Kushiel's Scion - Jacqueline Carey [270]
But whatever game Canis was playing, he meant me no harm. I was sure of it. In Tiberium, he'd had ample chance. Name of Elua! He knew where I lived, where I slept… Gilot and I hadn't even possessed a bar for our door or latches for our shutters until the night Canis claimed to have seen two thieves attempting to rob Master Ambrosius' shop. I eyed him, wondering what had really happened that night. "Why are you doing this, Canis?"
His brown eyes never blinked. Hit me.
So I did. I brushed away the straw, making the words he had written vanish, clearing a space on the stone floor. I set the lantern down. And because I was angry, I feinted with my right hand and made him flinch, then punched him hard with the left.
I hit him high, a little off the center of his forehead, where it wouldn't break any bones. Still, his head snapped back, and I felt my knuckles bruised to the marrow. Canis' breath hissed through his teeth. I followed up with an open-palmed slap with my right hand, hard enough to wrench his head sideways.
It made a loud sound in the confines of the dungeon.
And it felt good.
Too good. I didn't want to do this. I didn't want to be here. I got to my feet, fists clenched. Canis righted himself. Shielded from the view of the Valpetrans, he grinned at me, his eyes bright with approval. There was a knot rising on his forehead and blood on his teeth. He must have bitten his cheek when I struck him.
"That's for last night," I said to him. "I reckon we're even."
Grabbing the lantern, I marched toward the stairs, shadows swinging around me.
"Hey!" The Valpetran who'd spoken before called to me. "D'Angeline, listen! I don't know what your stake is in this, but Commander Silvanus is open to barter. And he's a man does right by those who swear allegiance to him." He moved his arms, rustling his chains. "Our freedom for yours?" he asked cunningly. "You're a foreigner here. Think on it."
I nodded at him. "I'll think on it."
"Think swiftly," he shouted after me. "We've already lost one."
At the top of the stair, I pounded on the door. It seemed an eternity before I heard the sound of the key turning in the lock and the guard opened it with a grin. Even as I emerged into the open air, he snatched the lantern from my hand and blew it out. "Mustn't waste!" he remarked. "Gallus Tadius' orders." He eyed me. "Did you have fun?"
"Fun." I shook out my bruised hands. "Oh, aye."
"Good," the guard said cheerfully. "Good."
I'd elected to walk, having grown accustomed to it in Tiberium; and I reckoned the Bastard needed his rest. By the time I returned to the villa, the shadows were growing long. It seemed I'd barely risen and already it was nearing time for another night of mounted patrol. I was wondering if I might catch a few more minutes of sleep before reporting for duty, but Claudia Fulvia met me in the atrium, a sealed letter in her hand.
"A letter came for you," she said.
It was fine parchment, sealed and stamped with red wax, and for a foolish moment my heart leapt. I would have given anything to see the impress of a familiar seal—the Courcel swan, the moon and crag of Montrève, the lily and stars of Blessed Elua. Gods, even the intertwined keys of House Shahrizai! It wasn't, of course. There was no way a missive could have arrived so swiftly, even from Denise Fleurais in Tiberium; and no way it would have been delivered if it had. I didn't recognize the seal, which bore a crude lion.
"It's from the Correggii," Claudia added.
I cracked the seal and opened the letter. A scattering of rose petals drifted to the floor of the atrium; plucked from the season's last blooms, already dry and brittle. Claudia leaned against the wall and watched me read, her arms folded beneath her breasts. I schooled my face to impassivity, folding the letter and tucking it into my belt when I'd finished.
"Helena," I said. "She wished to thank me."
"Oh, indeed." Claudia gave me a wry smile that