Kushiel's Scion - Jacqueline Carey [93]
"There's a thought." Joscelin's dry voice was the last thing I heard before my head struck the table. Much later, I awoke in my own bed to a vague memory of being led, stumbling, from the Queen's banquet hall, my arms slung over the shoulders of Joscelin and Ti-Philippe. It was a good thing we had come by carriage, as I'm sure I couldn't have ridden that night.
I avoided Eamonn as best I could for several days, pleading illness. Of a surety, it was true the first day. But then the time came for Quintilius Rousse to depart and for us to make ready to travel to Montrève, and once that occurred, I could no longer avoid Eamonn's company.
On the road, it was he who broached the subject. "Why are you angry at me, Imriel?"
I stared straight ahead through the Bastard's pricked ears. "I'm not."
"You are," he said simply.
I stole a sidelong glance at him. His face was so open and earnest, it made my heart ache. "It's not you," I said, sighing. "It's just… ah, Elua! Does everything always have to be so entangled?"
"No," Eamonn said slowly. "But I think it is what happens when people are at the center of great events. Maybe we are lucky to live in the aftertimes." He rubbed his chin in thought. "Do you know what my mother said about Phèdre?"
"Do I want to?" I asked in a sour tone.
He ignored my comment. "She said she was probably the bravest person she had ever met." He smiled a little, remembering. "She said it was something most people would not recognize, especially men, who think courage only matters in fighting. But that it is true."
"Oh." Whatever I had expected, it wasn't that. I looked over at Phèdre, riding some distance away, and felt ashamed. Eamonn's mother didn't know the half of it. Even Joscelin wouldn't have gone into Daršanga if not for his vow. "Eamonn, I'm sorry. I'm an idiot sometimes."
"True," he agreed. "Are you finished?"
"For now." I smiled. "It may happen again."
"That's all right," he said cheerfully. "If I had a foster-mother so beautiful, I would be jealous, too."
"It's not that!" I said.
He merely looked at me.
"All right." I flushed. "A little, mayhap."
"I would be," Eamonn said.
There was no talk of dark mirrors and frightening desires. I was sixteen years old, and my foster-mother was the most famous courtesan in the realm. Eamonn made it seem so simple and normal.
It wasn't, of course; not really.
I still had dreams that woke me in a cold sweat, at once nauseated and aching with desire. I knew the shadow lay in me, waiting. But Eamonn's sunny company drove it into hiding, as surely as that of my Shahrizai kin brought it to the fore. And for that, I was grateful.
For his part, Eamonn regarded Phèdre with frank awe; and Joscelin, too, for different reasons. And as they came to know him better on the ride to Montrève, I could see that they began to return his regard with amused affection. It made me feel good, almost as though I had a brother; albeit an unexpectedly large and ebullient one.
We had fun at Montrève.
In the countryside, Eamonn fit in more than he had in the City, and there was no snide talk from the Siovalese commonfolk as there was among the gentry. The Dalriada were heroes of legend, and they were delighted to have one in their midst.
Especially the young women.
It took me by surprise, although it shouldn't have. Eamonn loved women with the same unabashed passion with which he did everything else. At Court, his lack of sophistication at the Game of Courtship was regarded with a certain amused tolerance; in the country, his candid ardor met with approval. And he was a strapping figure. If he lacked a pretty face, it was an interesting one, revealing an odd, rough-hewn beauty at times.
"I think he's quite handsome," Katherine declared. "In a funny sort of way."
"You're mad," Gilot observed. Their romance had resumed upon our arrival, stronger than ever, and I wondered if Gilot would accompany us when we returned to the City this fall, or request to remain at Montrève.
"You don't understand women," Katherine teased him.
"I understand you," he retorted.