The Black Raven - Katharine Kerr [94]
“Oh, I know.” Lilli snuffled back tears. “I was thinking about Bevva.”
Anasyn nodded, suddenly solemn.
“Hardly a day goes by that I don’t think about her and Father, too,” Anasyn said finally. “Which reminds me. Father wanted you properly settled in life. Abrwnna tells me that there’s been gossip about you and Branoic the silver dagger.”
“What? The gall! What sort of gossip?”
“Naught terrible.” He grinned, and she realized that he was teasing her. “He’s a fine man, Branno. But I doubt me if he can support a wife.”
“Well, he told me that the prince has promised him a boon, and that he’s going to ask for land.”
“Oh? Oh, well then! If he can support you decently, I’ve no objections to him.”
“My thanks, brother. It gladdens my heart.”
“I thought it might. And now I’d best be off. If you want to come visit us this winter, send me a messenger, and I’ll send men to fetch you.”
“My thanks! I will!”
Yet Lilli knew that she’d not have the courage to return to Hendyr so soon, not with Bevyan’s death so fresh in her mind. She ran to the gates of the main ward to wave Anasyn and Abrwnna out, then slowly, thinking of very little, she walked back to the cluster of brochs. Maryn was standing on the steps, waiting for her. She stopped and stared at the wonder of it, that he would wait for her, standing on the steps alone like an ordinary man.
“Good morrow, Lady Lillorigga,” the prince said.
“A good morrow to you, Your Highness.” Lilli curtsied and felt her heart flutter like a trapped bird. “I was just seeing my brother off.”
“So I noticed. He’s a good man, Anasyn.”
She smiled, Maryn smiled, and neither, it seemed, could think of a word to say. The Wildfolk swarmed round them both, gnomes and sprites and, like crystals in the air, the sylphs, but she could strip the dweomer away, she realized, and see the man himself. He’s still splendid, she thought. I’d find him wondrous if he were the kitchen boy.
“Lilli!” It was Nevyn’s voice, and the Wildfolk vanished in a burst of fear. “There you are, eh?”
Lilli spun around, blushing so hard she felt her face burning. Nevyn was striding across the ward.
“I am, my lord,” she stammered. “Have you need of me?”
“I do.” Nevyn glanced at the prince. “If you’ll excuse me, Your Highness? My apprentice and I have important work to do.”
“Of course,” Maryn said. “And I need to talk with the gwerbret of Yvrodur. He’s doubtless impatient to be on the road.”
All the way up to Nevyn’s chamber Lilli trembled, sure she was in for the worst lecture of her life. Instead he merely opened his book of dweomers and set her to work memorizing the names and formal terms of address for all the spirits of all the Elemental Courts, kings, queens, champions, and princesses, every last one of them. It was so tedious that, she realized, he’d given her work of a sort to drive all thoughts of Maryn out of her mind.
In the council chamber of the royal broch the last of the afternoon’s sun fell across the maps spread across the table. The three men studying them stood leaning over the tattered parchments. Although each map purported to show Deverry and the bordering lands, each was so different from the others that Nevyn despaired of ever forming a clear idea of the shape of the kingdom.
“What matters, though,” Nevyn said, “is simple enough. Eldidd lies west of Deverry, and so does Pyrdon. Pyrdon lies north of Eldidd. When Maryn becomes king of Deverry and Pyrdon both, Eldidd will be like a piece of meat between two jaws.”
“Just so,” Maddyn said. “And I doubt me if Aenycyr of Eldidd is so blind that he hasn’t seen it too.”
“It’s a bad situation, all right,” Owaen said. “But we’ve all known about it for years. You called us here for some cursed reason, Councillor. Why don’t you just drop this feint and tell us?”
Maddyn glared at his fellow silver dagger, but Owaen ignored the black look. There were times when Nevyn wished he actually could blast a man with fire or turn one into a frog, and Owaen always seemed to be the person who inspired those moments.
“Very well,” Nevyn