A Jewel Bright Sea. Claire O'Dell

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СКАЧАТЬ Anna. But too many things strike me as peculiar. Why did he insist on this idiotic game, with you pretending to be Vrou Iljana? And why aren’t we allowed to approach the Emperor’s own people in Eddalyon? He claims the Emperor doesn’t want his affairs to become public, but if our lord acts in Marius’s name, why don’t we have proper documents in case of any misunderstanding? Why his secrecy, Anna? Why yours?”

      For a moment she couldn’t answer. Lord Brun had given such a reasonable explanation for the secrecy. Or so she thought at the time.

      “We must talk,” she said softly. “We’ll go back to our rooms and—”

      “No. We talk here. Now.”

      She flinched at his tone. “It’s not safe here, Maté.”

      Not with Koszenmarc and his gang hunting them. Maté must have understood because he nodded. “Very well. I know a decent wine shop. We can sit quietly until things calm down.”

      She took his offered hand and hoped this wine shop was not very far away. All her panic had evaporated, leaving her weak-kneed. To her relief, Maté set a much slower pace as they retraced their steps to the public streets. A few more turns brought them into a small sunny square on the edge of the hill. There was a weaver’s shop, a candlemaker, and in the far corner, marked by a wooden placard, the wine shop. All of the signs in this neighborhood were written in Eddalyon’s native script. Once more she had the sense of entering a secret, alien world, hidden within the larger one she knew.

      “Do you come here often?” Anna murmured.

      “Once or twice. Stavros serves me the occasional bit of news along with a good meal.”

      The wine shop owner leaned against his doorway and watched them approach. Like most men in the islands, he wore dark blue trousers tied with a bright sash and an undyed cotton shirt. His grease-spotted apron did not inspire Anna’s confidence, but his hands looked scrubbed, and he wore a patterned rag over his braided hair.

      “We want soup, wine, and bread,” Maté said. “We’re hungry, my friend.”

      Stavros heaved himself upright with a grunt. If he wondered about a noblewoman coming here with one of her minions, he made no comment. “I’ve new cheese,” he said. “The bread isn’t so fresh at this time of day, but the soup makes up for it. My Phaidre’s best.”

      “I believe you,” Maté said. “Tell your Phaidre to make the portions big ones. My lady is starved and I’m not far behind.”

      He led Anna into the shop, to a large table next to the windows. Anna glanced around, taking in the dusty floors, the windows smudged with grease and smoke. Two old men occupied a table near the door, smoking pipes. Off in one corner, several men and women crouched over a game with cards and markers. For the most part, they spoke the island language—Kybris, it was called—with a few Veraenen words here and there. None of them acknowledged her presence.

      The wine shop’s owner vanished down the passageway and soon returned with mugs, plates, and a jug of wine. Off he shuffled again, this time coming back with the promised bread and soup, along with a jug of plain water. Maté tossed him several coins. The man caught them in one meaty hand and retreated to his post by the door.

      Maté poured wine into their mugs, then cut several slices of bread and cheese. “Eat first. You look as though you might faint otherwise, my lady.”

      Anna nibbled at the bread, then tasted the soup, which was chilled and peppery, thickened with bits of a red, fleshy fruit. Both soup and bread were far better than she had expected, given the appearance of the shop’s floors and windows. She had become too particular over the years, apparently. Or perhaps she had taken on too much of her role in this game that she and Maté played.

      She ate slowly, finishing off the soup, then nibbling slices of bread and cheese, interspersed with sips of the wine, which turned out to be excellent. Once the shopkeeper had cleared away their dishes, Maté refilled their mugs, then leaned over the table. “Now we talk.”

      She glanced around the room, uncertain.

      “Are you afraid of breaking a trust?” he said.

      “I’m not certain Lord Brun trusts anyone, but yes.”

      “Hmmm. Interesting. Which brings me to my next question. Did he order you to keep secrets from me? No, never mind. He did. But did you never question why he’s kept so many secrets? From me. From you, as well.”

      Anna bit her lip. She could not say anything without saying too much.

      Maté let a laugh escape. “Confused about how to begin? Let me start, then. Our Lord Brun is an ambitious man. He’s taken it upon himself to recover the Emperor’s jewel, because that will lead him to…to whatever he values most. Am I right?”

      Irritation pricked at her. “Why should I say anything if you can guess yourself?”

      She spoke more sharply than she intended. The shop owner came alert at once, but at Maté’s gesture, he subsided back into indifference. Maté himself had gone utterly still, as though he waited for prey. For a moment, she had the unsettling thought that she was the prey.

      She drew a deep breath. This was her friend, her best and only friend, the man who had explained the factions among the servants in Brun’s household when she first arrived, the friend who had hugged her while she wept after each time Brun took her to bed. He was the brother she’d never had. And he was right about keeping so many secrets. In a low voice, she said, “Lord Brun told me nothing, so I can only guess. I believe he heard about the theft—”

      “How? I hardly think the Emperor—”

      “I hardly think that too. There must have been rumors.”

      “Perhaps.” Maté appeared unconvinced. “Wherever he heard this news, I cannot believe our lord would send off three bonded servants, spending money like water, for just a scrap more influence at Court. He must have some specific reward in mind.”

      Anna dropped her gaze to the tabletop. “I wouldn’t know about that.”

      “No?” Maté said softly.

      She released a long sigh and curled her fingers around her mug. “He didn’t share his plans with me, but I can guess. He wants to marry well, as the saying goes. Recovering the Emperor’s jewel would—how shall I put it—further those plans.”

      Maté’s eyes widened. “The princess?” he breathed. “He wants to marry her?”

      He did not need to specify which princess. There was but one royal princess these days, after the recent arrests and executions. Her Royal Highness, Karin Emerita, the youngest granddaughter of the Emperor Marius. She was just nineteen. Thus far, however, she had proved adept at keeping her grandfather’s trust while she navigated the shifting alliances and factions at Court.

      “That’s only my guess,” Anna said. “Whatever his goal, he won’t keep me in his household. Of that I’m certain.”

      Maté was shaking his head in wonderment. “He aims high, our Lord Brun.”

      “He was always ambitious,” Anna murmured.

      Ambitious, clever, and charming. Qualities that he could СКАЧАТЬ