Heirs of the Blade_ Shadows of the Apt_ Book Seven - Adiran Tchaikovsky [199]
‘You saw him, saw Alain?’ Tynisa asked her eagerly.
Che frowned for a second before connecting the name to the man. ‘I did,’ she conceded.
‘Well?’
There was obviously some immediate comment she should be ready to make, but Che could not find it.
Tynisa shook her head impatiently. ‘How like his brother he is. The very image, yes?’
Che looked her in the eyes, reading a lot there. Oh, Salme Dien had mocked Che, in his time, but fondly, always fondly. He would never have assumed that expression of condescension that Che had seen on the face of Salme Alain as he departed. But she said, ‘Yes, very,’ nevertheless, because this was not the time, nor the challenge she had come here to deliver. ‘Tynisa, you must know . . . You say things have changed for you?’
‘I have a purpose now,’ Tynisa agreed. ‘I have Alain.’
‘And was there a moment, when that change occurred?’ Che pressed.
Tynisa looked at her oddly. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘Your father, Tynisa?’ Because to barrel on, at this point, seemed the only way – whilst keeping a weather eye open for some murderous reprisal from the man’s ghost. Yet Tynisa’s expression seemed honestly baffled. ‘Tynisa, I know. I saw him for myself. I know that the ghost of your father has sought you out, and I’m here to help you.’
For a long moment Tynisa just stared at her, and Che tensed, waiting for that glint of steel in her eyes that would herald Tisamon clawing to the forefront of her mind. Then she laughed: a snort of amusement that emerged despite all of Tynisa’s attempts to control it. ‘Ghosts, Che? There’s no such thing as ghosts. Don’t tell me fifteen years of College education didn’t teach you that.’
Che stared back at her, caught utterly off guard. ‘But . . . you can’t tell me you haven’t felt him, seen him even . . .?’
Tynisa’s expression sobered. ‘Oh, I won’t deny I’ve enjoyed some strange company when I’ve been on my own – on my way here and during the winter. I won’t say I didn’t see him.’ She held a hand up to forestall Che. ‘Achaeos, too, and Salma. You can’t imagine the fright it gave me to see Alain for the first time. I thought that I really was going out of my mind. But that was just me, Che, because I was all alone and I’d lost . . . everything, or so it seemed. I don’t think anyone could blame me for indulging in a few fantasies. But that’s done now, since I found Alain. I’m a new woman now.’
Gazing at her, Che could all but see the malignant form of Tisamon lurking at her shoulder. She could feel the dead Weaponsmaster’s presence like a chill in the air, but Tynisa kept smiling slightly condescendingly.
‘Ghosts, Che? Seriously? You’ll find plenty of people here who believe in them. But we know better, surely?’ Her smile was so brittle that Che could almost detect the cracks, but in Tynisa’s eyes there was absolutely no recognition of that looming presence which Che felt like a physical pressure.
‘We have to talk, Tynisa,’ Che said at last, recognizing defeat in the first skirmish, and retreating to a prepared position. ‘But I’ve come a long way, and I need to catch my breath. Tomorrow perhaps?’
‘And where were you?’ Che asked Maure, when she had tracked her down, after considerable searching.
‘Looking after your best interests by absenting myself,’ the mystic told her. ‘The ghost knows me – and knows me for its enemy. It wouldn’t have helped, me being there. When I meet it again, I want it to be somewhere that I’ve warded. Besides, I’ve been asking questions on your behalf.’
‘Oh?’
‘That steward wanted my services, so I said I’d help her. We talked. She was close-mouthed, but I worked out what put the sour look on her face.’
‘Tynisa?’ Che suggested glumly. ‘They don’t think she should be associating with their prince, I suppose.’
Maure gave her a curious look. ‘Well, you’ve got it completely backwards but, other than that, you’re right. Prince Alain has