your husband own a vampire?”
Carien takes a deep drag from her pipe. “Not for years. He had one long before I married him, a child. It died of some fever. You know how weak these rookery things can be.”