Echoes in the Dark (18 page)

Her
own heart hurt, simply ached, with a depth of compassion she hadn’t been aware
she’d held. She
did
want to help the world—Amee—fight. The idea of
becoming the Singer—a different sort of Singer than the old woman before
her—tantalized.

Magic
was in every sound all around her and she loved the music of her new life.

She
knew there would be a price to pay.

Killing
that evil leech, whatever it was.

She
didn’t think that destroying it would be easy.

Creusse Crest

R
aine woke in
sheer luxury. For a moment she was disoriented as her blurry vision focused on
the gold-toned canopy over her bed. She wasn’t in her little house in
Castleton, not even that bed was as soft and decadent as this one.

A
rap came at the door and Raine realized that’s what had awakened her. Clearing
her throat, she called,
“Entre.”

The
housekeeper strode in with a maid, and Raine gripped her covers in a dizzying
moment of déjà vu. This had happened the morning after Blossom and Faucon had
rescued her. Memories of that day—more horrible than pleasant—washed through
her and had her shaking.

“The
room is too cool,” the housekeeper snapped and immediately rectified it with a
little Song that heated the air. She shook her head at Raine. “You should have
pulled the bed curtains.”

“In
the summertime?” The room was fine, now overwarm.

“It’s
been cooler than usual,” the housekeeper said, and gestured to the maid with a
tray holding a steaming pot of tea and a plate of eggs and bacon. “You eat this
and you can have crème brûlée with Faucon in a half hour in the breakfast
nook.”

Raine
did and didn’t want to eat with Faucon. She liked him, and he’d been so kind!
As she scooted up on the pillows, she touched the yoke of a fine nightgown
accented with little green ribbons.

“We
undressed you and put you in the nightgown,” the housekeeper said, but Raine
had had no doubt about that. Faucon never touched her.

“Hauteur—”
that was Faucon’s title “—said you were working too hard.” She sniffed. “We
should never have let you go to the Castle, they aren’t caring for you
properly.”

“Thank
you.”

“Quite
welcome. Your flying leathers are being cleaned, but will be done after
breakfast.” The housekeeper gestured and Raine saw underwear and several lovely
dresses of crushed velvet being placed on the chest at the end of the bed.
“These were made for you and we kept them here. Hauteur requests that you stay
since he has called his cousin the Seamaster from his northern estate to
consult with you and Corbeau won’t arrive until this afternoon. Those
Marshalls,” the housekeeper tsked. “Expecting you to build a ship and not
giving you any information. Besides, the Ship will depart from Faucon’s
northern estate, Creusse Landing, of course.”

“Of
course.” Had that been decided? Raine knew some of the Circlets had wanted to
depart from a northern island. All her problems swooped down on her like crows.
Like they did every morning. Her surroundings might have been upgraded a
thousandfold, but so had her responsibilities.

The
maid and housekeeper curtsied and left.

The
pot of tea smelled wonderful. She was a coffee girl, but like many, associated
tea with comfort in stressful times. The eggs and bacon were perfect and she
wasn’t sure whether to be glad or not that the Lladranans hadn’t learned about
home fries.

But
her mouth watered for crème brûlée, and her mind demanded answers about how
huge round stones could make a ship go and how a troop ship could be built in
less than a week.

She
had a busy day in front of her.

13

R
aine stroked her
hand down a pretty sapphire gown, visualized how Faucon might look at her if
she wore it.

Foolish.

Why
couldn’t she banish these foolish feelings for the man?

So
she took a quick shower. When she came out her leathers were on the bed. She
cast one last glance at the dresses, then put on the thin silk long underwear,
leather pants, lawn shirt, leather vest and coat. They were supple against her
skin and she realized she was finally breaking them in. Good.

When
she entered the breakfast room, Faucon set aside a stack of papers and rose to
seat her, smiling.

“Thanks
for your hospitality,” she said.

“You’re
welcome,” he said, and she didn’t think he realized he’d said it in accented
English, which just reminded her that he’d loved a previous Exotique who’d
dumped him. Keeping her wince inward, she sat opposite him at the
damask-covered table that held a plate with a small bowl of crème brûlée.

She
glanced at Faucon, who’d continued to smile, and said, “I suppose your cook
disapproves of this breakfast.”

He
nodded and dipped a shining silver teaspoon into his own treat. “And the
housekeeper, and the maids. I don’t think the footmen care, though.”

Raine
savored the custard and crunchy sugar and spice crust melting on her tongue.
Perfection. She glanced around the place from under her lashes as they ate in
silence. She hadn’t actually been in the castle. This was the ground floor of
an octagonal tower room, with long windows in every section of the wall. She
couldn’t see to the beach, but could watch distant waves rolling in from the
ocean. Wonderful.

Faucon
cleared his throat. “The propulsion of ships is usually based upon sail and
Power.”

The
crème brûlée became a little less tasty. A working breakfast, nothing personal.
“Figured that,” she said. “You have those huge stones….”

He
nodded. “Ayes, Power stones, they store Power and are magnets set for the four
main directions.”

“The
jewels.”

“Ayes.
The jewels are tuned to each cardinal point.”

Raine
had an idea. “Magnetic north and south poles?”

“Ayes.”

“But
what about east and west?”

Faucon
shrugged, then bent down and retrieved a book, opened it to a bookmarked map.

For
a minute Raine expected to see little animated notes on the paper, then
realized it was static and two-dimensional. With one long, well-shaped index
finger, he indicated two gray rectangles on the coast of other continents, one
to the east of Lladrana, one to the west. “Amee made these ages ago for us to
tune our spell stones to.” He smiled briefly. “Legends say the locals worship
the great plinths, but they’re only navigational tools, though huge and
resonating in the proper frequency.”

An
idea flashed through Raine’s mind, some strange connection, then was gone.

“So
your jewels are tuned to the north and south magnetic poles and these, uh,
plinths.”

Faucon
nodded.

It
sounded weird to Raine, but if she tried to think about Power logically most of
the things on Lladrana were weird. “Your ships
do
have a rudder.”

Again
Faucon nodded. “There are corresponding stones on the rudder and it controls
the ship’s course. But it is also, ah,
pulled
by the magnetism of the
great Power stones toward the cardinal directions. That makes sense?” His smile
was crooked.

Not
really. “Uh, how are the stones, um…how does one indicate the direction to the
stones, steer the rudder?”

“Oh,
a steering stick, of course.”

Huh.

She
stared at him. “Wouldn’t a force that strong—” She waved her hands. “The magnetic
poles and the monoliths, if they can
pull
a ship—” she was still having
difficulty with this one “—pull the stones right out of a ship?”

He
smiled indulgently. “The Power is not only in the monoliths. Those are
like…beacons. The Power is in the stones, they hold huge stores of Power and
are drawn to the poles and the beacons at a particular rate.”

“Particular
rate,” Raine repeated.

“The
direction and rate are controlled by the helmsman.” Faucon touched his right
temple where a wide streak of Power showed. The streak was larger than it had
been. In preparing for this battle, everyone was taking on duties that
increased their Power. “One
wills
the stones to go a certain course and
applies the—ah—spark to Power them.” His forehead wrinkled and his tone became
stiff. “I don’t entirely understand the matter, myself. I understand wind and
sail better. If you want a complete technical explanation, speak to Marian.”

Raine
lifted her brows and made her eyes big. “Oh, I
couldn’t
bother her. Her
explanations…” She winked.

Faucon
looked startled, then laughed. “Yes, hardly anyone talks to Marian these days.
She’s apt to go off on a lecture and usually loses me three sentences in.”
After swallowing his last bite, Faucon said, “My yacht needs a crew of ten, but
I had my sailboat brought around to my private dock. It’s small, two sails, a
beautiful, responsive boat. We can handle it easily.” Another smile but his
eyes were intense. “Would you like to go out on her?”

Raine’s
heart jolted with a hard, fast thump. She hadn’t been sailing in more than half
a year when she’d been used to being on the water at least one day a week.
Tears stung behind her eyes. She couldn’t show them to him.

“I’ll
be the crew. You can captain,” Faucon said softly.

She
couldn’t speak at all for a moment, then unthinking words came. “Why are you
being so nice to me?”

He
straightened in his chair and his face became impassive, but color showed under
his golden skin on his cheeks. Meeting her eyes, he said, “I did not treat you
well when you arrived. I apologize.”

Raine
had already said too much, too rudely. She flushed and it was much more
evident. “And I apologize for my rudeness.” She glanced away, then back at him
to see him watching her with wariness. “If the offer to sail is still open, I would
love to.” Now tears clogged her voice. Dammit!

He
put the book on his stack of papers and Raine knew that no one would touch them
until he returned. Definitely the master of the castle. “Excellent,” he said,
standing. “Shall we go?”

The
walk down to the dock seemed all too long once the offer of a sail had been
made. But her deck shoes had to be sent for. Like the dresses, some shoes had
actually been cobbled for her when she’d first arrived a couple of months ago.
If she’d known…

She
was deluding herself. She wouldn’t ever have returned here unless she had to,
to learn of ships. A castle wasn’t her idea of “home.” More like her idea of
something that had to be toured with her father and brothers on a family trip
to England and France.

Though
her own great-grandfather had been an Exotique, had come to Lladrana in his
youth for the purpose of teaching the current Singer the English language.
Which was all too woo-woo for her, especially since that woman was still
living. From what the other Exotiques had said, and what she’d read in their
journals, Raine had no wish to meet the woman.

She
wondered briefly how the one Summoned for the Singer was getting along, but
both Bri and Luthan had said she would not suffer at the oracle’s hands and
Raine believed them.

Then
they were down the winding path to the docks and a small sailboat bobbed
gently.

It
was the most beautiful boat she’d ever seen, because
she
was going to
sail it, after all this time. Every muscle fiber in her body quivered with
anticipation, the feeling more intense than looking forward to some of the sex
she’d had in her life.

She
tasted the salt air and other sea smells on her tongue, drew the air deeply
into her lungs, gaze fixed on the little boat. Even if it had been an awkwardly
shaped tub, she’d have yearned for it like a lover, but it was a pretty thing,
carefully made, and it would go fast. She grinned. Oh, she’d show that
Faucon—who had yet to call her “Seamistress”—how fast she could make this boat
go, wring more speed out of her than he had, she’d bet.

Rubbing
her hands, she considered actually betting him and turned to him, mouth ready
with the wager. But he was looking down on her with understanding and amusement
in his eyes and the words stopped. She was reminded how well they’d gotten
along the last day, how much he’d done for her. No, she wouldn’t take the man’s
money—zhiv—on an easy bet.

“She’s
lovely,” Raine said instead.

Faucon
beamed. “I had a hand in designing her.”

Raine
kept her mouth shut. Obviously ship design on Earth was ages ahead of Lladrana,
or, for all she knew, the entire planet of Amee.

Despite
that her feet itched to feel deck rolled by wave under her feet again, she
stopped to glance at it, then at the elegant Faucon. “It’s red.”

“It
is indeed, and the sails are bright orange. The Creusse colors, you know.”

Garish…not
at all fitting with his image. She could see blue-gray and silver, or black and
silver…