Kushiel's Chosen - Jacqueline Carey [197]
The terrace had been prepared for dining, and I own it was a pleasing sight. A table was set below the arbor, where bunches of grapes hung, still green, but swelling. Stands with fretted lamps were set about, casting a gentle glow, and the sea murmured gently. Kazan stood as I emerged onto the terrace, and his eyes drank in the sight of me.
"Phèdre," he said, forgetting his earlier anger. "Sit." I took a seat opposite him, and he sat too, smiling and pouring me wine from a clay pitcher. "What do you think, eh?" he asked, waving his hand around the terrace. "Does your land have such beauty?”
"Not like this." I drew a deep breath. "My lord Kazan, you said you meant to hear me out. May I speak?"
"No." His quick scowl darkened his features. "First we will eat, you and I. Such talk is for after, yes? That is how we do it in civilized countries."
"I—" I paused. "Yes, of course. Forgive my rudeness."
We dined on fish fresh-caught and poached in a wine sauce, a dish of greens and fennel, and bread dipped in oil, and I confess, my appetite was sharper than I had reckoned. When we had done, Kazan gestured for the servant lass to clear the plates. He poured more wine—a pale wine, with a faint taste of resin from the pine casks in which they store it—and regarded me.
"Now," he said, "you may speak of these matters, you."
I nodded. "Thank you, Kazan. What I said to you before, on the ship, is true. It is a matter of great urgency to my country that I am restored to it swiftly. This is my desire, and of no import to you; this I recognize. But it is also true that my friends and kinsmen will pay handsomely for my swift return, and you stand to earn the gratitude of the Queen of Terre d'Ange." I had no kin to speak of, but he need not know it.
Kazan toyed with his wine-cup and looked shrewdly at me. "Why? I find you in rags in the middle of the sea, eh, and you ask me to believe this? Glaukos says it is true, that you are who you say; I know he is right, I, because he is not wrong about such things. Who, yes, but why is another question, yes?"
I had thought about it; I knew he would ask. I would have, if I were him. "The Queen has enemies," I said simply. "I know who they are, and where. If I do not warn her of their plans, she will be in danger."
"Enemies, ah!" He rubbed his chin. "In Serenissima, eh? You tell Glaukos you have money there, you, but you do not say to go to the D'Angeline Prince there, no. When he says I will not go to Serenissima, you say Marsilikos, that is so much farther."
"If you will go to La Serenissima," I said without atremor, "we will have done with it swiftest of all. I am my Queen's servant and Prince Benedicte does not know me to pay a ransom, but I have money on account with a factor there. I sold lead at a good profit. Name your price, and I will match it if I may."
"Ah, no." He shook his head. "Glaukos, he spoke true. I will not go there, I, nor send any man loyal to me. Maybe you set a trap, eh? Serenissima will pay a good price for the head of Kazan Atrabiades, more than any ransom."
"So." I spread my hands on the table. "Then Marsilikos is closest, where her grace Roxanne de Mereliot is my hearth-friend, and will honor my letter. I will swear to you, by any oath you wish, that no harm will come to you or your men and there is only profit in it for you."
Kazan regarded me, black eyes glinting in the lamplight. "This we say in Illyria: May the kríavbhog swallow my soul if I lie. You have seen it, you. Do you swear this?"
I thought of the thing I had seen, coiled and hissing in the mast. I thought of the shadows twining around Kazan Atrabiades, and shuddered. "Yes," I said hoarsely. "I swear it. The ransom paid, and no harm to you or your men. May the kríavbhog swallow my soul if I lie."
"Good." He drained his wine-cup and refilled it. "Why did you fall off a cliff, you?"
I'd thought we were done; I closed my eyes wearily. "It was an accident, my lord. Kazan. It happened in a riot, when some prisoners escaped."
"I think there are many ... riots ... where you are, you," he said wryly. "You