Beneath the Veil Read online

  "And what of Vermonte?"

  Daelyn closed his eyes briefly. "He's stiffening in some dark hallway right now, isn't he? I'd say let him rot there until someone finds him. 'Tis no more than he deserves, the bastard."

  I let a smile touch my lips. "Once he was your friend."

  "He was one of my lords. A member of my court. A companion. I tolerated his presence because sometimes it pleased me to do so. But he was never my friend."

  Daelyn crossed his arms over his chest and stared at me so long I blushed. I waited to hear more from him, but after a few moments of silence, he shrugged and left the privy chamber. I splashed some water on my face and rebraided my hair while I considered what I had said.

  When had I become so callous about murder?

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Vermonte's death caused a stir that lasted but a week or so before being replaced with news of much greater import. The Winter Revel. With the snow thick on the ground, it was time for Daelyn's annual party. Many men had begun planning their outfits only days after last season's event. An invitation, or lack of one, could make or break a man's social standing in the city.

  Daelyn had decided to cast this year as a Masquerade instead of a simple formal affair. The decision sent a new buzz throughout Alyria, this one about what sorts of costumes would be worn, the food and music that would be played, the reason for the Prince's change of tradition.

  Daelyn's reason was simple. He intended to assassinate Rosten at the Winter Revel. He was going to bring civil war to Alyria.

  "We've a short time until the Winter Revel." Daelyn looked around his court. I knew his look of boredom was feigned. His glance slid past Rosten, Adamantane and Simelbon without pause. "As you know, I've decided to give a prize for the best costume."

  "What's the prize, my lord?" Rosten took a sip from his wine and made sure everyone in the room had turned to look at him. "A ride on your oliphant?"

  Daelyn's smile seemed genuine enough. Perhaps it was. I'd learned his sense humor was unique. "Oh, goodness no. I can't tell you what the prize will be, but I can tell you this. The recipient of it will be written of in the history books."

  "Really." Rosten sat back and looked contemplative. "How so?"

  Daelyn wagged a finger at the Book Monster. "Ah, ah. Don't try to tempt me into giving away the secret just yet. You'll have to wait for it with all the others. Unless you plan to compete?"

  Daelyn left the question dangling in the air, and I saw clearly his cleverness in hooking Rosten's attention. Offer the greedy something they feel they can't live without, he had told me once. No matter how much they already have, they will always try for more.

  "You know I rarely attend such functions." Rosten settled in his chair with a smug grin. "Such frippery and foolery is not in my nature, my lord prince."

  "Pity." Daelyn shrugged as though he cared not in the least whether Rosten came to the revel. "For I would wager you, of all the lords in my court, would enjoy this prize most of all."

  Rosten's eyes gleamed, though he tried to hide his interest. "Now you intrigue me."

  " Good." Daelyn laughed. "Then I suggest you begin working on your costume."

  "And is there to be no hope at all of learning the prize?"

  Daelyn only grinned. "It's a secret, and a secret it will stay."

  "Then I'll have to be patient." Rosten's smile sent a chill down my spine. He got up from the table and made a leg toward Daelyn. "I beg your leave, my lord prince. I find the rigors of my recent activities taxing on these old bones."

  "You have it. Take better care of yourself. We'd hate to see you ruin yourself so early in your illustrious career."

  Rosten looked at Daelyn hard, perhaps to see if the prince mocked him. Daelyn had spoken the words with a straight face, however, and sincerity in his tone. Rosten nodded in response, and left the court.

  "'I find the rigors of my recent activities taxing,'" Daelyn said later, in the privacy of his chambers. "What a bastard. If I didn't want to stick the knife in him myself, I'd wish for him to keel over from his taxing activities this very eve!"

  The hairbrush in my hand paused on the downward stroke. I met his eyes in the mirror. "You plan to kill him yourself?"

  Daelyn's mouth pursed, and he toyed with some jewels strewn across the table in front of him. "By Sinder's Arrow, I would like to."

  "But you won't. The men of Alyria can't see you as Rosten's assassin, my prince. You'd never be able to hold them back. Everything we planned for would be ruined...."

  "Do you think I don't know that?" He twisted in his chair to look at me. "Think you to advise me on the ways of war, melon-seller?"

  "No, my prince." It hurt my tongue to bite it, but the alternative was to have an argument. "Of course not."

  He sniffed and turned back, then yanked the brush from me and waved me away. "You're bothering me. Go away."

  His words stung, no matter how hard I tried to pretend they didn't. I backed away with a silent nod and headed toward my niche. His next words stopped me.

  "I meant go away from me completely. Out of these rooms. I don't want to see you, or smell you, or hear you. I need to be alone, you dunce. Don't you understand that?"

  He was taunting to get a rise out of me. I'd learned better self-control than that. "As you wish, my prince."

  Without even taking a cloak, I left his rooms and went to the fight field. It would be night soon, and the field was bitterly cold, but I had the heat of my anger and distress to keep me warm. I grabbed two swords from the rack in the weapons room and swung them both as I moved along the frozen ground.

  Lir had had the pages clean the snow away from the grass, but it was still cold. Every step crunched. Ice gleamed in low spots where the snow had melted and refrozen. The footing was hazardous here, which was why Lir had taken the lads in his charge to working out in the gymnasium instead of outside.

  I put my weapons on the splintery wooden table and moved quickly through the poses of the Art. With my blood flowing, I became warm enough to work up a sweat. I moved faster, seeking to put Daelyn's cruel words from my mind. He didn't mean them. He did. He hated me. He loved me. I didn't care...but I did.

  I went from Coiled Serpent to Diving Hawk too fast, and my feet slid out from under me. I caught myself before I could fall all the way to the ground, but going to one knee was little better. With the leg of my trousers torn and dirty, I muttered a curse and got back to my feet.

  "Nice recovery."

  I looked to see Lir, bundled in clothing far more appropriate to this weather than mine. "You shouldn't sneak up on people."

  He laughed. "I didn't sneak. I must have called your name a quartet of times, Aeris. You simply didn't hear me."

  I swiped a hand across my forehead. "I plead your mercy. I was distracted."

  "Don't plead for me. I can see that. What's the matter?"

  "Nothing." I shook my head and kept pushing myself through the series of basic positions I'd learned first. I didn't want to get cold again. "I'm fine."

  "You don't look fine. You look pissed."

  I glared at him before softening a little. "It's Daelyn."

  "Ah. Say no more. I've often come out here for the very same reason. Here." He tossed me one of the swords and took up the other. "Go at it."

  "I was on my way to my chambers when I saw you." He tossed the words out casually, but as though I should make something of them. "I hadn't made any plans for this eve."

  "No?" I lunged, and he twisted away from me. "I'd planned to stay by the fire and drink some wine while I read a book. Instead, I was kicked out of Daelyn's chambers for daring to speak truthfully to him."

  We danced together as our blades flashed. "You must understand something, Aeris. Dae is under a lot of pressure recently. If his temper is short, that's why."

  I grunted, parried and thrust. He blocked it and made me twist to avoid one of his blows. "That's an excuse."

  "A good one..." he leaped toward me and I fell back