Page 60 of Fortune's Blade

“I beg your pardon?”

“You lost two? Which two?”

He frowned. “One was a guard, one of our Taloi, sworn to our service from time out of mind. The other was Tamris, daughter of the chieftain of a closely allied house.”

“Tamris?” I felt my stomach drop. “The woman I was dining with?”

“She was the lord’s long-term guest,” Regin confirmed. “There was some hope of a match between her and the lord’s son, but . . ..”

But not now, I thought, feeling sick. I remembered the curiosity with which she’d regarded Louis-Cesare and I, and the pretty dress she’d offered me. And the special, starry one she’d worn for Tanet.

No wonder he was on a rampage.

And no wonder much of it had been directed at me. I’d endangered his sister and gotten his potential lover killed, along with a running tally of two guards. Three people in less than a day, and who knew how many wounded, and I was no closer to finding Dorina than when I got here!

“This has been brewing for a while,” Regin said, watching me. “After Lord Rathen allied with your senate for the war, it was rumored that Lord Steen did the same but on the other side. He has long envied Eddred’s prominence, and the war gives him the excuse to attempt to unseat us. This was inevitable, whether you came to our mountains or no.”

“Tanet doesn’t thinks so.”

“Tanet is young. There is much he does not yet understand.”

“But Lord Rathen does. Yet he took Louis-Cesare and I on an extended flight about your lands before taking us to our room.” I met those piercing baby blues. “He wanted us to be seen.”

“Perhaps.” Regin didn’t bother to deny it. “There are always spies watching us, as he is well aware. But he had no way to know that Lord Steen would take such drastic action. And if he was going to attack you, better that it be here, where you had protection, than on the road. His decision turned out to be fortunate.”

Yeah, maybe. But it had also resulted in exactly the outcome Rathen had wanted, hadn’t it? He may not have expected Tamris to pay the price, but he had wanted a casus belli, a reason for others to rally to his side for the war, and now he had one. The dragonkind were having to choose sides whether they liked it or not, and the price had been the life of a few guards and a girl not even from his own house.

Most of the kings I’d met would have considered that an acceptable loss, even a good deal. I wondered if Lord Rathen had. Or if I was being paranoid, and he had genuinely not expected Steen to come in such force, or to attack him in his own home.

I didn’t know, like I didn’t know anything here. Except that the politics in Faerie were as complex and cutthroat as the ones back home, and I had somehow ended up in the middle of them. And House Eddred seemed to want to ensure that I stayed that way, because they were coming now, the leaders and representatives of the smaller houses, and Regin kept me by his side as he greeted them on behalf of his lord.

I didn’t understand that, either. I was hardly a stalwart looking ally at the moment. I hadn’t even had time to wash the sleep out of my eyes or to comb my hair, I was garbed in tatters, dirt and a ridiculously large fur, and my hand had dried blood under the nails and shook when I presented it, over and over. They didn’t come close enough to touch foreheads, these hulking men and women garbed in silks and velvets, with glorious hair that dragged the ground behind them, betraying their age. Despite being accompanied by guards who, in some cases, dwarfed even Regin.

The guards hedged their masters closely while giving me a once over, and then often did it again, as if they couldn’t believe that this scrawny, beat-up, tiny thing was a threat. I didn’t know what they’d been told to expect, but I was clearly a massive disappointment. Their masters seemed to agree, although their faces betrayed nothing, but their touch was as tentative as if they were holding a soap bubble and were afraid they might break it.

I started making a conscious effort to look less pathetic, as I was representing my senate. I hadn’t expected to—I was supposed to be here on personal business—but Lord Rathen had made other plans. And if I didn’t manage to impress somebody soon, there was a chance I could screw up our entire alliance before it got off the ground.

I sat up straighter, realizing that, whether I felt comfortable or not, whether my title was even entirely real or not, to these people, I was a senator, and they were betting their lives and their houses on mine and my senate’s abilities. Or they would be if they joined us. But it was looking like that was far from a sure thing.

Nobody was smiling, and some were talking behind their hands, shooting me glances that were variously sympathetic, pitying, or angry, as if a few of them were insulted at being offered such an ally. Although a lot of the clan leaders just seemed . . . confused. It was starting to look like Regin’s gamble had backfired.

Then a ratty old fellow in tattered leathers instead of silks, gray dreads instead of shining locks, and a grimy ring on one hand that looked like it had come out of a Cracker Jack box, roughly grabbed my chin.

“Doesn’t look like much to me—” he began.

And then cut off abruptly, maybe because my Smith & Wesson was pressing against his sternum and my knife was denting the skin of his neck.

The clearing held its breath, as everyone froze in place. That included Regin, who didn’t even twitch, just sat at my side looking expressionless. And me, because I hadn’t consciously told myself to do that.

But I was tired, in pain, exhausted and freaked out, and had just had a major problem dumped into my lap. I was actually going to have to act like a senator for once or threaten the war effort, and so what had I immediately done? Drawn blood on somebody who, no matter what he looked like, was probably important or he wouldn’t be here.

Awesome.

Chapter Twenty

I looked up into startled, rheumy gray eyes and tried to think. Dragons liked strength and a show of force, but I doubted that they liked this much of one, considering how Steen had reacted last night. I had to get out of this without looking weak, which was hard when my arm was already starting to tremble, and without getting tossed the length of a soccer pitch, which I doubted I’d survive a second time.

Screw it, I didn’t know how to do this! I was a vote, just another nod to my father’s faction on the senate and whatever the hell they wanted to do. I wasn’t supposed to be negotiating major shit like this. Or any shit!

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