Eona - Alison Goodman [184]
I pulled away. “Now? Without me? But I am Naiso. I should be there.”
Dela caught my arm. “Ryko told me what the folio can do, Eona. The leaders are discussing the potential of Lord Ido’s power. His Majesty does not want you to be there.”
The Dragoneye had been right; their first thought was to enslave him with the folio’s blood power.
“No!” I jerked myself free and started toward the door. “I can compel Ido. They do not need to use the black folio on him.”
Dela intercepted me, thrusting her body in front of the closed door. “Eona. I am not here only as your friend. I cannot let you go to that meeting.”
“You are here to guard me?”
She placed her hand on my back, her man’s strength steering me to the bed-seat opposite the door. “Just sit down. Sleep.”
I pushed her hand away. “Sleep? For all I know, they could be deciding to compel my power, too!”
“You do not believe that, Eona. You are exhausted. Try to rest.” She picked up the red folio from a nearby table on which Vida had laid out my few other belongings: the pouch containing the Dragoneye compass, and my ancestor’s plaques set around a small prayer candle. “Or if you cannot sleep, we could work on Kinra’s folio together. I have found another name within it: Pia.” The black pearls wrapped around Dela’s hand in a rattle of recognition.
“It is probably another riddle,” I snapped. “Just let me be.” I turned from her, although I knew it was childish.
In all truth, I was exhausted, in both body and mind. Yet the terrible turmoil of my thoughts—about Ido and the folio and Dillon’s death—kept me pacing the tent for a full bell while Dela sat by the door and kept her head bent over the red folio. At some point, the girl brought back a bowl of clean water, but her wide-eyed fear just made me angrier, and Dela dismissed her quickly. Rage and guilt, however, could not hold off my exhaustion forever. I finally lay down on the bed-seat, curling into my fatigue.
I woke with a sour mouth and a crick in my neck. The smoke circle in the roof of the tent held the dark mauve of dusk. I sat up, digging my thumbs into the cramped muscles at the base of my skull. I had slept the entire day.
“My lady, can I call for anything?” Vida asked from her crosslegged position on the floor. One jailer replaced with another.
“Some tea,” I said ungraciously. “And some light.”
Vida rose and opened the door, leaning out to murmur instructions to someone outside. She pulled back with a lamp in her hand, its glow brightening the wall coverings from shadowed pink to bright red. Dela had left the folio on the table. She was returning, then; a chance for me to apologize for my surliness.
I stood, smoothing down the ruck of my tunic. “Do the leaders still meet with His Majesty?”
Vida placed the lamp on the table. “They are finished.”
“And?”
“I’m sorry, my lady, I do not know.” From her tone, she knew the question had been about Ido’s fate. “But the word in the camp is that we’ll be fighting within the next few days,” she offered.
“Is that really a rumor, or does it come from your father?” I asked.
“Let’s just say that when I asked to be assigned to a platoon, I was told that I would be staying in camp to help with the injured, and I was to be ready for action soon.”
We were both silent; no doubt there would be plenty of injured to be helped.
“Will you do something for me, Vida?” I asked.
“If I can, my lady.”
“When the fighting starts, will you make sure Lillia is safe? And Rilla and Chart?”
She nodded. “I’ll try.”
A hard knock on the door sent her back across the carpets. I swished my hands through the water in the washbowl, the cool contact making me shiver. I had brought my mother and friends into such danger.
“My lady.”
I turned at Yuso’s clipped voice, my hands dripping.
The captain stood in the doorway, his lean body in shadow. “His Majesty wishes to see you.”
I nodded. No doubt to tell me what had been decided. Vida grabbed a cloth and passed it to me. I dried my hands as Vida picked up my back