Beneath the Veil Read online

  "Lir's your friend, too."

  His shoulders lifted in silent laughter as he tilted his head to look at me. "True. But there are things Lir can't understand, no matter how much he might try."

  That was true enough, and made me laugh again. We laughed together, two women in a man's world, one the master and the other...something else. Daelyn took my hands and we kissed and laughed and kissed some more simply because it felt good to do it.

  I don't know how long Lir had been watching us, but it must have been long enough. His gaze took in our linked hands, the puffiness of our lips, the way we had laughed ourselves breathless. I'm sure it looked like we'd been having ourselves quite a romp.

  "Sorry to interrupt." He didn't sound sorry.

  "Come over here." Daelyn let go of one of my hands to beckon to Lir.

  Lir didn't move. "I don't think so. I just came to see if Aeris intended on fighting today, or if you'd planned to keep him busy. I see I have my answer."

  This made Daelyn stop laughing as he looked from Lir to me and back again. "I have need of Aeris today. He's going to come with me to the tailor who will sew my costume for the Winter Revel. But I'm sure that later –"

  "Not necessary." Lir gave a half bow and a humorless smile. "I'd thought to ask him if he'd like to help me start training some of the wee lads, but if you need him to help you decide on your costume, don't let me keep you. I'll see you both anon."

  "Lir!" Dae's cry did nothing to call Lir back. The door shut behind him with a thud. Daelyn looked at me with confusion stamped all over his features. "What was that all about?"

  "I'm sure I don't know."

  Daelyn shook his head. "Never mind him. Let's go. I have an appointment with the tailor."

  I'd lied when I said I didn't know. I knew exactly why Lir was so upset. The problem was, I wasn't sure what to do about it.

  Chapter Forty-One

  I spent most of the morning with Daelyn, discussing costume possibilities with the tailor. By late afternoon, with a gray sky threatening more snow, I was more than ready to shed the packages and bundles of new clothes the prince had brought home. They covered the floor and chairs in his main chamber, and I winced at the thought of unwrapping and putting them all away.

  "You go on, Aeris. I'll take care of this. I want to look at my treasures by myself for a little while."

  "You're certain?"

  Daelyn looked at me as though he could see straight to my soul. "You've been itching to get down to the fight field since Lir spoke of it this morn. Get gone."

  I didn't wait for him to say it again. I was already dressed warmly, and I went on feet like wings down to the field. I'd missed the start of Lir's lesson to the sons of the lords of Daelyn's court. Today he taught the littler boys, most appearing to be around seven years old and very serious with their wooden swords and shields.

  I paused at the gate to watch him with the children without calling attention to myself. Lir moved along the line of boys, pausing to say something to each one. Hold your weapon higher, grip it not so tightly, relax your stance. I could easily imagine him with sons of his own.

  He made them hang up their weapons and dismissed them. As they ran across the frozen grass, released, whooping like small boys do, he caught sight of me. For a moment I thought he meant to snub me, to pass me by with as little attention as the river of lads pouring past me. Then he nodded, and I went out to meet him.

  "You're good with them." I turned for a moment to watch the last of them, hollering and cheering as they ran for their suppers.

  "I enjoy working with them. They're still so young. They haven't had time to be tainted yet."

  Lir rearranged some of the weapons on the rack and called for Ichabod to take it away. He didn't look at me. I wasn't sure whether to be upset or grateful.

  With Ichabod gone, there wasn't anything to distract us from each other. Still without looking at me, Lir moved into the first position of the Art. I followed. Side by side we went through the basic positions, then the next level and on to the advanced. We moved in perfect unison.

  Snow began to fall as we performed our exercises. Fat, soft, white flakes drifted from the sky and covered our heads, our shoulders, collected on our eyelashes and turned the muddy patches in the grass pale. Lir didn't stop, and neither did I. Now he'd moved into positions I didn't recognize and hadn't learned. I did my best to keep up, though by this time my breath had turned to fire in my lungs and my muscles burned just as badly.

  He finally finished. We'd ended up facing each other, coated with snow, our hands almost touching. Mine were trembling with exertion. His were not.

  Did he reach for me? Or I for him? In the end it didn't matter. Our fingers had just linked when Ichabod came running toward us, slipping and falling in the fresh snow.

  "My lords!" The small boy cried. "News!"

  I withdrew from Lir, glad for the chance to do so discreetly. "What's wrong, lad?"

  Ichabod took a deep, wheezing breath. Clearly thrilled to be the bearer of such news, he said, "The Book Monster – uh, begging your pardons, sirs –"

  "Never mind that, lad," Lir cut in impatiently. "We know what Rosten's called. What's he done?"

  Ichabod swallowed heavily and danced from foot to foot. "He's found the rebels! Found them preparing to take a group of follies away tonight!"

  I looked at Lir in stunned silence. His brief, guilty glance told me all I needed to know. He'd known about tonight's foray. I had not.

  "Where, Ichabod?" Lir asked the question gently in an attempt to calm the page. "Where did Rosten find them, and how did he know what they were about?"

  "He had guards set up on the outskirts of town, by the garden district. By the gates. They picked up a man named Barnabus lurking around the gates when he oughtn't, and he told them he was supposed to be bringing a group of follies and their get later tonight, to be taken away across the mountains!"

  "Go on inside, lad, you're fair to freezing." Lir reached in his waist pouch and pulled out a wrapped sweet or a coin, I couldn't tell which. "This is for your troubles."

  "Oh, thank you, my lord! Thank you! May Sinder's blessings be upon you!"

  Ichabod ran out of the fight field and left us alone. I set my feet to follow him without another word to Lir. Tears stung my eyes and froze on my lashes. They'd known, they'd planned, but they hadn't told me.

  "Aeris!"

  "Bugger off," I muttered.

  His grip grabbed my shoulder. "Wait."

  I whirled to face him. "You don't mock me? You don't laugh at me, eh? No. You and Daelyn just don't trust me."

  "Aeris," he said warningly, but I shook off his grip and stalked off the field.

  The courtyard outside the weapons room and the entrance to the main kitchen was deserted. The cobblestones were slick from the newly falling snow. I slid and went to my knees, then got up before Lir could reach me. I hadn't counted on him trying so hard.

  He grabbed the back of my cloak and yanked me, then slammed me up against the wall surrounding the field. His dark eyes glimmered in the light from the oil lanterns hanging in the courtyard. He pressed against me, face so close to me he could have kissed me, had he wished.

  "You act without thinking. You leap into decisions that would be better served by patience. You act from your heart, and not your mind. It’s no wonder Daelyn chose not to tell you there would be another escape tonight. Especially when he knew Galya would be involved."

  "Galya!"

  Lir's fingers bit into the flesh of my upper arms as he pressed harder. "Hush! Yes. We felt she was ready to act for us, and she did well."

  "And what of Barnabus?" I tried to get him to loosen his grip, but his fingers stayed tight.

  "Barnabus was well-paid to keep his mouth shut, and kept from further escapes. Only the Invisible Mother knows what he was doing by the gate tonight, or how he knew there was to be an escape. Lucky guess, most likely."

  I pushed at him to no avail. His fingers were like bands of iron