City of Towers_ The Dreaming Dark - Keith Baker [78]
“I’d gathered that.”
“What you may not know is that two of the others he excoriated were your parents, Aleisa and Talin.”
“What? But … they’re dead!”
“Apparently he’s not taking any chances. Perhaps your fate is linked to theirs. He may have simply accused your entire family.”
Lei finished her water and slammed the mug down on the table. Daine was surprised that it survived the experience. Looking around, she grabbed his half-full mug and took another swallow. Daine put his hand on her shoulder.
“Blaming the dead is always easier than challenging the living,” he said gently. “It sounds to me like this Merrix is just trying to make the best of a bad situation, and he’s willing to sacrifice the memory of your family to improve his own situation.”
Lei blinked back tears, but her voice was steady. “What were they accused of, Dasei?”
“I don’t know. I told you, they only gave names, not reasons. With all the upheaval, it didn’t seem like the time to ask questions. Although …” She shifted uncomfortably, rubbing her bruised fingers.
“What?”
“You’re not going to hit me again, are you?”
“What were you going to say?”
“Do you know what happened to Cyre?”
“I told you we spent the last six months there. I’ve seen it. It’s … more disturbing that you can imagine.”
“I’ve heard.” Dasei looked around and lowered here voice. “But what I meant was, do you know what caused it?”
“Does anyone?”
“That’s the question of the hour. A lot of people are blaming House Cannith. It’s common knowledge that the house had a strong presence in the region, and the magewrights and sages are still trying to make sense of it. I don’t know for certain, but I think that Baron Merrix has claimed that your family was involved in some way.”
Lei leaped to her feet and her chair crashed to the floor. Daine was up and had grabbed her arm before she had a chance to strike the blow.
“I’m just telling you what I heard!” Dasei cringed against her seat. The fire in her eyes had gone out again.
Lei pulled against Daine’s arm, but he held fast. She stopped and took a deep breath, closing her eyes. She exhaled slowly then opened her eyes again. Daine let go of her arm.
“I take it you weren’t involved in the Mourning, then?” Dasei said.
“I was there. It’s a miracle I survived at all. And even I don’t know what happened.”
“So how can you be certain that your parents—”
Daine grabbed Lei’s arm again, before she could wind back for another blow.
Dasei raised her hands defensively. “Look, Lei, I’m not saying that they did anything wrong. I’m just asking—”
“I think you’ve said enough, Lady d’Cannith.” Daine pulled Lei out of her chair. “I thank you for the”—he gestured at the remnants of bread and water—“meal, but I think we should go our separate ways now.”
Dasei nodded, and her relief was easy to see. “I’ll settle the cost.”
Lei seemed calm, but Daine kept hold of her hand. “Shall we depart, my lady?”
Lei whirled her staff and struck at the air, venting her anger on flies and shadows. While he’d sooner have seen her happy, Daine actually preferred the angry Lei to the distant, emotionally drained Lei he’d been living with the last few days.
“She was only repeating what she’d heard,” Daine said.
“I know. It just makes me angry. How could anyone think that we—that they—could do such a horrible thing?”
“Someone did it.”
“Really?” She stopped and turned to face him. “Then why haven’t they done it again? There’s nothing to prove that any human agency was involved. Perhaps some sort of epic conjunction of the planes opened a gateway to Kythri.”
“Covering an entire nation?”
“Well, we don’t know, do we? You used to follow the Silver Flame, right? How do you know it wasn’t the work of one of those fiends bound by the Flame?”
“Maybe because they’re bound by the Flame?”
She glared at him. “You know what I’m saying. There’s nothing proving that humans had anything to do with it—let alone House Cannith, and certainly not my parents.”
“Well …” Daine began walking again.
Lei followed on his heels. “Well, what?