Fortune and Fate (Twelve Houses) (69 page)
Read Fortune and Fate (Twelve Houses) Online
Authors: Sharon Shinn
She wondered what the penalty would be for murdering a serramar. She was pretty certain she was about to find out.
Chapter 36
WEN AND THE OTHER GUARDS CLATTERED THROUGH THE
busy streets of Forten City, riding so recklessly that they scattered frightened pedestrians and angry drivers before them. The Stilton House had its own stable, so an ostler was standing outside waiting for customers when they pounded up. Wen leapt from the gelding’s saddle, tossed the groom her reins, and said, “Hold him. I’ll be back out in a few minutes.”
busy streets of Forten City, riding so recklessly that they scattered frightened pedestrians and angry drivers before them. The Stilton House had its own stable, so an ostler was standing outside waiting for customers when they pounded up. Wen leapt from the gelding’s saddle, tossed the groom her reins, and said, “Hold him. I’ll be back out in a few minutes.”
The other three were right behind her as she stalked through the front door and straight to the desk where a well-dressed and discreet-looking man sat looking over accounts. He started in astonishment when Wen slammed her open hand in the middle of his papers.
“Ryne Coravann,” she snarled. “When did he check out of your establishment?”
The man swiftly stood up, assessing her with a professional’s measuring eye. All four of them were wearing their fancy Fortunalt uniforms, pearls sewn into their sashes, and this was a man who could not afford to offend the local serramarra. “Indeed, he has not left us yet,” he said in a smooth voice. “Would you like me to summon him from his room?”
Wen felt her heart stutter and then bloom to twice its size. They were still here? Upstairs cuddling in the serramar’s room, maybe, laughing at her, but still safe? She didn’t let any of her hope or relief show on her face. “No,” she said in the same menacing voice. “Take me up to him now.”
The clerk cast a doubtful look at her tense companions. “But—”
“Now,”
she repeated.
she repeated.
He made an instant decision, nodded, and grabbed a master key from behind the desk. “This way, please. Sadie!” he called as they passed a hallway. “Come cover the front door!”
Wen gave him credit for moving briskly, leading them up to the third story and two doors down the hall, but when he lifted his hand to knock, she caught his wrist in a hard hold. “Just open the door,” she said.
“But—”
She didn’t bother to argue, just yanked the key ring from his grasp, twisted the key in the lock, and kicked the door open. Her dagger was already in her hand.
The room was small enough to take in with a single glance, and there was only one body curled up under the thick blue counterpane. Ryne Coravann lifted his dark head from the pillow, staring at the commotion across the room. “What in the red and silver hell—”
Wen was beside him in two strides, grabbing his shoulder and shaking him roughly. He was nude to the waist and clumsy with sleep. He sat up, trying to fend her off, but she kept her grip. “Where is she? Where’s Karryn?” she demanded.
“What—? Willa, what are you—why the hell are you in my room? Let go of me!”
He wrenched back, finally breaking her hold, and stared up at her with bloodshot eyes. It was clear that he had gotten to sleep much later than two in the morning, and he’d had a great deal to drink before he sought his bed.
“Karryn’s missing,” Wen said. “And people seem to think
you
might know where she is.”
you
might know where she is.”
His face went slack, but it wasn’t guilt or furtiveness she saw in his expression. “Karryn’s missing? What do you mean? Didn’t she stay with Lindy last night?”
Now Wen’s heart stuffed itself back into the smallest possible ball of fear, hard and painful and burning in the middle of her chest. Oh, gods and goddesses, he did not have her, he did not know where she was. Karryn was gone, Karryn was missing, Karryn was lost and alone and somewhere in danger. “She did,” Wen said shortly. “And this morning Lindy found Karryn’s room empty.”
Ryne scrambled out of bed. Not just nude to the waist, it seemed. He began pulling on a pair of fancy trousers that he had apparently discarded by the bed last night. “And you thought I had her? That she had run to me? Thanks for the compliment, Captain.”
Wen pulled the lapis disk out of her pocket and flicked it at him. “This was found under her pillow. And apparently the two of you were whispering together a great deal last night.”
He’d reflexively caught the token but tossed it instantly to the rumpled bed. “Lindy has one just like it. So does Katlin Seiles—I hand them out like roses. And I surely spent as much time whispering to
Lindy
last night as I did to Karryn.”
Lindy
last night as I did to Karryn.”
“The difference is, Lindy Coverroe is safe in her mother’s house and Karryn is nowhere to be found,” Wen said. She had to work hard to keep her voice from quavering. “I apologize for casting you as the villain—and for waking you up in such a rude fashion. I must go to Fortune and tell her family and then try to decide what to do next.”
He looked up through a fall of unkempt black hair as he was pulling on his boots. “Wait five minutes! I’m coming with you.”
She turned away from him. “There’s nothing you can do to help us.”
He grabbed her arm with one hand and snatched up his shirt with the other. “Go order my horse for me,” he directed the innkeeper, who had stood immobile at the door this whole time. Listening to the entire conversation, of course, able to repeat this most-shocking but delicious gossip to every store owner and tavernkeeper in the city.
The innkeeper bowed and scurried from the room. Wen jerked her arm free but didn’t take another step toward the door. Ryne was fastening his shirt so rapidly that the buttons weren’t aligning with the holes. Eggles, Malton, and Moss crowded closer to Wen.
“If not with the serramar, then where would she have run and why?” Eggles asked in an urgent voice.
Wen shook her head. Her stomach was a roiling mass of acid, she felt like every separate bone and muscle trailed a line of fire. This was terror; this was helplessness. This was the stark certainty that Karryn was in danger and Wen didn’t know how to find her. “Did she sneak from the house, planning to surprise Ryne, and run afoul of common criminals in the streets?” she said.
“I’m telling you, Karryn would have had no reason to seek me out,” Ryne spoke from over her shoulder. He was shrugging into an overcoat, much too fancy for daytime wear but obviously the nearest thing to hand. “We made no plans. She wasn’t running to
me
.”
me
.”
“Do you believe him?” Moss asked Wen, as if Ryne wasn’t standing right there. “Do you trust him?”
Wen turned her head to study him. He was buckling on a serviceable-looking sword, and he paused long enough to meet her eyes. His own expression was defiant. But he looked just as worried as she felt.
“Yes,” Wen said curtly. “Are you ready? Then let’s go.”
DEMARAY
and Lindy were already at Fortune when Wen’s party arrived. “Gather up the others,” Wen directed Eggles. “Tell them what’s happened.”
“What are we going to do next?” he asked.
As if she had the faintest idea! “We’ll look for her,” she said grimly. “Once we’ve told her mother and her guardian what we know.”
Eggles and Moss and Malton peeled off toward the barracks, taking charge of all the horses. Wen and Ryne bounded up the steps and into the house. In the large parlor just inside the door they found Jasper, Serephette, and the Coverroes gathered in an agitated conference.
“Wen!” Jasper exclaimed the minute he spotted her. “Did you find—” His eyes went to the disheveled Ryne Coravann and a look of comprehension crossed his face. “Not with the serramar after all, I see.”
“He says not, and I believe him,” Wen said.
Serephette, who had been standing beside Jasper, now sank to a sofa as if the bones in her legs could not support her. “But then—sweet Silver Lady, where could she possibly
be
?”
be
?”
Demaray pushed Lindy over to offer Serephette comfort, and then came to stand beside Ryne and Wen and Jasper. She gave the serramar one quick, frowning look. “Captain, are you sure he—”
“Yes,” Wen said shortly. “We must consider other options.”
“Demaray says you believe Karryn left her house quite early this morning,” Jasper said.
Wen nodded but her mind was elsewhere. “I am trying to remember. When I first encountered Karryn—when she was kidnapped by Tover Banlish—she said she didn’t think anyone would be looking for her because when he abducted her, she wasn’t where she was supposed to be. I don’t believe I ever heard how that story began. Where did she disappear from that time?”
Too late Wen realized that, although Demaray knew of Karryn’s abduction, she had never been told the name of the man who had played the villain. Demaray looked shocked, but Jasper answered immediately.
“Edwin and Katlin’s house,” Jasper said. “When she didn’t arrive,
they
thought she had decided to stay home.
I
thought she was with them. It was hours before we knew she was missing.”
they
thought she had decided to stay home.
I
thought she was with them. It was hours before we knew she was missing.”
“Had she gone to meet Banlish?” Ryne asked.
Jasper looked at him. “No. She had arranged to go sailing with Coren Bauler, something I had told her she couldn’t do unless her mother or I accompanied her. He had been taking all the girls out in his boat, one or two at a time, and Karryn wanted her turn.”
Wen’s eyebrows twitched together. “Then—did Coren Bauler assist Tover Banlish in the abduction?”
Jasper frowned and Demaray uttered a little cry. “Oh, Jasper, could he have done such a thing? I confess, I’m never entirely certain that I trust Coren, but—”
“He wasn’t at your house last night,” Wen said.
Demaray shook her head. “No, the party was for Lindy’s birthday and I decided we should limit it to her particular friends. And Coren is so much older—it didn’t seem right to invite him.”
Wen addressed Jasper. “Would Karryn have snuck off to meet
him
?”
him
?”
“She doesn’t like Coren Bauler,” Ryne said positively.
“She must have liked him at one time if she wanted to go sailing with him when no one else was around,” Wen said.
Demaray turned toward the sofa, where Lindy was holding Serephette’s hand and looking just as miserable as the marlady. “Lindy! Did Karryn have an affection for Coren Bauler? Tell me the truth now.”
Lindy looked surprised. “Coren? Not anymore. Katlin told us he has an illegitimate daughter that he refuses to support, and since then Karryn can’t stand him.”
“How did Katlin learn about that?” Demaray exclaimed. “And how
could
she repeat such gossip to young girls?”
could
she repeat such gossip to young girls?”
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