The Dragon Revenant - Katharine Kerr [199]
At last she could smile, thinking that after all was said and done, she’d raised him well.
“When do you think Aedda will arrive for the wedding? Would you like me to plan it?”
“A thousand thanks, Mother. I’d like nothing more.”
ONE
For some weeks now Alaena had had trouble sleeping. Every morning she would rise before the sun, throw on a linen shift, and go out into her night garden, perfumed with jasmine and honeysuckle, to pace aimlessly back and forth among the statues of her husband’s ancestors until the dark sky turned to gray. At times she would sit on the edge of the marble fountain and run her hand back and forth in the water like a child while she wondered if she would ever hear what had happened to her barbarian boy. Now that his good looks were far away from her, she was nothing but pleased that she’d never gotten pregnant or persuaded him to stay. Marrying a freedman would have been the mistake of my life, she would think, but I do hope he’s safe and well. Once the sun came up, she would hurry back inside where it was dim and cool and take out her fortune-telling tiles. Although her readings were always inconclusive, still she pored over them, often for hours at a time, hoping desperately that she would see something—even some bearable misfortune—that would break the tedium of her days. She never found anything more thrilling than the usual love affairs and news from afar.
Yet those common predictions did come true for her in a spectacular way—or so she saw it. One particularly hot afternoon, she was lounging on her cushions and desultorily studying a lay-out of tiles when Porto appeared in the doorway. “Mistress? There’s a Deverry man to see you, Evan the horse trader by name. He says he has news that might interest you.”
“Really? Is he an old friend of my husband’s or someone else I should know?”
“No. I’ve never seen him before.”
“Well, show him in, and have Disna bring some wine.”
Her visitor was wearing a pair of gray Deverry trousers and an embroidered shirt instead of red-and-gold robes, all his rings and jewels were gone, and his pale hair was soberly cut and neatly combed, but Alaena recognized him the moment he strolled into the room.
“Horse trader, indeed! Or have you cast a spell on yourself, wizard?”
“Do you realize that you’re the only person in this town who’s recognized me?” Without waiting to be asked, he stepped up onto the dais and sat down next to her on a purple cushion. “Everyone else remembers my finery, not my face, which is, I must admit, all to the good. For this trip, at least, I prefer to be known as a shrewd merchant, not a theatrical fool.”
“I never thought you were a fool at all.”
“Really? Then my disguise was not, alas, impenetrable.”
Disna came in with the wine and set the tray down on the low table. She glanced at this so-called Evan with a perfectly ordinary curiosity—apparently she too failed to recognize the wizard of last autumn.
“I’ll pour, Disna. You may go.”
But Evan picked up the pitcher before Alaena could reach it and filled both their goblets. When he looked up with a lazy, soft smile she felt a flickering of sexual warmth, simply because his mouth reminded her so much of his brother’s.
“Is Rhodry well?”
“Most definitely. Do you realize who he was? The gwerbret of Aberwyn? He’d been kidnapped by political enemies and sold into slavery in a vain attempt to keep him from an inheritance.”
“No!”
“Yes, oh yes indeed, and so, my paragon of all things beautiful, I wouldn’t bother feeling shamed if I were you. He may have been a slave here, but at home I think he’d qualify as your equal.”
“In social position? Certainly.” She had a sip of her wine. “What a fantastic story! And here I was just thinking that nothing interesting ever happened to me.”
“Although normally I’d hate to correct one so lovely as you, in this case I must point out that you were indeed mistaken. Not only did something of great interest happen once, perhaps something even greater may happen in the future.”
“Oh, really?” She allowed herself a lazy smile to match his. “Is