Fortune and Fate (Twelve Houses) (36 page)
Read Fortune and Fate (Twelve Houses) Online
Authors: Sharon Shinn
“That was my father’s favorite room,” Lindy said. “He didn’t like anyone else to go in there, so of course that’s always where I wanted to be. I would wait till he was away on a trip, and then I would sneak in and creep around, looking for mysterious letters or treasure maps hidden behind the books. I was sure he must be hiding something exciting.”
“Did you ever find anything?” Karryn asked.
“No, never! I suppose he just wanted to keep the place to himself because he got tired of dealing with my mother and me.”
“Maybe something’s been left behind,” Karryn said, and stepped through the door.
Wen stepped right in after her.
The girls trailed their hands through the dust on the shelves and knocked experimentally on the wood that lined the wall. They tugged at the andirons to see if they might be connected to some secret spring, and Karryn tried to budge various stones that lined the grate. Nothing yielded up a secret.
“Well, if my father had any hidden treasure, it’s still hidden,” Lindy said, straightening up and brushing her hands together. “Come on upstairs. I’ll show you my old room.”
The sloppy housekeeper said, “Call out for me if you need me,” and disappeared back toward what Wen assumed were the kitchens. Unescorted except by the guards, the girls flitted up the stairs, which took a sharp turn at the landing and delivered the whole party to the middle of the second story. Wen looked around with interest, automatically assessing the building. Rows of narrow windows at the front and back of this story allowed in bars of shaded light, but weren’t wide enough for even someone as small as she was to force her way through. Good for defense; bad if there was a reason you needed to escape quickly.
“That was my parents’ room, those two were guest rooms, that was the schoolroom, and here was my bedroom,” Lindy said. She twisted the handle on the last door and stepped into the room. Karryn followed, the three guards right behind her.
It was the first place they’d seen at Covey Park that had some character and appeal, Wen thought. The room was high-ceilinged and painted white, so that it had a lighter and airier feel than the dreary spaces downstairs. What furnishings were left were also in very light hues—a spindly divan with white wood and soft blue cushions; a vanity table in white wood, set off by a tall rectangular mirror swathed in blue silk. Gauzy blue-and-white curtains fluttered at the windows, which were just as tall but not much wider than the ones in the hallway. There were more of them, though, so the light was better.
Lindy plopped down on the divan with a little puff of dust. More cautiously, Karryn sat beside her. The guards stayed motionless by the door, and both girls utterly ignored them.
“I was very sad when we left Covey Park two years ago,” Lindy said. “I loved visiting the city, but I had lived here all my life and I didn’t want to move.”
“Why did your mother want to leave Covey Park?” Karryn asked.
“She says it’s too far away from everything. Although I think the city is even farther! We have tenant farms another couple miles north of here, and my father would ride out to visit them every week. Now my mother sends someone to inspect them for her and come into the city every month to report.”
“When did your father die?”
“Five years ago.”
“Do you miss him?”
Lindy shook her fair head. “Not at all. We were never close. We scarcely even
spoke.
Sometimes I wondered if he would recognize me if he came across me somewhere outside of this house—if we met at a party in Gissel Plain, for instance. Would he have to be introduced to me? It’s hard to miss someone you didn’t even know.”
spoke.
Sometimes I wondered if he would recognize me if he came across me somewhere outside of this house—if we met at a party in Gissel Plain, for instance. Would he have to be introduced to me? It’s hard to miss someone you didn’t even know.”
“Well, I knew my father,” Karryn said in a very dry voice. “And it’s much better now that he’s gone.”
“But now that we live in the town house, I like it very much,” Lindy said. “There’s so much more to do in the city! So many more people to see! I never want to come back to Covey Park.”
“Why would you?”
“My mother says the town house is very expensive, so if the farms ever have a bad year, we might not be able to afford it. And then we’d move back.” Lindy sighed.
She could sell those gold doors and fund another couple years in town,
Wen thought. Naturally, she did not allow the thought to bring even a small smile to her face.
Wen thought. Naturally, she did not allow the thought to bring even a small smile to her face.
“You could come stay at my house,” Karryn said. “We’d go to all the parties together. It wouldn’t be so bad.”
“And maybe Coren would invite both of us to come out on his boat,” Lindy said with a giggle.
That quickly, their conversation devolved from something that was almost interesting to a discussion of the more eligible young lords to be found in Forten City. Wen stopped listening until Lindy groaned and tossed a pillow in the air.
“And then next week my mother is making me travel with her to visit Deloden,” Lindy said. “I can’t bear it.”
“Who’s Deloden?” Karryn asked.
“My—oh, I can never get it right—my father’s brother’s first wife’s brother?” Lindy said. “Somehow he and his family are related to us. They live on the southern coast, practically in Rappengrass. No one else there for
miles
around, nothing to do, and the most excruciating conversations imaginable! Deloden and his wife are bad enough, but they have two sons and they’re just awful.”
miles
around, nothing to do, and the most excruciating conversations imaginable! Deloden and his wife are bad enough, but they have two sons and they’re just awful.”
Karryn laughed. “What’s so terrible about them?”
“Well, first, they’re boring. They live at the edge of the
world
and they don’t know anyone and they aren’t interested in any of the things I have to say. One of them took me hunting one day, and then he
killed
things and swung them in my face—like I would want to see them! Birds and squirrels, all covered with blood, and it was
horrible
! I told my mother I never wanted to go back there again, but she insists that we visit once every year or two. She keeps saying she’s going to invite them to come visit us, but so far she hasn’t. Or if she has, they haven’t accepted.”
world
and they don’t know anyone and they aren’t interested in any of the things I have to say. One of them took me hunting one day, and then he
killed
things and swung them in my face—like I would want to see them! Birds and squirrels, all covered with blood, and it was
horrible
! I told my mother I never wanted to go back there again, but she insists that we visit once every year or two. She keeps saying she’s going to invite them to come visit us, but so far she hasn’t. Or if she has, they haven’t accepted.”
“There’s no hunting in Forten City, so I don’t know what they’d do here.”
“They’d come visit
you
because I would bring them over every day!”
you
because I would bring them over every day!”
Karryn laced her hands in her lap. “My mother says the summer social season is starting and we should think about sending me to some of the balls,” she said, her voice low and troubled. Wen’s attention really picked up then; Jasper hadn’t mentioned this before. If Karryn was going to be attending events at some of the other Houses, Wen was going to have an interesting time of it, trying to keep her safe.
Or more likely Orson. Wen wouldn’t be staying long enough to trail behind the serramarra as she made the circuit of the Twelve Houses.
“Ohhhhh,” Lindy breathed. “I’m so jealous. I would do anything to be invited to Rappengrass or Nocklyn! Or Brassenthwaite! It must be the wealthiest House in Gillengaria.”
“I don’t think my mother would send me so far,” Karryn said. “But maybe to Nocklyn or Helven. Even Coravann, I suppose. But—”
“What?”
“But I don’t know anyone at any of the other great Houses, and they would all hate me anyway,” Karryn said in a rush. “I know I would be perfectly miserable. No one would dance with me, and I would just stay in my room all day and cry.”
“Why do you think everyone would hate you?” Lindy exclaimed. “Everybody in Forten City likes you!”
Karryn pressed her lips together. “Because of my father. Because of the war. Because I’m Rayson Fortunalt’s daughter.”
“Ohhhhh,” Lindy said again, this time on a long sigh. “It would be cruel and stupid for people to think the war was your fault—but people
are
cruel and stupid, much of the time.”
are
cruel and stupid, much of the time.”
“So I don’t want to go.”
“You could take me with you,” Lindy suggested. “Then if no one asked you to dance I could sit next to you and watch everyone else and make spiteful comments.”
Karryn giggled. “But people would ask
you
to dance!”
you
to dance!”
“I would tell them I would only dance with them if they asked you first,” Lindy said firmly.
That was actually a much kinder promise than Wen would have expected from the shallow Lindy Coverroe. Karryn was moved, too, Wen could see, though she tried to act nonchalant.
“Well, that would be very sweet of you,” she said. “It wouldn’t be so bad to visit the other Houses if you could come along.”
Lindy leaned forward, her expression suddenly mischievous. “And we don’t even have to go to Coravann this summer, because Coravann is coming to us.”
“What do you mean?”
“My mother says that Ryne Coravann is going to be in Forten City for two months! His father is sending him here to—to—help set up some port office? Something about trade, something about an uncle. But Ryne will be here for weeks and weeks! I’m so excited.”
“I’m trying to think if I’ve ever met him,” Karryn said, frowning.
“You’d remember if you had. He’s very handsome but very careless—I’m not sure I’ve ever been with him when he wasn’t drunk—and my mother says his father is ready to wash his hands of him. But charming! He was one of the lords who went to Ghosenhall to woo Amalie when she was trying to pick a husband. I can’t imagine why she decided anyone else was better.”
“Maybe my uncle will let me plan a dinner while he’s here,” Karryn said. “That would be fun!”
“I’m certain my mother will have at least one ball, or maybe a dozen,” Lindy replied. “At any rate, I can’t wait.”
They were still on the fruitful topic of Ryne Coravann’s many assets when there was a knock at the door and the slatternly housekeeper came in. “Were you wanting anything?” she asked. Wen had the impression that she wasn’t so much offering to provide any service as checking to make sure her unexpected guests had not gotten into any trouble. “I could make some tea, I suppose.”
Lindy came to her feet. “No, we’d better go,” she said. “My mother will already be wondering what kept us so long on the road.”
“Yes,” said Karryn, standing beside her. “Time to go home.”
THE
return trip passed without incident, though the party didn’t make it back to Fortune until evening had started to settle over the city. Wen spent a little time in the training yard trading blows with Amie, just to counter the sense that the day had been completely wasted. Amie was in her early twenties, a dark whippet of a girl who rarely talked and rarely smiled. But she was a natural fighter; she was the most improved of the raw recruits, and Wen expected her someday to be the equal of Eggles. After a quick meal in the barracks, Wen set off for the house to make her nightly report to Jasper Paladar.
The best part of the day.
Chapter 18
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